Fell shook his head to clear his mind from his past trauma. He brought the White crystal close to the middle of his eyebrows. That was the spot where his spatial pocket was hidden.
He took a deep breath, forced his determination and put the White crystal on his skin.
A flash of light appeared in the room, followed by a muffled groan. Fell was trembling on his bed, cultivation knowledge inscribing on his brain. He could feel as if they were skewering through his skull, fiercely making their way to his cerebrum.
He was clenching his fists so hard that his nails were piercing his palms. His blood vessels could be seen squirming under his skins, making whoever saw them think they were worms.
The intense pain was accompanied by a large influx of information. Fell felt like his head was gonna burst.
Clenching his teeth, he tried to bear the pain and focused on the information he was receiving.
He could feel lines inscribing in his mind, burning him through the process.
"SOUL CULTIVATION! ONE WILL TO CONTROL YOURSELF!"
"SOUL CULTIVATION! ONE WILL TO CONTROL OTHERS!"
"SOUL CULTIVATION! ONE WILL TO CONTROL THE WORLD!"
Coming along those three sentences, vast knowledge about souls started appearing in his mind.
Soul Cultivation's first step, also called Will Sharpening, focused on grinding the cultivator's mind. Gradually taking out all of its impurities, making the cultivator's soul spotless.
During every individual's life, their will gradually change over the course of time. Every single experience shaping their soul, making them who they are.
Soul Cultivation's main goal was to make the cultivator conscious about who he really is, making him develop his truest persona. It would result in him being able to see his soul as if it was tangible in front of him. The clearer the soul, the better the understanding about himself and his place in the world.
Most mortals don't develop a persona for a single reason, their mind being too tainted by their past experience.
To put it in a simpler word, to develop a persona you needed two things. First, you needed to know your true self, understanding that every single action one does is on purpose, be it conscious or subconscious.
Second, you needed to gradually polish your will, making it possible for your persona to take form.
Fell's expression eased, his trembling stopped. The knowledge transfer ended, making the bone wrecking pain cease. His eyes were still closed, his respiration cycles gradually became longer. Progressively, the duration of every single one of his inhalations and exhalations reached their respective peaks.
If someone saw Fell in this state, he would have thought he was dead. His body truly looked lifeless, no movement at all. In fact, there was movement, but his breaths were so long, it was barely noticeable.
Fell wasn't dead, he entered a deep state of meditation. His body energy consumption was shortened, making him need less oxygen than usual.
In this deep meditative state, Fell was thinking about his life. He was using his new-found knowledge to find his true self.
His life rolled backward inside of his mind. Images, moments and flashes of past scenery appearing one after the other. His life was harsh but simple, his only goal was to survive.
From the moment when he opened his eyes for the first time, to his first battle in the Baby Cemeteries. The past seventeen years of his life clearly recreated in his own mind.
He could see himself running through the maze-like Baby Cemetery, he could feel how his lungs ached with a burning feeling.
Scenes of him getting beaten up in dark alleys, he could feel everything, even the burning will to live that he had shown that day could be clearly felt like he was experiencing it for the first time. It was as if he had to feel every year, every day and every minute of his past. Each and every fight, all of his wounds and the pain related to them. He was reliving it all in a few moments.
Since his life wasn't that long, he experienced his whole life for another time. Seventeen years old might not be long, but Fell's life was filled with harsh struggle. Making him cherish every single day that he managed to survive.
A question appeared in his mind.
"Who am I?"
"You are a reject, an unwanted seed of society, something that was shoved in the filthy streets, you are nothing!" a deep snarling voice resounded in his mind
What Fell was experiencing was pretty common during a cultivator's life. All of his doubts, his fears, his weakness, he had to face them all.
Scenes of his worst moments were shown to him, endlessly repeating in his mind. He was in a state where his mind was stuck in a loop, in a hopelessly vicious cycle. His mental demons were striking at him, trying to bewitch him out of his path.
"No!" he firmly rejected.
Every few moments, Fell was hearing loud but fading sounds of fiends screaming in his ears. It felt like an undead creature was being tortured, letting a horrifying blood-curling shriek escape.
What Fell was experiencing was his first Soul cultivation session. To enter the Will Sharpening stage, a cultivator needed to fight his own fears, clearing his doubts and cleaning the impurities in his Soul.
Except that Fell's first Soul cultivation session was an exception. Most cultivators would need a special Pill to make their internal demons appear and that was caused by the fact that most cultivators didn't live through enough setbacks. All in all, they lacked enough accumulation and worldly experience.
But for Fell, having already experienced the bitterness and harshness of life, he didn't need to use a Bewitching Pill to put himself in that state.
"No!" he repeated.
"No! No! No! No!" every time the voice in his head would try to make him drown in his past pain, he would firmly reject it.
"You are nothing, you are destined to live like a reject of society!"
"No! I … AM FELL PLUCK!" a crack resounded in his head, his internal demons breaking like a mirror.
The screams he was hearing slowly started to feel like they didn't exist.
As soon as he heard the sound of glass breaking in his mind as if a layer of illusion no longer existed for him.
Fell felt free, his newly unfettered mind was gradually resurfacing.
Fell finally opened his eyes. Eyes that weren't those of a seventeen-year-old, striking calmness was found deep inside them.
If a normal person looked at Fell's eyes, they would feel an imposing momentum coming from them.
That was pure confidence. Confidence about himself, confidence about his skills, but most importantly. Confidence to defy destiny itself.
Getting up from his bed, he left his dim-lighted room and went outside.
In the sky, the Moon could be seen hanging there. It was bathing the Earth with its soft moonlight.
Fell enjoyed the quiet scenery, watching the celestial stars shine in the dark. After polishing his soul, he felt a rare feeling of peace inside him.
Today's cultivation session made him confront his past. He was even more certain about his Path.
Taking a deep breath, he unsheathed Soldier's Fortune. Inspiration taking him, he gently slashed with his blade.
A beautiful shine similar to moonlight appeared on the edge of his sword, gently illuminating his surroundings.
In a flash of inspiration, Fell Pluck's first sword move appeared. Moon Above was created.