First step on a new path

Astar made preparation, he couldn't afford to become distracted during the process. after closing the gates to his residence and locking down all doors, he went into his lab. He began arranging the necessary mystical plants he had acquired, unlike the previous times these were of the highest quality, he was broke now, he didn't care though.

with his preparations done, he sat down inside a big cauldron in a lotus position, since he was alive he couldn't rip open his stomach and do it that way, this was his alternative method which had worked perfectly.

the cauldron was half-filled with a concoction he had made using the plants. it seemed as if he was going to treat himself and the Root core as ingredients and refine them into a pill which in this case was a body with spirit root.

he calmed his breathing and swallowed the Core with difficulty, after that he kickstarted the mechanism he had put in place and had tested dozens of time, the mechanism would do the concocting process since he couldn't get help from another person.

He had imitated some stuff he had learned on Earth and used many complex mechanisms, its job was to control the heat of the cauldron perfectly and add ingredients that were arranged in a line at specific times.

the various loops and wooden gears smeared in oil began moving about, three time-counting smaller mechanisms began activating. with everything in place, he focused on his emotional state, getting ready to face a lot of pain, he couldn't afford to lose consciousness.

inside the cauldron began getting hotter and hotter, a strange crawling sensation started to appear in his abdomen, the Core had forcefully moved from his stomach into his abdomen, this forceful movement caused a shocking pain to erupt but Astar endured.

inside his body, the core began Sprouting and vines started to appear, The core absorbed his blood to create the vines wich began spreading all over his abdomen and started fusing with his blood vessels.

He knew this was going to happen, and everything he had prepared was for this moment, he had seen upon inserting a violet core inside a mortal corpse, the violet core began using the blood as fuel to fuse with the corpse on its own accord unlike blue and red ones.

theoretically, a rootless mortal with enough blood could just eat a Violet core and get a Spiritual Root. unfortunately, the amount of blood required was massive and a Mortal would be drained dry and it always resulted in failure.

Red and blue cores needed to be stimulated for this process to begin but since his core was a higher grade one than violet he knew that all he needed was a sufficient amount of blood which brings us to his preparations.

almost all of the mystical plants he used didn't exist on earth, the reason for that was because these plants possessed varying degrees of Spiritual Qi, on earth such concept was foreign.

All the plants he had gathered were used to make blood replenishing and healing pills for cultivators, he couldn't get a pill because only cultivators could step inside the pill shops made for them.

and he didn't trust the cultivators he knew to get him the pills, so he created this alternative way, a vast amount of Qi began rushing towards him, the medical essence of the plants was being absorbed through the pores on his skin.

His marrow used the essence as material and Qi as fuel to make a crazy amount of blood, at the same time an insane amount of his blood was being absorbed by the Core. this process continued for several hours.

The pain was unbearable, it felt like someone had torn open his stomach and was moving his hands inside his abdomen, clenching and moving the fingers causing crawling sensations.

The pain didn't lessen, in fact, it continued to escalate and spread throughout his body but he endured, he couldn't scream for relief because it might have gathered unwanted attention. he could only endure in silence.

Astar opened his eyes, the pain had subsided and the process was finished, he instantly jumped out of the cauldron, the heat was becoming dangerous. the only thing left in the cauldron was water, all the essences were absorbed by him.

He didn't wait around, he washed his body till he was clean and put on white robes, and then sat in a lotus position on the balcony of this house.

He instantly felt a new sensation that he had only felt before when he had the system, this time was different he could feel a strange energy in the air.

It felt like cool water vapor and was everywhere if it could be seen by naked eyes the world would have been covered by fog. this energy was dense and vast, it emitted a unique pressure and was filled with vitality.

Before when he had the system he could only feel it a little, almost like an intuition, now however it felt like a solid 6th sense, incredibly clear, the difference was too big to describe. he had the urge to absorb it, it was from his body, like a thirsty man seeing water after a long time.

"I have taken the first step, Qi Sensation achieved, next is Qi gathering," he said in a low voice.

Astar opened his eyes and smiled, a very heartfelt smile, a smile filled with elation and anticipation for the future, He murmured "Since I have been reborn here, then I will become a member of this world, use its Qi to become immortal and find my way back."

He rose up and looked at the sky, his eyes were different now before they were lost but now there was only confidence and anticipation he said "Henceforth I shall take a name from this world as my own, My name will be Xuan Li from now on, I have read it in a book here that it means Magnificent, I shall be as such. there is another meaning to it as well, to return home, I take this name to always be magnificent and never forget my original goal for stepping into this path."

"I am Astar of Earth and Xuan li of this world, I will find a way back, this is a promise."

"To Return Home."