The Avatars of Myth and the Living Sentinels were fairly bland as far as ch legions were concerned.
That was not necessarily a problem as they opened their doors to all kinds of ch pilots that satisfied their minimum requirents. They just seed a little boring compared to the more specialized ch legions.
Ketis turned to the next ch legion on her list.
"Battle Criers." She said as her attention turned to Legion Commander Hugin Cinnabar. "Up to this point, your ch legion has developed into a counter against enemy manifestations of E energy. This was mainly for contingency reasons in the past, but now that systematic cultivation is able to turn any human into a taphysical threat, it has beco more important than ever to prepare your troops to contain such enemies. The cultivation thod that we have prepared for you will help you resist and negate enemy supernatural attacks. It should also help you strengthen the effect of the Godkiller heavy luminar crystal rifles equipped by the chs of the Battle Criers. However, I should also warn you that this thod cos with potential risks. There is a chance that you and your ch pilots will... reduce the likelihood of breakthroughs."
The older man's expression remained calm. "It is fine. Our patriarch is far-sighted to be able to foresee the need of a ch legion that can resist these magical powers. We have spent years preparing ourselves for this purpose. We are ready and willing to accept whatever you give us. I think it is only a matter of ti before we grow more relevant. If humans like us can cultivate, then the aliens will figure it out sooner or later. I bet the cosmopolitans are already working hard to tutor those phase whales." That was a scary prospect. Systematic cultivation had already produced plenty of results this early. If the aliens started to catch up and practice their own cultivation thods, then they would beco vastly more powerful than before!
"The ntal Fortress Auxiliary Qi Cultivation thod is exactly what it says." Ketis explained. "All practitioners must build a fortress in their mind that is primarily geared towards defending their own minds and spirits against external manipulation. The effect should be just as good as the ntal defenses bestowed by strong willpower, though it will also dull your emotions if you practice it in certain ways. Later chapters of this thod will strengthen your offensive capabilities as well. You will be able to impart the power of negation in your attacks that can help you break your enemy's extraordinary effects. Since much of this is based on the power of Lufa, this cultivation thod is an excellent complent to chs and weapons that already channel his power."
Legion Commander Cinnabar looked satisfied. "That sounds exactly what we need, Swordmaster Ketis. Our Battle Criers do not need to wield exotic powers. It is already enough if we can break them with our strength."
"The power of cultivation will only beco more and more common as the years go by. We will all need to rely on your strength to proactively deal with the more troubleso enemies that are as threatening as the cultivators of old. To be honest, it would be even better if we can equip you with true chs, but the Red Association is keeping these rare machines to themselves."
"I haven't seen a single true ch since it got introduced." Commander Sendra remarked. "There isn't even any hype around these strange chs that rely on these so-called complete neural interfaces."
"That is because systematic cultivation has not yet had ti to empower so many people... and maybe aliens." Commander lkor stated. "From what it sounds like, true chs only exist for one purpose. Maybe they can still be used to fight against more conventional opponents, but it would be a waste for them to do so. Besides, true chs are much harder to learn and master. Maybe we need to learn a new approach towards piloting in order to use them to their full potential."
Little was known about true chs as they infrequently showed up in large settlents. They generally did not appear on the frontlines as their principal enemies were not present on the battlefield. Yet.
The Larkinson leaders quickly set this topic aside and focused on the other cultivation thods that Ketis was about to introduce.
"Commander Firelight, the chs of the Flagrant Vandals all have speed and evasion in common, so your ch pilots will have the right to practice the Small Zephyr Auxiliary Qi Cultivation thod. Just as its na suggests, it was made with the cooperation of Saint Tusa Billingsley-Larkinson. The Small Zephyr thod shares many similarities in that it can increase a practitioner's reaction speed, pattern recognition and intuition, but since it is an advanced cultivation thod, it can go much further in the later chapters."
The Vandal Commander looked disappointed. "Is that all? Not that I am complaining. Our pilots can certainly do much if they obtain a fraction of Saint Tusa's amazing speed and evasion abilities. It just sounds... incomplete compared to the thods of the Avatars of Myth and the Living Sentinels."
"I am not finished yet." The swordmaiden grinned. "The Small Zephyr thod does more than that. It ties everything together by helping the practitioners grow their affinity towards the wind elent. It is not a particularly strong effect, but those who already possess an existing bond with the wind E energy attribute will be able to progress much faster than others. At the later stages, ch pilots will truly be able to evade attacks at almost the sa effectiveness as a low-tier expert pilot. The ch needs to be able to keep up, though."
That sounded a bit better to Commander Firelight. He was not entirely sure why it was so important to develop an affinity towards wind when the Larkinsons fought most of their battles in space, but this was probably so kind of cultivator nonsense. "That is more to my liking. I am sure the rest of the Vandals will be happy with this as well. I have a question. Since this is called the 'Small Zephyr thod', is there also a corresponding 'Large Zephyr thod"?"
Ketis nodded. "It is in the works, though last. I heard the cultivation scientists over at the T Institute have not made up their minds whether to call it the Big Zephyr thod or the Large Zephyr thod. It is an ancient tradition that has gotten lost in translation or whatever. What I do know is that the follow-up cultivation thod may not be an auxiliary thod anymore."
"What do you an by that, swordmaster?"
"I ntioned earlier that auxiliary thods are especially designed for ch pilots as they don't imperil their chances of becoming expert pilots or higher." The swordmaster said. "They are what our patriarch refers to as 'willpower cultivators! The boundary to expert pilot is a life-changing threshold. This is important because crossing this boundary will determine whether a person can beco a willpower cultivator or qi cultivator. If a low-ranking ch pilot decides to switch from the Small Zephyr thod to the Big or Large Zephyr thod, that person has already chosen to abandon his chances to step on the traditional path of godhood in favor of becoming powerful in a different way. Since it is all systematic, there is much less dependency on luck and serendipity for breakthroughs."
This was quite an important distinction. If there was one aspect about breakthroughs that ch pilots hated, it was that there was no progress bar or any other indication whether they were close to breaking through.
This was especially a huge problem for standard ch pilots. They could only make rough and usually inaccurate estimates of how close they were based on their own
self-evaluations.
For example, Commander lkor had tis where he felt he was close to breaking through, but did not know how much further he had to push himself to beco an
expert candidate.
There were also periods where he felt he had only made 5 percent progress towards triggering his breakthrough, when in reality he was closer to 50 percent or higher! The lack of information was maddening. Many more ch pilots than lkor suffered from the sa problem.
The advantage of systematic cultivation thods was that they were usually structured into multiple chapters. Every practitioner should also have much more tangible information on how much progress they have made and how far they needed to go before reaching the next stage.
In any case, the commanders present in the conference room could foresee that many Flagrant Vandals who had yet to attain much success in pushing up their willpower
may feel tempted to switch to the follow-up qi cultivation thod.
"I would like to remain inford about the developnt of this next book."
Commander Firelight requested.
Ketis nodded. "I will pass that on to the T Institute. Do not expect to see quick progress. Figuring out the cultivation steps at the later stages becos exponentially more difficult, especially when no one really knows what people are capable of at that point and what they need to do in order to beco stronger. We may have to wait until dozens of Flagrant Vandals have completed the final chapters of the Small Zephyr Auxiliary Qi Cultivation thod."
She soon moved on to introducing the next thod.
"Are we next?" Swordmaiden Commander Sendra eagerly asked.
"Not quite." Ketis said. "I have a special plan in mind for my fellow Swordmaidens.
Please wait until the end. It is the Penitent Sisters that are next." Penitent Commander Valerie Chancy sat straighter as she awaited her gift.
"In cooperation with the Superior Mother, we have devised the Single Phase Mastery Auxiliary Qi Cultivation thod." The Swordmaster introduced. "Penitent Sister ch pilots should choose 1 of the 6 phases of existence of hexism to master: life, death, godhood, damnation, dust and woman. The more they practice the chapters associated with a single phase, the more their affinity will align with their choice. They will develop various powers and abilities that are related to one of the phases. Every Penitent Sister can pray to the Superior Mother for guidance, but whether she will answer your doubts or lend a hand is not certain."
This was exactly what the Penitent Sisters have been dreaming for. This auxiliary cultivation thod imdiately conquered the Penitent Commander's heart! The forr Hexer even asked a question. "Is it possible to master two or more phases of existence at a ti? Many of us already have companion spirits. It should be more than possible to let each of us practice two phases at a ti. Even if there are Penitent Sisters who do not have them yet, what is stopping them from practicing all 6 phases at the sa ti or in sequence?"
Ketis raised her palm. "Slow down. You are asking way too many questions. I do not have all of the answers, but from my understanding, it is possible for a companion spirit to master a different phase of existence, but we cannot be sure about the results. As for trying to practice multiple phases yourself without the involvent of a companion spirit, that is not recomnded. Doing this at the sa ti will cause your domain to get confused and split. It will lose focus and prevent you from making further progress until you have reconciled the conflicting attributes sohow. It is safer to do it sequentially, but the ti it takes to make progress will increase more and more as it becos harder to incorporate new stuff. I am not the right person to answer these questions. You are better off praying to the Superior Mother for clarity" "Thank you. I shall do that. You have already provided a large amount of clarity" The Single Phase Mastery Auxiliary Qi Cultivation thod had a lot of potential. It possessed greater depth than the other cultivation thods. Commander Chancy even felt that it faintly promised every practitioner to follow in the Superior Mother's footsteps!
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