Jason sits there in the center of the living room focused on himself. In the pit of his stomach his captured energy rotates. In his last life they would call this his dantian and he sees no reason to change that tradition. This world already has that concept even if they do get some things wrong. For now he needs to do some spring cleaning.

From afar everything seems alright. However the closer you get to the whirlpool of energy the more easy it is to see something is wrong. Slow moving energy like boulders in a stream causing eddies. Particles that move erratically and disturb their neighbors. Even some bits which are working their way out. The whole thing is a mess and if Jason wants to get anywhere he needs to judiciously go through it all and remove the dross.

Easiest for him are those particles that are escaping. So close together Jason isn’t quite able to get a feel for them individually but he has a good clue to what they represent. Energies from various forces inimical to human life. Stuff like an undead’s miasma. With just a mental shove these particles leave his body.

Those distractions taken care of Jason focuses on the most important energies to remove. Miasma and like would make him sick until removed or some other energy changes it. The particles stuck in his whirlpool are another story. His only comparison is a devil’s corruption. Those boulders in his path would stick around and absorb other energy types to grow.

The problem is that while the energies where willing to enter their removal is not so easy. Jason tries to just shove them out but all that does it prevent them from progressing further. In fact any attempt to mess with the energy stops it dead. He can’t even push them further into the whirlpool. They only move when left alone. It doesn’t take some elder to enlighten him to the fact that if they get there things will be bad.

Jason can sense more of those energies out in the air flowing freely so this is purely because of it being in his dantian. Though this is also the solution to his problem and why he didn’t stabilize the whirlpool. With a careful shove so the core of his dantian doesn’t touch any of the corruption he moves the entire mass of energy. The whirlpool loses cohesion but the unwanted energies are no longer a part of it.

With pure force of will Jason keeps a slow swirl going as he watches left behind particles. At first they stay still like when he tried to move them. Then in a burst of movement some of the particles dart off to join the natural flow around him. Only a portion remains behind, all of one type. He has experienced it before but these particles soon show that they are much worse than the others. Instead of staying still or joining up with the outside flow they start to spiral. At first barely a vibration but soon it is clear each particle is searching for his dantian.

Jason frowns, ‘not only do they corrupt other energies but actively try to do so to anyone who cultivates. Depending on when this particle got introduced that would explain why there are no more cultivators on this world.’ Now wary of them Jason doesn’t even try to touch them. Instead lying back while moving his whirlpool out of the way. Whereas before the particles had stayed in him now that they moved around on their own he was able to leave them behind.

Ever careful Jason rolls out from under them and backs away. With an eye on them he watches until they settle down once again and join with the natural flow. That isn’t enough for him though so he approaches one of the particles before it flows out of his sight. A small hop and he thrusts it through the edge of his whirlpool. One hundred percent focused on the particle it relieved Jason to see it not respond.

At least that is what he appears to feel as he turns his back and leaves the room. However the whole time he is tensed and ready to react. Only once most of his hour has passed does he relax. If it had tried to join back up with his dantian or pursued him Jason would give up on cultivation right then and there. He had no way to protect himself while in the pod and who knows how many of those particles might infest him while he is in the game.

With the little time he has to spare Jason moves his energy whirlpool back to the center of his dantian and steadies it. Next time he will still have more work to do but he has cut out the rot so things should keep for now. Only a couple minutes to spare, he enters his pod and the game.

Once in game three more days pass him by. Practicing runes during the day and cultivating at night. As night comes upon the group again Jason is happy. He hasn’t tried proper cultivation yet but his runework has improved. While he might not be on the level of what a professional calligrapher could do, he can manage the first two runes. All that alludes him is his core rune and that is just a matter of time and study.

Tonight though he has other plans. More specifically, Rosha has other plans for him. She stares him straight in the eyes at the campfire. “You are running yourself ragged! I know you can manage the split schedule but you aren’t doing that are you? Instead your off practicing runes or what have during one of your rest periods. Not tonight though! Tonight we are switching shifts. I take the middle watch and you take the first and you won’t be doing anything else with the rest period but sleeping. No cultivation, no leaving the game, just sleeping on your bed roll. Both me and Courtney will make sure that you do! If you so much as twitch wrong so that we think your awake we are going do everything tomorrow to prevent your runework.”