9: One year later...

*kaboom!*

What? I hurried into Mel’s room to check on her. She’s fine, of course she’s fine, but the room is a mess. Cracks in the walls, floor, and ceiling. It would all need repair.

I didn’t understand. There was always a surge of power upon completing a new level of cultivation. I’d accounted for that though. My array was designed to collect what it could, and disperse the rest. This was a large part of how it improved cultivation speed. Yet this blast of power Mel released was more than ten times stronger than expected. 

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t able to control it well-”

“It’s okay. It’s not your fault.”

“What do you mean?”

“You followed my instructions correctly.”

I began to examine her as well as the ki in the area to figure out what exactly happened. 

“Are… are you suggesting you made a mistake?” 

“Yes.”

“...” She sat in silence as I continued my investigation.

“I see. So that’s why. Such an unexpected change in the Dao from the one I know.”

“What do you mean?”

“In my past life, there were explosions of power whenever a person completed a level of cultivation. However, there was no difference between the major and minor levels in this regard. In this world, the major levels produce a much larger explosion of power. If this extra burst of ki were captured… I’m gonna need to design something extra for this.”

…

Wandering Cultivator’s view

*kaboom*

At first, I didn’t think much of it. From the intensity of the light, and the size of the explosion, it was just some random person making a breakthrough without a properly prepared room. Slight problem: The room in question was the second story of the building next to me, and when I looked in the window, I could see something was off about the density of ki in the air. 

I pulled out my communication stone.

“Hey, get over here. I found something interesting.”

“What is it? I’m kinda busy.”

“I think there’s something strange about the cultivator who just had a breakthrough. The air has too much ki for a minor breakthrough.”

“You think there might be a hidden master involved? I’m on my way.”

I hope she gets here soon before the evidence disappears. She’s better at analyzing this stuff than I am.

…

“Oh heavens! That’s amazing!” We were sitting on the roof of a building across the street from the one where the breakthrough had happened. “I see no signs of an array in that room, but that wasn’t a minor breakthrough. It was a major breakthrough.”

“A martial master? I didn’t think anyone outside the sects could become one.”

“Yeah, I’ve never heard of someone figuring out how to get that far without a teacher, and unless one is in a sect, teachers usually charge a lot of money. Some of the nobles or other rich families can afford it, but this part of town is way too poor.”

“So, two mysteries. A teacher hidden in the slums, and a major breakthrough explosion suppressed to the level of a minor one without a prepared room.”

“I think our teacher will be interested in this.”

“Definitely. Let’s head back right away.”

“Hold on a moment, let me make a recording… okay, done. Let’s go.”

…

Bradford’s view

*kaboom*

Oh dear. Did my great teacher actually make a mistake? It should be common knowledge that major breakthroughs have much stronger surges of power than minor ones do. Though, thinking on her lessons, she’s never mentioned it. Did she actually not know? How can that be?

Well, I guess I’ll have to ask Ms Woods to repair my house now. At least I’ve been making plenty of money lately. Under normal circumstances I’d have moved to a nicer location with how well I’m doing, but I’m a little afraid to ask my teacher if she wants to move, and don’t think I should do so without consulting her first. It feels like she’s deliberately keeping a low profile, so staying in the slums might be preferable to her. Fewer eyes watching.

…

Samantha’s view

The little master gave me a new item to create, and some modified instructions for cultivation, along with a new theoretical idea? She claims she didn’t know about the difference between minor and major breakthrough ki surge strength. How can she not know that, and still have such enormous knowledge of cultivation and crafting? Is she not from this world? Could she be an immortal undergoing a trial in the mortal realm? No matter, this experimental idea is interesting, and I see why she says to be careful. If I messed up, it could seriously harm me, but if I do it right, it could harness the explosion of energy to either dramatically boost my cultivation, or create something amazing while forging something.

***Author Note***

Since some settings have fairly dramatic effects on breakthrough to a new cultivation level while others don’t, I decided to roll dice to determine it, and got a 19 for how dramatic the minor levels are, and a 17 for how much more dramatic the major levels are. Then I rolled for the MC’s former life, and got 20 and 1… so the MC’s former world had slightly more dramatic minor breakthroughs, but the major ones were no different from the minor ones... leaving her completely unprepared for the difference.

Yet, somehow all the important people keep failing their rolls to notice stuff. So, despite the main character’s massive blunder, (caused by her ignorance of how this world differs from her original one) those two cultivators are the only new people to take notice of the main character’s influence on the area.

OP MC’s first mistake, and it’s only chapter 9! Oh, and I only rolled a 10 for how destructive the breakthrough would be. So it didn’t destroy the room. Rolled a 19 for how visible the breakthroughs are though. So when someone has a breakthrough without something to suppress the effect, it’s visible for miles. This one just looked like some random person making a low level minor breakthrough so everyone ignored it… or at least, that’s the excuse I came up with. Why did everyone else fail their rolls to notice? The wandering cultivators only noticed because of luck! Freaking dice.