Hope

"Click!"

Lester clicked the mouse as he sat in front of his computer once more. This was his everyday life, sitting in front of the computer reading about news in the world of cultivation.

Ever since the day of contact, the world changed by the day and sometimes it was hard to keep up with it. The world revolved around cultivation and every second there was news regarding it.

It was a new day and currently, Lester was reading about a cultivator known as the Beast Tamer. The Beast Tamer was ranked twenty-sixth in the cultivator world rankings. The reason he was called so, was that his cultivation technique allowed him to control animals to fight for him. People would occasionally see him riding bears and surrounded by tigers, he could tame any animal in the world. His cultivation technique was extremely mysterious as no one knew how he was capable of doing it so, which made many questions arise such as, can he control humans?

The reason there was so much mystery regarding this cultivation technique, was because it was the only one capable of controlling these animals in such a way. No one else in the world was capable of the same feats.

The article that he was reading was quite old by one year and two months. Lester had never seen this article before which shows how much information is released on the day to day basis. The Beast Tamer wasn't just any cultivator either as he was fairly famous, however, One year ago he died and Lester knew nothing about it. In the beginning, when cultivation was being introduced he was known as one of if not the strongest cultivator due to his technique, however, as people became stronger and beasts began to evolve, his animals could only do so much.

Cultivation triggered a strange reaction in the world as if a hidden entity has been awakened. Animals began to grow stronger and much more intelligent due to the World Qi in the world. Plants and animals began to evolve at an extremely fast pace giving pressure to the many cultivators around the world. They evolved and currently, battles between cultivators and these beasts would occur and many cultivators would fall.

"It's the beginning of the Cultivation Era and many will rise and fall…" Lester spoke to himself reading the article.

Cultivation has only been introduced to the world for less than a decade, which shows that there are many things ahead of them.

By defeating many of these powerful beasts, people made a name for themselves. The Sword Hero, for example, killed a huge antelope with a scorpion tail in a spectacular fashion making him extremely famous around the world. After that, he appeared in many shows and movies further expanding his fame.

Although the Beast Tamer died, his son who was already a seventeen-year-old young man had kept the cultivation technique from his dad and was later called the Beast Apprentice. This young man vowed to become stronger than his dad and kill all the monsters who do not bow to him.

As he read this a disdainful look appeared on Lester's face as he knew that by controlling animals there was no way this young man could kill these evolved beasts. However, as he kept on reading he was surprised to see that this Beast Apprentice took the teachings of his father and modified the technique. He was able to control these evolved beasts too.

"So damn cool!" Lester exclaimed looking at a picture posted on the article which showed the Beast Apprentice riding a two headed tiger which was much bigger than himself.

Seeing things like this made Lester try cultivation himself, but shaking his head he knew he wasn't ready.

The cultivation world was extremely dangerous and as a common law by the many cultivators, you had to defend the local areas from beast attacks. Lester was afraid. Afraid of the same outcomes as the many other cultivators who did not make it. Getting ripped to shreds by beasts or getting trapped inside of a plant which slowly melted you alive, these things were a reality.

"Ding!"

A sound was heard coming from the computer as a small Icon appeared on the bottom right. It was a message from someone called Patrick.

"Patrick!" Lester exclaimed seeing the name. Patrick was a close online friend from America who just like himself was crazy for cultivation. When Lester set up his computer after the alien ship crashed, online groups formed where they would gossip and share news about this phenomenon, however, as time went by, his group of twelve friends quickly lessened. The numbers began to lower and lower until there were only two people left. Lester was afraid of thinking where these people went because he was sure of what happened to them. He knew.

Julio was the first friend to go. He was crazy about this cultivation business and tried his luck out, but sadly he wasn't as lucky as he did not cultivate correctly and ended up blowing himself up, full of World Qi. The second was Harold who followed an online guide to the cultivation and ended up in the same fate as Julio. Cultivation failures weren't the only reason these people disappeared though. As animals began to evolve becoming powerful beasts, many cities around the world were attacked, and so, many of his online friends ended up in the destruction.

Patrick was the latest and only friend to try his luck out at cultivation. Patrick was fed up by the way many people were being killed by the many beasts and as they did not cultivate they were defenseless to all of this. Therefore he would rather die trying than die in the mouth of a beast. He had been gone for over a month and Lester was sure he had failed as well.

By messaging Lester right now, it meant that he had succeeded in the very beginning of cultivation. Creating a core.

Lester clicked on the message which led him to chat that said, "Mate, I have great news! Start the call!"

Lester was ecstatic to see this as he started the call.

"Lester! I did it! I did it, Lester!" Patrick said in excitement as he was proud of his accomplishments.

Lester took a deep breath and spoke, "You created the core…!?"

"YES! Hahahaha!!! I'm a Foundation Cultivator now!! Hahaha yes! I just need to suck in World Qi!" Patrick screamed, if one were to see him in person he would be waving his arms above himself.

Lester was happy and relieved for his friend as this was the only online close friend left. Creating a core was too difficult and those who were able to do it would have a great future ahead.

"Listen to me, Lester! I was lucky, however, with this experience, I can help you create your own! Although it's dangerous you must understand that living in this dangerous world without protection is the real danger!" Patrick tried to convince Lester who was currently sweating liters.

His heart was racing and his mind was in disarray. Cultivation? No way! It was like a reachable dream that could easily turn into a nightmare.

Lester's face then turned serious as he had calmed down. Experience and guidance were one of the main resources for success in the cultivation world. Some people would sell their experience of cultivation for a lot of money, therefore he was extremely touched by this action.

"But Cu-" As Lester was about to speak, he was cut off by Patrick who said, "No buts! Trust me in this! Cultivation isn't as difficult as people think, patience is key and if you have that, you will make it. I have been creating this core for over a month now but to me, it felt like a second! Patience is key! It really is that easy! And you don't want to wait too long because the older you are the more difficult it becomes!"

This news made Lester feel like he was hit by a truck. He was already twenty-two and he didn't know what too old for cultivation meant. Patrick was twenty and he took a month to create it, how long would he take? If he could create it at all.

Lester was someone who thought about his possibilities and chose the safer route, however, in this scenario cultivating might be the safer route to take. He could have been considered lucky to not have the place where he lives attacked as of yet, therefore, he was unwilling to wait until he was actually attacked.

Deep in thought, Lester heard, "Yo Lester! You there bro?"

Snapping out of his thought Lester looked motivated and determined as he said, "Let's do it."

"That's it!" Patrick exclaimed as he continued, " I'll send over a list of things to do and not to do as well as some tips, I will send it as a message so download it or save it if you want, I have to plan for my future ahead! Next time we talk I will tell you what my next steps will be and you'll give me some feedback. Follow everything properly and you will create it, my friend! See you later!"

As they end the call, Lester's brows furrows. His heart was beating fast and his hands were shaking. He was actually going to try it. He was actually going to cultivate!

"Ding!"

A sound was emitted from the computer showing Lester that Patrick sent a message.

A determined look then appeared on his face as he murmured, "I'm ready."