It wasn't over.
Not even twelve hours after finishing the marrow refining session, his marrow cells had greedily absorbed and metabolized the Qi. Looking inward, Mark sensed that his bones had a LOT more room to store Qi than before. After some focus, he also saw a very faint silver glow emanating from his skeleton.
This gives him pause and a confused look crosses his face. What the hell…? Why are my bones glowing? Do I have to go through that torture… again?
He falls into momentary despair at the thought of having to endure that torture once again. No. I can't back off just because it was uncomfortable, it'll be okay, I can do this. I can do this. He repeats the words like he's trying to hypnotize himself.
Despite the brave words in his mind, Mark dreaded the feeling of ants crawling under his skin. Well, shouldn't be any worse than last time at the very least…
…
It was worse. Much, much worse.
As soon as he laid down and found the Qi's resonant frequency with his bones, the itchiness quickly returned in full force, except this time it was accompanied by a burning sensation. Instead of the mild and delightful sensation of sugar ants invading the inside of his body, this time it was bullet ants who were angrily stampeding and biting anything they wanted. The agony was simply unbearable.
The only solace in this was that Mark could feel the volume of Qi filling his skeleton at twice the rate of his previous session. Alongside double the available space to be filled, it will last about as long as the first 30 minute session. Any more and he doesn't even know if he'd have the stomach to begin.
Just endure the second most painful and uncomfortable thing you've ever experienced for 30 minutes. Easy peasy.
Not even 5 minutes into the process and Mark began slipping in and out of consciousness, barely maintaining the vibrational frequency as the final thread of sanity screams at him to keep pushing forward. I can't do it. I'm not… I'm not strong enough.
Time becomes impossible to track, every second feels like an hour and every minute feels like a lifetime. The refinement seems to have no end, pain is the only world Mark lives in now.
10 minutes pass with Mark on the verge of passing out. The halfway mark offers no respite and only increases the intensity of the pain. But Mark can hardly register it, his lucidity is waning, his will wavering.
5 more minutes pass and the intensity increases once again, but Mark suddenly snaps back to full consciousness. His life flashes before his eyes, Am I dying? Am I seriously going to die two days into my cultivation journey? Is this all I amounted to?
He feels anger rising from the depths of his mind. Anger at himself for never challenging himself up until that point. Always taking the easy way out and retreating at the first sign of discomfort or pain. As he hangs into consciousness purely through anger, serenity floods his mind as if he was a Tibetan monk who practiced pain tolerance for decades.
I see. I'm really not made for this. I have to MAKE myself for this. I have to reforge my mind in an even harsher way than God reformed my body. I have to evolve beyond the mundane and boring Mark I once was.
His thirst for evolution causes his body and mind to rapidly change, he begins to adapt to the pain level at an inhuman rate. Finally, the last 10 minutes pass smoothly, as if he was merely taking a warm shower. Mark maintains that state of deep self reflection and mindfulness until he passes out a short time later, his mental energy drained to its very last reserves.
…
Waking up feeling very refreshed the next day at eight in the morning, Mark decides that cultivation officially sucks. Yeah, I'm taking a break for a couple days or I'll go insane. I think a couple screws are already loosening.
But his mindset has changed, no longer will he be content with just barely passing by and having every opportunity served on a platter to him. It was time to constantly chase a new goal, to never look back, to always improve, and to always evolve. Only by tempering his mind will his soul sublimate. Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. Thank you, Bear Grylls.
Mark takes one last look inwards before starting the day, and what he sees amazes him. Other than more space for Qi, which he expected, his bones now shine with a warm gold glow, like the sun's rays. He can feel power beyond his wildest imagination perfuse his body.
Okay, I definitely have to find a way to test my limits, I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone if I have no idea what my full strength even feels like.
After a quick bite to eat and saying bye to his parents, he hops into his car.
RING RING
His phone lights up to his girlfriend's face. Oh shit. With everything that's been going on, I totally forgot to talk to her.
"Hey love, you're up early! What's going on? How'd you sleep?"
"..."
Gulp. His nervousness grows at her silence, until he hears a voice filled with worry and partial relief.
"Mark. Why did you fall off the face of the earth for two days in a row? Are you okay?" Olivia's sweet voice makes him feel shame for not talking to her for so long. She must have been so worried. "I mean you didn't even text or answer any of mine."
"I'm sorry babe, I really am. It's been so hectic. I've gotten life changing news recently, so me and the family have been… processing."
"Oh my god, what happened? Do you need me to come over?" Mark can feel the love through the phone and can't wait to have her join him for eternity.
"Actually, yes. If you can come over today, it'd be such a huge help. Actually, let's sleepover tonight, I really need to see you. I can't talk much about it right now, I'm running around just getting things in order, you'll understand when you get here. But, I promise it's good news, so don't worry too much, okay?"
"Okay… but you have to explain everything to me tonight. I love and miss you so much."
"I love and miss you too, beautiful, and can you pull up around 6:30? You can have dinner with us too."
"Yeah, that works. Okay, have a good day, I'll see you later."
CLICK
Mark breathes a sigh of relief, thankful that he has the best girlfriend in the world. His excitement to bring her into the fold reaches a new peak. An evil grin also crosses his face, Hehe, I wonder what the evolution will do for her body.
On the other side of the city, Olivia suddenly shudders as if a devilish presence filled the air. "What was that...?"
…
Pulling into the parking lot of the nearest gym, Mark steps out of his compact SUV. "Man, I do not fit in that the same way I used to, I gotta figure something out. I wonder when I'll be able to fly…"
During his musings, he didn't notice the two guys walking perpendicular to him on the sidewalk, but as they're about to collide, his perception of time slows to a crawl. I guess I have bullet time. Neat.
He can see them reacting late, attempting to move out of the way, but he's already in motion. He stops his momentum on a dime and sidesteps and continues walking past them like nothing happened.
After that brief interaction, he steps into the gym and pays for a day pass at the front. He ignores all the looks from mostly men. Damn, I knew gym bros were interested in other guys physiques. Sorry, fellas it's God made, nothing special I do. And also, I'm taken.
To be fair, his new build made him look solid like an iron wall, and the lack of apparent body fat detailed every ripple of muscle from his neck down. He was built like a jaguar put in human form, muscles built for agility, endurance, and explosive power all in one package.
Some of them try to come up and talk about his routine, but Mark just awkwardly laughs, shrugs his shoulders, and says, "Ah, you know. It all starts in the kitchen." Knowing damn well that in his pre-evolved body, beyond making sure he didn't gain weight, he didn't give a damn of what and how much food he stuffed down his gullet.
After fending off the hungry eyes of his local gym bros, he waits his turn at the squat racks. One of the guys using a rack asks if Mark wants to work in with him, but being unaware of gym lingo, he just smiles and says he'll wait.
Having been to the gym multiple times throughout his life, it wasn't like he was clueless about form or etiquette, but he didn't know enough about typical procedure to be able to properly work in with someone. Also, this was purely for testing purposes, not to actually work out.
After 5 long minutes in the sweaty environment, which smells even worse to his new senses, he finally arrives at the rack. He loads on two plates on each side to get a benchmark. Wouldn't it be embarrassing if I couldn't even do this even after feeling like I'm on top of the world?
His form is proper and he goes down… and up. Oh, that was pretty easy. Okay, let's keep pushing it.
Loading on two more plates on each side, he goes in for another set, expecting a little struggle this time. Down… and up. I think I have severely underestimated how much strength I've gained.
With only enough room for one more plate on each side, he loads it on. Once more, it's an easy maneuver. He squats three more times, just to see if he'll get any strain, but absolutely nothing except feeling like he's picked up a slightly heavier stick. Now he's starting to get some looks for how easy he made 495 lbs look.
After what everyone assumes to be him finishing his set, he gets a crowd of sweaty men coming up to him.
"Yo, bro, nice set! How long you been lifting?"
"Brother, that was a crazy set, what's your PR?"
"Hey, man, do you compete? There's a comp coming up in two weeks."
And more continue coming. At this point, Mark just wants to go home and figure out his limits another day, because obviously the gym is both too public and can't accommodate his requirements.
Smiling and nodding his way out of the enthusiastic throng of gym bros, he finally escapes the gym. I knew there was a good reason I rarely stepped in places like this. Never again!
Content with his new resolution to stay away from gyms, Mark retreats to his car and speeds away.