Pest removal finished, Jason lays down on his bed and logs out. Back in his room, he crawls out of his pod and stretches not only his limbs but his awareness. All around the apartment not a single particle of corruption. Whatever has shielded his house still stands, and if his guess about his cultivation being the cause, it should keep going.

With a groan, Jason sets an alarm and goes to the kitchen. He might have just eaten in game but his pod must not have fed him yet. He looks in the fridge. Nothing has changed there.

“Welp, instant ramen it is then.” And Jason throws a pot of water on the stove to boil and pulls out two random packets of the college student special.

“Looks like I get to experience the culinary fusion of shrimp and roast chicken, today? Tonight? Meh, whatever.”

While he waits for the water to boil Jason pulls out his bowl and opens the seasoning packets into it. Then from the cupboard he pulls out a few things. A dash of sesame oil, a sprinkle of garlic powder, and a generous glug of hot sauce. At this point the pot is boiling, so he tosses the two noodle bricks in and grabs an egg out of the fridge.

Jason cracks the egg into the measuring cup and with his fork gives it a good mix until the noodles have softened up. With the fork he gives it a stir and drizzles the egg into the boiling water. Once the egg is in, he cleans out the measuring cup. This is just enough time for the noodles to finish cooking.

Turning off the stove, Jason pours some of the water into the bowl first and uses the fork once again to stir in the seasonings. Then the rest of the liquid and noodles go in as well. From the fridge he dispenses a couple ice cubes which go into the bowl as well as he cleans out the pot. A bit of stirring later and the dish has cooled down enough and Jason chows down.

Meal finished, Jason goes back into the living room and after a quick stretch sits down in the center. He feels slightly bad that he hasn’t used the fancy new punching bag all that much, but it can wait. Settled on the floor, Jason closes his eyes and cultivates. The energy in the air is more responsive than ever before and though it might be his imaginations, he feels it might be denser as well.

Excellent conditions to cultivate in. This allows him to go into a deeper state of mediation. Time is lost to Jason until the alarm he set goes off, waking him up. He yawns, “never enough time in the day. Welp back to the game. Though can it really be considered just a game when I spend more time in it than out? Meh, philosophy can wait until I have greater accomplishments both in and out of NeoRealm.”

Back in the game Jason stretches out on the bed and glances around the dark room. Courtney and Rosha had both made it back safely. Another stretch and he sits up on his bed. ‘No rest for the wicked and I know nothing more wicked than a cultivator.’ With a silent sigh, he focuses on his core.

Not much has changed, right where his heart would have been is a crystalline ball of Energy made solid. Coming off of it almost like fur are loops of Energy turned into a thread finer than the System let him handle normally. Over their time in the forest his constant cultivation had brought it to the point that they spread through his entire body.

Within this sea of gossamer threads are thicker, sturdier strings. The lines that Jason has decided are the internal structure for all things in NeoRealm if no one is looking. Now that he is in a safe place though, he has an experiment to try.

Those strings from what he can see are made of Energy. Whether this is true for others doesn’t matter to him. What matters is if he can replace the rougher strings with his own cultivation. Tonight though Jason doesn’t plan to go too overboard, just his off-hand pinky. Worse comes to worse, it is easy enough to deal with.

Jason focuses on said pinky and observes the lines going through it. While it doesn’t need to follow the vascular system, they seem to stick close to it. Though that might have more to do with how he formed his core in his heart.

In the pinky alone there are eight lines, four for the veins and four for the arteries. All around these visible strings is an almost mist-like cloud made of his threads. Circulating the threads give him an excellent place to start. He guides a small bundle of them up one artery and down a connected vein. The misty quality solidifies some becoming more like a small stream or a waterfall of fog.

It takes some of his concentration to keep the bundle in place, but he can manage. The next step is to fold this bundle into the string. Jason wraps the string up and, almost more by touch than sight, infiltrates it with the threads. This action brings a realization to his mind that almost knocks him out of his cultivation, but by letting everything else fall away he holds on.

What Jason has realized is that the strings are exactly that, strings. They are made up of many smaller strings twisted together. Beyond that he is willing to bet that if he dug deeper those strings would be made of threads, just like what he is using right now. Though no matter how hard he tries to dig deeper, he can’t. There is a feel that it should be there but his control is lacking, both figuratively and possibly more literal.

With this last discovery Jason gives up on his test for now and instead goes back to normal cultivation. Though once he comes out of that to catch some shuteye a single System message is there to greet him. All it says is that through practice his control stat has improved by 1. This only strengthens his belief in what he saw. Happy with the results, Jason drifts off to sleep in no time.