First steps

Alex was sat in the isolation room of Tempest monastery. He had been placed here as a punishment for disobeying the head monk's son. Although it was unfair there was nothing he could do as he was weak and only a qi gathering stage 1. He had a very bad talent and had only reached the stage he had because his parents had saved up for months to get him a qi gathering pill.

He never had any hope of reaching stage 2 as his talent was barely better than nothing. Although he cultivated for years he had already given up and only did it out of hope that something would change in his pathetic life. It was the last day of his month-long imprisonment however he wasn't excited after all he had already lost track of the days' ages ago and just cultivated in silence. Or at least it was silent.

He heard a small hum in his head but he passed it off as nothing more than another prisoner. *ding* A small bell sound appeared followed by a square of light "Preparing host 0%... Please prepare." A pain struck him it was so bad he couldn't maintain consciousness it was as if a thousand needles covered in dragons poison had struck him in the heart. As he was unconscious he couldn't see the screen start going up until it had reached 100% *ding* "Congratulations on receiving the Lightning God system host has been chosen as the best candidate!"

If Alex had seen this he would have been confused and probably scared of the strange floating screen. After all, this light seemed to be like a high-grade artefact! It wasn't long before he woke up with blurry eyes and a ringing head. 'Did I drink too much again?' he thought to himself. He stood up and that's when he saw the screen still floating there, he jumped back in surprise but the room was too small hence he hit his head on the wall. 'What are you?' he walked towards the light with fear and intrigue dancing in his eyes.

"I am the lightning god system. My job is to help you gain the power to take over the duties of a God!" It said this with a monotone voice the importance of its words falling into the air. 'How is a light supposed to make me strong? You don't seem to have any power yourself.'

"By completing quests you can level up and gain new skills and strength. By completing these quests and growing stronger you will one day become the top of this world!"

While still shocked Alex decided that he might as well trust the strange screen as it wasn't like he had anything better to do. "Host is recommended to receive the starting gift" with confusion in his voice he said 'Starting gift?' As the words left his mouth another screen popped up that read "Starting Gift. Open?" with a nod of his head the screen shot out a stream of light confetti and showed a shortlist. 1xTrue lighting body 1xBook of divine lightning 5xThunder drawing pills.

'What are these items?' He asked confused after all this still seemed very sketchy and he didn't want to lose a kidney. "Host as a starting gift the system has given you these items to help you get started! The true lightning body gives you a large boost when cultivating lighting techniques as well as suppressing others. The book of divine lightning is a high-class cultivation manual and build large amounts of lightning qi into your body. And lastly, the pills will draw a storm near to you boosting the cultivation technique although any storm would work." the rewards seemed too good to be true and he also didn't feel any different.

'System how do I use them?'

"Say inventory then click the item you want to use!" it responded helpfully. He opened his inventory then clicked both the true lightning body and the book of divine lightning, first the book popped out. It was like any other book however it had bits of lightning darting out from the pages trying to escape their papery binds. Next, an orb came out which Alex assumed was the body. Crushing the orb in his hand it dissolved into a mist that enveloped his body.

He yet again felt a great pain throughout his body as his entire constitution changed. He screamed as loudly as he could but still, the pain only slightly went away after what felt like hours the pain subsided and he went back to normal. 'It hurts but it'll make me stronger!' he thought resolutely to no one in particular.

He already felt like his body was stronger and his meridians felt a lot more open. 'So this is what it feels like to have high talent' excited to test it he read through the book of divine lightning and then sat down to practice the steps. He started by breathing in to draw qi into his body before pushing it through his body in a fast yet elegant manner just like lightning.

The qi carved through his body and went past all of his acupoints before settling in his dantian where it stayed. Exhaling the stale air he repeated the process again and again. He could feel the qi building up in his dantian at a much faster rate than he previously thought possible. Although he couldn't tell which was helping more the cultivation book or his new talent.

Soon he felt the qi fill up all of his dantian and after filling it up even more he took the pressure and crushed it into a small area by compressing his qi this signalled that he had broken through his realm and became a qi gathering stage 2.