10] – [Potential]

Teleporting into a mountain range, Alexander looked at the disgusted duo, looking at him with fear reflected deep within their eyes.

"This is what you call a cripple!"

"What I just did was shatter her Dantian, which had turned into a Saint Core, until it became incapable of serving its purpose, therefore, crippling her!"

Looking into the distant blue sky above the countless mountains Alexander continued.

"If you become a decent enough cultivator, you are bound to either observe, inflict or suffer this same fate!"

Taking in a breath of cold air, the two looked at one another before nodding.

"I am willing!"

"I am willing!"

Seeing the duo, on their knees, expressing their determination with awe covering their eyes, Alexander simply waved his hand, teleporting them high into the sky, above a huge mountain, spanning thousands of meters into the surroundings.

Not waiting for them to regain their bearings, Alexander simply waved his left hand casually. His strike immediately shattered the mountain peak until it turned into a flat platform, a hundred meters in diameter.

As the duo was about to recover from the ever changing view, they were once again teleported by Alexander on top of the mountainous platform.

"Both of you, sit on the ground, cross-legged."

Waking up from their hazy mind, the duo immediately fell on their butt, crossing their legs in the process.

"I will give you a suitable cultivation technique, but before that, let me teach you about the first realms of a cultivator's journey but also explain to you how this Universe works!"

The two could barely control their impatience, waiting for Alexander to continue, their entire bodies shivering from excitement… and cold.

Noticing their predicament, Alexander waved his right hand as blazing Qi started to take form around them, blocking off the cold like a shield all around them.

"Alright, first, let me tell you that there are tiers to worlds, this entire world we are in is only Tier-2, which is very weak, you guys use Mana but cultivators must use Qi!"

Not waiting for questions he followed.

"So, we will go to a Tier-3 World after I quickly deal with my target here. In a Tier-3 World, while Qi is faint, it is still there, making it quite suitable for beginners. So let me explain to you how those realms work."

Taking a break to let the duo assimilate this information, Alexander then said.

"The very first stage of a cultivator is called the Qi Sensing Realm! It has five stages or phases, however you want to call them, and are as follow."

"The first stage is also called Qi Sensing, it requires you to sense the Qi around you. Once you manage to do so, you can try to absorb it during the Qi Absorption Stage, after that is the Qi Assimilation Stage, requiring you to assimilate the absorbed Qi inside of your bodies. It does not matter if it goes away after some time, it is not important."

"Questions before the two last stages of this major realm?"

Looking at the two, Alexander saw the young man raise his hand.

"Yes ?"

"Master, is there a difference between someone who can retain the Qi during the Qi Assimilation Stage, compared to one who cannot?"

Hearing this, Alexander's eyes brightened.

"Very good question! To be honest, we just think that those who can retain it have some talent for body cultivation, which focuses on the body."

"No other questions? Alright then let's continue."

"After the Qi Assimilation Stage comes the Qi Ruling Stage, it is the culmination of all previous stages, it requires you to be able to move, rule of sort, the Qi all around you! And once it is done, you can finally start with the last stage, the Dantian Forming Stage!"

"At this stage, you must absorb the Qi around you, before assimilating it, then ruling it around the center of your abdomen. Once the Qi is being moved there, make it spin like a vortex in a ball shape, trying to turn it into an orb. After you manage to maintain it for long enough, it will automatically start to turn somewhat solid, becoming your 'Dantian' in the end!"

"Once this is done you can then start to circulate the Qi inside your Dantian through your meridians!"

"Meridians?" The young man and woman could not help looking at each other in confusion, they followed everything that Alexander said, yet they did not remember him mentioning anything remotely similar.

"You don't have to worry, once you try and absorb Qi inside your bodies, you will understand. Almost everyone is born with them, so no need to be apprehensive. They are similar to arteries and veins, pathways exclusive for Qi to pass through."

"Which flows nicely with what I almost forgot to mention, both the meridians and Dantian are actually inside a different space! While they can be damaged physically, saying they are actually material is a bit of a stretch… Even I don't really get it, it's not important anyway, just remember that they can be damaged using physical attacks like I did earlier."

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Processing the information, they could not help shivering, remembering the poor girl who had experienced both Heaven and Hell right after the other.

"Seems like you understand, so, after forming a Dantian, what next you may ask? Well I'll tell you, the second major realm of cultivation is called the Qi Refining Realm!"

"'The are nine stages'

, is what most would say, let me tell you there are actually a hundred!"

The anticipation within the duo started to fade as they wanted to ask how long it would take. Alexander, however, did not let them ask anything.

"Each stage is called a 'revolution'. You have the First Revolution, then the Second Revolution, and so on until a hundred."

"It is a very simplistic realm, all you have to do is revolve the Qi inside your Dantian throughout your entire body by making use of the meridians. Each full revolution you do, the greater the effect. The first for example is called 'Bone Cleansing', doing exactly what it says, cleansing your bones. As for the others, they are as follow."

Alexander took a breath before continuing.

"Flesh Cleansing, Skin Cleansing, Acupoints Opening, Blood Cleansing, Dantian Enlarging, Meridian Opening, Meridian Strengthening and finally Qi Refining. From the ninth, Qi Refining, onward it is always Qi Refining."

Knowing what they would ask, Alexander did not hide anything.

"Your meridians will be mostly blocked and feeble during the Qi Sensing Realm, it is normal. The Qi Refining Realm is basically using Qi to wash away any issue you may have, making you compatible with cultivation overall!"

"As for the acupoints, it is important as well, they are used for different things, be it medical treatment, body cultivation or even things like harmony. Once again, not having them would be considered rare. These acupoints are also the main focus during the next major realm, the Foundation Establishment Realm. Not having any will limit your future the same way not having meridians would!"

Looking at the two, trying their hardest to memorize everything, Alexander smiled faintly before saying.

"Alright, now that this is done, I will leave you here for a bit, you can go ahead and discuss among yourselves about what you learned today. I will be back shortly after."

Finishing his sentence, Alexander's figure vanished before he reappeared somewhere above the sea, standing atop the clouds.

'Now, let's deal with this 'goddess', but how should I go about it? Simply squashing her would be a bit boring, but now that I have disciples, I don't feel like wasting time here…'

Navigating into the sea within a certain area, one would be able to see, in the sky, a figure seemingly pondering deeply about the truths of the world, the figure unmoving as if a statue. Before it simply vanished like it never existed to begin with…

—–

Alexander, in space, still with his false appearance, used his Divine Sense to encompass the entire galaxy he was currently in. His focus was perfect, until a smile crept onto his face.

"Found it!"

Alexander, while above the clouds, noticed that his target had tried to summon something or someone.

This alarmed him as he quickly followed the traces of her powers, finding a distant world inside this galaxy.

The world was many light years away, and on it, the target appeared to be a young, kind, dark haired man. He seemed to just have been bullied by other young men around him, currently kicking him as he laid there, on the floor, clutching his head, not daring to retaliate.

Before the man could utter another word, begging for them to stop, a giant circle filled with Mana appeared beneath their feet. The group, shocked by such a strange phenomenon, did not have the time necessary to even make a noise before the circle, illuminating the surroundings, shone a blinding purple light.

As the group was wondering what had happened, they looked around, only to let gasps of shock fill the almost empty white room.

In the middle of the room they saw a gorgeous young woman with blonde hair and deep purple eyes, glowing a magnificent pink.

Just as a member of the group, who seemed like the leader of the bullies, could ask anything, they heard the young woman speak, her voice booming inside the giant white room.

"Welcome! Heroes! I am the goddess of magic! I will grant you… grant… you…"

As the woman was giving the speech of her life, literally, as she had repeated this same speech hundreds of times before, she took notice of an extra character inside her play.

A young man with black hair put in a ponytail, his emerald green eyes accentuating his sparse freckles around his nose, stood there, looking at the young woman with a smile etched onto his face, his eyes bright.

"Who are you?" Awakening from a stupor, the young woman immediately probed Alexander.

"Didn't you summon me?"

Thinking a bit more, the goddess of magic clearly remembered not seeing anyone with such features inside the magic circle.

"No, I am sure! Who are you?! You either tell me or suffer the consequences!"

Releasing her aura fully, Mana kept on crashing onto Alexander's body.

Happy with the results, the goddess of magic was about to talk before she realized that her aura had not moved Alexander in the slightest. With some cautiousness, she narrowed her eyes at the young man's figure before planning her next move.

'He is weird, I cannot feel anything from him, yet he could take on my full powered aura without so much as flinching! I'll just ignore him, since he doesn't seem hostile for now…'

Recovering her bearings, the young woman turned her attention back to the group of men, before locking her eyes on the young man lying on the floor, his body covered in bruises with a bloody nose to complete the look.

'Perfect!'

"Young man! You have the most potential out of everyone present here! Take this! My blessing, with this, you will be able to grow beyond your wildest dreams! Go and support the holy races, go and defeat the demon king!" Just as she finished speaking, the goddess of magic formed a bright, fluctuating orb of white light, its shade a slight yellow, before tossing it toward the young man lying on the floor.

Just as it was about to enter his body, a hand suddenly grasped the ball of light, stopping its movement.

Narrowing her eyes, the goddess of magic was seething with anger, as she saw Alexander ruin her plan.

The goddess was a moment away from rushing at Alexander as she heard him click his tongue.

"Tsk! Would you look at that, summoning outsiders for no reason and gifting them powers just for fun. You know, I really understand why you would do that, but, as weak as you currently are, this is nothing more than a death wish!"

Crushing the ball of light in front of everyone, Alexander did not pay attention at the group of men, before teleporting them away on this world, without any blessings or powers!

"Alright, I won't take too long, I think I'll just cripple you and send you along with them!"

As the goddess was about to rebuke his words, she saw the young man's figure vanish without a trace in front of her bulging eyes. The shock of this scene was so great, that she simply forgot about what was happening.

Seeing this, Alexander did not bother giving her a chance.

'I expected a battle hardened veteran at least, did she even ever fight?'

Alexander's figure reappeared in front of the goddess, his fist digging straight through her stomach, his Qi shattering all of her muscles and circles engraved on her heart. Feeling the power of a Mana God seep away from her body, the former goddess of magic could only look dumbfoundedly at Alexander's indifferent expression as he simply removed his bloodied arm from her insides, before slapping her withered body to the side, teleporting her the next moment in the middle of nowhere.

"That should do it."

—–

Meanwhile, on a deserted beach, the bruised young man looked around him at his bullies, cracking their knuckles in preparation for a regular beatdown.

'Why!? Why did he stop that thing?! This was my hope of a new life!' With tears flowing freely, the bruised young man could only remember in agony as Alexander destroyed his only hope of power and success, before a flurry of blows descended upon his frail flesh.