Eternal Cultivation of Alchemy

"Oh yeah, make sure to keep training your body with your cat. Not many people get the chance to become a body cultivator. This is an amazing opportunity that you can't miss." Wen Cheng said as Alex left the training hall.

Alex looked at the clock and sighed. "Guess I am going to have to skip the first class today."

He quickly went back to his house, hidden from the others and logged out. He hurried his way to the cafeteria and then went to his 2nd class, which he arrived during the 20-minute recess.

Matt was there as well and looked at Alex and asked, "You didn't log out for the lunch, what happened? Game so good, you forgot reality?" he asked jokingly.

"No, I was just unconscious in the game. Barely managed to log out in time to catch the 2nd class."

Matt said, "Oh, you gonna complain in the forums too? Hehe."

"Complain? About what?" Alex asked in confusion.

"About fainting in the game and becoming unable to log out of course. So many people complain about missing their work, or school, or in worst cases, not being able to log out for days, only to log out weak and hungry."

Alex was surprised. " That really happens to people? I guess I did faint 2 days in a row, so I shouldn't be surprised. It might not be as uncommon as I would want it to be then."

"Of course it happens often, don't you read the forums?" Matt asked.

"Only in some cases. Otherwise, I like to stay unspoiled about the game. Finding out the things on your own had a certain charm to it." Alex didn't think knowing every aspect of the game to be very appealing. He had done what he had to, to earn some necessary money, but now, he hadn't even needed it.

'I was way too worried about a laptop, haha. They don't even require it until the 2nd semester.'

"Ah, so you're that kind of player huh," said Matt.

"That kind?" asked Alex

"You know, the kind that likes to go in blind to a game. It's rare to see someone like you nowadays. Although, I can see why that would be fun to some," said Matt.

Alex simply smiled.

About 2 hours later, Alex's classes ended and he went to the cafeteria. Afterward, he went back to his room and logged into the game.

He looked at the names on the wall in front of him. Most of them were already changed and some of the names from previous times weren't even there anymore.

'Why is it that it's only the players that are leaving?' he wondered. There were still a few names that were definitely from the players that he could recognize, but they were in the top 100, and it would take some time for him to get there.

"Let's go check just how strong I am first," he said to himself and walked out of the house. He soon made his way to the sect crater and went to the training hall.

The Training Hall was a tall pagoda-like tower at least 20 floors tall. "That's quite tall," he thought and walked in.

He saw people waiting in a queue here as well. When his turn finally came, the elder asked, " What room?"

"Sorry?" Alex asked in confusion.

"What do you want to train in. Attack, Defense, or Movement?" the elder asked.

"Oh, umm... is it possible to go for all 3? I want to train in all," Alex said.

The elder nodded and took Alex's badge. He then gave him a small wooden token. Alex looked at the token and saw that it was numbered '4-12'. "Go to the 4th floor's 12th room," the elder said.

Alex thanked the elder and quickly found a staircase. "Oh, it goes down too?" he was surprised to see that the Training hall was not only tall, but it was also deep too.

Alex walked up the stairs to the 4th floor, and quickly found his room. Similar to the production hall, he put his wooden token in the keyhole. The door opened to reveal a completely white room.

"Hmm… " Alex wondered and walked in. The room was quite wide and had enough place for him to try out his techniques.

As he walked in, he noticed a metallic puppet on the other side with a rather long wooden pole extended horizontally around its arms.

He walked up to it and saw that it had 3 switches on its head. He flicked the switch that said 'Offensive Training' and left defensive and movement training as is.

"Alright, does this work how I think it does?" he thought as he knocked on it a few times.

<Skin Tempering 3rd Realm>

"Oh, it does. Let's try with just my body then." He started to pull in every single Qi he had in his skin, muscle, bones, and organs, back into his meridian.

"Urghh… Why is this so uncomfortable every time I do this?" he thought. Keeping all the Qi inside the meridian and not letting it flow as well, was an unnatural feeling he wished to avoid.

"I better get it done with," making sure he wasn't leaking any Qi unintentionally, Alex prepared his attack. 'Here it goes,' with a single dash, he reached the puppet in front of him and…

BAM

A strong sound rose out from the board that shocked Alex. 'That sounded so strong!!,' he was shocked. He looked at the puppet and saw that it was taking a while to show the result.

Only after a few seconds did it show the result.

<Muscle Tempering 4th realm>

'That… is quite weak.' He was surprised to see that the Body tempering that his master praised so much had resulted in such low damage. 'If it's this weak, then what is so good about it?' he wondered.

Only after a few seconds did he realize, "Wait… no, this is quite strong, isn't it? Only one night of cultivation, and I'm already at Muscle Tempering 4th realm. Does that mean… I can get a lot stronger this way?'