Cultivation on a higher floor was significantly faster than on the first floor. The sheer density of Tower energy allowed one to pull energy in faster here, though it was not a six-times multiplicative effect. Or even five. It was closer to something like twice as effective as the first floor, which meant that in a less than a half hour, Arthur had enough Tower energy to refine into fractions of a point of refined energy. Well, slightly more, since his trait From the Dregs allowed him to keep a little more energy and refine a little better. Since his overall ability to refine energy was significantly higher, the ideal situation was if he could actually attempt to refine and cultivate at the same time. It would ensure he'd have a constant flow of Tower energy and refined energy.
Of course, his first attempts at that hadn't been cultivating and refining, but drawing from beast stones. The stones were significantly more powerful here, providing refined energy directly. He could draw in significant amounts of refined energy from the stones these days, but this meant that he could—if he was not careful—run his stores of them down faster than the team could collect new stones.
It was why, in the end, most people fell back on Tower energy and cultivating it. It was why, rather than directly cultivating immediately, Arthur was chasing the idea of cultivating and refining at the same time. The problem was, it was not as simple as thinking and doing it.
The process of cultivating Tower energy was governed by the cultivation method he had studied. It focused on efficiently making Tower energy his own, controlling the energy that seeped into his body, that made up parts of the body and that permeated his meridians. It did so by pushing existing energy—his personal chi stores, if you wish—through his meridians and, in the process, drawing Tower energy in. Like a stream, rushing down and drawing in water that flowed along its banks, mixing it together till it became all the same.
Or something like that. Arthur would be the first to admit that the theory of cultivation escaped him beyond the most basic levels. He had always been more interested in the practical aspects—how to do it, how to make it work. And the Night Emperor Cultivation Technique worked very, very well.
The problem was, while the Night Emperor scroll had some minor things to say about refining, the technique left that portion mostly alone. It gave Arthur enough knowledge to improve his refinement a little, but it also highlighted the way it conflicted with his current flow of energy. During cultivation, Tower energy was rushed through the meridians before finally being deposited in the lower dantian. This was a circular flow overall, but it did need the use of the meridians leading to the lower dantian. The same channels that refining energy required.
Now, Arthur had learnt how to coach energy through his body, bypassing meridian flows, pooling or combining streams of energy as needed for his various techniques. It was sort of like rubbing your head and drumming the fingers of that same hand, on time, to two separate beats. You didn't need to learn how to control the individual nerves but the mind itself to make it work.
Well, okay, you also had to learn to control the muscles and grow so conscious of their movements that you could force those muscles to contract and move as you wanted them to, to get the most efficiency from this act. But, you could, theoretically, not bother.
Theoretically, then, Arthur figured it should be possible to both refine and cultivate at the same time. Unfortunately, each time he got started on it, he fell over with a spike of pain. Didn't matter if he started refining first or started cultivating first; the pain would arrive almost immediately as the two disparate energies clashed within his body.
After the fourth and most painful time, as he'd tried to keep forcing it to happen, Arthur lay slumped against the wall, staring into the sky while waiting for his body to finish healing. Thankfully, whatever damage he was doing to himself was being fixed by the Tower—he could tell.
At least here, there was no permanent damaging of cultivation bases like in xianxia novels. Oh, it could happen, but it generally required some really stupid things done. And, you know, not having a healing technique. Which, Arthur had to admit, he'd been lucky to stumble onto figuring out. Even if, he was still in the beginning stages of improving his healing technique.
"Is it not possible?" Arthur asked, absently.
"What not possible?" Mel said, raising an eyebrow. She'd left him to squeal and fall over without questioning his motives, though she was obviously curious. Given an opening, she leapt at it like a taxi driver at a gweiloh—a Westerner—stumbling out of KL International Airport. Poor sucker was going to get taken for a ride. Literally.
"Cultivating and refining at the same time."
"Are you—!" She hesitated, then shook her head. Mel had seen enough of Arthur to know he really was crazy to some extent. Then again, by experimentation, he’d also managed to figure out a healing technique by chance and effort. But still. "What's the problem?"
Arthur explained, indicating the shooting pain, the damage he felt and when it kept happening. When he was done, she offered a simple solution.
"Why not try another dantian?"
"What?"
"We have three, right?" she said. "So use another one to refine."
"Well, that's because we need to store the refined energy where we have space, in the lower dantian. That's where we have the most space, for Tower energy and refined energy, and . . ." Arthur slowly stopped as he tried to explain why it didn't work. Not just because of the fact that he did store both Tower and refined energy in his dantian—though Tower Energy also suffused the body—but also, there was no reason it had to be stored there. On the other hand . . .
"I don't really know how to open or use the middle or upper dantian," he said. The middle dantian, in the chest, was near the heart and if mismanaged could damage the heart itself. A stopped heart or frozen lungs was never fun. The upper dantian, meanwhile, was where Arthur occasionally built his Refined Energy Darts for the third eye. Again, for the same reason, he didn't build Exploding Energy Darts there when he wasn't certain; he wasn't going to mess around with the exploding variant of his technique. He might survive a heart attack or bloody lungs. But a brain bleed was a lot to ask of the Tower to fix, even if it could.
"Good thing we're at a place where you could maybe buy a cultivation technique that might help with that, no?" Mel said.
Arthur hesitated, then laughed. "Point." Pushing himself up and then failing, clutching at his stomach, he waved a hand at her. "Maybe in a few minutes."
She was kind enough not to laugh.
Once inside the administrative center and speaking softly to the fox attendant who was, surprisingly, still awake, Arthur outlined his needs.
"Do you want a new cultivation technique or a cultivation method?" the attendant asked.
"Technique, not method." He already had a cultivation method and wasn't intending on changing it. Well, perhaps a little, depending on how things worked. Maybe he could alter it a little, but it'd hurt, so a technique was probably better, since techniques like his Refined Energy Dart generally also had secondary effects. He just needed to open and use his dantian; after that, he could figure out the rest, he hoped.
"There are no techniques that open or store energy in the middle or upper dantian directly." A slight pause. "There are techniques that utilise an already opened location, but the opening and utilisation of multiple dantian are the purview of cultivation methods."
"Right, right, but I don't want a new method. Isn't there, I don't know, a cultivation technique that lets me store extra energy in those dantian? Or store an attack or something?" He grinned. "I could store a fully formed Refined Exploding Energy Dart in my upper dantian then."
"What techniques we have still require you to have formed and made full use of them."
"So you do have such techniques!" Arthur said, grinning. "Just sell me one of them, I'll figure out the rest."
"I cannot until you have the required dantian available."
"Oh come on . . . surely you can bend the rules."
"Once you informed me that you did not have an open dantian, I am expressly forbidden from selling techniques that will harm or kill a climber."
"Tiu!" Arthur cursed.
"You don't need a cultivation method to open a dantian, though," Lam said, walking over. He looked tired and annoyed, having been woken from his sleep in the administrative center by Arthur’s conversation. He made sure to keep his voice low as he added, "Just buy a dantian-breaking pill."
"A what?" Arthur said.
"I can sell that," the fox replied, holding a hand out. "You will not be able to utilise the dantian, of course, till you study a proper cultivation method or technique, but the opening of a second or third dantian is considered an acceptable risk."
Arthur narrowed his eyes, noting that it was an acceptable risk. Still, he handed over his token and then a handful of stones to help cover the cost of the purchase. He had enough contribution points after his time on the fifth floor, though barely. Buying the armour and now this was painful. In fact, he was certain he'd be borrowing someone else's points to buy the technique after.
For now, though, the cultivation pill that was dropped in his hand was a green-yellow marble that swirled in hypnotic patterns.
"So, just eat it?"
"I'd sit down," Lam said, gesturing to a nearby position on the floor. "It's rather painful."
Arthur took his seat on the floor next to the table, glanced at the pill, at Lam, and then shrugged. "Well, in for a penny, in for a pill. At least he's not a shill."
Then, without further ado, he swallowed it.