Short Timeskip

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On a clearing, three figures sat cross-legged with eyes closed, deep in meditation. Their surrounding was simmering in invisible waves of energy. With every breath, said energy is being drawn in and expelled from their bodies.

These three figures were Shun, Hinami, and Ria.

Three months have passed since Shun introduced the Full dive cultivation world to Hinami and Ria and a lot has happened since then.

<Three Months Ago>

The day after their introduction to the uses of Spiritual energy, Hinami and Ria followed Shun's instructions and after a session of meditation, they both opened the book and their consciousness was sucked into the book where they experienced the beginning story of both Main Characters.

Shun came toward their usual meeting spot in the afternoon after working in the field in the morning, and to his surprise, he was the first to arrive,

Shrugging slightly, he made a seat and a small pavilion with his Wood Release to get comfortable.

'I wonder what's holding them up, hope it's not because of the book I left them,' Shun thought as he sat.

'I wouldn't want to turn them into Otakus this early in time'

As Shun got comfortable while waiting for them to arrive, Shun thought out loud, "Now I have some time to myself, I should look at some of this world's future techniques and find a way to replicate and improve them"

"Hmm, let's start with the academy's three Jutsus, Transformation, clone, and substitution, the cline isn't an issue, the substitution is a watered-down space-related technique, and that leaves the transformation Jutsu. I don't necessarily need this jutsu but it wouldn't hurt to have more skills in my repertoire"

While still deep in thought, Shun's attention was drawn as he noticed two figures entering his passive sensory range and walking toward his direction.

"Hmm, they are finally here" Shun muttered.

From a distance, two figures could be seen walking briskly toward Shun with excitement gleaming in their eyes.

They were Hinami and Ria. Hinami was the first to arrive and seconds later, Ria arrived as well.

"Shun" Hinami called out excitedly and lunged at Shun for a hug.

Shun caught her and hatred her head and asked "What's wrong Nami, you seem different"

Although Shun could not put a finger on it, Hinami's disposition has changed somewhat. If previously, she was carefree, ignorant, and innocent, now she seems more intelligent and focused.

As Shun was deep in thought, Ria finally caught up, and instead of the previous, carefree, and cute Ria, now, she was even more curious with a unique disposition that even I couldn't put a finger on.

"Big brother, Big sister," She greeted with a smile but she didn't include herself in the hug, which was weird.

Shun waved his hands signaling for Ria to come closer and patted her head with his free hand and said, "How are you Ria-chan, why the sudden behavior? Hmm?"

"It's nothing, big brother" Ria answered with a smile as she enjoyed the head pats.

"I doubt it's nothing, come and sit, tell me what's bothering you," Shun said and created two extra chairs and a table for both Hinami and Ria.

As they sat down, Shun said "Alright, let's hear it then, what's on your mind? Hinami why don't you start"

Hinami nodded and with excitement, she said, "Wow Shun, what was that book, and where is that world? What was that power? Everybody there was strong, though not as strong as us but still,"

Shun smiled at her question and said "That world is a world I created from here" Shun said while pointing to his head, and continued "With perfect control over your imagination, you can turn the things you think of into words or a world as you've seen" Shun said with a straight face.

'It's not like I am stealing anyone's story here, this is a new world and from this world's perspective, I am the author' Shun thought shamelessly to justify himself.

Shun pressed his hands on the table and a portion of the table surface turned into paper, and with another touch on the table, a wooden brush was formed.

Using his spiritual energy alone, he wrote:Reality can be whatever you desire.

Although these were only words, Shun used his spiritual energy to make these words contain some strange power. The words looked illusory yet real at the same time.

Hinami and Ria kept looking at these words for a long time as they lost themselves in the mysticism of these words.

Although Shun wrote this to imitate what most calligraphic cultivators do, it unintentionally created a strong illusion that caught both Hinami and Ria, and considering that Shun was the caster, they couldn't break free even if they wanted to.

After an unknown period of time, Shun felt like they had had enough and closed the paper, canceling the illusion.

"What was that?" Hinami exclaimed as she got back consciousness.

"It's another application of spiritual energy, don't mind it, you'll get there someday" Shun answered offhandedly and then continued:

"What is reality? What is an Illusion? Illusion is everything I make it out to be and so is reality. The only difference is that illusion is as weak as one's imagination and as strong as one's determination. It can be fake and still be real as long as one believes it to be real. An illusion does not need to follow the laws of this world as it is not real and does not exist! Thus it is out of this world's bounds. "

"So that means those books you left in our minds are illusions as well as reality if we let it?" Ria asked this time.

"Exactly, those worlds are fictions of the mind and also real at the same time. The people in there are real from that world's perspective but to you, they are illusionary. If you decide to allow that world to affect you positively, it will affect you positively, if you decide otherwise then the opposite is true as well. That may be caused if you succumb to the illusion, at that point, you will likely be trapped there forever."

"So that aside, what was the name of the persons you became?" Shun asked, changing the topic slightly.

They both fell for it superbly as they both said excitedly, "Lin Dong/Zhou Yuan"

"Oh? What do you think of their characters then" Shun asked as he watched their interaction.

Hinami was the first to speak, after thinking for a while, she said, "Lin Dong is... how do you say it? filial? more like responsible, I don't know, but he is a good person who wants to. be strong to avenge his father. The world is quite dark by the way, from what I have seen so far, there are a lot of killings in that world, and I don't like it"

Shun chuckled at her response while thinking, 'this world would become even worse as killing would be their normal soon enough'

"That's true, the world is based on the survival of the fittest, the strong rules while the weak get trampled on. It's left for one of the weak or one of the strong to change the status quo, and that can only b achieved when they are strong enough, and that brings us back to the strong ruling the weak. Still, no big deal. It's simply the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker"

"Why would the strong get stronger while the weak get weaker?" Ria asked.

Shun laughed at her question which made her frown, "Haha, this doesn't actually mean the strong getting stronger and the weak getting weaker. It can also mean one who is weak but puts in the effort to be stronger. In the process, he meets people weak and strong alike and still triumphs, that's an example of the strong getting stronger"

"On the other hand, one who was made strong by others and believes that the strength of the people around him makes him stronger and stops trying to get strong stagnates. Their feeling of false strength gives birth to arrogance and that arrogance becomes the end of the" Shun explained.

"So it inadvertently means that only the strong-willed can get stronger?" Hinami asked.

"No, not really. The strong-willed can get stronger, yes, but that depends on their talents and potential."

"What's the difference between the two?" Ria asked.

"Talent and Potential play an important role in how far someone will go, and that is if channeled properly. Talent shows what someone is suitable for while potential shows how far that talent will take that person." Shun said and continued.

"Someone can be talented in martial arts but should he find himself in a village filled with people focused on chakra alone, his potential will be stunted, the same can be said for the opposite. One man's field may be another man's graveyard. It's as simple as that. That's also a lesson for you both, never judge a man by comparing him with his peers alone. Always judge individually"

"So it's like the element affinity test you did previously?'' Hinami asked.

" Exactly. It was because you both were attuned to Yin chakra that I decided to teach you the intricacies of the mindscape. Mind you, everyone that thinks is naturally attuned to the Yin Element but a specific few are greatly attuned to it. It would have been weird if I taught you two how to train your cells to increase your vitality and stamina when you are less attuned to the Yang element. That would be stunting your growth in the place you are more attuned to" Shun explained patiently.

"What about you Ria, How do you see your character?" Shun asked.

"Hmm, in the beginning, he seemed pitiful but later on, I noticed he wasn't sad about it, and if I am to refer to what you said, he will be among the strong-willed persons that will later become stronger," Ria said with a thoughtful look on her face.

"Well, you are right about that, he is quite the character after all. Anyways, you should make sure to read both books and learn something from there. Anything will do but most importantly, you ha attention to pay their spiritual energy exexercises, it would be useful to you both" Shun said, and after that, they went on to talk more about their experience inside the book.

And like that, three months passed with their schedules being repetitive.

And currently, three figures sat crosslegged seemingly deep in mediation. Although they seem to be breathing in the energy around them, one was doing something entirely different.

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