The first thing he had to do was chisel out a mold from stone; skilled hands allowed him to get the perfect mold he wanted for the needles. While it took some time because of his available strength, he could already tell his body was taking a step towards healing. The breathing started to show progress as the day went on. After he finished making the mold, he began pouring a bunch of galleons into the crucible to melt them down, enough to make 16 needles, which would allow him to poke each starting path of meridians he wanted, though it was one of the most painful methods.
He would be using the 'On Step at a Time' Meridian tempering technique, along with the 12 governing chains; there were four 'additional' in this body. Something he could only assume was for magic. He didn't care much for it; as long as all others broke through, he would take his first step toward healing. With more room on a mold, he was able to make three needles at a time, except for the last one needed for 16. Once they were formed, sharpened, and he finally felt satisfied. He had shimmering golden needles. He found an old doctor's case to put them in, removing the old silver needles when he tossed them away.
One after another, a twinkling needle appeared as he filled out his new kit, planning to fill the rest of the bag soon so he would have combat and medicine ones. He stared at them. He wasn't happy with them by far, but he could do no better; he could reforge them a thousand times at this level, nothing would change. He would just need to wait until he raised his cultivation stage, then find a material capable of truly holding the majesty of his skills, a thankless skill this was.
'Flimsy Golden Pointers, you have no right to be called my future Golden Needles.'
He melted up a few more ingots of Gold, silver, and bronze while he was at it. While not useful as an ingot, he could do work later. For now, he let the forge cool in the distance while he sat a bit away, he removed all external objects from his body: glasses, clothes, and wand. Leaving only the needles in his hand as he began to place them on the meridians, the first two made him flinch because of his body's instinct. But soon memory overrode instinct, as they sank in smoothly afterwards; after all, the pain to come next was nothing like a simple needle prick. He couldn't grasp Qi exactly, but he knew the trick.
He focused on his breathing, the mana, the breeze from enchantments, the sound of burning embers, the smell of his body, and the forge. He felt a slow burn begin to start from where the needles were pierced, before it sank into his bones like a liquid metal to begin to scorch along them. The heat was still tolerable as it filled every piece of his being, from the deepest corner, crevice. Once he was full, the heat started to increase. Just as it became uncomfortable, starting to hurt, his still body began to shake softly as he fought against the urge to stop. Just as the pain reached a point his new body couldn't take, willpower alone kept him sitting upright as he knew this wasn't the end by far.
The once scorching, soul-searing heat left to give way to a bone-chilling cold that felt like ice needles, piercing down into his marrow. Cracking, breaking, grinding, cartilage tearing, repairing, the entirety of his body was experiencing pains of its abuse, before restarting in a cycle that lasted hours. Throughout it, he had continued to focus on his breathing, as a rush of magic gathered around him, and electrical storms raged. Dark clouds started to form around him. At first, it was dark green sparks of lightning, then it gave way to blue, then an ominous purple.
Novice -> Qi-Grasp 1
??? -> ???
Two breakthroughs at once: as his senses sharpened, awakening each of his major vessels was a huge boon. It would strengthen his body's ability to fight foreign bodies and speed up its natural healing by a small degree; it would take 55 days to unlock all 670 basic meridians. With the now unlocked new ones that were definitely responsive to magic, he felt a tighter hold on his magical abilities settle in. He could now instinctively tell how long it would take him to return to 'full' reserves, as well as how many spells he could cast of each he's been practicing so far before going empty.
It gave him mainly a tremendous tactical advantage in battle, while most honed their instinct through experience, it was harder to use it on the battlefield. Especially once it got more chaotic, you could lose track, miss count, overestimate, or underestimate your abilities or your opponents. But with this, he didn't need to hone it at all; with these boons came the knowledge that four new ones appeared. However, instead of being connected like the ones for Qi, they appeared scattered, with the first ones appearing around the crown of his head. The next four appeared, one near the base and one near the tip of his spine, then on each side of his hips, which didn't make any sense.
'I'm bound to discover things I can't make sense of yet, at least I can tell that increasing it will only offer benefits if not just more pain...'
The pain would get worse with each day after the first treatment, while someone could stop the treatment, it would be tough to try another method in the future. It was an excellent double-edged technique, but he knew it was just a small storm; ahead of him lay a whole Dark Army to manhandle, a world to take a very close look at. If this world were based on a piece of media, as it stands, he was already in dangerous territory with his age being 21, a frightening thought.
While he was a bit more exhausted now, he had burned the rest of the day away gathering his items, and he could already tell the improvement in his body. While the pain hadn't mysteriously gotten better quickly, he had a new sturdiness that met it, a firmer will that helped him shrug off twinges of pain. With the new magical sense, he could tell the key gave him not just a 'key' to the ROR, but a space dedicated directly to him, out of view of the 'usual' room of the ROR...
He could spy on it from here, however, but he couldn't find out how. Leaving it for now, he soon stepped into a plush-looking private room. He could tell it was his immediately because the friendly, loving hoot that greeted him when he entered was Hedgewig, who stood upon her perch in the far left corner. Having her own little space near a window that could open so she could hunt, the beautiful owl stretched herself out to him as he approached.
His fingers ran along her beak, under her neck, over her head as he let her rub herself into his palm.
''I know, this place must be much better than that drafty tower, hm? I'll entrust night guard duties to you, Mi'lady.'' His words were spoken with a softness that belied three lives now, all with attachments to pets, all with lost ones. Now with Harry, he sensed potential in his beautiful bird, while he couldn't begin to stroke the flames of evolution he senses in her just yet. He knew that any owl as gorgeous as his, who is above others, would be special. Feeding her a treat, he cleaned himself off with a simple wave of his wand, which he loved. As a cultivator, the soonest he could start to do that with Qi was Qi-Breathe stages, but as a fancy spell-slingin' Wizard, he could do it year one.
After cleaning up, he put on some casual clothes since it was still Saturday; since tomorrow was Sunday, some students might not even be in the feast hall. While most 1-4 grades would be almost all 5-7th have already eaten, or are eating privately while studying, partying, raving, whatever it is going around them.
'...Son of a bitch, you people could have used at least a purifying charm!' He pinched his nose as a particularly fishy couple from Ravenclaw walked by, being discreet not to appear rude. He hurried past, pressing his acupunctures to seal his sense of smell off for now. With that, he came to sit at his usual spot with Hermione to his right, Ron across from them, and Neville to his left, with only the guys greeting him first.
''Hey, Harry!'' Ron, who was quite handsome already, was still a little slim, matching Harry in size, which was a change as Harry used to be 'thinner' than him.
''H-Harry, your stuff got pulled from our room. Is everything okay?'' Neville had gotten closer to them in the two weeks, but he was still shy; it didn't help that Ron had been the leading head in all their hangouts so far.
''It's good, I just requested a Private room because I couldn't stand another night of Ron's snoring.'' Harry chuckled softly as he sat down, while the guys didn't notice it, Hermione, with her nose in her book, seemed to pause. Unsure as to why she did before she peered to her left at the back of Harry, who talked with Neville.
''Hey Nev, you said you liked Herbology class, right? Well, to make up for missing the party last night, I got a private training area with a garden included. Want to visit Ms. Sprout and see if she has any seeds to spare?''
''R-really? I mean, of course I would love to, Harry, I was originally planning to head over and ask if she needed help tending the grounds, so!''
Pomona Sprout was a beautifully gifted teacher, a pseudo groundskeeper, and the head of the Herbology Department at the school. Even if it was the rarest of seeds long since forgotten, she'd still already know the best ways to handle it, to grow ingredients to be the best they can be. After all, with a Potion expert of Snape's level working in the school, she had to be talented. Hermione had finally started to notice that Harry looked... for lack of better terms, healthier.
He always had a thin, malnourished look. In comparison, he had started to get better while in school; this was a noticeable jump. The whole day, she hadn't seen him. He also had a bit more confidence in his movements, no longer fumbling with his robes; he reached across the table with targeted, dexterous grace to steal bits of food. Eating them when it was polite without messing with himself or others, then engaging right back into conversation without seeming to 'think' of the topic, but striding right into it.
''Ron, you're free to join us, but that might be too boring for you, so I'll show you to the dueling area instead so you can improve your practical skills a bit. It's got a fun game system that makes it worth the effort.''
''A game that lets me practice spells? Better than tending to plants or doing homework.'' Ron grinned as he ate a bit more, more measurably, better than when he first arrived, and a house as big as his raised a guarded hound.
''Ron, you shouldn't neglect your studies, nor homework, in case you get stuck with detention and have to scrub chamber pots with Mr. Flitch!'' Hermione hissed over her large book as she finally closed it, setting it down under the table in her backpack with a magical flap seal... Protecting the books from anything, even a rocket explosion, the beautiful bookworm had pleasant curves hidden beneath her enchanted robes. However, it couldn't have had her wonderful teeth, doe-like brown eyes that lit up with her mischievous smirk as she turned to side glance Ron.
''Unless you prefer to spend lonely nights with old men?''
''Haha, I told you it was one time to try it, I didn't even get all the way through it because I had NO interest in it at all.'' Ron hissed across the table as she stabbed a particularly vicious spot, apparently having released a crucial piece of information out of Harry's earshot.
(A/N) If you see a point I can improve, let me know. If you have any questions about terms or items, comment, and I'll answer as soon as I can!