Vampire Cultivation System in a Hidden World of Monsters

"The first step of the Night Spirit Stage is Shadow Resonance, and to do that you need to meditate in complete darkness," my mother said.

"Ok. I think there's a walk in closet in a separate room upstairs. If we turn off all the lights and close all the doors, it should be complete darkness," I said.

"Ok, let's go," she said.

We went upstairs, turning off all the lights as we went. Once we were in the walk-in closet and had closed the door, I couldn't see shit. The thing about complete darkness is that your eyes literally can't adjust to it. There has to be a small amount of light for your eyes to adjust.

"Ok, now that we're in complete darkness, we meditate," she said. I heard her shuffle into the lotus position. So I got into the lotus position as well. "Try to tune into the darkness. Become one with the darkness and such."

"How long do we do this for?" I said.

"24 hours," she said.

"24 hours?" I said. "I don't have that kind of time! We have 28 days before you disappear and I have to fight an army of whatever that lady is. How many stages do I have to complete to be able to fight her and her army?"

"Depends on the size of the army. I'd say 20 if you want a decent chance of winning. More if you want to guarantee it. I can tell you how many stages before you can travel back to her realm and fight the people there," she said. "You'll want to do that to prevent further invasions of Earth from them."

"Ok, how many stages is that?" I said.

"46," she said.

"46? Holy shit!" I said.

"Hey, we're talking about opening a portal to another realm. Of course the number is going to be high. Do you know how much power that takes?" She said.

"Ok, after I complete all 46 stages, will I be able to travel to your realm, to visit you?" I said.

"Nope. 46 stages is to just get to the beginning level of dimensional travel," she said.

"Ok. How am I supposed to learn this stuff after you're gone?" I said.

"I suppose you would be able to learn how to create a two-way vocal communication channel to my realm. You wouldn't be able to just use it whenever you want though. There would need to be a ritual and a sacrifice every time you opened the channel. A significant amount of blood should work for the sacrifice. Other things could work too," she said.

"Ok, then let's make sure I get to that point before you disappear," I said.

"Ok. By the way, the 24 hours thing is just an estimate. Everyone takes a different amount of time to learn techniques and abilities. 24 hours is how long it would take a talented cultivator. If you had a higher level of talent, I suppose you could do it in less time," she said.

"Ok. How do I know when I done?" I said.

"I suppose your system should be able to detect it," she said.

[I can]

"Oh ok. Yeah it says it can. Alright, let's begin then," I said.

I focused on my breathing as I meditated in the complete darkness. I focused on tuning in to the shadows, becoming one with them in a sense. Not much happened for a while. I just meditated and put out my intention.

[New Ability Acquired: Shadow Touch]

[Shadow Touch: Ability to feel shadows and detect movement within them]

[Completion Time: 5 hours]

Ok. Apparently I had nothing to worry about. I cut the 24 hours required into a fraction of that.

I practiced my new ability, Shadow Touch. When I closed my eyes, I could feel the darkness all around me. I could feel the small movement of my mother breathing. I could feel the small house spider that was in the corner of the closet, walking around on the ceiling. It didn't bother me. House spiders were small and generally didn't harm anyone.

"I'm done. I can perform Shadow Touch now," I said.

"Wow. That was fast. Let's hope you're not that fast in the bedroom," she said. I could feel it as she winked and shot a finger gun at me in the darkness.

"Wow. I can see why people used to call me annoying in high school," I said.

"Don't call your mother annoying!" She said.

"I wasn't. Just figuring out why other people thought I was," I said.

"Oh. Ok. Well, next training exercise, then." She pulled a candle out of her jacket, set it in a holder that she also got from her jacket and lit it with a lighter she also got from her jacket.

"Where did you get those things from?" I said.

"Shadow storage. It's a more advanced technique," she said. "Now focus. Now that you can sense shadows and movement within them, you need to learn how to manipulate and move shadows around. See if you can manipulate the shadows created by the candle."

I tried and concentrated, but nothing happened. "I can't do it," I said.

"You tried it for one second. Give it a few hours and then tell me you can't do it. You already completed the hardest part, sensing shadow. Now you just have to learn how to grab it and move it around," she said. "Sense the shadow first. Define the shadow and it's boundaries in your mind. Feel it, touch it, lick it. Then grab it."

"You make it sound so easy," I said.

"It is, once you learn how to do it," she said.

"Ok. Here I go again," I said.

I tried closing my eyes this time. When I did that, I could feel the shadows again. What I could see wasn't interfering with my ability to feel. Once I could feel them again, I imagined grabbing the candle's shadow and twisting it and moving it back and forth.

"Good. Now open your eyes and learn how to do it while looking at it," she said.

I opened my eyes and realized I was actually moving the shadow around. I imagined two hands molding and shaping the shadow. I made it really long, then short and thick.

I imagined four hands molding it and I turned it into a crescent moon shape. Then I imagined eight hands molding it. Then 16, then 32, then 64. I get doubling it until I got into the thousands.

I was then that I realized I was in control of all the little imaginary hands. Now I could mold and shape the shadow into anything I wanted. The empire state building, the Eiffel tower, my friend Doug who used to live across the street from me.

[New Ability Acquired: Shadow Shape]

[Shadow Shape: The ability to stretch, flatten, mold, and reshape existing shadows into whatever form you desire]

[Completion Time: 20 minutes]

'Thanks for the info.'

[You're Welcome]

"Done. I can perform Shadow Shape now," I said.

"Good! That's fast! That's really fast! You're beyond a natural. You were made for this," she said.

"Thanks. What's next?" I said, eager to progress.

"Shadow Pulse," she said, smiling.