14 Cultivation

Thankfully, as Micheal ran through the central zone, he noted that almost everyone was either in orientation with the newbies or taking the day off due to the arrival of all the new Chosen.

He didn't encounter a single person on his way back, though he did run into a normal shambling Morenkai which he made short work of. The deathly zombies which had proven terrifying to his younger self were nothing more than a footnote on his journey now.

His home base wasn't actually very far from where he had been. In what felt like no time at all, he found himself back atop the skyscraper where he'd decided to set up camp. Overhead, the sky had faded to darkness, evening almost completely slipping away.

The Morenkai were just as randomly active in the day as they were at night. Because the Morenkai had weak visual senses in the first place, the darkness of night didn't hamper them much. Compared to humans who relied greatly upon their eyes, they were typically much better of.

Very few of the skyscrapers would give off any light at night, and there were no stars in sight overhead, nor was there a moon. This made every night one of grim darkness, only occasionally lit up by some of the skyscrapers with lights shining through windows.

If one wanted to hunt in the night, they were typically forced to bring a light of some sort or some type of night vision goggles or Ability. Bringing a light out at night made you stick out like a sore thumb and was ill-advised. Conversely, using an Ability slot for something like that was usually an expensive and potentially wasteful choice. The night vision goggles were the best option, but were also quite expensive to purchase from the Shop.

Micheal had usually opted just to sleep at night, like most humans. When he gained the Ki Cultivator Ability, he'd used that time to meditate as well.

"Hmm." His eyes narrowed as he stopped in front of the door that led to the bowels skyscraper.

'That feeling is still here.' The feeling of being watched and followed had persisted this whole time. No matter how he moved or ran, it never left him. It was a type of sixth sense, a feeling that rose the hair on the back of your neck. The type of feeling you wouldn't recognize unless you had felt it many times before.

Several times he had taken casual sweeping looks around, trying to spot the tracker. All, unfortunately, to no avail.

'Whatever.' He mentally shrugged, putting it aside for now. Someone, or some group, had likely seen him taking out the regular Morenkai and wanted to keep tabs on him.

He pushed open the doorway, moving down into the skyscraper. As soon as he opened it, however, he froze.

He sniffed the air.

'Someone has been through here.' He frowned again.

'That or they lured a Morenkai down here to trap and kill it.' Micheal could remember back when he had been on a Hunting Team in the Saru Group how they would lure a Morenkai in and use the close corridors of the skyscraper hallways to their advantage.

The walls and doors here were all extremely sturdy. Even the powerful shambling Morenkai couldn't break them down.

He moved into the stairway and down the stairs. He paused as he moved down a single floor, listening carefully to the world around him.

Faintly, he could make out the hum of various air conditioning units working, a few fans running…

He couldn't make out anyone or anything else.

He shrugged again.

'Eh.' He couldn't be bothered worrying over something like a rookie.

He quickly made his way down to his floor, the 30th, entering the dimly lit narrow hallway. The plain grey walls were soothing and relaxing, a nice change from the monstrous Morenkai up top.

When he entered his room, he found that everything remained untouched. While he hadn't actually left anything in here, he had already decided this was where he was going to live.

With that in mind, he turned around and walked over to the office desk that was set in the corner of his room. The wooden edifice was aged and worn looking, though, like almost everything else that was originally here, almost virtually indestructible and impossible to move.

From the bottom of one of the drawers, he pulled out a short wooden doorstop. These were found in almost all rooms, one of the secrets you picked up over time if you lived in the First Layer.

He placed the stop in front of his door, nodding his head sharply. There were no natural locks on any of the doors here, you had to make your own. This doorstop would serve for now. It would stop anyone from entering for at least a few moments, giving Micheal time to awaken and react.

With that thought in mind, he sat down on his bed and began to meditate. He concentrated on relaxing his body, taking in several deep slow breaths.

Gradually, he became fully calm. He felt at peace with himself and the world around him, entering a state of peaceful relaxation.

This was the Cultivation State, as experts termed it. The mental state one needed to enter into if they wished to cultivate their ki, or inner strength, and increase the might of their Ki Cultivator Ability.

Entering this state was actually quite difficult. It had taken Micheal years to be able to get it down perfectly, and even longer to be able to enter into it at will for as long as he wanted. It was the type of thing you couldn't teach, but had to learn naturally on your own. He had heard that some geniuses were able to enter into it reliably within weeks of gaining the Ki Cultivator Ability.

'I can enter into it perfectly on literally day one… I'm probably setting a record in that regard.' He smiled ruefully. The longer and more perfect your Cultivation State was, the faster you could grow your Ki Cultivator Ability.

WHOOSH

The air around Micheal vibrated slightly as his body began to slowly absorb ambient energy from the air itself. The feeling was like having a warm blanket tossed around your body, filling you with comfort.

'My current Ki Cultivator Ability is at the Mortal Tier.' All of his veins and organs had been reinforced, filled with a weak layer of warm protective energy.

To progress, he needed to increase the amount of energy stored within his body by absorbing it from external sources, like the air around him. The process was a slow and gradual one, but if he kept at it, he should be able to steadily improve his stats across the board.

'I can sleep after I cultivate for an hour.' He set himself a time limit, aware that he shouldn't rush his cultivation. Upgrading his Ki Cultivator Ability was something he needed to do step by step. With the knowledge he had, as long as he took his time it would be impossible for him to make any mistakes.

'Focus… relax…' His eyelids fluttered as he entered his Cultivation State, absorbing energy from the world around him. Gradually, he felt his Ki Cultivator Ability begin to grow in strength, bit by bit, enhancing his stats.

.. .. .. .. .. .. ..

Meanwhile, back on top of the skyscraper Micheal was meditating in…

Anju looked over at the entrance, his eyes pensive.

'This Irregular… why is he so freakishly alert?' He mentally swore at the weird swordsman, complaining in his heart.

The entire way here, Anju had been forced to stalk him from an extremely far distance, using his binoculars to barely maintain line of sight. Several times the warrior had gone on large sweeping glances, his eyes seemingly taking everything in.

More than once Anju had been forced to throw himself down and hide, at one point even bruising his knees from the impact.

If he hadn't been under strict orders to find out where the Irregular lived, he would've ambushed the man right then and there. It was ridiculously difficult to follow the man and remain undetected.

'But I managed, thankfully.' He grumbled silently.

'Hmph, there's a reason I'm called the Black Knife Ninja.' His eyes flashed cooly as he struck a pose, kneeling slightly with a knife in his hand.

After waiting a moment and realizing there was no one there to compliment him, he sighed again. He was ready to get this mission over with and return back to base.

'Let's go find his room.'