Sitting on a comfy terrycloth rug in the lotus position, I tried to relax. I knew that even after explaining the lightning magic energy route through the body to Pikachu ten times, along with the initial intensity needed, it still felt uncomfortable.
I knew the explosive body evolution—even without all the side effects I'd removed—would still come with hellish pain. And I hadn't specifically trained my pain threshold in this body. Nor in the previous one. I'm not into that masochism.
It was easier for me, during fights with injuries, to boost my concentration with spirit magic and ignore the pain that way.
Now, all my focus would be inward, maintaining a healing element spell on my body for faster evolution. So I braced for the pain. Oh well, you can't breathe your last breath twice.
"Start," I signaled Pikachu.
It entered me from behind and, following the technique, saturated my body with a specific amount of lightning element, circulating it along the route and gradually ramping up the concentration drop by drop.
"Arrrgh!" It nearly bent me backward in an arc.
I was literally growling from the pain! The sensations were pure hell! I wanted to drop everything right then, go rob Bo or other monster-ruined cities, then buy a powerful artifact set to boost physical strength. Instead of all this.
But I endured, aware of the potential benefits. And truly strong artifacts that could help against Emperors? No way to buy those with this cash. Even if I had them, a strong body would unlock their full power better. So grit my teeth and bear it.
About fifteen minutes of torment later, my body started itching and heating up. The body restructuring and rapid evolution began, lasting about an hour. The pain eased a bit here, replaced by an insistent itch under the skin.
It's like when they put a cast on after a fracture, but you cheaped out on the itch-proof coating for five hundred bucks and writhe in agony for two weeks until you think to use sushi chopsticks to scratch properly. In my case, sushi sticks wouldn't help. So endure again.
Writhing periodically but somehow managing, I endured that hour, and the torture finally ended. The first stage of Servant Level technique was complete. The somewhat tired Pikachu exited me and flopped onto the rug beside me. I just endured and maintained the healing spell, while it diligently upheld the technique and regulated the lightning power.
And that old man, Mo Shu, managed to sustain the technique himself, endure even worse pain for longer, and suffer side effects. Now I truly respected him—a real tough guy.
"Okay, Pikachu, rest a bit, then we'll jump straight into mastering the second stage, Leader Level. I have a feeling after today, I won't want to touch it with a ten-foot pole for a while. Strike while the iron's hot," I told my unwilling tormentor.
"Pika-a… (Master masochist, family's curse…)" the cheeky rat teased me. I need to limit its internet access before it learns worse.
The second stage, granting junior Leader Level strength, hurt even more, and it did bend me backward. For a normal practitioner, that would've halted the cultivation, caused heavy injuries, or even death.
But I wasn't cultivating solo—khm, I mean, a certain rat inside me was doing it for me, so I just rolled around on the floor cultivating. At least the itch stage was a bit easier in that pose—a plus.
After showering off all the sweat, I spent the rest of the day doing nothing important, just glued to the internet.
Bored, I even made a Weibo account, the Chinese Instagram knockoff. Maybe later I'll post pics of Pikachu and Bul in funny outfits. Let it be my hobby for soul and body rest.
The next day, I tested my boosted physical strength and shifted to Luyashan mountain, where I'd previously gotten my Spiritual Seed.
There were about fifteen Servant-rank dragon ice horses as starter sparring partners and one mid-Leader Level as the boss.
And man, the feeling of ripping apart monsters—who in the public mind are always physically stronger than humans—with your bare hands… indescribable.
That overwhelming physical power surging through you feels totally different from a magic breakthrough. And I like it even more.
Guess deep down, I'm a monkey who loves pounding enemies with fists up close, not sniping them from afar with magic. Sometimes you learn new things about yourself.
The Servants were no issue thanks to superior physical might—no counting a couple minor scratches at the start from inexperience—but the boss was a problem.
Now it outmatched me physically, and I'm no close-quarters fighter. I'd only dodged monsters before, blasting them from range with magic or hitting stunned ones up close with spirit magic. In short, I didn't know proper hand-to-hand.
So until I activated double speed boost and outpaced the mid-Leader in speed, it chased me around the cave like a cat after a mouse. Under boost, I beat it down, but that didn't satisfy me.
I'm human, after all. I should win via technique against a superior monster, not magic in a physical fight. Guess I'll visit old Mo Shu and learn hand-to-hand from him.
Unlike me, he's fought that way his whole life—he can teach not just technique, but tons of tricks and monster weak spots. Worth learning from a battle-hardened grandpa like that.
And so, my life settled into a steady routine.
Mornings, I'd visit old Mo Shu.
He was thrilled to see me alive and well. And very surprised to hear I'd found a lightning elemental creature after all.
For a gift matching last time's value, he happily agreed to teach me hand-to-hand and even took me to practice on nearby monsters.
As he said: so I wouldn't get used to fighting only humans after sparring him. World-class grandpa, what more to say. I'll definitely help him break through to Curse Level later.
Days, I cultivated. With the pendant boosting cultivation speed threefold under the soul flow, it got a bit more fun, but still boring.
Evenings, after cultivation rest, I'd take Bul and Pikachu to parallel worlds to build combat experience. Following Mo Shu's lesson, I'd have them fight both monsters and humans.
Humans from evil clans, or sometimes strong lone criminals. So they'd gain experience against single strong foes or weaker groups with teamwork.
Same tactic for monsters. Also tested if elementals could merge.
Nothing at first, but after Bul hit Leader Level, it merged smoothly with Pikachu. Apparently, only same-rank elementals can merge.
Couldn't teach them fusion magic yet, but they comboed elements well anyway. The paralyzing water wave worked great, perfect against hordes of weak foes. Solo, they were no slouch either.
After intense fights, I'd feed them via mage cultivation. Had to find more evil lightning and water clans—the old ones weren't enough anymore.
Every ten days, I'd take a break, dress Pikachu and Bul in outfits, and post pics/videos on Weibo. By university admission time, I had 9.5 million followers. What can you do—people love cute, exotic monsters.
Pikachu loved dressing up so much, I bought it an expensive spatial ring that retracts into the spiritual world and stuffed it with outfits. Now it can change into situation-appropriate costumes on its own.
Also, every three months, I'd hit Bo City's Holy Spring for elemental breakthroughs. By admission, all my elements reached Intermediate Tier.
Ice and summoning, I pushed to peak second step of Intermediate Tier on my own. With Three-Step Tower cultivation time, I'll hit third step for both.
For that, I skipped my three-month-cooled magic spring cultivation chance. Saved it for university admission.
Bul and Pikachu hit peak Leader Level and await my High Tier summoning breakthrough for their evolution.
Checking the calendar, I saw it was finally time for Mingzhu University's special admission.
Time to rob every Green Campus student blind. An anticipating smile crept onto my face. I love non-crippling pranks. Satisfies my sadistic side without conscience nagging.