Concentrated, Jack read the book in front of him. His emerald coloured eyes were shining as he read the old book, but after a few minutes he shook his head and closed the book.

‘Still nothing. 9 years and I haven’t found anything’

Jack looked at the many books he had gathered on the desk. Many of them were old and all of them had to something to do with old myths and sagas. They were filled with monsters and magic, he had even found stories about cultivation, so Jack was sure that there was at least some knowledge the people of this world had retained from the time they were still connected to the worlds outside. But none of them had a single hint at the Spheres or actual facts about cultivation, just fictions, some closer to the truth, others filled with misconceptions.

In the beginning he had started his search for the knowledge of his old world more because of nostalgia, but the more he read, the more interested he became. Why had the people here forgotten so much about cultivation yet retained knowledge like the existence of monsters and other races, some even so good described that he could identify the actual races back from his old world?

He placed the book at the staple of already read books, then he grabbed for the next. But then he stopped, his hand still in the air as he let out a quiet groan. A strange feeling coursed through his body, like thousands of ants crawling all over his skin while his inner organs started to pulse in a strange pace, hurting as if they were threatening to rupture. When it finally vanished his whole body was covered in sweat and he felt exhausted, as if he had just run a marathon. But on his face was a large grin.

“Finally!”

A triumphant smile was on his face. This feeling was what he had been waiting for the last 9 years. Finally, after all this time his Spiritual Veins had finished healing. It had taken even longer than he had expected due to the low amount of the Qi in the air. And to fully heal his Dantian would take even longer. But now he had at least completed the first step to recovery.

A grin filled Jack’s face. With his Spiritual Veins whole again he should be able to cast at least magic again. Maybe he should try it out, just for old time’s sake? He leaned back inside his chair as he concentrated on the flow inside of him. Quickly the Qi inside the veins started to move.

If a person wanted to use Qi to change the world around them they had two basic ways to do it. First they could send out their own internal Qi and command it to do whatever they wanted. That was what cultivators would do when they used Martial Techniques.

But sadly Jack didn’t have any internal Qi inside his Dantian, so he had to use the second way. Manipulation of external Qi, or as it was called most of the times, Magic. It was slower and less potent than Martial Techniques, but in exchange the user didn’t need to be a cultivator. Additionally Magic could make use of any element in the surroundings while a cultivator would be bound to the Element their internal Qi possessed, so it was more flexible in its use.

Over the years a lot of Qi had come through the hole inside Jack’s room, but most of it had already left, being absorbed to the outside by the void zone. Another part had been absorbed by the walls, ceiling and floor, strengthening it in the process. Jack pitied whoever would try to get a nail into the walls of his room now.

But a small part of the Qi was still bound to the air and this Qi was what Jack planned to use now. With the Qi inside his veins moving quicker and quicker he began to envision what he wanted, a small ball of water hovering over his hand. Suddenly the Qi inside the air which had been unmoving until now began to move, matching its speed to the Qi flowing in the Spiritual Veins.

Slowly the Qi began to gather and absorb the moisture in the air before it floated towards a single point. It took a few seconds, but slowly a small ball of water appeared, floating in the air. Jack let out a happy laugh. Finally he was able to use magic again. And soon he would be able to cultivate agai-

Suddenly Jack’s thought got interrupted as a heavy weight landed on his lap. As soon as he was distracted the ball of water fell down and submerged his desk. Jack cursed.

‘This damned cat!’

Rolled into a ball on his lap was the family cat, which was called Mia as he knew now. She was another problem in his life. When he made the hole he hadn’t thought about it, but she was quite often in the room, giving her a lot of chances to absorb the Qi. When Jack first noticed that he had been truly afraid that she would soon become a monster and then kill him and his family. But even though years had passed since then nothing had happened. Still, Jack couldn’t shake off his suspicions that she had started to absorb Qi. After all, in the past few years she didn’t look as if she had aged. Right now she was 11 years old, already a ripe age for a cat and still she looked and behaved just like the day he first met her. It was unnatural.

To make matters worse she had a habit to come to him whenever he sat down for more than a second and to use him as a bed. It really made Jack wonder if cats were drawn to people that didn’t like them. But at least it had helped him to get a little over his fear.

With a sigh Jack reached out and placed her back to the ground as he stood up. Now that he had his Spiritual Veins healed he could finally start training his body. It was necessary, too. Due to not going outside and his sickness he had gained a pale and feeble body. This simply went against his pride as a cultivator. There was just one problem.

Unfortunately he didn’t know where to start. If this was still his old world he would be able to simply sneak out and train in the wilderness. Unfortunately he was now living in a civilised country and there wasn’t any true wilderness. The closest would be the small forest on the other side of the street, but that place was crowded with joggers and other people and there weren’t many places to truly train.

After much thought Jack had decided to ask his parents if they knew a place where he could train. He was just uncertain how they would react. Growing up sickly his parents, especially his mother, tended to look after him closely. Training his body was hard work, so she would be worried. Resolving himself he stood up and walked out of his room.

He halted for a moment as he saw himself in a mirror. Inspecting himself for a moment he winced. He looked sickly and his entire body was still covered in sweat. Maybe he should take a shower first, his parents could wait for a moment longer.

---

Doubtfully Jack looked at the narrow building in front of him. It looked like a gym, but it was old and shabby. In some parts the colour was missing and a few windows had cracks. Truth be told it did look as if it had been abandoned years ago.

‘Am I really supposed to train here?’

Jack thought back towards the discussion he had with his parents this morning. At first they had been against it, but then his father had started to have a thoughtful look on his face.

“Why do you want to train?”, he had asked and Jack had truthfully replied: “I want to stop being this weak. I want to become able to defend myself”

His father had nodded. Then, slowly a grin had formed on his face.

“If it were only for training your body I would have recommended going to the gym in the city. But to learn fighting… I guess I have to ask an old friend of my father. If he wants to talk to me that is.”

‘Grandfather’s friend?’ Jack had though unbelieving. He had met his grandparents a few times and nothing even hinted that they knew anything about fighting. But then he had frowned.

‘Wait a second, he said his father. If I think about it, I never met my father’s parents, but only my mother’s. I wonder why?’

While Jack was lost in thoughts his father hesitated for a moment, then he continued speaking.

“But if you want to start training with him you have to be prepared. It won’t be easy. No, in fact it might be better to call it torture. So, do you still want me to ask?”

And so, after a few hours and a phone call from his father later he stood in front of a rundown gym, lamenting if his choice had really been right. Maybe he should have tried one of these normal gyms in the city his father had mentioned?

Taking a deep breath Jack stepped forward and knocked. A few seconds nothing happened, then the door opened with a creaking noise. A young boy looked at him, maybe as old as himself. His dark eyes were half covered by his short brown hairs.

“May I help you?”

He asked Jack, a hint of wariness in his eyes. Now that Jack looked closer, he noticed that although the boy was looking normal and relaxed, he was anything but that. His pose, even though it looked normal was in truth optimal for battle. A slight movement and he could attack or defend. His weight was focused on the front of his feet, making quick manoeuvres possible.

Seeing this Jack had to grin. He had come to the right place.

“Hello, I’m Jack Erikson. My father had told me that here is a good place to train.”

The boy relaxed a bit. His eyes wandered shortly over Jack’s body. He didn’t look too impressed.

“I’m Sam Long. My grandpa had told me that we would gain a new member today. That is probably you. Come inside.”

He stepped to the side and allowed Jack to enter the building.

The inside of the building was in even worse shape than the outside. But that wasn’t because of lack of maintenance this time, but because of overuse. Large parts of the wooden floor were broken and the marks of fists and feet could be seen everywhere. Whoever trained here had definitely used more force than a normal human should possess.

Inside the hall were several other people, the youngest only a bit older than Jack and Sam, the oldest maybe as old as Jack’s father. They all were currently training. Unsure what he should do Jack stood a bit to the side.

Quietly he looked at the people training. Something about their movements seemed… familiar. Jack narrowed his eyes. An old memory came into his mind. Body refining.

Body refining meant to break down your body and rebuild it stronger and better than before. That could be done through normal training, but most people would use body refinement methods to quicken the process. Most of these methods would need at least a bit of Qi, but there were some that didn’t. They were mostly slow and even a small improvement would need weeks of training, but for the few people who didn’t have cultivation it was perfect.

‘Or for people that are trapped inside a sphere’, thought Jack. These movements certainly resembled those of the non-Qi using methods. And it would explain the damages inside the hall. Still, to use body refining techniques without Spiritual Veins like these people here was dangerous. Who knew what consequences they would have in the long term without the enhanced healing the veins provided. It could be even harmful if the small internal wounds caused by the training would heal wrong.

Suddenly the sound of people training stopped and he looked up. A white haired man had come into the hall through one of the door in the back. Respectfully a few of the trainees bowed and Jack knew that this person was probably one of the teachers here.

“Ah, grandpa! Over here”, Sam waved with his hand to get attention. With a smile the old man came over to them. As he came closer Jack noticed that despite his old age his movements were powerful and fluid. He didn’t even need the cane he was carrying in his right hand. Instinctively he knew this man meant danger.

“So you’re Markus’s grandson, huh”, the old man got right to the topic. “It had been a while since I have last seen him. That old bastard is still traveling all around the world. Now, what do you want? Training or training?”

The way he said the second training let a shudder run down Jack’s spine. A cultivator would always learn to listen to his instincts and now they were telling him to run. To run as far and as quick as he could. But then he shook his head. He needed to train, the harder the better. Besides, he was an ancient cultivator, he had seen his fair share of hard training. How bad could it possibly be?

---

Mo Long looked satisfied at his new student. The boy, a grandchild of his old friend Markus, was promising. True, he looked feeble, but there was something different about him. Mo thought that it was his eyes. A fierce determination was burning in them, as if the boy was willing to fight the entire world if he had to.

Mo had seen eyes like this before. Maybe this boy had inherited more from Markus than his black hair. He definitely had more of him than his father Daniel.

Daniel Erikson had been Mo’s student, just like Jack now. But while Jack looked feeble, Daniel had a body that was perfect for martial arts. However he lacked that determination he could sense in that boy and after only a year he stopped participating in the training.

Back then he had been very disappointed. But now fate had sent him a worthy replacement. The old man looked at the boy that was currently being trashed by his own grandchild and started to chuckle. Oh, he would make a martial artist out of him. Or break him trying.

A shudder run down the back of the other students in the hall when they heard the chuckle and more than one started to pray for the poor boy that had come in the old man’s focus. They knew he would need it.

---

On a dark road two figures could be seen, staggering forward. Only the dim moonlight showed them the way. The two were Jack and Sam. But they looked very different from before. Their whole bodies were covered in bruises, sweat had soaked their clothing and their breath was heavy. In short, they looked like as if they had seen hell.

“Ugh, my whole body hurts. That old man is the devil.”

Cursing Jack made another step forward while leaning heavily at Sam’s shoulder. Sadly the other boy wasn’t in a much better condition and it almost ended in the two falling. As they finally managed to get their balance back Sam replied apologetic:

“Well, you have been better than most of the students on their first time, so he got a bit too much into it.”

“He does that often?!”

“Much too often. You get used to it.”

That explained the pitiful and empathic looks of the other students during the whole ordeal. Probably they had to think at all the times they had to go through the same experience. And it certainly had been a horrifying experience.

As a cultivator he had gone through some body refining techniques himself and he had also his own share in getting wounded and hurt. But this, this had been no different from torture. Albeit a helpful one as it would strengthen the body, it was torture nonetheless.

First it had been endurance training while carrying weights. At first it hadn’t been that bad, but after several hours it began to really hurt. Especially with Jack’s body still weakened from the years of recovery. And just when Jack had decided to give up it had ended, as if the old man exactly knew what he had thought. Then the weight training began. Again and again Jack was brought to the limit before the old man finally changed to the last part. He had called Sam to come and then the sparring began. Again and again, no matter how they got hurt, all under the watchful eyes of the old man that didn’t let them rest at all. Jack had quickly learned that the cane of his hurt like hell.

Sam looked to the other boy. Even though the training had been horrible, it had at least caused the two to become friends quickly. There was nothing better to connect to each other than a fist to the face.

In truth Jack had been honestly impressed by the boy. The boy was a genius to learn fighting like he did when he was still so young. He was even better than Jack and he had several thousand years of fighting experience! If he had been born in Jack’s old world he would have certainly be called a monstrous talent.

In 9 years had passed since he had been reborn on Earth, Jack had been a lonely child. Oh, it wasn’t that he wasn’t trying to get contact to other children his age. But it was a simple truth that he was far older than them mentally and somehow they noticed that he was different and always tried to keep their distance. It had caused his parents a lot of worries, though Jack himself was happy about it. Being lonely was something he was used to and it was definitely better than having to play all day with children who had nigh inexhaustible energy. But now he had finally found someone he could talk with.

With a wry grin he looked at the other boy.

“Sorry that I hit you.”

Sam looked surprised at his apology.

“No problem. It was a fight, after all. Sorry that I broke your nose.”

Jack let out a slight laugh as he touched his face. The next few days would be certainly painful, but at least it would heal quickly now that his Spiritual Veins were actively repairing his body.

“No problem. I have a feeling that will happen more often in the future.”

“It would be better if it doesn’t. We have already enough punching bags in the gym, we don’t need one that actively hits back” A playful grin was on Sam’s face.

Jack had to grin. He really liked the boy. Maybe he should introduce him to cultivation in the future? Though his last disciple had been a failure given his betrayal…

While Jack was deep in thoughts a sudden knock on his head interrupted him. Frowning he looked at Sam while rubbing his head. That had hurt.

“By the way, I think we have arrived.”

Hearing this Jack finally noticed that he truly was standing in front of his house. When did they get here? He had been so absorbed doing one step after the other that he almost didn’t notice how long they had been walking.

Jack said goodbye to Sam and promised to come again soon. While he was walking to the door of his home he suddenly got the feeling as if he had forgotten something important. But he couldn’t remember what, no matter how he tried. In the end he simply shrugged and opened the door.

“Jack Erikson! Where have you been?! Do you know how late it is? You wanted to be home hours ago! And what happened to nose?!” His mother sounded absolutely livid.

‘Oh, sh*t!’