Lone Cultivator In Another World

Michael took a seat next to the girl's bed and once again sent a probe into her body. This time, his head was in the right place, so he noticed small details he had missed before.

The green threads differed in length and thickness, but they all had the same feel to them. They radiated power and "smelled" of youth and vigor. Like thin blades of grass, they reminded Michael of fields and forests.

"Plants? That's oddly specific."

The cultivator took his time and investigated every emerald thread he found. Soon, he noticed that they traveled along the blood vessels, but not necessarily together with the blood.

It is common knowledge that there is a strict order to the blood flow, from the right half of the heart to the lungs and then to the left heart, aorta, and so on back to the right heart. However, the threads of energy followed a different circulation system, easily swimming against the stream of blood when needed. Michael chose one and traced it to an organ he'd never seen before.

It was a walnut-sized ball with an uneven surface situated near the belly button, maybe an inch and a half below it, close to the skin. This clot of energy sent out and received the threads back, and they enriched the body during their circulation.

"Dantian. That's a goddamn dantian," whispered Michael.

He knew about it. Tai Chi and other Eastern practices revolved around the belief about an energy center, serving as the foundation of breathing, stance and body awareness. His old master taught him about it and explained how energy flowed while performing the movements.

Michael always imagined a dantian when performing exercises, but he couldn't feel or use internal energy. That was something only true masters could do.

His own body didn't have one while Anna's did. This meant that either it resulted from an evolved energy field, or was its prerequisite. One could not exist without the other.

Anna's dantian was incorporeal, unreal. Michael wanted to learn more but couldn't. His glory points numbered in pathetic thousands after he'd spent them all on LZD1 the day before. As for the milky-white internal energy, he didn't yet understand it and couldn't extend it out of his body.

A loud commotion outside drew his attention, so he called his consciousness back in.

Two men carried a stretcher inside with a thin blonde girl. They placed her on a bed with practiced movements and hooked her up to some machines near the bed.

"Michael?" Graves appeared at the door, "What are you doing here?"

The cultivator nodded in greeting and gestured at his friend.

"Ah, miss Novikova. How is she?"

"Hopefully, nothing serious. She's medicated now. And that's…" he recognized the second girl. It was Marie Dupont, the athletic French girl a year older than him.

"Miss Dupont," rued Graves, "has complained about unbearable heat. While wearing warm clothes. Other students have experienced unusual symptoms too. Do you know anything about that?" he asked casually.

"I don't know where these things came from, sir. I wish I did." Michael knew of the principal's skills, so he tried not to overtly lie to his face. "These things" he talked about were genetic samples from the comet, not the symptoms.

"I see. Pass my best wishes on to miss Novikova, please. Gentlemen, make sure the girls are cared for." Without waiting for them to acknowledge his request, he left.

As soon as Michael was alone in the room with two unconscious girls, he investigated Marie's body the same way as he did Anna's. The French girl also had a dantian and energy threads, but hers were red and emitted heat.

"She complained about…" Michael was stunned. He expected many things from the energy fields, but not this. Not only were they perfectly integrated into the girls' organisms, but they also had distinct traits.

One was calm and vigorous like nature, and the other was fiery and wild.

"Glory, is this the reason you refused my energy field evolution that day? You couldn't tell me before, but you should be able to answer a direct question, right?"

"Host, formulate question."

"Did you suppress my evolution because the energy field would have been skewed towards a specific element? Thus limiting my cultivation?"

The program thought for a minute and agreed, "Host is correct."

"So I still hold an enormous advantage over the evolvers. They are gifted with one power, but I can have hundreds of abilities and skills."

Michael stood up, "I won't be able to conceal myself for long. My best option is to state my power is… strength? And speed, reflexes. Physical perfection. They won't be able to test my mind, anyway."

He left Anna in the infirmary and returned to his dorm room where he lived alone. There, he sat for hours and evaluated his options. The future looked grim, with panic, wars, a brand-new type of racism…

He gave himself a little slap, "Get it together! This is real! Why am I so… Control over Emotions! Glory, self-scan!"

[Host's self-scan initiated… self-scan complete.]

[Cultivation level: 2-stage, 1-star cultivator.]

[Glory points: 6408.]

[Warning, health abnormalities detected. Host, be advised, health abnormalities need to be addressed, or they will get in the way of cultivation.]

[Health abnormalities detected: spinal curvature, multiple allergies, imperfect eyesight, flat feet, chronic nose and throat problems, chronic shortness of breath.]

[Genetic abnormalities detected: imperfect bone structure, imperfect muscle structure.]

[No abnormalities are diagnosed incompatible with cultivation.

[Suggested course of action: cultivation, Glory's energy gathering.]

"Nothing's wrong. No psychological disorders, at least. As for those small potatoes, now that LZD1's gone, I can get rid of them too. But why do I feel not like myself?"

A short meditation brought no results. His mood and thoughts were in balance.

Michael was alarmed by his own outburst. He knew of his propensity for violence, but other than that, wasn't he a rather logical person?

Four months ago, he settled on the theory that this was a different world and operated on that basis. He earned glory points in a very efficient manner, while also developing cancer medication – that would get him enough funds to invent, invest, donate, do whatever he wanted.

As for cultivation, he did his best. At least a couple hours every day, up to ten or so. He would be a fool not to recognize its benefits. What was it about these last four months other than the inability to cultivate that made him doubt himself?

Of course, he was concerned about the world. But, to be honest, it wasn't his problem. He wasn't the type of man to stick his neck out for people he didn't know. Taking care of his family and friends would be enough. The last time he had dreamt of saving the world was… his childhood.

"Status!"

[Name: Michael North (Mikhail Severniy)]

[Age: 35-15]

[Cultivation: 2-stage, 1-star]

[Mental Power: 400]

[Life Force: 100]

[Energy Field (locked)]

[True Soul (locked)]

"That right there! Glory, why are my ages written like that? There used to be parentheses!"

"Host's name and age depend on host's outlook."

"Closer to 35 than to 15, that doesn't instill confidence. What am I, reverting to a teenager?"

The last four months were like the life Michael had always dreamed of. His mom and dad, together again and healthy. Classes, easy. Plenty of money. The carefree days he had longed for ever since he found out about LZD1.

And that messed up with his judgement? What a f.u.c.k.i.n.g sucker punch.

When did this reversal start? How many mistakes did he make?

Could he have noticed the milky internal energy sooner? Was it really hidden from his sight by the glory points' radiance, or… No! Before, the self-scan diagnosed LZD1 to be incompatible with cultivation, but this time, nothing was in the way. Perhaps, the disease stopped him from cultivating after a point!

And why did he go to sleep the night before? Since Mental Freshness allowed him to cultivate through the night, wasn't it the best way for him to spend the dark hours? Sleep was for humans, not for cultivators!

What else? What else? 2-stage unlocked the Customization menu, and he didn't spare it a look. Why did he need all those classes and electives when he could read textbooks at inhuman speeds and analyze them later? Was there anything new in the Mind tab in the shop? What were the tumor meds-researching teams stuck on now and could he help? Why didn't he use the Mind Acceleration perk every living second? He didn't even use his hard-earned abilities properly!

"Glory, listen to me," he said, face buried in his hands. "Tai Chi level 4, I'm buying it."

There was little new knowledge. Stances, movements… Oh, kicks, that's his weak point. He'd train kicks that night.

'Classes don't start for another 11 hours. I will cultivate for seven and train Tai Chi using Lucid Dreaming after. Electives, I'm dropping those. As for mandatory classes, they can only be changed after every quarter, so I'm stuck with them until the end of the school year. Now, I need to take a look…'

He sighed, "Actually, let's leave cultivation and studying the shop and Customization for later. I feel like letting off some steam. Glory, could you set a timer that would activate Control over Emotions once every half an hour?"

"Host can do it himself in Customization menu."

"Ha! Some assistant you are."

"Splendid Glory is a program designed specifically for cultivation," replied the scorned Glory.

"As you might've mentioned once or twice before. Ah, whatever, I need to shake this stupidity off. Mind Alarm Clock, in 4 hours. Mind Lullaby. Lucid Dreaming."

Michael appeared in an open field, dressed in loose clothes his old Tai Chi master loved to wear. With a thought, they changed their color to green. Two ninjas dressed in black appeared before Michael, with their faces covered. They were unarmed, but he could feel their skills were good. His Intuition and Danger Sense told him exactly that.

"Now this," he grinned, "is a very different game."

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