Chapter 112: Chapter 112: Cultivation

Time to cultivate.

He’d become addicted to it. Not in a bad way—more like how athletes get addicted to training(Do they, I am not sure). The feeling of getting stronger every single day was incredible. Mind and body improving with each breath cycle. Growing beyond human limits bit by bit.

He closed his eyes and started the breathing technique.

Inhale. Oxygen flooded his lungs along with microscopic particles of exotic energy mixed in the air. The technique separated them out.

Hold. The exotic energy circulated through his bloodstream. Flowing to every cell. Strengthening molecular bonds.

Exhale. Dark impurities expelled through his pores. Less than before—his body was getting cleaner.

But he wasn’t just doing it consciously anymore. Over the past two weeks, he’d mastered unconscious cultivation. His body ran the breathing pattern automatically now, even when he wasn’t thinking about it. Like breathing itself—happening constantly in the background.

That meant he was cultivating 24/7. While eating, walking, sleeping, working. Always strengthening.

Progress was fast in terms of technique efficiency.

But slow in terms of actual power gain.

The problem was simple: Earth had almost no exotic energy. The atmosphere had trace amounts—barely detectable microscopic particles. He was extracting every bit he could from each breath, but there just wasn’t much to extract.

Like trying to get rich by collecting pennies from sidewalks. Sure, you’d eventually accumulate something. But it would take forever.

That’s why he needed the fusion reactor completed. The system’s reward included the method to synthesize exotic energy—to produce it artificially in large quantities. Once he had that, his cultivation speed would explode.

For now though, he worked with what he had.

Orion had also created his own cultivation technique from scratch. The system library had plenty of advanced techniques, but they were all locked in higher tiers—Tier 2, Tier 3, and beyond. The Tier 1 section he had access to contained knowledge about cultivation principles, energy manipulation theory, and body enhancement fundamentals, but no actual complete cultivation methods.

So he’d taken that foundational knowledge and built something custom. Working with Rene, he’d analyzed his own body down to the cellular level and designed a technique that fit his specific biology perfectly.

He’d created something better than a generic method. A complete cultivation system optimized for him.

FIRST GENE LOCK – FOUNDATION OF BODY

That’s what he called it. The first major stage of cultivation.

It had eleven theoretical stages total.

The process was precise:

Manipulate exotic energy inside his body to form ten minor ring halos around his heart. Each ring represented one stage. When all ten minor rings were complete, he’d fuse them together into a single condensed golden ring halo—the eleventh and final stage.

Physical manifestation: A golden ring halo orbiting the heart with thin golden tendrils extending out to connect directly with heart muscle. The ring would act as an energy supplier and enhancer, pumping exotic energy through his entire circulatory system with every heartbeat.

Effects per stage:

Each minor ring halo provided 2x enhancement across all physical aspects. Strength, speed, reaction time, senses—everything doubled.

That meant by the tenth ring, he’d be 1,024 times stronger than baseline.

When the tenth ring completed and fused into the golden halo—the eleventh stage—he’d hit 2,048 times stronger than a normal human.

Two thousand times stronger.

Not just physically. Mind and spirit too. Brain processing speed, thought clarity, energy control—all multiplied by the same factor.

The cultivation also strengthened his entire body at a fundamental level. Heart muscle growing denser and more efficient. Cells reinforcing their membranes. Blood carrying oxygen and exotic energy better. Muscles becoming tighter and more explosive. Bones hardening like steel. Tendons gaining elasticity. Organs optimizing their functions. Brain cells and neurons forming new connections faster.

Plus additional benefits:

Healing factor improving with each stage. Minor wounds closing in seconds instead of days.

More impurity expulsion. His body shedding built-up toxins and cellular waste.

Increased sensitivity. His enhanced senses getting even sharper.

Better energy perception and control. He could feel the exotic energy flowing through his body more clearly. Direct it more precisely.

Right now, Orion was still working on the first minor ring halo. Stage one of eleven.

The ring was maybe 7% formed. A partial loop of condensed exotic energy orbiting his heart. Visible in his mind’s eye but not yet complete.

Each halo required a substantial amount of exotic energy to form. And his intake was painfully slow because Earth’s atmosphere had so little of it.

At his current rate, the first ring would take a few months to complete. Then he’d need to form nine more rings after that.

The fusion project needed to accelerate. He needed that exotic energy synthesis method.

Still, the partial ring gave him benefits. His control over energy inside his body had improved noticeably. He could direct it with precision—sending it to specific muscles before physical effort, flooding his brain when he needed to think faster, concentrating it around injuries to speed healing.

Outside his body though? Nothing. He couldn’t manipulate external energy yet. Didn’t have sufficient control. That would come later, probably around stage five or six when his energy perception got strong enough.

Orion continued the breathing cycle. Felt the exotic energy trickling into the forming ring around his heart. Slow progress. But progress.

He also had something else now. A new discovery from last night.

FLASHBACK – LAST NIGHT

Orion had wanted to cultivate outside. Something about being under the open sky felt right.

He’d gone to the apartment building’s roof. Empty at midnight. Just him and the stars.

Sitting cross-legged, he looked up.

The night sky was beautiful. Stars scattered across the darkness like diamonds on black velvet. The moon hung low, nearly full. Earth’s rotation had positioned them perfectly to see a massive stretch of the Milky Way overhead like a river of light.

Orion had always loved stars. Ever since he was a kid. He’d wondered about the universe constantly. How did it all begin? Was the Big Bang real or was there something else? Some mysterious entity that created everything? Or maybe it was a simulation—reality rendered by incomprehensible computers. Or hell, maybe he was in a novel right now and some author was writing his story.

He smiled at that thought. Wouldn’t that be something. (AN: Yh, it is.)

Then, without trying, his mind suddenly mysteriously linked to the celestial bodies above.

It wasn’t subtle. It hit him like a lightning bolt.

His consciousness suddenly connected to the stars. Not metaphorically. Actually connected. He could feel them—distant suns burning billions of kilometers away. Feel their mass, their gravity, their heat.

The moon blazed in his awareness. Bright and close and massive. A dead rock orbiting Earth but absolutely vivid in his perception.

The sun—even though it was on the other side of the planet right now—burned at the edge of his consciousness. Impossible to miss. Like standing next to a bonfire with your eyes closed.

And Earth itself.

God, Earth was overwhelming.

Beneath him, around him, he could feel the entire planet. A massive sphere of rock and metal and life rotating steadily. The weight of it. The density. The molten core spinning and generating magnetic fields.

His affinity with celestial bodies wasn’t just strong. It was absolute.

He had never felt anything like this. Never imagined he could feel something like this.

Stars, planets, moons—they called to him. Like he was connected to them at a fundamental level. Like they recognized him as one of their own.

The strongest links were with Earth, the sun, and the moon. Those were closest. Especially Earth. The connection was so powerful it almost hurt. Like the planet was reaching up and touching his soul.

Then his awareness shifted.

His consciousness turned inward and suddenly he was somewhere else.

Not physically. His body was still sitting on the roof. But his mind had entered a different space.

What was this?

Orion looked around. Infinite blackness stretched in every direction. No walls, no floor, no ceiling. Just endless void.

But it wasn’t empty. He could feel… potential here. Like this space was waiting to be filled with something.

He tried moving. His consciousness drifted through the void. There was no up or down, no reference points. Just infinite dark space.

Was this his mindspace? His spiritual space? Soul space?

It had to be. He’d read about these in cultivation novels. Inner worlds where cultivators could store things or train or meditate.

But he’d never accessed his before. Didn’t even know he had one.

The connection to the celestial bodies must have awakened it.

Orion’s instincts pulled at him. Do something. Create something.

Almost without thinking, he started visualizing.

Earth appeared in his mindspace. A perfect sphere floating in the void. Continents and oceans and clouds all rendered in his mind.

But the moment he looked at it closely, Orion frowned.

It was really wrong.

Not wrong exactly. But shallow. Surface-level. Like a picture of Earth instead of the real thing.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep