[NR] One Sausage - Chapter 584

Jason stretches one last time, having just gotten all the kinks out of his muscles, and settles down in the middle of the living room. This was going to be his longest out of the capsule since he was maybe 13? The government was a little picky about how much time kids could spend in VR.

It didn’t matter to Jason, though more than a few classmates got in trouble for trying to skirt around the rules. Of course, even back then he had seen through what was actually happening. It is practically a rule that kids will try and push the rules and so the stuff around how long you could spend in VR had unwritten bits of wiggle room.

Simple stuff like keeping track of time in fifteen minute increments and rounding. That way, if you enter eight minutes into an increment, the remaining seven don’t count towards your time. Then you can stay in until seven minutes past when you should get out and it doesn’t count as going over. As for the kids that got punished for overstepping the bounds? For some reason, they were always the ones that either flaunted it the most or stepped on one of the actual bottom lines.

Jason would have even said it wasn’t on purpose. For instance, that time keeping method is just a holdover from how some companies used to record hours. However, they always seemed to catch someone at just the right time to curtail kids from going too far.

With a sigh, Jason turns away from his memories. It was a fun enough time as even with his intense training, his childhood still ended up better than the last. For now, though, he needed to work on his foundation.

It was early on, and talented cultivators could normally pass through these early steps at quite a clip. Of course, sometimes haste makes waste. The foundation was called such for a reason.

Jason closed his eyes and focused on the work he had done so far. Each of the meridians cleared was channeling power into his dantian. Some would use this excess power to help excavate the latter meridians even faster.

This wasn’t even necessarily a bad choice for some. It wasn’t like the power would keep building up if you didn’t use it. The dantian can only hold so much power and any excess dissipates. And it also wasn’t like letting it dissipate tempered the body, at least not with the normal method of cultivation.

Rather, it was noticed that before all the meridians opened up, there was a wisp of prenatal energy present. That energy was a useful power to temper the meridians after they were cleared. The problem comes from the fact that if you use the excess energy coming in to clear the other meridians, some of that prenatal energy will also be used and you don’t get it back.

Well, you don’t get it back naturally. There were, of course natural treasures that could replace it and provide all the benefits for a short period after all the meridians had been cleared. Jason didn’t exactly have access to those natural wonders right now, so he couldn’t be like one of those talented sect disciples or the scion of some ancient clan that would be rushed through this stage.

For now, all Jason could do is confirm everything was good and move onto the next meridian in need of clearing. Step by step, block by block, and so on. Cultivation was ever a work of many little pieces coming together.

With that, Jason settled into cultivation, and time passed. Then, before he knew, the day was over. He was a little disappointed that his mom hadn’t managed to make time to stop by, but even if he didn’t know, he “knew” that his recent achievements in cultivation had caused her a bit of work. Maybe next time?

For now, he had a bit of time before his death timer was up. Jason had stopped a bit early as he had finished up a meridian, and starting a new one now would be pointless as any work he did would be erased. Plus, this gave him a chance to fix a bit more of a complicated meal.

Earlier, he had stopped for a quick bit of food, but that was just some cereal. Now he has a chance to actually cook. While not the best in the kitchen, the sheer variety of food still amazed him and to make it himself was always a joy.

This time since Jason hadn’t really planned on anything, he settled for a classic, biscuits and gravy. Though mostly because there was a raw sausage in the fridge, which was just right for a portion of gravy. The ratio was simple enough, with each portion taking one of each measure. So a sausage, tablespoon of butter, tablespoon of flour, and cup of milk. Then, of course, you could season it to taste, except Jason mostly found the country sausage seasoning was good enough if you add some salt and maybe a bit of pepper.

The only shame with this meal was that he had to settle and not make the biscuits fresh. It didn't take that long, but if he was going to do it, he was going to do it right and that took more time, mostly because you have to keep everything cold for the best rise in the oven. Still, store-bought biscuits can be pretty decent and good gravy can cover a multitude of sins.

That wrapped up, Jason cleans up and takes a quick shower before hopping into his capsule. There is still a few minutes to go, but that time was best used for getting back into the right mindset, anyway. Then he was once again in NeoRealm.

Though instead of being in the basement room, he was lying on top of his bed. With an unneeded stretch, he gets about checking on everything. Not that much changed. While he hadn’t been there to protect the clearing, Lily had been up to the task of driving off any normal monsters and could have hid from the more dangerous sorts.

And speaking of Lily, Jason soon found her nibbling on some newly grown grass right outside the house. Also of note, was a note. It seemed that Rosha and Courtney had stopped by the clearing during the five days Jason had been gone.