Progress

Julian fiddled with the ring in his hand as he continued towards the volcano. He had an intense look on his face as he stared at the ring as if waiting for it to do anything. It was a silver in color with a small gem adorned on top of it.

Finally, he sighed, "I give up, I can't figure out how to open this thing. How were you so sure I'd never be able to open it without you?"

"Hpmh, of course you couldn't open it. Storage rings open and close with spiritual Qi. You, who haven't even entered the 1st stage of cultivation would of course not be able to open it." Al explained smugly.

Julian rolled his eyes, "Yes, yes, I should just listen to you from now on. Anyway, we must be getting pretty close right?"

They had long entered the mountainous area, only stopping to pick up a few medicinal ingrediants that Julian kept in his pockets. Al lamented that Julian couldn't open the ring since that would of been a much more superior method of storing them.

He could properly trim them at least, with the dagger he'd borrowed from the nice group of cultivatiors he had ran into.

The dagger truly was miraculous. No matter what he cut with with it, and how long he used it, it stayed just as sharp as ever.

Al chimed in, "Thats because it was crafted with materials used in making spirit weapons. It's a step above your common weapons, though with how poorly it was made it should at least be able to do this."

"This is poorly made?!" Julian asked incredulously asked he sliced a thin tree branch as if cutting through butter.

Al spoke condescendingly, "Your worldview is to small, that's not even a low-grade tier 1 weapon. It almost like somebody just sharpened whatever metal this is and put a hilt on it. With the quality of the materials used, any blacksmith worth there salt should have been able to make at least a high-grade tier 1 weapon."

"Isn't that what Smithing is? Just shapening weapons?" Julian questioned.

"Of course not idiot! Smithing is as much an artwork as Alchemy is. If any true Blacksmiths heard you say that, it would have long started a fight." Al reprimanded.

Julian kept that in mind and soaked up all the information Al provided him. Al had been instructing him all along the way, describing in detail each herb he gathered and what element they belonged to, what pills they could make, how they correlated with each other, and how they blend together.

Julian truly felt like he'd gained a massive fortune this time, his pockets were overflowing with herbs at this moment.

The closer they made it up the mountain, the more physical exhaustion Julian felt from the heat. His condition was already not ideal from years of malnutrition. So while Al might have commented on how pathetic he was, he still took multple breaks in quick succession.

"Okay, we can stop here," Al said and Julian truly felt grateful as it was quickly becoming uncomfortably hot.

Al continued as Julian wiped the sweat that pooling in his brow, "You can try again here, the fiery Qi should be abundant enough to feel, given how hot it is.:

Taking a seat he once again tried to draw in the Qi around him. After a few minutes, an elusive presence made itself known that felt hotter anything he'd ever felt before.

Julian's eyes popped open saying, "I felt it, it truly is easier. I can't really describe iy other than being incredibly hot, I don't know if my body would survive housing such a wild energy!"

"Of course it will," Al spoke in a condescending tone, "Thats the whole point of cultivating the Nine Brillaint Suns Technique. Soon, you won't even notice these temperatures, though until then your suffering will be my entertainment."

Julian sighed at the spirits maniacal laughter and began focusing on the energy. Now that he knew what he was looking for, finding the ethereal energy was much simpler. He gradually circulated the Nine Brilliant Suns technique and drew in a small amount of the scorching Qi.

Pain immediately surge through his nerves as he slowly dragged the Qi through his meridians and, after a cycle, deposited the energy in his dantian. Sweat poured off of him as he collapsed and tucked in deep lungfuls of air. He felt like he couldn't move even an inch while desperately lying on the ground desperately gasping for his life.

Al's hysterical laughter sounded off in his ears, "Hahahha I can't believe that you collapsed! I knew you were untalented, but who would of guessed one circulation of Qi would almost kill you!"

Julian couldn't retorted as the listened to Al's incessant mocking, "I truly am glad that we are treading the path of Alchemy, otherwise I don't know if we would even make it to foundation establishment! You do realize that in order to reach the first level of Qi condensation would likely require you to circulate your Qi upwards of ten times?"

"I'm...aware..!" Julian huffed out in between breaths.

As Julian sat up to check his injuries, Al tutted and thought, 'Looks like we're gonna be here for quite some time. I shuddered to think of what would have happened if he managed to actually sense the suns energy and draw it in instead of this lesser energy, there might not have been anything left of him!"

Julian looked down at himself and was shocked to see his arms had turned black as coal. It seemed when he drew in the energy it entered through his hand before circulating through his body. While his body has some degree of damage throughout its entirety, it seems the Qi almost destroyed the point of entry.

"It seems I still tried to bring in too much..." Julian sighed. According to the Nine Brilliant Suns Technique, it was very important not to draw in more energy than the body could handle on the first go, otherwise the resulting situation would occur.

The problem was that Julian had already drew in an amount smaller than the method directed, by 10 times!

"Is my talent truly so awful? "Julian couldn't help questioning in a dejected tone.

"Compared to those geniuses from my home world? Of course it is!" Al exclaimed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, "Those disciples that could even touch something as precious as this technique were handpicked by the sect leader himself. This is not some common thing you could buy off the market!"

Although not by much, that did make Julian feel slightly better. Standing up on shaky feet, he dug through his pockets and grabbed a couple of honeysuckle petals and some arrowroot that Al had the foresight to make him collect earlier. Making his way over to a flat stone, he grabbed another rock and under Al's direction, ground the leaves and root into a powder. Adding a little bit of water to it he made an herbal burn paste.

"Luckily this is only a low level ointment so the requirement to make it is low," Al said before divulging into a lecture, "it's truly not even Alchemy, just a common blend of herbs. Though with this, you should be ready to try cultivating again in about two hours. Use this time to mentally review what you did wrong and what you can do to improve."

Julian groaned at Al's instruction, but complied without complaint after applying the ointment. After an hour Julian truly felt ready and after double checking his injuries were recovered, attempted to draw in a miniscule amount of Qi. The fiery heat surged through his body once more, but this time it wasn't quite so unbearable and Julian kept a better control of it. Circulating the Qi according to his cultivation technique, Julian made a full cycle after a few minutes and deposited the energy into his dantian.

With what had already been added in there Julian finally felt a change in the state of his body. He felt slightly lighter and every muscle in his body had some unknown explosiveness beneath them that seemed like it was ready to burst out at any moment.

"Wow..." Julian exclaimed in amazement.

Al's snort of derision brought him back to reality, "Not even in the 1st stage of Qi condensation and already satisfied. Quit dawdling and cultivate!"

Julian blushed at being caught admiring himself, and began cultivating with renewed vigor. What he didn't know was the reason he felt his body changing so soon is that the Qi from the volcano was gradually refining his body in a small amount with each pass through his meridians.

Al noticed this change but didn't comment on it. While it would indeed be an advantage, his body wouldn't be as strong as someone who strictly cultivated the body with a dedicated technique.

Time passed as the Qi in Julians dantian gradually increased. Julian practiced extremely caution as he continued to draw in only a small amount of the fiery qi.

Eventually after a few hours, a loud boom occurred in Julians body. Shock appeared on his face before dissolving into full blown laughter.

"I've finally stepped onto the road of cultivation!" Julian shouted in joy. Julian began dancing and jumping around like a lunatic. He truly felt like crying tears of joy, all his hardships and troubles truly seemed small to him now. He finally could see a way out of his desperate state and enter into a whole new life.

Al allowed Julian a couple of minutes to act like a fool, and just when Julian thought he couldnt be any more excited, Al commented, "Now that you can finally use it, why don't you open up that storage ring you acquired and see if there's any goodies."

Julians eyes brightened at that and brought his hand up to his face staring at the ring, "So how does it open?"

Al sighed before saying, "You truly are hopeless, insert some Qi into that small gemstone and turn it away from you. Since your only a low level cultivator, you won't be able to know what's in it without taking everything out."

Julian pointed the ring at the ground in front t of him and pushed a small amount of the qi he'd built up in his dantain, instantly multiple things neatly lined up on the ground.

Julian spotted a pair of everyday robes first which were of much superior quality to his current rags he was wearing. The robes were very elegant being white in color with a blue floral design. Upon checking and seeing they were his size, Julian immediately changed into them and sighed at the soft feeling of the clothes. He had only had the poorest of clothes that were exceedingly rough.

While Julian was busy rubbing the sleeves of his new clothes, Al saw something out of the corner of his eye and called out excitedly, "Boy, look over to your right!"

Glancing over he saw a clear bottle, both filled with what looks to be ten pills in it.

He popped the cork off of the bottle and poured one of the pills in his hands examining it intently. The pill was a solid dark brown color and incredibly smooth, the smell emanating from it incited Julians stomach to ache from hunger.

Al's chirped excitedly, "This seems to be some fasting pills. Most cultivators typically have carry these as just one pill can feed you for two days!"

Hearing the delicious smelling pill wasn't poison, Julian let out a gasping of delight a d popped one in his mouth. Satiating feeling pulsed through him instantly and gave him a feeling of his strength returning.

Putting the cork back on the bottle, he looked over what remained, a small stack of silver, a worn out book, and an identical dagger to the one that he already had.

With a gleam of interest in his eyes, Julian picked up the worn out book and read the title, "'Twin Serpent Arts?' To wield twin daggers as if they were fangs from a serpent."

The book had multple images depicting movements and techniques unique to the art. It seemed to focus on elusive dodging and critical timing.

Al looked over the manual and couldn't help but say in surprise, "You luck this time really is good. This is exactly what you need to consolidate your cultivation base. Learning this will also give you a style of fighting that doesn't have you swinging at things like a barbarian."

"Consolidate my cultivation base?" Julian asked in confusion.

"Cultivation isn't just a straight shot to the top," Al lectured, "You must always take the time to get used to your current level of power before moving on to the next. Otherwise, you'll end up with an unstable foundation which would cause you to be sufficiently weaker than others at the same level. Not only the, but it would make future breakthroughs many times more difficult, to the point where you could end up stuck without any way of progressing."

Julian nodded along to Al while he put away all of the things in his storage ring along with the herbs and ingredients he'd collected along the way. Experimenting with the ring, he discovered that he could specifially summon something individually as long as he wasn't aware it was in there.

While playing around with summoning the herbs back and forth, Julian started his journey home, never noticing a robed man arrive behind him.

"You there, stop in the name of the Cloud-Dwelling Sect!"