After Nick vented at the System a little bit to relieve his anger, he chuckled at the thought of someone else seeing him screaming like a maniac at nothing but thin air. It was still raining, and it seemed to be the wee hours of the morning, with the sun's bald and shiny head carefully peeking over the horizon. Nick stuck his head out of the overhang for a little bit and saw that the rain was lightening into a slight drizzle. Preparing himself, he got into a running position and bolted into the rain, trying his best to make it home without getting too wet.

Nick had read somewhere that running in the rain might get you wetter than if you walked through it, but he rejected that idea on the grounds that he didn't really want to think about it.

He was used to the constant hustle and bustle of downtown New York, and the streets now seemed eerily quiet in comparison. He started shivering a little in the cold at the thought of ghosts and demons in the city, but fortunately, it only made him run faster. By any means, though, Nick was already soaked enough by the time he reached the entrance to his apartment building several hundred meters and fourteen blocks away and could only baste in the relief of central heating once he entered the building. It was one of those American luxuries that he couldn't get in enough of, having spent his early childhood in Southern China.

While pressing the elevator button in the conspicuously empty lobby, Nick wondered why there weren't any people around. The System had mentioned earlier that he had a certain "quota" for asking questions, and when using [Identify] on himself, the tab showed that he was all out of quota. It couldn't hurt to try, though, since any little bit of information would help.

"System, why aren't there any people around? What happened to them?"

"Shit. Well, it was worth a try."

Just then, Nick heard the elevator's soft ding as it came down and walked in cautiously. As he rode up to his apartment, he began strategizing. In order to begin the path of cultivation, he'd first need to understand it. Nick also wanted to save up some Information Quota to start asking some important questions about his situation. He made a little mental note to get those two things done. Understanding cultivation and... information quota.

He unlocked the door to his apartment and made sure to lock it behind him when he entered. Nick was so excited to begin practicing cultivation that he practically fluttered to his bedroom to begin testing out the System's different functions. He sat down on his bed and decided he'd want to check out the [Cultivation] tab first since that one seemed the most important out of the two he had yet to explore.

Just like when he was under the overhang and needed to [Identify] himself, he mentally visualized clicking on the [Cultivation] tab.

He'd seen his Mental and Physical Cultivation stages before, but he hadn't a clue about his Cultivation or Art. Nick began to wonder why the previously mentioned Mental and Physical Cultivation didn't show up on this tab, and neither did the Gathered Qi stat.

While reading through the lengthy chunk of information he had just been given, Nick came to a realization. If he could control the internal Qi within his body, then, given the correct usage, he could create just about anything. He minimized the tab, following the System's advice. When he got up and started walking around the apartment, he spotted a little blue wisp floating in the air.

Nick jumped out and tried to grab it, but the illusory spark just phased right through his hand and fluttered away, almost teasing him. He quickly found another under the table and tried to clasp it in both his hands, striking out quickly like one would do to catch a particularly fast firefly. The little blue wisp entered into Nick's clasped hands, and thinking that he had gotten a wisp of Qi, he tried to guide it towards his body. However, it soon wriggled its way out and zoomed away.

He spotted another wisp of Qi right below his bedside lamp. This time, however, instead of trying to reach out and physically grab the wisp of Qi, he used the mental visualization technique that had been working for him when he tried to open his System functions. With much difficulty, he tried to visualize the wisp of Qi going into his body, then spreading around. In the middle of the process, however, Nick lost his focus, and this time, the wisp of Qi ended up dissipating into the world around him.

Exasperated, Nick tried one last time with a wisp found under the sofa. He sat down and started to visualize the Qi going right into his heart and then breaking into pieces to spread across the rest of his body. He snapped into an almost trance-like state, and the wisp began slowly floating towards him, not dissipating or running away like the rest of the wisps he'd tried to capture. The moment the wisp of Qi broke the barrier of his skin, Nick immediately felt a warm feeling of energy, much like the feeling of having a hand-heater in your glove while skiing on the top of an icy mountain.

The warm feeling slowly spread to the rest of his body and even his mind, purifying his thoughts and relaxing his muscles. When Nick awoke from the trance-like state, he saw a blue box in front of him.

Reading this message, Nick excitedly used [Identify] on himself to see if anything had changed in that tab. Sure enough, it had changed completely. It seemed like in the future, he would have to keep on gathering those little wisps of Qi to grow in power.