Mortal Cultivation of the Rat. + 4 Cultivation Speed.

Shawn rubbed his throbbing head as he swiped away the blue box. His sense of self had survived the experience, but just barely. He pulled a blue banana peel off his head. He restrained himself as an overwhelming desire to eat the rotten piece of fruit washed over him.

He had not escaped the experience unscathed, the voices of Etar and Green whispered in the back of his mind, fragments of their lives bleeding into his own. It was only with a high degree of focus that he was able to maintain his identity. If his attention wavered for even a moment, foreign thoughts would swarm his head.

Even though he handled the situation much better than last time, the after-effects were much more severe. The addition of another voice in his head made it more difficult to discern what memories were actually his. The experience would have been manageable if Green’s memories were still restrained, but the addition of Etar into his psyche broke the cage he had crafted for the memories, letting them run wild in his mind.

Three separate ways of viewing the world, three separate ways of thinking fought for control in his mind. If he were to return to his inner world, he had no doubt that more than 25% of his soul would have been dyed gold.

He attempted to get up out of the pile of trash but failed. The difference between how his three different identities moved was too vast, they all had different ideas on how to stand up, making all his attempts result in awkward flailing instead of meaningful movement. He took a deep breath and grounded himself with his human identity.

“I am Shawn. I am a human. My favorite food is ramen. I like sleeping in on Saturday mornings. I peed my pants in the 2nd grade,” Shawn muttered to himself, each statement more firmly rooting him in his human persona. He carefully stood up, finally regaining control of his movement.

He tested his movement and found that they were largely unaffected as long as he kept a firm grip on his sense of self. The second his other identities seeped in, offering suggestions on how to move, his body would become too confused to act.

Shawn’s ears twitched as he heard a pair of loud footsteps approach him. The pair rounded the pair coming into view, revealing that one of them wore a purple headband. Shawn gulped, now was just about the worst time he could possibly think of to run into a member of the Crimson Lotus.

However, the woman standing next to the Crimson Lotus member concerned Shawn more. Members of the Crimson Lotus were usually weak individually, relying more on their sheer numbers to win a fight. He felt confident that he would be able to beat most of them in a fight if he was in peak condition.

But, just by the way the woman walked, he could tell she was different. She was strong. His theory was confirmed when he activated his Qi sense. She practically glowed with power, she had at least five times the amount of Qi he had. With a Qi capacity like that, she was at the very minimum in the middle stages of the Flesh Tempering Realm. That would mean she was at least a full tier above him cultivation-wise.

He quickly took off his scorpion necklace and hid it in his pocket. The thing must have been cursed with how much trouble it had caused him.

However, it wasn’t like he had a choice in wearing it, it wasn’t safe to explore this part of town without the medallion around his neck declaring his allegiance to the Scorpion’s Den. With how tense everyone was at the moment, he didn’t doubt that he would be attacked if they discovered that he was snooping around in alleyways.

The unfortunate reality was that the Scorpion’s Den had so many members that it was impossible for them all to recognize him. He stilled, pressing his back against the wall as the pair stopped right in front of him.

“Did you just put something in your pocket,” the woman said, as she pulled down the hood of her green robe, revealing her navy blue hair.

For the first time in a while, [Deception] activated giving him a vague idea of how to get out of the situation. “No, I was just wiping off my pant leg, some lint had gathered on it. I hate it when that happens, it ruins my look,” Shawn said.

Congratulations! Your skill, Deception has grown to level 5.

Shawn struggled to not let his shock show on his face. After his first few disastrous lies he had largely given up on [Deception], it was easier to just tell the truth. He would have been particularly foolish if he continued to lie even when his skill confirmed that he wasn’t even skilled enough to deceive a child.

He had gotten lucky, the woman must have been unbelievably naive.

The woman smiled and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Finally, I meet someone who gets it. No one else understands, even the smallest piece of lint or dust can ruin the whole vibe of an outfit.” She tugged on his shoulder and pulled him forward. No longer fearing for his life, he let himself be dragged along. “I found this awesome cafe, you should come join us, it's not too far away from here.”

The Crimson Lotus member followed along wearing a dazed expression on his face, The woman's aura greatly overshadowed his, making him almost invisible to Shawn’s Qi senses.

Shawn wasn't threatened by the man's presence, he was confident that he would be able to easily beat the man in a fight. Not that he would have to, the woman who was obviously the one in charge among the duo had fallen for his lies.

“Sorry, I wish I could come, but I have to get back to work.”

Congratulations! Your skill, Deception has grown to level 6.

He smirked, the system notification was irrefutable proof that she had believed him. Maybe, he should get back into his old habit of telling long stories to make excuses. He was pretty good at this.

“That’s fine. I got what I came for.” She dangled his scorpion necklace in front of him. “I never thought it would be so easy to get my hands on one of these medallions. They're in high demand nowadays.” His mouth hung open, he hadn’t felt her steal it. He must have been too distracted by her hand around his shoulders.

But, that didn’t explain why she knew there was something in his pocket. He had thought she had fallen for his lies, the system even gave him skill levels as proof of his success.

She punched him in the chest, sending him crashing into a pile of trash ten feet away. She dusted off her hands, seemingly disgusted at the thought of touching him.

“Ri, finish him, I don’t want to unduly dirty my hands,” the woman in the green robe said. Ri, stood still, his face blank. “This is why I hate working with the Crimson Lotus, all you lot are useless. You’re too busy getting high on your own supply to get any actual work done.” Ri did not budge, too lost in his hallucinations to reply.

The dots connected in his mind. He had fooled Ri, not the woman. The skill level-up notifications had fooled him into thinking he tricked both of them, but in reality, he had only managed to deceive the man who was high as a kite.

He chuckled at his foolishness. He shouldn’t have thought that he managed to fool someone, he was terrible at lying.

“Fine, I’ll do it myself.” She put on a pair of black gloves and threw a kick at Shawn. Adrenaline poured into his bloodstream as he watched the kick slowly approach him. She clearly wasn’t taking him seriously, she should be able to kick much faster than this.

Three separate sets of instincts activated within him. Etar, the rat demanded that he get on all fours and find the nearest hole in the wall to hide in. Green, the fly wanted to flex his wings and take the high ground. Finally, Shawn wanted to roll backward on the ground to avoid the kick.

All three of them burst into motion at the same time, confusing his body, leaving him unable to move. The kick slammed into his head, cracking his jaw. Shawn crashed into the wall of the alley and slowly slid down it with a groan of pain.

Once again, he desperately tried to move his body but failed. He had lost his carefully kept concentration and his sense of self had begun to fade away. Till he regained his focus, his body would be inaccessible to him.

“I am Shawn. I am a human. My favorite food is ramen. I like sleeping in on Saturday mornings. I peed my pants in the 2nd grade,” he muttered to himself, his control of his body increasing with every word.

The woman kicked him once more sending, him flying into the street and breaking his concentration. The few pedestrians wandering the street quickly dispersed, not wanting to get involved in the scuffle. There was a primal sort of fear in their eyes as they saw the woman’s green robe.

He spotted a familiar figure from the corner of his eye, but he lost track of them before he could confirm their identity as the woman stepped into the street, drawing his full attention.

“Stop muttering to yourself and get up. It’s not fun if you just lay there,” the woman said, her hands in her pockets.

Shawn attempted to get up but failed. He had lost all his progress in regaining control of his body in that quick moment of inattention. The only thing left accessible to him at the moment was his Qi. Though, without access to his body that was useless to him.

His only avenue of attack left was the wind, but he doubted that would do much damage to her. Even if she let him concentrate for long enough to empower his attack with the Dao, the attack would most likely fail.

He hadn’t figured out how to use the wind offensively yet. His attack had only managed to defeat Lubo because it carried tens of pounds of Cujo in it. Without the deadly substance lacing the wind, the attack would have been useless.

He briefly considered pouring over Green’s memories to find a more powerful, offensive-focused wind attack but scrapped the idea. There was no way she would let him concentrate long enough to find the right memory.

Right now all he could do is weather the storm and regain his sense of self, thus regaining control of his body.

“You aren’t going to get up? That’s disappointing.” She kicked him once more sending him tumbling through the empty street. His cultivation enhanced body had managed to defend against the attacks so far well, but it was breaking down. Already he had multiple cracked bones and scraped arms from rubbing against the concrete.

He simply wasn’t durable enough to withstand her kicks without losing his concentration. It was a hopeless situation. A harsh kick connected with his forehead, making him lose consciousness for a moment.

In that time Etar took control of his body and instinctively enhanced his teeth with Qi. All questions of where he was and why he wasn’t dead left his mind as he focused on the opponent in front of him. Etar snapped his jaw shut several times, to scare the tall creature away from him.

He had no desire to fight at the moment. His body was slow and sluggish, not responding to his commands properly. The only familiar weapon that worked properly was his jaw. Before Etar could react the woman's foot impacted his face.

Shawn awoke further down the street, his teeth aching. Even though his body burned, he smiled. An idea had occurred to him. Closing his eyes he directed his attention to his dantian. It was hard with the constant pain distracting him, but he managed.

Mentally activating [Qi Enhancement], he watched as his Qi dispersed itself amongst his muscles and nerves. However, he stopped his Qi from activating once it had fully spread across his body. It flicked curiously, beckoning him to use it.

He ignored his Qi’s call to be used and instead grabbed even more Qi from his dantian. His brain was pushed to the limit as he was forced to control two clumps of Qi at once. If he lost focus on the Qi enhancing his body, it would slowly disperse and be wasted.

If he hadn’t upgraded his intelligence stat, he didn’t think it would be possible for him to split his focus to so many different places at once. His intelligence stat had greatly increased since coming to Najian, granting him almost three times the raw computing power of the average human.

Just like Etar had done when fighting the cat, he poured his Qi into his bones. However, he didn’t focus on making them sharper. Instead, he focused on making them denser and more durable. The process was slow, his bones greedily drank in his energy, absorbing a frightening amount of Qi. Multiple times during the process he got stuck, but his instincts never failed to guide him on the right path.

Folding the Qi in on itself, he grabbed another clump of Qi from his dantian. He then used it to pound the energy into a more durable form. His mind partially merged with Etar’s as he continued working, causing time to distort and giving him access to knowledge he otherwise wouldn’t have had.

The Qi condensed into a strong outer layer with a lattice of Qi strands holding it together on the inside. He then repeated that process for every bone in his body. By the time he was done, his mind ached, the process felt like it took days, but he knew from experience that not more than a couple seconds had passed. He grunted as he activated the Qi structures he had so carefully crafted.

Blue screens flooded his vision when he opened his eyes.

Congratulations! Your skill, Qi Enhancement has grown to level 9. Congratulations! Your skill, Qi Enhancement has grown to level 10. Qi Enhancement Lvl 10: A basic skill that all powerful cultivators must master. Through much practice, you are now well on your way to mastering this skill. Spend 5 Qi per second to increase your strength, agility, dexterity, and resilience by 14. You may spend extra Qi to enhance yourself further, but at a decreased rate of efficiency. Be warned, flooding your body with too much Qi can lead to irreparable damage.

The woman's foot crashed into him, but this time it didn’t hurt. The skill may have been more expensive to use now, but the addition of the resilience stat was more than worth it. When the skill was active, his reliance more than doubled.

The woman stumbled backward in shock. She said something, but Shawn ignored her. He instead focused all his attention on regaining control of his body.

“I am Shawn. I am a human. My favorite food is ramen. I like sleeping in on Saturday mornings. I peed my pants in the 2nd grade.” He repeated the mantra over and over, gaining more control with each repetition. No longer were the woman’s kicks strong enough to break his concentration.

He wiggled his fingers, beginning to regain control.

Shawn’s stomach dropped as he sensed a large amount of Qi gather in the woman’s foot. He knew that it would likely be fatal if the hit landed, but he was too close to regaining control of his body to risk breaking his concentration.

Her leg shot towards the ground like a guillotine. Time seemed to freeze as Shawn regained control of his body, her leg a foot above his battered body. He attempted to throw himself out of the way, but he was too slow.

Just as the strike was about to end his life, a small gust of wind blew her foot an inch to the side, causing her to narrowly miss his head.

Her foot contacted the ground, cracking the concrete in an explosion of force. Shawn shot to his feet and snatched back his scorpion necklace as shrapnel cut into his back. She jumped backward and took a defensive stance as Shawn shook out his limbs.

Shawn immediately turned off [Qi Enhancement] to save energy. He had 15 Qi left, meaning he could only activate [Qi Enhancement] for three more seconds. Continuing the fight was not an option. He had to escape.

“Are you going to fight back now?”

“Yes, you made me angry. You committed the sin of damaging my sweatshirt and for that, you will die. Behold the might of my ultimate attack, Seven Heavenly Meteors of Apocalypse!” He pointed at the sky drawing her attention upwards.

Congratulations! Your skill, Deception has grown to level 7.

While she was distracted, he activated [Qi Enhancement] and ran away at full speed. By the time she had looked down, he had slipped into an alleyway, hidden from her line of sight. [Qi Enhancement] turned off as he ran out of Qi, but he did not stop moving.

He moved his way through the familiar maze of alleyways, inching his way closer to the Scorpion’s Den.

He had walked out the door this morning with his confidence in the clouds, but he had been cruelly reminded that he wasn’t special. He couldn’t compete with the big dogs just yet. All he could do was run away.

The only sound that echoed through the alley was his desperate gasps for air and a pair of feet rapidly tapping the ground behind him. Wait that isn’t right.

He glanced behind his shoulder and blanched as he saw the woman quickly gaining on him. How she had found him he had no clue. The only explanation he could think of was that she had somehow tracked him using her Qi sense.

Shawn gasped for breath as he sprinted as fast as he could, the ground blurring beneath his feet. However, he wasn’t fast enough. She kicked him in the back, sending him tumbling into the main road once more.

Shawn groaned in pain. He was getting real tired of this girl throwing him around. He forced himself to his feet. His body hurt, and he was out of Qi, but he wouldn’t give up. Resolve filled his body as he prepared to access the bridge in his mind for one last attack. Etar had shown him that the only correct way to face death was: bravely.

People only remembered how things ended, so he would make damn well sure he died with style. The woman stood before him completely undamaged, her smug face pissing him off to no end. Before Shawn could sacrifice his soul to the Dao of the Wind for one final attack; help arrived.

Relief filled his heart as familiar members of the Scorpion’s Den gathered around him.

“You didn’t think I was gonna leave you,” a man who worked with him in the kitchen said. Memories flashed through Shawn’s mind. The man, Rund, had been there when the woman had first kicked him into the street. At the time, he had been too busy fighting to regain control of his body to notice.

“Thanks.” Shawn let him be pushed back behind a wall of bodies.

Without any warning the men burst into action, viciously attacking the woman. She cursed as she was forced to retreat.

Shawn smiled, warm feelings he couldn’t describe danced in his chest. He sighed as his left arm spasmed, his sense of self fading somewhat as Etar fought to take control of his body.

Foreign thoughts flowed through his head with a surprising intensity. This is our colony.