"Huh?" Hyesi looked around, surprised to suddenly hear someone talking.
"Is someone there?" he said as he looked around the forest, trying to see if anyone was there. When he saw no one, he went around the back of the trees to see if one of the little kids was hiding there, teasing him because he was so weak.
Once he didn't find anyone, he just said, "Weird," and went back to climbing the tree.
"Are you listening kid? Stop climbing the tree!! I can help you get stronger," another voice came out of nowhere.
"Who's there?" Hyesi got more apprehensive and started looking around more.
"Not there, down here," Ning spoke from the necklace, directing Hyesi's attention towards himself. Hyesi looked down but didn't immediately think of the necklace as the source of the voice.
"Who are you? Where are you speaking from?" he asked.
Ning thought for a moment and said, "I am a gift from your mother to you. I live in the necklace and can make you stronger, boy."
"You live in my necklace? How…?" Hyesi couldn't believe it.
"I… " Ning quickly thought for a bit and immediately responded," am your friend, your guardian, your god!!" Ning immediately started cringing at himself for saying such ridiculous things.
Hyesi, however, believed it immediately. "You are a god? Are you… Inikaka?" asked Hyesi, with a face full of innocent surprise.
"Ini… kaka? Uhh… yea… yeah, yeah. That is I," Ning started to lie.
Hyesi immediately got onto his knees, head on the ground, and started crying, "O great and bright Inikaka, please help your powerless child. Please help me get stronger."
Ning was surprised at how quickly Hyesi accepted the fact that he was a god. 'Inikaka… wasn't that what they worshipped this morning? Is that what he thinks I am?' he wondered.
"Get up child, I cannot help you get stronger," Ning said, which made Hyesi immediately lose all hope.
"However, I can give you the ability to get stronger in exchange for you doing something of your own." Ning was currently in a very small stone, so the amount of energy he lost from speaking was very low.
Thus he spoke to Hyesi as if there was no end.
"I have to do something?" Hyesi asked confused.
"Yes. Do what I say and I can give you the power to get stronger." Ning replied.
"Yes, Please tell me what I have to do." Hyesi pleaded for some answers.
"Uhh… for now, sit down and meditate until I tell you what to do," Ning said and went silent.
Hyesi did as Ning asked and sat down on the sand, next to a palm tree, and started meditating. He had just seen a ray of hope and fully did whatever was required to make that ray brighter.
'Geez, that kid is quite gullible. I had expected I would have to lie a bit more, but just saying that I am ina… iniki… whatever it was, he immediately accepted it.'
'Alright, system. Can you tell me what is wrong with this boy? Why is he considered weak among the villagers here?' Ning asked the system.
His entire plan depended on him having enough energy to get information from the system and was hoping the system did not disappoint him.
'I know. Show me the information I can buy,' Ning said annoyed at the system.
'Hmm... Where is basic?' Ning asked.
Ning didn't even hesitate as he said, "Give me the intermediate one." A bunch of knowledge transferred into his mind as he learned what was wrong with Hyesi.
'I see,' he thought.
The cultivation technique that Hyesi and the rest of the villagers used was called the 'Sun God's Morning Cleansing technique'. Every morning, they would have to perform a series of prepare their bodies to take on the first sunlight of the day.
They would use the time between the sun first pops out until it's fully out to cleanse the villager's body and it helped them get stronger. All of the villagers got a varying level of strength from doing this every day, but none of them were ever as weak as Hyesi.
That was because of Hyesi's body itself. The Sun God's Morning Cleansing Technique used the Yang energy of the sun to cleanse everyone's body. Hyesi's body, however, was mostly of Yin Constitution. Meaning, every night, his body would gather Yin within him and when he used the cleansing technique, most of it would be lost due to the Yin and Yang canceling themselves.
While the remaining yang energy was barely enough to make him as strong as he is.
'So, if I can somehow take out the Yin energy from his body every night before the sun comes up, he can do it, right?' he asked the system with no answer.
'Hey system, how can I get rid of the Yin energy?' he asked.
'Hmm… The first one just doesn't make sense for me to do. I don't think wasting my own energy is the way to go here. The second one looks like it's the best one for the kid, however, hehehe… I'm not doing it for the kid.'
'System, show me how I can absorb the yin energy?' he asked the system.
'Hmm… sound doesn't work as well since I don't want to wake people up overnight. That means I will have to go with heat conversion. That will cost me a lot of energy, which I don't have right now.'
'Guess it's time for the kid to do his part of the deal.'