22 Assimilation-2

"What is the use of this technique?" I asked.

"It is simple, your body is made of flesh, assimilation makes your body soak in natural energy speeding up the build-up of tissue and reinforces them. This will be needed so that you can strengthen your body, let me give you an example, if you take your current body, it will be like a bottle of glass filled with small and unnoticeable defects, assimilation makes you reforge your body, but it is a long and arduous task, some people assimilate energy for years upon years to make themselves stronger, it can even elongate one's lifespan."

"Would this process help with clearing those small defects?" I asked

"Yes, not only that if mastered correctly it can remove impurities, and cleanse the body, even the smallest amounts of toxin within the body can be cleared. It reinforces, and strengthen the body from the smallest possible point, it is like building a house not with brick, but with sand, one spec at a time, until it becomes an immovable indestructible object."

"Well this will probably take too much for me to start strengthening would it not?" I asked

"No, you don't need to reach that stage to begin strengthening. Once you breathe in the natural energy it will immediately guide itself to the impurities within your body, once you reach a respectable level of purity then you will start training"

"How do you track this level then?"

"There are several ways, the first being that once you gain enough energy your body will go on a breakthrough. And believe me, you will know when that happens. The second way is using this." he said as he grabbed a small jade medal. "Put this over your neck," he said

Once I did it glowed a bit and turned dark like coal

"That is your body's state, I am actually amazed that it is this bad… your body is filled with impurities, mostly due to your history as an orphan your environment wasn't helping, you need food… a lot of it. As the nutrients within your body are sorely lacking. Your bones are fragile and will break if you try strengthening, hell I don't even understand how you managed to hone with how much impurities you have in your body. The energy you circulate should dissipate before you exert it outwards… anyway, this medal will track your level. once you remove all the darkened stuff from it, it will glow in a pure green, once that is done it will turn dark again, that means that you have cleansed the first level."

"Ah so once the first level is over it goes to another level, how many levels are there?"

"There are a total of ten levels, of purity. The purer your body is, the more energy you can harness, the more you can harness the stronger your body will become, the stronger it is the more powerful you become."

"What level are you at master?" I asked with a bit of curiosity

"I stagnated at level seven, it is hard to break through the bottleneck to level eight, it should take me few years through," he said a bit disappointed.

"Wow, this takes years?" I asked in surprise

"Only the later levels, the first three levels shouldn't take even one year, the first level is the hardest and I need you to manage it before this month ends… you will need to eat more and train more, I will add some weight lifting to your training, you will need it to build muscle."

"Why do I need to build muscle when if I assimilate my body becomes stronger?"

"Assimilation doesn't make you stronger, it strengthens your body, and if you strengthen a weak body it still remains weak, if you strengthen a strong body it will become powerful. Eat more, train more and assimilate as much as you can, I will check up on you once you reach your first breakthrough, now start breathing in and circulating the energy within you as much as you can." He said and left.

'Well this shouldn't be that hard' I thought to myself.

Once I began breathing in the energy, I started noticing a few changes, especially after closing my eyes and using monochrome vision.

It was a strange thing, like my eyes removed themselves from my sockets and I was able to see myself from another point, a rush of powerful wind would drive itself from my nose and into my lungs, I was even able to track it, to see inside my body all the way to the smallest of veins, a small insignificant dark spec was linked to a vein within my body, the strang energy came in and pushed it toward a bloodstream, then a speck of gold took its place and fused to the tissue make in it tighten, this happened all over my body, not in one part but everywhere, on a small scale so small I found it amazing. Just being able to see these changes made me feel awe. It was wonderful, even mesmerizing to see a change at such a small level that I lost track of time.

Once I opened my eyes it was already night, and my body was feeling cold, not from the weather… I was soaking wet, like if I sweated a river.

The sweat however was… grassy, like fat melted out of my pores, it was disgusting.

I went straight for the showers to take a bath, and on the way, I saw that the medal was slightly glistening, it was less 'black' and more like bottle green, this was going to take time to make it shine, but I knew it would be worth it.

Once I cleaned up and left I heard a voice I actually missed

'Basara' said Nocturne

'Where have you been?' I asked before letting him finish.

'Watching…' he said

That sounded a bit creepy because I was just taking a shower so I missed the meaning behind his words…

'I was watching you train and found the chance to tell you something.'

'What is it?' I asked

'What is the road you will choose? The blade or that of magic?' he asked

'Why can't I choose both?' I said

'To choose both is a greedy request, yet nevertheless, it will require discipline and a willpower like never before, so do you truly want to take the path of a mage and a warrior?'

'If it means I get to learn many and different things, then yes, if I have the chance I will take it. to know is to live…'

'Then so be it. Your lord will teach you how to wield magic, the swordmaster will teach you how to wield the blade, and I will teach you how to master them both… yet to do so you will need something first.'

'What is that thing?'

'Your cultivation technique is lackluster, it is of low efficiency, I can teach you a trick or two on how to harness Qi, into your body without the need to needlessly remain sitting, so that you may harness it, and train with it. reinforce your body while you strengthen your mind to learn magic, use them both to manage both… for that is why I am here, to make you a blade against the darkness…'

'What darkness?' I asked

'You are not ready to know the dark. But it will come, and without a blade to cut through it, your world will share my old world's fate…'

'What do you mean by that nocturne?'

'You remember our promise? I will tell you about me once you become strong enough. Today you earned the right to know a part of that knowledge… For I was once a human like you until I stumbled upon that book… it gave me power, knowledge, and strength to defeat my enemies, yet I did not use it well, I did not fight off the dark, and for that, I was trapped within it… and that is your fate, Basara… we are rarely given the luxury of choice when it best suits us, and you are now sharing my fate, you have one of two option, become strong enough to fend off the looming destruction, or wait for the devastation of this world along with me, inside this prison…' said Nocturne

Words of a weight I had not the slightest idea about… but time would tell how Nocturne was right, and how I was too slow to understand…