First step

'God damn, that was tough!' Theo exhaled a mouthful of air the moment he reached his private room and closed the doors behind him. He rested his back against this very door and slid down, slumping heavily on the floor. Theo's left hand followed the rest of his body, falling powerlessly on his things…

But not his right one.

Theo's right hand, the one that he pressed against Tiana's back, remained up, right at the level of his eyes.

'I can still feel her warmth,' Theo thought, gritting his teeth as his mind kept running in circles about the experience from just a moment ago.

His eyes wandered off toward the bag he brought back to the room.

There were all sorts of herbs and cultivation materials hidden in there, courtesy of his own entrepreneurial endeavors, Veila's donation, and Paichi's gift. And while that wasn't their original purpose, Theo now knew enough about those herbs to mix them up into a concoction that would turn his brain into a mesh for a few hours of enhanced sensitivity.

He could still feel the warmth of Tiana's delicate skin on his hand while he was only about five minutes away from cooking up some herbal dope. The combination of the two, with the sparkle of the imagery burned up in his mind, could turn into an extremely pleasurable and intoxicating instance of his self-care time.

Theo closed his eyes and clenched his jaws, forcing his hand down on the floor.

'Just what am I thinking?' Theo sighed, feeling his body deflating. 'I didn't expect that this addiction of mine… would haunt me even in a new world, and in a new body…'

Being the typical child of his times, Theo was no stranger to the service of mister thumb and his four mistresses. Living the life of a corporate slave who had no time to take care of his own passions or hobbies, he never even considered the option of expending what little free time he had to look for his better half. As such, what started as a quick way to get some steam out of his system, turned into an addiction of quite a degree.

An addiction that turned out to be far harder to give up than all the other stuff that Theo simply grew up with once he stopped attending parties and removed the toxic elements from the list of people he ever spent time with. And an addiction that he fully believed to be purely physical, a need that his body developed over the years of abusing the content of his pants.

Yet, judging by the state he was in after just getting a look at some naked skin and getting to touch something as simple as a girl's back… This virus wasn't as purely physical as Theo believed it to be.

'I can't allow myself down this hole again,' Theo thought, gritting his teeth to the point he felt them moving. 'And I don't even have time to waste on something like this either!'

Theo's disciples were advancing swiftly. It was only a matter of days, maybe weeks before they would all reach the second stage and thus fulfill Theo's end of the bargain he made with the division's elder.

But what then?

Would he allow the sect to take his disciples over and thus let everything that he taught them become common knowledge?

'That, I cannot allow,' Theo thought, hanging his head to the back and resting it against the wood of the closed door to his room. 'If the knowledge of my ideas behind cultivation were to spread… someone would soon figure out how it cannot apply to my own situation.'

As long as Theo's theorems remained a mystery that one could only get some hints at, the secret to his own, the special situation would remain relatively safe.

But if he couldn't give up on his disciples… Then what he was supposed to do once they all advanced to the second stage of cultivation? Once… they reached the same cultivation stage that he himself was stuck on?

'It's not like I don't know what the next steps to cultivation are… but can I still even cultivate?'

Theo's face darkened.

Over the last few weeks, he consumed more cultivation resources than a person should need to advance through the second stage, even if they were to have no idea what cultivation was all about and spared literally no effort to shape their strength. And yet, neither his system nor the inner situation of his body appeared to change at all.

'I guess that's what I should focus on,' Theo ultimately decided, heaving a deep sigh. He then tensed his muscles, released a small groan, and then stood up from the floor. He moved over to his bed and sat down before pushing his knees as far apart as he could and curling his feet towards his crotch.

He wasn't quite flexible enough to sit in a lotus position yet, but he could imitate it to a certain degree that his body allowed him to.

Theo spent some time calming himself down and removing all the unnecessary thoughts from his head. He even used the chant that he created on the go, all aimed at bringing inner peace to whoever used it.

And then, regardless of how pointless it was in the last few weeks, he pulled out a spirit stone from his bag before enclosing it within the cup that he made by intertwining his fingers.

'Don't raise your hopes, but don't lose hope either,' Theo thought, taking a deep breath… and crushing the spirit stone with his hands. He then exhaled the air out of his lungs, using the changing pressure within his flesh to drive the surge of energy from the stone across his body.

It was a twenty-third stone that he crushed in his palms, hoping to introduce some change to his system. The twenty-third spiritual stone that would likely go to waste, burning an even bigger hole in Theo's pocket.

And yet, contrary to all the times before, something changed.

It was as if… As if some sort of an imaginary barrier within his mind broke right as a physical barrier within his body fell apart.

The surge of the energy that Theo consumed turned out to be the straw that broke the camel's back… Or rather, the drop that overfilled its container.

His blood was now fully saturated with the spiritual energy or mana as Theo preferred to refer to it in the confines of his mind. And yet, the energy that Theo absorbed added up to more than what his blood could contain.

A surge of pain filled every inch of Theo's flesh. The blood filled every part of his body, after all, and now, something was raging within, desperately trying to break out.

Theo could, obviously, just send the additional energy out of his flesh and allow it to dissipate in the air. Yet, the second this idea appeared in his head…

'Let go of the energy that cost me several gold coins to procure?!'

A series of images appeared in Theo's mind. His negotiations with the gambling guild. The countless hours he spent on the streets, waiting for the opportune moment to employ his scheme. The few times when the anchor of the scheme turned out to not be rightful enough to just let Theo go with the money, forcing him to reveal a silver of his strength to escape…

Determination filled Theo's bloodshot eyes.

'There ain't no way…' he thought, biting down on his lip so hard, a few drops of blood oozed out of the self-inflicted wounds.

A raging sea of burning pain filled every inch of Theo's flesh… and only served to reinforce his determination. Every second of torture he went through only made it less likely for him to give up. After all, if he surrendered to the pain now… then what was all that pain before that for?

Theo couldn't tell how long he struggled against the limits of his blood. He couldn't tell whether it was a minute, an hour, or an entire year that he spent frozen in his slightly uncomfortable position.

But at some point, something had to give in. And as it turned out, it was his blood that caved in first.

At first, only a single drop of energy breached the limits set by Theo's blood, spilling over into his flesh. Reinvigorated by its energizing effects, Theo could swear the torture… slightly lessened.

Then, another drop spilled.

And then, like an explosive breaking free from the confines of its containers, Theo's energy freed itself from his blood, spilling all over his insides.

"Haaaa…."

Theo finally released his breath, the breath that he took when the ordeal started and that he somehow held through this entire time.

And as the air left Theo's lungs… he could tell that three things changed.

First, the sensation of breathing out now felt… different. Lighter. Easier.

Second, three lines changed within the letters that always occupied the corner of his vision. Now, the rank of his mana and its subranks of control and attraction changed from the lowest F to E. Sadly, mana cultivation was left behind, keeping company to the rest of his starts, save for the mind one, which all remained at the bottom of the possible ranks.

And lastly…

Even though Theo didn't exercise at all, his body reeked.

"Finally…" Theo muttered, powerlessly falling back and then down on the bed.

He took in a mouthful of air. And if not for the foul stench of the strange viscous fluid covering his skin, he could safely call it the tastiest breath he ever took, as if the very fabric of his lungs changed to something better… greater.

"Finally…" Theo whispered, feeling all of his strength leaving him, this time in a physical rather than a mental sense.

'I finally took a step forward,' he thought, his eyelids sliding down as his consciousness slipped from his grasp and escaped into the sweet embrace of nothingness.