Hello, dear readers! here's chapter 75!
Two things you need to know this week:
First, I finished writing chapter 89 (Book 2 prologue) and posted it on patreon if you're interested.
Two, I modified the Cultivation Ranks slightly from what I ntioned previously. The reason I changed a few things is because I improved the power system massively, making it a lot more logical and interesting. You can check the changes on the Cultivation Rank chapter if you're interested (from the na changes, you can glean so info).
In case you're too lazy: there are two main modifications. The first is the relative separation of the three branches of cultivation (Energy, Body and Soul). They're still linked sowhat, but each has a clear way to progress instead of the previous vague improvent through the Energy Cultivation. The second is the fact that the Nascent Soul Rank will only be used in the Soul Cultivation System (The equivalent is Void Seed for the Energy System) and the disappearance of the Void Refinent na which will be replaced by Void Sapling. As I re-edit the chapters, I'll modify all of that along the way, but at least you're now aware. I'll still keep it sowhat vague in Book 1 though for reasons you'll learn of later. But Book 2 will be much more comprehensive.
Anyway, that's it for this week! Enjoy the chapter and See you next week!
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Molvograd, Molkovia, Earth.
Demian's P.O.V.
While recalling how to activate the Formation Array encompassing the ring, the three walked to the middle of the empty area. "I'll activate the Array." Demian exclaid before using his Divine Sense to trigger the Activation Rune by following Anna's thod. Instantly, a blurry spherical energy barrier covered the entire platform, hiding the three's presence from any external gaze. 'I wonder how much damage it can...' He was not able to finish his thought as Brynhild suddenly dashed toward one side of the barrier before throwing a casual punch in its direction. Of course, casual was relative to the powerful woman.
Indeed, as soon as her clenched fist touched the barrier, fluctuations started spreading from the point of impact in a round shape before stopping a few ters away along the barrier. It was not the only consequence of her attack though. Through a brief observation of his Spiritual Will, he instantly noticed the barrier weakening slightly, although it only lasted a brief mont before a surge of Energy from sowhere unknown strengthened that particular place until it regained its previous durability. "Not bad." Bryn comnted, prompting Demian to correct. "Sis. You're only in the Second Level and it's already struggling to contain your casual attack. I think you'll need to be careful once your strength grows higher or you might end up destroying the barrier." Nodding her head to his advice, she added. "You're right. I'm guessing you two will have the sa problem."
To Bryn's words, Seraphine replied, after chuckling briefly. "I don't see that as a problem. But that aside, there's sothing I don't understand." With so guesses in mind, Demian asked. "What is it?" The purple-haired woman had her arms crossed under her large breasts while gently tapping her chin in thought. Her silence lasted for a brief mont before she answered. "If High-Level Cultivators like Uncle use these rings often, the barriers should be strong enough to resist their attacks, right?" The tall redhead shrugged while saying. "No clue." Demian, however, knew the answer to that question, prompting him to respond with a knowing smile." I knew you'd ask that question."
With a curious look on her face, Seraphine retorted. "Co on, tell !" Chuckling at her words, he replied playfully. "I always find your flustered look super adorable." Shaking his head briefly, he then continued more seriously. "Alright. Flirting aside, so of the stuff I'm gonna share are mostly educated guesses, so take them with a pinch of salt." After seeing the two nod, he continued. "From what I learned from our previous Library session, there are a few reasons why the barrier isn't as strong as both of you thought." Showing his index finger, he said. "First, most cultivators tend to use spell over physical strength. Although Spells are strong their impact is more dispersed than a simple punch or kick. There are exceptions, of course, but I'm generalizing."
Brynhild still looked confused as she asked. "But as a High Cultivator, the strength of their Spells should still be very strong, right?" Nodding his head, he replied. "Logically, yes. But there's another factor here, which is your Inner Energy's purity. The higher the purity, the stronger the Spell for each unit of Energy used. And our Energy is clearly purer than most Cultivators around here, making us stronger than the average cultivator even if we don't use our body strength." "That makes sense." Bryn mumbled thoughtfully before Seraphine added. "Actually, you'd better switch the word 'most' with the word 'all' Cultivators." While pointing toward the muscular redhead, she specified. "You, Sis, have the purest energy, then Dem, then . Although I'm not far behind him."
After a brief look of confusion, Demian exclaid. "I forgot that you could sense people's Inner Energy." The proud look on her face made him smile with amusent before he resud his previous explanation. "Back to what I was saying. The last reason and that's where it becos an educated guess, is because those High-Level Cultivators only use the formation to hide their training, aning they don't use their full power for their Spells." Seeing that his explanation seed to have satisfied their curiosity, he then declared. "Now that I've satisfied your curiosity, we should all start our respective training."
The two won nodded before they each decided to move to a different side of the platform to avoid distracting the others with their practice. In any case, with the ring's size, there was plenty of space for everyone. Finally 'alone', Demian closed his eyes and began recalling the first Technique he wanted to experint with. 'Wind Steps. Tier 1 Movent Technique. Uses the Inner energy to follow specific patterns. Combined with so particular physical movents, it's supposed to make one's body lighter on one side and teach one how to move efficiently in most situations. At least, that's what the description said.' The reason why he chose this Technique in particular for his first try was simply because of how convenient the Wind Attribute was. 'Let's start.'
With his photographic mory, it was easy for him to rember each step and pattern. Knowing that the latter were the most important parts of a Cultivation Technique, he began to slowly lead his Inner Energy inside his Spiritual Channels. Since it was his first ti using a 'fighting' Technique, he had to be careful to not ss up badly, or his Spiritual Channels risked getting damaged. If it was just a bit of damage, it would be fine. After all, that was the way he improved his personal Cultivation Technique. However, he knew that there was still a limit to his regeneration and he was not keen on trying to find it. 'Better safe than sorry.' He decided inwardly while paying attention to the Energy flowing inside his body. 'The main Spiritual Channels as the trunk and those Secondary Channels as the branches. No wonder the more Main Channels one had the stronger one is. Every aspect of Cultivation would improve along with the number of Inner Pathways one could activate. I can see it from how quickly Big Sis increases her Cultivation Base, even without having any 'special circumstances'. It's truly a matter of talent trumping any amount of effort from the untalented.' His serious look quickly switched to a satisfied one as sothing appeared in his mind. 'Although I'm an exception to that rule. The harder I work, the more talented I beco.'
After chuckling discreetly, he shoved that thought to the side and refocused his attention on his practice. Half an hour later, he willed his Energy to return to his Dantian while inwardly summarizing his gains. 'I can feel so progress, but it's like I'm climbing a tall mountain while walking through a thick layer of snow. My guess is that I don't have much Affinity with the Wind Elent, if at all. That or I'm just untalented overall. The fact that I've activated four Main Spiritual Channels disproves that though.' Letting out a sigh, he added inwardly. 'Forget it. I'll just try a Technique with a different Elent and check if there's any difference.'
Having made his decision, he switched to another Technique. This ti, it was a Thunder-Lightning Attributed one. 'Thunder-Lightning Dash. Tier 1 Movent Technique. This one is used for explosive movents. Not my first pick, but it could be useful depending on the situation.' In the sa manner, the young man took the ti to make sure he could recall everything from the Technique before starting to circulate his Inner Energy through his Channels in a specific pattern. Unlike the previous ti, however, his practice did not go very well. Probably due to the tyrannical side of the Thunder-Lightning Attribute, he could feel so pain coming from his inner Pathways. It gradually worsened until they even began to get damaged. The pain from receiving damage on one's Spiritual Channels was excruciating for normal Cultivators. However, Demian's pain tolerance had been increasing nonstop as he beca more and more injured, to the point that he could easily ignore the pain resulting from improving his Cultivation Technique. Nonetheless, he knew that damage to his Inner Pathways ant that sothing was wrong and he was not soone who thrived on pain, only tolerating it when it served a purpose. This ti, it clearly did not. He thus stopped his Inner Energy circulation after practicing for barely a few minutes.
A frown briefly appeared on his face before he resigned himself. 'From what happened I can tell that I've got zero Affinity with the Thunder-Lightning Elent. It's a sha, but I guess the upside is that I won't have to waste ti learning Techniques and Spells with that particular Attribute.' Pausing for a second, he pondered briefly. 'I wonder if I didn't get hurt with the previous Technique because I do have so Affinity with the Wind Elent, or because it's a milder Elent...' Shaking his head after a brief mont of contemplation, he decided to again switch to a different Elent-Attributed Technique.
The next few hours were thus spent testing every Elent to find out if there was one or more that suited him. He even tried those rare ones like Light and Darkness, although there were few Spells available for those, and weak ones at that. The result: Nothing. Or more specifically, he sensed no Affinity with the Elents he tested so far, with even so like the Fire and Thunder-Lightning Elents damaging his Channels. While glancing toward the three Mikhailov won training close by, he contemplated. 'Although I expected this result sowhat, I still feel like it'd have been great if I had multiple Elent Affinities. That'd give more flexibility.'
Shaking his head, he decided to let it go. 'I guess a bird in hand is better than two in the bush.' Indeed, along with his Cultivation Technique's experints, he had started sensing a gradually growing attraction toward a particular Elent. However, as a newcor to the Cultivation world, he was not 100% sure of his guess. And even if it was the case, he felt that it was not impossible for him to be inclined toward other Attributes as well. Nonetheless, the last few hours made it clear to him that, although he may be able to learn other Attributed Techniques if given enough ti, learning one that matched his Aptitude was a much better option.
'That's what I think, but I still have to check if I haven't hallucinated before.' He claid inwardly before moving on to the last Elent on his list. 'Water Gliding. Tier 1 Movent Technique. Gives the body great flexibility and increases one's speed, with a massive boost when on or in Water.' While recalling the path of Energy circulation, he could not help but mumble. "Hopefully Water attribute Techniques and Spells are not as weak as they're portrayed in those Cultivation novels..." A short while later, he had enough confidence to start circulating his Inner Energy through his pathways.
Unlike with other Elental Techniques which either damaged his Channels or progressed so slowly that it would take days to barely reach Elentary Proficiency, this ti his Inner Energy easily flowed through every Pathway ntioned in the Information Storing Jade, and that only took a few seconds. After one circulation, the Technique's effects activated, bringing a strange feeling to his heart, almost as if he was floating. As its na implied, his legs were the most affected, giving him the illusion that his flesh, muscles, and bones turned into jets of water.
'So this is how it's supposed to increase my speed.' He analyzed while moving around to test the result of his new Technique. 'Between 20% to 30% speed increase. It's acceptable, I guess.' He felt a bit dissatisfied as he expected a more impressive boost. His dissatisfaction, however, quickly left him as he recalled two things. The first being the fact that the Water Elent was not exactly known for its speed. The second thing was the fact that his basic speed was already very impressive, turning that 'low' speed boost into sothing great. 'Also, I barely reached Elentary Proficiency with the Technique. I'm guessing that the speed boost should get much bigger once I get to a higher level of Mastery.'
Having finished testing the Water Gliding's basic speed enhancent, Demian decided to incorporate the Body Movents that were ntioned along with the Energy Circulation Patterns. 'Let's see if there's any change...' He briefly thought before he willed his body to follow those movent patterns. Unfortunately, due to the fact that he needed to keep so of his attention on his Energy Circulation, he kept making mistakes, to the point that he slipped and fell on the ground several tis. 'Fuck! Cultivation Techniques are so difficult to master!' He cursed inwardly as he noticed both his right foot and left arm being placed wrongly, making it clear to him that he would fall on his butt again.
An hour of practice later, he could feel himself progressing, making fewer and fewer mistakes, to the point that he even stopped tripping on his own feet. That being said, his intuition told him that sothing was not right. 'Why do I feel like sothing's wrong with those movent patterns... It's as if there's sothing missing...' He pondered after he stopped his practice and sat cross-legged on the ground. With his eyes closed, he was currently circulating his Cultivation technique while thinking about how to tackle the problem he was facing. 'This Physiology Perk is really broken.' He concluded after observing that his Energy and Stamina reserves were almost full despite his intense one-hour practice. 'Not only does it make my Stamina incredible, but I can also feel both my Inner Energy reserves and my physical strength increase, among other things.'
A brief mont later, he exclaid inwardly. 'Focus, Demian!' Shoving his previous thoughts to the side, he instead focused on his current problem. 'Let think... The Technique's Inner Energy Pathways feel right. The problem is related to the movent patterns... To be fair, I haven't mastered them yet, so the problem may be ...' So doubts briefly appeared in his mind before disappearing as he concluded inwardly. 'No. I'm definitely not wrong. Not when I spent an hour practicing those movents. Since I could easily sense the way to improve my Cultivation Technique thanks to my Perk, I can definitely do the sa with so random Tier 1 Technique.'
With his mind calr, he started considering every possibility he could think of. At first, there was only confusion in his mind, with no direction in sight. However, after so ti passed, he could feel an inkling of inspiration surfacing in his consciousness. Understanding that it was most likely his Power at work, he did not waste the opportunity but instead put his entire focus on it. At that point, his Cultivation Technique only circulated instinctively. 'Mmhh... The moves are individually stiff and they don't link up well with each other... Inner Energy Circulation Patterns... Water Elent...'
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