Kiana was a fairly normal girl (honkai excluded). Her travels across the world showed her a lot of new things.
Her only regret at that time would be her lack of friends.
It was not that she did not talk to others. She does. But she treats it more as a temporary acquaintance than anything else.
The pain of traveling across the world was that you can't stay in one place. Earth is a big place. She can't find her father without switching places frequently.
As such, she was destined to leave her temporary acquaintances behind.
Shi Tian was the first person she truly felt was a friend. Their same experiences made it easier to get closer.
Moreover, he knew a lot of tricks. One day, he suggested finding the community tied to the honkai.
'We are hunting honkai beasts in nearby places.'
Kiana knew the extraordinary strength of her father. It was not difficult to speculate his complicated background.
Even the "gun-kata" she was briefly taught with was not simple. The lack of honkai-powered weapons restrict its full capabilities.
Though, it is not impossible to create a technique but with spiritual qi.
In Shi Tian's words:
"I can make it work. I have read a lot of books."
He assured her that he will make the entire technique "spiritual qi compatible".
Kiana believed him simply because he does know what he's doing.
The extraordinary things she encountered on him were too many to count.
Thus, she gradually formed an impression of him being a strict and reliable person.
'Why was his face red?'
She blinked awkwardly. She looked between the couch he sat on and the bathroom. The hotel towel was still on her head.
'Why did he look embarrassed?'
Kiana looked at herself. She could not see anything wrong.
Well…
'..!'
A boy.
A girl.
Two opposite sexes.
Although he was young (she is too), that reaction was still understandable. Kiana could not understand her lethal face card, however.
A slight hint of blush crept up on her face.
A mix of confusion and entanglement was all she felt.
Her thoughts during the entire time she dried her hair was all about it.
*****
I managed to create a mind calming auxiliary technique.
Dubbed as the [Clear Heart Sea Sutra], it is designed to put me in a selfless state.
…
Just kidding.
I won't waste my technique chances on such a small thing.
Soaking in the hot bathtub is enough to clear my thoughts… or not.
Every time I remembered that Kiana used it, I can't bear to use it.
That was why I settled with the hot shower instead.
This has been occurring since the time I lived with her.
Nope, just nope.
Out of sight, out of mind.
If I did not see it, I wouldn't think about it.
Problem solved!
"Fu…"
My idle thoughts changed. I decided to look at my progress on the [Toushen Manual]. Twenty-three days…
I am spamming it for twenty-two days in a row.
I am wondering if I would see some changes in my Spirit Root.
The best way to test it is to cultivate, and so I did.
An hour later, I confirmed that the improvements on my Qi Sea (dantian) storage is slightly higher than usual.
"It's really strange… My cultivation speed is abnormal."
Over time, I realized that the year and a half schedule I set for myself isn't for humans; it's for monsters.
If it was this easy to complete Qi Refining, won't other people be able to achieve Foundation Establishment in ten years?
That mustn't be the case.
I checked Kiana's improvement and found it to be slower than mine. It is estimated she will finish Qi Refining in about two to three years. It is longer because she does not cultivate as hard as me. If she did, she would have been done the same time as me.
Strange, really strange.
Was it the source of honkai up above?
"Honkai…"
Another strange point is the conversion rate of honkai energy to spiritual qi. Kiana's minute traces can create a second-grade spirit vein. An entire city's worth of honkai energy is predicted to create a third-grade.
An entire continent? Maybe the fourth-grade.
Going down the process of deduction, an entire planet can produce a fifth-grade spirit vein. That is the ones used by Nascent SoulPractitioners. Their power can envelop an entire star system in an instant.
That is not normal.
Why did this happen?
The only explanation is the Cocoon of Finality. There must be some secrets I haven't touched yet. Secrets that will answer the truth behind this insane conversion rate. That, or I am wrong about things.
I know it has something to do with the Imaginary Tree. All speculations remain clueless as of now, though.
"Honkai is pretty limited in destruction… but this conversion rate suggests otherwise. The Cocoon did nerf the power it gave to the Herrschers."
This is a point worth thinking of.
I opened my eyes to Kiana being glued to her phone. She hugged both her feet as she sat on the couch. She is like one of the iPad… no, iPhone kids who will turn silent while being glued to their screen.
If I can get this Tuna to work hard…
"Fu…"
The events of the Second Herrscher's reawakening (i.e., Final Lesson) hasn't happened yet. Kiana does not have her eagerness for strength yet. To her, the entire world meant searching for her father.
"I wonder when we can meet other valkyries…"
"Hm?"
"Oh, it's nothing…"
*****
A month had officially passed since I came to this world.
Click-!
Fwoosh-!
The stove lit up. I placed a stainless pot on it.
Near the kitchen stove, there are several crushed herbs placed in saucers. In one of the saucers, there are shiny transparent fragments.
It's not drugs, but the so-called Spirit Stones.
The [Shenbao Manual] I received detailed how to create spiritual materials out of ordinary ones. The ones used in Qi Refining are spirit stones.
You crush them, add them on the crushed ordinary materials, and make a pill. Another set of fragments will be placed while cooking.
It is an extremely wasteful act. Qi Refining plants grow in an interval of about one to one hundred years. It is a renewable material. Spirit stones are not. They needed spiritual qi to exist.
Once it is consumed by the cultivator, it goes into the cultivator. That meant less energy for the outside world.
I don't care about this.
I am lacking virtually everything related to cultivation. I have access to Spirit Stones since it is possible to make. The only thing I needed was the [Shenbao Manual]. Using that and the mobile spirit vein (i.e., Kiana), I made around three murky looking low-grade spirit stones every day.
It is useless except for using alchemy and the likes. It also consumes time for cultivation and mental fatigue.
Before I knew it, the clear water was boiling. The spirit stone fragments purified it in a jiffy.
I began to throw in the other materials. I gradually lowered the stove's temperature. By the time I was done, half an hour had passed.
I looked at the sticky paste I made. Its consistency is like clay. The plants and herbs I mixed on it emitted a plant-like smell…
I mean, what can I expect?
"What are you cooking? It smells bad."
Kiana arrived nearby. She gave the pot a traumatic look. It must have reminded her of Siegfried's cooking.
"It's not as bad as my old man's…" She muttered. "Are we eating it?"
"Nope. It is meant to be applied on the body."
I used the huge spoon to scoop out a portion of them. The smoke it emitted showed its high temperature.
"Ow…"
It is very hot to the touch. I did not care about the slight burns it made to my fingertips and tried circulating qi to my hand.
"It's smoother… and faster. The [Bright Jade True Qi Pill] I butchered is effective."
Forgetting about the long name, its effect is to strengthen the body and increase spiritual qi circulation by 50%. It is used in the Early Stage and lasts for eight hours tops. That is the complete recipe—a pill made with spiritual flames, medicine cauldron, and genuine spiritual medicines.
I don't have any of them.
The half-baked paste version should increase qi circulation by 5% to 10% tops. I will test the duration later.
Kiana dipped her finger into the clay mixture. She curiously took some of them and put them in her mouth.
"It's bitter… but not that bad."
"..."
I am speechless.
What kind of food did she eat back then?