All Aaron needed was an isolated and peaceful corner, something he would not find in the wealthiest parts of the city. The more money a person had, the greater the security of their home and surroundings, and the more powerful and sensitive to energy the guards were. So he headed to the city's fifth layer.

As he moved further away from the Royal Palace, the houses became smaller and the secondary streets became narrower. At the city's fourth layer, cruder stone constructions had completely replaced the beautiful Roman architecture. At the fifth layer, the small houses were made of a mix of stone and wood. Most buildings there were poorly maintained, except for the ones on the wide Imperial Road, which drew a straight line from the palace to the city's East Gate and beyond.

Eventually, Aaron found a dirty, narrow alley between two wooden houses. With his nondescript white robe, he would look just like any ordinary homeless person in there, and no one would pay attention to him.

That was, therefore, the perfect place to cultivate, considering he had no one to protect him from external interference. He wasted no time. He got to the middle of the alley, sat in lotus position, closed his eyes, and focused inward.

In simple terms, cultivating was nothing more than using energy and knowledge about the secrets of the universe to increase one's power and lifespan.

The name came from the cultivation of plants, and like its namesake, it was all about patience and doing things the right way. A cultivator couldn't rush, they needed to let power grow gradually as if they were a plant absorbing the right nutrients. A solid foundation, that is, cultivating right from the start, could be the difference between success or failure in the future. An incorrect decision in one's cultivation could cause the plant to not be strong enough to support its own weight. That led to health problems, the end of one's cultivation path, or death.

Another analogy taught to apprentices was related to construction work. One needed to have a solid foundation of knowledge and skill on which to build their cultivation life. Rushing the construction or building incorrectly was a disaster waiting to happen.

And what foundation was better than Aaron's, who had been an Absolute Immortal and had countless years of experience and knowledge?

If cultivating soul and body was like cultivating a plant, ordinary people cultivated common plants, while his plant was a divine one with unlimited growth potential and an inconceivable capability of absorbing nutrients. Moreover, the nutrients he took were the best possible!

His current body and soul differed from his previous ones, so he would need to cultivate them differently. He had prepared himself for that before coming to this world by analyzing the aboriginals. He had the perfect technique to grow his power.

Qi Cultivation: First Step!

Aaron closed his eyes and focused on his dantian, the name of his energy center. In this world, it was located in his spirit, just below where his heart would be. It was the size of a pea grain, and when viewed from the inside, it looked like a ball of transparent glass, filled with white mist.

The mist was condensed Qi, but it was so scarce it was laughable. The dantian of human beings passively absorbed Qi and pushed it through spiritual channels to irrigate their body and soul. Thousands of these channels came out of the dantian and turned into a gigantic three-dimensional spider web that filled the entire body.

Aaron started circulating his Qi. When cultivators spoke about circulating Qi, they referred to the act of moving Qi within the body in a certain way, over and over again, usually creating a mystical symbol with a grander meaning.

But he had other plans and meant "circulating" literally. He forced his Qi to spin, and the mist in his dantian started swirling like a whirlwind, faster and faster until it was at hurricane speed, also literally.

The hurricane sucked all the Qi inside his dantian into it, and the difference between the energy pressure in his dantian and in the alley outside made his dantian absorb Qi much faster than before.

That would be enough for Aaron to become a One Star Qi Manipulator in a few hours, but his ambitions went well beyond that. He increased the rotation speed of the hurricane, causing it to condense until it reached a point he considered acceptable to actually begin his cultivation.

Driven by his will, exactly nine hundred and ninety-nine strands of Qi emerged from the hurricane and became mystical symbols on the walls of his dantian. Each symbol had a deep meaning and resonated with the secrets of the very universe.

Aaron then created new strands of Qi to connect certain symbols to each other and many of them to the spiritual channels on the walls of his dantian, turning the wall into a highly complex magical formation.

No mistakes were allowed. A mere millimeter out of place, an incorrect line, an imperfect symbol, and he would fail. The more complex a formation, the greater its effects and the lower the tolerance for errors. A formation with nine hundred and ninety-nine symbols, all extremely complex and profound in themselves... Any mistake would have blown Aaron's dantian and kill him instantly.

After accurately linking the right symbols, Aaron linked three of them to the center of the hurricane and activated the formation he had just drawn.

Qi Cultivation: Qi Absorption Matrix One-Three-Nine!

It was as if an energy black hole formed in the alley he was sitting in, sucking in all the Qi from around him. His dantian started vibrating at a high intensity as the formation fed it with immense amounts of Qi. That Qi was immediately sucked into the hurricane, causing the mist to solidify until it became impossible to see through.

At a certain point, thousands of smaller hurricanes emerged from the large one. Each one of them connected the large hurricane to one of Aaron's energy channels. They then started sucking Qi from the central hurricane and forcibly infusing it into the channels.

His channels almost exploded from the sudden influx of Qi. Almost. He had already calculated exactly how much energy his spirit could support and didn't force it beyond that point. His spirit was pushed to the utter limit though, causing extreme pain even for him.

The Qi infused every part of his body and soul, refining, tempering, and strengthening him. While Qi entered his body, impurities left it, and his soul evolved.

It was so much energy being absorbed by his dantian that soon, a quarter of the city had the lowest levels of ambient Qi in history. So little Qi, in fact, that most people in the affected area passed out. Fortunately, most of them didn't notice it because they were already asleep that night.

The process took just over fifteen minutes, but it was enough for Qi to enter every fiber of his body. His bones became more resistant, his muscles more powerful, his energy more intense.

Part of the impurities that had come with his new body, common to accumulate over the life of a mortal, had been forcibly removed and amassed into a layer of dark fat over his skin. He didn't find it weird that this new body had the average amount of impurities for an Inept. Rather, it would've been weird if the universe had given him a perfectly pure and flawless body when he had entered it.

At one point, his body couldn't take Qi anymore. If Aaron insisted, his cells would just explode. No matter how good his foundation was, there were still limits he had to respect.

He deactivated the Qi absorption matrix one-three-nine and dismantled the smaller hurricanes, leaving only the large one up. That one would help him recover energy much faster than normal whenever he used his Qi.

And that was it. He had stepped on the path toward absolute power and immortality. His body would be ready for the second step in six days.

He clenched his fist, feeling the potential for destruction coursing through his veins.

Becoming an Inept had been dreadful.

He was glad he was back to having some power.

Aaron opened his eyes and saw five white panels floating in front of him. He read the contents of the first.

[Attribute Increased]

Energy: 0 → 6

» Type: Qi | Quantity: 0 → 2 | Control: 0 → 10

He had heard on the market that body, energy, and mind were attributes used to quantify the power of living beings in that world.

Each of these attributes had three sub-attributes, and it was the average of these sub-attributes that determined the score of the attribute itself. In his case, his control over Qi was at the limits of that world, ten points, while the amount was two points. The average made his energy level six.

He had no idea why that average was relevant enough to show on his status though. Something to research later.

He read the second and third panels next.

[Attribute Increased]

Body: 0 → 1

» Strength: 0 → 1 | Speed: 0 → 1 | Stamina: 0 → 1

[Level Up]

New level: 1 - One Star

You're able to destroy a wall with raw power, using no skills.

He was stronger, faster, and had more stamina than Inepts. He could feel it in his veins. But something didn't add up.

His new level should be higher than that.

He relaxed when a glance at the next panels showed his true level. Apparently, the Cage didn't like to skip any message.

Without wasting time, he looked at the fourth panel.

[Skill Unlocked]

Name: Change Class

Grade: Heavenly

Description: Allows you to switch classes.

Interval: 1 year

As he had also discovered on the market, skills classified as heavenly came from the Cage and didn't require any energy to be used. One only had to focus on their name and they would automatically work.

The people of that world were ignorant about the Cage around the Universal Core and believed that both Heavenly Messages — as they called the panels — and Heavenly Skills were gifts from the gods. No god had ever cared to correct the misunderstanding.

Finally, he read the fifth and final Heavenly Message.

[Level Up]

New level: 2 - Two Star

You're able to destroy a small room with raw power, using no skills.

Aaron chuckled at that description. It had been a long time since his potential for destruction had received such a low evaluation.

The Cage determined living being's levels by the amount of energy in their dantians. It had quantified the Qi in its dantian as two, or two points, which placed him at the Two Star level.

Only the highest amount of energy counted to determine someone's level. If he also had three points of Arcane Energy, for example, he would be a Three Star Arcanist instead.

Qi Manipulators — the energy specialization of those who used Qi — had some unique characteristics, one of which was that the amount of Qi they possessed directly affected their physique attribute. So, when his amount of energy changed to two, his physique attribute and its respective sub-attributes also did.

Happy with the fruits of his labor, Aaron checked the classes available to him next.

'Change Class,' he thought and received another Heavenly Message.