Out of all the problems I thought of, two are the most pressing ones. First was the simultaneous cultivation of three different techniques. Ti is limited. I need to make progress faster.
The next one was cultivating while asleep.
Both of these problems could naturally be resolved through mastery. The "small success" stage can allow soone to enter a trance-like state. Its requirent is to turn the 'qi circulation' part into sothing instinctive.
I need to be able to engrave it in my body so that I don't need to actively circulate it on my ridians one by one. That way, I can sleep while cultivating—only needing to maintain the posture of my head and palms pointing upwards.
As for how to do it, I am still lost.
The photographic mory the golden orb gave allowed to rember all of its contents up to Perfection mastery.
It's either that, or so spiritual materials. These two things can increase our cultivation speed. It is fast, yes, but I am still unsatisfied.
We have like, what, six years or so?
To beco stronger in such a short ti, I need to pull off so extraordinary feats.
"Early stage… six months or so. It will usually take eight months to complete the middle stage. Another ten months for the late stage. Then six months for perfection."
My Spirit Roots are the Yang Five Elents. I have the complete Yang Fire, Yang Wood… and so on.
I will rank them… yep. High grade. Their performance warrants it. Only high grade Spirit Roots can speedrun the entire Qi Refining like this.
The division is only Low, Middle, and High. It is also ironic that Spirit Roots and Spirit Bodies lose most of their relevance in the Void Refinent realm. Comprehension matters there the most.
My base talent is good enough. The ti I saved to complete the [Perfected Five Elents Root] is in hundreds, if not thousands of years. With the nature of Yang, it is also easier to create their 'Yin' equivalents. Once I create these equivalents and raise them to the high grade, I will have the 'Perfected Five Elents Spirit Root'.
With spiritual materials, it will be faster.
If I have the 'Perfected Five Elents Spirit Root' now, I reckon it won't even take a year to finish Qi Refining.
Still…
Nope.
This won't work at all.
Currently, both and Kiana are in the Qi Refining Early Stage. It will take about three years—given our usual talents and 'First Grade Spirit Vein' only—to complete Qi Refining.
I would be cooked at that ti.
Out of the five years I have, more than half was spent in Qi Refining. It will take even more ti in Foundation Establishnt.
Luckily, Kiana's trace amounts of honkai energy turns our surroundings into a 'Second Grade Spirit Vein'. It lies between the 'Middle' and 'High' grade. That reduces the ti required by a year or so.
Still, I would be cooked.
Foundation Establishnt can take care of an entire city. But, that does not fully suffice with the honkai. It is better to target the Purple Mansion Realm who can shake continental crusts with their single move.
Even so, there's still the problem of Herrschers' powers being high-dinsional. Purple Mansion Realm has 'Seeds of Supernatural Powers', but it is still not enough in my opinion.
The best case scenario is to reach the Golden Core Realm and master full-fledged 'Supernatural Powers'.
This is my third biggest problem: slow cultivation speed.
I can solve it by delving into alchemy (i.e., drugs) or other techniques I can get from the golden orb.
I need to solve these three problems to reach the requirent I placed.
It took so ti to organize my thoughts. I tried to start a session of qi cultivation, but I couldn't do it at all. The problems that plagued stuck for a while.
I opened my eyes. I am sitting on the couch. I turned back and saw Kiana sleeping. Just as I would expect, her sleeping posture is horrible.
How did she manage to throw all the pillows to the ground? How did she kick off the blanket also? Heck, she's even mimicking the eastern 'human' character?
She slept while wearing a hoodie. Part of her stomach is exposed.
…
Nope.
I looked away.
She's still asleep. Our flight is scheduled today… around 4:00 PM. It's only 6:00 AM.
I caught my parents' habits of going to the airport early. It's better to be early than to be late and rush to our flight.
I might as well wake her up at 8:00 AM.
"Hm…"
I took the touchscreen phone placed beside . I am surprised by the technology of this world. I am expecting sothing similar to iPhone 5 or 6. What I got is an iPhone 14 instead.
This is Kiana's phone, by the way. Food and accommodations are fine. When she asked if I wanted a phone, I declined.
It's too embarrassing.
In chinese terms, it is 'eating soft rice' (i.e., relying on a girl for everything). The usual monologues people use would be… 'Am I living the life of a gigoloo?' type of stuff.
That's why I told her that I can borrow hers instead if I need sothing. With sothing as satisfying as cultivation (and that sense of urgency), I did not devolve to beco stuck on my phone screen, watching short-form videos in Youtube and Instagram.
Kiana is about to be on that path, though.
"Hm..?"
There are many differences between Honkai's Earth and my Earth. Short form videos are one of them. They don't exist yet.
If so…
"There's also bitcoin, co to think of it…"
Maybe I can make money this ti around? Before the St. Freya incident and the 'Last Lesson' happened, the world is still normal. Only when the Second Herrscher, Sirin, ca back did honkai start to get exposed in a wide-scale.
Five years to exploit these economical future advantages…
"Tsk, tsk."
I might have found a new side job.
*****
4:00 PM sharp.
The plane departed from Glastonbury. We are now enroute to Arica's Pennsylvania. Kiana is in contact with an "information broker" who tracked Siegfried's movents.
Welp.
I know she's destined not to find her father until much later. I am more than sure that this "information broker" is the one Siegfried asked to take care of her.
In-ga, she ntioned how she lived on the streets for quite so ti. I an, it's natural for a kid not to understand what the black card ant.
It's all Siegfried's fault!
The explanation behind her enrolling in several schools and taking flights without any important docunts explains it. Soone's secretly taking care of her.
"Oh! HOMU's latest chapter is out!"
I am at the window seat. Kiana sat on my left. I thought she would sleep again with her neck pillow.
"What do you think?"
"My predictions?"
"Um."
"Let's see… They will introduce a new HOMU. They wrote the scene to corner the MC. That's my bet."
"Um. Um."
She began scrolling in her iPhone 14. I blankly stared outside the window. My leg space is not that bad. I am only a twelve-year-old. Plus, it's only Kiana sitting beside —a cute girl.
I can't help but think how lucky I am. Part of my dreams is this. To genuinely understand the characters beyond the screen as a person, not as a fictional character. I can finally prove that I was not schizo back then.
"You got it!"
She patted my shoulder. She showed a full-colored comic page. It showed the appearance of a brand new HOMU.
"Are you secretly HOMU's writer?"
"Guess..?"
In the end, I see her pout as she goes back to reading.
Thank you, whoever or whatever that dragged here.
I just hope these simple days can last longer…
"This is why I fight."
"Hm?"
"Oh, it's nothing…"
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