Nostalgic Gamer in a Cultivation World

Tetsu was startled at Dyne’s words. He knew Dyne to be a very respectful and agreeable kid who may or may not have flatulence problems and irrational fear of black goo.

But while Tetsu and Vahn were stunned at this, Dyne was also in deep thoughts.

“Hmm… If I make Songi look bad, it could warn Biron and stop those deaths… Maybe I should just force the evil in him? I can’t kill him because it would wreck the game…” Dyne taught to himself.

Songi was visibly trembling, but he was trying to maintain a Biron happy smile.

“So it seems that Master Teacher now has a rival!” Songi laughed as if trying to pass off the compliment and used it to sow bonds of brotherhood between Dyne and Gala.

“Master teacher? Gala? You have become a Master Teacher?” Tetsu was amazed.

“Yes, Sir!” Gala gave a proud bow as his face was flushed with embarrassment.

“It seems that there is much to be discussed. But for now, can we all rest?” Tetsu laughed again.

“Vahn! It is you!” A woman broke through the people and ran towards Vahn.

The woman gave Vahn a tight hug.

“You’re alive! I’m so happy!” Maya began to weep.

“Maya. I did not have the pleasure of meeting you. But you look just like Mei.” Tetsu smiled.

“Mei? My- my daughter?!” Maya trembled.

“They are alive. Val is alive. Although Rim Elm is probably not what you remembered, many of the villagers are safe. We can talk later. For now, I’d like to make my friends rest.” Tetsu explained.

“Of course! Of course! I’m so sorry. I didn’t know what came over me. Come Vahn. Let’s get you rested and cleaned up.” Maya offered.

The group began to move, but Songi secretly glared at Dyne.

“Master Tetsu. Send a telepathic message to Master Kin and Master Zopu and ask for a meeting later. Let’s talk about our excuse once we are alone.” Dyne said through telepathy.

Tetsu obeyed Dyne and sent his message as he passed by.

The expression of the two was that of surprise. The two looked at each other, and Kin sent his message.

“We understand.”

Calamity followed the group and drew in curious viewers.

Soon, Tetsu and his trio were now inside the room.

Dyne and Vahn immediately fell flat on the bed. Even though they were dirty, they didn’t care as they were too tired to take a bath. The Large Slime moved to the area near them and sat down and was motionless.

“Ugh. The Mist was really wearing me out. Traveling without a Ra-Seru really eats up your mind…” Dyne sighed.

“Tetsu… How is Biron Monastery?” Dyne suddenly asked.

“Strong. As expected! The tribulation of the Mist has even made them stronger. They even developed more ways to grow. Every Inner Disciple Monk has a Force Foundation. And even some of those in the Outer Disciple group have one!”

“Body Cultivation… I guess it’s time for you to discuss what you know about body cultivation. My erm… dad didn’t really have the time to teach me apart from helping me acquire my Force Foundation…” Dyne explained and followed the lie that he was from Sol.

“Understood. In Biron Monastery, it seems that they still have some amazing means to survive the Mist. Biron Monastery has always been the weakest place to conduct meditation because Octam and Karisto were said to have places that drastically improve our bodily cultivation. But now… I believe that Biron stands at the top. This is because of all the places I’ve mentioned, the mystery and power of Biron Monastery were untainted and unchanged by the Mist!”

“Ohhh… I do love mysteries. But first, tell me about this meditation.” Dyne asked.

“A monk's discipline involves the training of our body and Mastery of Spirit arts. For Spirit, you are vastly better than me. As for Body cultivation, it is based on the teachings of Lord Biron. He taught these meditation styles that draw energy from the world and gather it within our Force Foundation.”

Dyne nodded. This sounded like the many cultivation novels he read.

“How exactly does it happen?”

“It was very difficult to practice outside because of the heavy Death energy brought out by the Mist. While Death Energy is important to harness life, the excess of it is very deadly. And you already explained how it was affecting my body. But here in Biron, you could sense the Life energy.”

Dyne was silent and began to close his eyes.

“Master Dyne. It isn’t something so easy. While I can’t hold my candle in Soul Cultivation against you, in terms of Body Cultivation and the meditation to sense and harness the energy, I have decades worth of advantage and-“

“Is this it? Why is this energy, fire?” Dyne wondered as he held his hand up.

A strange yellow, almost invisible, and a faint glow was gathering.

“This life energy feels like fire,” Dyne asked.

“…”

“Tetsu? Where are you going? What about the mystery of Biron.” Dyne wondered as he saw Tetsu leave.

“To question my life’s worth. And Eat. I’m hungry. I’ll get something in the kitchen for us to eat.” Tetsu murmured.

“Oh. Alright.” Dyne turned to Vahn and was about to say something, but Vahn was already asleep.

Dyne shrugged and rested on the bed. Tetsu left and slammed the door.

“What’s his problem?” Dyne frowned.

“What kind of a monster are you? Are you one of the Sovereign’s Son?”

“I’m not Jesus if that’s what you’re asking.”

“You just gathered the rich Life energy in this Monastery.”

“Life Energy? You mean the fire?”

“Yes. Remember the wheel? Fire is right next to life. They are very rich in gathering Life energy that Cultivators absorb. When I crafted this world, I left several powerful artifacts in my world and used them as power sources to create certain places. You’ve already encountered the product of another artifact.”

“Drake Water, Huh… So here in Biron, you’ve placed some fire artifact. I was right. This place is powered by Geothermal energy. Well, it makes sense. Vidna in Sebucus Islands used geothermal energy to keep their windmills running, and there were Biron Monks there.”

“Correct. The history of this place should be easy to deduce now. Considering your wisdom…”

“Let’s see if I got it right… The Monks chose this place because of the geothermal energy, which increases the amount of Life energy they can harness. But since this place is hot, the Monks created fans to keep the building cool… Which was very useful to drive out the Mist later.” Dyne guessed.

“Correct. Of course, these items are interesting objects that can help you grow in your cultivation.”

“Why couldn’t I sense the life energy in Drake? If the water there had the same powerful energy like this, why couldn’t I cultivate life energy?”

“The Elemental Wheel. You forget it again.”

“The wheel? Hm… Fire’s next to Holy, which is life. And the water is next to dark, which is death. I don’t get it. Water is essential for life. How could it be rich with Death energy?”

“Your body thirst. Not your soul. The body is full of death energy, and water nourishes it.”

Dyne wore a weird expression.

“Is that how it is? Water is death energy? What a shocker.”

“Wasn’t it the same symbol in Christianity? Baptism symbolizes that you ‘died.’ And there’s also that phrase about whoever shall drink from me shall not thirst in the Book that your Sovereign wrote. It affirms that water is death and that in the Sovereign was life. Water that doesn’t make them thirst for it feeds their soul.”

“You read the Bible in my memory?”

“Hey. It was a book of a Sovereign. Why shouldn’t I read it?”

“Moving back to the topic, if it’s death, why was it helpful in nourishing my soul? Shouldn’t I feel tired if I drank it?”

“You’re confusing Death and Soul energy. Strong Death Energy creates Drake water, but it is the opposite of this place. This place was meant to help you develop your bodily cultivation. Drake Water aided you in Soul Cultivation. You exposed yourself to great amounts of Soul energy and didn’t enhance your ability to control your soul? You were even able to use that torturous training of absorbing and harnessing the Gimard and Drake Ghost souls that you were able to pass on to Bertugo and Brod. Not to mention Calamity and Catastrophe.”

“Oh, I get it. Then I guess I should be cultivating. I need to gather this energy and bring it to my Force Foundation, right?”

“Yes. Of course, it will run out. You don’t have anything in your Force Foundation. If you can plant the Genesis Tree in your Force Foundation, you’d get stronger. Of course, it’s still a long way out.”

“Oh… Then I guess I should stick to Soul Cultivation for now. Can I harness the energy and put it in my Elemental Spirit Seed?”

“You can max out the energy. But that’s just it. It can only give you so much energy. So, its helpfulness is just too little. Besides, the effects that this place should have given you have already been achieved when you created your Elemental Spirit Seed.”

There was a knock on the door, and a trio entered.

Tetsu, Zopu, and Kin entered the room.

“Master Dyne, show them what you did.” Tetsu urged.

“Which one?” Dyne asked.

“When you harnessed the energy of this place.”

“Oh, you mean this? Yeah. It’s useless. Since I have made a Brimstone heart, it kinda already gave me whatever powers I could have gained here. So I don’t think training here will do anything good.” Dyne sighed.

“A freak of nature.” Zopu cried as he saw Dyne harness the fire energy.

“A powerful being!” Kin shivered as he watched Dyne.

Tetsu only sighed. No one could do what Dyne did. When Dyne gathered the Elemental Energy of Biron, Tetsu could feel immense life energy. He couldn’t understand how Dyne easily wielded energy.

“How can you do this?” Zopu asked urgently.

“Only Lord Biron could wield elements!”

“Oh. It might be because of this.” Dyne unrobed the black scarf and revealed his chest. A bright red and white energy was seeping out of the brownish and rocky chest of Dyne.

“Elemental Spirit Seed!” Zopu fainted.

Kin blanked out and suddenly began chanting with strange words as if singing.

Tetsu was baffled at their reaction.

"Woah, boy. I'm glad I didn't take all my clothes off. Right. I'm barely a teenager. You creepy old men should stop your Pedo reactions." Dyne shook his head.