The first thing I felt when I opened my eyes was a raging thirst. Then came hunger. I moistened my mouth from the flask and started drinking in small sips. At the same time, I pulled some dried meat from the stash nearby, tore off a tiny piece, and began chewing it thoroughly. After a long fast, you can't drink or eat too much at once – ideally, I should be having broth right now, not tough meat, but I didn't have that on hand. While chewing, I checked the logs.
You spent 7 months in Deep Meditation (Mage Meditation).
Intelligence +27
Mana Channel Toughness +30
Willpower +5
Magical Core Capacity +45
You have reached 50 in the Intelligence stat. Choose a perk:
Perfect Memory
Hyper-accelerated Thinking
Intuition
I chose the second option – I had leveling planned, which included learning. I'd get Perfect Memory later through high stat values anyway.
You have reached 75 in the Intelligence stat. Choose a perk:
Perfect Memory
See and Understand (you quickly grasp the essence of things and learn complex subjects fast)
Intuition
Same deal – Intuition was tempting, but I still had to study the ki manual. Though memory would help, with Intelligence at 75 I already had excellent memory. I chose option two – See and Understand.
Now for a light warm-up to get the blood flowing – slow and gentle. After forty minutes, I ate a little more dried meat and drank some water. It took me half a day to fully come back after seven months of meditation. When I woke up, it was night; now morning was approaching. I decided to get some proper food to fully recover. I left the cave light, though the area was rocky, the forest was still a meter away. I entered the woods and started hunting. Help came from my long-neglected Keen Nose skill – I spotted a rabbit thirty meters to my left, hiding in the bushes. I crouched and approached in stealth mode. From five meters away, a precise knife throw secured my dinner.
There was a stream 300 meters from the cave – I collected fresh water and returned. On the way, I gathered some dry brushwood. In my bag was a small pot, no bigger than a hat. I decided to make rabbit stew – I'd gutted and washed the carcass at the stream.
After eating my fill, I started planning my next moves. Seven months wasn't enough for people to forget about me, but entering Deep Meditation again so soon would be a mistake. I needed to figure out which direction to develop. Physical training was non-negotiable – at least six hours a day for Strength and Agility. Willpower, of course, went without saying – I still had the working method of pushing arousal almost to critical and holding out without climax. And I needed to start studying the ki cultivation and magic books. Basic magic skills would come in handy right now. Plan set – no point waiting.
I left the cave and started running uphill – in case anyone forgot, the forest was on the slope of a massive mountain. I ran for about two hours and took an hour and a half to return. I rested half an hour and started push-ups, then squats, crunches, and everything else. My body had already surpassed human limits. After six hours of training, I opened the basic magic book. It had simple spells like magical candlelight or a spark – all consisting of one or two runes. The book included incantations and gestures for easy use, but I decided to create runes directly.
For eight hours, I couldn't figure out the principle – everything I poured into the air turned into anything but the right rune. I ended the session and switched to Willpower training – arousal had built up over the day anyway. Recalling the fun days at the alchemist's, I started getting wet. My maximum arousal capacity had risen to 180 during all my leveling. Pushing to 140, I was on the edge and sat in lotus position, enduring. Half an hour later, I saw progress – acceptable speed. After about six hours of training, I had a violent orgasm and went to sleep.
After a week of such training, I raised Strength by 12 points, Agility by 18, Endurance by 10, and Willpower by 10. I learned to form runes on the second day near the end of practice, and in the remaining time learned a few simple combat spells – I'd forgotten about flint and used magic to make fire. I mastered a basic magic bolt – essentially a compacted chunk of mana propelled at high speed with a speed rune.
Next, I wanted to study ki cultivation. I opened the Art of Shadow book and began reading. First, I needed to sense the life currents flowing through me using a special meditation technique. And here came the snag – I could feel mana flowing through my mana channels too clearly, and it wouldn't let me concentrate on the other flow. For three days, I tried to sense the life-force currents – or ki for short. This is where I understood why Willpower was necessary – without it, I'd have given up.
On the third day, during meditation, I sensed a thin stream circulating through my body. Next, I had to feel its consistency and distinguish it from mana. In my mind's eye, this energy appeared red, while mana was silver. The next step was to feel this energy entering me from the air and, through breathing, merge it into the overall flow circulating within me – this took another ten days. During all this time, I only left to hunt and refill water.
Meridian Formation 5%
The notification came after I fully mastered the meditation technique for forming nodes. This technique required training in shadow or darkness – being in the cave with the entrance nearly blocked, everything aligned. Gradually, along with meridian formation, I began seeing ki more clearly – what had appeared red within me now showed different colors outside my body.
I started noticing that my body absorbed mostly dark-gray ki – probably the shadow energy described in the manual. My internal energy began graying too. It didn't affect my well-being – I feared I'd start avoiding sunlight like a vampire, but I only absorbed energy slower in sunlight; no other consequences. Even on the sunniest day, the grass underfoot had shadows, so that energy was still present in the air, albeit in small amounts.
In 27 days, I formed meridians to 100% and began core formation. This required a more complex meditation type. Thanks to my perks, what should have taken at least a year to learn, I grasped in three days. I restocked supplies, filled my flask, prepared dried meat, and entered Deep Meditation for core formation. This meditation required not only specific breathing but also twisting energy into a knot just below the navel using Willpower. Finally, I understood what this stat was for.
You spent 16 months in Deep Meditation (Core Formation).
Core Formation 60%
Willpower +27
Intelligence +10
Strength +20
Agility +35
Endurance +40
Perception +20
Arousability +30
Stealth +53
You have reached 75 in the Willpower stat. Perk acquired: "Titan's Will" (under certain circumstances, you can resist even divine suggestion).
You have reached 100 in the Willpower stat. Perk acquired: "Demigod's Will" (you can resist divine suggestion; your will weakly influences the environment).
You have reached 50 in the Strength stat. Perk acquired: "Steel Sinews" (your strength is increased by 200% during muscle tension).
You have reached 75 in the Agility stat. Perk acquired: "Snake's Agility" (your body can bend almost like a snake's).
You have reached 100 in the Agility stat. Choose a perk:
Snake's Agility 2
Speed 3 (your speed becomes 120% greater).
Speed 3, obviously – speed is everything.
You have reached 75 in the Endurance stat. Choose a perk:
Fortitude (you are harder to wound; your skin is 50% tougher and you bleed slower).
Enhanced Endurance 2 (you tire half as quickly).
I chose Fortitude.
You have reached 100 in the Endurance stat. Choose a perk:
Fortitude 2 (you are harder to wound; your skin is 120% tougher, plus slow regeneration).
Enhanced Endurance 2 (you tire half as quickly).
Fortitude 2, definitely.
You have reached 50 in the Arousability stat. Perk acquired: "Quick Reflexes" (you feel a strike aimed at you almost simultaneously with the start of the opponent's movement).
You have reached 75 in the Arousability stat. Perk acquired: "Quick Reflexes 2" (you anticipate what strike will be made against you based on indirect signs).
No sex perks for Arousability this time – all stat points came from meditation and training.
Attention: Further achievements and perks for Stealth will no longer be issued by the system due to your chosen internal energy cultivation system.
That made sense – my cultivation was shadow-based, with Stealth as the main attribute; all those perks I could learn on my own. The stat gains were incredible. Though it was all logical – without my boosted Willpower and Deep Meditation skill, I'd have spent no less than ten years on the core formation stage. I'd already sunk almost a year and a half into this – time to get back to people.