Here I am, sitting on a mountain so far away from civilisation it might as well be the godforsaken arse of the world, about to ascend. Can't wait to leave this crapfest of a planet... Turns out that the higher ups decided that an unaffiliated rogue...
I can finally stretch my mental muscles again. My core is at the first crunch and slowly growing, the massive increase in power a denser core gives me is enough to start simulating some basic models. Oops, I meant my multiple cores. This dual-core thing is still new to me. Allow a thousand-year-old guy some adjustment time, yeah?
The things I'm simulating are magic circles. I set up a three-dimensional grid with a resolution of a few thousand measuring points along each axis. Using this simulation, I can observe how my mental imprints and various circle shapes interact. The mana gathering circle in the Tree was a shoddy construction. If I were to improve that design by simulating it while messing around with its parameters, I could squeeze out many times the effective power it has on the world.
A simple circle is the baseline for any complex construct. After the circle is doing its base function it's just a matter of adding more stuff in a logical fashion. The outer circle of this formation will act as a double one-way barrier, keeping physical stuff out and qi in. The following hour is spent tweaking the circle for optimum effect.
I end up with a rather ugly looking thing. Four ying-yang symbols to draw in all the energy around it, golden mean ratio spirals to transport said qi to the centre where it will be compressed into a single point. Spikes jutting out from the sides are meant to scare away any inquisitive strangers while a smaller spiked ring around the forcefield is there to dissuade anyone from breaking it with force.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
It will absorb any qi the Tower produces for a few weeks, according to my calculations. I don't know yet if it will have enough compressing power to form solid chunks of condensed qi, but it will prevent the apocalypse for a while at the very least.
I stand up and look around. Shards of white stone are still laying everywhere. I bend over to pick one up but it is stuck to the ground. I take a better look and see it is melding back into the solid rock. It must be beginning to reconstruct itself. I should take my students on a dungeon dive later, let them get some practical experience. Any qi that's touching the stone is still lost to my control, making the entire structure appear like a black hole to my senses.
I stretch a little, popping sounds coming from my back along with a pretty good feeling. I thought that mental cultivation could be addictive, but body cultivation is like hard drugs compared to the mental soft drugs. It's pleasurable all the same, just on a different level.
I look around and see the army has advanced a bit further. A better look around shows me the dragon again. It is hiding in the sun so I take care not to look at it directly. No need to let unknowns know that I know about them. This is a good opportunity to spread some misinformation, however.
I start dancing. My usually awkward movements have gained a certain grace after my heartcore formed. Shuffling about I do all the dance moves I can remember. First comes the dive boat move, grabbing my nose while sinking through my knees. My other hand makes a vertical wavy motion, indicating water. Then the peace sign over the eyes, that's a classic. I do some rockabilly moves and start creating the circle.
