After the fifth day, it stopped hurting. I also stopped puking that black ooze, it seemed like my body got purified of many things... among those, I stop doubting about this cultivation method, deep to the core of my being I understood that my destiny now was intertwined with pain and accepted it, one way or another, I felt like I found my path in this life, and thanks to no longer being a simple slave of the sect, I had time to cultivate in relative peace until I get called by the elders or I receive any kind of instruction to follow.
"I can feel it..." I thought deep into my meditation, today was the last day of my quest, a whole week had passed before I could notice, I used to think cultivating was something that the tyrants do to oppress the common folk, but now I kinda understood how addicting it felt, I just wanted to sink into this world and not worrying about anything else, even if my condition hadn't improved that much in the sect "So this is... enlightenment..."
Now, after practicing this meditation for a whole week I begin to feel the results. I felt my inner sea spreading, like a surge of power from my body, and opened my eyes. I was sweating, and breathing heavily, but just by looking at my hands, I could tell...
"3rd Stage of the Formation of the Spiritual Body..." I said catching my breath, I was surprised, I broke through two whole stages at once, I could feel a tiny amount of energy coursing through my body, I finally began my steps in the world of the cultivators.
"Congratulations, quest complete!" The window appeared again in front of me "Select now your rewards for your hard work. You have received 20 storm tokens."
The window spread and revealed some options.
*Scroll of Artifact crafting. A foolproof manual to learn the basics of artifact crafting.
*Scroll of martial art (Low grade). A scroll containing the inner workings of a martial art compatible with the method of The demon that stole the storm. Wind-based technique.
*3 gold pieces. 3 gold coins without markings of any country.
The system window also had a storm cloud in the right top corner with a 20 beside it. I guessed that those were the storm tokens, but I didn't know what use they had. For now, I selected the middle option, I didn't have any martial art for my cultivation and I needed means to defend myself. Out of the window fell to my hand a scroll, which I opened, it had some drawings of a martial artist's movement and some letters, they began to glow and suddenly, all those movements, all the contents of the scroll got sent into my mind.
"Wind strike learned" Announced the system in my mind.
The technique was very straightforward, I could push the air with the palm of my hand, and use the pressure of the wind to strike objectives near me in some range of distance. It wasn't impressive, but it was better than nothing.
"Quest!" The system didn't have any mercy on me which I just ended the first one "Defeat 5 fellow disciples, you have 2 days to complete this quest".
I felt a little anxious, but I stood up and clenched my fists, I had lots of scores to settle, this is the way of the cultivator anyways, and it's a good way to gain the attention of the elders.
"Yosh" I said stretching, I just wanted to start and complete this quest "It's time to test my resolve"
I left my room to go to the training grounds.
The training grounds weren't that impressive, but they were full of disciples of the [Shadow Crow] sect. Some were just practicing on dummies made of wood normal martial arts, others were doing exercise, and of course, there was some sparring. The first time I saw this place I hated it with all my might, it was my second day in the sect, I got beaten till I lost my consciousness, the same was the treatment to all the other kidnapped kids that arrived the same day as I. We were just stolen goods, disposable but needed, so even if we got hit so hard that we wanted to die, they treated us with medicine and forced us to keep going. Of course, not everyone made it to this day, that's the truth of this world, I came to accept it to not lose my mind. The weak die and the strong lives on. I felt like it was my duty to live on for all of those kids that died during the training.
"Mei?" Someone said, a familiar voice behind me, a faint smile formed on my lips.