Body Cultivation Hurts - Chapter 21

After wrecking fifty of the things, Nathan began having problems finding them in good number, so he called it a day. Once he returned, he gave the system the parameters he wanted his videos edited with then watched them before letting it post them.

A part of him feared they might not gain any traction, but he hadn’t been gone more than two hours and already his highlight video had more than a million views. The video was updated with his after-training footage. Those that had already watched it would be informed of the change.

He wondered if showing off to the world was the right move since living through this a second time was very much a cheat, but fame and status wasn’t why he was doing it. They were necessary tools, but not something he desired.

By the next morning, his training camp he’d originally planned to cap out at ten to fifteen people had grown to over a hundred. More than half of them were world class athletes. He expected it to grow to close to double that with the family and friends they brought. So be it.

He had yet to send those who said they would join him any of his training videos. When he checked them, he sighed. It made sense that so many people would be scouring the system for information, but this?

His main highlight vid had already reached 550,000,000 views. Half of those were likely people rewatching it to try to figure out how he was training. His more training specific vids, of which there were more than twenty, all were nearing 70,000,000 views.

He suddenly felt terrible for not doing this sooner. He didn’t just have the opportunity to help some of the world’s greatest fighters advance at increased speed. He could help the entire forsaken world and hadn’t even considered it.

He picked a few select clips and sent them to the people who had already decided to join his training camp.

It seemed the next stage of his training would need to be posted as well. Was there something he was missing? What about verbal instruction? He could ask the system to scan for the most common questions people were asking, but he feared if he posted one then people wouldn’t stop hounding him.

Instead, he commanded the system to pay special attention to what he was about to say. Sitting down in his MMA gym look-a-like, he began to explain.

“Near large success of the first realm, most cultivation paths require an extended period of pushing your body to the physical limit followed by recovery with focus on your breathing technique. Noncultivation paths don’t have this bottleneck in their advancement and are likely to jump ahead. There are ways to speed up this process, but its limited without going to the extreme with natural treasures that none of us are able to afford yet.

“With that said, there is a way. A tool that exists within the training system that is helpful for every path. Time dilation. It is expensive, and ability progression will be limited because of how it affects space, energy, and time. But the one thing it doesn’t affect is the physical body. This makes it perfect for large success cultivation in the body realm.

“In a few days, I’ll be making use of the maximum 10x time dilation with many professional fighters, soldiers, and athletes. Over the course of three real world days, or thirty days in the training construct, we’ll make use of current best-known training techniques to push this group through the ranks until they reach the blood realm. This information will be shared after training camp is over.”

Looking down at his lap, Nathan wasn’t sure how to close out his video, but after a little thought, he lifted his eyes and said, “Grow stronger.”

As soon as he posted his knew video, it was already blowing up. He didn’t have to look to know why his content was so popular. He remembered searching for every ounce of information he could find in the early days of his first life. Many of the videos posted so far would have practical instruction, some live action fighting, but mostly someone sitting there theorizing as to why things worked the way they did. Nathan’s videos didn’t discuss. They didn’t theorize. They showed what worked and the agony one had to go through to make it happen.

There were a few other instructional vids he made. Specifically those that instructed people to not follow his exact form of tempering, but the instructions that their cultivation method gave. Then he mentioned a few approaches they could take to the most common ones without giving directions to the icy cavern pool or hot springs. Both of which were probably already discovered by a large group of people.

That day, he ate, trained, and spent a lot of time communicating back and forth with the different parties who would be joining them. There were a lot of requests for addons for family, friends, and even some other pros Nathan hadn’t thought of. It was in the afternoon that Kyle finally contacted him.

“Yo is this working,” his voice sounded after Nathan accepted his call.

“Nope. You have the wrong number.”

“Uh—”

“Accept my invite to travel to my Personal Chambers, peasant.”

“Oh, Nate, that’s—” Before finishing what he was going to say, he pushed accept.

Kyle appeared before him shirtless and in boxers and socks. He scratched his short fro as if unsure what had happened.

“Really?” Nathan snickered. “You wear sock when you’re in your in your personal chambers and alone?”

His friend looked down then back up at him and shrugged. “My feet get cold.”

“Next time, before you accept an invitation to someone’s chambers, put some clothes on.”

“How was I supposed to know that? I thought I was going to appear as some kind of hologram, or something.”

“Holograms can’t be naked?”

“Eh.”

Nathan ordered a pair of shorts and shirt from the system then walked over to the delivery room to grab them before tossing them at the guy. “Don’t say I never bought you anything.”

“Now this is service.”

He scanned his friend as he put on the clothes. Kyle was a few inches shorter than he was, when before he’d been slightly taller. They’d both shot up half a foot, so its not like either of them was short.

“How did you do with pre-initiation points and in the pre-selection trial.”

With his shorts already on and as he pulled the T-shirt over his head, his friend replied, “I did exactly as you said. Sprinted to the end of the platform, helped out a few others, then used a spear to push zombies off the side. I chose a spear and tried to throw it at the big guy when he showed up but missed entirely. Jabbed one right in the head though. Then I ran for the exit. Ended up with a 55,000-point bonus and 10,000 more from shooting the demons. So 93,000 altogether.”

He kept himself from frowning when he learned his friend hadn’t broken 100,000. It just showed it wasn’t an easy number to reach. “So you got it?”

“Yeah. Energy Cultivation, with rank A talent.”

When he stopped speaking and smirked, Nathan knew there was more.

“Spill it.”

“And an entire S rank Energy Gathering technique called Heavenly Forge Fire Sutra.”

Nathan let out a low whistle. Even if his friend hadn’t gotten the same custom job he had, this was the next best thing. He was sure the guy had picked it because it had forge in the name, but that wouldn’t hinder him. With rank A talent, he’d have a much easier time than either of them had had in their first life. “Okay, that’s awesome. Pick up anything else since then?”

“You’re kidding right?”

Nathan explained how he could have the system transport items from his room and then…

He first took out a battle hammer, then not one but three different size blacksmith hammers. Next was a spear, a few different swords, mismatched pieces of armor, two axes, a hatchet, and a metal club.

“That’s enough. I get the idea.”

Kyle was looking rather smug when he looked around the room and asked, “You?”

Nathan just snorted. “Have you figured out how to use the system to view videos people have shared?”

“I saw that, but just viewed a random cat video to make sure I knew how it worked.”

“Cat video?”

“It was more of a panther, but you know…”

You can use Mr. Text Wall here in the same way you can in your chambers. Ask it to search for my vids.

When he did, he was looking at the list coming up while nodding his head in anticipation when he froze. It was a long moment before he spoke.

“You have over a billion views?”

“On one video,” Nathan corrected. “That’s my main highlight video of what I’ve been up to since initiation. Give it a watch.”

It wasn’t long, maybe fifteen minutes, so his friend remained standing as Mr. Text Wall turned into a screen for their viewing pleasure.

Nathan headed to the kitchen to prepare them a snack.

When he returned and handed Kyle a burrito and water bottle, he forced himself to remain silent. He wanted to add commentary but decided against it.

Once it was finished, Kyle turned and looked at him. Not just looked at him but leaned from side to side to study him from different angle.

“Are you okay? Not undead or something crazy, right?”

“Still just me, and highly resistant to poison.”

“And those blasted earth golems. I was using a spear before I ran into them, then bought a Warhammer just for them. And here you are doing more damage with a headbutt than I do with a full swing.”

“What stage are you at?”

“Five.”

“Good. We have time.”

Kyle’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? What stage are you?”

“Seven. If you’re there for the rest of the day and throughout the night, you’ll probably just make it.”

“Where? And make it for what?”

“Time dilation training. We’re going to make it to the blood realm in three days.”

After grabbing the things they’d need, Nathan joined Kyle in his chambers as he prepared. Not long after, they ported to the northern gate and headed for the hot springs he’d used before. He was interested to know if anything had touched the salamander boss’s carcass.