Cultivating Chaos Read online

  He felt it then.

  Energy. Pure and untarnished, flowing through him. From what felt like his lower Dantian.

  The source of a cultivator’s power. Opening it gave one the ability to process and cycle Essence into Qi.

  Closing his eyes, Ash immediately dropped himself into the space he’d been able to find so often that was empty.

  The Qi Sea inside of himself that was the Dantian.

  What had previously been a barren and dusty stretch of desert was now a small lake.

  A lake of energy that was his Qi Sea.

  His opened Dantian.

  “Hello,” said a rather chipper voice from nowhere.

  Ash’s eyes shot open and he looked around.

  “Hello?” he asked.

  “Looks like you got yourself open to the energy of this world. Not really sure where you’ll end up, but hey, one place is as good as another, right?” asked the voice, continuing on as if it hadn’t heard him.

  “I don’t understand,” Ash said.

  “Regardless of where you ended up, congratulations. You’re actually ready to go out there and help out.

  “And to do that, you’re going to need some power, some instructions, and a guide.

  “All of which I can’t provide you—since, if you’re hearing this, I’m dead.

  “Well, not dead but… not living?” said the voice.

  “You can’t hear me, can you,” Ash said. It wasn’t really a question.

  “Anyways. Let’s just call me immortal since I’m neither alive nor dead.

  “You’ll need to find either my counterpart, or whoever it was I saw them grab when I grabbed you.

  “Huh, well, if they’ve made it, at least. I mean, there’s always the possibility they died, right? Ha, that’d be pretty awful.”

  Ash could only nod, not really following along but agreeing that this was rather awful.

  “So! Since I can’t do much of anything for you, and I don’t know what you’ll need, I offset everything I had left into that little thingamajig you had in your hands.

  “Ended up turning it into bits of nothing in doing so, so I had to wedge myself, and what I’ve become, inside of you.

  “You might even be able to feel me now!”

  Ash turned his senses inward, and he did indeed feel something abnormal.

  Right above his lower Dantian. Where all the energy would have to pass through to reach it.

  “If you can sense it, you’ll find it inside your stomach.

  “I put myself there so I could leech a bit of energy and provide you with what little support I could,” continued the voice.

  Son of a bitch. That’s why I couldn’t do anything? It was siphoning everything away?

  “…isn’t much I admit, but support is support. What I did is I took your device and used it as a rapid blueprint for how I could help you.

  “I’m not sure what it was, but it felt oddly like a spoken story from my youth. Though the mass of numbers, tables, and descriptions for everything didn’t make much sense.

  “I mean, do you really need to know what a fireball will do if you attempt to cast the spell, and how much it’ll cost?

  “Whatever, anyways. I did that. And… I think this is the part where I die. Or at least… stop living.

  “Good luck!”

  Ash sat there, waiting for the voice to continue.

  Hoping it would.

  Slowly, with ever-increasing volume, he heard what sounded like a whispering, buzzing noise.

  Right when it got to the point that it almost seemed painful, it stopped.

  Then the ruins around him fractured into motes of dust and rebuilt themselves.

  All around him, everything was destroyed and restructured.

  Even himself.

  When it all settled down, it seemed as if nothing had actually changed.

  “Uh,” Ash said aloud. “Hello? Are you still there?”

  “The Chosen One has attempted to access the data base. Would he like to see the interface?” said a voice somewhere inside his own head. The way it said “chosen one” almost sounded mocking.

  The words felt audible, but they weren’t at the same time.

  “Yes?” Ash tried.

  A series of blips sounded, and then small windows started to appear next to everything around him.

  Looking to one side, he focused on a jumble of wood.

  Rotten Bookshelf

  Rotten Book

  Destroyed Table

  Raising his eyebrows at that, Ash licked his lips.

  “Uh… everything is destroyed, but it doesn’t look like a table, bookshelf or book,” Ash said.

  “The Chosen One is correct,” said the snarky voice. “The items are destroyed.”

  Ok, it’s definitely mocking me.

  “Would the Chosen One like to reconstruct the items?”

  “Yes?”

  “It will cost two measurements of Qi. You currently have five. Do you wish to proceed?”

  Ash frowned. That message sounded a lot more process oriented and less alive.

  The voice said it merged with my… thingamajig, was it? I only had my portable gaming console with me.

  Did it think it was something else instead of a video game?

  “The Chosen One needs to make a choice,” said the voice.

  Ash didn’t respond. He was still wondering over this strange game-like overlay that’d popped up and how it’d gotten there.

  “The Chosen One needs to make a choice,” repeated the voice.

  Huh?

  “Repeat last message,” Ash said.

  “The Chosen One needs to make a choice,” said the voice.

  “Repeat the last message twice,” Ash tried.

  “The Chosen One needs to make a choice,” said the voice, twice.

  “In other words… you really are and aren’t alive at the same time.”

  “Invalid statement,” replied the voice.

  “No, don’t rebuild the items,” Ash said.

  “Request canceled.”

  Getting up to his feet, Ash brushed himself off, only realizing then that he didn’t need to.

  He was still in the training ring.

  “Can you… uh… can you repair the ring?” Ash asked.

  There was a pause, as if something was happening he couldn’t see or hear.

  “Yes. The ring can be repaired. The cost is prohibitive, but can be paid in increments.

  “If the Chosen One so chooses, the basic library can be rebuilt immediately with all the base skills available to the clan,” said the voice.

  “What clan?” Ash asked.

  “Imperial Clan of the Grassy Vale.”

  “Imperial clan?” Ash asked.

  “Yes. Imperial Clan of the Grassy Vale, Chosen One.”

  “And how many abilities are available?”

  “Six thousand seven hundred and thirty-three abilities.”

  Ash blinked and felt like he wanted to sit down immediately.

  “There’s that many?”

  “In the basic library, yes. The intermediate library has fewer, but they are much more specialized and powerful,” said the voice.

  “Are there any cultivation skills?” Ash asked hopefully. Unfortunately, he’d not been granted a cultivation method from anyone, so he’d been painfully fumbling around in the dark so far.

  “Yes. They are categorized separately from the abilities.

  “There are nineteen thousand eight hundred and forty-two available. Though only three fourths of that number are suitable for you, and less than a hundred would be ideal based on your talent, mental capabilities, and physique,” offered the voice.

  “Uh… you can pick out ones specific for me?”

  “Yes, Chosen One,” said the voice with a drawl. “A peak cultivation method can be determined for you, though several filters will need to be run to determine the best course of action.”

  Ash suddenly sat down, feeling rather faint.
>
  “Then yes… repair the basic library immediately,” Ash said. Sighing, he put his head in his hands and gave it a shake. “And… what do I call you?”

  “My name is Locke,” said the voice.

  Two

  The Hall, as he’d begun calling it in his head, didn’t change.

  Though a large and vast section of the bookshelves misted over and became ethereal.

  “Reconstruction has begun and will be complete momentarily. The Chosen One’s Qi Sea will unfortunately be drained significantly.

  “The Chosen One’s body refining would be ranked as level one if someone were to test it,” Locke said.

  “What was it before?” Ash asked, not sure he really wanted to know.

  “Before the reconstruction purchase, it would have been ranked as a peak seven.”

  Ash sighed and pressed his hands to his face.

  Peak? In other words, I could have graduated from a beginner to an intermediate body refiner? Ugh.

  This is necessary.

  We don’t have a cultivation technique, and this will provide me with one.

  Even if we were a peak expert body refiner, it wouldn’t have mattered. We wouldn’t have progressed.

  Couldn’t have progressed!

  “Reconstruction complete,” Locke said.

  Blinking, Ash looked around himself.

  The rotten and broken-down bookcases were gone.

  Darkly stained wooden bookcases that looked rather expensive had replaced them. They were filled with books, scrolls, slim manuals, and even some single pages of parchment.

  Ash picked up a manual and flipped it open idly.

  On the third page, he saw instructions on how to utilize an attack that generated lightning and channeled it through the hands into a direct strike.

  Raising his eyebrows, Ash closed the manual and set it back down.

  “You said there were a number of cultivation skills that were suitable for me?” Ash asked aloud.

  “Please proceed to the antechamber set to the northwest of the library to proceed with ability selection. Attribute and ability determination can be done in the evaluation chamber,” Locke said.

  “Evaluation chamber?” Ash asked, moving to the dead center of the library.

  Or at least he thought it was the center, based on the way the ceiling seemed to be laid out.

  “The evaluation chamber can determine attributes and assist in determination of the best available abilities,” Locke said.

  Ash frowned. It was more or less the same information, just presented in a different way.

  “Why is there an evaluation room?” Ash asked.

  “The evaluation room is a function of the heirloom treasure the Chosen One has acquired, despite not having the correct bloodline to unlock it.”

  Ash stopped in the middle of the room and looked around.

  “Uhm, which way is northwest?” Ash asked, looking around at the various doorways around him.

  A small green arrow appeared in front of him and oriented on a doorway to his left.

  Turning to face the direction of the arrow, he watched as it changed its heading.

  “Oh, that’s handy. Like a compass for a quest completion,” Ash said, following the indicated direction.

  “The option for directions has been enabled,” Locke responded.

  Moving across the shattered library, Ash was struck with just how large the room was. It was deceiving, considering how much smaller it had looked from outside.

  Maybe the building has a dimensional space element to it. We’ll have to try and store things here.

  As he stepped into the indicated “evaluation chamber,” Ash looked around. It was a simple and empty room with a circular plate in the dead center.

  After moving over to the plate, Ash stepped on it with one foot.

  Nothing happened.

  When he put both feet on the plate, he heard a pop and a fizzle.

  “The cultivation chamber has now been modified to work with my current limitations,” Locke said.

  The wall directly across from Ash flashed and a mirror image of himself appeared on it.

  He saw his lanky self standing there, looking like an unfed teenager. His height barely reached five foot seven and his frame was rather slim.

  Though his green eyes and blond hair stood out immediately.

  Need to dye my hair again; it’s really bright when I let it slide.

  Floating beside his mirrored image were a series of numbers and stats.

  “The Chosen One’s attributes and talent are all average,” Locke said. “Of the available abilities, the Chosen One has access to over ninety percent of them.”

  “Guess it’s good to be average,” Ash muttered.

  “Correct,” Locke said helpfully.

  “How many can Jia use?” Ash asked. He was sure it’d be a higher number than his own.

  Jia was much more talented than him.

  Though Ash had to wonder if Locke even had information on Jia. From the sound of it, Locke had been with Ash since he arrived.

  It was possible.

  “Jia is limited to seventy percent of the available abilities,” Locke immediately responded.

  “Huh? Why the big drop?”

  “Jia is limited to seventy percent of the available abilities, as the library isn’t as comprehensive for a woman.”

  A woman?

  Uh.

  Ash frowned and opened his mouth, then closed it again.

  Well, that does explain quite a bit, I suppose. He’s always been popular with the ladies, but he never did anything with it.

  Or she… I guess.

  “Alright, uhm, let’s… let’s go to cultivation techniques. I’d like to focus on what’s not only available for me, but what’s best for me.

  “If you can do that.”

  “The Chosen One is most suited for the following cultivation techniques with the following abbreviated descriptions:

  “Way of Balance. All gains in cultivation must be gained in such a way that all elements are in harmony. The technique will have a slow growth but a deep Qi Sea at the peak,” Locke said.

  Ash looked to the ground in front of him.

  Do I actually want to do this? I never stopped and considered whether this was something I actually wanted to do.

  Is it?

  We can just become a citizen as soon as we fail the exam this year.

  And we can get a job and… be normal.

  But… what if they can sense that my Dantian is no longer blocked? What if they know I’m now a cultivator?

  Would they force a cultivation technique on me that isn’t suitable to me?

  How would I even explain it at that point?

  If I did it now, I could claim I just… learned it… right?

  Wait, that’s all assuming I want to do this.

  “…amount of available Qi at the peak, but is significantly faster,” Locke droned on.

  “Stop,” Ash said, coming to a neutral ground in his thought process. “Limit the list to what can provide me with the greatest benefit the fastest, as well as what would be ideal with my current… status. My possessions and what I own.”

  The clear wall in front of him began to rapidly flash through a series of texts.

  Then it just stopped out of nowhere.

  “One suitable cultivation technique.

  “The Snowflake from the Mountaintop,” Locke said. “This cultivation technique isn’t rated very highly, as the starting requirement is steep.

  “However, due to the inherited Qi from the heirloom treasure, the Chosen One can bypass this and move straight to cultivating.

  “The key component of the Snowflake from the Mountaintop is momentum. With each gain, part of that gain is reinvested back into the ability to cultivate. In time, this method will end up providing the fastest growth at later stages, though slower growth at earlier ones.”

  Ash was reading the text on the wall, which was more or less the same
thing Locke was saying.

  “In other words, I can invest whatever Qi I have leftover into the technique, and it can start providing more back to me much more quickly.

  “I’m investing in my future, so to speak.”

  “The Chosen One is mostly correct. The reinvestment is mostly passive and would require no effort on your part.

  “This cultivation method is ideal and the most suited given the parameters listed.”

  “Great, we’ll take that. Are there any support abilities that go with this or would be suitable for it?” Ash asked. Sometimes cultivation techniques had complimentary sister abilities.

  “No, there are no linked techniques. There are several techniques that could be joined to this technique, however.”

  “Oh? Great! What are they? The ones I can use, that is.”

  “The first is Keep What You Kill,” Locke said.

  “Sounds ominous,” Ash muttered.

  “…and any opponent that you personally eliminate will grant you a portion of their personal Qi,” Locke continued on, ignoring Ash. “The greater the opponent in comparison to yourself, the more you will personally inherit.

  “Please note, you must be directly responsible for their death.”

  “And does it cost me anything to learn this?”

  “There is no associated cost. This technique is part of the basic accessory library.”

  “Ok, add that in. What else?”

  “Devourer. Eating the hearts of your defeated enemies—”

  “No, skip that one,” Ash said, interrupting Locke.

  “Unstoppable Force. Each time you defeat an opponent in a fair fight initiated by yourself or another, your cultivation ability will temporarily rise by a factor of five percent. There is no upper limit to the multiplier.

  “This modification ends with the loss of a fight, declining a challenge, or challenging someone weaker than yourself. If the modifier is lost, the Chosen One would suffer a penalty of one fourth of the modifier to his cultivation for one week.

  “The penalty is labeled Taste of Defeat and is an expected eventuality at some point.”

  That sounds neat, though also a concern. A loss would really set me back for a while.

  “Any cost?” Ash asked once it was obvious Locke had finished.

  “In learning this technique, one would be unable to utilize any other cultivation enhancement abilities.”