Shawn sensed a dense mass of Qi approach his bedroom door. Its small size but relatively high power reminded him of the luck-wisp he had seen when he had used [Devourer] on the fly. The Qi even was a similar shade of gold, albeit slightly paler. How he was able to see color with his eyes closed he was unsure, all he knew was that while cultivating, his ability to sense Qi was greatly increased.

He was able to clearly see all the Qi around him in a ten-foot radius. If he really pushed himself he could see Qi in a twenty-foot radius around him, but after that things became indistinct and blurry.

The energy signature paused in front of his room, hesitating for some reason. Faint emotions leaked out of the Qi, letting Shawn read their intentions somewhat. From what he could tell, the energy signature did not intend to hurt him, but he needed more practice with the skill to be sure. He felt he was just scratching the surface of the Qi sensings potential.

He got up, his joints popping in a disturbing symphony. As he rose, his Qi sense faded, leaving him with only a fraction of the perception he had just moments ago.

He slapped his legs to encourage the blood to flow back into them. Sitting still for extended amounts of time was not healthy. He could barely feel his legs. Though the side effects were beneficial. He felt light after his cultivation session, even with his exhausted body he felt like he could run a marathon.

Shawn opened the door with newfound grace, revealing Tian with his arm outstretched, about to knock on it.

Tian laughed. “Perfect timing, I was just about to wake you up. We have prep work to do in the kitchen.”

Tian noticed Shawn’s bloodshot eyes and became visibly concerned. “Did you sleep alright?”

“Better than ever,” the truth was Shawn hadn’t slept for a single second that night. But it wasn’t as bad as it would seem, cultivating refreshed him, giving him energy. He was still dead tired but he would be able to get through the day without any problems. Besides, he had pulled many all-nighters in college, this was nothing compared to his record of three days without sleep.

As they walked to the kitchen he opened his [Status Screen] eager to see the fruits of his labor.

Name: Shawn Jones Cultivation: Qi Gathering 2 41/125 Hp: 22/22 Qi: 11/11 Strength: 3 Dexterity: 4 Perception: 4 Endurance: 3 Resilience: 6 Agility: 8 Intelligence: 3

He had gone from Qi gathering one to two, and all his stats had increased by one. His total Qi pool had also increased by 10, it wasn’t called the Qi gathering stage for nothing. He wasn’t sure how long he had spent cultivating, but it couldn’t have been much longer than five hours. Whatever the case may be, his efforts had been worth it.

They entered the mostly empty kitchen and Tian explained what they would be cooking. The menu for breakfast was simple, including only: eggs, toast, and hashbrowns, nothing he hadn’t made before.

They divided the tasks amongst themselves. Shawn ended up being responsible for making the scrambled eggs. He picked up a shiny white egg and cracked it. Blue had always liked eggs, maybe he should save some for her.

Shawn shook his head. Although his cultivation session had helped him separate Green’s life from his own, he still occasionally forgot who he was. He was mildly concerned about the issue, but he was confident that in a few more cultivation sessions he would have the issue under control.

He wasn’t sure why cultivation helped him fight off the influence of Green's memories, but he doubted he would find an answer anytime soon. Besides, he had work to do, the pile of eggs wouldn't cook themselves.

After the breakfast service was over, Tian approached him. “You handle yourself well in a kitchen, have you worked in one before.”

"No, I haven’t, but I used to help my mom cook.” He scratched the back of his head. “What about you? You were chopping those potatoes almost faster than I could see.”

Tian laughed. “Ya, I’ve been working in the kitchen for the last couple of years. It’s the only honest job someone like me can get.” He paused. “Forgive me if this is too forward, but what happened to you? You’re much stronger than you were yesterday. Were you suppressing your Qi levels?”

Shawn did his best to contain his shock, he didn’t think anyone would be perceptive enough to notice his sudden increase in power. He considered lying and claiming that he had been hiding his real power, but his [Deception] skill warned him against it.

Now that his cultivation was more advanced he could faintly sense the threads of energy that made up the skill. It was a faint presence in the back of his mind, providing him insights into how to better deceive someone. He had no doubt that as he improved his cultivation he would discover more functions of the skill.

At the urging of his skill, he mixed the truth with a lie. After all, if he told someone he could absorb the power of his defeated enemies he would at best be sent to an insane asylum and at worst be captured and experimented on.

"I made a breakthrough last night. I was born with a crippled dantian that was unable to absorb energy, but for some reason, the blockage cleared last night. I’ve finally made it to the second stage of Qi gathering.” What he said was close enough to the truth that someone wouldn’t be able to easily tell it was a lie while also protecting his secrets.

His skillful deception was rewarded with a bluescreen.

Congratulations. Your skill Deception has grown to level 4.

Tian slapped him on the back, wearing a broad smile. Shawn stumbled from the force of the blow. “Nice! We should celebrate. Let’s head out on our break and get some ice cream. I’ll pay.”

Tian smiled expectantly. Combined with his expression, his blond hair made him look like a golden retriever. Tian’s positive reaction made him feel guilty for lying to him.

“I’d love to, but I don’t know if it's safe for us to go outside with the Crimson Lotus Gang acting so aggressively."

“Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. There aren’t too many people in this city who could beat me in a fight.” He flexed his arm. Shawn quirked an eyebrow unconvinced. He’d almost died too many times to take stupid risks.

“I’m flesh tempering stage nine. In the scorpion’s Den, only Chule and Lin could beat me in a fight,” Tian boasted. If Tian was even half as powerful as Lin he should be safe as long as he stayed near him.

"That’s impressive. Though I do have to admit that I’m not familiar with the names of the cultivation stages. Is flesh tempering stage nine good?”

Tian’s mouth hung open in surprise. “How do you not know the names of the cultivation stages. Did you grow up under a rock?”

Shawn nodded.

“Well, I’ll explain it once since I’m such a good person,“ he said in a joking tone.

“According to The Founder, Qi gathering is the first level of cultivation. The goal of this stage is to increase the total amount of Qi in your body. Side note, you should really watch his tv show, it’s super cool.”

Shawn was surprised that there was a tv show explaining the basics of cultivation, he would have thought that the elite would have suppressed any knowledge of cultivation to keep the masses weak. He'd have to check the show out sometime, Tian seemed to hold this Founder fellow in high regard. He motioned for Tian to continue.

“The second level of cultivation is called the flesh tempering stage. As the name suggests, this stage comes with a massive increase in physical power. I’ll spare you the details, but basically, in this stage, you use your Qi to strengthen your muscles, bones, and tendons, among other things.”

“I didn’t think you would know so much about cultivation, you’re kinda smart.” He was being honest, the guy looked like an idiot with the dopey smile he always had on, but he was surprisingly smart.

Tian rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “I’m not that smart, I just watch the Founder's tv show every week. Everything I know came from him.”

“Anyways, I’ve heard the average person in Najian is at flesh tempering stage two, so I should be able to beat them in a fight pretty easily.”

“In that case, I guess I’ll give you the honor of buying me ice cream then. Just make sure no one kidnaps me.”

“Nice!” Tian pumped his arm in the air. “I always love an excuse to get ice cream, follow me.”

Tian led him down multiple hidden passageways till they ended up in a garage filled with cars. Seeing as how futuristic Najian was, he didn’t doubt that they would be able to fly. One of the vehicles looked extremely familiar. He moved closer to inspect it.

Memories of his first day came back to him. He had seen the car while wandering the city, he remembered how amazed he was as he watched it escape the motorcycle gang.

“You like the car?”

“It’s amazing. How fast can it go?”

“The legal limit inside the city is 100 miles per hour, but if you remove the limiter it can go much faster than that.” Tian opened the hatch and climbed into the car. “Get in, let’s go.”

Shawn climbed into the passenger seat of the car. Without any warning, Tian pressed the gas pedal. His head snapped back into the hard leather of the seats as Tian accelerated to well over a hundred miles per hour.

The ground blurred and before he knew it they were far above the ground. Shawn stared out the window as they headed towards the skyscrapers in the nicer part of town. The city had a totally different feel from above, holographic advertisements danced through the dark sky, giving it an almost magical feel. From up here, you couldn’t even see all the trash that littered the ground.

Shawn shielded his eyes as they flew through a hologram, to pass a slow-moving car. That was the thing about flying, traffic wasn’t an issue. Whenever they saw another car, Tian would just climb higher into the air and pass them. They climbed so high that he felt he could reach out and touch the dark layer of smog that hung over the city.

They sped through the city's skyline, dodging and weaving between cars. Tian slowed down as a truly grandiose sight came into view. A humungous wall made out of pure gold dominated the horizon, spanning as far as his eyes could see.

“What’s that.” Shawn pointed at the wall.

“That’s the golden gate, only people with a high enough talent can pass through it. It was my parents' dream to make it to the other side and join the Golden Fire sect."

"Did they make it?"

"No, they weren’t talented enough to make it through on their first try, and they died in the Carnival before they could buy a second shot at making it through the gates.” Tian’s easygoing smile disappeared and the atmosphere darkened.

“I’m sorry.” Shawn frowned as well. If the walls were made out of gold surely they had enough money to clean up the streets of Najian. Did they care that little? It wouldn’t be hard for the sect to solve most of the city's issues.

“Don’t be, one day I’ll make it into the sect and fulfill their dream for them.”

"That’s noble of you. You think you’re talented enough to make it past the gate?"

“No, I know I’m not. I already failed my only chance of passing through the gate. But that doesn’t mean I’ll give up, like everyone else here I’ll wait for the next Carnival and prove that I’m gifted enough to join the sect,” he said, regaining his usual enthusiasm.

Including the conversation he had overheard on his first day, that was the third time he had heard the Carnival be mentioned. Something told him it wasn't a simple amusement show. No, his instincts honed from many late nights of reading told him it was something far more sinister.

Tian landed the car in a giant parking structure and led him to a small ice cream shop outside the golden gates. He bought a single scoop of vanilla ice cream and sat down on a bench with Tian. They sat in silence as they watched streams of people attempt to pass through the gate.

The process was simple but deceptively hard. Out of the hundreds of people he had seen only one had made it through.

The individuals who the wall judged were not talented enough were pushed back by an invisible force when they tried to pass through the opening in the wall. It didn’t matter how hard they strained, the invisible force always pushed them back.

He could understand everyone’s desire to join the sect. Life behind the wall must have been beyond decadent, the walls were made out of gold for God’s sake. Just gazing upon them filled him with greed, he wanted that type of wealth and luxury in his life. He wondered if he was talented enough.

Probably not.

Before Shawn could test his luck, Tian told him their break was over and they needed to head back to the Scorpion’s Den. They slowly made their way back to the parking structure. After enduring a long elevator ride, they reached where they had parked the car.

Shawn gazed off the edge of the building at the crowds of people mingling below him, unaware of his gaze. All except for one. Beneath a tattered hood, cold red eyes snapped up to meet Shawn’s.

Shit.

The robed man disappeared in a blur of speed, quickly closing in on Shawn’s position. It seemed he had changed his mind about letting Shawn live.

“We need to go.” Shawn hopped into the car. “Now!”