Pain. I finally understood why my crabs had struggled as much as they did whenever I did my testing. Getting meridians wasn't nearly as painless as I thought it to be. It felt like worms were eating themselves right through my brain. Which was complete bullshit, because my brain didn't even have any nerves that could signal any pain! Stupid qi, and stupid meridians.

There was no way around it, I just had to power through it. Nothing I tried to circumvent the pain worked, not slowing down, or speeding up, using less qi, using more qi, making a thinner meridian. Nothing.

It was like there was more than just my body, and I had to burrow through that more part of me to move my qi. Which made a strange amount of sense, as moving liquid qi through dead crabs didn't create a meridian. Liquid qi just moved a little slower through dead crabs, or all solid matter really, than it did through air.

I decided I needed a break. I only managed about half of the meridian towards the back of my head after three days of cultivation, though that should speed up once I had my setup ready. Hopefully. Otherwise the next few years would be long and painful. And feel even longer.

I really hated pain. Especially self inflicted pain.

I looked out of the window, and saw the sun standing tall in the sky, just past midday. Perfect, I had until dinner then. Just enough time to visit the forest and see if a certain fox finally deigned to get up and greet me. I missed speaking to someone with about as much common sense as me. It was refreshing, especially being treated like an adult.

“Hello, Mr. Fox!” I yelled. “Are you here?”

To my surprise the fox faded into view a few moments later, his aura feeling far more solid than the last time we had met.

“Hello human kit.” His voice droned. “Why are you here?”

“We are friends, so I decided to visit. It’s something friends do.” I explained. “But you're really lazy, I was here several times over the last weeks, but you didn't answer before now. How was your month? You do seem more powerful.” I answered.

“I am. Thanks to your insights. But really why are you here?” He asked.

“Isn't it obvious? The both of us are loners, and living beings need company. And seeing as you seem too stubborn to get up and visit me on your own, I decided to do it.” I explained.

“And what would you do?” He asked.

“I don't know. What do foxes to for entertainment? Play tricks on humans? Hunt some rabbits? Just wander through the forest? I'm still a child you know, you’re the adult, so you have to decide.” I said.

“Entertainment? I cultivate and nap. That's it.” He stated.

I looked at him, shocked. He only napped and cultivated? How boring! Something like that couldn't hold my attention span for more than a few hours at most!

“We are going to do something new then! You’re so old, you need some change in your life. It sounds dull, boring and like you need someone to help you entertain yourself, to bring a little excitement that isn't battle in your life!” I said. “Where is the next human? And can you hide us from him?”

Alranutsu looked at me like I was stupid, before we vanished and appeared next to a man carefully stalking through the forest. His eyes scanned the forest constantly, but passed right through us.

“Alright.” I whispered. “What do humans search in here?”

“Mainly weeds filled with qi. They, together with other irrelevant beasts, fight for them all the time.” He said after a moment.

“So, you can hide us from him, can you do the opposite, and show him something that isn't there, or is somewhere else?” I asked silently.

“Of course. Why are you whispering though?” He asked loudly.

“Well. Because we are hiding from someone. You have to whisper if you hide, or it takes half the fun out of it.” I explained patiently. “So, how about you show him an image of the stuff humans like the most? Always give him a glimpse, just beyond the next tree.”

My small friend nodded in agreement, befuddlement at my request obvious. I watched in bated breath as the cultivator’s eyes lit up suddenly, and he dashed just past us, towards one of the bigger trees. He frantically looked around, and his eyes found something a little deeper into the forest.

I laughed, as he dashed off again, chasing something I couldn't see. It was great, watching someone chase something not actually there, greed defeating reason, just felt incredibly satisfying.

Soon enough, the cultivator was out of sight. I managed to gather myself again.

“Did you have fun?” I asked.

“It felt fresh at least.” He admitted.

“Great. I'm going to return in a week, and we’re going to do something different. And don't you dare ignore me again!” I stated, shaking my small fists at him.

“A week?” He asked, horrified. “That's no time at all! I can't even do a nap in that time, much less cultivate.”

I looked at him, like he completely lost it.

“Do you know how long a week is? It’s like forever! I even thought about your age, and how old people like you have a different sense of time than I do! If you really want to, I guess you can get two weeks. But that's as high as I'm gonna go. Being too far from where you come from can't be good.

You're always yourself first, and your origins make up a big part of yourself.” I said. “So, I will be here in two week, and you will be too.”

“Admittedly you humans do live awfully short lives, I guess I can delay my cultivation for a hundred years to so, it’s not like that matters.” He relented. “But are you sure you don't need that time to do human things? Like spinning grass into fur, ripping weeds out of the ground?”

“Good to see one can reason with you. And I do none of those things. I'm just a child, I don't have to work yet.” I explained. “And I can create a whole meridian in two weeks too, there's no activity that I can think of that would take that long!”

“Oh. You did break into the second realm. Congratulations you kit. It’s always a joy to see young ones start on the path. Do you need any pointers?” He asked.

“I wouldn't mind some. I mean I read a cultivation manual that described the process, up until I reach the third realm, so I feel quite prepared, but declining advice from someone as powerful as you would be stupid.” I answered.

“Hmm. Let me think. It has been quite some time since I was in the second realm. A millennium or two really.” He mused. “So. You start with meridians, which are really just moving liquid qi through your body and soul, forming paths for it to move.

Then you will have to open your dantian, a window to the soul, at the biggest concentration of meridians. Finally you can pick up a qi intent, but that isn't strictly necessary until you reach the third realm. To break into the third realm you only have to create some solid qi in the middle of your dantian.” He explained.

“What's qi intent?” I asked.

“Qi intent is a truth of the universe. It can be everything, from a simple study of a small weed, to trying to understand the fundamental forces of the universe. You have to impress your understanding of that intent upon your qi, and break its resistance. Any cultivator without intent is prey to a cultivator with even the most basic of qi intents.” He explained. “It’s hard to explain, and something you have to experience yourself to really understand.”

“Thank you for your insights. Can I ask you more, should questions come up?” I asked.

“Of course. So little human, what now?” He asked.

“Now? Now we’re going to talk about manners again. You need some if you want to interact with humans.” I said with an evil grin.

I was looking forwards to this. Sure, it may not be the smartest thing to try and annoy an immortal that could kill me with a blink of his eye, but really, he was a big softy, and wouldn't hurt me.

---

Alranutsu patiently listened as the small human kit explained more of her strange ‘manners’ to him. Stuff she called ‘standard rules of social interaction’. He really didn't get how humans came up with stuff like that, or if only this particular human was like this.

And she really was a strange one. She was a cultivator, as evidenced by the qi coursing through her body - a truly ridiculous amount considering both her age and the time she had been in the second realm. She couldn't even lie, considering she’d been in the first realm when they first met a few weeks ago.

Alranutsu still felt the exhilaration of the breakthrough in his understanding, that small human could do just about anything with him. Playing tricks on the human had, admittedly been quite fun.

Still, her strange demonstration of her measure of ‘self defense’ had helped him make a step towards the fifth realm. And he had not make a real step in that direction since nearly two centuries ago. So he would tolerate the kit’s speech, and all her antics. Who knew what she’d be able to come up with as she advanced her cultivation? He knew one thing though, he would be there all the way.

And she was kinda funny, completely innocent. At least compared to the other human cultivators he met.

He did look into her after a throughout session of thinking sometime in the last weeks, and was quite baffled to see the girl living in one of the strange the human dwellings next to his forest.

At first he thought that the ‘mother’ she spoke about was a scary powerful cultivator, considering the respect the strange human showed towards that person. But the human designated as mother was completely normal, no additional qi in her body, really just an average human female. The kit was probably stronger than that mother person right now, and would continue to outgrow the other human for a long time.

He really didn't understand that species, perhaps listening to some of the stuff the kit explained to him would allow him make some sense of it all.

The lecture did get a little boring by now. Perhaps the human was hungry? He vaguely remembered getting annoyed at everything back when he still needed to eat. So he stepped somewhere else, towards the flowers he had the other human chase for his human kit.

His human looked around confused, before her eyes focused on him.

“What did I say about teleporting?” She said.

“No teleporting without warning, it’s rude.” He answered.

“And why did you do it then?” She asked.

“But I can't teleport!” He stressed. “I just stepped here, and took you with me.”

“No stepping then. It’s like teleporting to me.” She answered. “What do you want me to do?”

“You were annoying, so you probably felt hungry. So I took you towards some human food.” He explained to the slow kit.

“Humans don't eat flowers you know? We only eat specific plants, and some dead animals.” She explained. “They’re pretty though, can I have one?”

“Of course. Just take what you want, I don't care about them.” He answered.

“Ohh, thanks. You know, it’s getting late anyways. So if you return me back towards the town, you’ll be rid of me for two weeks.” She said, picking up one of the flowers.

---

I returned back home in good spirits. I still had the flower the fox gifted me stowed in my pocket. It was filled with a little qi, as I took the one with the least qi I found, I didn't really want something so obviously valuable near my mom.

And a plant filled with liquid qi was just about as valuable as things got. At least probably. Well, I’d just kill it, take control of the liquid qi, carefully transform it into gaseous qi, move it towards my brain, return it into liquid qi and grow my meridians if absolutely needed. I really needed at least one meridian finished, just so I could take in any liquid qi that I happened to come across into my body without the extra work.

Now, back to cultivating. I’d move around the beach a few hours a day, just to get more qi into the whirlwind of qi around me, and speed up my cultivation. My body wouldn't fill itself with meridians after all. I’d have to work hard for them.