Chapter 5 – Breaking Down the Unknown
"Aargh! Shit, shit, shit! This is too overwhelming!"
I clutched my head.
How the fuck was I supposed to make a formation?
And why the hell did I even bother making a language?
What was I supposed to do with a language? Write poetry about how lost I was?!
I took a deep breath. No. I knew exactly what to do.
(Smirks.)
If I see a problem, I walk away.
Walking Away from My Problems – Peak Engineer Mentality
A nice, long walk in the garden. That's what I needed.
Fresh air. Fresh thoughts. Fresh perspective.
I started humming a song from back on Earth—
"Yeah, I'm trippin', I'm slidin', I'm ridin' like whoop—"
"Mustard on the beat, hoe—"
"Any rap ni### he a free throw—"
"They not like us, they not like us—"
I barely noticed when my feet led me to a lake. The water was calm, reflecting the stars.
I stared into it. Felt my breathing slow.
And then—clarity.
How the Hell Did They Do It on Earth?
Formations were too broad. Too overwhelming.
It was impossible to build them from scratch without a foundation.
I needed to narrow it down.
Step One: What Do I Know?
Qi exists.
Meridians exist.
Formations use Qi to create effects.
Step Two: What Do I Not Know?
How much Qi do I actually have?
How does Qi move?
What exactly is Qi? Energy? Matter? A fucking mood?
That was it. My first step.
How Much Qi? How Do I Measure It?
If I couldn't quantify Qi, I couldn't build anything.
If I didn't know its exchange rate, I couldn't make calculations.
Was Qi like electricity? Flowing through meridians like a circuit?
Or was it like a liquid—gathering in pools and flowing under pressure?
No, no—it had to be quantifiable.
I took a deep breath and focused.
The first real step toward revolutionizing formations was understanding Qi itself.
It was time to measure the unmeasurable.
"What the fuck is Qi?"
I kept walking, hands behind my head, trying to make sense of it all.
I took a deep breath.
And then another.
And another.
With every breath, Qi was also inside my body. But how?
Did It Come with the Air?
It felt logical. I inhaled, and Qi entered me.
But…was that actually what happened?
Did it really come through my nostrils?
Or did my body just coincidentally absorb Qi the moment I breathed in?
I had no proof.
Without proof, I could also say that I just magically sucked Qi from my surroundings while breathing, and that wouldn't be any different from saying I snorted Qi like a drug addict.
I needed a way to confirm.
Is It Air Qi? Or Something Else?
If Qi was inside air, then that would mean I was absorbing air Qi--like how fish breathe underwater but take in oxygen.
But then…why could Qi be elemental?
Water Qi? Fire Qi? Metal Qi?
How does that work? Does it come from the environment?
Or does my body absorb Qi and then convert it into an element?
Then, when I use Qi…
Am I using raw Qi and converting it into Water Qi?
Or am I just grabbing Water Qi from somewhere else?
WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING?
This shit was too much.
I felt like my brain was melting.
Whenever life throws overwhelming problems at you--walk away.
I needed to get back to basics.
First Priority – Open My Damn Meridians
Forget formations. Forget Qi theories.
Before I started breaking my brain, I needed to open my 108 meridians.
One step at a time. No distractions.
No Distractions… Right?
"I need to have focus."
"I need to have focus."
"I need to—"
"AMAN!"
Before I knew it—BAM!
I crashed into something—or someone—and fell to the ground.
My brain went blank for a second.
Huh? Where am I?
I was lying on something soft.
Wait… did I already reach my house?
Did I lie down on my bed?
Why does it feel softer than usual?
Wait… what's that smell?
SLAP!
A burning sensation spread across my face. My eyes widened.
"What the fuck—?"
I finally realized my situation.
Ishita, with a red face (from anger… or something else?), glared at me.
"Where the hell do you think you're going in the middle of the night like a damn zombie?!"
I opened my mouth—
Then I stopped.
Wait. Idea.
I squinted.
"Ishita."
She crossed her arms. "What?"
I leaned in slightly. "Will you help me with something?"
She raised an eyebrow. "With what?"
I grinned. "With engineering."
"En? Gi? Neer? Ing?"
I could tell she had no clue what that meant.
Perfect.
"Come to my house, I'll explain."
Ishita hesitated. It was late at night.
"Isn't that… odd?"
I shrugged. "You already said you'll help. Backing out?"
She frowned. "Tsk. Fine. But just so we're clear—"
Her eyes sharpened. "Don't try anything funny, or I'll send you to the afterlife early."
I gulped.
She was already forming her dantian—leagues ahead of me.
If I tried anything… yeah, I'd die instantly.
So, with no other choice—
I led her to my place.
Reaching home, I wasted no time.
"Ishita, tell me about your experience with opening meridians."
She looked at me, a little surprised by my direct approach, but then crossed her arms.
"Hmph, what's with the sudden curiosity?"
I rolled my eyes. "Just answer the damn question."
She smirked, leaning against the wall. "Fine. I've opened 24 meridians so far."
24?!
I barely stopped myself from choking. "T-Twenty-four?!"
She nodded, clearly proud of herself. "Yeah, took me three years of meditation to do it."
Three. Years.
My excitement turned into cold reality.
If it took her three years to get 24 meridians, then 108…
I shook my head. No. I refuse to accept this slow-ass method.
Still, I needed more info. "And your dantian? How's that going?"
Ishita's expression dimmed. "I'm stuck."
Huh?
She sighed. "Master told me I need to make qi rotate in my dantian to store it… but it's not working."
Qi rotation… storing it?
I rubbed my chin. "Explain it to me in detail."
She hesitated, then nodded. "Alright. Listen carefully…"
---
What is the Dantian?
"The dantian is the core of cultivation," Ishita began, sitting on the floor. "Think of it like… a battery."
I raised an eyebrow. "A battery?"
She nodded. "It stores qi, but it's not like your regular storage. You can't just dump energy into it. You have to refine it, circulate it, and make it yours. Only then can it be stored properly."
Hmm… that made sense. If qi is energy, then refining it before storing it would be like converting raw materials into usable fuel.
Ishita continued, "The process starts with opening meridians. Each meridian acts like a channel to bring qi into the dantian. But storing it isn't as simple as just letting it flow in."
I nodded. "Then how does it work?"
"By rotation," she said. "You have to make qi spin inside your dantian. The rotation stabilizes the energy, prevents it from leaking, and allows it to be absorbed into the core."
That made sense… but it also raised another question.
I narrowed my eyes. "Then why are you stuck?"
She frowned. "That's the thing. I can guide qi into my dantian, but I can't make it rotate. It just dissipates after a while. My master says I'm lacking control, but I don't understand how to fix it."
Damn. This was a problem.
If she, someone way ahead of me in cultivation, was stuck here… then my road was fucked.
I leaned back, thinking hard.
Qi needs to rotate inside the dantian…
Rotation prevents leakage…
Rotation allows storage…
Wait. Rotation.
I sat up suddenly. "What if we're thinking about this the wrong way?"
Ishita tilted her head. "What do you mean?"
I pointed at her. "How do you make it rotate?"
She blinked. "I… try to imagine it spinning?"
I sighed. "That's it? Just imagining?"
She glared. "Well, yeah! That's how everyone does it!"
I shook my head. "No wonder you're stuck."
She frowned. "Then enlighten me, genius. How would you do it?"
I smirked. "Simple. Centrifugal force."
Her face twisted in confusion. "Cen… what?"
"Think about it. If you want something to spin, what's the easiest way?"****"
She hesitated. "Applying force?"
I nodded. "Exactly. But you're trying to do it with pure imagination. That's like trying to spin a wheel by just looking at it. It doesn't work."
She frowned deeper. "Then how do you suggest I do it?"
I grinned. "By using movement. What if you make qi move along a curved path first? Like an orbit. Once it gains momentum, the rotation will become natural."
She gasped. "That… that might actually work!"
I crossed my arms. "Of course it will. Now let's test it."
She took a deep breath and sat down, closing her eyes. "Alright. I'll try guiding qi in a curved path instead of forcing it to spin directly."
I watched closely.
This was the first step to breaking the limits of this world.
---
End of Chapter 5