Leo could not help but marvel at the sight of the Cultivation Tower, which seemingly poked the sky.
Leo exclaimed, “This tower must have more than a hundred floors!”
After expressing his honest thoughts, he decided to enter the building before a faint sense of comfort entered his mind. However, it was too vague for him to notice as something was occupying his mind.
‘If I remember correctly, cultivation towers are better the higher you climb.’
The moment he reached the second floor, the comforting feeling became intense enough for even the absent-minded Leo to notice.
‘This feels so refreshing, I guess it's true that the quality of Wen gets better the higher you go.’
Wen was the short term for World Energy, no one wanted to keep using such a long name.
With that thought, he decided to walk to higher floors. Once he reached the tenth floor, the feeling was so comforting that he could not help but feel sleepy.
He decided to climb one floor higher but the comforting feeling immediately vanished once he did. Rather than comfort, he felt his lungs hurt so much he immediately ran down.
‘The Wen on the eleventh floor must be too rich and pure for my body, I guess I'll settle for this floor. However, how do I enter these rooms?’
Leo noticed that each door had some kind of slot, enough to fit an arcade token. Fortunately, when he stood in front of it, a panel materialized.
[Clan heir detected! Would you like to use your free ten hours of cultivation for today? Y/N]
Leo pressed on "Y" and the door slid to the side, revealing the room it guarded.
The room was pretty dark, but every now and then he could see rune circuits flashing. The rune circuits seemed to be circling around the middle of the room, where a green cushion lay.
When Leo entered the room, he felt a flooding sensation of comfort. It was like he was laying down on a patch of clouds.
After scrutinizing the room, he placed the books beside the cushion before sitting in the lotus position.
Leo opened the book for his cultivation art and was about to read it when he suddenly felt a flood of information enter his mind.
He dropped the book in surprise, but he did not have time to care about it. Right now, he was trying to understand the new information in his mind and was stunned. They were knowledge about how to cultivate using his new mystic art, now Leo only had to focus on the name of the mystic art and he would 'remember' how to use it.
“This clan sure feels powerful, but how come I've never heard of it? Much more hear about its destruction.”
After recomposing himself, he focused on what really mattered for now and started to cultivate using the art.
With his closed eyes, he could somehow 'see' thousands of tiny orbs of light dancing in the air. It was as if thousands of fireflies were flying around the room, but instead of a bright yellow they glowed a soft blue.
Leo stopped for a moment to engrave this beautiful sight in his mind, hoping not to forget it.
After a few moments, he decided to focus on using the cultivation art once more. Cultivating was like doing a normal breathing exercise, however the effects it produced and the process was quite different.
Whenever he breathed in, the tiny blue spots would enter through his nose and enter his lungs. They would then flow with the oxygen and mix with the blood, before being circulated around the body. It did not nourish his body, but it did start combining into a blue energy sphere below his stomach.
The first thing one must do to reach the initial state of cultivation was to accumulate enough world energy to jump through the dragon gate, transforming into a powerful dragon in the process. Thus the first cultivation realm was given the name, Leaping Dragon.
Whenever he finished one circulation, he felt a stronger sense of comfort but it never lasted long enough for him to enjoy.
Around thirty minutes passed and Leo finished his tenth circulation, when he suddenly felt like his body turned into a hungry beast that tried to devour every single bit of Wen in the area as fast as possible.
The energy sphere inside his body was starting to compress, it immediately exploded when it reached half its original size. The energy scattered throughout his whole body, nourishing each and every cell of his body.
Currently he could not feel any ounce of comfort, even worse, all he felt was excruciating pain. It was as if every fiber of his being was being ripped apart only to recover and break all over again.
It was different from the pain he felt when he had a bloodline awakening, it was less painful but that was not something to celebrate about. Due to it being less painful, he did not pass out like last time.
He screamed at the top of his lungs, “Aaaaaaah!”
After minutes of pain, Leo could only think of one thing, ‘I wanna die! I wanna die! I wanna die…’
For four minutes straight, he did nothing but wish he could die. He was in so much pain he moved from his lotus position and sprawled over the ground. However, not even a minute later, a memory flashed before his very eyes and strengthened his resolve.
A man stood tall as he gazed at Leo with a bright smile, while a beautiful lady stretched her hand out in front of Leo. Like the man, the lady had a bright smile on her face as she offered her hand.
“You can do it!”
Leo grasped her stretched hand and stood up.
A moment later, the pain he felt gradually vanished and was soon replaced with an extreme sense of comfort.
His chest heaved up and down as he took deep breathes. Gazing at the beautiful ceiling, a well known phrase surfaced in his mind.
“No pain, no gain!”
Not even a moment later, panels started to materialize. However, he did not notice it at first as he was lost in his thoughts.
‘But, why did I already have a breakthrough? Didn't they say humans on average need to cultivate for half a year or more in order to breakthrough? Even if my potential is extreme, isn't it too fast?’
He did not let this cloud his mind, since his eyes were set on a higher goal.
When he was about the ask, he finally took notice of the notifications in front of him. Shaking his thoughts to the back of his mind, he focused on the notifications in front of him.
[Congratulations Leonardo, you have reached the first major milestone in cultivation. Would you like to claim your reward now? Y/N?]
[Cultivation Panel Unlocked!]
[Technique Panel Unlocked!]
[Battle Power Panel Unlocked!]
[Battle Records Panel Unlocked!]
[Status Updated!]
Curious as he was, he asked, “Milestone?”
[There are different kinds of milestones in cultivation, and whenever one reaches these milestones they get a reward.]
“Is there a way for me to know the milestones you've set?”
To answer his question, a panel materialized that only had one word.
[No!]
Leo sighed, but he still pressed the [ Y ] option.
[Please go to the Treasure Hall and claim your reward.]
A few minutes later, he stood up from his position and heard his body cracking. With each crack, he felt more and more refreshed but his mood soured when he took a deep breath.
A foul smell entered his nose, before he groaned in disgust.
He thought, ‘Where's that smell coming from?’ and decided to examine the room.
He didn't see anything peculiar, and the room still seemed beautiful. After a minute of looking around, he finally found the source of the foul smell and it was…
“Why do I smell like sh*t?”
YOU ARE READING
Frozen Flame
ActionIn a single night, Leo's life changed for the better or worse. He encountered a demon, who asks him to become his successor. His father, who was once the pillar of his family, was now crippled and depressed. So Leo relit his childhood dreams, one wh...
