As if it was responding to his thoughts, a big punching bag appeared. It floated in mid-air, and Victor nodded his thanks to Reunion. He walked up to the bag and hit it with a left jab. A straight cross followed immediately.

“Wrong! Don’t just punch it,” Reunion said. “Feel it. Feel the qi in your body and transfer it from you to the object you are hitting.”

As they say, a punch is a punch, but it was different for a qi punch. This method of forming the core required you to feel the qi inside yourself and transfer it with violence. Knowledge, perception, and focus. Know the qi that was inside you, perceived how it moves, and then focus it into your punch. This made his punch stronger and more powerful. Do this enough times, and a core will naturally form. The book warned that it was a time-consuming and repetitive method, but Victor still feel this was the method best-suited for him. He couldn’t mediate, and if he realized his place in the world, he would hardly be a villain. Training however was something he had been doing his whole life. Training was something in his blood. He grew another one-two at the punching bag.

The one-two combo was one of the first things Victor learned in martial arts, and it was almost automatic. The ‘Ways to the Foundation Stage’ required Victor to know and feel the power in his body. Victor found it to be an easy thing to do. He had been training in martial arts for over forty years so there was no need for him to learn the fundamentals of boxing. He just needed concentrate on qi inside his body.

Victor continued punching the bag and he soon lost track of time. He didn’t feel hungry or tired, so he kept on going. After some time, he felt it. He could feel the qi in his body, and how it was moving. He was surprised by how different it felt compared to normal training. It was as if someone had turned on a light within his body and he had broken through the limits of his body. His body felt … brighter. It made no sense, but it was the closest description Victor could give. His body was lighter, his senses shaper, and Victor could feel that his punches were now heavier. Victor kept on going, wanting to form the core. He did not have to wait long. After a short time after feeling his qi, Victor felt something forming in his body.

“That’s enough.” Reunion said immediately. “Congratulations to host Victor Volkov for breaking through to the Foundation Stage. You are now a cultivator.”

“That’s it?” Victor asked in surprise. That was anti-climactic. “I just keep punching it till I broke through?”

“There was a lot more going on than that. With the circulation of qi, you were slowly clearing your meridians. When your meridians were cleared enough for qi to effortlessly flow through, the core will be formed. In some worlds, there would be libraries on the formation of cores, but the Metal Bear Tribe never bothered with any of that. They only knew that with enough practice, you will be able to break through to the Foundation Stage.”

“What is a meridian?”

“Meridian is the pathway along which the body's vital energy flows. You have acupuncture in this world, right? The theory behind acupuncture is basically to affect the human body through the meridians.”

“I see…” Victor said. He really didn’t. Victor did not understand what Reunion was saying about the meridians, but he may be able to hide behind acupuncture if people start asking about his increased power.

“Can I continue training?” Victor asked. He still felt fresh and wanted to continue with his training. Reunion was having none of that.

“No, that’s enough. You just formed your core, now you need to rest, and cultivate it. Go practice the moves listed in the Iron Bear Sambo. Once your core gets more powerful, you can move to the next stage of your cultivation. More core training now won’t help you. Instead, it would harm your cultivation. Besides, you have been training for six years already. A little-“

“Six years!” Victor asked in shock. “How is that possible? I haven’t ate or slept since I got here!”

“We are currently in a space-time sub-dimension. Time is diluted here. A year here is something like two hours in real time. You have been gone for twelve hours already in your world.”

“Oh…” Victor was surprised by the space-time dilution, but he knew it wasn’t out of the question. It was a known fact that time moved differently in different dimensions and was most probably the reason why he wasn’t hungry or tired. A strange question popped into his head. “Wait a moment, I need to ask you some questions. The title of this book … this other world also has sambo?”

“Sambo, kung-fun, guns, magic; some things are known in many dimensions. Not all dimensions have them, but there are so many dimensions and parallel universes out there, it’s not that unusual for people to discover the same thing.”

“So you can just take these things from other dimensions and give them to me?”

“Not so simple. Systems are dimensional beings, but it takes a lot of energy to move things from one dimension to another. That’s why it’s important for our host to be powerful. The more powerful the host is, the more energy the system has.”

Something clicked in Victor, and he realized what the system truly is. “So you are a dimensional parasite? Are you feeding off me?”

“If you want to look at it that way, then yes. However, we like to think of it as having a symbiotic relationship. The stronger the host is, the more powerful the system gets. A win-win situation for both.”

“Till the day you kill me.”