"This is good enough..." Ethan opened his eyes after circulating Sword intent through his meridians for around one hour.
The endurance of his meridians had grown quite a bit, which he deemed enough for now; he could always train them further in the future.
Right now, he had to start cultivating because many would come looking for trouble, as everyone would become bold enough to mess with him while they themselves grew stronger through cultivation.
The stronger they got, the bolder they would become, and the more annoying it would be to deal with them.
It was time for Ethan to choose his path of cultivation.
Just like the type of cultivation, the path of cultivation also differed from person to person, even among those who cultivated the same energy.
The path a cultivator takes determines the way they grow and, in the long run, influences their journey toward Eternal life and their standing in the universe.
The higher the level of cultivation, the more the influence of the path manifests.
Ethan, in his past lives, had taken on various paths of cultivation in each of the worlds he was transmigrated to, like the Path of Beast, the Path of Sea of Blood, the Path of Absolute Sword, the Path of Magic, etc., but the most powerful path he had pursued until now was his Path of Invincibility.
"If I knew for sure that I would be transmigrated after I die, I would have chosen the Path of Invincibility. But if this is my last life, I have to make the most of it..." Ethan opened his eyes as he released all the sword intent in his bodily system, taking a deep breath and deciding on the path of cultivation he was about to pursue.
"The Path of Domination."
Ethan's calm, steady voice rang out, and a wave of invisible force seemed to envelop his soul before being released like colorless hot smoke.
As soon as Ethan chose his path of cultivation, a runic screen prompt, purple in color with ancient-looking, sharp letters, appeared in his field of vision.
[Detected that you have met all the conditions to be registered with the system]
[Registering your profile in the system's database...]
[Error occurred...]
[Registration failed...]
[A profile linked to your soul already exists within the database...]
[Finding a suitable solution to the error...]
[Updating the database to fit your current profile and status...]
[Updation complete]
[You can now access all the available system functions at will]
"There it is..." Ethan smiled, looking at the system prompt.
The system was an all-seeing, all-hearing universal entity that monitored and tracked every single being, place, or entity.
People from all over the universe, regardless of their race, could use the system functions like selling, buying, or trading items universally using the currency of System Gold.
To register with the system, there were two conditions one had to fulfill: one must be at least 16 years of age, which Ethan was, and secondly, one must have chosen their path of cultivation.
As for the error message, the system showed it occurred because his soul was already registered with the system from his previous lives.
He had seen this same error message 104 times already, including this time.
Every time, the system would merge his current profile with the previous one to make it fit and reflect his current physical status, which was a good thing because he would get to keep all the System Gold he had earned in his previous lives altogether.
"I should check my profile," Ethan muttered, and as if the system understood his will, a system prompt appeared showing his status.
-----
[Awakener: Ethan Valerius Fulgara]
[System Level: 10]
[Cultivation Method: Path Of Domination]
[Cultivation Level: Uninitiated]
[Race: Human]
[Spendable Balance: 250,000,000,698 Gold]
[Life Span: 76 Years]
[Physical Attributes]
-Strength: 9
-Dexterity: 11
-Stamina: 12
-Perception: 10
-Vitality: 10
[Energy Reserves]
-Qi: 0
[Talents]
-Rapid Adaptability
[Abilities]
-??? (Sealed)
[Spiritual Contracts]
-Kagetsu
-The Dancing Library
-----
"My stats are still unimpressive, as I expected…" Ethan looked at every section one by one but ignored everything.
Regardless of the method of cultivation, every cultivator focuses more on the system-assigned level.
The system level was assigned by the system itself based on the cultivator's physical attributes, and it is done for every type of cultivator in the universe.
So, regardless of the standards of the world, cultivators could easily compare themselves with cultivators from different worlds using the system-assigned level.
Right now, Ethan's level, compared to the countless cultivators and powerful mortal and immortal beings in the universe, was just 10.
He was also not surprised to see so much gold in his balance because he had been a powerful cultivator in all his previous lives and had earned a lot of gold.
In fact, it should be more, but it seems the system did its thing to balance it out, leaving him with just 250,000,000,698 gold.
This was not even equivalent to 10 percent of his true wealth if the system were to give him every single coin he had each time he died and transmigrated.
Next up was the [talent] section, which showed he had the [Rapid Adaptability] talent, something he had already guessed he possessed, but the only thing that actually caught his attention was the [ability] section.
"A sealed ability, huh? That usually means I do not possess the required energy to use it. I should be able to unseal it once I cultivate a couple of cultivation levels," Ethan muttered, rubbing his chin.
"I wonder what kind of ability it is? This is the first time I am starting a life with an ability from the beginning. This ability is probably what I saw in my inner world, that strange, ancient-looking book."
Ethan sighed and took a few deep breaths as he made the system prompt disappear.
In the next second, the cultivation technique [Unending Apotheosis Technique (Version: 137)], the most powerful cultivation technique most suitable for him that he possessed right now, appeared in front of his mind.
He began to concentrate. In a few seconds, the same sensation he felt when he tried to sense Qi appeared once again, but this time, the Qi itself seemed to come to him with much less effort.
Following the circulation paths and stages of the cultivation technique, Ethan circulated the Qi as he absorbed the waves of Qi entering him through 20 meridians.
Like a river flowing from place to place without stopping, in a proper flow, the Qi from every meridian merged to form a single line of energy as he diverted it through every corner and then into the heart before bringing it to his dantian.
The Qi spread through the dantian, filling it with blue energy like a glass globe being filled with water, before circulating in a complicated, flower-like manner.
As he continued, the Qi seemed to merge with his dantian.
His dantian seemed veiled with several layers of Qi, becoming like a protective shell one after another, while new Qi continuously entered his body through his meridians.
On the outside, his entire figure was covered in light blue energy of Qi, as if he were releasing his aura while Qi from the environment rapidly entered his body.
An hour passed just like that as Ethan spent the entire time nourishing his dantian using Qi, making sure it was protected.
Usually, as one improves their cultivation, the dantian itself grows more durable, but Ethan wanted to make sure its several layers were protected before he started cultivation.
Since he had not started actually cultivating his dantian, it was more open to being protected under a layer of energy.
The same could be done after cultivation as well, but doing it now was more efficient and easier, as the dantian would put up much less resistance.
For every layer of protection he formed around his dantian, the more resistance his dantian put up, and soon, after about 21 layers of Qi protection, the dantian put up complete resistance.
Then, without breaking the flow, he continued to circulate the Qi throughout his body once again, but this time, the flow, speed, and form were much more complicated than ever, and every move was targeted to bring out the maximum effect from cultivation for him.
At the end of the cycle of the first circulation, he brought the Qi to his dantian before circulating it like a cyclone inside it, finally forcing it into a single point at the center of his dantian.
He did not stop this process and continued to pour waves of Qi energy into the single point.
Several hours passed just like that in the blink of an eye.
Inside the cultivation room, Ethan's figure was completely hidden in a thick light blue energy.
Then suddenly, the energy swept away like one big wave, dissipating into the environment.
[Your Cultivation level has increased]
[You have reached the Realm: Domination Seed Creation (Level: 1)]
[Your Strength Increased: +1.3]
[Your Stamina Increased: +1.3]
[Your Dexterity Increased: +1.3]
[Your Perception Increased: +1]
[Your Vitality Increased: +1.1]
[Your Qi Reserves Increased: +2.5]
[Your System Level Increased from Level 10 to Level 11]
...
[A/N: If you liked this chapter, don't forget to donate some POWER STONES and add it to your library. No pressure! Thank you for checking out the novel.]