The next morning, Rosie woke up with a mixture of excitement and sore muscles. Her arms and legs ached from yesterday's training with Master Solaris, but her heart was full of hope. She knew that every painful swing of her wooden spoon was a step forward on her journey from a weak Starry Seed to a powerful cultivator.
She quickly ate a simple breakfast—some stale bread and watery tea—and headed outside to meet Milo, who was already waiting with his usual grin.
"Ready for round two?" Milo asked.
Rosie stretched and nodded. "Let's do this!"
Master Solaris was already at the training ground, calmly meditating on a large rock. As Rosie and Milo approached, he opened his eyes slowly, a warm smile on his face.
"Good morning, Rosie," he said. "Today we will focus on controlling your Qi flow. Strength comes not only from power but from precision."
"What's Qi flow?" Rosie asked, scratching her head.
"Imagine your Qi as water flowing through a river," Master Solaris explained. "Sometimes the river is calm and smooth; other times, it is wild and chaotic. Learning to control your Qi means you can make it flow perfectly through your body and weapons."
The first exercise was called The Energy Thread.
Rosie sat cross-legged and closed her eyes, imagining her inner Qi. Master Solaris instructed, "Visualize a glowing thread inside your body. Try to guide it from your chest to your fingers and then back again."
Rosie focused hard, but instead of a smooth thread of energy, she felt more like a tangled ball of yarn. She barely managed to feel the faintest glow in her fingertips.
"Keep trying," said Master Solaris patiently. "It takes time. Don't rush your Qi like a waterfall smashing rocks. Treat it like a gentle stream. Feel where it wants to flow."
Milo giggled nearby, "You look like you're trying to catch a ghost with your hands."
Rosie stuck out her tongue. "At least I'm trying! You?"
"I'm here for moral support," Milo laughed.
After several attempts, with lots of deep breaths and some accidental sneezes, Rosie felt her fingers warm up more. Slowly, she could imagine the glowing thread moving smoothly from her chest to her fingertips and back again.
"That's it!" Master Solaris encouraged. "You're making progress."
Once Rosie learned to guide her Qi inside her body, Master Solaris added a new challenge: controlling Qi in her wooden spoon.
He had set up a small wooden target a few feet away—something simple, but perfect for practice.
"Send your Qi to the spoon's tip and try to hit the target with a small burst of energy," he instructed.
Rosie took a deep breath and concentrated. Slowly, the tip of her spoon began to shine with a gentle light. She swung it forward, and the spoon released a tiny pulse—a flicker of energy that hit the target with a soft thud.
"Wow! I actually did something!" Rosie exclaimed, eyes shining.
Master Solaris nodded approvingly. "That pulse may be small now, but with time, it can become a powerful strike."
Training like this was harder than Rosie thought. She quickly learned that Qi control wasn't about rushing and fighting crazily but about understanding her own body and energy. Sometimes, her Qi thread would disappear or go wild, making her spoon jerk suddenly or causing her to lose balance.
These moments were frustrating—and hilarious.
One time, Rosie sent a burst of Qi at her training dummy, but the energy backfired and hit her own foot. She yelped and hopped around, making Milo laugh so hard he chopped a watermelon in half by accident.
"Better watch where you aim that energy!" Milo teased.
Rosie grinned, rubbing her foot. "Yeah, yeah, laugh all you want. You try controlling spooky energy that feels like a wild squirrel!"
By the end of the day, Rosie was exhausted but grateful. She finally understood what Master Solaris meant about patience and control.
On the way home, Milo leaned closer and whispered, "You know, for someone starting at Starry Seed, you're pretty good. If the school sees you like this, they might be surprised."
Rosie smiled, but deep down worried. The cultivation school was still a big dream far in the future, and her abilities were barely enough to stop chickens.
That night, Rosie sat by the window, her wooden spoon glowing softly in the moonlight. She thought about the day's lessons—the tangled Qi inside her, the mini energy pulse, and the funny moments with Milo.
She whispered to the spoon, "We're getting stronger, little one. One day, you and I will be legends."
As sleep came, Rosie dreamed of flying across a starry sky, her spoon glowing brightly in her hand, lighting the way to a big, shining tree—the Eternal Star Master realm
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