Quantum Cultivation by Jace Kang (simple e reader TXT) 📕

it would require extensive programming to merge a backup with the Avatar.

With a deep breath, she found her words. “I hacked into the shocktroopers’ data feeds to see what was going on. The MoD’s countermeasures damaged my programming.”

“And it was able to affect you in this world?” Kentaro’s eyes roved over her. His brow furrowed. “You were screaming.”

She nodded. “When our consciousness is in the EtherCloud, our body feels damage to our Avatar’s code.”

“Meditate,” he said, “just like Master Ryu had us do after training.”

As much as it stung to be ordered around by Kentaro, the Purebred was right. What else could she do? For now, returning to the EtherCloud, even behind her own firewall, was a frightening prospect. She shuddered at the memory of the Sentinel’s claws in her.

With his further encouragement, she sat up in a lotus position. She let her Huiyin point connect to the ground.  Here, among the trees, the air felt fresher in her lungs than in any other place. She drew Qi up from the earth to her head, then back down to her Core. As expected, the damage to her body made it more difficult to push the energy into her meridians, but it was actually easier to push it through the usual blockages in her head.  Did the higher-level code hinder Qi circulation?

Across from her, Kentaro had joined in the meditation. His Fire energy seemed to seep into the space between them, invigorating her more.

“Good,” Ryusuke said.

Aya’s eyes fluttered open to find Ryusuke kneeling by her.

He ran a finger over her bare arm and held it up. A black, oily sheen reflected the late morning sun. “You’ve been expelling impurities from your meridians since the start of your training,” he said. “But this is the first time I’ve seen so much. I also sense the Qi flowing through you more strongly. Did you get hurt while I was gone? Were you sparring with Ken-kun?”

“No.” Siena let out an exasperated sigh. “She hacked into the gunship, and was attacked by its defenses.”

Ryusuke’s eyes widened. “Are you all right?”

Aya met his gaze. “I’m a little better now.”

He took her wrists and pressed into her pulses.  Then his gasped. “Your Qi is flowing more smoothly now.”

“From getting hurt?”

“Damage can dislodge impurities in your meridians. If you don’t cleanse them, it will anchor elsewhere; but if you Cultivate, you can flush some of them out. Sniff.” He held the finger out.

She took a whiff of the oil and winced. It smelled like rot. “That was in me?”

He nodded. “Once you are cleansed, it will be easier to advance to First Rank.”

First Rank…interesting how the Cultivators used terminology similar to hackers in the EtherCloud.

“Now, I want to introduce you to a new teacher, Teppin.” Ryusuke stood up and stepped to the side.

She gasped.

Behind him had been a squat, humanoid creature that came up no higher than his stomach. It had mottled green skin which matched with the turtle shell on its back. Following its yellowish beak up, she met its beady black eyes.  A bowl of water balanced atop its mop of scraggly black hair.

When it bowed, the bowl slid back so that it stayed level. “Master Ishihara saved my life, and has asked that I teach you my people’s fighting style.”

“The Path of Swirling Limbs!” Kentaro bounced up to his feet and clapped.

“You know it,” Teppin said, beady eyes narrowing.

Ken nodded enthusiastically. “Master Ryu told us that’s the name of your style, but we don’t know what it looks like.”

“Keep Cultivating through the morning,” Ryusuke said. “Aya needs to take advantage of the good luck she found in misfortune.”

Her misfortune, indeed. As if on cue, Ai’s voice spoke in her head.

Diagnosis complete.

Aya didn’t want to know the results just yet, but it would only take a second to take a look at the footage from the shocktroopers. She dipped into her EtherSpace, where Ai had already assembled Ryusuke’s rescue of the Kappa.

His stances and movements were a thing of beauty, and the way he was able to control water was beyond believability. She instructed Ai to embed the forms into her neural engrams—she might not be able to achieve such feats yet, but when she was ready, she’d at least be able to execute the motions correctly.

Then she returned to the real world.

And surprisingly, her lungs felt even clearer than earlier in the day.

“I have footage of Ryusuke’s rescue of the Kappa,” Aya said.

Teppin scratched the bowl on his head, and of course Kentaro bounced up and down.

“Let’s see it.” Ryusuke nodded to her.

With a bob of her head, she transferred the data from one of the shocktroopers to the projector. Its visual and audio feed came to life as it showed the soldier losing its fight to Ryusuke.

“Wait.” Ryusuke pointed to the crosshairs in the projection. “What’s that?”

“Targeting system in its cybernetic eye,” Aya said.

Ryusuke gawked. “Cybernetic eye? How does that work?”

“It’s linked to its minigun, but the algorithm can learn any weapon system a shocktrooper picks up. Usually, the AI would also warn the shocktrooper of an incoming attack and at what vector, and even automatically take control of simple neuromotor motions to avoid critical injuries. However, it didn’t recognize your water attack until it was too late.”

As if to demonstrate, the 3D video showed Ryusuke waving his hands and controlling water. When ice darts sped toward the shocktrooper, red lines streaked across the visual feed, depicting the path of the darts before they struck.  “Warning,” a disembodied female voice said.

Too late, the view jolted to the left, and ice shattered on armor.

“Incredible,” Ryusuke said. “So every time I’ve fought against the shocktroopers, they were equipped with this technology?”

“Most likely. They were originally used in starfighter pilots three hundred