Kailash didn't know how to respond to that, so he just nodded and left the hut.
As he stepped out into the cool night air, he felt... different.
He had come seeking answers, and he had gotten them.
But they weren't the answers he had been expecting.
He glanced up at the sky, the stars twinkling overhead.
For the first time since arriving in this world, Kailash realized just how big it was.
How dangerous. And how much he didn't know.
The stranger's words disturbed on Kailash's mind as he walked back toward his small hut.
Power isn't about what you can do, it's about what you're willing to lose.
Those words echoed in his mind, circling around his thoughts like an unwanted guest that refused to leave.
He'd always thought of cultivation as a path to greatness, a way out of the weak, aimless life he had lived before.
A path to becoming someone worth remembering.
But now, it felt like he had been handed a map to a road littered with graves.
Was that what awaited him at the end of this journey? Loss? Pain? Sacrifice?
When he reached his hut, Kailash sat down on the hard floor, staring at the Beginner's Sword leaning against the wall.
His thoughts were tangled, but one thing became clear through the fog of uncertainty: he couldn't stop now.
The stranger had warned him about the darkness in cultivation, but it hadn't been enough to deter him.
If anything, it only made him want to press forward even harder.
He closed his eyes and brought up his status screen in his mind.
[Status]
Name: Kailash Varuna
Age: 12
Cultivation Level: Basic Level 1
Qi: 2/10
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Endurance: 4
Intelligence: 7
Luck: 1
Skills: Basic Swordsmanship (Beginner), Foundational Qi Absorption (Beginner)
Two Qi points. He had gathered another one today, slowly but surely. But it wasn't nearly enough.
He was crawling, and he needed to start running.
The stranger had given him one important piece of advice: focus on control, not just power.
Control. That was where he had been going wrong.
He had been so focused on absorbing Qi that he hadn't stopped to think about mastering what little he had.
Taking a deep breath, Kailash shifted into the meditative stance he had practiced over the last few days.
The familiar cold floor beneath him grounded his thoughts as he began to focus inward.
He wasn't chasing Qi this time; instead, he was going to control what was already inside him.
He inhaled slowly, letting his mind focus on the small flicker of Qi sitting at the core of his being.
It wasn't much just a tiny ember but it was there.
He could feel it.
He concentrated, visualizing that Qi as a thread of energy that flowed through him, moving through his limbs, his chest, his head.
At first, it was difficult. The Qi was stubborn, slipping away from his control like water.
But Kailash didn't rush.
He remembered the stranger's words: Start small. Focus on mastering the basics.
He focused on just keeping the Qi steady, on not letting it slip away.
He didn't try to move it yet just keep it there. Hold it. Control it.
Minutes passed, and for the first time, Kailash felt like he was truly in control.
The Qi wasn't slipping away anymore. It was his.
He opened his eyes, exhaling slowly, feeling more centered than he had before.
It wasn't much, but it was progress. Real progress.
And that was something to hold onto.
The next morning, Kailash couldn't help but head back to the stranger's hut.
He wanted to thank him.
Maybe even ask for more advice.
He'd felt a shift last night, a small but important victory in controlling his Qi, and he owed it to the man who had shared those hard-won truths.
But when Kailash reached the hut, he found Old Man Raghav and a few other villagers standing outside, their faces sad.
"What's going on?" Kailash asked, his heart sinking.
Raghav looked at him, his eyes filled with that sorrowful kind of knowing. "The stranger... he passed during the night."
Kailash felt a strange mixture of sadness and guilt wash over him. "He... died?"
The words felt foreign, heavy on his tongue. Kailash hadn't known the man, not really, but he had felt a connection to him in those few moments they had spoken.
The stranger had been the first real cultivator Kailash had ever met, and now, just like that, he was gone.
Raghav sighed, his shoulders heavy. "We'll bury him with respect. He didn't share his name, but he fought hard to live. That much we could see."
Kailash stood there, unsure of what to say. He wanted to ask more about the stranger, but it felt wrong somehow, like prying into something sacred.
As the villagers prepared to bury the man, Kailash stood at a distance, watching.
His mind drifted back to their conversation, to the things the stranger had said about loss and sacrifice.
The stranger had been a cultivator, someone who had seen and done things Kailash couldn't yet imagine.
And yet, for all his strength, he had still fallen. It was a cruel reminder of what lay ahead.
But despite the darkness, Kailash felt a strange sense of resolve harden within him.
The stranger's warning about the cost of power had hit him hard, but it hadn't scared him away.
In fact, it only made him more determined.
"I won't end up like him," Kailash whispered to himself as the sun rose higher in the sky. "I'll get stronger. I'll control my power. And when I do... I'll make sure I have something worth fighting for."
That night, as Kailash sat once more in meditation he couldn't help but think of the stranger's last words.
Power wasn't just about what you could do. It was about what you were willing to lose.
But Kailash wasn't willing to lose anything. Not if he could help it.
And as he closed his eyes and began to focus on his Qi again, he made a silent promise to himself:
Whatever happens, I'll be ready.