"You have courage, boy! No wonder you achieved an impossible feat." The elder was quite satisfied upon hearing that response.
Then, from some unknown place Yu Yun couldn't even guess, the old man pulled out a scroll made of animal hide, tied with a red ribbon.
"Here." The old man extended the scroll toward him and continued speaking. "This is a body cultivation art. Since I've never practiced it myself, I can't teach you the theoretical foundations, but I can offer you some guidance, helping you understand the basics."
"Thank you for helping me," Yu Yun said, taking the animal skin from the old man's hand.
Removing the cord, he opened the scroll, revealing its contents, which were only several illustrations.
It began with a creature that looked like a bull, only more muscular and entirely black. In the following images, the bull performed basic martial movements and practiced a breathing technique that drew spiritual energy from the heavens.
With its pores fully open, it absorbed the spiritual flow, fusing it into its flesh. After that, the images showed another method. This time, the bull used the blood of monsters to refine its own. Once again, it changed, the bull absorbed the elements to strengthen its bones.
After reading it all, Yu Yun could only think one thing about this method:
Use the heavens to cultivate the flesh, essence to refine the blood, and the world itself to strengthen the bones.
That was his understanding, and it left him completely astonished.
'If this is as I think, it's a true body cultivation art that tempers the entire physical form. I've never cultivated before, but I'm sure that mastering this could make someone terrifyingly powerful.'
He thought about it and looked for golden characters to confirm, but there were none. This system only served to calculate the success rate in his life.
'Hey, what's the chance of becoming a terrifying cultivator if I practice this?'
[75%]
"..."
He had expected a hundred percent and was left speechless. But thinking it through, the heavens were vast, and there would always be other abnormal methods that could rival this one. Seventy-five percent wasn't low at all.
'But that's if I succeed, and that's still a fifty-fifty chance.'
Yu Yun stopped his internal monologue and looked at the old man with the anxious gaze of a child waiting for the teacher's wisdom. "Elder, please advise me."
He spoke as the elder drank from a gourd of unknown wine. After taking a sip, the man lowered it and exhaled.
"Haaa!" The elder let out a breath. "You lost your memory, didn't you? Maybe it's a side effect from opening your pores. Well, whatever. Your life was just doing chores anyway, so it probably won't change much."
After hearing that, Yu Yun looked at him with pity. His predecessor had been miserable. His life until now had been nothing good. It made him wonder if recovering his memories was even worth it. Would he regret it?
[100%]
'So this guy had an important memory, one that might be useful to me? There's more to this than just being a menial disciple. Considering that this old man is possibly the one who introduced body cultivation to me, something's definitely hidden here.'
'What's the chance I'll be harmed by this? Like, caught in some conspiracy or used as a pawn?'
[0%]
Yu Yun relaxed after that, then asked another key question, his chances of being the son of an important family. The answer was [100%]. That made him think the help he was receiving now came from his family. The result: [50%].
He was shocked by that, so he asked for the chance that the old man knew about his family. The answer was [10%].
'My god, I get it now! The old man is just a pawn placed here by someone to teach me this!'
Yu Yun understood everything. Even a fool could piece things together with such an overpowered system, one that could calculate success rates in his life, opening windows into foresight and fate itself.
'Damn, my head's starting to hurt. Being scheming isn't for me. Thank the heavens this person doesn't mean me harm. Escaping this kind of trap would be impossible otherwise.'
He sighed in relief. The only thing he desired in life was to reach immortality, a difficult goal.
'What are the chances of me attaining eternal life in peace?'
[0%!]
"..."
'Now there's even an exclamation mark? Guess living peacefully is impossible. Whatever, if I'm smart enough, this world will be my chessboard.'
Yu Yun didn't consider himself intelligent; after all, he was only eighteen, not some cunning old fox. But he believed that by predicting his own future path, he could avoid danger and use many things to his advantage.
The old man, who had been talking earlier, now saw Yu Yun staring blankly, lost in thought.
"Is he reflecting on his life? Well, I'd do the same if I'd lost my memory, no matter how miserable it was."
The old man, who had the habit of talking to himself, muttered under his breath. Then he patted Yu Yun's shoulder, snapping him back to reality.
"Boy, as I promised before, I'll teach you to comprehend the method! Pay attention to my words."
Hearing the serious tone, Yu Yun forcefully stopped all his thoughts and focused entirely on the elder.
"Huh?" The old man was momentarily confused by the change but quickly assumed the boy truly wanted to change his fate. "Well, as you saw, there are three stages to body cultivation."
He raised three fingers.
"The first is the refinement of spiritual energy, which we call Spiritual Energy Cultivation. The second is Blood Refinement, or Qi and Blood Cultivation. And the third is Bone Refinement, known as Physical Cultivation." The old man paused, adding a touch of mystery.
"These are the three stages, which must be cultivated together within each minor realm. The Beast King's Body Art turns your very body into a furnace!"
Yu Yun, hearing the elder's exaggerated shout, felt his eardrums almost burst. Covering his ears, he rolled his eyes, thinking it was over the top but didn't show it. Removing his hands, a smile appeared on his lips as he finally understood the basics.
'But I have to practice three things in each minor realm? That's going to be hard. I finally understand the ninety percent improvement in my pores. The other ten percent is the difficulty I'll face.'
He reasoned with a bitter smile, then looked up at the sky filled with clouds, where the blazing sun shone on the horizon, his gaze firm and resolute.
'I'll start with Spiritual Energy Cultivation. It's the easiest.'