What A Dream Wants

"Do you think, perhaps... they might be hungry?"

"It's around 10', they might be..."

They opened the door to their inn room to find two very hungry children and a bear.

. . .

"Children can eat a lot," Steven said dryly.

The plates were stacked up high.

"Steven's not even a child, but he eats a lot." Olivia pointed out.

"Yeah, that is true," Steven shrugged his shoulders.

"Okay, Lukas will take the blame."

"What?" Lukas looked up from his glass of orange juice. His eyes were a bit disgruntled and confused. He had just been drinking some orange juice...

"You're the most reasonable and responsible person here. You should have given them money to buy breakfast, but you forgot. Since you're responsible and forgot, you should be responsible enough to be responsible for the blame." Olivia explained.

She pulled out a white board and drew a diagram of responsibilities.

The board wrote:

"Lukas responsibilities: Cleaning, chores, teaching, eating our leftovers, paying for our leftovers, getting tasks from HQ, being responsible, being reasonable, obeying everything Olivia and Steven say, etc.

Steven's responsibilities: Cook delicious food.

Olivia's responsibilities: Be served like a princess!

Bear's responsibilities: Defend children and serve as a food supply."

"I agree, this is very accurate." Steven consented.

The bear w.h.i.n.ed.

"W-" Lukas started to say.

"Anyways, Lukas, you will be teaching Max and Jess how to cultivate," Olivia told him. "Steven doesn't know how to cultivate very well, and teaching other's doesn't fall under my responsibilities."

"W-" Lukas started to say, but after a moment of deliberation...

"Okay." He pouted and nodded his head.

. . .

"Is this a beach?" Lukas couldn't help but ask.

"Yes," Olivia replied. "Beaches are perfect for cultivating."

She pulled out a folding chair, an umbrella, and sat down quite comfortably with the bear in her arms. A bougie coconut drink appeared in her hands, with a cute little tropical umbrella and straw.

Olivia put on a pair of sunglasses to look cool.

Steven did the same.

Lukas sighed and complacently agreed.

Steven decided to listen on the sidelines.

. . .

"The world around us is filled with an energy called Qi. Cultivators absorb this energy to grow stronger, able to do things normal people cannot."

He waited a while so they could process the information.

"Why did you stop?" Max asked.

Lukas's eye's twitched, but he decided to continue:

"There are many types of Qi. The qi that we breathe in is called Air Qi, or Kong Qi. The qi that we acquire from eating, is called Food Qi, or Gu Qi. Since both of you have been eating and breathing since you were born, there should already be sufficient amounts of both these qi's-"

"Cheese?" Max asked, his mind wandering to the savory delicacy.

"No, Qi." Lukas dismissed. "There should be enough qi in your body. All you have to do is combine the two energies together to form Zong Qi or Gathering Qi. That's the first step to cultivating... after acquiring qi."

'Oh, so that's how you cultivate!' Steven exclaimed to himself. Steven totally knew that... er... he blamed Zero for not teaching him correctly.

. . .

The moon glowed softly on a figure who was sleeping. He let out a sneeze in his sleep and turned over.

. . .

"Okay!" Max and Jess replied and directed their energy into doing so.

A moment later...

"How do we do that?" They asked, puzzled.

Steven was confused, too. Instructions were not clear.

"Close your eyes. You should see Kong Qi in your lungs, and Gu Qi stored in your stomach. Steadily introduce the Gu Qi into the lungs. The two energies should slowly assimilate together."

"These energy thingies can move?" Max made swirly motions with his hands.

"Yes, you can control the qi in your body freely."

"Why do I see other types of qi in my body?" Jess asked.

"Because there are other types of qi in your body, but they're not important to this stage of cultivation."

"Why aren't they important?" Jess asked, scratching his hair.

"Because you don't use them..." Lukas dully said, internally wishing away the curious nature of children.

"Why not?"

Just as Lukas was about to answer, Olivia's soft voice rang clear:

"Imagine Gu Qi as bread and Kong Qi as filling. Imagine the different Qi's like the rocks, sand, and water on this beach. A sandwich needs bread and filling. Not rocks, sand, and water."

"Oh, that makes sense!" Jess exclaimed.

"Close your eyes and diligently cultivate, or you're not getting lunch. Don't ruin my beauty sleep." Olivia told Jess and Max.

. . .

After a minute or so, Steven succeeded. He managed to make some Gathering Qi! He had finally reached the first Earth Realm stage! The apex was not so far away!

He decided to take a short nap.

'Zzz...' He snored softly.