Duskspire Base - Inner Sanctum
Lumberling sat cross-legged in the dim silence of his chamber. The light of a single lantern flickered against the stone walls, casting long shadows across stacks of training manuals, folded cloth armor, and the spear that rested unused in the corner.
Tonight, he shifted paths.
His hand opened a worn notebook, handwritten pages filled with reassembled fragments from a dead man's mind. At the top, in crisp ink:
Imperial Mindseal Meditation.
A high-grade cultivation method. Refined. Structured. Elegant. Designed to calm the spirit and train the mind while nourishing the internal pathways of the body.
But for Lumberling, it was none of those things.
Not yet.
He closed his eyes. Inhaled slowly. And began.
The Body Tempering Realm.
The first realm of cultivation.
Goal: Harden flesh, bone, and meridians to withstand Qi.
No flowery arts. No golden light. Only breath, pain, and trial.
And it hurt.
