God Of Crafting

Chapter 221: Desperate times warrant desperate measures

'Emotions, huh?'

I closed my eyes and leaned myself back before lying directly on the training room's floor.

I knew I shouldn't be wasting the limited time I had in this room on just thinking... but right now, I honestly couldn't stop myself from doing so.

This whole issue was something I'd been agonizing over for more than two hours by now. And while I was no stranger to things taking much, MUCH longer... that mostly applied to when I was trying to put my theories into practice.

When it came to just thinking, however, rarely did it take me more than a few minutes to figure something out. Heck! No matter how far back I went in my memory, I couldn't recall a single instance when I'd been troubled over something for more than an hour!

And yet, even though I'd already figured out that my emotions had now affected my cultivation... what exactly was supposed to be the next step? How was I supposed to take what I'd figured out and either craft an even bigger, more wholesome theory about my current cultivation stage or find out the ways to make proper, practical use of it?

"To think I would grow so distant from the sense of loss and failure, even though it's the one thing I was familiar with for over five years of my life..."

I didn't even need to think hard to figure out what brought this change in me, when it happened, or how such a profound development could occur in such a relatively short time, affecting a mindset I'd developed over literal years.

It was all Claire's fault.

From giving me proper company, through providing me with all the means to put my theories into practice, all the way to helping me out when it came to cultivation theory or, just like an extrovert adopting an introvert, bringing me out of my room to widen my horizons...

It was no one else's but Claire's fault!

Not that I had any desire to blame her for it, though.

'Is this what the saying means with how weak men create hard times?' I thought, easily applying various parts of the popular saying to my very own self... just at various stages of development.

Back when I was still just a rebellious teenager who sought shortcuts and independence through my uncle, I was responsible for creating the hard times for myself.

Those hard times—years' worth of constant struggle and absolute lack of validation—became the catalyst necessary for me to turn from a weak to a strong man, one that knew how to deal with struggles, issues, and general failure. Yet, ever since Claire came into my life, she became a cushion that softened everything problematic about my life.

The issues with money?

Solved.

The issues with lack of status?

Solved.

The issue of general loneliness, lack of proper human contact beyond what I could get at work?

Definitely solved.

And sure, while getting engaged with her brought a fair share of new troubles into my life... she was always there, like a pillow for me to rest my head on after a long and arduous day.

Now, however, by sheer coincidence, I was deprived of it all.

And pretty much every other emotion that could potentially interfere with the one thing that I came to this special room to do.

And that was to both inspect the state of my current cultivation, see what changes my breakthrough brought forth, and then... well, just try cultivating a bit so that I could get myself somewhat familiar with the process now that it potentially changed.

'Breathe in...' I thought, closing my eyes as I cast aside whatever was still left in my mind after I managed to isolate all my emotions.

'Breathe out,' I continued to direct my actions with clearly articulated thoughts.

'Breathe in...'

'Breathe out...'

'Breathe in... flare the core up...'

Sparks of spiritual energy started to flash out of every part of my body, connecting to the endless number of random anchors in different parts of my body.

'Breathe out...'

As if following the pattern of my breathing, as I emptied out my lungs, the constant collapse of endless points of my core slowed down, as if the chaos contained within somehow subsided.

'Breathe in...'

Bit by bit, I continued to wake my cultivation up, all the way to the point where the sparking of my spiritual energy grew so rich and dense, I couldn't perceive each individual discharge as they all merged, first into a general flow and then into a state of flux-state energy omnipresent all over my body, at all anchors ingrained deep into my soul, all at the same time.

'Breathe in...'

Knock.

'Breathe out.'

Knock.

Knock.

'Breathe in...'

"Hey, Tim..."

'Breathe out...'

"It's me, Claire."

'Breathe in...'

"May I come in?"

//PS - This technique is a LOAD OF BS, DONT try it at home. Consider it just another part of the magic system of the story >.>//