Gift Reception

***

(Xue Jinzi POV)

Waking up early, I headed for the living room. Ever since that first day of being here I realized how important it was to be awake early. I'd have more chances to be involved with Big Brother and even surprise him at times.

As I sat on the sofa, I brought out the two manuals he had given me. The manual for tempering the body was simply called True Body Tempering manual, while on the other hand the movement technique had a slightly more fantastical and domineering name.

Wind Splitting Steps, a movement technique used in the Body Tempering Realm. The manual corresponds to the elemental wind, which at this stage of cultivation shouldn't even be accessible to the cultivator. The manual sets up a foundation, albeit small, for the cultivator to be elementally in tune with wind for the future. The current benefits of this manual should be an increased defense against the element and in the future when I can start to manipulate the element, controllability.

Yesterday, after Big Brother left me for some old hag I diligently read through both manuals to understand them. The Body Tempering Realm was of course there to temper the body for the fledgling cultivator's beginnings. The entirety of the manual was related to rigorous training and exercise.

After reading through the manual's contents I realized why almost every cultivator I ran across was fit and in good condition. On rare occasions I saw chubby and even a fat cultivator, but I now realize why they were so rare. After following this manual's contents, if they were still fat there may be something wrong with them, or maybe after passing the realm they still ate so much that they once again became fat.

Since this manual was all about exercise I decided to hold off on doing it and would only do so when Big Brother was here. Seeing a woman like me exercise should get his blood pumping, especially when I would need his help and he'd be up close. Thinking of those prospects last night, I completely neglected the manual in favor of the other.

But trying to use the other manual would place a larger strain on my body since I was still a mortal. I couldn't do nothing though, or else Big Brother might be a little disappointed in the progress I made. But the fear of disappointing Big Brother overwrote the additional intimate time I would have with him.

When I read through the manual I realized that it would start tempering my body if I wasn't a cultivator. It would even temper to the third layer of Body Tempering: Skin, Flesh, and Muscle. The skin increased defense, flesh increased general power plus durability, and muscle increased explosive power.

From the manual I learned that each stage contained different sections of my body to temper. The first stage contained the before mentioned layers, the second stage contained organs, and the third contained the bones.

From that session last night I felt like my whole body's layer of skin became a little harder to penetrate by a margin.

Putting both the manuals on the table in front of me I thought for a moment about which one I should train with when suddenly, I looked up and saw through my window two people coming towards my house. My mood instantly improved seeing Big Brother before dampening a bit, realizing who walked alongside him. Of course that hag had to come along, but she held a small box with both her hands. By the time I saw all of this they had already appeared at the door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

Rushing out of my seat I went to open the door.

"Big Brother! Welcome back! And you as well Big Brother's wife."

Big Brother smiled before speaking, "Hey, my wife has a gift for you."

She stepped forward before handing me the gift with both hands; "I'm sorry for how we first met. As an apology I'd like to give you this. I had my husband help me pick this out for you! I hope we can remedy our relationship and start anew with this!"

I took a glance at Big Brother and he gently smiled with a nod in return.

'You had Big Brother pick it out with you, but that doesn't mean you still couldn't have done anything with it. There's definitely something wrong with this gift, but with my current cultivation there's no way I can find out if she really tried. I can't just decline this gift though, I might make a bad impression on Big Brother if I do so.'

Extending my arms I gently grabbed onto the box and gave her a nod.

"I accept this gift and hope our relationship will improve. Is it alright if I open it now?"

"Of course go on ahead."

Lifting the lid of the box within was an exquisite looking ring. After plucking the ring out from its little sunken spot I set aside the box. The ring had a bright blue gem atop it like the color of my eyes and was silver with engraved decorations along the outer rims.

"That's not just any ring, it's a storage ring, like this one." Big Brother showed me his hand which had a ring too.

A small flash appeared from the ring and suddenly a blue rock appeared in his hand.

"All you have to do is wear the ring and think about the interior of the ring. When you want to put something in you have to hold it and visualize a space in your ring and when taking it out you have to have your hand out ready to catch the item. You can't put anything that is alive in the storage ring nor should you put anything that has a short expiration date. There are a few exceptions to the rules, but there's no need to think about them. Your ring only has a space of 3 cubic meters, but that should be plenty for now."

Putting on the ring I grabbed onto the box and thought about the storage ring's interior. With a sudden short and small flash the box disappeared and entered the ring's space. With another thought the box appeared in my hands again.

My excitement was through the roof with this new quality of life improvement. To be able to store an entire 3 cubic meters worth of supplies I was ecstatic, that was before I remembered who I got it from.

Turning towards the person I bowed before I thanked her once again.

'It's a shame that such a great tool won't be able to be used to the greatest effect. For all I know she could have set the device to kill me when I least expect it. But I know she can't. If she does, she could be the only suspect in Big Brother's mind. But that doesn't mean she couldn't have done anything else to it. I have to be wary of it, yet at the same time carry it on me most if not all the time.

This reminds me, why hasn't she sent any more of those mind messages? Could it be that she no longer feels the need to threaten me? Or is there something else I just can't understand now? Maybe it's because she realized that letting me know her intentions wasn't a good thing for her? I can't figure out her true emotions now, but since I have a first hand account of her actions I can just infer from there.'

"It seems about time for my departure. I hope that Miss Xue feels welcomed now, once again I apologize for any of my actions during our first meeting." With a quick 180 degree turn she walked away.

"So have you made any progress on your cultivation?" I felt like I saw a small gleam in his eye as he spoke.

"Ye-yes I think so, can you check it?"

"Of course, but since you're only in the Body Tempering Realm it's not as easy for me to fully sense what you're at. From what I can tell is that you've at least started onto the path of which I'm glad."

"Thank you! Big Brother, is there a way in which you can sense where my strength is in more detail?"

"Yes… but that requires skin contact with one another. I don't think you would want that."

"No no! I do, want you to touch me!" I said in a hurry before he could change topic.

Big Brother stood there for a moment like he was stunned at what he heard. I naturally knew what he heard in my words, but tried my hardest not to show any knowledge of it.

"Jinzi, you shouldn't say such things so loudly."

"Why? Nobody is around anyway right? Besides, what did I say wrong? I want you to touch me after all! I want to know what you think of my cultivation."

"Let's talk inside, I'll check ok? I just needed your consent."

'Yes! I wonder where he'll check, maybe I get to choose where he could since he needs my consent after all. I'll only give him consent to check my lips, hehe. Then I could do what I want in that scenario, but what about only letting him touch my breasts? Hehe.'

When we walked in we went directly to the living room. I sat on the sofa and he stood in front of me. I was getting excited when he suddenly put his hand out.

"Let me see your wrist."

At that moment I wanted to blurt out that I would only give him permission to touch my lips or breasts, but in the end embarrassment overcame me. With a slight blush from those thoughts I gave him my left wrist.

Delicately he grasped onto my left hand with his own and with two fingers of his right hand he placed it on my wrist. A slight tingling sensation could be felt from where his fingers made contact, but I couldn't tell if it was simply from his touch or he had done something.

"Oh, halfway to the first layer already. Not bad, not bad at all. I could even sense a minuscule amount of the wind elemental. So I'm guessing that you didn't even touch the Body Tempering manual I gave you yet huh? Well if you keep using the Wind Splitting Steps to temper your body to the peak of the body stage then there's a chance you could even develop a little wind affinity."

"So what I'm doing is good?"

"Yeah, it's a slightly harder path, but the rewards come accordingly. Both of the manuals I've given you aren't bad. The True Body Tempering might sound basic, but the basic version would only be more general such as the entire first stage being focused on the body with no specifics like muscle, flesh, or skin."

"So I'm already on the hard path then?"

"That's right, but from the progress you've already made it seems like you'll only need another day at most to accomplish the first layer. Normally people with average talent might take around a week to advance to the first layer. If they were really diligent, perhaps 5 days."

"If I'm this quick then if I have Big Brother to help It would surely be even faster right?"

"I could point out any mistakes you make, but I wouldn't be able to help you out too much as of now. How about this? Once you reach the second layer I'll teach you how to fight people. I'll let you choose your own weapon at the time."

My eyes lit up at his words. If he would be teaching me to fight people then surely he would have to have contact with me then right? I could just let a few things slip and 'accidently' happen. Once I have his eyes I can work my way up to have his heart.

"Big Brother, do you have time to watch me train today?"

"I did say I would spend time with you, let me make up for what happened yesterday and be with you today."

'Yes!'