CHAPTER 19: First Cultivation Technique

(Author's Note: Readers, I've updated the previous chapter, made a few minor changes.)

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'I think this thing was called Silverback. That's what I saw in the book.' Aiden thought as he looked at the monster.

"Anyway, you're just an overgrown monkey." Aiden said.

*Grrrooowwwrrr!!

"You can't even make a proper monkey sound, hah!"

Silverback charged angrily towards Aiden.

'[Body Strengthening]' As soon as Aiden activated the skill, a red aura wrapped his body.

 *Growwwwwrrrrr!!!

*Booommm!!

As Sliverback attacked Aiden, Aiden countered with a punch of his own and as soon as the two fists clashed there was a shockwave and the ground cracked.

[The Class [Warrior] has Leveled Up!]

[The skill [Body Strengthening] has Leveled Up!]

'Right on time!' Aiden thought.

With leveling up, the protective red aura around Aiden became even thicker.

"Hey overgrown monkey, what the hell was that, you call that a punch? I didn't even feel it." 

Silverback became even more enraged and brought his giant fist down on Aiden again, but it was no use.

*Booommm!!!

Suddenly there were sounds of fighting and monsters coming from somewhere else.

'I wonder why no adventurer has come forward yet. So there's more than one monster on the run, so I'll take care of this one and go after the others.' Aiden thought.

Aiden pulled his gloves out of his inventory and leapt towards Silverback. He infused his gloves with mana and hit Silverback hard from the top down.

[The monster [Silverback] is infected with Manticore poison.]

Shortly after this message, Silverback fell due to the poison and then turned to dust, leaving behind the magic core.

'I was already doing poison damage every time I blocked its attack, it was easy.' Aiden thought then grabbed the magic core and threw it to inventory.

Then Aiden quickly started attacking the monsters, starting with the nearest sound. Most of them were ground floor monsters, so much so that the title hadn't even given him a quest for them.

Aiden then started helping the adventurers, starting with the nearest monster.

'A lot of monsters have escaped, but they are all small fry, at least for me. Even though I'm only level 2, I'm much stronger than a normal level 2 thanks to Shadow mana, Qi and normal mana plus the Power stat, and the fact that those meridians it shows in the system window during cleansing are cleansed makes me feel like I have a flexible and more relaxed body now, whereas before I was fighting with a stiff body, and I can also apply more force and energy to my fist.' Aiden thought as he ran to the last place where the sound came from.

"Holy shit what are those?!" The moment Aiden arrived, what he saw were giant plant-like monsters and Ais, Tiona and Tione were fighting them and it wasn't going very well.

"[I wish upon the name of Wishe.]"

Aiden turned and saw Lefiya, the person who had been saying the incantation.

"[Ancestors of the forest, proud brethren. Answer my call and come to the plains.]"

{Inspiration is leading...]

'? Why this appeared out of nowhere?' Aiden thought then...

[Shadow Mana+ Hold]

'This sign looks like a wall.' 

*Kkkraaaawwwrkkkk!!

Suddenly the plant monster turned towards Lefiya, and Aiden's mind flashed.

*Fwooshhh

Aiden jumped in front of Lefiya. Lefiya was still chanting the incantation.

'I need a shield, but how? What kind of shield? Against something that can fight with level 5s like this, I need a shield that hides, not a strong shield, but how? Shadow mana... Wait, shadow mana is different from normal mana and it's almost like the opposite, so a shield to match that...' Aiden thought in seconds then...

"[Emerge from the darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure.]" Aiden thought of a technique from an anime he liked, and as he said the words, he tried to imagine the formation of the curtain in the anime and moved the shadow mana for it.

Suddenly the monster looked around and the sense of magic that had been there a moment ago had disappeared and now there was no magic at all.

'I did it. Huff huff...' Aiden thought.

"Lefiya-san, keep up the magic, that monster can't sense us here!"

"[Connecting bonds, the pledge of paradise. Turn the circle and dance around.]"

"[Come, ring of fairies. Please - give me strength]"

When Lefiya completed the spell, a powerful wave of magical power spread, almost breaking the curtain, but Aiden strengthened it at the last moment.

"Thank you Aiden-san."

"[Harbinger of the end, the white snow.]"

'Wait there is still more?! Ugh! It's hard to hold this thing.'

"[Blow with the wind before the twilight.]"

'C'mon!'

"[Closing light, the freezing land.]"

"[Blizzard, the three severe winters - my name is Alf]!"

Aiden immediately lifted the curtain

"[Wynn Fimbulvetr]!"

And Lefiya's magic froze an entire street. Then Tione, Tione and Ais destroyed the frozen mobnsters easily.

Aiden lay down exhausted and Loki came in and everyone was congratulating Lefiya.

"Hey Lefiya-san that was amazing! Let's do that again!"

""No!"" Everyone said at the same time.

"Yeah I thought so."

"[Heal]" Aiden used the healing spell on himself. Aiden's healing spell also replenishes stamina, so Aiden was able to replenish his stamina sufficiently after a few casts.

He then began to heal first Ais, Tione, Tiona and Lefiya, and then other wounded people around the city. Many times he almost ran out of mana, but he refilled it with potions and kept going.

After dedicating the rest of the day to healing, Aiden sat on a bench in the evening. He was really tired.

"Aiden-san?" Aiden turned when he heard the familiar voice and saw the person he recognized there.

"Syr-san!"

"You disappeared for days and then I saw you fighting the escaped monsters in Monster felia and then you came back and healed the wounded after all the monsters were eliminated. You've worked hard." Syr said.

"Thanks Syr-san."

"Have you been able to eat all day in between all these things?" Syr asked.

"Oh ye-"

*Grrrrooowwwllll!! 

Aiden's stomach growled like a hungry dragon.

"Fufufu~" Syr opened the food package in his hand and sat on the bench, handing the box to Aiden.

After eating, Aiden thanked Syr and decided to go back to Familia because it was getting late and if he was late again, his ban to the dungeon would be extended.

Aiden returned to the familia and first informed Riveria, Finn and Gareth of his arrival. He had to inform Riveria, Finn and Gareth when he arrived in the evening on top of the dungeon ban because he kept disappearing, then Aiden went to his room and sat on his bed and started to open his messages.

[The Class [Healer] has Leveled Up!]

[The skill [Heal] has Leveled Up!]

[The Class [Healer] has Leveled Up!]

[The skill [Heal] has Leveled Up!]

[You've Leveled Up!]

[You've Leveled Up!]

[You've Leveled Up!]

[You've acquired 3 Level Points]

[Name: Shadow Mana]

[Rank: Special] (Depends on the user)

[Description: Second Mana.]

[Effect (passive): Predation: Shadow mana eats and strengthens any counter-energy it comes into contact with.]

[Effect (passive): Black Hole: When two sources of shadow mana come into contact, they create a gravitational collapse effect. This causes the shadow mana to grow and shrink, creating a destructive force that can erase anything caught within its radius.]

[Effect (passive): Curtain: A curtain that prevents the user from being sensed by those who sense mana.]

'Well that's a good gain but I need to increase Qi, but how? Daily quests take too long and almost do not increase it at all. What did those people in the cultivation novels do? Cultivation... Qi? Eureka! A cultivation technique that's what I need.' Aiden thought then opened the system shop.

When Aiden opened the system shop and was looking at breeding techniques, he realized something. So far he had bought the most potions from the system so he hadn't looked much elsewhere, but now he saw that the lowest rank, F-rank, was too cheap for potions and too high for cultivation techniques.

He looked at cultivation techniques for a long time, but then he realized that most cultivation techniques require at least an alignment with at least one element, and even they have degrees. Like high, peak etc.

Aiden then searched the system for an item to show their closeness and finally found an item for 500 gold. He touched the orb and a system message appeared.

[Would you like to use [Affinity Detector] now?]

"Yes."

The orb in Aiden's hand glowed and disappeared, and then the system window and a list appeared.

[Affinities:

[Peak: Wind, Ice]

[High: Fire, Poison, Blood]

[Medicore: None]

[Low: None]

"So I only have these affinities. I understand fire and poison, but where did wind, ice and blood come from? I even have a higher affinity for wind and ice than for fire and poison." Said and go back to look other cultivation techniques.

After much effort, Aiden had found a suitable cultivation technique that was neither too expensive nor cheap and useless.

[Name: Violet Qi Cauldron Control Art]

[Type: Cultivation Tecnique]

[Rank: Low-tier]

[Price: 5.000 Gold]

(Description: The Violet Qi Cauldron Control Art is a foundational cultivation manual widely used by beginner cultivators. It contains the secrets to manipulating spiritual energy in refined ways, focusing on precision and control. The manual is split into 10 levels, each one unlocking more profound control over Qi, corresponding to stages in the Qi Condensation realm.)

"Qi control is the first thing I need to learn, so this technique is ideal. I also bought a book on blood point for 100 gold coins." Aiden said.

Afterwards Aiden studied the book of blood points.

He spent the whole night memorizing the book and learning the blood points on his own body.

Then, in the morning, he finished memorizing the book and this time it was time for the technique of upbringing. He took out the book on the technique and started reading.

"Why are these cultivation techniques always abstract? What does Lightness-in-Heaviness and Heaviness-in-Lightness mean?"

Aiden tried to figure it out for a long time, but he couldn't find anything, so he went down to the dining hall.

'What's that supposed to mean, lighten my Qi by breaking it down? No, no, no, that would be bad.' 

Aiden did his daily quest after breakfast, but his mind was still on this technique. When he still couldn't find it after puzzling over it for a long time, Aiden wandered around the city, hoping to clear his head and maybe find something that would help.

As Aiden walked around he saw places still under renovation, trying to repair the damage from yesterday's Monster feria incident.

"-san!"

"den-san!"

"Aiden-san!!" The sudden voice snapped Aiden out of his thoughts and he turned to see Syr.

"Syr-san?"

"I've been calling you for a while, Aiden-san. Why are you so lost in thought?" Syr asked.

"Nothing important, I was just trying to figure something out, but I guess I got a little carried away."

"Come with me I will help you."

"Eh how?"

Syr pulled Aiden all the way to the Hostess of Fertility.

Syr then took Aiden to a vacant lot in the back and they pulled up some chairs.

"What were you trying to figure out now?"

"There is some kind of technique that I'm trying to learn, but it's very abstract and I don't understand what it's trying to say."

"Can you show it to me?"

Aiden took the book out of his inventory and handed it to Syr. Syr looked into the book for a while and closed her eyes briefly, then opened them and started to speak.

"Aiden-san what kind of technique is that?"

"Oh It's a control technique, more precisely to control the energy."

"I understand. I think the part you don't understand is Lightness-in-Heaviness and Heaviness-in-Lightness, right?"

"Yeah that's right."

"Although I'm not sure, I think you're too hung up on the term heavy and light in this Lightness-in-heaviness part, I think it might be better if you think of them like this, heavy means your total energy and light means the small energies you get from that total energy: How you divide and manipulate that energy into fine, controlled threads, making it more efficient and versatile."

Lightning flashed in Aiden's head, Aiden was right to split the energy at first, but it was incomplete, and now he understood the first part.

"Now the second part, Heaviness-in-Lightness, is about taking something light or small and using it in a way that gives you the strength to lift something heavy."

"Wait, so if I combine these two, I can create a more durable and stronger power in a smaller power by connecting the small energies that I will get from my total energy!"

As soon as Aiden said that, he felt a tingling in his head, as if something was warning him and urging him to do something. Suddenly Aiden stopped talking and got down from the chair and sat on the floor in the lotus position and stood with his hands just in front of his stomach, palms facing each other, top and bottom, as if he was holding a ball.

He started repeating what he was saying in his head and his body started to feel strange, as if something from outside was seeping in and flowing through his veins into his dantian and from his dantian flowing back into his body in small pieces.

What he read in the book started to flow to Aiden and with his breathing, the changing postures and positions in the book started to repeat hundreds and thousands of times in Aiden's head.

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Sorry readers I got exams so I couldn't write. I also started rereading danmachi and the Sword Oratoria series so I don't miss anything. I have also discovered that I am more productive when I stay up at night and write.

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Emilio Gonzalez

Forgotten Krazy