Far away from the Thousand Season Sect, on the outskirts of a small town, the child Grunk crouched in a dark nook in the rock. Massive of size, Grunk shook as he hid from the local children.

Why they so mean. Me villager too. I should be part of fun time. I-

[Welcome!]

Grunk reared up and flailed wildly at the air.

[Welcome!]

[Welcome!]

[Welcome! You are Experiment 784! Your soul's designated name is Grunk]

What are words in Gunk’s head? Grunk no read word.

[Congratulations. You’ve been awarded the Gacha Gacha System]

[You can get randomized rewards for completing quests.]

[Accessing randomized Starter Care Package]

[Reward: Mental Cultivation Method]

[Mental Palace of the Sage]

Power: Above Average

Comprehension: 150/150)

Stage: Qi Gathering to Nascent Soul

The wave of information was overwhelming. Grunk crumbled into a ball as it entered his mind.

“It hurts! It hurts,” He moaned.

Desperately the boy tried to ward off the torrent. He quivered on the ground as his eyes dilated.

As he mentally floundered, he began to naturally follow the directions of the cultivation method. After a long time, he finally drew a piece of spiritual energy into his body through the complicated steps of the cultivation method. With an effort of will, the refined spark entered his brain. Grunk suddenly felt a cooling sensation pervade his mind.

Grunk feel better.

With desperation, he followed the strange method. More and more energy flowed into his mind, going through strange patterns and moving in weird ways. His body had calmed, and his hands began making weird yet complex motions as the method dictated. Finally, a pattern of energy formed in Grunk’s mind.

Feel so much better. My head feels better.

Grunk's eyes opened and the slightest glow could be seen from them.

Grunk likes this… I like this.

It took Felix all day to get through the eleven slips and it left him 11 KE shorter. He even took a small nap in the wee hours of the night and then decided to keep going.

Well, that was interesting. Those manuals were pretty true to their titles.

He looked at his ever-growing pile of notes and shook his head.

Just with that little bit of reading I feel like I better understand the Ragnarök Technique.

Then he snorted.

Not that I know what needs to be improved without the system's help. Either way, that should hopefully be enough to start advancing Heavenly Earth.

Felix set everything aside except the Heavenly Earth Manual and activated manual advancement again. He was once again in a mental dialogue. He instantly felt the result of his week of study. No longer was he just mooching but having a real discussion.

[Heavenly Earth (Mortal 3)]

Felix sighed and look at the work. With an effort of will, Felix began the process again.

[Heavenly Earth (Mortal 3)]

[Heavenly Earth (Mortal 4)]

…

…

…

[Heavenly Earth (Mortal 15)]

[Heavenly Earth (Mortal 16)]

[Heavenly Earth (Mortal 17)]

[Heavenly Earth (Earth 1)]

With that last notification, Felix let his aching hand rest from note taking. He looked over the final system message.

[Heavenly Earth (Earth 1)]

Power: Weak

Comprehension: (100/100)

Stage: Essence Gathering

That started taking more and more KE by the end. I only have 70 KE points left. Thank goodness I had that quest.

Felix felt a quantitative change with the last advancement. Some of the fundamental flaws of the cultivation manual were found and reexamined. It had taken him till dawn to get through that many refinements, but he had done it.

I am not sure but I think I just got the technique to barely qualify as "weak". I was definitely contributing less and less as well as taking a longer time with each advancement. I am going to need to study more if I want to make the KE points worth it.

Then a smile split across his tired face.

I guess I can start cultivation.

With eyes closed, Felix extended his senses inward. With surprising ease, he felt his awareness easily spread through his body. He felt echoes of pathways and weird internal structures snaking around inside of him. He found the dantian below his navel. It confused him as it felt small yet at the same time vast. Then he tried to reverse the inner inspection and sent his senses outward.

At first, he got nothing. Then he suddenly seemed to vaguely sense something weird in the surroundings. Something foreign. It was blurry in his mind eye, but he realized that this must be spiritual energy

This is both weird and familiar at the same time. Heck, this causes a whole bunch of feelings.

A wave of different emotions rocked him as he followed that thought. He shook his head like a dog until it passed.

I really need to get my emotions in sync. It is nice though that this process didn’t take a long time. The manual clearly states that this can vary greatly between people. Maybe it is because ‘Felix’ had already cultivated before this?

Putting away his notes and the book, he started following the steps of his improved method.

He took a deep breath and focused his mind inward once more. He moved his senses to the center of his dantian and began thinking about the images described in his book. Felix imagined standing on a vast swath of land. Then he tried to imagine that the sky above him began to solidify, to harden, and finally to resonate with the ground beneath him.

Onto this basic image, Felix began to add more meaning to the image. When he felt he had it as perfect as he could get it, he reached out once more to the surrounding spiritual energy. He tried to grasp a bit of it and pull it into the meridian pathways directed by the manual. With a supreme effort, he got a spark.

Now he had to refine it like it was a sword. Grinding it and tempering it. Infusing it and stretching it with his understanding of the why. Imprinting the image in his mind on each piece of energy every step of the way.

When the spark of energy finally made it the dantian, he repeated the process.

Then he repeated it again.

And again,

And again.