Chapter 5
"Yes!" Alex answered instantly, excitement flashing across his face as his heart pounded wildly inside his chest. After spending so long trapped in darkness, the thought of finally becoming a cultivator filled him with anticipation.
The moment he agreed, a fierce surge of energy suddenly erupted inside his body. Warm and powerful Qi flooded through every corner of his body like a roaring river that had finally broken through its restraints.
The energy moved through his muscles, blood vessels, and meridians with overwhelming force, causing Alex's entire body to tremble under the sudden increase in power.
Then—
BOOM!
A violent wave of energy exploded outward from Alex, rustling the surrounding leaves and bending nearby branches. The force spread through the clearing before being forcefully dragged back toward his body, as though something refused to allow the energy to escape.
A crushing pressure descended upon him immediately afterward. His muscles trembled beneath the invisible weight, while his breathing became heavier and more difficult as the powerful energy continued circulating inside him.
Alex gritted his teeth and endured the pressure without moving. He didn't understand exactly what was happening, but he could clearly feel that something fundamental inside his body was changing.
Slowly, gradually, the overwhelming pressure began to fade. The raging Qi that had previously moved through his body like a storm finally settled into calm and steady currents.
After some time, everything returned to normal.
The forest became quiet once again, with only the gentle sounds of leaves moving in the breeze remaining around Alex. From the outside, it looked as though nothing unusual had happened.
However, the truth was completely different.
A great deal had changed.
The system's voice echoed through Alex's thoughts, but he barely paid attention to the announcement. He didn't need confirmation from the system because he could already feel the difference himself.
His body felt completely different.
Stronger.
Lighter.
Sharper.
His muscles felt denser and were filled with explosive power that hadn't existed before. Even his eyesight had improved, allowing him to clearly see details at distances that would have been difficult for him to notice before.
His hearing had also become much sharper. He could hear faint rustling sounds coming from much farther away, sounds that his previous human ears would never have detected.
Most importantly, Alex could now feel energy flowing through his body.
Qi moved through his blood vessels and meridians in smooth, controlled streams, responding to his thoughts far more naturally than he had expected.
Alex slowly closed his eyes and focused his attention inward, attempting to understand exactly what had changed inside him.
And then he saw it.
A spherical, crystal-like structure was suspended within his body, radiating a faint light that seemed completely different from anything he had experienced before.
From that structure, countless fine energy pathways spread throughout his body like delicate threads, connecting different parts of his internal energy network.
His Dantian.
His meridians.
Alex carefully examined everything he could perceive within himself, searching for any other major changes caused by the breakthrough.
There were many small differences, but nothing seemed drastically different beyond the breakthrough itself, so he decided not to worry about those changes for now.
This was enough.
At least for the moment.
Alex opened his eyes again and looked toward the forest surrounding him before asking the system his next question.
"How much energy do I need for the next breakthrough?" Alex asked curiously, already wondering how difficult advancing further would be.
Alex's eyes widened slightly.
The amount had doubled.
Previously, he had needed only one hundred Qi Energy to reach the Foundation Realm, while the next breakthrough required two hundred.
'So the amount doubles every time?' Alex wondered, although he didn't know whether that pattern would continue into the higher realms.
However, that wasn't his only problem.
Even after reaching the Foundation Realm, Alex didn't consider himself strong enough to fight monsters. The thought of entering the forest and fighting unknown creatures alone didn't give him any confidence.
Of course, courage was useless if he didn't possess the strength and skills necessary to put that courage into action.
He was only at the first stage of the Foundation Realm, and there could easily be monsters in the forest that were at the same level or even stronger than him.
Recklessly challenging such creatures without knowing their abilities would simply be foolish.
Therefore, Alex decided that gathering herbs would be a much safer option.
He headed slightly deeper into the forest, although he deliberately avoided going beyond the area where he had first awakened after obtaining his body.
That place had been quiet when he first arrived, and Alex had already learned that safety mattered far more than pride when he knew almost nothing about his surroundings.
His footsteps remained steady as he walked, but his thoughts were anything but calm.
"However, there's one problem," Alex muttered to himself while looking around the unfamiliar plants. "I don't know anything about herbs, much less how to collect them."
He continued walking for several minutes while thinking about the situation. His mind went through various possibilities, but none of them seemed particularly practical.
Eventually, Alex arrived at a simple conclusion.
Luck.
If he had survived this long by relying on instinct, observation, and a fair amount of luck, then perhaps he could rely on it once again.
When he reached the familiar area, Alex immediately began searching his surroundings carefully. Since he had absolutely no knowledge about medicinal plants, his only option was to depend on observation.
Anything that looked different from the surrounding vegetation could potentially be valuable.
Anything unusual could be worth investigating.
Minutes slowly turned into an hour as Alex continued searching through the forest. Sweat gradually gathered across his forehead, while frustration continued building inside him with every empty patch of vegetation.
He had already examined countless plants, yet none of them seemed particularly useful.
Then suddenly—
"YES!" Alex shouted, his voice ringing loudly through the forest as excitement replaced his frustration.
After searching for what felt like ages, and far from where he had originally started, Alex finally discovered something unusual.
Nestled among several ordinary shrubs was a plant that clearly stood out from everything surrounding it. It was slightly taller than the nearby vegetation and appeared unusually elegant, as though it didn't belong among the ordinary plants.
Five purplish petals bloomed at its crown, each one carrying a faint glow that immediately caught Alex's attention.
Even from a short distance, the plant looked extraordinary.
However, Alex didn't immediately rush toward it.
Instead, he stopped and carefully observed the plant from a distance.
'Who knows what kind of plant this is?' Alex thought cautiously, remembering that strange plants could be dangerous in a world filled with Qi and monsters.
It could be poisonous.
It could release toxins when touched.
It could even possess some strange defensive ability.
Alex had no idea.
That uncertainty was enough to make him cautious. He carefully avoided the thorns and sharp edges while examining the plant, making sure he understood its structure before touching it.
Just as he prepared to pluck the flower, another thought suddenly entered his mind.
'What if the entire plant is valuable?'
Alex's hand stopped in midair.
What if the flower itself was only one valuable part?
What if the stem and roots were also useful?
Selling only the flower could mean throwing away a large portion of its potential value.
In a cultivation world, ignorance could be extremely expensive.
Without hesitating any longer, Alex carefully snapped off the thorns along the stem. He worked slowly and deliberately, making sure not to damage the actual body of the plant.
Once the dangerous thorns had been removed, he crouched down beside it and began digging around its base with steady hands.
He didn't simply pluck the flower.
He loosened the surrounding soil.
He carefully uncovered the roots.
Then he removed the entire plant intact, refusing to leave even a single root behind.
The plant itself was no larger than his palm, making it relatively easy to carry. Unfortunately, Alex didn't possess a storage pouch, container, or anything else suitable for safely storing it.
Therefore, he had no choice but to hold the plant carefully in one hand while continuing his search.
Hours slowly slipped by.
The sunlight gradually began fading as the sun moved lower toward the horizon, painting the sky with warm orange light.
More than five hours had already passed since Alex began searching.
His legs had started feeling tired, and his body was becoming increasingly exhausted, but his persistence eventually paid off.
He found two more unique plants.
The first discovery immediately made his eyes widen slightly.
It looked almost exactly like the first flower.
The same general shape.
The same size.
The same faint glow.
There was only one noticeable difference.
Its petals were pink instead of purple.
Alex carefully examined it before collecting it in the same manner as the previous plant, making sure that he didn't accidentally damage anything that might be valuable.
The second plant, however, was completely different.
There was nothing special about its appearance.
It didn't glow.
It had no unusual petals.
It gave off no distinct fragrance.
At first glance, it looked exactly like an ordinary plant that someone would probably step over without giving it a second thought.
Yes.
Just a normal plant.
However, Alex didn't collect it blindly.
When he had first noticed the plant, it had briefly emitted a faint glow before immediately returning to normal.
It might have been nothing.
Perhaps the sunlight had reflected strangely from its surface.
Perhaps Alex's eyes had simply become tired after spending hours searching through the forest.
There was also a possibility that he had imagined the entire thing.
But instincts mattered in a world like this.
And something inside Alex told him not to ignore it.
So, after carefully examining the plant for a while longer, Alex decided to uproot it as well.
He removed the entire plant from the soil and added it to the others he had collected throughout the day.
By now, the sky had become noticeably darker, and the remaining sunlight was fading quickly.
Alex looked toward the orange horizon before letting out a quiet breath.
'I should head back,' he thought, glancing toward the direction of the city. After spending more than five hours searching, continuing into the darkness would only create unnecessary risks.