[ Quick Status ]

[ Age: 1 year, 254 days. ]

I woke from my slumber and extended my spiritual senses to gain awareness of my surroundings.

This was now part of my routine and I had become so accustomed to it that it felt mostly automatic.

First, as I woke up, I would extend my senses to their limit. Though I had a passive perception radius, I could only gain detailed information on things within or just slightly beyond my radius if I directed my sentience to it. This, and moreso with distance, was very exhausting. I became aware that this effort and my capacity to exert it was limited. This fatigue would affect the speed at which I could cultivate Qi.

[ Cultivation Speed: 4 Qi/day. Efficiency: 3% ]

This was not very fast, even now as I was fully rested. Back then, the support module informed me that my cultivation target was at a whopping 3000 Qi. And that was only to reach the Mid Qi Refining realm.

That would take over two years.

I knew intrinsically that, even though I could spend that much time to cultivate my spirit to the Mid Qi Refining realm, the next stage would take even longer. Because the basic breathing method I used to cultivate Qi — even though I do not actually breathe — did not have a bottleneck at the Late Qi Refining period, the next stage would be the Peak Qi Refining realm, and then I could form a foundation.

Even if I had to guess conservatively, I think it would take me longer than fifty years to build my foundation and extend my lifespan.

I would only die of old age six times over before I built my foundation. No big deal.

The bad news weren’t that bad.

I knew that as my cultivation stage progressed that I would be able to cultivate faster. I also knew that as my body cultivation progressed I would be able to use it to cultivate Qi as well. I could also purchase a Cultivation Method from the exchange.

But really, all of these things aside, the best method to increase the speed was to raise the efficiency.

After careful deliberations, which took a month, more or less, I decided to invest my Soul Points into obtaining the entry-level manuals for Alchemy, Refining and Arrays. These manuals granted me a Insight which, after absorbing it, increased my Dao of these topics.

While the Alchemy and Refining manuals did not teach me much about things that were relevant to my situation — like medicinal herb properties and gathering techniques, or the algorithmic methods of balancing a refinement process — there were a few mentions of basic cultivation pills I could consume to increase my cultivation directly. However, I cannot eat or swallow, so I disregarded the idea. I also did not have the medicinal plants I needed, or a cauldron to make them pills in.

However, the Array manual suggested various methods and arrangements of Qi flow — mostly through objects called flags — to improve the overall efficiency of my cultivation speed, by improving the ambient Qi.

I had two other methods available to me to improve my cultivation speed. The most obvious choice was to obtain the [Flight] talent and find some other place where the Qi is far more concentrated and would directly improve my cultivation speed.

I decided not to because I was not yet in a hurry and I enjoyed the hospitality of the demonic ape society. Wukong had finally come around to his senses and began bringing me living sacrifices which I gladly accepted. This would become a ritual that took place every four to five days, and my body cultivation had progressed steadily. From the initial two years it would have normally taken, I had already reached the apex of the Blood Compression stage.

In order to achieve this, Wukong had brought various captured demonic beasts — foxes, wolves, snakes and even bears — and fed my appetite for evolution on a regular basis. Most of these creatures were in the Early to Late Qi Refining stages, but two of them, most notably, were in the Early Foundation Establishment. Wukong did not return from these trips unharmed, even with his profound cultivation base.

These two offerings considerably increased my cultivation progress, and gave me around 90 Blood Points each.

I also learned that I could absorb their demonic cores, which directly improved my cultivation base by a small amount, and also gave me Soul Points. This is how I finally learned where my Soul Points came from. I had been, apparently, consuming these before my sentience had formed.

Lastly, and most uselessly, a way to increase my cultivation speed considerably was to directly burn my lifespan in order to achieve it. This was out of the question.

My lifespan was a precious resource that I could not just waste on an inefficient cultivation method.

I had made other advances in this time, which I consider far more important. The reason why my routine was to extend my senses to their limit, despite this affecting the speed at which I could cultivate, was because I could train them by doing so.

[ Soul Perception ] - Grade D - Rank 89

When my rank and Grade improved from E to D it nearly doubled my perception radius. The last improvement was at Rank 50, so I am hopeful that I would gain another improvement at Rank 100. The more I could see the better.

With my current meager perception radius of around 25 meters, I was as good as blind, even though I could see everything in that radius in all directions which was useful.

So this had been the first step of my routine and the one I had put most of my effort in within the last seventy days or so.

The next step was to absorb the Insights which I had gained, but I had unfortunately completely exhausted this resource in my last awakening cycle. I considered obtaining more manuals suitable for my cultivation level, but decided against it. I knew that I could obtain Insights through the practical approach as well, and at the moment, I was not so interested in Alchemy or Refining.

Finally, with my diminishing consciousness I would actively cultivate my body, compressing my vitality down and absorbing the surrounding Qi in order to progress my cultivation.

[ Early Vessel Refining progress: 98.1% ]

One more feeding cycle and I would break through to the Vessel Hardening stage. For the first time in my existence, as far as I could remember, I felt excitement.