Chapter 168: Dantian, Breakthrough Already?

The moment William saw the System Message pop up, he felt a painful sensation run throughout his entire body. The pain wasn’t very intense, scoring about a 2 on the pain scale, but it was noticeable.

Considering how much pain I’ve felt over the last few months, coupled with my Mind Talent, I’m surprised I even felt anything…William thought to himself while evaluating his condition.

The System’s response came at this time, having taken a few seconds longer than William expected.

-In other Worlds, there are three Dantians: the lower, middle, and upper Dantian respectively. Each of these Dantians are located in a different part of the body and serve a different purpose. In this World, however, only the lower Dantian exists.

-The lower Dantian serves as a storage area for Spirit Qi, increasing in storage space as one’s Cultivation progresses. As the Dantian fills, the Cultivator can spend stored Spirit Qi to break through to the next level or Realm.

-When a Cultivator breaks through to the next Realm, their Dantian absorbs the energy of the Tribulation to improve itself, expanding both its maximum storage and its defensive ability.

-The Dantian is the strongest part of a Cultivator’s body with this World’s set of rules, so it should be nearly impossible to break as your Cultivation progresses. If the Dantian does break, both your Cultivation and all of the stored Spirit Qi will be lost.

William didn’t expect for the upper and middle Dantians not to exist in this World. He assumed their lack of existence was the reason why the lower Dantian was so strong, since it would essentially absorb a hundred percent of the benefits from the Tribulation during a breakthrough.

He thanked the System, returning to his own physical assessment.

Compared to the Talent upgrades, William didn’t know exactly what had changed.

He had to physically test each ability out himself or spend a dozen Potential Points to ask the System for specific data, which was more expensive than William cared for, even if he did have thousands of Potential Points right now.

After around ten minutes, William still had little clue what had changed about himself. His strength and speed seemed to have improved, but the change was so minimal that he almost didn’t notice.

In the cavern it was hard to test whether or not his vision had improved, but since the Talent was only B-Rank yet he could make out finer details on the opposite wall, William had a feeling that it did.

So it’s mostly just basic physical and mental abilities. It makes sense.

William didn’t have high hopes for the Qi Refinement Realm, since his strength had surpassed that long ago, but the main bonus was his lifespan, which had increased from 240 years to 250. It was only a ten-year difference, but he knew that the increase was exponential at higher Realms.

Just as he scrolled through his Status, another System Message popped up.

-Detected the Host has begun Cultivating. Reorganizing Status Panel…

–Unlocked Extended Statistic: +3 Potential Points

-Cultivation Base: Displays the current and maximum storage of the Host’s Dantian.

William’s Status Panel refreshed, the updated sections appearing in front of him first.

———

INFO: ( – )

-Name: William

-Race: Human

-Age: 41

-Lifespan: 250 Years

-Cultivation: Qi Refinement 1 (1/20 to breakthrough)

STATUS: ( – )

-Health: 400/400

-Mana: 2108/2200

-Fame: 100

-Humanity: 98

-Attention: 1

-Soul Strength: 51

-Cultivation Base: 1/500

———

In addition to the new Status Panel, William noticed that his Health had gone up from 350 to 400 and his Mana reserves had increased by another hundred.

He hadn’t checked the statistic in a while, so he wasn’t sure if the Health portion had happened just now or much earlier while he was in the trial tower, but his change in maximum Mana was definitely from his Cultivation.

Either way it was a good thing, making William excited for future Cultivation.

William still had 6813 Potential Points left, but he had already spent as many Points as he was willing to for today. He brought out Atticus, then made food for the both of them before continuing with his Cultivation.

Judging by the System Panel, his Dantian could store at most five hundred Spirit Qi, while the requirements to break through to Qi Refinement 2 would be twenty Spirit Qi.

Considering he had condensed a thread of Spirit Qi in just an hour, he should be able to reach the next level in less than a day.

Damn, now I kinda want to upgrade my Cultivation Talent again…William thought as he imagined the amount of time it would take to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Sorry Atticus. System, upgrade my Cultivation Talent. It didn’t take long for him to make the decision. He would still be in the Gravitas Ruins for another month, so setting aside five thousand points would probably be a waste.

-5000 PP

———

TALENT UPGRADED

Cultivation: (A –> S)

Effects: Cultivation Speed +550% >> +1200%

S-Rank Bonus Effect: Chance of Enlightenment increased by 10%.

———

Enlightenment? What is that, System?

-Request requires 4 Potential Points. Yes/No?

Confirm.

-Enlightenment happens to Cultivators under extremely rare circumstances while either Cultivating or fighting. When Enlightened, one usually gains insights on how to improve on either Cultivation or fighting Techniques.

William understood immediately. If he was fighting with a strong Cultivator and was suddenly Enlightened, he might instantaneously improve upon a Spell or Weapon-Related Technique.

At the same time, if William was Cultivating, he might discover how his own Cultivation Technique can be improved, increasing his Cultivation speed or even gaining additional bonuses that the Technique didn’t have before.

It seemed really overpowered!

He didn’t miss the part where the System said that Enlightenment was extremely rare. A ten percent increase might not even be that impressive, so William didn’t get his hopes up.

He continued Cultivating, his speed having increased by over double, which allowed him to create a strand of Spirit Qi in less than half an hour. As he became more skilled in converting the Mana, his speed increased slightly further to one Spirit Qi per twenty minutes.

At this rate, William had gained enough Spirit Qi to break through in just seven hours. If any outsider were to see William’s Cultivation speed, they might puke blood in shock.

Normally, a Cultivator would need at least a month to go from Qi Refinement 1 to 2 using a basic Cultivation Technique. Some of the rarer Techniques, such as the one that William had gained from the Five Elements Sect, would improve that speed to just two weeks.

Even the most Talented Cultivators would need at least three days to reach the next level, meaning William had surpassed even geniuses by more than six times!

It wasn’t incredibly surprising though, considering William had the help of the Potential System. Without its support, William would need around three weeks to break through, even if he still had the same Cultivation Technique.

He didn’t hesitate and chose to break through to the second level. His physical abilities improved again, this time slightly more noticeable than before. Since his Physical Talents gave both a base and a percentage improvement, his abilities would improve faster as his Cultivation climbed.

William’s Cultivation Base didn’t increase, remaining at a maximum of five hundred, but the requirements to reach Qi Refinement 3 rose from twenty to thirty Spirit Qi.

He spent the remainder of the night Cultivating, converting another fourteen Spirit Qi before opting to go to sleep.

As a Cultivator, William was able to stay up nearly a full day without needing sleep. With the Sleep Resistance Talent, he could go for much longer, but it wasn’t beneficial to his Cultivation.

Damn, and I thought Cultivation counted as sleep…William complained in his mind after spending an extra ten minutes trying to refine a strand of Spirit Qi. It was obvious that his efficiency had gone down after a while, so he switched his plan and spent an hour partially refilling his Tribulation Transcendence Protective Amulet.

He didn’t completely fill the Amulet, but some progress was better than none.

William went to bed, uncaring of whether it was day or night outside. Since he was in a cavern, it didn’t really matter either way.

He forgot to set up Arrays to conceal himself, but it turned out to be unnecessary as Atticus was keeping an eye out and the chances of someone entering a trial that had already been cleared were incredibly low, unless they were specifically searching for William.

While there were still around a thousand Cultivators throughout the Gravitas Ruins that would like to see William dead, they had already learned of his ruthlessness firsthand. No one would challenge him again without the confidence to counter his nearly inexhaustible Arrays and overpowered Attack Reflection Talent.

William woke up after seven hours of sleep feeling refreshed and ready to go. Despite the fact that he didn’t like Cultivating, William had to admit that its effects were quite useful, especially concerning sleep and eating.