Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce had a few clues about the power of Inner Qi and martial arts, however he was no expert. There was also very little chance he would be able to find any books that would outline ways to grow stronger.

All he had to go on was the knowledge that this power was likely something that Human’s had access to in the past. His theory was mainly based off the theory of Martial Arts and some things that Rubick had said in passing.

While this wasn’t a great basis for a theory and there were many variables and inconsistencies, it was better than no direction at all.

So Jayce put the word out, asking for anyone who had knowledge about ancient Chinese Medicine or Martial Arts. It had taken two months, but he had finally found one, right after reaching a bottleneck as well.

A woman in her late 30’s visited him one afternoon. She was rather short and looked like she had worked with her hands most of her life.

Her name was Wendy, and her family used to run a massage and acupuncture clinic within the city before the Apocalypse. Initially she was confused about her sudden summoning, however that soon changed.

Once he mentioned Qi and his theories surrounding Martial Arts and acupuncture, Wendy’s eyes brightened and she began to inspect his body with an almost unhealthy obsession.

She told him to strip down and lay on his stomach, retrieving her silver needles. The way she held them in her hands told him that she was proficient enough, giving him a little glimmer of hope.

Yet after being prodded and poked for around 30 minutes all over his body, Jayce began to lose his patience. While he was proud of his body and muscles, that did not mean he wanted it to be on full display to just anyone.

Yet not long after, his bad mood promptly disappeared.

When Wendy removed a silver needle, Jayce felt the Qi within his meridians surge towards that point. The rampaging Qi attacked the opening left by the silver needle and cleared away the debris, shooting it out of his body.

Like a whale that had resurfaced, Jayce expelled liquid from the acupoint, almost scaring Wendy to death. Once the debris was expelled, it was as if he was a new man.

His body felt as if a weight had been lifted from him, granting him a new lease on life. He no longer felt bloated with energy, not to mention that it felt as if his senses has increased drastically.

Jayce could now feel the Qi within the air without even having to meditate. It was as if the particles had just appeared on their own within the room.

Yet this was only the first silver needle that Wendy had pulled out, there were still many more left in his body. And like he had hoped, each time she removed one, he felt as if his body had evolved.

Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on who you asked, Jayce was covered yet again in impurities from the opening of his acupoints. Wendy did not seem to mind too much, which was a testament to how disgusting some of her customers had been in the past.

She deftly wiped him down, removing the black and oily filth from his muscled physique. Perhaps it was because of how perfect Jayce’s body looked that she was willing to do the dirty work of washing him down. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

Once she had finished, Jayce was about to absorb some more energy from a mana stone, however he was instantly stopped by Wendy.

"If you do that, you will die." She said gravely.

He still remembered the serious look in her eyes that had stopped ogling his body reluctantly.

She then instructed him to pool all of his Qi within his Dantian, mentioning that he had absorbed too much energy and needed to breakthrough before continuing.

It was odd. How could a woman in her late thirties be so knowledgeable about a lost form of power which could likely be thousands, if not tens of thousands of years old.

However, he did as he was instructed, sending the Qi within his meridians to his Dantian. The vortex that was in his Dantian seemed to be working overtime with the influx of Qi, turning at a rapid speed.

His inner eye watched on as the Qi continued to accumulate, spinning within the vortex at a rapid rate. It wasn’t until a few minutes had passed that he began to notice a change.

The Qi which was basically a large grouping of particles, slowly began to condense, much like how it would when he was trying to perform a critical strike. Yet this time it was doing it of its own accord.

Starting slowly, it began to clump together naturally, as if the particles were pieces of a puzzle. One by one they found their place, linking together and creating something tangible within his Dantian.

After around 10 minutes, Jayce felt a shiver run through his body. It was hard to explain what kind of feeling he had at that moment, but if he had to explain it, it was like an intense wave of pleasure had overtaken his senses.

Now, sitting in the center of the vortex in his Dantian was a platform. The platform was circular and just floated in place, no matter how fast the vortex was moving.

Jayce opened his eyes, staring at Wendy with joy painted on his face.

He explained to Wendy what had happened, to which she nodded and looked thoughtful.

"I can’t believe it worked." She muttered under her breath.

Jayce with his amazing senses, clearly heard the words and suddenly felt as if he was a guinea pig inside a lab. However, he had achieved the results he wanted and finally felt as if he knew the step forward.

He almost instinctively knew that the platform within his Dantian was the Foundation for which he would build upon his power, his cultivation.

Therefore, he aptly named this stage of power the Foundation Establishment stage.