As Ma Sa lay in bed with his eyes closed after wishing his teacher a good night"s sleep, he opened up his skills page.*/*
He had ten perk points to invest into his tree. This was unusual but he then remembered that Dave"s silent pilot was a cheating b.a.s.t.a.r.d... The extra perk points came from a mod that gave points on proficiency advance rather than level up. It may have made him hesitate a little but he wasn"t going to willingly gimp himself by leaving them una.s.signed. His perks were a part of his own strength as far as he was concerned.
He also had four chances to pick one option from life, stamina, or Magicka to increase the base value. He thought about it for a while before choosing life twice, stamina once, and Magicka once.
Since he was able to get Magicka by cultivating there was no need to go out of his way to take too much. Life was more important to him. He wasn"t as fragile as a real child since his stats remained unchanged by the race menu during "character creation", however, he was still a weakling that could be snapped like a twig by any martial artist above the warrior rank. Hopefully the little extra life now would result in a great amount of vitality in the future. The closer Ma Sa could make himself to unkillable the better.
After making his choices he went into the constellation and dumped all ten of his points into --Energy Streams-- and --Strengthened Channels--.
--Energy Streams (9/9)--
--Strengthened Channels (2/9)--
As soon as he exited the menu, Ma Sa felt an immediate increase in the Magicka that was flowing through him. He now had nine streams of Magicka flowing along the pathway he had laid out earlier. Additionally, he could push the energy through the pathway even faster than he could before. The previous sense of discomfort had vanished.
He cycled up the speed again until he could feel that familiar pressure as if his arteries and veins were stretching. His new limit was about four times that of his previous!
Ma Sa decided that, before he got anymore accustomed to the basic cultivation technique that Ye Zhen had taught him, it was time for him to try the rare cultivation manual he had got from the console. It was called the "Nine Dragon Void Siphon". The name made Ma Sa chuckle lightly as it was just so grandiose sounding and more than a little "chuuni" too.
The method was relatively complex and it required a high circulation rate to succeed. Once the pathways were established though, the pract.i.tioner would be blessed with a cheatlike ability to absorb energy in any form. At the highest levels the manual claimed a pract.i.tioner would be able to absorb all energy from matter to the point where the temperature would hit absolute zero. The energy would be converted into power for the pract.i.tioner to use as they wish.
The fact that this technique had a destructive capability was enough to put it in a different cla.s.s altogether. No other mental cultivation could be used for anything other than just gathering and condensing energy slowly. Of course, it would take an absurd amount of practice to circulate the technique as needed in battle. It would also require great restraint so as not to overdo it and freeze the surroundings or explode from absorbing too much.
Despite the problems, Ma Sa was totally confident that he could master it because the console provided him with the perfect training ground. With the limitless mental energy given to him in the console window he would be able to rehea.r.s.e the circulations thousands of times if necessary without ever risking failure.
Ma Sa decided that he should sleep first rather than press on with changing his cultivation method immediately. He could wake up a little bit early and work on it then. He quickly sank into the embrace of sleep.
************
On the other side of the room divider Old Guan was preparing to go to sleep himself. Ma Sa had just wished him a good night"s sleep. Old Guan had had a productive day. Not only had he found a martial teacher for Ma Sa but he also managed to find Someone who was willing to teach him their trade.
Ma Sa was unaware of this currently but Old Guan still hadn"t given up on keeping him from venturing into the Jianghu. He thought that if Ma Sa were to get lost in learning smithing or alchemy he may choose to stay in the settlements in order to practice.
Just as he was drifting to sleep he sensed large Qi fluctuations coming from the other side of the room. He was worried as the fluctuations were about eight times stronger than those of Ma Sa after his afternoon training. They got larger and larger over the next few seconds and Old Guan began to worry about Qi deviation. Just as he rushed to the screen, the waves calmed down. They returned to a normal pace which no longer worried Old Guan so much.
He continued actively sensing the Qi for a while and was shocked to discover that Ma Sa had seemingly reached the threshold of martial fighter level in a single day. A single day!! This was simply impossible!
He"d need to teach the boy how to mask his Qi fluctuations as soon as possible so that others wouldn"t notice his progress. If they did, Ma Sa was sure to be a target the moment he entered the Jianghu.
He returned to his bed and went to sleep with the resolution to awaken early and teach Ma Sa about Qi fluctuations. He would just have to have Ma Sa apologise to Ye Zhen for not showing up.
************
Morning came and Ma Sa awoke to his teacher"s wrinkled face studying his own.
"Ah... Teacher I know I"m handsome but you really shouldn"t stare at me like that." Old Guan"s face reddened at the words of his student.
"What handsome?! You little rat bag! You had me worried!"
"Eh? Worried? What about, teacher?"
"Obviously about you, you brat! How many other people do you think grow eight times stronger overnight, huh? I, your teacher, thought you were going through a Qi deviation or something!" Old Guan found it was becoming increasingly difficult to maintain his dignified demeanor around this kid. He seemed to know how to push his b.u.t.tons.
Ma Sa looked at his teacher with surprise but also a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt. He also was touched by how much Old Guan cared for him. Though he hadn"t thought too much of it the night before, he realised that Old Guan must have noticed his Qi fluctuations. He had read about them in books but book smarts sadly don"t always carry over into the real world.
*i*
Ma Sa looked through his ma.s.sive library of books until he found the one he was looking for: "Hidden Breath Concealment Art". He read through the book a few times and was impressed by the thought process behind it. The pract.i.tioner would create something like standing waves in his Qi pathways and then keep only a small amount of his Qi of of phase so that it would register as the Qi of a regular human. It would be complicated to use alongside the "Nine Dragon Void Siphon" technique but practice would solve that.
Ma Sa decided it was time to switch over to his new cultivation method and, seemingly, Old Guan was going to give him the perfect opportunity.
*i*
"Go wash and get dressed. I need to teach you an important technique before you can continue your training." Old Guan said after he had regained his teacher"s aura.
Ma Sa nodded in agreement and headed over to the wash basin. In a short moment he was ready to begin so he moved the dividing screen over to the side of the room.
"Sit." Old Guan gestured to the floor. Ma Sa sat and his teacher joined him.
"I know I haven"t taught you much about cultivation but since you always surprise me with your knowledge... What are the stages of cultivation?"
"Initiate, Novice, Fighter, Warrior, Champion, Sage, Saint, Monarch, and Emperor. The grand stages consist of: Martial, Heroic, Soul, Soul Completion, and Aetheric. I suspect there may be more grand stages but I have never read anything about them."
Old Guan was shocked but he was growing accustomed to it now so he quickly resumed his pace.
"Good you know a lot more than most cultivators in your teir. Do you know what stage you fall into currently?"
"I should be a Martial Initiate of the first grade after successfully sensing and manipulating my Qi yesterday."
"You"re right. You should be a grade one Martial Initiate... But you"re not. You seemed to have become a high grade Martial Novice almost instantly last night! It"s abnormal! So abnormal that it could endanger you if anyone were to discover it. So... Before anything else I"ll need to teach you how to mask your Qi fluctuations."
Having explained his reasons for waking Ma Sa, Old Guan began to demonstrate the principles of Qi concealment. Ma Sa patiently studied with his teacher. He would only use "Hidden Breath Concealment Art" once Old Guan was satisfied that he had learned his method.
After an hour or so Ma Sa had mastered the basics enough to conceal his Qi from his teacher. As soon as he did so he hoped into the console and began rehearsing the "Nine Dragons Void Siphon" which, with the modifications from the "Hidden Breath Concealment Art", had become even more complex.
It could have been a year, it could have been ten, or even a hundred years worth of thoughts that Ma Sa spent studying and rehearsing the method in his console s.p.a.ce. He completely lost track of time simply because, in the console, it didn"t exist.
When he was finally satisfied, he exited the console and began to circulate his cultivation along the new route. His persistence in the console had paid off as, after only a minor stall, he was able to flawlessly execute the modified "Nine Dragons Void Siphon" without alerting Old Guan to the changes.
The manual had mentioned that there was a requirement for high circulation speeds to drive the cultivation. Ma Sa did not experience that since, before he even managed to cycle up his speed, the cultivation pathway had already inexplicably stabilized.
It was only after a few moments of contemplation that Ma Sa realised that the --Energy Streams-- perk was the reason for the seemingly reduced speed requirements. The nine streams simulated his energy wells at a higher frequency than if he only had one steam. Essentially Ma Sa"s circulation speed would always be treated as nine times that of what he was actually doing!
The air around him began to cool as he drew in the ambient energy and converted it to Qi. Old Guan noticed the chill but simply put it down to his shock at Ma Sa"s rapid progress.
A few minutes later Ma Sa felt his vessels pressurize. A couple of seconds later he received a notification.
[Cultivation increased to 12]
[Level Progress---------------- 6]
Nice! The rapid progress was almost addictive! Now wasn"t the time to continue cultivating. He could continue later with Ye Zhen.
"Good, it seems stable. Keep it up at all times from now on until your strong enough to keep yourself safe." Old Guan was pleased with his student"s progress.
"Alright, if you"re quick you may still be able to meet up with Ye Zhen at his morning training. I didn"t expect you to learn so fast!" Old Guan shooed Ma Sa out of the residence. He had some additional planning to do to ensure that Ma Sa wouldn"t come to any harm.
Ma Sa, oblivious to his teacher"s worries, happily made his way towards the Ye Clan. Today he would try to completely fill out --Strengthened Channels--!