Surprising struggle of looking for the stairs

This short rest I mentioned turned out to be surprisingly… short.

'Is it because we cultivated with a different kind of energy, or what?' I thought, looking down at the inner palms of my hands.

I wasn't surprised—I was baffled by the effectiveness of the restorative power of this strange, unseen spiritual force compared to what I would expect from its normal, much more noticeable counterpart.

'That level of regeneration…' I thought, only to then gulp my spit down my throat.

"It's like what, a fifth stage? Or maybe even sixth?" I muttered to myself, still too engrossed with the strange output of my spirituality to pay attention to my words or voice.

And if there was one thing that my rapid advances in the past left me lacking, it was the experience of living as someone with a certain level of strength.