Togiri surveyed the two small hills made of pills: one comprised of brown pills and the other of orange pills.
"A body tempering and Aura-condensation pill costs a hundred Shop Points, which translates to a thousand Existence Points."
Togiri summoned his system window and glanced at the upper left corner.
827,690 EP
0 SP
0 RP
"My EP increased by 7 again. I wonder how I gain them. I need to explore that further. Currently, Existence Points allow me to heal, convert to Shop Points, and even Reviewer Points. Reviewer Points seem to be the most valuable kind of points, but the Reviewer part of the system is locked, and I can't convert any Existence Points unless I pay a million Existence Points."
Togiri examined the system menu before him. "The Existence Points also allow me to increase my Nen Affinity so I can adjust the efficiency of utilizing my Nen categories better."
Togiri closed his system window and sighed. He felt like he had finally made a step forward after creating his Nen ability, only to stumble backward.
"Let's get back to body tempering." Togiri picked up a brown pill and swallowed it. "Let's see how useful these 100 Shop Points are."
Togiri felt a surge of energy filling his body, starting from his stomach. This sensation lasted for a quarter of an hour before subsiding.
"Status!"
Status
Name: Togiri
Age: 13
Strength: 0.5
Agility: 0.5
Vitality: 0.5
Body Cultivation - First Layer of Body Refining (not started)
"Nice! The increase is still 0.2 points. Maybe I have a special physique that allows me to absorb 100 percent of the pills. Not even half an hour and my power has recovered to the strength of half an adult man." Togiri clenched his fists and felt a bit of strength behind them.
"But under 'Body Cultivation - First Layer of Body Refining,' it still says 'not started.'"
Togiri stood up and looked to his left, where a large mirror behind bulletproof glass stood. He often used it to analyze his martial arts techniques and improve them.
"Hmm. My complexion looks better, and I've gained a small amount of muscle. Am I imagining it, or do I look more handsome?"
@Master, I found some information regarding cultivation from the novels in your memories. The general first major realms in body cultivation are skin, flesh, organ, and then marrow/bone tempering. After that, your body should be able to harness some form of energy similar to Nen.@
"Yes, I guess that's true. Do you also know how high my strength will increase?"
@Master, that's a bit tricky. The third major realm in Body Cultivation could vary greatly by novel, but I can tell you about the first two.@
Togiri agreed with Seven's words and resolved to learn about real Immortal Cultivation beyond the novels.
"Please tell me the strength at the peak stage of both realms," Togiri said, pulling out his notebook to jot down the information.
@A peak stage cultivator of the Skin Refinement Realm can carry a few hundred pounds and slightly bend steel. In the Flesh Refinement Realm, your strength doesn't increase significantly, but your vitality and injury recovery do.@
Togiri sighed in disappointment. He had previously been able to easily bend steel with his physical body while using Nen, and his injury recovery speed seemed insignificant because Seven could heal a broken bone in less than a week—or hours if he sacrificed some of his Aura. With Existence Points that could heal him instantly, it seemed even more redundant.
"Now I'm doubting if I should even use my Shop Points for these pills." Togiri looked at the three brown pills before him, then swallowed another one. "Can't waste them."
This time, the absorption of the pill was quicker. Togiri checked his status again.
Name: Togiri
Age: 13
Strength: 0.69
Agility: 0.69
Vitality: 0.69
Body Cultivation - First Layer of Body Refining (not started)
"It didn't increase by 0.2 but 0.19 this time. Seems like I don't have a special constitution for absorbing 100 percent of the pill. Did it change because I took them one after another or because toxins have already accumulated?"
"I can feel that my body can handle more. Let me take the last two pills at once and try to break through the First Layer of Body Refining."
Without hesitation, Togiri swallowed the last remaining pills and closed his eyes, concentrating to feel his body. Soon, a massive amount of energy surged through him.
His face turned red, his muscles swelled, and his skin tightened intensely. He felt something was wrong and regretted his actions of taking two pills at once until *snap*—he felt shackles breaking inside his body.
Half an hour later, Togiri opened his eyes and smiled, overwhelmed with ecstasy from his newly gained strength. He checked his status and was surprised.
Name: Togiri
Age: 13
Strength: 2.0
Agility: 2.0
Vitality: 2.2
Body Cultivation - First Layer of Body Refining (entry level)
His strength had nearly tripled in an instant. He had grown twenty times stronger in less than an hour, going from one-tenth of a man's strength to double that of an adult in less than an hour.
"How does this make sense? I expected the peak stage of Skin Refining to be around 6 or 7 in stats, but I'm only at the entry level of the First Layer. I've barely crossed the threshold, yet I should already possess second or third-layer strength. Usually, main characters have special physiques that let them fight across realms."
Togiri pondered and felt foolish for not realizing it immediately. It was Nen.
Nen was the technique for controlling and using his life energy, Aura. There was no other explanation for why Togiri was already this strong.
Usually, kids his age would have the strength of 0.3, about a third of an adult man's strength, and he wasn't even in puberty.
"Wait, does my Aura directly relate to my Body Cultivation and vice versa?" Togiri examined his Aura numbers.
Aura: 100 -> 2000
Togiri smiled, dumbfounded. Just like his stats, his Nen had been multiplied by twenty. @What does this mean?@ asked Seven, confused.
"What does this mean? It means it doesn't matter if I train my body or my Aura; both grow together. This changes everything."
Togiri nearly shed tears of happiness. His previous efforts seemed wasted. Before the system update, it didn't matter if he trained his body or his Nen—they were like two separate mountains he could only climb a few steps on.
But now, the mountains were beside each other, and it didn't matter which mountain he climbed because when the incline of one mountain got too steep, he could use a bridge to the other mountain with less incline.
"After five years, everything I did feels meaningless. The nights where I released my Ken until I collapsed or lifted weights until my tendons snapped and muscles cracked..."
Togiri hadn't only inherited torturous memories but also created many of his own since he began his journey to ultimate strength.
He took a deep breath and steadied his heart. "If I want my revenge, I need to keep calm and reasoned. Emotions hold common people back. I need to rise above them."
Togiri focused on his increased Aura. He used his Nen in familiar ways and began demonstrating his Nen techniques in front of the mirror.
Ten: "This is how I maintain a constant flow of aura around my body, forming a protective shield against weaker attacks. I can feel the effect much better, and my aging should slow even more."
Zetsu: "By closing my aura nodes, I conceal my presence entirely, making myself undetectable to those sensing aura. My stamina and injury recovery should also increase substantially."
Togiri noticed how different his Zetsu felt compared to before. Even in the mirror, his presence seemed to vanish.
Ren: "I focus and intensify my aura, amplifying my physical power and presence exponentially. My Killing Intent becomes even stronger than before."
Gyo: "By concentrating my aura into a specific body part—my eyes in this case—I can enhance my vision and detect hidden or suppressed Nen. My vision has improved by at least 20 percent compared to before."
In: "The advanced version of Zetsu, but it keeps my aura nodes open. I make my aura completely invisible to others by concealing it with In, even while maintaining Ren."
En: "Now, I expand my aura outward in all directions, creating a wide field to detect anything that enters it."
Togiri's Aura was less than at its peak, and his En sphere was smaller, but he didn't need to close his eyes to concentrate like before and could still sense his surroundings swept by En.
Shu: "I focus my aura into an object, like this water bottle, extending my Nen to enhance and strengthen it as if it were part of my own body."
Ken: "This is a combination of Ten and Ren, fortifying my entire body with a high concentration of aura to defend against strong attacks."
Aura spiked around Togiri. His Aura color changed; before, it was grayish, reddish, and black, but now it was orange.
Orange, like the pill before his feet, but he still hadn't taken a single one of them. His aura increased by refining his body, not by taking Aura-increasing pills.
Ryu: "Finally, by shifting my aura fluidly between offense and defense, I can adjust my power in real-time to match my opponent's moves."
Every second Togiri used Nen, he was astonished. The fluidity of his aura and the ease of using his Nen had increased by more than fifty percent.
Ko: Due to the lack of his aura, Togiri couldn't demonstrate this technique.
"The combination of Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, and Gyo. Gyo focuses aura on a part of the body, while Ten prevents it from dispersing. Zetsu is used to completely stop the flow of aura in all other parts of the body, increasing the output in the desired area. With Ren, the amount of aura is increased even further."
Ko was Togiri's most powerful, destructive, and riskiest attack. Concentrating all your aura into a single body part while using Zetsu on the rest of your body for maximal offense could be instant death for you.
Hatsu: "And here, I release my unique ability, manifesting my aura in the form of an attack or technique tailored specifically to my affinity."
Each technique demonstrated Togiri's mastery of Nen, culminating in Hatsu, his personalized manifestation of aura.
Previously, it took Togiri a third of his aura just to summon the phantom book, not to mention 80 percent to create a single Phantom Page. So, he didn't even attempt to use his new ability.
"Congratulations for adding a function in the Reviewer System. You can now use Existence Points or Shop Points to increase specific techniques of Nen."
When Togiri heard the monotonous mechanical voice of the system, he quickly said, "Skill Window."
A plain white system window appeared with black text.
Skills
Nen (entry-level)
Mastery:
Ten 8%, Ren 5%, Ken 3%, Zetsu 6%,
Gyo 5%, In 2%, En 1%, Shu 4%, Ryu 1%,
Ko (not learned),
Hatsu 3%
Phantom Pages (not learned)
These last few hours shocked and surprised Togiri so many times that he was almost used to it.
"So I can raise my mastery over Nen too. Not directly, but individually. Seven, are the Existence Points also ten thousand for one percent?"
"Yes, and just like for the Nen Affinity tab, it will also increase the higher the mastery is."
This surprised Togiri; he didn't know there was a price increase. He wrote it down in his notebook.
"I noticed that the system didn't count my previous experience in Nen. Even if the system valued my Nen mastery so low, I still learned Ko and Phantom Pages."
"Also, my Hatsu isn't split up by Nen category. It would be great to increase my Enhancement or Emission mastery directly so that I could boost the strength of my Phantom Warriors better once summoned."
Togiri thought about various ways to use this mastery function most effectively. He could ignore it completely and focus solely on converting his EP to Shop Points and increasing his raw strength, but what intrigued him was that his Nen ability was listed explicitly.
"My Nen ability counts under Hatsu, to act or release. It would be great to have a Nen teacher, but I guess the Hunter Association wouldn't provide me one. I've already learned Nen; three months have passed, and I also doubt Netero wants to see me grow stronger."
Togiri clenched his fist. "Screw the world around me. Let's focus on regaining my strength from the last five years."
Togiri sat down and picked up one of the five orange pills. He put it in his mouth, and unlike the body tempering pill, the Aura-condensation pill instantly melted and flowed down his throat.
Similar to the vitality of the body tempering pill, an energy spread across Togiri's body, but it felt slightly different.
It didn't flow from the stomach toward every corner of his body but flowed toward his heart and entered the bloodstream.
This only lasted for a few minutes, and Togiri checked his Status to see something new added.
Name: Togiri
Age: 13
Strength: 2.01
Agility: 2.01
Vitality: 2.23
Aura: 2100
Body Cultivation - First Layer of Body Refining (entry level)
"Wow. My strength and agility increased by 0.01 and my vitality by 0.03. My Aura increased by a hundred. It may seem small, but what if I take twenty pills or a hundred? How much would it increase then?"
Togiri was excited about his strength rising so quickly but then looked grim. "It's not enough. Not enough strength and not enough Existence Points; what am I so damn happy about?"
Togiri openedhis system window and converted 96,000 EP to 9,600 SP, purchasing 96 Aura-condensation pills.
Togiri's Existence Points dropped from 827,683 to 731,683, making him smile wryly. Almost a third of his points were already gone.
Ninety-six pills poured out of the system window, landing beside the four pills on the floor. Before Togiri, a mountain of 100 Aura-condensation pills was growing.
"If I take 100 of these pills, my Aura should grow from 2100 to 12,100, reaching half my goal. Maybe I can also break through the first layer of the Skin Refining Realm."
Togiri began taking one pill after another. Each pill absorption only took a few minutes.
Several hours passed, and Togiri's appearance had changed significantly.
The first change was his physique. He was neither frail-looking like he was a few hours ago nor bulky and full of muscles as he was half a day ago. He now had a lean and athletic build.
His average face had slightly altered, with more refined features making him look somewhat more handsome.
But the most significant difference was in his strength.
Name: Togiri
Age: 13
Strength: 2.89
Agility: 2.89
Vitality: 3.21
Aura: 10,300
Body Cultivation - First Layer of Body Refining (late stage)
Togiri's stats hadn't grown as much as he expected. He was nearly 2,000 Aura less than predicted, and all his stats had stopped progressing after the eightieth pill. Still, it allowed him to advance directly to the late stage of the First Layer of Skin Refining.
"I can tell that my blood is thicker and my heart is stronger, but I've reached the limit in increasing my Aura with pills for now. My body can't keep up, and I can't take as many body tempering pills as I did with Aura-increasing pills because of the toxins."
Togiri wrote a few things in his notebook and made a plan. "For now, I will take two body tempering pills a day. I'll take both at once and immediately start training. That will definitely increase my strength and the efficiency of absorbing them."
"I will train my body for three hours and my Nen for two hours a day. Another six hours of sleep and four hours of mundane activities leave me five hours to explore Existence Points, Shop Points, and the Crafting Tab."