When his body stopped shaking, Ruwen pushed himself to his feet and started the form again. Last Breath triggered after the first movement, providing some relief from the pain.
The third time through the form, Ruwen’s Air and Water Meridians resisted the Spirit. He wondered if he’d done something wrong, but felt confident he had done exactly what he’d done the two previous times. The Air and Water Meridians were in his left and right biceps and Fortified the shoulders, arms, and hands.
Those Meridians had been Fortified to Gold, while the rest of his body remained Silver. Maybe there was a limit to how much Fortifying you could do. But since the other ten Meridians were still causing horrible pain, he continued.
Over and over Ruwen repeated the form, the movements taking longer each time as his exhausted body struggled to obey him. The Last Breath mental island had shrunk to the size of a child’s sandbox, but it shielded him from enough pain that he could continue.
Ruwen stopped when his body quit absorbing Spirit. He figured his movements had become so shaky that the form no longer worked. Laying on his back, he stopped his Fortifying breathing. For the first time in hours he took a deep breath, and with the added oxygen, his thoughts cleared.
A minimized notification blinked in the bottom of his vision, and he opened it.
Chime!
You have advanced your Dark Meridian from Silver to Gold!
You have gained +15 to your Armor Class.
Another nine notifications followed. One for each of Ruwen’s previous Silver Meridians. He stared at the last notification.
Chime!
You have completed the Quest – Gold Body
You have gained +4 to all Attributes.
You have received +1 to your Cultivation Stage.
You have received 3,000 experience.
The Divine Fortification form, even without his Suffocation gear, had catapulted him forward. He opened his Profile and looked at the major changes.
Cultivation Stage: 41
Experience: 122,165/210,000
Spirit: 31,296,528,470
Armor Class: 1,137
The extra point in Cultivation Stage helped all of Ruwen’s Resistances. Between the Commander, Warlord, and Gold Body quests he was over halfway to level twenty-two. All the Fortification and whatever his Refining had consumed had dropped his Spirit by just over nine hundred thousand, which didn’t even scratch his total.
Ruwen’s Attributes increasing by four helped many stats. But his Armor Class, with all the Fighter ability modifiers amplifying it, had reached an incredible level. Now, even naked, he had the Armor Class of full plate armor.
Closing his Profile, he opened his Inventory in the bottom right of his vision. Using a mental finger, he pushed on the cutout and it turned, revealing his Harvesting information.
It immediately became apparent why his Fortification had stopped working. All his Meridians displayed their Gold status with the value 99.99%. It appeared moving from Gold to the first Gem level of Jade required more than just Fortification.
In fact, the Cultivation quest called the transition from Metal to Gem “Purification” and rewarded thirteen Cultivation points. Whatever Purification was, it must be difficult. He would ask Sift about it when he had the chance.
Ruwen felt good enough to sit up. Since he seemed to have hit a wall with Fortifying, he didn’t think it mattered anymore if he healed himself. He cast a level ten Blooming Trunk on himself and immediately felt better.
Standing, Ruwen felt the difference in his Gold body. His movements were smoother and faster. He tested his new body with a difficult Viper Step, jumping into the air, spinning, and executing kicks with each foot.
That is impressive, Rami said.
I can’t believe how much difference it makes. Do you think I’m as fast as Sift now?
It’s close.
Ruwen glanced at his map. They were nearing the mine, and he strode down the hallway toward the main room to see if Sift had made any progress. As he stepped into the large room, it took him a few seconds to find Sift.
Sift floated fifty feet in the air, his Falcon Aspect helm unable to hide his enormous grin.
Chapter 15
Ruwen smiled at Sift’s obvious joy.
“Hey! Watch this,” Sift yelled.
Sift dropped a few feet as he moved toward Ruwen. Sift’s arms were out like he was balancing on a wire, and Ruwen’s smile faded as he realized Sift now flew directly at him while completely out of control. Ruwen jumped to the side and Sift crashed into the floor.
Ruwen winced as Sift groaned and rolled onto his back.
“I have to work on my landings,” Sift said.
“I think you need to work on everything.”
“No, I’m getting better. You should have seen my first few landings.”
Ruwen shook his head and wondered how many concussions Sift had endured to think that landing was an improvement on anything. The clouds surrounding Shelly disappeared, and they both walked to the edge of the platform. Ruwen made the mistake of looking down and felt his stomach turn. Even though they couldn’t feel it, Shelly approached the ground at an alarming speed.
A few moments later, jagged rocks surrounded them as Shelly landed. They’d made it to the mine. Ruwen went to toggle on Magnify before realizing it had disappeared with all his other Observer capabilities, and it made him a little sad. He toggled on Detect Temperature instead and then slowly turned in a circle as he scanned the area. As he’d suspected, there didn’t appear to be anyone here, and he toggled the ability off. It gave him an idea.
“I have a question?” Ruwen asked.
Sift narrowed his eyes. “Is that your new way of saying you have an idea?”
“No.”
Sift stared at Ruwen.
“Fine, maybe.”
Sift groaned.
“See, that’s why I didn’t say I had an idea. You always groan even though we have literally survived everything because my ideas are outstanding.”
“Actually, I think it’s the women who usually save us.”
“They couldn’t save us if it wasn’t for my ideas,” Ruwen said, tapping his temple.
“That almost makes sense.”
“Stop distracting me. I want to know how you got your heart to
