Chapter 23: Ch 23:- Learning
As Rayne stepped forward into the dark forest, he felt several presences with hostile intent all around him, but he was unable to see anyone. It was one of the things that he had learned during his 10-hour stay in this nightmare realm.
At that moment his system shouted in his head which caused him a massive headache.
[Sir, don't move a single inch and don't breath.]
Even though Rayne doesn't know the reason then also complied with it before asking 'Why? '
[I sense to many hostile presence and this forest which you are thinking a forest isn't even real, if you summon the Map then turn on enemies location as well as 3D model rendering then you will understand.]
Soon, Rayne summoned the Map function and activated the Enemy Highlighter. As he did so, his current location the forest on the map was filled with red dots, and his own location appeared as a blue dot. There were so many red dots that the entire forest region on the map was covered in them. Additionally, he noticed that there was another cave pathway marked on the map leading to an unknown location. Intrigued, he activated 3D rendering, causing the map to transform into a 3D depiction. Using his mind, he explored the 3D map and discovered that the forested region was situated within a massive cave system.
[Now do you understand now all I want you to do is make a small cut on the hand using your blade slowly and silently and contract a wand with your own blood as fast as possible before quickly waving it and forming the shape O while letting your soul essence to flow through it before shouting 'Helios' do you understand you need to do this as quick as possible.]
'Okay let's do it,'
Rayne slowly slid his hand towards his blade, making minimal movement, then quickly cut his hand. He stored the blade and formed a wand with his blood within two seconds. However, this was enough time for the presence around him to become alerted. He immediately drew an "O" in the air before shouting, "Helios!" As he shouted, something bit his arm, causing a major part of the flesh to vanish, exposing his bones. Nevertheless, the spell was successful, and a blinding orb of light appeared out of thin air, momentarily blinding him and his assailant. Rayne quickly recovered and saw that the forest had disappeared, replaced by several humanoid creatures that were scattering away from the light. Seizing the opportunity, he turned around and saw the gate from which he had came earlier. He immediately opened it and dashed to the other side.
After closing the iron door that stood between him and the numerous creatures on the other side, Rayne slid down and sat on the ground, feeling utterly drained both physically and emotionally. His heart was pounding in his chest, and he could feel his hands trembling as he tried to steady his breathing. As He thought about the gaping wound on his arm, which was now oozing blood and causing him intense pain. He knew he needed to tend to his wound, but he felt too exhausted to move. As he sat there, he took in his surroundings, trying to make sense of what had just happened. The air was thick with the smell of earth and dampness, and he could hear the distant sound of water trickling somewhere nearby. The ground beneath him was cold and damp, and he could feel the rough texture of the stones against his skin. For a moment, he felt overwhelmed by the gravity of his situation, but he knew he couldn't afford to give in to die here. He had to find a way out of this nightmare realm, no matter what it took and it also didn't helped much because when he checked his Quest screen it showed only one message and that is "Survive the nightmare".
After taking a few deep breaths and calming down a little bit, Rayne retrieved a healing pill and without hesitation, he popped the pill in his mouth and waited for it to take effect. As he swallowed the pill, he could feel a warm sensation spreading throughout his body, soothing his aches and pains and accelerating his healing process. Despite the relief he felt, he knew that the pill wouldn't fully heal his wound, but it would at least prevent it from worsening. He then tore off a strip of cloth from his shirt and wrapped it tightly around his wound, wincing in pain as he did so to prevent dirt and debris from entering the wound and cause infection as his healing factor mended the last bits of his wounds.
Rayne then stood up and started to look at the iron door while using his finger to feel it's texture at that moment he noticed that it contained several runes engraved into its frame curious he asked his system.
"Grace, what do these runes mean?"
[I can't surely tell but we could only assume that it is some kind of magic formation maybe with light or holy attribute to keep those wendigos at bay.]
"Oh, then those things are called wendigo hum why does it sound so familiar," Rayne started to think intensely before remebering "Arn't those thing related to undead?"
[Yes, you are right.]
"OK, then does that mean that they are practically humans."
[Yeah, we could say that they are somewhat human?]
"But you don't seem very sure. Let's just ignore what I said. We don't know how long it can hold, and I certainly wouldn't want to be mauled by hundreds of wendigos so let's collect whatever loots that I have missed." Rayne said.
Rayne quickly scanned the area, searching for the loots that he had previously abandoned in his haste to escape this place. He spotted the corpse Deep Ones that were guarding the gate earlier before he killed them. He, started to cut them with his broken katana blade to get the loots from the Deep Ones, he was able to gain exactly 15 beast core and 3 raw hide he then moved on toward the place where the corpse of the tyrant resided from it he was able to get 5 beast core, 10 Steel claws unfortunately it didn't dropped any raw hide.
Satisfied with his haul he decided to remove his mask to breath more comfortable. As soon as he removed his mask the smell of blood entered it nostrils, he still couldn't understand how the mask was able to block of the smell of blood. He then closed his eyes and started to take deep breath to get the smell of blood more as if smelling some kind delicious food soon he opened his eyes and bow they were glowing ominous red and then he muttered "I thought I was not able drink beast blood."
[It depends for example the beast that you have slain until now were all marked by divinity so in one way or another they are kind of divine being.]
Upon hearing those words, Rayne's eyes widened with surprise, and his instincts took over. Without a moment's hesitation, he leaped onto the lifeless body of the Awakened Tyrant Dagon and tore open its flesh with his sharp teeth. Blood flowed freely into his mouth, still warm and metallic, and he drank it greedily, savoring its taste and feeling a strange rush of energy coursing through his veins. As he drank, he could feel the strange energy becoming one with his body, changing it and filling his body with more vigor. Even though he knew that he shouldn't be from it because the more he drank the more addicting it will become but he couldn't resist the urge to drink more, and he continued to feed on the beast's blood until there was nothing left.
When he finally came to his senses the first thing he said was "Hum... it tastes like lemonade what am I even thinking I am getting off the topic," Rayne said while slapping himself.
"Okay, let see previously when I drank blood from that half dead guy I didn't feel anything but this time I felt it that strange energy if I am not wrong then it is vitality," thinking this Rayne immediately checked if he had got any message and there he spotted it.
[For drinking an ascended blood +30 points to vitality stats]
"That's a lot of points. Let's see, vitality is the life force which is pure Qi. If I remember correctly, the book said that to learn it, one needs to feel it. Does that mean I can finally learn how to use a different kind of mystical energy?" Rayne thought, feeling pleased with himself for being able to remember all of that even though it had been quite a while.
Rayne commanded his system to open the library there he saw three new books but he decided to ignore it for now before opening the fundamental of Qi book and blitzing through all the pages to get a general idea of how the qi works so basically there are two known stages of Qi.
The first stage, it basically how to use Qi in your body and move Qi around to different parts of your body and on how to infuse Qi into items or things you are touching, then comes second stage it basically allows one to coat the body externally with Qi.
"But the things that this book describes seems to be lacking what if I try the method used in wuxia novels like I already have a breathing technique to recover soul essence quickly although it is not a Qi one but with some tinkering I think I will be able to form a Qi core just like my Soul core,"
Rayne immediately retrieved the book on soul essence from his system library and revised the breathing technique one more time. He wanted to make sure that he didn't miss any crucial steps. Once he was satisfied, he sat down on the ground in lotus position and began the methodical and cyclic breathing, focusing on cleaning his mind of all thoughts.
As he continued to breathe, he felt a subtle change in his body. He could vaguely sense his Qi, but he was not able to call upon it just yet. Determined to make progress, he decided to take a different approach. Instead of trying to gather his Qi through traditional means, he directed his soul essence throughout his body in search of it. It took some time, but he eventually located his Qi and began to forcefully pump it through his meridians. It was a risky move, as forcing Qi in such a manner could potentially cause harm to his body, but Rayne was confident in his ability to control soul force and his healing factor.
As he continued to pump his Qi, he could feel his body becoming more energized and his mind becoming clearer. He focused on the sensation of his Qi moving through his body, trying to understand its flow and how to control it. Hours passed as Rayne continued to practice, occasionally stopping to rest and recover before starting again. It was a grueling process, but he knew that the rewards would be worth it. By the end of the day, he had made significant progress in controlling his Qi and also gaining newfound understanding of the mystical energy.
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