Jason pauses as another thing becomes clear to him. ‘In fact! In fact, this would be the difference between mortal and primordial Energy. My mortal Energy is able to replace itself in equal amounts to it being destroyed, converted, or otherwise neutralized. That is why the threads in the stomp can continue to attack but they don’t ever grow beyond their starting amount. This would explain why Energy still exists, even with the world’s core and all that mess. My core, the environment, and the world’s core Energy are all being changed into Mana and Qi.’

‘There isn’t some recycling happening where Mana and Qi return to being Energy. Well, there might be but not the extent needed. Rather, as the Energy is reduced the mortal Energy replaces itself. When I cultivate the density of Mana and Qi, it doesn't just go up because I am removing Energy but because I am likely putting off a ton of the stuff.’

‘On the other hand, primordial Energy should be able to more than replace itself. The mortal stuff is already a never-ending wellspring of power but it requires investment to get a return. Primordial Energy would just grow on its own and can only be contained by Primordial Mana and Qi. Though I don’t know what those two would do in primordial form.’

‘But how does this translate into a sixth step? I need to represent an ever-growing mass of power and obviously I can’t exactly do that or I wouldn’t need to train my Energy in the first place. If I already had as much as I wanted, that would remove much of my problems right now. So instead, there must be a trick to it. The other two methods end up replicating both the rule and the magic. Energy, however, is all about continued motion and replication.’

‘Though if I take it all as just being a pantomime of reality. If I don’t require a literal replication, there is a way. There might even be many ways, not just for Energy, but the other two as well. Why limit yourself to the basic examples if another method would work better for you? But I can ignore the other powers. All I need is to figure out Energy and I think I have an idea.’

‘The idea of inertia is easy enough. I already have a cycle going, so I can just use that. For the replication, though, I need to hack things a bit. As I can’t literally duplicate my Energy what I can instead do is continue to add more strings to the bundle, I am cultivating. So I take one string and cycle it through, then pull in another for the next cycle. Just repeat that until I am no longer able to add on more strings.’

‘I just need to figure out if I should just be adding strings one at a time or instead should be doubling or using the Fibonacci sequence. With mortal Energy just adding another string after every cycle should be fine but I don’t want to limit myself. Plus, that seems like a good way to spend way too much time on the sixth step. If I instead double the number of strings held, I would soon reach my limits. Which if anything is important in its own way.’

Jason sits back and relaxes before realizing he still has another foundational question, what are stats? ‘Like, given previous knowledge from my current life, stuff like strength is the power of one’s muscles. But that can’t be true, at least not at the higher levels. In my previous life, physical strength would turn into an energy all its own. Being able to move worlds sounds cool but someone pushing with pure force just turns the person into a drill.’

‘Generally, the body cultivators end up depending more on life energy to get things done than actual physical strength, even if that is how they describe it. While NeoRealm is a game, it is also its own reality and some rules are constant. One of those is that purely physical structures all have a limit before they just break. Even if a person could have the strength to move a mountain, they are much more likely to break their own body first without some kind of mystical support.’

‘With that in mind, stats are not physical representations of the body. Obvious enough when a person who looks like they are just skin and bones can be a magnitude stronger than someone shaped like a bodybuilder. But shouldn’t there be some base level of physical strength? How can everything be dependent upon mystical power! Yet here we are.’

‘While there does seem to be some admittance to physical strength, toughness, and agility that is quickly overwhelmed by stat gains. Even for me it was the same, though I might have the sturdiest physical body that means nothing. True power in this realm comes from being empowered. About the only exception is that monsters that haven’t gotten the attention of the System will be limited to their actual bodies.’

‘But there is a problem with the System granted stats. Not just the ones gained from levels, but from those gained by effort. The System doesn’t weave them into our bodies, it simply squashes the power into us. Sure, a snowball will smack someone pretty hard. But there is a reason you don’t put ice into them. While both are frozen water, the snow is much less compact, not to mention how much more sturdy the ice is.’

‘Right now, my stats are like loosely packed snow formed on a balloon. Even the bits gained from my bones are like that even if they have managed to get inside the balloon. But ignoring all that ice metaphor, there is one final reason that I can’t stand this to continue. Like with my strings, the System controls the stats. Not quite on the same level, but if I can manage to capture and weave the loose stats into my inner void, I will have taken away one more point of control the System has over me.’