Alex thought for a bit. Pearl's cultivation base had come from sleeping for a few weeks in his tattoo, then eating the blood essence, and then finally, cultivating. Only one of which was responsible for his body cultivation right now.
"So that can only mean that it is a coincidence right?" he thought. He then wondered 'Since we have the same cultivation base in a way, maybe it will be equal if I take back my Qi? Although it feels really uncomfortable, I should try it.'
He started pulling in the Qi into his meridian and leaving his body Qi-less. "Alright, hit me again buddy." Pearl didn't wait for him to say anything else and immediately slapped his arm with his paw.
Alex stumbled a few steps back as the hit was a bit harder than he thought it would be. "Shouldn't be surprising that I took so much damage. We are the same cultivation base technically after all. Although, it doesn't hurt as much as I expected it to."
