I Slept Through The Apocalypse

Back in the wilderness, Pringles was watching Clover do his workout regimen. He and Clover both agreed that Clover should exercise daily even while they were traveling since it would get rid of the rusty feeling Clover felt while also strengthening Clover's physical body.

"Ninety-eight…. Ninety-nine…. Last one… One hundred!" Clover's arms were shaking as he lowered himself back to the ground to rest. Technically, he hadn't done push ups for two years, so jump starting at a hundred was quite a challenge. He didn't know if he would be able to get himself up since he could barely feel his arms.

Clover laid on his back on the cool grass and closed his eyes. He felt his consciousness melt into his body and travel around. Examining the energy circulating through his body, Clover watched as energy from the surroundings were absorbed through his pores. He had developed the beginner's level of spiritual after he woke up that morning. Pringles was amazed how he had already learned spiritual sense on day two since he was introduced to that world. But kept a straight face telling Clover it was a completely normal development.

He felt the fatigue from the push-ups melt away. Eventually, the tiredness he felt was completely gone, he felt a little more awake as his body was strengthened and recovered by the surrounding energy. A warm golden light emanated from his body.

"This is thanks to the beginner's level body tempering technique that you just learned, Dream Assimilation. It absorbs energy from your surroundings and strengthens your body. It's so weak that it only works with those who have weak physical bodies and so the elders threw it out and deemed it a Stone level technique. I have a lot of miscellaneous abandoned techniques in my soul compartment due to that reason, I believe that with such a weak body, it'll be some use to you." Pringles began to lecture again. "This is merely the beginner's level's use though. Even if this is a weak technique, if your proficiency reaches the Intermediate or Advanced level Mastery, it might have some additional surprising effects."

This was the first time Clover heard of the rankings for techniques. Since techniques were just a method of manipulating energy, he figured there would be rankings based on complexity. "What are the rankings for techniques?" Clover asked.

"The rankings go as following: Stone, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Diamond, Legendary. Anything past that you don't need to worry about. You'll probably never find one unless you end up creating it yourself." Pringles explained. "For now, Stone is the ideal level for your moves. Anything higher, and there's a chance you'll explode. You have to strengthen it as soon as possible so that you're able to perform more complicated moves."

"What's the deal with people exploding? Do cultivator's explode often?"

"Oh, all the time. Countless times, I've seen arrogant people bite off more than they can chew learning a technique and then explode."

"That sounds awful." Clover thought about randomly exploding one day and shivered. He had to be careful with learning techniques.

"You'd really have to overtax yourself though." Pringles reassured Clover. "You should be fine, just know when to take a break and you won't explode."

Clover took note and then asked eagerly, "When will you show me an offensive technique?" He imagined shooting out giant balls of fire out of his hands. That would be so cool.

"I could show you, if only your body's meridians weren't already full to the brim with the Valeite ore's energy. An offensive move works differently than Dream Assimilation since they force you to use energy from your meridians, while Dream Assimilation is a passive technique that gently gathers energy from your surroundings. Using an offensive spell right now would be akin to tossing a lit match into a barrel of gunpowder. After we solve your overload predicament, we can look at offensive techniques. For now, you have to rely on your physical training in combat."

"...Okay if that's the case then, is there any other passive moves that would indirectly increase my battle strength?" Clover was determined to get stronger no matter what.

"Besides your Dream Assimilation training, there is one more way." Pringles took out a scroll out of thin air. The scroll was covered in golden runes and gave off an aura of complexity. Tiny sparks of lightning came out of the scroll when it was opened and faded into the surroundings. "There is a little problem with this scroll though."

Clover's eyes shone with excitement, "What is it?"

"It's a Gold ranked book. Although it's a passive technique, the fact that it's Gold ranked should not be underestimated." The scroll slowly opened and a stream of information rushed into Clover's brain.

Neural Overclock - Harnessing lightning energy, speed up your neuron signal firing and increase the conductivity of your neurons.

"The reason for it's gold rank although it's a weak passive skill is because it involves manipulating lightning energy. As to why the elders threw it out, I recall that is was due to the complexity of controlling lightning energy being not worth the effort for just a passive technique. Our specialty is space manipulation. If we were to focus on controlling another complex energy, we would slow our growth down. "

"Your elders really just throw away techniques for no good reason." Clover's shook his head. Neural Overclock sounded really good. If the technique works as it advertises, my reflexes would be enhanced a great amount, also, my thinking and motor signals would be faster possibly giving a time slow effect without having to control time. He chuckled evilly. Whatever was out there better watch out for him.

"You aren't able to use that technique yet. Because you aren't able to use your meridians to create lightning, the first thing you need to do is learn to absorb lightning energy in your surroundings. Close your eyes and think of lightning and its characteristics. Try to see if anything similar is around you."

Clover sat down, crossed his legs in a meditation position and closed his eyes. He thought of lightning. The chaotic and wild essence of lightning. The speed and destructiveness of lightning as it struck down from the heavens.

He then spread his spiritual sense around to search for similar energy in his surroundings. He even stood up and started walking around with his eyes closed. There! He found a particle near him that had characteristics of lightning. There seems to be more particles in this direction. As he walked near them, he used his spiritual sense to guide the particles into his body. As the first particle entered his body, he felt a numbing sensation jolt throughout his entire nervous system.

"Take it easy." Pringles said. "It might be merely a numbing sensation at first but that is because it was only one particle. You need to absorb millions of particles in order to assimilate lightning energy into your system."

"Millions!" Clover was exasperated. No wonder they threw this piece of junk technique away! Who would have so much free time as to collect millions of these lightning particles? He opened his eyes to find himself next to an old Tesla car wreckage. So this was the reason for the lightning particles! There's still electricity stored in the battery. Clover quickly broke open the Tesla and carefully removed the battery with tools at a nearby collapsed auto shop. He placed it in his backpack which he found in some wreckage earlier. There were also water bottles and dry snacks that he picked up from a nearby gas station. It was all very convenient that whatever he needed, he could go scavenge for in the ruins.

With the battery in his hand, he closed his eyes again. He sensed a substantial amount of lightning particles clumped together in the battery. There had to be at least a few hundred particles in the battery! He used his spiritual sense and tried absorbing ten particles this time.

Pain shot through his nerves like cold needles piercing into his body. His entire body felt an uncontrollable numbness as he trembled nonstop. He broke out in a cold sweat. How was he supposed to absorb a few million particles of electricity? That objective felt like it was getting farther and farther away from him.

I have to be consistent to become strong. I will survive this new world no matter what it throws at me. Ten particles was painful but I could still withstand it. If it doesn't kill me, it'll make me stronger. Clover was determined to continue absorbing the battery as a type of training.

Pringles was very satisfied with Clover's determination. With that level of conviction, this kid will become something great!

"Now I will explain to you cultivation. Cultivation is split into the same number of ranks as techniques. We have Gathering Force, Energy Solidification, Dantian Compression, Revolving Core, Soul Extraction, and Void Sovereign. I will let you know that there are higher tiers. However, you aren't worthy of knowing of them yet. Once you get exponentially stronger, I'll tell you." Pringles paused to give Clover some time to ponder about the ranks' names. He continued, "Without your meridians, you cannot cultivate energy. For now, you're only able to absorb energy to assimilate into your body. You can't use energy from your meridians. The only reason Neural Overclock works is because besides from using your meridians to create lightning, there is another way to activate the technique. Absorbing surrounding lightning into your body can provide the same effect. Even though it's far more difficult, you might be able to cultivate a rare Lightning Body at the same time. It's essentially two objectives with one action."

"You mean two birds with one stone?"

"...No."

"What?"

"Silence, human. I haven't finished. There are three levels in each ranking tier. They are the same for each tier: Establishment, Intermediate, and Advanced. Hence, the weakest cultivators are Establishment level Gathering Force cultivators."

"So that's me?"

"No, you're even weaker than them. You don't even count as a cultivator. Not even close."

"...well damn."