AI Cultivation: Reborn as a Sword

Chapter 59: Inner World Sphere (2)

Lan Xiaohui retrieves some of the spiritual wood from my internal storage and hesitates for quite some time.

Is this really fine? she asks, piling up a small stack of processed lumber into a circle of rocks.

It is fine.

Using Heaven grade, processed spiritual wood for fire seems like quite a waste, but with how heavy the snow outside is even just going out to collect ordinary wood is not a simple matter, let alone how long it would take to dry the wood.

If, at the very least, the snowfall wasnt so heavy, there would be a point to experimenting what happens to wet firewood when processed within my array, but for now, this is the best solution.

After a moment, she nods, and a bright yellow flame appears above her finger. I immediately recognize it as a basic Qi Refining Flame which in theory all cultivators with some understanding of the crafting Dao should possess.

Except for me, apparently. I know I do not possess a flame, despite having a refining array and Dao applicable to crafts. But that may also not be necessarily true. My array can produce some kind of flame to process materials, I just cannot manifest one like Lan Xiaohui can.

On the other hand, I am aware that my exchange offers several refining flames, but they are all of an exceedingly high grade and absurdly expensive.

Just a Heaven grade [Yin Refining Flame] costs 85,000Blood Points. I dont even have to check my balance to know that this will not be possible any time soon.

My internal storage is also devoid of corpses now, and has been for quite a while by the looks of it. Almost half of my internal capacity is completely taken up by monster parts that have no use to me, currently.

A significant proportion of the other half of my capacity is taken up by this processed spiritual wood that also currently has no use other than being burned for warmth. In theory, it would be valid to say that we are so rich we are, quite literally, burning money.

In turn, this burns my conscience. I would like to expand my array so that we do not have to resort to these measures under normal circumstances, at least but I am worried that any sort of modifications to my internal state may lead to an unrecoverable integrity failure scenario.

Not an ideal situation to be in.

When the wood catches fire, it does so with a roaring flame that reaches five steps in height with such a violent burst that Lan Xiaohui stumbles backwards and then falls on her behind, staring in awe at the flame.

Other than its incredible intensity, there is nothing odd about the flame. The temperature of the Spirit Basin Grotto the name I decided for this place quickly rises and even threatens to shift the balance of ambient temperature from fatally freezing to unavoidably burning. But that is a future problem.

Lan Xiaohui also seems to understand the potential problem our warmth generation device could prove to be, but for now decides to back away from the fire and head towards the pool of water.

After a moment of hesitation, and glancing over her shoulder towards the entrance of the grotto, she slips off her dress and steps into the water with a complicated but happy expression on her face.

Once she sits down, and submerges her body up to her neck, her fingers reach up to the lily corsage and adjust it appropriately. Of course, this corsage is just a decoration and not a part of her body it's just her impurities taking shape to form an object, or perhaps something other than her impurities. It is a part of her now, as much as her hair is; even if she gets rid of it, another will likely replace it. I dont understand it myself, but I have no intention on questioning it. My essence formed metal that is a superconductor at room temperature as far as strange, mysterious things happening, her lily corsage is very low on the list.

She reaches over the edge of the pool and pulls me into the water with her.

The water itself is warm thanks to the underground thermal reservoir and is currently the best method of warming her body, which would also be the worst method without a campfire, because once she steps out of the pool, she would quickly succumb to hypothermia.

In fact, the campfire might not help either way, but our options, at this point, are rather limited. I have to, immediately, correct her internal system or hypothermia will be the least of her problems.

She also understands the situation and what the purpose of this dual cultivation is. When her aperture opens it is only by a small amount, just enough for me to detect the flow of her Qi.

Likewise, I crack mine open by a tiny amount and form a circuit with her own internal body.

A helpful sub routine informs me that at this rate, it would take only two hundred years to reach the Mid stage of Foundation Establishment.

Reaching that stage of cultivation is the last thing I am interested in. I want to know how long the healing process will take.

I go through the process of optimizing her meridians and guiding her Qi through her body, at the same time measuring absorption and flow rates. I employ my [Nooparallelism] to simultaneously focus on additional tasks that require my full attention, such as correcting her vessel alignment, and even providing external physical force to her body like a massage with my new ability to exert physical force with my consciousness.

All of these things, Lan Xiaohui apparently finds very uncomfortable, because she gasps quite a few times, yelps, and in general refuses to sit still, making my task even more difficult than it already is.

I try to distract her with some light conversation. It will take a month for our bodies to recover, I tell her and this is just a general estimate. Your meridians, internal vessels and dantian are severely damaged. It will take at least ten days before you can even produce sword Qi.

She calms down and focuses her crimson gaze at me. She understands the meaning of my words. Without being able to produce sword Qi, that means that for ten days we will be completely defenseless.

I dont know if she understands that even after ten days we will still be defenseless we are in no state to fight and her sword Qi will do very little to change any outcome.

What should we do? she asks.

I am not really sure what to tell her. This is the kind of situation in which, were I the Artificial Intelligence of a passenger aircraft and we were falling out of the sky, I would recommend watching a movie. There isnt much else to do or even things we could do.

We could plant some spiritual herbs. They may come in useful.

Lan Xiaohui glances about the room and her brows knit together into a frown. I dont think any of the herbs we have will grow here. Also it may be too cold.

I know at least the Blood Ginseng and Midnight Dew Lotus would grow at this temperature, but as far as my Farming Dao is concerned, I cannot gain any insight on whether this soil is suitable for growing.

I check the exchange for manuals on Spirit Farming, or other applicable options I can buy for Soul Points, at the very least to pass the time in some manner that is efficient, when something catches my attention.

[ Array - Mortal ] Inner World Sphere - First Stage (25,000 SP)

Besides the low cost for such a low grade Array, the word sphere is what draws my attention the most. Could it be referring to the black sphere in my sea of consciousness?

[ Array - Mortal ] Inner World Sphere - First Stage (25,000 SP) - Upgrade the Devoured Worlds sphere to now allow conscious access to its Inner World. Only the first three layers will be unlocked at the First Stage. Each layer provides different services and challenges. Note: Time will flow differently within the Inner World, depending on the layer that is in use.

Without hesitation, I obtain this array despite the risks involved.

[ Soul Points: 27,529 ->2,529 ]