My amount spirit is huge now. Now that i am going nine, i have spent at least 15,000 hours more than those that were going nine. Think of it simply, 3 years of 20 hours a day, 5 days a week, 4 weeks a month 4 months a season and 4 seasons a year, i have spent 19,200 hours cultivating. Everyone else would only have done around 4,800 hours only. Cultivation is not just A+B it is more like it is more of A*B where A is past effort and b is that day’s effort. Most people would put 70% of their energy to cultivate or even lesser unless they are on form or in the zone. I am always at 100%. Or at least most of the time unless i get distracted by the things around me.

I have plenty of time to spare. Plenty of times to fail as well. I can cultivate at least 50 vines of various size doing various things all at the same time now for at least 100 cycles a second now. That was not even me trying. I could also make traps and animals in my mind made from vines. The limit was still 80 hands. But that was more than enough to make small animals. I have a small animal farm complete with fences now. They are part of the 50 vines in my always running in my head. I have grown really attached to the bunny in my head thanks to the bunny master.

Unlike most people who will tire, i can’t. What was worse is that if i try really hard time would feel like time has stood still. I could slice time into finer and fine bits. I realized that only recently. Then came a breakthrough. As i slowed down time, i began to notice an intricate weave surrounding my mind. It felt like that was the thing that separated me from my body. I began to work harder and harder. I began to realize, it seemed to work. It seemed to be breaking but just a little. It was not really obvious but it healed back almost immediately. That gave me home. 3 years of work and finally something. There was nothing much but still it meant something. The only problem was that the only way to feel it and work on it is when time felt like it stood still. That became my goal. Slicing the time to even smaller bits and making that last longer. The control over my power was already amazing if anyone were to see it. It can now rival a lord.

A lord is someone who had gone past master. Tier 1 and 2 were novice and apprentice master respectively. Most people live their lives at these levels. Tier 3 were skilled masters and tier 4 were expert masters. Finally, tier 5 are grandmasters. Most people would never reach grandmaster level let alone be coming lord level. Even if they did they would be near the end of lives already. Me? I have it at age 9.

If Joyce had reached this same level of spirit she would have noticed the very same cage that i am in. it was colorless and odorless poison that not many people know about. It came from a fruit called eugeroprofen. It is meant to kill people. Meant for people to go berserk. It sharpens the mind and relaxes the body. Making the person caged in their body. Not only was it a physical cage it was a mental cage. It cuts the connection between the mind and the body. Medications were made from this were meant for spirit lords and above. Lords would use it to sharpen their minds for short periods of time for when at their level, their abilities would be aware of this case and break out of easily. Restoring the use of the body. It was meant to be a drug for them to be in the zone. Just that for those below, it was made to kill.

Upon the discovery of the cage, it got me thinking. Why am i in this state? What could have caused me to be in this state.it did not seem natural for a 5 year old to go berserk. Then it dawned on me i would not have notice it was an act of someone had i not noticed this cage. No one could anyway. Or at least not the people around me.

As my 9th birthday got closer, i know that my parents are coming. i want to surprise them. I want to surprise everyone. I worked harder and harder. Slowly i could feel that cage wearing out. I have only about 10 days left.

200 hours or so to go i can do 1000 cycles a second now. But it is not enough. I need to be faster. At the rate i can see from the cage repairing itself and me breaking out from it, i need to go faster. I broke even at 800 cycles. That was not enough.

100 hours left. 1300 cycles now. Need to be faster

60 hours left. 1500 cycles. Still not enough. I can feel it breaking now. But i need to be faster

5 hours until the first bird call that rings of daylight for my birthday. My parents would arrive 2 hours after that. Then at lunch 4 hours after where Amy, Daniel, Joyce and Alice would come in. Eric did not come after that first birthday. We were not that close. I only saw him for 4 times anyway. We never even talked.

1 hour to daylight. I am so close. I can feel it. I can make it in time for my parent’s arrival. No wait! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOOOoooooo! I could feel the cage pressing on harder… it seems that the final wall was the hardest to break. 2000 cycles of strength was still not enough. Not only that that momentary hope brought a lapse in my concentration and set me back by another hour.

2 hours to lunch. my parent have arrived and was with me for 2 hours already. I could not pay attention to them. If my usual state was me being in the zone, i have now gone beyond that. I have shut out all external sensations. I am no longer aware of anything else other that going through the cycles and focusing on breaking down that wall.

If some could measure the 3 aspects of my spirit they would see that i have a grandmaster level spirit container, skilled level of purity and almost lord level of density. That was the thing. This cage needed a lord level to of breakthrough. Even if it was just having lord level i could brute force and punch through. But density was a closer aspect to breaking through.

2100, 2150, 2200, 2280, 2350, 2450, 2499, 2499, 2499, 2499… shit. So close. Why. why not 2500? one more cycle i am sure just past that and i would break through this cage. Is the the end? I could feel freedom just inches away. Please let me step out of here. Please give me that miracle!!!!

Then my eyes were opened. It was time. My celebration was about to begin. I saw my body after one year once again. I could see everyone again. The world was so bright and colorful. I have forgotten that. that bright light brought back memories. The things i saw that quilt, the pillowcase made by my mother from 2 years ago, the wooden bed frame my father made last year and the small figurine set that show our family of 3, he had to make one of Joyce and Alice after that though. Joyce insisted and my mother chimed in about Alice it was rather funny seeing him react that way. I could swear that i saw him have a taken aback response for that briefest of moment perfect memory for the record. The jade pendant from Joyce she got be that was carved with a rune that meant recovery and healing. I looked around from my mind. What was it that i was missing? I had no idea. I knew i had to do something about it but i did not know what i could do. I am still stuck at 2499 cycles. Then an idea it me. If 1 vine a cycle for 2499 cycles a second did not work what if i did 2 vines a cycle for the same amounts? With that, i tried again. With 2 vines each cycle, i had gone back down to 1100 cycles. That really went down plenty. But that meant i have plenty of space to grow. With the experience and feeling from 2499 cycles i progressed very quickly to 1249 and got stuck again. Not willing to admit defeat, i with 3 then 4 then 5. I now got stuck at 499. Finally i reached 50 a cycle. It was still not enough. I realized i needed to get back into the state of being beyond the the zone. But time was up the celebration was about to start.

It was a simple fare. The celebration was a small affair once again. I need to get out. I have ‘missed’ 3 birthdays already. If being beyond the zone was 120% i am back to 100%. I could actually feel the tiredness creeping in. It meant something though. To feel tired it meant that something was working. With what i have just seen, i decided it as my new source of motivation. I focused once again. I had a huge reserve. But how would i be able to punch through all that. It was as if i needed just an extra push and i would have succeeded. With my eyes open i could see my mother reaching for my hand. I began to focus on that hand. Willing my hand to move. Time grinded to almost a halt. The world lost its color. All i saw was just the hand reaching for mine. I began to cultivate profusely. I got back to 2499 a cycle and at that moment when the hands touched, it was as if a force and reached out to me and gave me that final push.

2500. 2500. 2500. 2550. 2600. 2650. 2700. 2750. 2800. 2850. 2900. 2950. 3000.

Crack. Craccccck. An echo could be heard resounding in my heart. My heart skipped a beat. No one could tell. Only me. Another thing happened right after. My eyes widened from that shock. I had finally broken free. The only issue was that my body weak. A kid who had not move for so many years. I am almost skin and bones. It was a pitiful sight. But at least i could move. That was the miracle that i needed. The only miracle that we all needed. I was awake.

The best birthday surprise for everyone if i must say. The healers came to check as everyone made a big commotion from this little act. I could move. Just barely. A twitch here a twitch there to show that i could still feel and understand what everyone was saying. Then finally, Joyce entered my mind. She got stupefied. Not only was i fully awake i was way better than before. I was at an even higher level than her. The first thing i had her teach me was how to speak with the others with the mind like how she is doing with me right now. After some tries, i managed to get into her mind. With that, i reached for Amy, then Alice, then finally my parents. We conversed. I spoke into their minds while they spoke out loud. I told them the abridged story. I hid the fact that i was awake all the time. I told them that i had become very sensitive. If anything happened around me then i would sometimes notice and wake up. I teased and joked that the head healer should be fired. He pricks and pokes me way too often. Joyce almost rushed out and wanted to go and kill the head healer. My father manage to rush out before anyone could stop him and managed to land a punch on the head healer before he was pulled away. It was a good laugh. It was good to interact again.