The Card Cultivation System
CCS-2

"?!! Whatchu mean?"

"Hehehe... You must have suffered all this time, right? A useless trash that can't cultivate. Defects. Lowly creatures. Insulted. Ostracized. Ignored. No one treats you like a human being anymore"

"......."

Xika just fell silent.

Is correct. Everything the voice said was true. He has been treated like no human. He always accepts insults. Jeering. There were only two people who treated him like a human. His uncle and the library guard.

"Don't you think that's unfair? Everyone can cultivate, but you can't. And that's why you're insulted. It wasn't you who asked for it. You don't want to be like this either, do you?"

Is correct. The voice is right. It wasn't all his fault. It's not him who wants it. That's not fair. Only he could not cultivate.

"Whatchu mean? Get to the point."

"You are useless. Life is just hard, isn't it? Why not just die? Will all your suffering end? Isn't that more beautiful? Isn't it enough for you to accept all this? It's time for you to stop fighting."

"........"

Xika fell silent.

The voice is right. There is no point in living. He has fought enough.  Now it's time to stop.

"No.

I cannot cultivate. I'm useless. Out of the house always receives insults. But that doesn't mean I have to accept reality.

Life is really unfair. But that's the world. Just imagine it. People who have practiced ten years can be rivaled by people who have only practiced one or two years.

The person who had studied days before for the exam, his grades were lost by the person who had just studied overnight. I've practiced hundreds, thousands of times. Yet it remained defeated by the one who practiced it only dozens of times.

But that doesn't mean I'm gonna give up. If thousands of times are not enough then I will practice tens of thousands, if it is still not enough I will practice hundreds of thousands, I will practice until it is enough.

Go awayl. If what you want manipulates the mind and eats me is pointless."

"Hehehe....

Greatable. You got out of my illusion. Congratuations. Now-"

"I'm not interested in hearing your babble. Let me go"

"If not?"

"You may be strong. Ten times even more, much stronger than me.

But I'm not giving up. Hearing you talk all the time, you must not have a body. You are just a weak soul. You said you needed another soul to survive.

That means the only attack you can give me is a mental attack. And it doesn't work.

If you insist on killing me. I'll make sure to take you with me. At least half of your soul will die with me"

Xika stared intently at the direction she believed the source of the sound was.

"....."

"Hehehe....... That's great, son. I'm amazed at you. Youre right. The only attack I could do was a mental attack and it was useless. That's why I want to offer you something."

Xika's eyebrows frowned.

"........no. I know you must want something from me. Sorry, I refused"

"really? What if this isn't something you can resist?"

"...... Say."

"I can make you cultivate"

Xika's eyes widened.

Cultivations. A method to absorb qi into the body and strengthen the body.

In this world scattered qi everywhere. There is hardly a place without Qi. Some are thicker, some are thinner.

When humans absorb qi, they store the qi of a container. The container was named dantian. Everyone's dantian is different. Some are big and some are small. The talent of a person is determined by the size of their dantian. The greater the dantian the more qi can be absorbed in the body. The more qi a body has the stronger a person is.

Xika had a fractured dantian. Every time he absorbed qi, the cracks in his dantian would get bigger. And it was only a matter of time until his dantian was completely destroyed and exploded. At least that's what the doctors say.

Now, however, the voice offered him an opportunity to cultivate. Just like any other kid.

Xika sighed.

He doesn't believe it. All the healers said there was no way that he could cultivate.

And now this voice, out of nowhere it came from, suddenly offered him a chance to cultivate?

"Listen. I told you, didn't I? Dantianku. When I absorb my dantian qi it will explode and I will die."

"I told you. Your dantian might explode, but it's not destroyed"

Xika furrowed her brows.

"What do you mean?"

"Eitherway. Why don't you try it? Sooner or later you're gonna die, aren't you? What's the difference between dying a little faster?"

"......"

Xika fell silent. He thought about the word deeply.

"Hows it? You want?"

".....What do you want?"

However, the word has a point too. Sooner or later he'll die. Rather than shut up and wait for death to pick him up, it was better to bet on this opportunity.

"Hehehe.... Didn't you say you refused?"

"Forget"

Xika walked away.

"He-hey wait. I'm just kidding."

Xika turned.

"So.... Whatdoyouwant?"

"Mmmm.... Not many. I just need three things. First, I need energy. Like you said I need the energy of other creatures to survive.

Second, I need the materials. You know I'm not just a soul? I need materials to rebuild my body.

Third, I need a container. Right now, without a container, I need continuous energy to survive. If I had a container at least my soul wouldn't disappear for 100 years despite receiving no energy.

So then? We agree?"

"Rejected"

Xika crossed both her hands.

"W-what? Wh-why? Isn't that pretty interesting ?"

"First, energy, let alone for you, finding resources for me is difficult especially for you, which is not that I give you energy, instead I fight for energy with you.

Second, matter, as I said earlier, resources are difficult especially materials, I do not know what material you need, I do not know what material you need, but to form a body must be a rare material and it was very difficult.

Third, container, I can't find you a container to survive, even if it can be very difficult, and I don't want to offer my body to you"

Xika is long.

"Then I think we agree. First about energy, you don't have to bother looking for me energy, you just need to take me for a walk on this mountain, I will absorb all the spiritual animal energy you encounter, regarding matter, regarding matter, it can be postponed first, wait for you to get stronger and we'll talk about it again"

"Then... About the third thing? What container do you need?"

"Your body"

"You crazy? No. gabe. Even if I had enough energy and material, I would never give up my body."

"Hey hey. Listen first. I think there's something wrong with what you said. You don't have to give up your body. I will not take over your body. I'll just stay at one of your dantians"

"What's? One of my dantians? Whatchu mean?"

"You'll know when you take it"

"Based on the old fox" Xika thought.

"Then... What would happen if you stayed in my body? Can I still use my dantian to cultivate?"

"What do you mean what's going to happen? Nothing's gonna happen. Besides maybe you'll have a little pain during the process"

Xika finally agreed after thinking hard.

"..................................... Alright. Agreed"

"Good"

"What are you, by the way?"

"I am a mixture of Cygnus the ice goose and Phoenix the firebird, Cygnix!"

"Ooooh.  So is your father a Phoenix bird who descended into this world and fell in love with a beautiful ice goose?"

"No. You're wrong"

"Eh?"

"My father was Cygnus the ice goose, my mother was Phoenix the firebird"

"Hahhh, the charming and graceful Phoenix can fall in love with the deckil goose in the neighboring pond"

"Curtain! My father was insulted by a dirty brat who couldn't even cultivate!"

"...."

"....."

They looked at each other and finally laughed together.

"Pffttt"

"Pffftt-"

"Huahahaha you fucking dick bird"

"Hahahha you're the fucking handicapped boy"

I don't know why they're so familiar, like they've been friends for so long. Being called disabled by that voice suddenly felt different, not even insulting.

"Then what's your name? Did I just call you a dick?"

"Hehehe.... Listen carefully my name. My name is Huo Bing. Huo ⁇ means fire and bing ⁇ means ice"

"What about you? Did I just call you a handicapped boy?"

"Gallaxies and cards yes... Attractively. Does your dad like playing cards or anything?"

"Regarding that, my father did like to play cards, he was good at magic cards, even he left 1 card box for me. Well, it's down to me like"

"Hm? Are you good at playing cards too?"

"Yaaaaah..... Clever no, but I'm happy. Why the hell?"

"Well, even though the place we live in is called Card Continent, not many people actually like cards here. It's ironic, isn't it?"

Xika only laughed hearing Huo Bing's words.

"It seems your name is not as simple as your father's hobby I'm sure there's another meaning behind your name"

"so yeah.....So then? What am I supposed to do?"

"Absorbing qi into your dantian of course. You don't know how to cultivate?"

"Are you crazy?! I told you my dantian was gonna blow!"

"And I told you your dantian won't explode"

"........ Explain it first. Or all our deals are off."

I heard that voice sigh.

"alright then.

Look, when I was wandering through an ancient ruin, I read a strange inscription. Even now I still don't know what that means."

Xika's eyebrows go up next door.

"Until I meet you."

"Damn it! Stop that. I'm still normal"

Replied Xika who seemed to have misunderstood Huo Bing's words.

"Huh-what the fuck! That's not what I meant.

I'm a guy, and I'm normal, too, damn it!"

"Borms more precisely. You're a bird, aren't you?"

"Damn it! Can you shut up at least until my story's over?"

"All right"

"Back to topic. I didn't understand the writing on the walls of those ruins until I met you"

"Go through that part"

"Be quiet! The post says:

A poor soul

Downtrodden

A cracked container

Just waiting for time

Disintegrate

A friend

Which is coming

Downtrodden

Will rise

Disintegrated

Will be divided and united."

"......."

Xika furrowed her brows. Trying to think carefully about Huo Bing's words.

After a while he gave up.

"I don't understand"

"Basic stupid"

"Damn it! Explain quickly!"

"You don't understand? Poor soul is you. That cracked container is your dantian. At the end say: the broken container will split and unite.

So if you absorb the qi, your dantian will probably explode, shatter, after which the shards will reunite"

Xika's eyes twinkled.

So all he had to do was absorb the qi? If only he knew it sooner.

"At least that's my theory"

And those sparkling eyes are gone.

"Your theory? Your theory? So I have to risk my life for your theory that's not even necessarily true?"

"At least it's worth a try. It's the same, isn't it? The cracks in your dantian keep growing over time. Either it will be completely reunited or it won't still happen sooner or later. If you die, at least your suffering will end, right?"

"I am grateful for every second of my life"

"really? Every second of life you live? Any humiliation you've received? Every blow you suffered? Is that the second of your life you're grateful for?"

".................."

Silent.

Quite a long silence.

No one's talking.

Perhaps the two were busy pondering over each other's thoughts.

"......... What guarantee?!"

Xika asked with a sharp look.

"At least if I fail, I should get compensated"

".........."

The voice was silent for quite a while.

"If you fail, I will use the rest of my strength to make you survive.

If it fails, at least I will die, or my age will decrease.

How's it?"

"...................."

Xika thought long enough to answer.

"Fair enough."

Xika smiled.

But suddenly his smile disappeared replaced by a terrible look.

"But if you don't keep your word, I promise I'll come back from the dead and take you with me"

"Agreed"

"All right"

Xika sat on the nearest rock. He began to absorb qi.

Slowly, the crack in Xika's dantian grew bigger.

The sound of his teeth clashing against each other withstood the pain felt.

More and more cracks......

CRACK.....

KRAKK....

And finally.....

BOOOOOM!!!!!

"Ohuk....."

Xika was thrown from where she was sitting.

"Hey son. You okay?"

Blood came out of the corner of his mouth.

His sight began to blur.

"Hey! Xika!"

Bruk!

"Xika! XIKA!"

Xika lost consciousness.

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*cat

Cygnus: read syginus

Phoenix: read phenix/finix

Cygnix: read syginix

Btw, Cygnus same phoenix is a mythological creature, pure cygnix klo gw creation.