Noah had learned to distrust sudden progress.
A week of meditation might produce nothing more than a slight improvement in concentration.
Another week might allow him to hold a coin in the air for two minutes instead of one.
Occasionally, he would discover a new application of his psychic energy, only to spend several days failing to reproduce it consistently.
Progress was slow.
That was acceptable.
He had powers that could put him beyond the reach of ordinary humans, and perhaps beyond most supernatural creatures in Mystic Falls.
But he had no intention of allowing that knowledge to make him careless.
Strength was not the same as preparation.
And preparation was not complete merely because one could destroy an opponent.
On a quiet Tuesday evening, Noah sat cross-legged on the floor of his bedroom, his curtains drawn.
A small notebook rested beside him, filled with observations about psychic energy.
He had been meditating for forty minutes when a familiar notification appeared.
[Heaven Rewards Hard Work System]
Connected Cultivators: 12
Collective Cultivation Contribution: Updated
Noah opened his eyes.
“Twelve?”
The number had been increasing gradually.
He had expected it to rise, given that the Quiet Practice Archive had been available online for several weeks.
Still, seeing the number reminded him that his private experiment was no longer entirely private.
Twelve people had apparently begun practicing the method to a degree that the system recognized.
He wondered how many were serious practitioners and how many had tried it once before abandoning it.
He had no way of knowing.
He had deliberately avoided collecting unnecessary personal information.
The website recorded only basic, anonymous usage statistics.
He had not installed tracking software, contacted individual users, or attempted to identify anyone.
If the technique was useful, people could continue practising it on their own.
If it was not, they could leave.
That was the arrangement.
Noah returned to his meditation.
Then another notification appeared.
[First Recognized Cultivator Under Your Method Detected]
[Character Template Available]
He stopped breathing for a moment.
“Character template?”
A new interface opened in his field of vision.
It was different from the ordinary notifications.
Instead of a short message, a rectangular panel appeared with several lines of information.
[Cultivator Template: Ethan Brooks]
Identity: Ethan Brooks
Cultivation Method: Quiet Mind Method
Cultivation Stage: Initial Awakening
Psychic Energy Reserve: Very Low
Control: Low
Talent: B+
Cultivation Compatibility: High
Current Contribution to Creator: Active
Noah stared at the panel.
Ethan Brooks.
He recognised the name from the anonymous feedback form on his website.
Ethan had submitted a short message several days earlier, explaining that the meditation method had helped him maintain concentration while studying.
He had not claimed supernatural experiences.
He had not mentioned glowing hands, moving objects, or hearing voices.
According to the template, however, something real had begun to develop.
Noah leaned forward.
“Can I see the other users?”
The system responded with another notification.
[Character Template Available for Recognised Cultivators Only]
[Detailed templates become available when a cultivator establishes a stable connection with the method.]
Noah considered the wording.
The system was not giving him everyone’s private life.
It was displaying cultivation-related information about people whose practice had become sufficiently established.
That distinction mattered.
He had created the method and distributed it.
He had not recruited disciples, and he had no intention of turning a simple website into a cult.
Still, the new information was valuable.
He looked at Ethan’s talent rating.
“B+.”
Noah had no reference point for that rating yet.
Was B+ exceptional?
Average?
Poor?
He opened his own status panel.
[Noah]
Psychic Cultivation Talent: S
Psychic Energy Reserve: Developing
Psychic Control: Improving
Foundation: Stabilized
Personal Cultivation Speed: 1.00×
External Cultivation Contribution: Calculating
Noah’s eyebrows rose.
“My talent is S?” Find the original chapter at g.com.
The system had not previously given him a clear talent rating.
He had assumed his psychic abilities were unusual because he had received them as his sole gift pack.
But an S rating suggested that the potential for psychic cultivation was unusually high, even before accounting for his physical abilities.
He studied the two panels.
Then he noticed a small line beneath Ethan’s template.
[Contribution is calculated according to cultivator talent, cultivation activity, compatibility, and number of active cultivators.]
Noah sat quietly.
The system had finally revealed part of the mechanism behind the collective cultivation effect.
Other people practicing the method could improve his cultivation speed.
Their individual talent mattered.
Their participation mattered.
Their number mattered.
The more capable the cultivators, the more useful their contribution might become.
But the system had not shown the formula.
Noah was not going to invent one simply because he wanted an answer.
“Can you show the exact multiplier?”
[Insufficient comparative data.]
He almost smiled.
At least the system was honest about what it could not calculate.
Noah closed the template and resumed meditation.
This time, however, he could feel a difference.
His psychic energy was circulating with slightly less resistance.
The sensation was subtle, like a narrow stream becoming a little deeper after rain.
He had not absorbed Ethan’s energy directly.
Nothing had travelled through the internet into his bedroom.
Instead, Ethan’s independent cultivation appeared to be contributing to the process that strengthened Noah’s own psychic foundation.
The distinction was strange, but the effect was measurable.
Noah opened his notebook and wrote:
First confirmed external cultivator: Ethan Brooks.
Talent B+.
Cultivation beginning.
My cultivation speed appears to have increased, but the exact relationship remains unknown.
He underlined the final sentence.
Then he added another note.
Do not confuse correlation with a complete explanation.
He put down the pen.
For the first time since creating the Quiet Mind Method, Noah understood that he was not merely distributing an exercise.
He was building a cultivation network.
And that network might eventually become more important than anything he could accomplish alone.