What the… This is absolute trash. I mean, [PURE BREATH] should work, I think. The cultivation method is not really favorable with any element but there is definitely some concept going on here… Maybe I just don’t know enough to understand it yet?

Felix paged through the manual faster and faster. Edward’s expression crumpling along with Felix’s own.

No, this manual is shit. Maybe my system would give me a different result? Nope, returning a trash rating. Wow, this would only deserve to be on the first floor of the Hall of Knowledge. Though I do suppose it goes all the way up to Nascent soul.

“Edward… This cultivation manual is awful. How the hell are you gaining strength from killing things?”

“I don’t know mate. I just thought it was a game mechanic.”

“That’s right… it must be purely your system.” Said Felix, idly paging back through the notes again. “I mean, I don’t understand the whole thing yet but still, it definitely isn’t coming from the cultivation method.”

I can’t tell if I feel bad that he wasted time on this or jealous of how OP his system is. It is such a quick route to power even with this trash. Perhaps I would have gotten something similar if the, uh, installation process had been normal. But… why would he start with such a bad manual? I mean, surely whoever, or whatever, did this to us can supply a better manual.

“Okay Edward, you should avoid increasing your cultivation. I think the plan from here should be for you to scrap your cultivation and start over with something better.” said Felix.

“Look Mate, I have superpowers. I am assuming that by starting from scratch that I would then lose them. I am already at the whims of your Elders. Why would I make that worse?” said Edward.

“The only advantage of this manual is that it has a ridiculously low requirement of qi needed to gather for each level. Oh, and that it is really, really, really simple to learn. However, it just isn’t worth it. Even if you cultivate to a high level, you will always be weaker than you should be. Honestly, I am impressed you haven’t already experienced some issues…”

“Look mate, I don’t have the context to see that. Hell, I feel better than I have ever felt in my life. Is it really necessary to fix my... Cultivation?”

“Yes, and as I just said, we may need you to start from scratch. Actually… maybe that is one advantage of your manual. It shouldn’t leave any huge lasting mark on you, so there won’t be any problem with you cultivating a different method. Maybe that’s intentional… Wait, can you learn techniques like I can?”

“Like you what?”

“I have an ability with my system that lets me learn a manual very quickly, though there are issues with it. Wait one second.” Said Felix. He rummaged through his bag of holding before taking out a thin manual. “Alright, here is a simple technique.”

He handed it over to Edward who took it gingerly while giving Felix a questioning look.

“Not sure what you are expecting but I am getting no reaction.”

“Try reading through the first few pages.”

“Alright…” said Edward, opening the book. “aaaand nope, nothing.”

“damn…”

“Don’t look so down. I sketched out what my system pages look like while you were reading through the manual. Maybe if we go over that, we can figure it out.”

Eagerly, Felix took the three pages from Edward.

Felix stared down at the three pages as the silence grew. Then he finally looked back and met Edward’s eyes.

“Edward, is this really everything?”

“Um… Yea, that’s everything.”

You know what… I think I am happy with my system.

His finger began to absently rap the table, even as Edward began to squirm.

The format for manuals is similar to mine except his gives ranges for some reason. Honestly, my ability to learn and improve manuals makes this second page look like a joke. And I mean really, [STAB WITH POINTY END]? [RUNNING REALLY FAST]? I am starting to believe whoever made these systems is an asshole.

He froze, staring blankly.

Actually… that is a good point. Based on how my and Edward’s situation plays out, I would actually be surprised if the person behind this wasn’t an asshole… God, I hope experts don’t read minds. Nightmares for later.

“Edward… does your first page really show a stick figure.” Said Felix. Edward stopped his fidgeting for a second, before blushing. He mumbled something. “Sorry, what did you say? I didn’t catch that.” Said Felix.

“I said that I just have really bad artists. The combination of my small hands and augmented abilities are not helping.” said Edward.

“Oh…” said Felix. “Right, more importantly, how accurate is this display.”

“I’m not sure? The hyper-realistic games I play normally don’t have stats but things like this. However, since this is real life, I don’t know how much of my actual condition is displayed here.”

“So you did actually stub your toe though? On your left foot if the display is correct.”

“Yes, I stubbed my toe, and yes, it was my right toe. The real display actually shows my body accurately.”

Well… now that could be very useful. Maybe you could even use it to tell if you were poisoned or messing up in cultivation. Another thing to be tested. I’ll have to ponder on the best way to go about it, I don’t think he will let me injure him for the sake of learning.

“Okay, that’s great then. I was worried your ability to gain from killing was your only real benefit. Now, how does your third page work?”

“Pretty much how it shows. The first options are pretty straightforward. It changes the display when I click on them. The latter ones are weird in that once I focus on them, I just think of how I want things to change.”

“For example?”

“Well… those boxes are blue when they appear in the corner of my vision. When I focus on ‘screen color’ and think green, the boxes change.”

“And the audio and mind’s eye option?”

Edward shook his head.

“They are in my vision and when I focus on them but I just get a message ‘cultivation is too low’.”

“Shame… I don’t suppose it was too much to hope for. Does the help option do anything?”

Edward’s face darkened and went silent for a moment.

“No… I’ve tried multiple times. It allows me to compose messages, both audio and written within my mind. It even has a character and length limit for each. However, no matter what I send, I get nothing in return!”

Felix reached out a hand and gave Edward a pat on the shoulder.

He’s tearing up again. Why does my collaborator have to be in the body of a child? This is tough enough as it is. Though, maybe he would cry anyway. To have the solution to all his problems embodied in the ‘help’ option might just be too much.

“Wait! Didn’t you say you came back to life? Don’t you have a life counter somewhere?”

“Uh…” said Edward, wiping a line of snot away on his sleeve. “Not that I can see. The message ‘2/3 lives remaining’ pop up in the corner of my vision after I was killed.”

“…I am so god damn jealous… Well, I suppose this is a good start for now. There is a lot for me to think about. Let me look over this manual and I may be able to make some immediate improvements that you can use even now. God damn, I wish you could just start over immediately.”

“Why can’t we go back to the sect and fix it now?” said Edward.

“I am in the middle of a mission. Not sure what you were told before being brought here but I would like to finish what I set out to do. Elder Zhenzhen has told me you are allowed to come, so you are more than welcome to join us. As long as my companions agree of course.”

“I guess that would be alright.” Said Edward, trying to remove the evidence of his near tears. “I really am sort of cast adrift here mate.”

“Great.” Said Felix, rubbing a hand through his hair. “This day has been too long. Give me a moment and I’ll let them in.”

“Are they, you know, 100% natives?”

“Don’t worry Edward, they are good people,” said Felix.

Felix walked to the entrance and opened the door. As soon as he did, a buzzing snap filled the air and the talisman on the door suddenly released a puff of smoke as scorch marks appeared on its surface. His nose scrunched at the acrid smell before Yang Mei barreled through the smoke. Felix found himself being lifted slightly off the ground as she grabbed him by the shoulders, inspecting every inch of him.

“Felix, are you alright? You can tell me?” Said Yang Mei. Then she blushed and let him down. “I mean, what did the elder have to say?”

“More importantly,” said Cixi, following Yang Mei into the room with Daiyu right behind. “Who is the boy?”

Yang Mei finally took her eyes off Felix and spotted Edward. Edward stared back at the three girls, a grin spreading on his face.

“I thought you said you were on a serious mission, man. What the hell is with this ratio?”

Felix looked at the goofy grin on Edward’s face and closed his eyes for a second.

“Edward… you know how weird it is to hear that coming from an eight-year-old?”

Edward paused and then looked down at himself.

“Oh… I forgot about that.”

A rapping sound made them look toward Daiyu. She had her board out but was staring at her lame arm. Then she moved, appearing next to the map, and placed her little chalkboard up on a ridge at its bottom.

“Felix.” Wrote Daiyu. “The real question is how someone who appears to be eight years old also reached essence condensing two?”

Felix bid good night to Edward, closing the boy’s room door behind him, and made his way back toward the meeting room. Moonlight lit the halls as he tried to be as silent as possible when passing the girls' room.

What am I going to do with him? Daiyu let it drop when Edward started crying. I’m now not sure if a kid's body or these teenage hormones are worse. Still, she won’t let this go. Yang Mei dropped it but I think it is because she trusts me for some reason. She also recognized him so maybe she has heard some things in the sect. I don’t think Cixi felt confident in prying. Daiyu however… her posture radiated ‘this isn’t over. Perhaps I should address it now.

He stopped outside Daiyu’s room and raised a hand to knock on the door. Then turned, hurrying back on his way to the hallway as red crept up his face.

How did my mind make that embarrassing? I mean, visiting a girl in the middle of the night has connotations I suppose but I- ah damnit, there goes my mind again. It isn’t even personal discomfort, but it almost feels like learned shame.

At the open meeting door, he stopped again, eyes narrowing.

What if it is learned? Shit, it’s these other memories, isn’t it? Yep, visiting girls in the middle of the night is very ‘improper’. Hell, this is clearly from some of the kid’s type memories. Maybe I should try to find that strand that felt so smooth with Everglade and then go back to try again…

A snort escaped him that turned into laughter. Stepping into the room, he closed the door behind him, and it softly glowed for a moment.

Looks like the talisman stills works, that’s good. I was worried that I wouldn’t have a chance to actually use my abilities but now…

He shook his head and made his way over to the meeting table. Pausing, he pushed the hardwood chairs aside and pulled the couch up to the table. Plopping himself down, he rearranged a small pillow fortress around himself and took out his prize from Tolo’s shop.

These memories, this soul abomination stuff is a ticking time bomb that needs to be addressed. Not the symptoms that are making it hard to enter a girl’s room and this book might be the start of an answer.

A smile grew on his face as he stared at the ratty book, time having left its mark on its tattered cover. Then he laid a hand on it.

Well, here goes nothing.

[Dew of the Last Gasp (Technically a Manual)]

[Power: Trash]

[Comprehension: Beginner (0/5)]

[Stage: Technically a Manual]

Nonsensical title as usual and it’s trash. Still, it is my hope.

“What are you doing, little disciple?” Said a voice.

Felix exploded out of his pillow fortress only for his cranium to be halted by a soft object. He collapsed back onto the couch, staring up at a white cloud that floated only a foot above where his head had been. Elder Zhenzhen’s peaked over the edge of the cloud to smile down at him, a small book in her hand.

Felix looked back at the now vacant table and then to the book. The elder smiled back, wide innocent eyes blinking naively. Ignoring the rekindled ache in his bones, Felix brought his hands together awkwardly from his now laying position.

“Elder Zhenzhen, what a… pleasant surprise. What do I owe this second visit to?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t check in after leaving Edward with you, little disciple? Besides, didn’t your original plan to see a pretty lady in the middle of the night?”

“Ahem, yes, well you could have knocked.” Said Felix. “You don’t have to be the mysterious expert with me.”

“Oh, why thank you for your consideration little disciple. However, I did have to wait for you to close the door and activate my talisman again before appearing. Otherwise, the core cultivator spying on you would notice.”

“What?!” said Felix, finally sitting straight but then awkwardly adjusting himself so he could still face the Elder. “Is it the city lord?”

Zhenzhen gave him a wink and a coy smile, opening the [Dew of the Last Gasp] and slowly paging through it. Felix felt his blood drain at her wink and stared down at his hands.

I knew we should have been more worried about the people behind those ambushers. It could just be the city lord but even then, we don't know if he has ulterior motives. Maybe we should just get out of the city.

“You know little Felix,” said Zhenzhen, causing Felix to look back up at her. “This manual is quite interesting. I haven’t seen many that have to primarily do with the soul.”

“It does?” said Felix, “That’s great.”

“It almost makes one think that you need a soul manual. Now, would you tell me why that is?”

“I…”

“Felix,” said Zhenzhen, “We don’t allow disciples to even look at the scant manuals we have of this nature for a reason. They are dangerous. Now tell me.”

Can I trust her? I mean, she probably heard what I said earlier today and she already knows so much. What can I and can’t I say? Ugh, this is one of the reasons I did not want to play this game.

The weight of the silence grew until she fluttered her eyes at him.

“Little disciple don’t make me get cute on you. I can’t have you harming yourself.”

Felix sighed and nodded.

Well… I pretty much told her everything but the soul abomination thing.

The mobile cloud had shifted into a giant plush chair and Zhenzhen now looked at him from across the table over steepled fingers.

“Felix… You leave me in a bit of an awkward position.”

“How so, Elder?”

“Well… I should bring you back. This could be serious, or it could be a minor matter in the long run.”

“Don’t you know?”

“I thought you would know by now that information on the soul isn’t well known in this world.”

“Um, aren’t you at the nascent soul level? I mean, soul is in the name.”

“Yes, Felix. I am at the nascent soul level.” Said Zhenzhen rolling her eyes. “However, what you learn about the soul in the nascent soul realm is only a drop in the information on the soul. What has me more concerned is that it is that messing with the souls of those below the nascent soul realm is rarely a good idea.”

“So… what should I do?”

“I will have to discuss with the other elders but, this manual isn’t a bad place to start. The other manuals we have related to the soul are very specialized with only one of them even being usable by a core cultivator, much less you. This manual however is meant to nurture the soul, straight and simple. More akin to providing water to a plant.”

“Okay, okay… I guess I will try it then. I don’t think I will be able to improve it much with my knowledge base. You know my ability to improve manuals is affected by my personal knowledge.”

“Do what you can, as we want to test the effect before you invest everything into the manual. What I do know is that an individual’s soul normally can recover much like the body. Hopefully, if you provide a little extra push, your soul will do the rest.”

“I suppose that makes sense, we just have one problem, Elder, I don’t have any KE points left to use.”

“That is a problem, but I thought you had a mission with helping young Edward though?”

Felix blinked, and then brought up the mission. He stared at it and then mentally turned it in.

[Mission accepted]

[Points allocated]

[Points awarded, 200 points]

YEEEEESSSSS

Felix tensed, squeezing one of the middle pillows that made up his fortress. It exploded, sending feathers everywhere.