Lone Cultivator In Another World

"Wait, Glory, how can you give me points when I still haven't been formally accepted? Don't I need to start classes first?" Michael probed. A short silence followed.

"Host is mistaken. According to infofield, host is already a student at his school".

"Wait, what? You can collect information like that?"

"Host is connected to infofield where all information in host's world is stored".

That opened so many possibilities, none of which Michael could use.

"Access restricted. Host's cultivation is too low".

"Well, what are the requirements for accessing the infofield?"

"Access restricted. Host's cultivation is too low".

'Great'.

It took Michael a few minutes to return his attention to his talk with Jones.

'No need for thanks, but you owe me now! Damn! What a bastard. And he talks like that to a 13-year-old kid' thought Michael as he lay in bed after calming down. Even though he wanted to celebrate somehow, he forced himself to be smart about this. He had already made a mistake during the exam and didn't want any more unforeseen problems.

A few things tugged on his mind, like the different apartment he was in, Jones's plans for him, or Marco Reed, who he didn't remember seeing before. In Michael's past life, there was a girl who followed his report, not this toady Marco.

"Perhaps some things just went differently in this timeline. Can that happen, Glory?" he spoke to himself.

"Splendid Glory is a program designed specifically for cultivation".

"Yeah, I know. Well, no use wondering about those things. I guess Jones became interested in me after my speech, which outed me as too smart for my age. He should've also noticed the disparity between my speech and my report. Uh, that's fine, I can just say that I watched too many inspirational movies the night before or something. No one can identify me as an a.d.u.l.t anyway".

Michael jumped up and stretched his arms and legs, performed a few simple exercises – a privilege for a man with LZD1. Then, as he felt blood rush through the veins, he said, "Glory, I'm ready for those relaxation techniques now".

"Purchase confirmed. Host, please assume a comfortable position and perform breathing exercises described in the first technique step by step".

Michael felt his head spin as new knowledge appeared in his mind where there was nothing before. He almost lost his balance and had to sit down on the bed. He saw images, heard sounds of breathing, even felt something circulating in his body. He didn't only get the knowledge of the techniques, he also got an idea of what cultivation should feel like.

Michael got on the bed with his feet, took off his socks and leaned his back on the wall behind. With eyes closed, he imagined a stream of water. It appeared from nowhere and made a l.a.p around his room before forming a ring in the air. The ring of water looked solid, but it was easy to see the sparks of small currents hitting each other, their speed slightly unequal.

Keeping the imaginary ring in the air, Michael started breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth. He felt his body become more s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e, every nerve sending enhanced signals to the brain. He felt how heavy his own clothes were, how they constricted his blood flow and movements. He felt his own weight, pressing down on the bed. For a second, he thought the bed would collapse under his enormous weight, but the sensation left as quickly as it came.

As Michael controlled his breathing and got accustomed to the bothering sensations, he imagined a trickle of water detach from the ring and enter his body. When it touched him, Michael immediately hit his head against the wall and g.r.o.a.n.e.d in pain. He broke the meditation just like that.

A few seconds later, strange energy coursed through his limbs, hiding somewhere in his head.

"Host, congratulations on reaching cultivation 1-stage, 1-star. Glory point shop enabled. Host, please familiarize yourself with the shop".

That was it! A single touch of that water was enough to let him advance to the first stage of cultivation!

Weird thing was, Michael didn't feel different from before. He jumped a little, did a sit-up, a push-up, waved his hands and even tried to move a book with his mind. Nothing happened.

"Glory, are you sure that I've become stronger? I feel the same as before" he w.h.i.n.ed.

"Host's strength has increased".

"Is that all? I don't even feel it".

Splendid Glory decided not to grace Michael with a comment.

"Fine, open the shop for me then! Let's see the goods!"

Before his eyes, a small menu appeared. Glory promised before to present information through visual cues, and this was finally it. The menu had only two tabs, Disorders and Mind.

Michael tried to wave his hand, but it passed through the menu. As Glory was lodged in his brain, he decided to click a button with his mind and accessed Disorders. There were all the health problems Glory found during the scan, from bad eyesight and flat feet to LZD1.

As he thought about LZD1, a few options appeared: Enhance, Alleviate Symptoms and Cure. All three were greyed out.

"Glory, how many points would it take to cure LZD1?"

"Current estimate is 20.000 glory points, host".

"That many? So when you said that at some point I would be able to cure it, you meant that I would have 20.000 points by then?"

"Host is mistaken. As host's cultivation progresses, his immunity to diseases will rise. The cost of curing LZD1 will decrease accordingly. Prognosis of 2-stage, 5-star cultivation did not take glory points into account".

That meant Michael could use points freely because sometime the cost of curing the damn thing would become zero. That was very comforting.

He checked other disorders, and they also had the same options which were all greyed out.

"Fair enough, one session of cultivation isn't enough to move my messed-up vertebrae or relieve me from allergies. Glory, what does the Enhance option mean?"

"Health disorders presented have been identified as such compared to the rest of host's planet's population. Glory is not qualified to determine whether they are malignant or beneficial. Host is advised to cure malignant disorders and enhance beneficial ones".

"For now, let's not enhance my flaws. I don't want stronger allergies or flatter feet, thank you very much".

In his imagination, Michael expected Glory to say, "You're welcome, host", but it didn't. It seemed, the AI in that thing had better character than he thought.

Then, he went to the Mind tab and saw a single ability there, lit up in white. He got all excited for a second, but after reading the description, he jumped from the bed and exclaimed unhappily, "Glory, what is this?! I wanted a superpower, not to be on time for classes!"

'Mind Alarm Clock. Basic mental technique. Allows one to wake up at predetermined time. Cost: 10 glory points'.

"Host, more abilities will appear in the shop with each increase in host's cultivation. Currently, there is only one ability accessible".

It took Michael a few minutes to calm down. After jumping back in time and receiving this otherworldly lucky chance, he was excited about making a new life for himself. Unfortunately, Rome wasn't built in a day and after touching the stream of energy he attracted, he only got access to this technique.

Waking up at a certain time was a widespread ability that many people possessed. Even Michael's mother could wake up early before an important day and knew not to oversleep. It was simple, almost all people who trained their minds could do it.

"Fine, fine. We'll take it one step at a time. Glory, I'd like to purchase Mind Alarm Clock".

His head span much less this time, as if better prepared for intake of information. Several images appeared in Michael's mind, flashing and flying about.

And then, he realized that it would be much easier to fall asleep and wake up now. And waking up at a time he presets would be effortless.

"Alright, Glory, thanks. I guess it's not as useless as I thought".

"This time, host is welcome".