Cultivation

Ma Sa was really very confused by the notification. As far as he knew, Magicka didn't increase until level up. Strangely, on this occasion it increased just like it would when a skill increased in proficiency. Ma Sa was curious enough that he decided to immediately go into the skills menu.

*/*

Ma Sa scanned his surroundings and saw no sign of a Magicka constellation amongst the stars. He did, however, find a new constellation which was labelled as 'Cultivation'. His cultivation was currently level 1 according to that tree which caused him further confusion. Where was the notification for cultivation leveling up? Ah well, thinking of answers to questions without them was starting to overheat Ma Sa's brain. Since he had earned a skill point he should apply it!

Urging the constellation to come closer, Ma Sa took his first look at the perks available to him.

--Energy Streams (0/9)--

--Strengthened Channels (0/9)--

--Spiritual Battery (0/9)--

--Chilling Power--

Ma Sa surmised that the first four nodes of the constellation chain seemed to give bonuses to the process of gathering and circulating energy. It would take him a while to fill out the first few points but he had never expected things to be easy. He could only pray for no more impromptu marathons!

Before applying his point in --Energy Streams--, Ma Sa decided to quickly check his value for Magicka which has previously always been zero.

*~*

[Player.getAV Magicka] *return*

[Magicka --> 1.00]

*~*

Well it wasn't zero anymore so maybe he really did level up his Magicka and then the proficiency just got renamed? Ma Sa still knew very little about the workings of his mysterious console. In most ways it was exactly like the game but it also seemed like it attuned to his thoughts in order to bridge the gap between the game and reality.

*~*

Ma Sa exited the console and applied his first cultivation perk point.

--Energy Streams (1/9)--

He quickly entered the console again and checked his Magicka. It had now risen to 2.00. He was thrilled! It turned out that the very first point of his perk tree had provided him with double his base value of Magicka. If he could scale his base values he would have the potential for very high figures. The only problem was that he had no idea as to what a desirable Magicka value was at his current level. Thinking this, Ma Sa decided to select Ye Zhen with the cursor and take a peek at his Magicka value.

*/**~* [getAV Magicka] *return*

[Magicka --> 1928.00]

*~*

Ma Sa came back to the real world as he looked at Ye Zhen who was sitting opposite him. He may have some struggles with motivation to gain but Ye Zhen was definitely regarded as a bright talent in his generation. The value for his Magicka seemed relatively high but certainly not unattainable to Ma Sa. For the time being he would set Ye Zhen as his goal.

"Haha! You felt it didn't you?! I'm a genius teacher! Now bow to your great master!" Ye Zhen looked at Ma Sa expectantly. It made total sense to him that his student should worship him in gratitude. Ma Sa saw no harm in stroking his ego a bit more so he smiled and dropped into a kneeling prayer pose.

"Oh great sage! Thank you for your profound wisdom! This little one has benefited greatly from your guidance!"

Ye Zhen's smile grew broader as he appreciated his martial student's grandiloquent manner. He was glad to find someone who understood his sense of humour. He would find life in the clan to be very boring if he couldn't amuse himself so he was more than happy to meet a friend he could play along with. It beat teasing his maid at any rate! He decided that from now on he would do his best to help his young student grow strong.

"Good good! I'll graciously accept your gratitude! Now, since you have felt the Heaven and Earth Qi, you can start to cultivate properly. Use your breathing to push the Qi around your body. Watch me and I'll show you the route."

Ye Zhen indicated the circulation pathway of his Qi as he breathed. Ma Sa copied him closely and gradually got used to the feeling of moving his Magicka around mentally. It was a bit like using the cursor in the console actually.

Once he got the hang of it, he noticed that he had two streams of energy flowing through the pathway rather than just one. No matter how he tried to combine them, the streams stayed separate. Since Ye Zhen didn't mention such a phenomenon, Ma Sa assumed it was unique to him. It was likely to be the effect of the --Energy Streams-- perk. The name fit after all. He was still unsure of what benefits the extra stream would bring but he was at least sure that it wasn't detrimental.

Ye Zhen noticed that Ma Sa had got it when he felt minute Qi fluctuations eminate from his body. He was pleasantly surprised. It seemed that Ma Sa had some talent for Qi refinement. He had picked up the feeling in a similar time to himself.

"Very good!"

Ma Sa was a little lost in exploring the new sensations in his body and was rapidly experimenting with finding out what he could do with his Qi. He barely registered Ye Zhen's praise and continued trying to circulate his Qi a little faster each time. Ye Zhen glanced at Ma Sa with appreciation every now and then while he diverted his focus to his own cultivation.

************

[Magicka Increased to 11]

[Level Progress ||||||||||||||||||-- 5]

Ma Sa had cultivated all afternoon and only stirred when Old Guan came looking for him. He Zhen had left to play with his maid a few hours before. He had considered breaking Ma Sa out of his meditation but decided against it when he thought that he may be in the grips of an enlightenment.

Ma Sa was pleasantly surprised when he saw his level. He was now very comfortable with the process of cultivation and could probably experiment with a more advanced Qi circulation method. In fact, he had one in mind, specifically, that had caught his eye when he was reading before.

Old Guan looked at the spaced out kid before him with admiration for his resolve. It was common for higher teir martial cultivators to spend large amounts of time in cultivation without break. The same was not true for practitioners of the lower teirs let alone a new initiate. For Ma Sa to spend over 8 hours in his very first cultivation session, it indicated a significant talent in cultivation.

"Seems you made some progress boy. It's getting late though. You can come back here tomorrow at dawn to train with Ye Zhen." Old Guan said as he prepared to make his way down the mountain.

Ma Sa nodded in acknowledgement and followed his teacher back to their small residence in the slums. Ma Sa had many thanks that remained in his heart. His teacher really had put in his best efforts to help him and, once again, Ma Sa found himself swearing to himself to help Old Guan restore his honor and live a happy life.

Retreating behind the divider that Old Guan had set up for their shared room, Ma Sa changed into his night gown and prepared to reap the benefits of his level ups. It was time to apply his perk points!