Cuojue, in her excitement, decided to place her unneeded worries on her amicable father in her mind. She sat in her bed, thought for a good moment and asked Mira to standby while the maids leave the room.
She activated her braze with just a single command from her mind and browsed through her cultivation art. From what she read, to begin tempering her body, she had to imagine an invisible sphere around her body, feel a form of warm feeling around her and pull the Qi in like a whirlpool. Qi is the life energy of the surroundings, capable of healing injuries or damaging flesh, hence why it will be used to temper the body. Once she has gathered the Qi, she has to use a large amount of Qi temper her skin first.
The Qi will break down the skin and heal it while removing the impurities. The manual had also warned that the process will be painful. The pain mentioned would be a lot worse compared to the pain of low level cultivation arts. The art also recommended that she had to prepare blood pills, since blood may get pushed out of the body in large amounts.
(Tssss, this is going to hurt...lets prepare first.) Although she had such thoughts, she was used to pain, what kind of assassin would whine from just a broken pinky? But that didn't mean she liked to feel pain.
"Mira, please prepare blood pills for me, I'll start the entrance to the first stage of Star Realm."
She asked Mira to prepare blood pills before proceeding to gather Qi in a lotus position. Mira bowed and left, closing the door behind her with a soft thud.
(I hope Young Miss would be able to endure the pain, lets bring some towels along to clean up the blood and smell later.) Thought Mira, while ordering the maids to get the pills, towels and clothes.
While on the other side of the half-metal, half-wooden door, Cuojue had already felt Qi within 1 minute of meditating. Blueish Qi and light gathered around her in a swirl before spreading all over her body.
(Here goes....GAAAAAHH!!!) Cuojue gritted her teeth in anticipation of the pain. But who knew that a surge of seething pain had invaded her body would be so great that she almost screamed.
(Argghh...If I can't endure this, I might as well stay as a weak little child my whole life!) Cuojue reignited her determination and endured the hot, stinging pain around her body. She focused on gathering Qi with just her sheer will that she had tempered in her previous life.
Her skin cracked, broken downed and healed. Blood and black liquid oozed out of her pores. Her eyes shut tightly, lips pursed. Her skin had begun to be tempered and the pain was gradually waning. She started to feel less and less pain and finally, she could feel no more pain.
(Phew...finally, that was painful, but wasn't too bad. I better check my condition.)
She looked down and saw her whole body covered in murky black liquid. She smelled herself and immediately pinched her nose to prevent the pungent air from entering her lungs.
(Ewww, so smelly. Damn, didn't expect for my body to be so dirty.)
Cuojue got off the bed and walked over to the bathroom. She cleaned herself while Mira entered the room with a new set of clothes, towels and an air freshener. She wore a mask since she knew this would happen and passed the fresh set of clothes to the young miss.
Cuojue dried herself, ate a blood pill to recover her lost blood, wore new clothes and checked her condition once more. She smiled due to the gains despite the pain. Although she felt mentally tired, her body felt very energetic. Her body was stronger, her skin looked smooth and jaded. Now she was much prettier than galactic idols.
She was now a 1 Star Realm warrior.
"Haha! Now, I can start to bully my lil bro. I still can't forgive him for crushing my finger."
[How petty.]
"Huh? Who said that! I'm not petty! This is retribution!"
[....]
(Damn this system, making fun of me like I'm deaf.) Cuojue gnashed her teeth while glaring at an empty corner, imagining it to have some ugly person and beating them up.
(Now, lets see how much has my stats changed...)
____________________________________________
{Status Board : Cuojue Huang}
Age : 6
Strength: 0.3+(1)
Agility: 0.3+(1)
Endurance: 0.3+(1)
Stamina: 0.3+(1)
Mental Strength: 10
[Average Adult: 1]
Body Cultivation: [Heaven and Earth Domain Cultivation Art]
Cultivation Level: 1 Star Realm
Mental Cultivation: None
Bloodline: Locked
Skills: Sharp Shooter Lv4, Dagger Lv8, Hand-to-hand Combat Lv7, First Aid Lv7
Stealth Lv8, Inspect Lv7, Enhanced Senses Lv8
Martial Techniques: Heavenly Deceit Martial Arts(Perfection)
Current AP: 10,955
Quests: Daily
- Done
Inventory: 3 Bronze Tickets, 1 Silver Tickets, Mind-Calming Necklace, Progressive Gift Box
Other features: Locked (Requires better cultivation)
____________________________________________
(Good, seems like my stats have grown by a point. Now lets see how much my body improved.)
Cuojue, felt a small sense of accomplishment from her first step into the world of cultivation.
She asked Mira to bring over testing equipment like weights, a speed'o meter and a knife. She wanted to find out how much strength, speed and endurance she had. She didn't have to test out stamina since she could feel bursts of energy radiating from her body.
(My strength seems to have increased from 30kg to 130kg. Seems like 0.1 represents 10kg. While my speed seems to have improved from 3 meters per second to 13 meters per second. But I think I could be faster if I incorporated some basic step techniques and ill be as fast as a car. As for my reaction speed...I could test it another time.)She tested strength and agility.
Strength would obviously mean a more powerful body. But to control such a powerful body, agility must be increased. Agility not only provides more speed, it provides more body control and reaction speed. If you have very high agility but low strength, your body would react more slower. Thus, both strength and agility must be even.
Cuojue than unhesitatingly took a knife from Mira's side and did a downward slash on her wrist. There was not a single cut at all, a ding sound was heard. Her skin was still smooth and not a single scratch was etched on it. The edge of the knife was chipped. She only used 1 point of strength and it didn't make a scratch, she only felt a sting. Seems like if she used an even amount of strength or higher, she could easily damage her now tough skin.
(Wow! Looks like I'm a super human now. But I can't underestimate others. If I gain this much amount of benefits from a single jump in cultivation level, than others might have more benefits than me since they have cultivated longer than me. Hehe, how exciting.)
Just the thought of getting stronger and meeting even stronger enemies made her blood boil. She only had two hobbies. One, she liked fighting, not killing. Two, she only played musical instruments to pass her time, her favorite would be a flute. She was even proud to be able to use a leaf to play music, a trick she learned from watching TV commercials. {Well...they were just commercials that played sounds in the background while someone was blowing a leaf, so.... I don't have an idea how she learned to play music with a leaf - Authors' thoughts.}
All she ever did when she had free time was eat, sleep, watch TV and day dream all the time other than these two hobbies.
While, Cuojue was in her small world, Mira was horrified and then relieved when she saw the child in front of her strike her own skin with a knife and remained unharmed. At first, Mira questioned why she needed a knife, and she was answered with a shocking scene of the young lady attacking her skin after she was done using the weights and the speed'o meter. She was greatly surprised and relieved that the miss wasn't hurt. But she felt awe at how Cuojue had just advanced into 1 Star Realm on her first try at the age of 6!
(Young miss is truly amazing. She is a prodigy, able to breakthrough on her first try. I took weeks to sense Qi and start tempering my body. Even master Youshi took 3 days to breakthrough to 1 Star Realm.) Mira praised Cuojue in her mind.
"Young Miss, it's time to have dinner, it is already 9 pm. Madame and Master have already eaten and slept. We have brought food with us." Mira bowed and waved at the maids to bring in a warm sumptuous dinner.
"Thank you." Cuojue sat at a neat table at the side and started scoffing down her meal. Fortunately, Mira thoughtfully prepared more food, as Cuojue would definitely ask for seconds. She needed more food to replenish her blood and energy now. After all, she was still a growing child.
Once she was done eating, she brushed her teeth and went to bed. Her eyes sparkled over her expectant and bright future. Quickly falling asleep, getting ready for a brand new day.
***
Somewhere In a distant planet, surprisingly within the territory of the Liberion Empire, a young child that looked about to be 7 years old, was kneeling in front of a sick woman, the child hugged her pale hand and wept.
"Mom, I'll keep you company as long as I can." The child expressed his filial wish.
The sickly lady put more strength in her hand to give her only child a peace of mind and spoke in a frail voice. "Dean, thank you for accompanying mother. Aunt Arlean will take care of you when I'm gone. Your father and I have already written a will to have the inheritance passed on to you. Aunt Arlean is the witness to it and will help you take care of the fief until you grow older. Although you may miss us, stay strong my child. You have to be strong, worthy of the title of a Duke. Just like how the people adored your father as one. Try not to harm the weak and keep a ca- *cough**cough*, calm judgement. Be kind to those close to you, don't be like me."
The sick lady smiled, barely so.
She continued "Your father... was used in a scheme during the war with the Chinese Federation. Don't trust other nobles and higher-ups fully. They are a bunch of old and sly foxes. My son, here is a parting gift I prepared." A butler walked over with a red box adorned with gold and jewelry. He opened it for the boy to see. Inside, there was a bracelet and two rings.
"I hope that the bracelet will let you remember your father and I....the rings are your wedding gifts. Live a happy life for us, don't seek revenge, trust Arlean."
The boy brought the gift into his hands and took a look. He spoke in a gentle and quiet voice. "Thank you mom, I'll keep it close to me..."
Her last job finally done. Her last moments were decided.
(Argento, I'll be seeing you soon...)
The woman smiled one last time before breathing her last breath.
Feeling her hand went cold. Tears rolled down his face, he took out a handkerchief and wiped his tears away. He had to maintain dignity in front of the servants. He called for them to take his deceased mother away and bury her beside his father's deathbed in the graveyard outside.
He left the room and walked down the hallway. Arlean, who was at the side went up to him and gave him a hug. Both of them silently mourned for a another lost family member. Arlean had no words to say to comfort her nephew in such a situation. She could only hug him to give some assurance.
(I'm sorry mom, I still can't forgive those who destroyed our family.)
Dean resolved himself to be a fitting duke and make those pay for the death of the parents he loved. This was the birth of a nightmare for the bastards of the Liberion Empire
But this is a story to be continued at another time.