Moon Cultivation [Sci-fi Xianxia]

I returned to my room with mixed feelings. After the shield experiments, Kate had me test the gap between our levels. She quite literally forced me to eat sand.

My reinforced body allowed her to hold back less. The electric bolts no longer hurt the way they used to, no longer made me arch in agony. Still, she got carried away to the point where I had to remind her that my body also needed rest.

So she changed tactics and let me hunt her instead. I quickly drained my reserves down to nothing, and with that came the fatigue.

On the one hand, a massive weight had fallen off my shoulders, and I was ninety per cent sure I'd make it to second year. If I survived, of course. But after running around with Kate, I didn't want to think about the Damocles sword hanging above my head. I just wanted a shower and bed, despite dinner being soon.

The shower perked me up a little, so I went to dinner anyway. My body needed fuel.

Denis and Bao were on the farm again, but Marlon was free, so we ended up going together. Or rather, we met there, exchanged trays as usual, and started talking about the day.

"What's new?" my roommate asked.

I dreaded that question. I remembered all too well how the guys had reacted to my previous breakthroughs.

"I broke through."

There was no way to sugarcoat that pill.

Marlon's fork froze with a bit of vegetable skewered on it. A kaleidoscope of emotions flashed across his face, but he pulled himself together quickly.

"Congratulations," he said.

I'd been expecting more of a reaction, but the conversation seemed to have ended there. I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to try and revive it.

After a few long, awkward minutes, Marlon spoke again.

"What's your foundation?"

Foundation meant second stage in general, but I knew what he was really asking. He wanted to know what materials I'd used.

"Mate, come on…" I pulled a guilty face and spread my hands.

"Fair enough," he sighed, then floored me. "I'm giving up."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm done. Sod these bloody rat races. I'll make myself a solid foundation, break through to late second stage, finish out the year, and go back to Earth."

"You don't think you stand a chance?"

"What chance?" Marlon laughed. "I didn't get handed a couple of million for free. I have to spend points on materials. If I'd won even one tournament, or taken a few prize places, I might still try to fight for it, but as things stand, my choice isn't much of a choice. It's either a solid foundation, or points.

"I'm choosing foundation. By the time it matters, I'll have enough for three orange-grade materials. If I push myself, I can reach late second stage before the culling.

"I'll be one of the best they send back to Earth, which means I'll have good prospects there. Besides, Earth's full of air. I'll be better off there than among these dead rocks."

I could have argued. These rocks weren't that dead. On every one of Earth's moons, life existed in one form or another.

"Denis and Bao aren't giving up," I said.

"Denis and Bao are idiots," Marlon barked. "No matter how hard they push, they won't have enough points.

"Bao might still change things if he dropped to his knees before his father and begged for help, but Bao's too proud, and his old man's apparently a real bastard."

And that was how we had dinner.

Marlon didn't say another word that evening, but the next morning we had breakfast as if nothing had happened. He looked like he'd thrown a mountain off his shoulders, same as I had after my breakthrough. His body was here, but the rat race no longer had anything to do with him.

After breakfast, I went to Rene.

He put on another show with announcements and congratulations. The man never missed a chance to promote his hall. But I was surprised to learn I wasn't the first of his students to break through. I was only the third, so Rene had to pad things out with all my prize places from the weekly tournaments, and my fourth place in the monthly one.

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After that we went into his office for a cup of tea.

Not Pure Thoughts this time, but some low-grade sweet green muck. I didn't say anything, just in case it turned out to be valuable. The marigold tea had tasted like old socks, but it had worked.

"My congratulations again!" Rene said.

"Don't drag it out," I asked him. "You suspect me of something again?"

"Oh no! I've more or less worked out who you're working for."

"More or less?" I echoed.

"All of this could just be a smokescreen. Cultivators adore that sort of intrigue." he said. "No, I'm here to talk about money."

"Money?" I asked. "I thought I'd paid for all my training."

"You did," Rene agreed. "But you're no longer first stage. It's one thing to charge a hundred units for two hours from a first-stage cultivator. For someone at second stage, that's hardly respectable."

"And turning every one of my achievements into a circus act is respectable?" I asked. "Free advertising doesn't cover the difference?"

"For advertising you need achievements. You need new victories. Tomorrow's the weekly tournament…"

I waved him off.

"I'm not going. I'm not ready yet. I practically have to relearn how to guide energy through my channels."

"First of all, you need to update your techniques if you want to squeeze the most out of them. Your body has changed, and with it the optimal alignment of your channels. The difference is tiny — sometimes just a few millimetres left or right. But those few millimetres can translate into an extra twenty-five percent of output power. You'll need that if you want to beat Gunther."

"You know him?"

"Not personally, of course, but I watch the tournaments. He's the star of your cohort.

"We had someone like that — Ivato. Star fever took him down. In the second year he ignored his raid leader and decided to take on a dozen Iron Ants by himself. They tore him apart for scrap in no time."

"You think Gunther will meet the same fate?"

"I don't know what fate awaits him. What I do know is that in the arena, you're no match for him. You'll have to spend a lot and work hard if you want to stand a chance. That increases my workload too, so from today it'll cost you three hundred for two hours."

"You've got some nerve!" I said, pointing at the cadets visible through the transparent wall of his office. "Even at a hundred per two hours, you're pulling in several hundred thousand a month from this lot!"

"And have you calculated the cost of Flow Chamber time to push your qi level up to breakthrough for the third stage?" he argued.

I didn't have that kind of money…

"So you want to take the last I've got?" I asked.

"No, I'm saying it's even more expensive for third stage. And I need new techniques to teach! Those cost money too. The couple hundred thousand I make a month barely cover my expenses!"

"One-fifty!" I said. "I'm still your best advertisement!"

"Two-fifty! And only because I like you."

"Two hundred! And if you like me that much, you'll give me a bit more attention in the hall and outside it."

"Two-twenty… What do you mean outside the hall?" he frowned.

"Two hundred!" I insisted. "We'll sit down over tea and talk a bit about techniques, what I should be learning, what I should be focusing on, and so on."

"Two-twenty! That's still my time."

"Two-twenty if it's your tea," I agreed, feeling like a complete miser.

"As if you were going to take me to Marco's." Rene sniffed.

"I actually was," I said, just to have the last word in the matter. "But fine, two-twenty it is. And we'll start with a talk.

"What do you think of my current set? How best to upgrade it?" I asked.

"Air is your number two?"

"Yes. I wanted Monkey of East, but now I'm beginning to doubt it. Air only works at full under a dome and even there it doesn't show itself at its best. Outside, the atmosphere is thin, and on other moons it's absent altogether."

"Under a dome air doesn't show its best because of armour. It's the perfect countermeasure at first stage, when cultivators lack strength, but up there," Rene pointed at the ceiling, "a cultivator who can rip the air from your suit and your lungs is a terrifying thing. Besides, you can still use the techniques if you carry spare tanks with you.

"Mad Monkey of East is a good technique."

I can't disagree that, but,

"Still, I don't think it makes sense to lace Chain Punch and Hook with Air Qi. It doesn't strengthen the blows."

"But it knocks your opponents back! That can be used as a tactical tool. And let's be honest, Chain Punch is lacking in damage anyway."

"Airy Chain Punch?"

"The decision is yours," Rene said, setting his cup on the table and spreading his hands. "I'm only telling you there's use in it."

"Hook?"

"Pure," Rene nodded, as if agreeing with my earlier thought. "And you need a proper ultimate. Iron Head is a movement technique, not a full replacement. And I can't help you with that one."

Before I could ask what he would recommend, Rene raised a hand.

"There are different options. I'll send you a list of what I can teach. It's a short list, and there's only one air technique in it. You can look it over later.

"I'd also suggest picking up a simple air control technique. In the Air Garden they hand them out for free if you sign up to work there. I'd recommend it. That way you'll grasp the essence of this qi faster."

"I already feel the Air."

"I mean understanding, not feeling. That's it, consultation over. Get out of the hall and don't come back until you've bought a technique to practise."

"As if I need to go anywhere for that." With those words, I opened the library page through the interface.

"I thought you'd take more time to think it through," said Rene.

"I'm sure I'll need Hook. We'll start with that."

"Good choice," he approved.

Upgrading Hook cost me thirteen thousand. Literally fifty percent of its actual price. Despite being red-quality, it was still a simple, common technique.

And I very quickly began to doubt the wisdom of my purchase.

As Rene had said, the changes in channel alignment were minimal, invisible to the naked eye. I had to switch several times between the training hologram for first and second stage to notice that the channels now curved slightly differently around the elbow joint.

I had no idea what logic was behind those changes. But that was clearly a question for another day. For now, I had a mountain of work regaining control of my reactor and unruly qi.