“Like turning into a monster,” Victor shook his head, “I don’t think the Old Man will be too pleased about that.”

“Especially if his son dies from the procedure.” Reunion muttered.

“Wait! Gu Ming can die from this? You never said anything about that.”

Victor was shocked by the revelation, but Reunion just looked at him like he was an idiot. “You are adding a foreign organ into his body, an organ that is from a different creature with a foreign supernatural power. I would think the possibility of death would be a given.”

Victor gave it a quick thought and had to sigh. “When you put it that way, I guess it make sense. By the way, how does a normal human being absorb a monster core?”

“They can’t. What makes you think that is even possible?”

“You.” Victor countered with a grin. “Previously, you said that cultivators can absorb monster cores into their bodies. I take it the technique is different than when you form a core on your own?”

“Oh, you can say that.” The System laughed. He did not intend to continue but did so when Victor waved him on. “A mortal like Gu Ming will need a cultivator’s help. The cultivator will need to place the monster core on the body of the mortal, and slowly infuse the monster core with his Qi. As the monster core becomes filled with Qi, it will try to find a way to get rid of the excess Qi. If everything goes well, the monster core will fuse to the mortal, and the mortal will becomes a cultivator.”

“I take it there is some secret technique to this as well? It seems to be a thing with cultivators.” Victor smirked knowingly.

“No, there isn’t.” Reunion surprisingly said. “The cultivator just need to provide the Qi. In theory, the cultivator would want to transfer his Qi in a steady consistent rate, but the successful or failure of the procedure depends almost exclusively on the mortal’s ability to withstand the foreign Qi and the inclusion of the monster core. If everything goes well, the cultivator’s Qi will act as the bridge between the monster core and the mortal, and once the monster core will become one with the mortal, the cultivator can cut it off. That is if everything goes well.”

Victor’s brow raised. In all the time he knew Reunion, the System had always encourage Victor to try new techniques. He almost never express concern about how dangerous cultivation techniques could be. The fact that he is doing so sounded ominous.

“And if it doesn’t go well?” he asked.

“The body explodes, the monster core becomes useless, and the cultivator suffers a backlash from the procedure.” Reunion said nonchalantly.

Victor blinked in shock. There was a lot to take in, but Victor was most concern about the last part of the statement.

“What do you mean by ‘backlash’?”

“You will get hurt.”

“Oh great, I can get hurt doing this. Another thing you never mentioned. Why? And how badly?”

Reunion just shrugged. “You are the bridge between the core and the mortal. If the procedure fails, the bridge is broken, and you are the bridge. It won’t kill you, probably, but it will hurt.”

“How badly?”

Reunion thought about it for a moment “General tiredness for a day or two, a week at the most. Think about it like having a fever that won’t go away.”

“Next time, lead with that.” Victor grumbled, thinking that Reunion had him worried for no reason. That did not sound all that bad, but it was something he would avoid it if possible. “Monster Cultivation sounds a lot like the Qi Transfer technique. Would I suffer a backlash if Qi Transfer failed?”

“No. You are trying to form a new core with the Qi Transfer technique. You are trying to fuse the monster core to the body in Monster Cultivation. That’s why the cost in Qi is so much higher in Qi Transfer. They are two very different techniques.” Reunion assured Victor.

“Okay, so Monster Cultivation is out. I take it all the other methods are even worse?” Victor waited for Reunion to nod before continuing, “Then, I guess Gu Ming would need to live the rest of his life as a normal human. We can do something else for the Old Man. Hopefully, something cultivation related that won’t cast a bigger target on my back?”

“Well, I was thinking about Sword Arts.” Reunion said. Victor signaled Reunion to explain, and the System did. “Transferring Qi to a weapon is relatively easy and the Old Man does that, but he don’t do much with it. He just use the Qi to strengthen his weapon. I think it would be better to give him advice on various Weapon Arts techniques, and it would also be safer. From the records, several of the mystic warriors of Nexus had discovered various forms of Weapon Arts so it’s not something new on this world.”

Victor immediately agreed. “That is a good idea. I remember stories about Paladin of Sun who could hit targets hundreds of metres away with her sword strikes. Maybe something like that?”

Reunion lift a finger and the ghostly image of a book appeared.

“I would recommend the Crimson Kingdom’s Basic Art of the Sword. For the low price of five hundred points, you can get-”

“Can you modify it? Change the names of the techniques so that it looks like it was written by Paladin of Sun, or by someone who knew her? It will need to match the language and writing style of the era as well.” Victor interrupted. He wanted to know this before the System goes into his sale pitch.

Reunion’s eyes glazed over, as if he was checking on something. Then, his eyes cleared and he answer, “Yes, I can. I can cross reference the writing style of that era, and change a number of things. It will take some time and cost you some extra points though.”

“No problem. Give me a copy once you are done. Now that is over with, please excuse me. It’s time for me to practice the Qi Transfer technique.”

“Finally!”

“Anything to get you to stop bitching, Reunion. Anything to get you to stop bitching.”