Alex's questions made Mingyue's mind churn.
He spoke slowly on the call.
"I'm not saying your uncle is lying, but considering his low position in the family, how much could he really know about the real secrets?
I believe things are not that simple. You should see the truth with your own eyes, Mingyue.
I'm not telling you to forgive them. But find out the whole picture before you decide anything.
"You have Vesa with you. It should not be hard to see their true intentions.
"I also wonder about something.
You say your father was always busy with himself but did not have a good cultivation level.
If that is true, how could he have married into your family?
"Haven't you told me many times how important marriage is for cultivators? I really don't believe it.
"Just like you, your mom was a genius in her generation.
Even if she was poisoned, does it make sense for her to marry just anyone?
"Also, your brother has good spiritual roots and bloodline, even if they are not as good as yours.
Do you think both of you just got lucky?"
Mingyue fell silent for a moment, then let out a small laugh. "What do you mean?
He is not my real father? You have read too many novels, Alex.
What is next, my real father is from a secret cultivation family and my mom had an affair with him?"
"You got me," Alex said, laughing. "Well, you get my point, Mingyue.
Take some time to calm down, but do not blame yourself too much. Just look for the truth with your own eyes.
Do not make conclusions before you know everything."
"You're right. Yeah, thanks."
Mingyue felt better after talking to him. She ended the call and wiped the tears from her eyes.
It only took her a short time to return to her usual calm state. Then she started giving instructions to Zan Lu.
Meanwhile, Alex told Feng Xue to continue with the experiment on her own.
After that, he left her and walked to the training area.
He sat down cross-legged and held two crystals in his hands.
Then he closed his eyes and focused on the qi and mana inside the crystals.
He had already learned how the cultivators used qi to strengthen their bodies.
The method Mingyue gave him told him to breathe deeply into his lungs, guide the qi through his body, then hold his breath as long as he could.
After that, he needed to exhale and push all the qi out.
This method was painful and tiring. When the body was filled with qi, it felt heavy pressure from the inside.
Alex had asked for other samples to compare.
He found that different techniques used different breathing patterns, routes of circulation, and phases.
The better the technique, the higher the efficiency.
"Mingyue said they don't have any cultivator doctors there," Alex mumbled to himself.
"Cultivators cannot get sick, they only have to deal with wounds and poison. So an alchemy master is enough.
No wonder the cultivation method is this crude, they lack understanding of human biology."
Alex was not a doctor, but with Vesa's assimilation of the ERX chip and his own abilities, changing this cultivation method was not hard for him.
He created a new phase that strengthened the human body from the base, starting with the weakest but most important parts.
He planned to work on the spine, nerves, veins, lungs, heart, and kidneys first, then move on to the other organs.
After that foundation was strengthened, he would move to the eyes, flesh, skin, and finally the brain.
"Based on the simulation, this should be fine since mana goes in first and then moves to qi afterward," he said softly.
"But I need to make sure. If anything happens to my brain..."
Alex let out a short chuckle. "It would not be funny if I became an idiot."
He started by using mana and guided it into his spine.
He felt a thin thread of energy spread through it. His cells reacted at once and greedily absorbed the mana.
The change was not like some sudden transformation. It felt more like pouring water onto dry sand.
The mana disappeared into his body at a steady rate.
In only a few seconds, the mana crystal in his hand turned into dust.
"Vesa, why is this happening? This is not what I expected."
[Vesa's answer appeared in his mind.]
[It is because your body has started transforming into a progenitor, King.]
[The cultivation method you are trying to use is very different from that.]
[No cultivator in the Queen's world touches the spine or other core organs like the nerves before they reach the immortal stage.]
"That is not strange. They do not avoid it on purpose.
They just have no choice when they try to break through to become immortal," Alex said.
"But this means the result will be very different for a normal person or for other awakeners."
He still felt excited.
This meant he could completely skip the normal foundation-building stage as long as he absorbed enough mana and qi into his body.
"Wait," he said, thinking. "The reason I have abilities is because my brain mutated, just like other awakeners.
Then isn't having an ability the same as having a spiritual root and bloodline?"
[It is different, King.]
[In your world, the body mutates to use mana. For bloodlines and spiritual roots, the body transforms into something completely new.]
[That is why cultivators have a far longer lifespan compared to people from the King's world. But this is only my theory. We need more data to confirm it.]
"I understand what you mean, Vesa, but the core idea should be similar," Alex said. "Forget it.
This is still too far away. Even now, research on how mana turns someone into an awakener is still heavily debated."
There were many theories about awakeners.
If people truly understood how the process worked, they could try to turn everyone into an awakener.
But there was still no method that gave stable results.
Some methods existed, but the casualty rate was high.
One example was exposing someone to a very high concentration of mana.
Alex took out more mana crystals and started absorbing them again.
Time passed. After about an hour, he let out a long sigh.
"This is crazy. I have used one thousand mana crystals, and the capacity is not even half full yet.
Each one is high-grade and costs at least one hundred thousand dollars."