BUILDING BLOCKS OF CULTIVATION

Transfixed Jared watched with rapt attention to the very last exercise and as soon as the exercise portion was done Azaire grabbed a spare towel and shirt from his ring....and a spare big brother while he was at it!

After all Master Talya had already told him they would stop to eat supper before she started his quiz and then they would discuss his cultivation.

After grabbing his brother he called to Titania who wandered over obediently, and they began to eat Jared's heavenly cooking.

It wasn't too clear to begin with but over time it became clear that Azaire was the only one Titania was fully nice too, everyone else she got irritable with quickly and sometimes with barely any reason or she just plain ignored them.

Jared had also noticed this and would occasionally shoot her distrustful glances.

Jared was normally sunny and cheerful and nice to everyone despite his scary outer appearance but although they'd only just met recently he already felt protective of Azaire.

As they all finished their meal master Talya took Azaire aside and began quizzing on flora, fauna, and basic cultivation knowledge.

She was sure Azaire had started researching already although she had told him not to even think of trying to cultivate without her.

As she started her quiz apart from them Jared began a quiz of his own back over near the campfire.

"So Titania it was nice of you to come along with us instead of waiting at your kingdom..... Why did you come along actually? I didn't think you would be the type to play well with other's."

Jared questioned her casually while observing her reaction from the corner of his eyes. He wasn't normally an antagonistic type of person so there was no real reason in his mind to seriously grill her yet but there was no harm in being cautious.

Titania gave him a blank look at first before she sighed and said, "Honestly it's because of Azaire."

She continued eating silently as she finished speaking, but after a while she could sense the silent frown on Jared's face without even needing to look up. Steadying herself she fixed Jared with a serious stare.

She wasn't stupid she could tell what was going on. "You like him." She said it matter of factly. "So." Jared made no attempt to hide his feelings from her. Titania nodded as this fact was never in question to begin with and replied,

"He's too young. You're four centuries old and he has not made one besides I am not interested in stealing your courtship. He simply reminds me of someone precious."

Jared was a bit taken aback as he questioned, "He reminds you of a past lover?" Titania's face twisted in disgust. "Absolutely not! As I said he's too young and I wouldn't ever let a man presume to touch me in that way! I prefer women in my bed."

At this news Jared let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Well okay that explains your interest.... Also I know he's young!"

" It's not like I'm trying to eat him up right away! I can wait for him, and that doesn't mean I can't be affectionate till then. Now finish up your food."

Jared hummed to himself as he gently tickled Skye's belly.

Titania gave a helpless look as she continued eating her food, and Roran who had been completely forgotten rubbed his beard in interest.

Someone courting his little brother? This was sure to be an interesting trip.

While that was going on back over toward the master and apprentice the quiz was starting to come to its final moments. "Okay," master Talya quizzed . "Tell me what are the building blocks of cultivation and what are the mainly known ones used by the eight great races?"

Azaire who'd always been very smart and usually prepared didn't need any help answering such a simple question. He replied,

"Cultivation is the process of absorbing and manipulating life energy of different forms to augment the body, mind, and spirit to impart upon us skills and abilities beyond what normal mortals and other races are capable of.

These varied life energies also provide power for special martial abilities, magic and spells, and soul techniques.

Dragons have Ki and Mana, Witches have magic, Elves have Spirit, Beastmen have Chi, Fairies have Ether, Giants have Essence, Dwarves have Soul, and Humans....well we humans have a gift.

In exchange for being the weakest race we have a pretty amazing ability. We can manipulate and utilize any of the life energies and as many as we can handle at once. When we mix these energies together they become our own and every combo no matter if the same energy is used is unique to each human cultivator."

Master Talya was pleased with this thorough answer and nodded her approval. "Good now that I'm sure you're ready for it, here read this." Master Talya gave him a small tome with a Diagram on the front but it was incomplete.

There was a meditating body on the cover whose brain showed in its head. The brain was split in two colors. On one side the symbol for magic stood prominent and on the other side the symbol for mana stood. Down near the heart of the diagram man was a yin-yang symbol. In Yin was the symbol for soul and in yang the symbol for spirit.

Azaire recognized this diagram from his own studies. It was a type of peak cultivation he eventually wanted to practice except there was something missing....

The man in the diagram should have been half muscle and half skeletal. The muscular side should have had the symbol for chi and the skeletal side should have had the symbol for Ki. "This is...," master Talya started before Azaire actually interrupted her for once.

"This is part of the diagram of life! A peak life-aligned cultivation method used to cultivate Life Master's....But where are the body symbols? This cultivation method focuses on the three core development areas of cultivators. Body, Mind, and Spirit. But where is body? I only see the methods for mind and spirit in here!"

Azaire had started flipping through the book in confusion, searching for the missing body symbols.

Master Talya was taken aback. Her standards for her apprentice were very high and she had indeed intended to gradually upgrade him to the diagram of life method eventually but she never dreamed that not only had he gone so far in his cultivation studies but he actually managed to find information about the diagram of life cultivation and even had his eyes on it already?

It had to be known peak cultivation techniques like the diagram of life could not just be picked up from your local bookstores. Every copy of the tome was rare and priceless and there were not many copies to begin with.

As Azaire flipped through the "incomplete" tome, master Talya cleared her throat to regain his attention. "That's not the diagram of life but it is related. That's the diagram of the Medic. While I do own a full copy of the Diagram of Life. I'm not sure you're ready for that. Physically you're just not up to it yet."

Master Talya sighed as a stubborn look crossed Azaire's face. She knew that look. That look meant "I'm going to get what I want no matter what means I need to employ!" and that look had given her so many headaches when it showed up.