37 Possession (1/2)

Checking on my soul, I found that I only had under 200 qi left. Losing some of my soul's qi was a shame, but creating the tentacle was worth it in my mind.

It was only now that I realised there was no light coming through my window. I had started meditating in the late morning, so I must have been at it for hours.

My thoughts went to master. I wanted to report my progress, so I stashed the technique in my storage ring and hurried over to the library.

Apprehension filled my gut as I placed my identity card in the slot. The vault door clunked open and I was greeted by master's angry call.

”Oi! Who's there?”

”Sir, I believe it is Oscar.”

”What's he doing 'ere now? Wasn't he 'ere a few hours ago?”

”Sir, it's been 27 hours and 34 minutes.”

”He's back that quick?! Tell 'im to bugger off!”

”I'm sorry sir…”

”Master,” I interrupted, ”I made progress on the Qi Manifestation technique!”

”Ya have? Hm. I hope it's better news than last time.”

”Yes master,” I walked over to his room and found a pile of books to perch on, ”I managed to manifest my qi!”

”Already?!” Master threw away his books and grabbed a piece of paper and brush with his spectral hands. ”Tell me exactly what happened.”

I took him through my experience step by step, and he scribbled notes while staring at me intently. When I finished, he set down the paper, slouched back into his armchair and sighed.

”That's a fine story brat, but ya gotta tell me what really happened.”

”Master, what do you mean?”

”Ya think I'll believe that ya became one with yer qi in a day? It took the author months to get close! And forgetting that,” he leaned in closer, ”monks train fer years to forget themselves in meditation. How'd ya do it so quick?”

His doubt made me wonder how much I had meditated. Meditation had been part of my daily routine for the past eight years. Even by a conservative estimate, I spent at least eight hours a day meditating.

Eight hours a day for eight years… I must have spent over 20,000 hours meditating in this life! If I was a master of anything, it was meditation.

”Master, I'm not lying, I've just done a lot of meditation in the past.”

”Hm. Yer gonna have to show me. Fer resear… I mean to help ya.”

”Master I…” I hesitated, thinking of the little qi I had left, ”I don't want to run out of qi.”

”No, no, no… this is important. If ya do it here, I can monitor yer qi and snap ya out of it.”

I was hesitant, but I knew this could help build our relationship. If he was more open to me cultivating in the vault, I could have someone to supervise me in the future.

”Okay. But please stop me before I use 100 qi,” I turned to Xiaogui, ”Xiaogui, can you make sure he does it?”

”It would be my pleasure Oscar.”

”Okay. It's gonna take a long time though…”

”Yeah, yeah, come on!” master urged me, clearly barely able to contain his excitement.

I gathered qi in my palm, then disappeared into my body. This time my qi felt more familiar, so I headed to my palm instead of my soul.

Forget the self… you are a unit… a cog in the machine… a part of the whole. Surrender your being, join us! We are strong… but we need more!

There! There is life! Surge forward! Consume it! We are free to devour!

”… Oscar…” a faint voice piqued my interest, ”Oscar! Stop it! Make it stop!!”

Xiaogui's scream shocked me to my senses. Golden tentacles were erupting from my palm and wrapping around master's head. He lay convulsing on the floor; a panicked Xiaogui crouching over him.

”Oscar! Cut it off!”

I cut off the flow and rushed over to master.

”Master! Master! Are you okay?!”

The tentacles disappeared into master, slithering into his mouth and nose. His eyes shot open, golden light pulsing under their surface. His pupils steadily shrank, until his eyes became two golden orbs.

His hand twitched slightly, then flicked up. Three spectral hands warped into existence, floating around his head. Their fingers vibrated and twisted like a glitching 3d model.

Golden cracks began to spread through the hands as they jittered towards master. They spun in a circle, then twisted and collapsed into what looked like a flower bud.