After discovering that the commands were messing with my brain and making me believe I wanted to do things I didn''t really want, I sat down on the blue mattress. Duplicating the weird yoga pose shown in the book I start cultivating.


    I know that this isn''t the best time to do this but I have to. It''s like the last piece of cake in the fridge. You wake up in the middle of the night and you can''t stop thinking about that piece of cake.


    You come downstairs, and you tell yourself you are just going to get a glass of water. You open the fridge and there it is the last piece of cake, starring at you. Promising untold pleasures and satisfaction, just out of reach.


    You know that you are being manipulated to eat that piece of cake. You know that it''s a bad decision to eat that piece of cake. It will ruin your diet.


    After a few moments of arguing in your head with yourself. You lie to yourself by saying ''maybe just a bite. A bite never hurt anybody, right?


    In no time there is no more cake. You ate it all. Now you feel guilty about it. You knew from the very beginning that it was a bad decision but you still made it


    Something similar is also happening to me. The right decision now is to attempt escaping this cave. I know that.


    I want to do that but before I escape I have to eat "The Cake".


    My "cake" is learning to cultivate.


    =======


    Legs crossed, hands in front of my chest in a prayer motion. Well, I try to have my hands in that position. You see I have teddy bear arms so picture a teddy bear making a prayer gesture.


    Ok, the easy part is done. Now comes the hard part. Clear my mind and start taking in the qi on the air. How do you clear your mind? I can''t possibly tell my mind not to think.


    I stay for some time in that yoga pose. Nothing is happening. My head isn''t clear and I am not feeling the qi in the air.


    As time passes all kinds of terrible thoughts start entering my mind. I imagine the boulder moving and my master returning to collect me.


    I imagine him ordering me around. I imagine him giving me commands just for his entertainment. Commanding me to be a chicken in front of a crowd of people who are laughing at me. Commanding me to cover myself in shit, while praising him. The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    *Deep mental breath* calm down me. I am not going to end up like that. I am going to figure out this cultivation thing. Then I will be free to try my escape.


    I will escape. I am not going to be a slave. I have done things that are harder than this. I survived high school. It''s not the first time that I have had to avoid someone. We all had our bullies in high school.  We all learn how to best avoid them.


    All I have to do is avoid this one guy who can order me around. Easy right? I can do this. Of course, this being a magical world my master, may he die by a thousand cuts, could have some way to track me down.


    Now that is a scary thought. No, this isn''t just a magical world but a cultivation world. The difference? Cultivation worlds have young masters. As long as I am able walk into a restaurant I am dead.


    There is no way a young master won''t be offended by me. I just have to sit down at a table and wait for my death.


    Now that is a happy thought.


    With my mood improved a little bit I start focusing on the task at hand. Maybe I am thinking about this the wrong way.


    The book says that I have to clear my mind but the technique seems to be directed at humans, not at golems. What is the difference between a human being and a golem?


    Well, there are a dozen differences that I can think but the most fundamental difference is that humans get their energy from food.


    What do golems eat? I don''t know but if I had to make an assumption I would say qi. As far as I can tell my body is entirely made of metal. A lump of metal wouldn''t start moving and thinking on their own.


    Humans need food, water, and oxygen to live. Golems must be using something to fulfill their needs. So if golems are already unconsciously using qi then I don''t need to perform the first part. The part where I clear my mind.


    Time to test this hypothesis. I stop trying to clear my head. Instead, I concentrate on my body. I open my eyes. No, I don''t think I have eyelids so it''s better to say that whatever mechanism I use to see is on.


    Oh my god. I can see what is inside of my body. It''s similar to an ex-ray vision of my body.


    Different from what I thought my body isn''t just solid metal.


    Inside my metal body, there are inserted these threads. Every individual thread has a diameter measured in militaries and there are thousands, no billions of these threads. They stretch all over my body. In my legs, arms, head, and torso.


    Inside my chest in the same place where a human heart is supposed to be there sits a crystal. The Crystal has a pale white color and is constantly transmitting a type of energy to the threads that are attached to it.


    My memories tell me that this is qi. The crystal is my core. It''s transmitting qi to the threads which in turn give me the ability to move.


    My memories also tell me that this crystal is the equivalent of a human heart and brain. While these threads are the equivalents of blood vessels. If somehow this core is destroyed or runs out of qi I die.


    The pale glow that it is giving tells me that it''s running out of qi. When it stops glowing it means that it has run out of qi.


    F*CK.


    I was so close to death, my final goal, without even realizing it. Now that I know that a problem exists, a problem which will lead to my death, I have to fix it.


    I have to continue cultivating. I have to recharge my core. My commands are very clear about it. I have to survive.


    F*ck. To think that I would have accomplished my goal if not for this stupid book.