"You've got to be kidding me..."
According to the knowledge clusters from the system's cultivation initiation art, humanity as a species were born with a natural defect.
Completely clogged meridians.
The energy pathways through which Qi, the essence of cultivation, was to flow was atrophied in all humans from birth.
'This does explain why cultivation isn't common place.' Eric frowned while deep in thought. 'But then how do others have mystical abilities?'
He thought of Narcosa's voice and Damian's invisible tendrils. 'Are they using something else? A different energy? Or are they not entirely human?'
Shelving the nagging questions, he continued perusing the initiation art more carefully, in search of answers.
After a prolonged silence, Eric released a frustrated sigh as he rubbed his furrowed brows.
The problem was the knowledge itself. It was extremely haphazard and scattered, as if put together in a hurry.
How that was even possible for a memory fragment was beyond Eric.
He'd had to go through the mentally taxing effort of deciphering the entire thing through recollection alone.
Pushing hard on his partial recall ability, Eric successfully finished understanding the art.
Indeed, it was true that the human species had blocked meridians, thus were fundamentally unable to cultivate.
Luckily the initiation art was geared towards circumventing this 'impediment'.
He divided the process it spoke of into two stages he named; Soul ignition and Body refinement.
Soul ignition required sensing internal Qi, energy that stagnated around the dantian, due to humanity's blocked meridians using a provided breathing technique.
The art suggested the soul produced this energy innately, but without open meridians, it remained trapped, a latent potential humans would never access.
After sensing internal Qi, one would, by their will alone, guide the Qi through their dead canals to burn and cleanse the impurities blocking them.
This would be done six times; for each leg, each hand, the head, and the torso.
Then, he'd have to cycle Qi through the cleared meridians continuously till it became an automated function of the body.
'It's unknown how long it would take for me to even sense my own Qi. Then clearing my meridians would be a very delicate and dangerous procedure. Any mistake could just as easily rupture them and cause bodily damage or even death.'
Asides the deadly nature of the first stage, the second stage seemed even more outrageous.
For body tempering, he would use his gathered internal energy to temper each part of his body to withstand the later parts of his cultivation journey.
Eric noted the art spoke of humans in a similar tone humans spoke of animal subjects.
It had an aloof and somewhat academic air about it, as if created by a non-human.
'Probably the voice I heard when getting the immortal core.' He postulated.
Asides the alien feel, Eric couldn't ignore the art's repeated and blatant warnings of its untested and possibly lethal nature.
By what the system revealed to him, he was an experiment, that if successful would be..
'The first human cultivator,' he whispered to the empty room.
The title felt as daunting as it was thrilling. 'It's not unlikely...
It was unknown what abilities completing these two stages would bring him, though it was a given it would increase his physical strength and unlock something called Qi perception, an enhanced version of Qi sight.
Casting his focus on the other set of rewards, Eric was overwhelmed by the sheer breadth of knowledge contained within.
The Five Foundational Formations set consisted of, unsurprisingly, five formations.
These formations were constructs, of specific patterns and processes meant to create supernatural effects over an area.
'So programming reality, neat.'
The five formations within were, the Qi-Enrichment Formation meant to draw Qi towards a particular point.
Earth-Nourishing Formation meant to direct Qi into the ground to grow enhanced plant and animals.
A Cloaking Formation which uses illusions to hide an area and a Warding Formation to make animals and low level spirits averse to an area.
The last and supposedly the most difficult was a Qi-Conduit Formation, meant to create stable pathways to transfer Qi between the formations.
Just from the little understanding Eric had of them, he could already see myriad applications for their capabilities. The only thing that bummed him was the system prompt attached to the reward.
[NOTE: Qi-Enrichment Formation primarily relies on World Qi to be maintained. Other Formations require host's Qi to be activated. Host must have obtained completely cleared meridians for use.]
Eric understood it to mean the Meridian dredging aspect, which was the second level, of the soul Ignition stage.
This prerequisite temporarily limited him to have access only to the Qi-enrichment formation.
'Another reason to advance quickly.'
The techniques would require him to take dedicated time understanding them.
But like the initiation art, there was a big warning the formations had never been used by a human before.
So its efficiency, effectiveness and consequences were unknown for humans.
Another layer of adversity settled over his blazing wish for power.
Eric snarled.
'So one's never been done before, and one's never been done by humans before.' His snarl turned into a manic chuckle. "Doesn't matter!"
The formation's origins were as strange as the system's. Possibly created specifically for some long dead species that had vanished from the earth.
But Eric didn't mind. Forging his own path in the world had its benefits.
"Just means I'd be an anomaly they can't figure out." He said aloud.
"As long as there's a shadow of a possibility, I'm taking it," he muttered, his voice hardening with resolve. "Not even death will deny me revenge. If Panacea has telekinetics and Banshees, I will become something they can't comprehend."
It would be foolish not to grasp at an opportunity to grow his own power.
No matter how mysterious its origins were.
He knew the risks involved, but the system had proven itself nothing but benign so far.
And if it was all a façade, it was a risk he was willing to take.
'What's another death after all?' He thought derisively.
Eric sat up and straightened his back. Making sure he was comfortable with his feet flat on the floor and his palms faced up resting on his legs, he closed his eyes.
His breathing slowed till it reached a barely noticeable rhythm.
Recalling the breathing technique provided with the initiation art, he began.
He parted his lips slightly and placed the tip of his tongue gently against the roof of his mouth.
Then he took a deep slow breath through his mouth and felt the air fill his lungs. Exhaling in the form of an audible sigh, he took another breath.
After each cycle, Eric visualised the clutter of the world vanishing around him.
The rocking of the boat, the noise of the engine and crashing of waves outside. All of it faded till all that remained was himself.
When this happened he closed his mouth and breathed softly through his nose. He brought his full attention to the sensation of breathing.
Feeling the air cool as it entered his nostrils and warm as it left.
Then he shifted his attention to his lower abdomen, where his dantian was to be. Eric imagined it a hollow dark space, empty of even light. Like an empty furnace.
As he inhaled slowly, he visualized a cool blue wind enter and expand the dantian. And as he exhaled completely, he allowed his abdomen contract.
He pictured the wind being compressed within, transforming from a calming blue to a warm orange. The warmth felt born from the friction of his breath.
He repeated this process again and again.
According to the initiation art, the previous actions acted to stoke one's mind and goad the Qi within himself to be roused.
Now all he could do was wait.
This first step, simply sensing the dormant energy within, could not be forced.
He would know he'd sensed Qi when the quality of his warmth shifted and gained a heart-like pulse.
Eric continued like this for a period of time he could not tell the length of. He became consumed by nothingness and the warmth of his own breath.
He wasn't unfamiliar with prolonged stretches of sensory deprivation, and the calmness of his breathing actually soothed his tired mind.
Knock Knock Knock
A sharp rap at the door pulled him roughly out of his trance.
Rays of sunlight pierced through the windows and into his room.
'It's already morning?'
Eric thought in shock.
The breathing technique seemed to completely pull one into a hypnotic state.
Otherwise it was impossible for him to have lasted that long on his first try. Meditation wasn't a skill developed overnight after all.
He couldn't believe he'd been sitting and meditating for the better part of five uninterrupted hours and still hadn't been successful in sensing his Qi.
'Truly as difficult as I expected.'
Standing, Eric approached his door and could already smell Raz's scent, mixed with the sea breeze.
Opening the door he was met with his butler's staid face.
"We've arrived." Raz said.