'This is a lot harder than I'd thought it'd be'
He had gained a bit more meat to his bones, hosting refined musculature as evidence of his training.
But he wasn't satisfied.
'I thought I had a substantial cultivation level'
He found a month after he'd begun his training that his cultivation was shallow.
Not shallow as in damaged, but shallow as in his level wasn't what he thought.
His overflowing mana, as he found, wasn't overflowing, it only felt as such because his body wasn't that used to mana at the time, projecting him as Intermediate-rank when in fact, he was Adept-rank.
Well, it wasn't all bad.
Given that he was an Adept-rank, his meridians had barely opened up, so he improved his foundations immensely through herbs, potions, pills and, most importantly, mana stones.
On that note, he also reinforced the toxicity of his poisoned blood by drinking poison or eating poison inducing items.
Right now, he was sitting cross legged with his hands encasing one another.