Looking through the items, I found nothing worth my money or just too expensive for me currently. The next gene cap potion also cost out of my league.
I went into skills to look for something useful for me, but there was nothing to my taste, and they were costly too.
Having no choice, I went to that rabbit. I want to learn spiritual energy.
As I entered the cave, I saw the rabbit meditating. It looked strange to see a rabbit meditating.
I wanted to wake it up, but remembering its awful personality, it would use that as an excuse not to teach me how to use spiritual energy.
As if sensing that I entered the cave, the rabbit opened its eyes and looked at me.
"I can teach you how to use spiritual energy, but it will affect your future growth. Are you certain about it?" This time, the rabbit didn't have such a high-and-mighty tone, but one that seemed to have lost everything.
But I didn't care about it. After all, I did everything for this, and I have a system that has a method for it. I would become a waste if not for the system. Seeing so much information and learning some secrets of the world, the system has a method to fix it.
"I want to, even if it affects my future growth." I didn't show any hesitation as I said it right after.
"Huh, for low-class, their potential is already limited, so you made the right choice. This can enhance your status among your people." Never mind, this rabbit didn't change the slightest bit.
"Now hold your hand out and spread your palm." The rabbit said, and I did so.
Then suddenly, the rabbit bit my hand.
"Ahhh! You son of…" As I wanted to finish it, I didn't feel any pain.
When I looked closer, the rabbit didn't leave any bite marks on me, but as I looked at my hand, I suddenly saw marks appear. A scorpion with black ink was left on my hand where the rabbit should have bit me.
Suddenly, the mark started to heat up, and I could feel it burning my skin.
I could barely endure it as I collapsed on the ground.
The rabbit doesn't look much better than me.
"Try to spread the heat from your hand to your whole body. Don't let it slip away, as this is your only chance, otherwise, you will be a cripple for the rest of your life." As the rabbit said it, its breath started to become heavy.
How do you even spread the heat from one place to another? You didn't teach me anything at all.
I tried to use my muscles as a way to spread the heat, and it worked. The heat soon engulfed my whole body.
"Not bad, but don't lose focus. Try to make sure the heat in your body lasts as long as you can. The longer the better."
Easy to say, as I felt like I was in a sauna. No matter what I did, I felt like I was dying every minute, and you want me to endure such a thing for who knows how long?!
Time seemed to pass slowly for me—it felt like forever. Every minute, I felt like I was being melted. I hope I never have to endure such a thing again.
As I slowly felt the heat inside me disappear, out of nowhere, my whole body flared up like a furnace. Hot steam engulfed my body as my body tried to use sweat to cool down, but just my skin's temperature alone was enough to instantly evaporate it.
The rabbit just watched me from the side as it lay down next to the wall. It didn't show any emotion or movement as if made out of stone.
The heat became unbearable, and my skin cracked as the tattoo on my hand slowly reformed. From the scorpion, it turned into a snake. The snake was made out of black ink, but its fangs were green, symbolizing its poisonousness.
As the snake tattoo on my hand formed completely, the heat disappeared completely, leaving only the water droplets from the ceiling of the cave as a reminder of what happened here before.
"Congratulations on your awakening," said the rabbit mockingly.
"You never told me this would happen!" I pointed my finger at the rabbit as I said this.
"Even if I told you, what would you do? Anyway, you need to sleep a bit," the rabbit said dismissively, shooing me away from the cave.
I left, completely exhausted. I'll ask the rabbit what all this was about later, but for now, I need a good sleep. With my final strength, I made my way back to my cave for a good sleep even if it was full of nightmares of my past.
As I opened my eyes and looked around, I remembered what happened.
Soon, I thought about it and opened the system. I went into the skills menu, and I was right. In the items section, I saw an item designed just for me, costing 5 silver
Beginners Guide to Master Spiritual Energy
Description: Anyone who reads this book and can use spiritual energy can master it in no time, as long as they follow the instructions in the book.Cost: 5 silver
Why is the book so cheap? Well, the requirements are already harsh enough. Having spiritual energy is one thing, but you need to awaken it too, as there is a difference between those who awaken it and those who have it.
Think of it like an aura. I can sense within a 5-meter radius, though not perfectly— I can't sense smaller things like the wind blowing the grass or insects moving on the ground. Instead, I can detect larger movements, even if they're not in my line of sight.
As I bought the book, I began reading it, dedicating most of my time to it. At first, it described what spiritual energy is and what's more widely accepted among the many strong races. It explained how to use it like a weapon or a shield, but mastery requires specific skills honed over years of practice.
Then, I learned about the meditation methods, each with their grade. If the grade is too high, it will backfire. For example, consider me as a mortal lifeform. Getting a technique above Overlord—like a legendary one— would be too much to handle. It's like pouring water into a glass or a jug. At first glance, it doesn't seem bad, right? But your body has a limit to how much spiritual energy it can absorb before it explodes. For the glass, the water might spill out, but for my body, there's no way to handle too much spiritual energy. Even if I use skills, they're only a temporary measure—meditating requires intense concentration on drawing energy into my body and leaves little room for anything else. Being interrupted while meditating has no side effects, it's like suddenly unplugging your phone—nothing bad happens to it.
Soon, my thoughts were interrupted by my protesting stomach, signaling that I'd read enough for the day. After eating, I remembered the rabbit, so I brought some food to it. The rabbit said nothing, but I could see the resentment in its eyes for not bringing it food sooner.
As I went outside, I was struck by the mesmerizing view of the sun setting down. I had done so much today, yet it was still daytime. Going back to my cave as the diminishing sunlight entered the cave.
I spent all my time while I can read on reading the book and trying to use my spiritual energy. Making some progress, which made me happy. The progress I'm talking about involves wrapping spiritual energy around my sword, but when I tried to project it outward like the rabbit, all I achieved was the sensation of a balloon bursting. I could only sigh at the failure and realize this wasn't how you did it.
Somehow, you have to constantly exert pressure on your opponents—not in every direction, but more like a targeted aura that enchants your presence to be more intimidating. As I was thinking about this, I looked into the system to search for any spiritual-related books.
I found plenty that caught my eye 'Spiritual Aura', 'Spiritual Ascension', 'Spiritual Lock', 'Spiritual Mastery (Intermediate)', and finally, 'Spiritual Pressure'. Each one had a price tag of 10 silver. My chest tightened at the thought. To buy all of them would cost me 50 silver. I wanted to learn them all, but the sheer effort of reading them was daunting. What can I do? Learning is the only way to become strong, but this was a real pain in the ass.
As for the book I had already read, I placed it next to my bed. I didn't want others to find it and use it against me, but I also couldn't bring myself to burn it, as it cost me 10 silver. This is what the big players always face, huh? What a great dilemma. To do it or not to do it? Instead of making a decision, I practiced controlling my spiritual energy. The rabbit's warning about my future potential nagged at me, so I checked the system for any potions related to spiritual energy. There was nothing—no options for spiritual energy or similar enhancements. The mortal gene cap potions were still locked, and I couldn't buy anything.
You might wonder why not let the last one reverse-engineer it. It's like giving a monkey a spaceship, along with all the necessary books, and saying, 'Build a complete replica'. Even if you know how it works, without practical experience, you'll never fully understand it. And it would cost a lot of resources to attempt reverse engineering, with only one potion available to experiment with. I have 50 chances at most to get it right. Too few to accomplish anything, especially since it takes hundreds of experiments just to figure out the direction you should go. That doesn't mean it's the correct one.
First, I don't have the talent or patience for it. Second, I'm too lazy, but mostly, I lack the talent. Stopping myself from thinking further, I decided to practice wrapping my spiritual energy around my weapon. Not only did it become lighter and sharper, but it felt like part of my body. Swinging it around used much more energy, as I had to make sure the spiritual energy didn't dissipate. My head was exploding from concentrating on two things at once as if my brain could hardly keep up with it. I had to stop, panting heavily, completely drained like a sponge.
Soon, I tried to test how to gather spiritual energy, but it was excruciatingly slow, just as the book described. With no other choice, I went into the system to check if there was any meditation skill but found one—holy shit, 1 gold.
Worst of all, the meditation skill was of mortal grade. I saw the extraordinary meditation method listed for 10 gold—exorbitantly expensive. I could barely stand on my feet at the thought of such high costs. I knew I wouldn't acquire it anytime soon, I had to spend my resources wisely and use it sparingly. It might take a whole day to fully replenish my energy.
Realizing this, I gave up on training more and went to sleep.