Chapter 16: New Technique!
Within the private space of the Spirit Tower, Ken was surrounded by golden lands that seemed to stretch forever, but his hints, one way or another, told him that all students were in this place, just hidden by some kind of power.
Some magic formation, most probably, Ken surmised.
As Ken read the technique that was floating as words on the sky, he couldn't help but be surprised at the efficiency.
The level of focus he could reach in this place made him able to get a grasp of the technique in 2 hours, when the spirit cultivation manual had taken him double if not more.
Though the technique itself was far wider than one could put into words, it dealt with many situations one could face in battle and covered the basics of almost all weapons, aiming towards making a cultivator aware of the situation.
Such a technique was something Ken needed desperately, and for the sect to put it up first spoke volumes of their knowledge; they knew exactly what to give these clueless new cultivators who had barely lived a few dozenyears in this world.
Still, it was just some records made by some maniac whose goal was efficiency, but Ken would very much love to meet whoever made this technique; he had a feeling they would click.
Unfortunately, as he was now, his plans didn't allow him to meet anyone or work with anyone; his mind was hardwired to extract as much information from every second of memory, so things like this will be left to the future.
Once the technique was grasped to an extent, it reached the requirement to enter idle training, and once that happened, Ken left.
'Hmm? Leaving already?' An elder who was cultivating within the Spirit Tower perceived the leaving figure of Ken without opening his eyes, probably some kind of mystic sight.
'A hasty one or a genius? WHich one are you?' The elder thought to himself, but it was a fleeting one.
He knew better than to be skeptical about such things, as with time, everything unfolds itself.
Still, he made a mental note. While most disciples had yet to even enter the Spirit Tower, those who had entered didn't leave until they grasped the technique, and it took most more than 12 hours, while others took days.
'Even with the focus mystic formation, kids remain kids; their thinking about a million things at once reduces to a thousand.'
For the elder to notice Ken was nothing but a given, providing the situation at hand.
Ken was either someone who left tasks uncompleted, a genius, or someone who was really good at focusing to the point of beating all students this year.
Still, the elder had no way of knowing if Ken had truly grasped the technique or not, but this technique was very easy to notice.
It was named the stepping stone for a reason; it was everything that made a difference between a rookie spirit path practitioner and a seasoned one.
'We're in need of all hands we could gather; things aren't looking promising any longer.'
---------
Once Ken reached his house, he looked at its simple design that allowed for no distraction and thought for a moment.
Smelling the dusty air, his attire suddenly changed into that of a cleaner.
40 minutes later, he was shirtless, and the room? Dirtless.
"Let's see... Spirit Forging." Standing in the middle of the sparkling room, Ken had his eyes closed.
Spirit Forging, a technique that allowed them to temper their bodies in an unorthodox manner.
While qi-refining cultivators used the spirit energy in the air to fill their bodies with it, like a layer on top of their bodies, this technique used that same energy to temper the body.
Before the energy enters the body, it has all kinds of violent torrents to it, chaotic, and not as calm as it seems.
But, for some reason, those with spirit roots are able to calm it down and use it to pursue unity with nature and ascend to a higher realm of self.
But what if it doesn't enter the body?
The light inside of the room was dim; the only source of it was the flickers of the candle that never seemed to die out.
But now, there seemed to be a different source of light.
Due to the level of concentration of spiritual energy, it appeared in the air.
Ken was using spirit cultivation, a method to gather spiritual energy, not to cultivate... but to temper his own body.
With his level of proficiency that approached major accomplishment, the spiritual energy in the air was like a puppet he could control however he wanted.
But as the concentration increased, two things happened.
Spirit energy was always in the form of little yellow dots with a tiny bit of red; the higher the concentration, the closer they are together, and if one were to continuously gather them without limit...
The red devours the yellow, becoming increasingly and intensely red.
Sparks and flashes appear around the now football-sized clusters of energy.
As this happens, keeping control over them also becomes harder.
But this wasn't Ken's goal.
If he used a single one of the balls of energy in front of him, he would instantly meet the same death his predecessor had.
But with his higher control and understanding, he could do something the previous one couldn't.
Control and divide the portions while keeping the intensity.
If Ken were to separate the balls now back into their previous selves, they would keep their red, violent shapes.
Becoming easier to absorb, very safe for him, and even still being able to keep the other in control and in shape around him.
Within Ken's room, dots of red illuminated the entire space, and he, who was in the middle of it all, glowed like a sinister demon summoned from hell.
-----End-----