Chapter 20: chapter 20 Attributes

Raul tried everything he’d previously tried with different body parts. He’d also tried punching, clapping, spin kicking, and even headbutting. Nothing worked.

The post was full of cracks and missing pieces, but that was because of the sheer physical force. He was trying not to break it, but the increased strength from qi filling his limbs made it difficult to control his body, though he was getting better at it.

After another two hours of this, Raul was spent, both physically and mentally. His qi enhanced strength depleted his incredible reservoirs of stamina in no time.

As for mentally, moving one’s body was semi-automatic and didn’t require much thought, but moving qi required focus each time, it was taxing. He couldn’t help glancing back at Marina who’d started reading a book at some point.   

“I’m out of ideas Marina, can you help me please?” He mumbled his request. No one liked admitting they failed, but it didn’t help being stubborn about it if he really had no ideas left.

Marina looked up from her book and waved her hand. Another chair and table appeared next to her. It was only then he realized she was wearing another ring asides their Oni wedding ring. “You’re exhausted, take a break. This isn’t like the smelting period, running yourself ragged won’t help.” She advised.

Raul stood there for a moment in shocked silence before realizing she was right. Over the last three months he’d forgotten it was irregular to only take a break after you collapsed.  He gave one more death glare to the abused post and went to sit down.

Another wave of Marina’s hand and a small plate of food showed up before him. He didn’t hide his envious gaze as he stared at the spatial ring. He’d forgotten that he could use real spiritual tools now. He no longer had to use substitutes like the shrinking bag or amulets.

“Here.” Marina passed him a ring after noticing his gaze.

“Hold up, is this…” Raul caught the ring in awe.

“A spatial ring.” Marina nodded. “Ephemeral Mask left it for you when he dropped off the attribute testing kit.”

“Wait, he came already?”

“Yes, but he didn’t want to disturb your training, so he left.”

Raul looked down on the ring with a smile. ‘Such a good and thoughtful older brother, I’m truly blessed.’ He thanked Tai from the bottom of his heart and put on the ring.

He waved it around excitedly, but nothing happened. A frown spread across his face as he stared at the unresponsive ring. “How do I use this?” He finally asked Marina.

“Just insert your qi and make a connection with it.” She answered serenely.

Insert your qi. Insert your qi. Raul’s head hit the table, just barely missing his food. ‘If I could do that so easily then what would I have been struggling with the last three hours!’ he thought as his eyes watered. To have one of the items he’d always dreamed of in his hands, yet be unable to use it, what a special torment.

“You’ll be able to use it once you learn to use your qi, so stop with the wasted thoughts and eat before it gets cold. It’ll rejuvenate you faster so you can get back to training.” A little extra motivation would probably help his second wind.

“Point taken.” He picked his head up and looked excitedly at the food. Though not being able to use the ring was a bit irritating, he honestly didn’t mind much. At least now he knew he’d definitely get to use one, unlike before.

Besides, who could be upset for long with such delicious food before them, especially with the ravenous hunger that’d been plaguing him since morning.

From the first bite his body shivered as his tongue went to heaven. Now that Marina was a cultivator again, she could bring out the true level of her skills.

Raul’s eyes turned red, and he devoured the whole thing in seconds. Once he returned to his senses, he looked at the plate mournfully while rubbing his belly. The flavor had taken a huge step up, but the amount…

“What’s wrong?” Marina noticed his less than satisfied expression. She was highly confident in all her professions, but she couldn’t help worrying that the three months of working with lesser ingredients had negatively affected her skills.

“ummm, can I get seconds please?” Raul looked away as he asked. It should’ve been a normal request, but his past experience of begging her to feed hm less made it a bit awkward to suddenly start asking for more.   

“Not possible.” Marina shook her head without hesitation. “Anymore and the nourishing qi in your body might act up, and it won’t be in a controlled way like before.”

What she didn’t tell him was that even that controlled method would be dangerous now. The smelting period was somewhat magical as the body became extremely malleable. What was training then would be malpractice now, as most cultivators couldn’t heal or adapt as well as the body during the refining period.

“Wait a few hours, I’ll make a bigger meal for lunch.” His eyes sparkled as he nodded enthusiastically after hearing that. She could hardly believe he was the same guy who cried while she stuffed him.

Her eyes narrowed as she thought over the event. She hadn’t figured out Raul’s new limit after breaking through yet, but the physical did give her an estimate.

The meal should’ve been about as much as his body could handle, and it should’ve given the same feeling of fullness that immortal cooking always did. She’d have to figure out if it’s a problem with her estimates, the nourishing qi, or if he’d simply become too used to being stuffed.

“Hey, since the attribute thing is here, why don’t we use it?” Raul broke her from her thoughts will rubbing his hands together. He was naturally curious to know what his affinity was.

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“You need to insert your qi into it.” She informed him.

“Ugh…” Raul winced as if he’d been hit.  

“Let the food do its thing and then practice more. The faster you learn to do it the faster you can use tools.” She guided him in the right direction.

“I know… What’s the deal with attributes anyway?” She and Tai said they were important, and he could also vaguely recall reading up on them some years ago, but his understanding of it was shallow at best.

Marina pointed with her finger and a large cylinder appeared on the table. The cylinder’s surface was made of thousands of tiny squares stuck together.

“Attributes are elements of nature, such as fire, metal, light, etcetera. As you know, at least I hope you know, Primordial Qi is the qi of the planet. Naturally it can turn into any of the attributes. However, we cultivators don’t use Primordial Qi, our foundation is built on Essence Qi, the Primordial Qi which has been processed with our unique Essence Heart. While Essence Qi still retains the ability to turn into any attribute – theoretically, it’s usually a lot more in tune with a few. To find out which one you’re most attuned with, you’ll stick your qi in here, and the attribute it resonates with the most will pop out.” She gave an explanation that even a child could understand.

Raul took in her words while observing the box excitedly. There were many possibilities written on it, from ordinary things like the three she mentioned, to obscure things like, blood, plant, shade, death, fate, and space. He was buzzing from the possibilities.

He felt his fatigue wash away as his mind spun trying to come up with ways to get his qi out so he could test it. “I’m gonna go practice some more.” He got up with renewed vigor.

Marina nodded and took the attribute tester back into her ring. “Think hard. The moment you succeed we’ll test your attribute. Well, I personally think you’re wind attributed though.” She commented without thought while recalling the night they met.

She didn’t immediately realize that her comment had stopped Raul in his tracks. He felt like a thunderbolt had hit him. He was wind attributed?

The moment he thought that he felt something click and knew in his bone that was correct. He looked at his hand in a trance and felt the Essence Qi inside him stirring.

He continued to stare for two minutes before Marina realized something was wrong. She looked up from her book and found him lost in his own hand. She immediately guessed what he was doing and shook her head.

“Don’t waste time and focus on training your Essence Qi normally. You being wind attributed is just my guess. Even if it turns out to be true, releasing attributed qi is harder than releasing Essence Qi, it’s simply impossible for you t –.” Marina’s words cut off as a strong gale burst out of Raul’s body.

Marina’s face twitched uncomfortably as the wind made her hair flutter. Despite the gentle nature of the breeze, she felt like she’d just been slapped!

“You were saying something?” Raul turned with a smug grin while still releasing wind from his body.

“Nothing.” She replied casually, but her head was ever so slightly turned away from him.

“Ehhhhhhhh? I thought I heard someone saying something was impossible, but I guess I was mistaken.” Most people wouldn’t have noticed the light tremble of Marina’s body, but Raul had spent three months alone with her and was looking for that very reaction.

“There’s no need to hide it, you can simply say that this supreme one’s genius has taken you by surprise. Well, I suppose your eyesight does deserve some praise too though, you managed to pick this genius out from the crowd after all.” He said before laughing loudly.

Raul had always been an unfoundedly confident person, and he’d been certain he’d be a genius once he could cultivate. Being proven right caused his ego to temporarily shoot up to the sky.

Marina’s mouth twitched in irritation at the grating laughter. She finally turned to Raul. “Hey Mr. Genius, you might want to stop doing that.” She advised seriously.  

“Why? Isn’t it pretty cool? Plus this is the perfect time to form a connection with everything.” He stared at his new spatial ring and tried to make his qi enter it.  

“Well, for one, most spiritual tools only work with regular essence qi and not attributed qi. And two…” The wind suddenly cut off and Raul’s head felt like a mountain just dropped on it as he fell backwards from losing control of his body. “Projecting your qi outwards uses it up significantly faster than using it in your body.” She finished.

‘… Why couldn’t you say that sooner!’ He tried to yell, but all that came out was a groan. Even after three hours of training Raul’s qi reserves were still half full, he never expected to run out from blowing some hot air for a couple minutes.

He felt like he was having the worst hangover of his life after getting beaten up the night before. There was a hole in the pit of his stomach screaming at him to fill it.

“Being a cultivator isn’t all positives. Qi has become a vital part of your functionality. When the dantian is at less than ten percent it feels a lot like not eating for weeks, at five percent your motor functions get greatly inhibited, and when fully empty you’ll find even your thoughts turn to a crawl.” Marina continued the lecture while standing over him.

Raul could barely even respond, even trying to talk was painful and his tongue wouldn’t form the words how he wanted. He could only turn tearful eyes to Marina, begging her to give him some qi, but all that met him was a cold stare.

“That said, we can actually live without it. You never know, there might be situations where we won’t be able to fill our qi for extended periods, it might be a good idea to practice for it now oh supreme one.” She suggested coolly.  

‘Petty!’ Raul cursed in his mind while the tears finally leaked down his face.

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