[NR] I Was Disappointed - Chapter 507

Rosha frowns, “If all your ‘cultivation’ does is gather power and refine it, why isn’t it known yet?”

Courtney, “That is strange. In my testing, I’ve tried a large number of alternate methods and only your way seems to work.”

Jason shrugs, “If it was literally just gathering power, the solution would be to stick a fork in the outlet. No, you need a method to draw in the power that harmonizes it with your body and soul. Otherwise, this reality would be like one of those superhero stories.

“Not that I wouldn’t count that out. There are enough strange powers floating around that, given a few hundred more years they might develop. Though if cultivation catches on first, such things would likely be funneled towards making a person better at cultivating.”

Rosha, “Stop. I know Courtney has tested some of this, but your knowledge bombing us with a ton of stuff you cannot know for certain! We know who you are and you don’t have some secret heritage.”

Jason laughs, “If I had a secret heritage, it wouldn’t be all that secret if you knew about it. Though more seriously, I know it because of some semi-unbelievable circumstance. I’m not going to tell all my secrets, but I can explain my knowledge in one word. Reincarnation!”

Both the girls frown at him.

Jason raises an eyebrow, “What?”

Courtney snorts, “It would honestly be more believable if you had said aliens or even that you picked it up from NeoRealm Locals. You’re not the first to claim otherworldly knowledge from a past life. Though, admittedly, your knowledge is proving usable.”

Jason nods, “It is totally unbelievable. You should disregard everything I say about my previous life. Maybe take it as a thought experiment in world building. However, what I’m telling you about cultivation works, which is what matters.”

Rosha sighs, “This is why my father keeps such a close eye on me. You are exactly the type of guy he is trying to keep me away from.”

Jason laughs, “Don’t worry, I don’t want anything from you. Though that doesn’t really say anything as those types will say the same thing. Anyway, let me relieve some of your suspicions by saying I’m not trying to claim to be some ancient immortal.”

Courtney, “Wasn’t that your next more? Why else would you still remember your last life?”

Jason shrugs, “I just do. As for what I was? Well, not quite a commoner, though that was because I had enough talent in cultivation to be accepted into a sect. Then stuff happened and I died young with hardly any power.”

Rosha, “Doesn’t that mean you won’t actually have any high-level knowledge about cultivating? Like, yeah, the life extension is nice, but you made it sound like we could end up living forever.”

Courtney nods, “If you weren’t super important or of a high stage then wouldn’t your knowledge be incomplete? Because it didn’t sound like that when you were explaining things.”

Jason nods, “If this was one of the numerous cultivation novels you can find online, that would be true. However, this is reality and not a contrived world which only allows one path to power. While there are lineages in my old life that managed to stabilize paths, those were always bloodline based and tended to lock a person in after a certain point.

“No, the secret to high-level cultivation is that you have to forge your own path to not reach a dead end. Those bloodline paths? They tend to get a person hard stuck at the rank behind the most powerful ancestor that they’re closely related to.

“This gives those families some time to raise someone to at least that level again, what with the extended life spans from cultivating. However, unless someone powerful is still around, those families are always in decline.

“After all, someone had to figure this out at some point. Like I said, give it a few hundred years and living creatures in our world would likely start developing super powers. Give it enough time and eventually you’d end up with a bunch of different fantasy races.”

Rosha frowns, “Why would that result in fantasy races?”

Jason shrugs, “What is a mermaid besides a humanoid adapted for the water, especially those who can form legs when out of water? How do you get something like that in the first place? While this is all speculation, I’d be willing to bet a large variety of people with water-based powers might gather together.

“One might be able to turn their legs into a tail. Another has gills. Maybe a third is really good at manipulating water. Then you take all those variations and create an underwater colony. Give it enough time and as long as their powers get passed along in any capacity? Boom, mermaids.”

Courtney nods, “I can see that, but while there are a lot of nearly human fantasy races, what about the rest?”

Jason laughs, “Well first of all, humans won’t be the only ones developing powers. Then there is the fact we’re literally connected to another dimension with those things already. Nevermind the fact that we don’t know what we’ll find out in space.

“Sure, we haven’t detected anything, but once again, look at the dimension we connected to. It has literal magic. To think others out there couldn’t find their own sources of supernatural power is silly.

“There could be a giant enchanted force field outside of the solar system that is limiting our ability to see what is actually happening. Do I think this is likely? Not at all, but it is possible because magic.

“When I figured out this dimension has powers and wasn’t just based on physics? I was disappointed because it would have limited so much nonsense. The saying ‘A wizard did it’ has so much more meaning when you come from a place where the equivalent can create entire worlds.”