7 07. Techniques

The day after he accepted William as his Master, Noah went early in the morning to the guards' building as per William's instruction.

The previous morning he had explained the situation to his mother, and, seeing the new bruises on her body, he could not help but feel gloomy.

He entered the building and went straight to the first floor, the men guarding the stairs had been informed of his arrival and let him pass without trouble.

Before he put his foot on the last step, he heard the voice of William at the end of the corridor.

"You're early."

Watching the yawning figure that was now his master dressed in a white gym suit, he felt a bit of trepidation.

He put up a severe expression and did a slight bow with his left fist in his right hand.

"Your disciple was eager to learn, Master."

William didn't even look at him and gestured to follow him.

Together they entered a spacious room with weapons on the walls and some wooden dummies sparse around.

Suppressing another yawn, William pointed at the floor:

"Sit, I'm not really good at mornings, so I wish to explain everything just once, then you can ask me questions."

Noah almost immediately sat cross-legged on the floor.

The yearning was clearly visible in his eyes.

William sorted his thoughts for a little and then started explaining with a serious face:

"First, I want to make sure that you understand the reason why the captain chose to let you enter the guards. We can't have people scamming men for their rightfully earned techniques, especially a kid with your position. Weighing the pros and cons of the situation, we decided that it was better to use that greed of yours for our needs rather than punish you. So, remember to thank the captain for allowing you to keep your hands when you see him."

A drop of cold sweat ran through Noah's back, he finally realized how reckless he had been.

'The facade of the kid can't work against powerful people, or perhaps they just don't care that I'm a kid.'

"Second, we won't give away anything to you, a guard has to gather merits to obtain rewards, and you will be no different. Yet, since you are now my disciple, I will give you something to start with. Consider it as a loan that you will repay through serving in the guards. Do you understand me? You will have to spill blood for your family to obtain what you want."

William looked at Noah's eyes with probing intention.

His situation wasn't exactly a secret, so it was reasonable to question his will to protect the Balvan family.

'I think I get the message he wants to convey. He is afraid that, since I'm a bastard, I might be holding grudges against the Balvan and exploit the guards as a means to strengthen myself and get revenge. He is not wrong, but he's totally missing my reasons.'

Looking conflicted and pensive, Noah lowered his head only to raise it with an even more determined face.

"Your disciple understands!"

William stared at him, trying to decipher his face.

'If he is lying, he sure is good at it.'

Then he gave up on understanding the kid in front of him and resumed his explanation:

"Then it's settled. You are now the youngest member to ever serve among the guards of the Balvan family. Our duties mostly consist of solving issues with bandits and magical beasts inside Balvan's territory since it's the duty of the troops in the inner circle to protect the family members personally. I will explain more about missions later, now pay attention, I'm starting with the part you almost lost your hands for."

It was needless to say that Noah's attention skyrocketed.

"You read the Yin-Yang system so I can skip the part about the "Breath" and elements. Human cultivation can be divided into three centers of power: dantian, body, and sea of consciousness that are deeply connected."

"The dantian is in your lower abdomen, and it's usually formed by the age of fifteen. It is the place where cultivators accumulate the "Breath" and, once accumulated, it will nourish the body and the mind as a result."

"The body is the shell of a cultivator, it can be nourished by flooding it with "Breath", and the stronger it is the more stable your dantian and mind will be. You have already started nurturing it with the Ice-Fire revolving technique."

"The sea of consciousness is at the center of your brain, and it's the place where your mental energy generates and dwells. Enlarging your sea of consciousness will not only give you more space to store mental energy and raise its production, but it will also sharpen your senses and quicken your thoughts. It is said that, at some level, you can even start predicting imminent dangers."

"Now, you can start with your first round of questions."

Noah closed his eyes and repeated what his master had just said in his mind to memorize it. After scanning through the pieces of information a couple of times, he found two things he was unsure of.

"Master, I have two questions: haven't you said that the Ice-Fire revolving technique is just an imitation of a cultivation technique? If the dantian is formed at the age of fifteen, does this mean that I cannot cultivate for the next five years?"

William's answer was immediate, as he had probably foreseen the doubts coming to his disciple's mind a moment earlier.

"Real body-nourishing methods use the "Breath" in the dantian to flood the body and nourish it. In comparison, the Ice-Fire revolving technique is just a process to forcibly store some "Breath" that will be naturally used as nourishment. The difference lies in the quantity of "Breath" used, besides the fact that the technique you practice can only accumulate a tenth of what you could accomplish by using the dantian. Moreover, you can clearly feel that this technique is bound to the physical limits of the body, while real body-nourishing methods can allow you to break those limits."

"As for the other question, yes, the usual age at which a human has completely formed his dantian is fifteen. Yet, as I told you, the three centers of power are deeply connected. Probably you have already sped up the process of creation of the dantian by practicing the Ice-Fire revolving technique. Who knows, you might have already gained some months in terms of growth."

Noah's eyes lit up after he heard that.

'This means that I can accelerate the process by training the other two centers of power. Wait, something sounds weird, doesn't that mean that when someone trains all three of them at the same time, its growth will be exponential?'

A confused expression appeared on his face.

Eyebrows knitted together, he looked at his Master and was about to ask more questions, but he was interrupted.

"You will understand more once you start practicing. Cultivation is innately an act of defiance against Heaven and Earth since we take its power and make it ours, so the process is extremely long and painful. Therefore, since the three centers of power are connected, if it's true that empowering one will affect the other two, it's also true that leaving behind one will slow the growth of the other two. But as I said, you will understand it once you step on the road."

William then sat on the ground and took out a pile of sheets from beneath his suit.

"I will give you a training method for the sea of consciousness and let you choose a martial art and a body-nourishing method that doesn't need a dantian out of the ones I sorted out for you. These sheets are only the general description of the techniques, so come closer and read them carefully. Remember to pick those in line with your traits and needs."

Before he could even put the sheets on the ground, Noah was already sitting on his knees in front of him.

'This fucking kid didn't even run this fast when he was running away from me.'

Releasing a soft sigh, William added:

"Take note that you will have to change the body-nourishing method once you form a dantian and that the martial arts use "Breath" to express their real power, so, for now, you are limited to the one you gather in your body."

After the last warning, he laid the sheets on the floor, with body-nourishing on the right and martial arts on the left, and watched with a slight smile as the disciple of his read them with eager eyes.

It seemed he could consume them with just one stare.

'He sure has the will of a cultivator, I wonder how far he can go.'

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Edited by: Alessandro Sica