Side effect of cultivation: The body expels impurities.
If Adam was a healthy Warrior-to-be, following his Cultivation Technique would cause his body to extrude a thick black sludge, a horrible smelling substance full of conflicting concepts, impurities, body waste and damaged body cells.
He was NOT healthy.
The constantly shifting meridian route designed by 'Research' that he followed had ongoing effects. Yes, pain. His body was literally dissolving problematic sections and using the purified world spiritual energies to force a very slow recovery. But beyond this, he was slowly becoming more and more vile. Smells and goo were spreading from his body, building up beneath his bandages and clothing.
He had no alternative, his body was unable to move and the damage was far too great to risk waiting for assistance. Not that he could talk to anyone right now, anyway.
Thankfully, his improvement was immense. He was focusing on his core: His organs. Cycle after cycle, pure white energy wisps were being cautiously directed through his heart, lungs, liver, and so forth. Most importantly, and most carefully, he was exploring the meridian routes passing through his skull and brain.
Progress was beyond slow. He could easily triple his rate of improvement if he was willing to risk a little brain damage... but without 'Recovery', that was a stupid idea. So his hair became thick with brown, black, and thick sludge... even as his internals began to recover from such a long recovery time.
His hand, scars, and most of his damaged body would need to be addressed later. Right now, Adam was reinforcing and cleansing his blood, organs, and to a lesser extent his bone marrow, as the blood was produced there. Once those areas were stable, he planned on recovering his eye and ear. Sadly, the damage to his nose was welcomed... he KNEW this mess on his skin would smell beyond horrible.
This Cultivation Technique he was using? Near useless. Even modified as it currently was, 'Research' found dozens of improvements just through simple experimentation, it was clear that his ex-village didn't plan on wasting a high quality technique on a cripple. Didn't matter.
It would do for now.
With his Shard, the amount and purity of available energy was beyond the norm. The ability to hide his power was amazing! He had more than enough time to do some research, find more abilities and techniques, and develop something that would work well with his body as it recovered. Probably best to focus on 'Light' element techniques, those tended to be healing related from what little his memories noted.
His thoughts were disrupted when the door opened... and the healer gagged as she tried to enter.
Yeah, heal the nose last.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Well... that was embarrassing.
But at least he was clean now. Mostly. When the healer saw his body extruding impurities, she rightfully concluded he was attempting some sort of recovery technique now that he was... sort of responsive.
Not like he could talk. Or read or write. No one was willing to teach the 'Waste of Resources' how, and his so called 'family' had not stepped up either.
'Research' would help Adam figure communication out eventually, but for now the Healer just moved him to a bed with resistant sheets for easier cleaning and had an assistant wipe the new layers of filth off every few hours.
Seriously, this 'Burning Sword' Sect had earned Adam's loyalty. Even knowing that helping this one damaged child had little to no chance of reward OR payoff, they diligently worked to ensure his health and recovery ability. Even the help didn't mock him like his memories remembered... On some level Adam was surprised that a 'Righteous' Sect like this DIDN'T have back room evil everywhere.
It was a pleasant surprise.
He hid the Shard's ghostly presence by floating it above the ceiling, by the way. His control of the thing was absolute, and holding it beyond sight while working at full tilt didn't even strain his abilities, even as weakened and tired as he currently was.
Moment to moment, his recovery meridian routes changed. 'Research' not only discovered better paths, but kept discovering tricky issues that would crop up while his body shifted. The very act of healing could suddenly change the meridian route from beneficial healing to cancerous abscess or worse. Moment to moment, he had to keep his own transforming body under deep surveillance. It was required to not accidentally explode himself, or damage his spiritual organs.
The first time he fell asleep, it was a combination of mental strain and ignoring physical pain. The second time, after eating various slurry and several pills from the healers, it was more to enter a state of recovery.
Now? He was slowly developing something similar to a normal sleep schedule.
Each time that he woke up to changed and clean bandages, his feelings of appreciation and thankfulness swelled. Yes, his body was still... twisted. But at least these few people were treating him as someone worth medical attention. The memories of this body caused Adam's understanding and appreciation of the situation to be on another level at this point.
Side note, he still was not technically cultivating. But he was getting closer and closer to accomplishing a full cycle... even if the path of this energy cycle changed every moment as 'Research' kept his body on track. Once he was able to control enough purified world spiritual energy wisps, he could begin continuous healing cycles.
Right now, every time he lost a wisp as his body consumed it, he had to recover a little before trying again. This healing cycle caused physical strains on his system, even if the benefits easily outweigh the costs. And some areas with heavy scaring or even torn meridian nodes and damaged spiritual paths... well, attempting to repair those was not just soul tearing pain but slow. Damn slow.
Any progress was good progress though. The amount of energy needed to keep him alive was near nothing now, he could technically drop into a coma and stay stable for years if something went REALLY wrong while trying to fix it.
He glared with his only operational eye.
Adam had higher goals and ambitions than 'Able to live without meditation'. And he would achieve those.
He winced as another pulse of black sludge squirted from his wounds.
Progress. Just focus on the progress.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Xiao Quan took a steady breath before entering the 'recovery' room again.
To be honest, everyone had been waiting for this one child to pass away. She remembered the Healer's sad listing of wounds, poison exposure... the long time where the child received insufficient treatment.
That he survived for an hour had felt like a miracle. That he struggled for days seemed impossible.
And now, through sheer desire to live, he somehow found a path to recovery.
She smiled at the mound of wounds, bandages, and filth. "Good morning!" Clean the easy areas first, save the wounds for after. "I talked with Healer Qin, he was the nice man with the bald head, and he seems positive that you can handle the stronger medication today as long as you can keep down the beef broth."
The child said nothing of course, but his eye seemed much more lucid today. "Whatever process you are feeling or experiencing, please keep up the good work! I'm sure you will be feeling much better in no time!"
Not a lie either. Half their struggle had been how fragile the commoner was... without a cultivation base, the powerful medications would act like acid and poison. Even the weakest treatments had nearly killed the little one... watching him waste away while her years of studying medical techniques and practicing pill production all became worthless... It had felt terrible.
Having used her QI to help loosen the impurities from his skin, she continued to clean. "Now I am sure you are tired of all that bone broth, so I may have secretly snuck in some orange juice... but don't snitch on me, alright?"
Hopefully it would increase his vitamin intake as well, helping him clear out his mouth from strange medical flavors was just a side effect. "This is from my personal stash too, if you tell anyone they will beg me for their own cups and we won't have any treats, you know?"
He didn't need to know it had low levels of spiritual energy. And she could handle giving up her portion of resources for a day or two, no one would care that much. "Now let me clean a bit and I'm sure you will feel loads better in no time!"
As she bustled and fussed, once again she wished someone had known the boys name. She wasn't insensitive enough to use the insult they provided, the way his own villagers had ignored his suffering had been clear enough to the Sect that they had to step up if he was to be properly cared for.
Besides, (She changed cleaning supplies, this gunk was thick!) the Sect could always find work for those in need. It wouldn't be important, or dangerous... maybe garbage collection or herb gardening... but once upon a time she too had been an orphan.
Helping others should be natural.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
Adam watched the assistant leave, his torn face trying to smile.
Yeah, he knew how to be appreciative.
'Burning Sword' Sect, huh?
Well, he needed to start somewhere.
His mind temporarily thought about his mother... and how she would have likely loved the people he had met here.
Right.
A quick pulse to 'Research' had it focusing on the most stable, non-changing meridian route that would encourage recovery but NOT require constant attention. It would slow down his progress exponentially, but allow him to multitask a bit.
His mind focused, even as his body slowed its recovery and goo expulsion.
What could he do to return this level of assistance? This level of attention and care?
First, reconnaissance.
WAS this Sect this good? Or was it only the Healer division?
Easy enough to figure out, once he was more mobile. If anything, his horrific appearance would be a great social test. See a twisted, deformed child... how does one react with no other witnesses?
Anyone will act pure and innocent when surrounded by their peers. Will the powerful bully him? Take his resources? Abuse his trust?
His face weakly formed a smirk... probably the best he could do with the other half paralyzed.
They would find him a hard target to mess with... especially over time.
Still, some time examining those at the bottom would clear up how 'good' this Sect truly was.
Second, even if they treat those at the bottom well, how do their other policies stack?
Slavery was possibly a thing in this Realm, he thought. Or at least, minions who had to do whatever you said or you could kill them with no penalties. How did the Sect handle that? And that didn't even address how ADAM should treat the issue, as social norms would clearly be different between Realms. In some stories, slavery was a transitory state used to pay off fees or debts, basically an alternative to the death penalty that you could work your way out of. In others, it was even WORSE than the terrible thoughts the word brought up.
Women's rights? The cultivation novels varied heavily on this, some had women only learn skills related to music or whatever while others were more gender neutral because a girl you hurt in the past could become a goddess and kick your ass. At the very least, the male and female staff HERE didn't treat each other in negative ways.
Rights of the weak? Are those at the bottom forced to accept the abuse of their families, rape of their women/kids, theft of their property? Certainly some Demonic Sects would, his research implied ALL demonic and evil Sects either became twisted due to cultivation techniques or JOINED because they were already twisted.
Anyway, some research was needed to see if the 'Burning Sword' Sect deserved his support or not.
At worst, he would recover enough to offer the Healer and Assistant (No idea what either of their names were) a way out. Set up his own area, which would be easy enough after he gathered enough abilities and power. Hell, an entire Sect dedicated to material production and healing... that didn't sound so bad.
Second, Improvements.
'Research' was WAY more useful than he had expected, and he had expected a LOT.
Cultivation modification (from his memories) was DAMN dangerous. Even with full review of his own body, he nearly killed himself a thousand times so far... how anyone EVER made a new Cultivation Technique was beyond him entirely. Genius wasn't nearly enough praise for those savants.
If he could find trustworthy people, he could easily expand his research, review their techniques and attacks, possibly find flaws and issues in the process and fix them...
And his Martial Spirit, if he could trust this Sect, would change things significantly. It was a game changing cheat, one his past memories would have been astounded by, and one he would CERTAINLY abuse in the future.
Adam didn't just control the energies called by his cultivation technique... he controlled all free energies in his Shard's domain.
Some formations built to confine world spiritual energy, and he could fill them with customized rations of PURIFIED ambient energy. Ones dedicated to specific cultivation techniques, or just raw purified untainted energy like what he was using currently to heal himself.
It would take some research to ensure he didn't just trust a helpful face or fall for some sort of honey trap, but if this 'Burning Sword' Sect turned out to be trustworthy... well.
Adam knew how to return kindness with kindness.
~~~Broken Adventure~~~
GOD WHY DID HE HEAL HIS NOSE!?
