Wake up. Eat. Drink coffee. Brush teeth. Take a shower. Get dressed. Leave for work.

Work. Work. Break. Work. Work. Break. Work. Work. Go home.

Hang out with friends. Play games. Cultivate. Sleep.

Wake up. Eat. Drink coffee. Brush teeth. Take a shower. Get dressed. Leave for work.

Work. Work. Break. Work. Work. Break. Work. Work. Go home.

Hang out with girlfriend. Play games. Cultivate. Sleep.

Wake up. Eat. Drink coffee. Brush teeth. Take a shower. Get dressed. Leave for work.

Work. Work. Break. Work. Work. Break. Work. Work. Go home. Get kidnapped?

…

…

The black bag covering Taylor’s face was removed.

“So this is the fucker,” the man sitting on a couch across from Taylor says. He had dark hair which was greying at the sides, was dressed in a nice suit, and had a handsome face.

“Who the fuck are you?” Taylor couldn’t help but exclaim.

“Who am I?” The man says with a dangerous smile. “I’m the man who’s domain you’ve intruded on. Who the fuck do you think I am? Didn’t your master teach you better?” The man says, slightly angry.

“Domain? Master? What the fuck are you talking about?” Taylor asks, confused at what was happening. All he knew was that he’s been kidnapped, and if he was being honest, he was pretty freaked out right now.

“Aren’t you the stray that has been cultivating in my territory? I’m pretty sure I checked my information, or am I just dumb? Tell me; am I dumb?” The man asks rhetorically.

“Cultivating? You’re a cultivator?” Taylor asks, unsure how he should respond to this. He had never met another cultivator before.

“I’m obviously a cultivator. Or why would I go out of my way to deal with a kid like you? Don’t you know that you can’t go around cultivating in someone else’s domain? Tell me your master’s name; I’ll have to contact the Cultivation Association about this. I haven’t received any notices of other cultivators entering my territory,” the man says, seemingly exasperated at this situation.

“I don’t have a master,” Taylor says frankly, just hoping to get out of this situation.

“You don’t have a master? Then who taught you to cultivate?” The man asks, his voice growing stern.

“I learned to cultivate from a book,” Taylor answers honestly.

“A loose cultivator?” The man asks rhetorically once again before thinking the matter over. The man sighs and decides to explain some matters to the kid. “Kid, since you’re a loose cultivator and don’t know the rules, I’ll tell you. The Earth’s chi is a precious resource and the number of cultivators in the world is strictly controlled. Each cultivator is assigned a domain from the Cultivation Association, and cultivating in someone else’s domain is taboo,” The man says, unsure of how to deal with this kid. He turns to one of his men and says, “Untie him. I’ll have to contact the association to see what I should do about him.”

One of the men begins to untie the bindings on Taylor’s hands.

As Taylor looked on with a dumb look on his face, the man on the couch couldn’t stop himself from sighing again. “Kid, go home, and stay put. I’ll contact you in a couple of days. And don’t run, or the association will hunt you down; they’re not at liberty to allowing loose cultivators to roam around unmanaged,” The man says before waving his hands and gesturing for his men to take Taylor away.

…

…

After getting home, Taylor collapses onto his bed and began to breathe heavily. Many thoughts were running through his mind. Other cultivators, any rules he might have broken, the safety of his family, and his future relationship with his girlfriend.

Did I go too far with this cultivation thing? Taylor asks himself. He began to think of how to run away but eventually gave up. If that man was telling the truth, then there are other cultivators out there and they would be coming after him if he ran away. He could only sit and await his fate. Taylor wanted to close his eyes to rest, but his mind wouldn’t let him. He was in a very vulnerable situation and right now, his survival instincts were keeping him awake.