-You what??? Don't even think about it!!!
Alrick was shocked to the extent where he even began to shout at Connor, he and his people worked hard, but then this little kid willed to commit suicide? Nonsense! He had plans on this boy, after all! How could he just let him go and die?
-Stand right there! Don't even dare to move! You will surely die!
Alrick wasn't going to stop shouting, and not because of anger or annoyance. It was confusing! A child told him that he would cultivate right in the middle of the blizzard. He just didn't know how to react, so he subconsciously focused on irritation inside him and started to shout at a naive child.
While the red-headed man screamed at Connor, the boy himself was slowly walking out of the barriers safe zone. He already decided that it was worth the try, so he didn't listen to Alrick's word and just slowly walked to the blizzard.
As he was approaching it, he felt that the flow of Qi intensified with every step, so his assumption that streams of air could push Qi forward was correct, and when his hypothesis was confirmed, nothing could stop Connor from doing what he wanted to do.
After a second or two, he was standing right at the edge of the barrier. He could feel with the tip of his fingers the mad rush of freezing air, but he must take the risk to create a survival chance for himself and the people around him.
-Come back! What are you even doing!? Are you want to die so hard?!
Alrick still tried to conceive him, but Connor had already decided, so it was too late.
The young scientist made 1 step, just one small step, but it changed everything.
He felt like the force of the wind could literally blow him away as a tiny snowflake!
Immediately, he poured a lot of his Qi inside his limbs, grabbed onto the ground with both his legs and arms. The wind was something beyond his imagination. Right now, he was struggling to don't fly away immediately.
The red-haired man continued to shout and tried to bring Connor back, but now the young scientist didn't even listen to what he said. The wind was too strong to hear anything.
As he found some very shake balance in this chaotic environment, he immediately started to absorb the Qi flying right into him. As always, there were two sides to the coin.
First side: Connor was right. There indeed was a lot more Qi in this crazy stream of air.
Second side: The purple was energy was so chaotic and fast that he couldn't properly control it.
The energy would go wild inside him, not calming down even after he began to absorb it. This was horrible news because it severely slowed down the process of absorbing, to the point it was around the same efficiency as a cultivate-behind-the-barrier method. Not only that, but Connor felt that if he couldn't handle the control of rampaging Qi, it would damage his inner organs, and that was certainly not what he wanted!
He clenched his fists, struggled, and tried his best with his cultivation idea. But it seems that it wasn't a feasible method. Connor felt the feeling of giving up again, a feeling that says to you that everything is useless, you will not accomplish anything, and it was just easier to give up than to struggle.
A very alluring feeling, you just needed to stop putting in the effort, and you will be good. Only one thing kept young scientists from giving up. It was fear. Fear of death, fear that if he gives up, his long journey will be ended right in the beginning, so, as a countermeasure to fear, Connor tried to think and came up with something.
-I need to cultivate, just focus on cultivation and nothing else, cultivation, cultivation, cultivation.
At this moment, he even forgot for what did he needed that cultivation in the first place. He only has one goal in mind - cultivate. Pure concentration, Connor felt like he was searching for something in his mind, something that could save his life. In the middle of a life-and-death situation, as usual, he started asking questions to himself.
I need to cultivate.
What do I do to cultivate?
I absorb energy.
Is this the only method to cultivate in this world?
Yes, I need to absorb Qi no matter how I cultivate, at least for now.
Are there any other methods to absorb energy?
No... wait, there actually is!
A wide grin appeared on Connor's face, which was fully covered in snow. Thought of the magnetic-compression phenomenon that he discovered earlier appeared in his mind. There was hope! He could do that! He could use this phenomenon to catch some Qi from the air and then just directly swallow the sphere of Qi inside him. This method will allow him to absorb the energy without any difficulties or risks safely.
Not wasting any time, Connor immediately channeled half of his accumulated energy outside of his body and then formed four large Qi spheres with it. He inhaled deeply, and spheres started to compress. After a second or two, there were four small-sized spheres of pure-purple color. After this operation, Connor looked exhausted, he used most of his energy reserves and mental powers, but at least now, four spheres will do all the work for him and collect all the needed energy.
Or he thought so...
He observed for some time and figured out that his spheres couldn't attract any Qi because the magnetism force was too weak! It couldn't catch Qi with such speed, so purple energy particles just flew over spheres and continued their way without practically any disturbance.
Hope in Connor's eye vanished. He couldn't believe that his idea actually couldn't work out. He had become a little arrogant with his previous successes, so he just jumped right inside the blizzard without any plan B, thinking that all his ideas would work out perfectly.
His first idea was entirely impossible for him!
His second idea was feasible in theory but required too much magnetic force. His four spheres couldn't produce it.
"Don't panic, Connor! Think! Don't stop thinking!" The young boy tried to calm down and come up with some plan simultaneously, but it just didn't work!
"Wait, I know! I know! I don't need quantity right now. I need quality! If I combine all the four spheres, maybe it'll work!" A sudden realization occurred, and Connor didn't waste any second of precious time, immediately starting to form a large-and compressed sphere of Qi.
Four spheres smoothly flew to each other, and all of them stopped right in front of the boy's face. After first contact, four spheres began to unite in one. It took some time for Connor, but the large purple sphere was completed, the last and most challenging thing left - compression!
Connor put all of his concentration into this process. Unlike the previous case, the compression will take some time and a lot of Connor's effort.
-What is he doing??
One expedition group member in the backline asked Alrick a question about Connor's action.
-I don't know! Focus on yourself and your brothers ahead! The child is going to be okay!
-Understood!
To be honest, in Alrick's eyes boy was already dead. Still, he must support the group spirit, and the fact that a child from their group just walked in the blizzard and died undoubtedly wouldn't support the team's spirit, so he pretended that everything was going according to his plan.
Meanwhile, Connor finished the compression of the sphere. It was still a little larger than the previous one, so he was quite proud of himself. He had gone beyond his abilities and compressed the sphere to such condition that even he wasn't sure that was possible with his skills.
He once again inhaled deeply and released the sphere.
One second, two seconds
Connor's eyes nervously twitched
Three seconds, four seconds
The young scientist was starting to feel depressed.
Five seconds, six sec...
Pure-purple sphere attracted some Qi! Finally! Connor observed how first, only a small amount of Qi flew to the sphere, but this number was steadily increasing! After some time, the Qi sphere looked like a planet with lots of rings around it! If a boy weren't in such an extreme situation, he would surely enjoy the view. But right now, he couldn't appreciate the look of it. He was screaming because of euphoria and feel of success!
-Yes! It is working! IT IS WORKING!!!!
Alrick immediately turned his head when he heard the screaming. He was surprised by a view of Connor lying on the ground, screaming in ecstasy, a fancy purple sphere with a lot of rings around. It floated near the child's face, and although Alrick was not a youngster, he hadn't seen anything similar in his life. While the red-haired man wondered what this purple sphere was, Connor suddenly said.
- Finally, I am starting the cultivation!