What A Dream Wants

"Okay, I think I explained it clearly enough," Mr. Baker coughed.

"Anyways, I'll be walking around the classroom, giving pointers to anyone who needs any."

'Which means I can't sleep this time...' Steven cried internally. 'I never even cultivated before.'

He looked around himself, trying to see if anyone could help him. The only one near him with their eyes open was…

Seriously...

"Hey, Zero..."

"Yeah?"

"How do you cultivate?" Steven whispered.

Zero stared.

"How do you not know how to cultivate?"

"Long story."

"Okay," Zero told him. "Hold out your palm,"

Steven did.

Zero put his hand on Steven's palm. The exchange of qi flowed through both of them. He started examining Steven's qi.

Captain Baker looked at Steven and Zero.

'Youngsters these days... shameless!' He tsked. 'Back in my day, people couldn't even think about holding hands like that in a public setting...'

"Steven... are you sure you never cultivated before?" Zero asked softly, mystified.

"Yeah." Steven scratched his head.

"First off, all your meridians are already open- which means you were probably born with innate open meridians- if you never cultivated before. However, they could have also opened through cultivating. You have extremely strong yin qi, which also means you have vigorous blood essence. Do you cultivate a lot at night?"

"I sleep a lot."

Zero said nothing.

"... Your qi is really well-nourished and really pure. Do you eat healthily and take care of your diet?"

"I eat a lot."

Zero said nothing.

"Your Kong qi, the qi found in your c.h.e.s.t area, is really developed too. That's the qi that circulates around the lungs."

"I breathe a lot."

"Everyone breathes a lot," Zero snapped, slight aggravation in his face. "The only thing you need to work on is your yang qi, which is slightly behind your yin qi- which is weird since you said you don't cultivate."

"Can you cultivate by breathing?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, everyone cultivates by breathing. But to varying degrees." He told him. "You already developed a spiritual sea."

"What's that?"

"When pectoral qi or Zong qi is condensed to a liquid form."

"Can you cultivate by eating?" Steven asked.

"Yeah, you can get gu qi from food."

"Gucc-?"

"That's wrong and overrated." Zero quickly dismissed.

"Can you cultivate by sleeping?"

"Yeah, I guess, but it's pretty lazy."

"Oh..." Steven said. "So that's why my uncle is so lazy."

Zero said nothing- he just laughed.

"Thanks though," Steven mentioned.

Zero mumbled.

"What?"

"No problem." He wiped his eyes.

Steven raised his eyebrows and teased. "Wow, getting emotional over a thank you."

"Dust got in my eyes." Zero explained.

"Sure..."

[Copy and paste Steven's monologue from Chapter 18]

Editor's Note: Please stop telling me to do stupid things...

"Anyways," Zero said, after a moment of silence, "I'm gonna direct some yang qi into you. Remember the pathways."

A warm feeling spread throughout his body, going through the three yang meridians.

"Alright done," Zero reported.

"Wait... so that's all you have to do to cultivate?" Steven questioned.

"Yeah..."

"Cultivating's that easy?" Steven queried, baffled. "It's like breathing."

Zero said nothing for a while.

Then chided:

"Yep, it's that easy." He grinned.

. . .

Steven sneezed. "Wow, this gym room is dusty."

The bell rang.