‘Qi is the natural energy of life. It gives the body the will to exist and the soul energy to flourish. The most basic of all energy forms known to all mortal kind. Qi is the physicality of existence in the form of energy.’

That opening statement clarified many lingering thoughts and suspicions I had from skill descriptions and the like. From there, it was a description and pictures of Dantain, meridians, and even Qi vessels. The book was almost 300 pages in total. Basic child education but holy shit, if this is considered a children's book, then what was college level. Start them out young, so they don’t go through Qi deviation like my dumbass like me did. Same with my Qi vessels, I know I would have to create my own personal meridians. With each one tied directly to a major organ. With my brain, to my surprise, not being on the list. Heart, Lungs, kidneys, liver, and other major organs all had similar functions for Qi as they did for blood and other bodily functions. What stumps me was if I tried to create my own, would the drawbacks be greater than the benefits. All it would take is one mistake, and I could permanently damage them. The book even references the importance of meridian protection, with them being vital assets to the body's health. There's a direct correlation between the rank of one's meridians and the talent and hard work one would need to progress on Atherion. I even learned there’s no baseline for stats. One can be born with all 10’s ’20s, or even ’30s across the board, while few unlucky ones could have 1-5’s and be considered crippled even with the system's help. Thinking back to my stats now and what I came here with, piecing it together, I truly was on the bottom of the totem pole with INT and WIS being my only strengths. Since meridians are something innately born with and only through rigorous experimentation, one's body can be altered. One must deal with the luck of the draw. To my surprise, genetics has a ‘MAJOR’ impact on the grade of one's meridians. If one's parents have an average rank of C rank, then their child's chance also inheriting that rank is almost 50% but at the cost of 60% Qi deviation because of the supreme overload on the infant's body.

That's how far it went into the specific; right when it was getting interesting, my only hypothesis is balancing. For if this entire plane of existence is a training field for future gods. You can’t have everyone being born top level. But with the Source being the original creator, all about love and what not being the original alpha and omega. Why would it allow the chance of infants to die at birth? The concept of free will comes into play for who has the right to deny two individuals the chance to leave a lineage of their success to the world. Death is not something one should worry about because their line is destined for the greatest because of their efforts from the start.

Going back to the meridian section, I finally understood why my skills seemed to take up so much of my Qi reserves. It’s because I’m only running on the bare minimum of what my body can truly produce. Or should I say refined, for that is what my daintian does. It refines the external mana it absorbs to produce my own Qi supply. It’s not a storage device but a purification machine. That new information will definitely help with how I view future skill creation.

For my situation, I was given a new mind, body, and soul based on the previous me’s ‘stats” from earth. Unlike everyone else here, I wasn’t born into a world of numbers, which gave me a loophole in a lot of what would be considered common sense. A prime example being my artificial Qi vessels. At any point, I could stop the skill and recreate them into a superior grade but would require the knowledge and skill to do so, with my meridians stopping me from doing the same concept. The source must know bringing an average man from earth here with no support would result in absolute death for me and my species. So what it does it do? To play by its own ruleset allows me to ‘reset’ and recreate myself within its own rules. A true backdoor to the system that dictates one's starting potential and position from birth. For I am nothing more than a spirit given parts to fill, just as Jeremiah said, a spirit user is a scary thing. My traits now make sense. Through knowledge, I can gain the power to alter myself. I’m playing to my strength, not just the physicality of them but my cultural ones. In my day-to-day life, violence was never a problem but thinking outside the box and observing the world was. To be wealthy, one doesn’t play by society's rules. No, they bypass those same rules taking and rarely giving to those to create a reality befitting only them. The same goes for athletic performance from performance-enhancing drugs. To secret knowledge kept by those in power to keep the common man in a constant state of less and them more. This was my advantage, my ‘cheat code’ to this bloody system.

A true spirit user with no limitation only set by oneself.

Within an instant of that thought passing, a notification from my status forcefully showed itself to me.

Wisdom increased by 5 Intelligence increased 5 [GROW, Jack Talbot. Do Not Disappoint Me.]

I could only look in pure shock. I could feel the energy radiating off this message. This wasn’t the system giving me some random bullshit inspirational message. Something or someone was watching me. Whoever it is, had a deep sense of what I could only sense as Duty towards me. The question that raddled my brain constantly was I the puppet or the master in this game of chess? It was answered, but I still don't know by who or what? Swiping the screen away. I could only go inside my inner world, my own sanctuary from the outside, and hysterically laugh at the situation.

I could only imagine what I could learn from the mana and psy book. This is bigger than me in all aspects. This is only the bloody start. Pure excitement ran through my very being. In my soul, I feel a deep burning for MORE! Back on earth, I thought I had nothing but here on Atherion.

THE POSSIBILITIES ARE ENDLESS.