The system's mechanical voice sounded in his ears, replying instantly,
"Of course there is, host. Earth's Spiritual Qi density and quantity are a hundred times lower than the Murim world, from what I can sense."
Shen nodded his head, but he was still shocked, as he didn't think the difference would be this immense.
"A hundred times? No wonder this is taking way too long, and my body got way weaker after coming back here. Earth is really a low-level zone."
Still, a thought appeared in his mind as he couldn't help but ask,
"System, am I really going to have to use the blue windowed numbers to level up and clear dungeons? Isn't that too much of a hassle?"
After a bit of silence, the system replied,
"Host is overthinking. The numbers and leveling are merely to help people adapt to fighting and understand their strengths in general. After you reach the bottleneck of the second realm, the requirement to advance is to absorb the status window into your sea of consciousness and make it part of your own power."
Shen didn't reply and went to take a bit of rest on his bed as he thought things through.
The moon hung high in the sky.
It had been several hours since Shen began his next session. Even though his legs were about to give in, his mind was in such a focused state that he didn't feel any pain in the slightest.
As a matter of fact, one could even see faint blood wisps drifting from above his ankles and slowly traveling along the smooth pathways of his skin, ending beneath and around his feet.
As the sun was about to rise, Shen, immersed in sensing Spiritual Qi, suddenly felt a warm current emerging from his chest and abdomen, delicate and warm, seemingly flowing with his breath.
"This must be Spiritual Qi!"
"I've actually sensed Spiritual Qi this fast! Truly worthy of being a lower-ranked Heaven cultivation technique!"
At this moment, Shen was overjoyed as he focused on the tiny wisp of Spiritual Qi hovering inside his abdomen.
"Stay calm, stay calm. Must be calm and composed. Cannot let the mind be disturbed…"
'I now have to mobilize that wisp of Spiritual Qi and use it to refine my skin…'
He stopped mid-thought as he recalled the best way to do it, then continued.
Continuing to hold his horse stance, he tried again and again to mobilize his Spiritual Qi while recalling the explanations provided by his manual. Although it was vague and the knowledge came mainly from experience, it was still somewhat helpful.
He focused his mind entirely on himself, immersed in the mobilization of that wisp of Spiritual Qi. His breathing involuntarily adjusted to its rhythm, and gradually, the Spiritual Qi spread throughout his body.
His skin began to glow red, as if a warm current were refining it centimeter by centimeter as the wisp spread.
"Seems like I've entered the skin-refining stage now."
Shen breathed a sigh of relief, and a slight smirk appeared on his lips. Finally, he had sensed Spiritual Qi and successfully mobilized it to refine his skin. Despite the amount being negligible, that was only because it was merely the first step; later, his Spiritual Qi would become even more apparent.
Phew.
Exhaling a mouthful of air, Shen's eyes turned serious once again, his joy vanishing as he quickly dispelled thoughts of further cultivation and went to take a bath.
'Gibert spoke about blood qi and strength. It would be better if I go test that as soon as possible,' Shen thought.
On top of that, he also wanted to acquire more knowledge about paths, awakening, and related details. Contacting Azona for such trivial information would be a great loss; he was sure it would be more useful to ask bigger questions later.
At that moment, a person appeared in his mind.
Joshua!
***
"Flowing Water Martial Arts Hall!"
Shen arrived at his destination following the navigation on his phone, stopping in front of the martial arts hall closest to his hotel, where he and Joshua had agreed to meet.
The martial arts hall wasn't very big, and even the décor was nothing special. It was just an ordinary private training hall.
As for why it was called a martial arts hall to begin with, that was because most people, prior to their awakening, focused on increasing strength and blood qi. As a result, martial arts halls became the most popular training establishments for students who had yet to awaken.
"The owner of this martial arts hall, Richard, is a berserker player who reached the third realm. As a matter of fact, he even reached the top twenty in the Dragon Ruins City Annual Academy Awakener Test," Joshua commented from the side, his eyes flashing with a hint of reverence.
'It seems like he respects him even though he's a berserker. Now that's interesting,' Shen noticed Joshua's expression but didn't dwell on it. Regardless of one's path, the effort of someone who ranked in the top twenty of an entire city's academy test was not something to overlook.
An enrollment advertisement was posted on the hall's door, which Shen noticed immediately.
The words "Third Realm Player" caught his attention.
Based on those words, Shen could tell this was how the Empress of Wisdom ranked players.
"So you told me you're a gate survivor who was stuck in a training ground for some time, right?" Joshua said with excitement. "You know, players like you usually go beyond the second realm. Some of them even pave new paths and receive huge rewards from the Empress of Wisdom."
"Each time I recall those events on TV when I was a kid, my heart beats faster with excitement."
Joshua suddenly remembered Shen was beside him and fixed his posture, dryly coughing before stepping inside.
"Follow me. I'll show you around."
Joshua felt that befriending Shen and adding him to his future plans was a wise decision after hearing Shen's brief explanation earlier. He felt even more energized to guide him and answer his questions now.
As they were heading inside, Shen couldn't help but ask a question that was quite bothering him all this time.
"What's the point of the awakening or whatever Teacher Gibert spoke of then if people can pave new paths?"
"Oh, that? It's mainly for people without backgrounds to choose a path to take. Well, it's more like a luck-based event, but hardwork have a great factor as teacher Gibert explained. In fact, you must have caught wind of this, but do you recall when he looked at Anna after saying except a few of you?"
Shen nodded his head; such a reaction would obviously not go unnoticed by him.
Joshua smiled after turning his head and seeing him nodding," Not bad, well, he reacted that way because of her background. As I already informed you, the girl isn't simple, and her family had already paved a path, she had already chosen that path to take and doesn't need the academy awakening."
'So that's how it is.' Realisation dawned upon Shen as he listened to Joshua's explanation.' People without backgrounds already paved paths to be chosen at random. The only downside is that the later start of those like Anna.'
Shen could tell that Anna strenght was far stronger than most kids in the class yesterday, and now he understood the reason for it.
As for whether the kids would get a bad path by mistake? Such an idea never crossed Shen's mind since he knew the Empress of Justice would make sure each kid took whatever his body and talent fit him most.
It is random on paper, but in reality, it was based on one's talent and hard work. Or else people wouldn't be training so hard and consuming resources to increase their blood qi and whatnot before the awakening.
In essence, it was a rather perfect system to ensure the growth of humanity's next generations!
Shen was deep in thought, striding into the Flowing Water Martial Arts Hall.
At the front door of the martial arts school was a reception desk. The receptionist was a girl of around 20 years old, appearing quite beautiful.
Seeing Shen, the girl quickly put on a professional smile and took the initiative to greet him, "Is this student here to enrol in our martial arts hall's martial arts training classes?"