For the first three days, Duncan cultivated diligently and accumulated qi in his body in a slow but steady manner. He would also take some time to practice the martial arts technique he had borrowed from the scripture pavilion. Duncan noticed that his rate of improvement slowed down with each day, but didn't mind it much.
Whenever he felt that he wasn't making any progress, he would pop in a qi gathering pill and continue to cultivate on. He realized why such a pill was needed as improvement became harder with each day. Duncan wondered why it was so, but didn't have anyone to whom he could enquire things about. He decided to wait till meeting his master to ask that question.
However, when nine qi strands were accumulated in his dantain, he was surprised to find out that it was already full, and no matter what he tried to do nothing worked. He wasted more than three Qi Gathering pills in an effort to improve slightly, but they all ended up in vain.
