Hiroto shivered seeing where Caelus pointed.
"B-brother… I-I know I'm not combat oriented… but that place, it feels too eerie. I'm also s-sensing danger…"
Caelus blinked at Hiroto.
He was shocked that someone who feels so ordinary and a trash in Caelus' vocabulary was able to sense the danger the forest presented. But then again, he thought it was reasonable. Anyone should be able to tell the danger the forest presented even if they were just a child.
"That's why we're going there. We have a tail on us. If we don't try to lose them, we'll suffer. That dangerous place would cover our track. It's also dangerous enough to erase our Natural Essences."
Hiroto looked grim, but he decided to continue following the man.
*I don't get what he is saying, but this Caelus should be strong. If he wanted us to go through this, then it means he could pass this area safely.* Hiroto knew that he was weak. He also knew how trashy he was. Being born with a diamond spoon in his mouth, he didn't need to do anything to survive. He didn't even experience any hardship in his life. Everything was paved for him.
His life experience revolved around people getting bought by his money.
Problem? He'll pay for it to be solved.
He offended someone? He'll give them a building so they will shut up.
Sometimes, he didn't even need to do anything. His parents would take action and get rid of any hindrance in his path.
He lived the life of a prince.
But after the collapse of the world, everything around him collapsed too.
His money and power had little effect now. And he knew he needed to adapt.
He knew full well of what crappy things he had done.
He betrayed anyone just to survive. He even forced himself to be in the group of the granny, children and women just so he could survive!
But could anyone really blame him for this? For him, his actions were normal. He had even seen infighting and murder inside their Zone. He had shut his mouth just to survive. He knew full well that it was to each and their own if they wanted to survive.
Truth was, the reason he leeched off Caelus was to use him. So that he could survive until he adapted to the new world.
But he felt he was slapped and got washed up by cold water when he heard Caelus' speech.
The man would rather fight destiny than suffer at the hands of others.
He felt incredibly moved. And realized how trashy he really was. It was no wonder he kept hearing things.
Even with all the money he had ever since he was born, he had to admit he was quite lonely. All that loneliness he had, he tried to wash with his money and power. But it was a futile attempt. The loneliness didn't leave him behind, it even clutched at him.
But after hearing Caelus' words, he realized what he really was looking for.
A hero who would show him a path. And Caelus seems to be the hero he needed. He felt relieved when he realized this. All the feeling of loneliness was pushed back.
"We'll rest here. Do you have any food and water?"
Hiroto immediately shook his head. "All our items were destroyed by the Dragon Riders. They made sure that if we ran away, it would be easy for them to catch us."
Caelus nodded. He expected that. That's also why he let Elder Tomoko's group go over to a Safe Zone which had some food and water resources. "Take this," he handed one set of water and food to Hiroto. It was something that was available in Sanctuary Shelter. Sanctuary had a function to let food not rot. "I need to meditate. Don't disturb me unless we're absolutely in danger."
He didn't wait for Hiroto to answer and walked to the edge of the cave.
Because it was getting dark, the cave itself was devoid of light. He didn't dwell on that, he has his Qi to guide him inside.
After entering, he immediately dispelled their Qi Cloak. Noticing the Qi was gone, Hiroto immediately followed inside the cave. The guy hesitated after seeing the darkness, gulped before he reached out at the dirty cave wall and followed him closely behind.
If Caelus was paying attention with the guy, he would find it surprising to see the diamond spooned spoiled brat willingly touching dirt without hesitation.
Caelus didn't bother with the guy. He sat on the ground, cross-legged and immediately meditated. He made it a habit to do so. He knew how strong a fully manifested Qi is. Take a look for example with his Qi Cloak. It seems overpowered already when in fact, he was at the weakest stage of Qi.
Currently, he is only at the Qi Awakening First Layer Point that is only at an Early Stage.
There are four Qi ranks. Qi Awakening, Core Building, Qi Vein Processing and Soul Awakening Integration.
Each of the Qi ranks has nine Layer Points. Each Layer Point has four Stages; Early, Mid, Late and Peak.
It was an information he could not forget even after just seeing it in his dreams.
In short, if he wanted to reach the end of Qi Cultivation, he needed to breakthrough 144 processes. It was overwhelming enough to think about it. It feels impossible. But knowing that the higher he broke through, the stronger he would be, he decided to walk through the path of Qi.
He felt it would be easy since he still has dreams about his past which guided him on his Qi path.
He didn't know how high he could push through, but still he preserved.
Every day since he was stuck at Sanctuary, he practiced his Qi, trying to study the process of strengthening himself and the key point on how to breakthrough.
So far, he knew that the Qi Awakening is about awakening his Qi Waypoints and Qi Waygates. It was a slow process that couldn't be just brutally passed. He needed to be patient while slowly opening his Waypoint and Waygate until it was enough to enter the second layer point. If he brute forced his way, he would lose his Qi Waypoint which would lead to him not being able to store Qi at all. In other words, he won't be able to use Qi anymore.
He inhaled and exhaled softly, focusing on his surroundings and himself.
Caelus slowly pulled every Natural Essence he sensed around him and guided them inside his Waygates to his Waypoints. Slowly, the energy gathered in each Waygate and Waypoints he had in his body. He focused as he felt the overflow of energy in his Waygate and Waypoints.
*Almost!*
He became excited but didn't rush things. He gathered more Natural Essence as his Qi Energy, slowly and surely. He continued the process for half an hour before he heard something inside him crack.
~Crack. Crack. Crack.~
After the crack he felt refreshed and new power gathered inside him.
*Success! I've finally breakthrough the Early Stage! Now, I'm finally at Mid Stage!*
The process of breaking through was something new to him even among his memory fragments or dreams, there was not much information regarding the breakthrough process or what he would feel afterwards.
He felt that his sense of hearing expanded. And now that he thought of it, he could feel a new Waypoint that had opened up. With Sho's memory, they actually overlap with some of Acupuncture points.
He felt it when he sensed Qi for the first time, Qi was something illusory or something that came with the Super Phenomena. What he concluded at that time was that the Qi was a process of refining it into Energy before it could integrate to his reality, it became a source of fuel that was somehow different from Energy. But right now, the illusory factor was slowly integrating into reality after he felt the new Waypoint as his acupuncture points.
He still has little knowledge about Qi. And even with Sho's enthusiasm about Martial Arts, they were different from his Qi.
He let out a sigh as it was not good to further think for now that he was still in the middle of training. He continued his meditation. He didn't stop until he reached an hour. It was a form of habit he didn't want to stop.
After an hour had passed he finally opened his eyes. Frankly, he was glad that he pushed himself up to the Mid Stage of the First Point. Now that an enemy was lurking behind him, he needed more strength. Although the upgrade he felt wasn't heaven defying, it was still enough to make sure he could run away with his life in case of emergency.
*Now that I'm done with my Qi practicing, time to enhance my Glitch Skills, then Mana…*