15. Sam, The Gravity Well Valley

I raised an eyebrow as Valeria stepped in front of me to enter the valley in front of us. 'She must feel useless right now... Though she has been more help than most would have been in this situation.' I thought to myself as I followed her, my hand resting on the hilt of my sword as we stepped into the valley. Walking through the pass into the valley, I could feel the changes in the gravity around us. Like we were passing from one world to the next, almost. Just as we stepped out of the pass and into the main valley, I heard Valeria's breath catch as we stared at the sight in front of us.

The valley was covered in vibrant green forest as far as we could see. The mountains of the Spine surrounded the valley on three sides, leaving the pass we just entered from as the only entrance or exit. We could see, near the end of the pass at the base of one of the mountains, a large temple hidden within the forests. We could just barely make out the top of the temple roof through the trees. I froze and reached out a hand to stop Valeria from moving forward, there were many strong creatures in this valley.

"Valeria," I almost whispered on instinct, "There are many strong creatures here. I believe we should tread carefully, but I do not want to miss any opportunities we may find either." I made sure Valeria was looking at me as I spoke to her, she needed to hear me now more than ever before. There were powerful existences here, and I wasn't sure if we could handle any of them. Many of them were stronger than the Guardian I had just faced off against! She looked back and nodded her head slightly, she then turned and motioned towards the temple.

"My sister came here to acquire the inheritance in the temple. I'm not sure if she succeeded but I am sure she is still here somewhere." I nodded to her and moved ahead, following the path that had appeared in front of us. I started down the path, making sure to keep my attention on my surroundings while trying to keep tabs on the powerful creatures in the area. I was able to avoid most of the creatures but I knew that I would eventually run into one.

We travelled for a few hours before coming to the edge of a clearing, the path continued through the clearing but I could feel the gravity here was much heavier than what I had experienced in the valley so far. I slowly stepped into the clearing and had to stop as the gravity hit my body.

[You have entered an area of dense gravity. Your strong will allows you to use this pressure to cultivate your body!]

As I saw the notification I grinned, I decided to stop and meditate to see what would happen.

[You have absorbed Gravity Qi, Your comprehension of Gravity and the strength of your body has grown.]

About an hour into my meditation I received a notification. Ignoring it, I continued to cultivate the gravity force until I couldn't feel the pressure anymore. It took around six hours, and when I was done I had one more notification.

[Your body has been greatly strengthened! Your Strength, Dexterity and Agility have been increased by 100!]

I grinned and pulled up my status, before moving on.

[Character Status]

[Name: Sam]

[Race: Human]

[Class: Cultivator]

[Level: 8]

[Exp: 0/12,800]

[HP: 360/360]

[SQ: 750/750]

[Strength: 226 (+10)]

[Dexterity: 226 (+10)]

[Agility: 211 (+12)]

[Intelligence: 121 (+5)]

[Will: 133 (+5)]

[Stat Points: 0]

[Skills/Abilities]

[Advanced Meditation; Passive: Rank: A- Allows you to meditate and absorb the spiritual energy in the world to cultivate. Cultivation level: Spirit Apprentice: 2; Spiritual Qi: 50,000/75,000]

[Advanced Qi Sense; Passive: Rank: A; Allows you to sense and control the Spiritual Qi around you to some extent.]

[Body Tempering; Passive: Rank: A; Through the use of environmental conditions and Spiritual Energy you can temper your body and make it stronger.]

[Piercing Slash; Active: Rank: C; A powerful slash that ignores 15% of the target's armor. Deals 100% Strength damage.]

[Basic Cultivation: Rank: D; Through practice and meditation you have learned to control the spiritual energy and Qi inside your body. You have officially become a cultivator.]

[Qi Infused Strike; Rank: A; Mastery: 0.15%; You have gained the ability to infuse Qi into your blade, causing large amounts of damage as you strike with your Qi Infused sword. Cost: 15 Qi per second, Deals 50% extra damage.]

[Supreme Harmony, Rank: S; Mastery: 0.50%; Through the knowledge you have gained you are able to circulate and absorb Supreme Qi. This allows you to cultivate at a faster rate. While meditating and circulating this way you cultivate 25% faster. You gain one stack of Harmony per minute (Up to 7), each stack of Harmony adds an additional 25% to your cultivation speed (Up to 200%).]

[Gravity Aura; Passive; Rank: A; Mastery: 0.05%; Through your understanding of gravity you are able to affect gravity around you. Active: While active you chose which beings are affected. You may increase or decrease gravity on beings around you in a 15 foot radius. Lasts for 30 seconds. Cost: 1,500 Qi; While not active you control how gravity affects only you.]

[Gravity Blade; Active; Rank: D; Mastery: 0.03%; Cost: 50 Qi; You infuse your blade with gravitational energy. This strike deals 150% of your strength as true damage.]

I stood from the ground and began moving forward, I looked over my shoulder briefly at Valeria and noticed that she was skirting around the edge of the clearing, unable to walk through the increased gravity. As I reached the other side of the clearing I could feel the gravity returning to normal and my body felt much lighter, like a feather on the wind. I felt as if I was gliding across the ground.