Transcending Dreams

B2 - Chapter 24: Qi Refining Room

It wasn’t until the door closed behind him that William realized that Lan Yang might not have a way to enter the room since he had the only pass.

He didn’t let it concern him too long. One of the staffers could probably allow him inside.

Xu Feng had still locked himself inside the Qi Refining room, and he had the right idea. William would do the same.

He entered the room beside the one Xu Feng occupied and frowned in disappointment. At first glance, it didn’t match his expectations with how much it cost to use. It was a barren room without a hint of Qi that existed in the refining rooms he had visited in the past.

William sighed as he closed the door. At least he would be able to practice his martial skills.

The door shut behind him, and the room immediately darkened.

“Choose your mode: Cultivation or Martial Skills Practice.”

The blank, genderless voice made him flinch in surprise. It took everything in him to not activate [Force Multiplier] in a panic. The only reason he didn’t was that his Qi wasn’t ready to activate that skill.

“Cultivation,” William said unsurely after calming down.

The change was instant. Darkness was replaced with a soft light, and thick Qi filled the room, making him feel something familiar. A prickling sensation on his skin.

It was reminiscent of what William experienced when he cultivated in the Shard. Of course, it was to a lesser extent, but it still lifted his hopes. The density of Qi in his surroundings was so great that his body was warning him that he was close to the limit of what he could safely handle.

William carefully moved to the center of the room, ensuring the prickling sensation wouldn’t suddenly change to something dangerous. It really brought him back to the lake in the oasis.

When he sat crosslegged on the stone floor, he hoped that cultivation would be just as similar.

His senses turned inward for the first time in weeks. Like always, it was hard not to admire that pure Qi flowing calmly in his pathways. However, his hope and expectation of massive experience gain ended quickly.

The original intention before he felt the denseness of the Qi in the room was to add some points to his Spirit attribute. William still intended to wait and speak to Elder Yu about the Heaven-Tier Martial Skills before making any significant investments into his attributes, but after he had seen the cost to use [Detailed Observe] on Mei Lingxi, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to increase his Spirit a little.

Even if it was only enough to use [Detailed Observe] on Mei Lingxi. Of all his attributes, excluding Luck, assigning points to Spirit was something he wasn’t concerned about.

He was a cultivator, and having a higher Spirit attribute could only help.

A slight smile subconsciously formed on his lips when he sensed the first ‘pulse.’ The odd effect on his cultivation was caused by the existence of the system. Where the density of his Qi grew to the limit before it was converted to an experience point.

In the oasis, this ‘pulse’ happened so quickly that it almost seemed like his spiritual pathways shined brightly with an uninterrupted glow. That was not the case here.

The smile on William’s lips fell.

The pulse was still quick, there was no doubt about that, but nowhere close to what he had experienced in the Shard. He didn’t give up immediately.

Even though it had been too long since he started cultivating, patience was something he was learning, at least in these types of situations.

William fell into a trance as he kept circulating his Qi for an unknown amount of time. Shutting his mind off after the encounter with Rong Yun and Wei Ming was precisely what he needed.

It was as hypnotizing as before, watching his Qi rush through his spiritual pathways under his command. There was little doubt his state would have lasted longer if it wasn’t for the slight change he sensed with his Qi.

Something that let him know instinctively that he had greater control over his Qi. It had happened a few times before, resulting in far quicker activation of his martial skills.

Of course, those were only the basic skills he had picked from the Outer Sect’s library. Now, it could involve [Force Multiplier].

William’s excitement broke instantly, bringing him out of the trance. The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the blue text, but he ignored it for now.

He started the activation process of [Force Multiplier], eager to see how much it had reduced. A second later, he found himself sorely disappointed.

Nothing had changed.

“Well, that was a waste,” William said to himself as he finally turned his attention to the system alert.

[Cultivate in a Qi-dense environment for 3 hours and 37 minutes: +337 XP]

The Qi Refining room gave a hundred experience points for every hour he cultivated. That was… ridiculously good.

Again, not close to the Shard, but enough that he wanted to find out if he could permanently reside here. At this rate, he could level up approximately every week.

The cost to use the room was extremely high, each day requiring seven Spirit Stones and two hundred Qi Stones, but the benefit it offered made it well worth the price.

However, William didn’t have the luxury to shut off his mind and simply cultivate at this time. He had to work under the assumption that he would only have the opportunity to use this room while the auction was running.

He would need to switch to the martial skills practice mode and see how much it would help him. If the benefits were on par with cultivation mode, then the choice would be obvious.

Improving his martial skills would be exponentially more helpful than leveling up once in his limited time in the room.

Before that, there was one thing he wanted to do before he switched the mode. Raise his Spirit attribute.

William’s attempt of [Detailed Observe] on Mei Lingxi informed him that he needed six hundred Spiritual Energy to use the skill.

Spiritual Energy: 550/550 (20% per Hour)

He wasn’t too far off. All he had to do was raise his Spirit by ten, but there was also this to consider.

Upgrade Requirements (2):

1. Spirit: 130

2. Eligible for Level 130

He was still some ways off before having to think about the next minor realm, but he might as well add ten more points since a hundred and thirty was the minimum required.

[+20 Spirit]

[Modified | Spiritual Energy]

[Spiritual Energy Capacity | 550 —> 650]

William closed his eyes and calmly directed the newly added Qi to his Stomach Meridian. He didn't bother to test his Lung and Heart Meridians when they pulsed threateningly as the Qi passed by. The result would be a scattering of the new Qi.

He waited for the Stomach Meridian to absorb all the available Qi, having done this too many times already.

That was his mistake.

It seemed like the Stomach Meridian barely sipped on the available Qi before it reacted violently.

The dense fog of Qi that filled the meridian collapsed rapidly into a familiar speck of light, but one that was larger than what the other meridians contained. As was common after this, adding more Qi was impossible.

William tensed as the speck of light pulsed strongly, scattering the remaining Qi away, but thankfully, he was expecting that. He quickly brought it back under his control before it could cause any damage.

It was necessary to choose another meridian. There were only two left, so he quickly made up his mind.

The closest one was the Liver Meridian.

He directed the remaining Qi into the empty meridian, warily observing if there would be any other surprises. Luckily, there wasn’t.

By the time everything was absorbed, a thin wisp of Qi had spread in the liver meridian.

William waited some more, wanting to be doubly sure nothing would go wrong until he felt comfortable to pull his attention away. He slowly opened his eyes, wondering about what had just happened.

As shameful as it was to admit it, he didn’t spare much thought about why those specks of light appeared in his meridian after a certain amount of Qi was added to it. The cultivation manual, Horizon’s Seeker, didn’t say much other than it was expected.

William knew that the manual he was given was at the human-Tier, the lowest tier for martial skills and cultivation techniques. However, Lan Yin also said an earth-Tier manual was available once he mastered Horizon’s Seeker at the human-Tier.

The thing was, the manual he received didn’t specify how it could be mastered. But he was starting to think that the specks of light were the answer.

Perhaps he needed all five of his meridians in the same state.