Looking back at the sky and wrapping his arm around this little sister's shoulder, he promised. "It would be my pleasure." He smiledd happily and felt even more determined and so did she. Soon, she retreated back into her sleeping bag with peace of mind while he stood to keep watch contemplating. "It's going to be a long journey to the stars, huh." He joked internally and later switched watch with his father and fell asleep.
But.... if everything remained peaceful, it wouldn't be the apocalypse.
************
Pit-pat... pit-pat....pit-pat.. tap-drop
Early morning showers were always the best. But today didn't feel like it was. It felt like a ritual before going into a life or death battle. Damien could tell that this could be be the very last time he would even have a hot comfortable shower like this. So he cherished every hot droplet of water that cleansed the impurities on his body.
As the water flowed down his perfectly carved muscular body, he pondered on everything that had happened to him so far. For other people, it was a nightmare. But Damien didn't feel any major difference. It was still the road to the top. Only, it was a different road, a more dangerous, deadly and unpredictable road. He hated boring things. The more predictable something was the better. This was why he never entered a relationship because girls were always so predictable. It was as the same lines, batting of eyelashes, forced coquettish voices, tantrums and whatnot. It was like almost every girl was the same. Don't get him wrong, some were different, but they were just not his type and it felt annoying. It just felt like the moment he would enter that course in his life to find the right one, his life will be extremely predictable. No excitement, no thrill, nothing at all. It felt disgusting to him.
So, being able to stay in this broken world where every single living creature emanated blood lust was a major step up for him. He hated being dirty though but, it was inevitable. This was why he took his last shower so delicately. He might never shower again or might die before he could. But he would make sure that didn't happen. With that thought, he turned off the shower.
He came out fully dressed to find his parents in the living room. His father sharpening the new knives they retrieved from this temporary ahode and counting the arrows he had left. It was inevitable that some got broken during their battles along the way. If they kept this up for long, his father might have to become a melee fighter.
His mother was just looking into the distance and seemed to be contemplating. Obviously, he knew she was just looking at her status window, probably thinking of how to allocate her unassigned stat points. He later joined them as he sat cross legged, using a rag to wipe his blade continuously. Even though it was sparkling clean, he still continued. He later kept the sword in front of him and closed his eyes.
'My qi really increased just like that!' He exclamined inwardly. He felt an abundance of qi in his dantain as he circulated it across his whole body, to stabilize it and strengthen his body at the same time. This was not the amount a qi warrior was supposed to have. It was more than enough for him to break through to be a qi master, which he was about to do. All his parents saw was their son sitting steadily in a lotus position. Unsurprisingly, they were already used to this scene. This has been their son's normal routine for some months now. Damien was actually going through the task of opening and expanding his energy channels and meridians in his body. He has been doing this for 3 months now and it was incredibly slow and painful. According to his mentor, his speed of using only 3 months to open 78 meridians on this planet with a low quantity of qi (life energy) especially in the city where the amount was reduced even more, his talent was on another level. But for him, it was too slow.
At least, he was better than those with crippled meridians, whose fate in martial arts was sealed. It was like having an incomplete body. For cultivators, their first step is to open and expand their energy channels. Then, reconstruct their energy channels, recast their nine great meridians, connecting through to all of the 7 main offices. Refine their internal organs, four limbs and even their bone structure. Only they would be able to fully unleash their full potential. This first stage was called the Body Refinement Stage and he had already opened 78 meridians before the apocalypse. Strangely, something was different. It was as if the purity of the planet's qi had increased significantly. So, with only a few hours of cultivation, he had succeeded in opening 22 more meridians and, one great meridian of which he had opened 7 before. All he needed was to open one more great meridian and.8 more minor one's. According to Chinese martial arts and medicine, there are 108 meridians in the human body, with 9 great meridians. But, apart from these, there was also the Legendary Great Yang and Great Yin meridians. Only those of great talent had one or maybe even two of them, which was almost impossible, according to the records was born with them opened. Damien didn't believe that is what impossible for both to be opened. He already had the Great Yin meridian open since he was born. Making him part of that 2% of the world. Rest assured the Great Yang and the Great Yin meridians are very different. The task of opening the Great Yin meridian was mostly in finding it. It was one of the most mysterious things about the human body, since it could be anywhere depending on each person and one had to search his or her body vigorously and carefully with qi just to sense it. Opening it won't bring an immediately effect but, your attacks and defenses will become stronger and adopt the Yin property, increaseing attacks against heavenly powers.