Lyra waited, eyes wide, already leaning slightly forward. She had no idea what was about to co, only that whatever it was, she was determined not to miss a second of it.
Catherine noted the eagerness with quiet approval.
"Alright. Let’s start with the basics. Think of the Dantian as sothing similar to your Mana Core, it holds and amplifies your ability to use Qi. But its location is different. You know the Mana Core sits at the heart. The Dantian, on the other hand, sits in the lower abdon."
Lyra absorbed this with complete fascination. Beside her, Elizabeth was listening with equal intensity, this was knowledge that existed nowhere in any text she’d ever had access to.
Pleased by the attention from both of them, Catherine continued.
"We cultivate Qi through ridians, think of them as the equivalent of mana circuits. They’re how we draw essence from the surrounding atmosphere. In principle, mana and Qi work the sa way. Different nas, sa basic chanism. What differs is how each is stored. Mana sits in the Mana Core as a kind of gas, and stays that way. Qi is different, in the Dantian, it’s stored as a liquid."
She paused, letting that settle before continuing.
"Raw Qi is drawn in through the ridians and channelled into the Dantian. There, it passes through an outer shell, think of it as a filter. This is where purity cos in. The quality of your filter determines the quality of the Qi you end up storing. Cultivation isn’t about purifying Qi itself, Qi is always pure, by nature. What you’re actually doing is improving your filter. The better the filter, the purer the Qi you can refine, and the stronger you beco."
Elizabeth had been turning sothing over since the explanation began, and now it surfaced.
"But if we’re filtering it, what’s being filtered out? Where does the waste go?"
"Good question, Elizabeth. I was getting to that." Catherine’s smile widened slightly. "The waste is other essences."
Both girls frowned at that. If the waste was other essences, that implied Qi was being absorbed mixed with sothing else. Which seed to contradict what they’d just been told.
Lyra was the one who voiced it, looking up at Catherine from where she sat.
"But, Lady Catherine, you just said Qi is pure. And now you’re saying it cos mixed with other essences?"
"Yes, both of those things are true." Catherine held up a finger. "Qi itself is pure. What you absorb directly from the atmosphere is not. There are eight total essences present in the air around us at any given ti. When you absorb from the atmosphere without refinent, you’re pulling in all eight at once, Qi included. The Dantian’s filter separates the other seven out, leaving pure Qi behind." She paused. "Pure Qi is extrely difficult for a weak filter to process cleanly. So for anyone just starting out, it always cos mixed with the rest."
The explanation cleared up so of the confusion in their minds, though so of it lingered still.
"Most of the other essences you absorb get expelled the sa way they ca in. But so of it ends up sticking to the outer shell. As that builds up, it starts making cultivation harder. But here’s the thing, the harder it gets, the purer the Qi you’re refining. Eventually, the outer shell hardens completely. At that point, it stops drawing in any more Qi at all." She paused. "But by the ti that happens, your purity will already have increased significantly beyond where you started."
Lyra frowned slightly at that. If the shell hardens completely, does that an cultivation just... stops there?
Catherine seed to anticipate the question before it was asked.
"You’re probably thinking that the shell hardening marks the end of the road. It’s actually the opposite. When the outer shell solidifies, that’s the signal that you’re ready to move into the next stage. To do that, you have to break it, using your own Qi. Once you shatter that solidified wall, a brand new filter forms in its place. Stronger than the last one. And whatever purity level you’d reached becos the startingpoint for the new filter."
Everything clicked into place for Lyra. Whatever doubts she’d had dissolved completely.
Elizabeth’s questions had been answered too, but a new one had already begun forming, and unlike the others, this one she asked directly without hesitation.
"If the Dantian separates Qi from the other seven essences in the atmosphere, how does it know to keep only Qi? If the chanism works the sa way for everyone, couldn’t soone use the sa process to separate out a different essence entirely?"
Both Necrotize and Catherine went still.
Catherine glanced at Necrotize, clearly not having an answer ready. "That one... I honestly don’t have a clear answer for."
All three of them turned to Necrotize at once, waiting.
He let out a long breath, the kind that suggested this was going to take a while to explain properly.
"That cos down to an agreent. One we made a long ti ago."
"An agreent?"
"Yes. When living bodies were being designed, each of us had to decide which part of the body would serve as the seat of our essence, the place tied specifically to us." He counted off on his fingers as he spoke. "Most of them chose the heart. For mortals, drawing essence from the atmosphere is easiest through the heart, so that beca the default. Ti chose the brain, purely because he thought it sounded more impressive. Space opted out of the whole system entirely. He said he wasn’t interested in making his essence easy for just *anyone* to access, only those he personally favoured would get it, delivered as sothing he called ’the Great Awakening,’ like a gift. Personally, I thought that was a ridiculous approach. I didn’t say so to his face, though."
He continued, unhurried.
"And then there was . Last in line. Naturally, I wanted the heart too, sa as most of the others. But everyone objected. Said it would make the essence of destruction far too easy for mortals to access. So they handed the most difficult option available. The Dantian." He shrugged slightly. "I didn’t argue. Honestly, I was fine with it. Not everyone *should* be able to use the essence of destruction freely. Only the ones ant to."
The three of them sat in stunned silence. He was describing the literal architecture of creation, divine negotiations between cosmic forces, with the sa tone soone might use to describe an argunt over who got the window seat.
"And because of that agreent," Necrotize finished, "none of those designated locations can absorb any essence other than the one assigned to it. That’s the restriction. That’s why the Dantian only filters for Qi, it’s built that way, by design, as part of the original arrangent."
The explanation had landed with the weight of sothing far too large to fully process, but it had done its job. The doubts were gone, replaced now with sothing closer to quiet astonishnt, the kind that takes a while to settle.
Catherine let out a breath.
"Alright, I think that’s enough explanation for now. Master will give you a book afterward, everything else you need is in there, in more detail than I could cover here. For now, let’s move on to actually unlocking your Dantian."
Lyra steadied herself, straightening her posture where she sat.
Catherine moved behind her and settled into a cross-legged position as well, placing both palms against Lyra’s back.
"Listen very carefully to what I’m about to tell you, Lyra." Her voice had shifted, no longer explanatory, but precise, deliberate. "If you ss this up, you will die."
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