Cultivation 101 (part 1)

Chester approached Yue in the morning while she was having tea on a small table by the edge of the boat. He decided to put his personal feelings aside and shamelessly ask her for everything she had learned from the sect she escaped from. "Good morning miss Yue, I feel a little guilty of living off you. I've been thinking about last night's conversation, and in order for me to help you, I would require some help myself. I heard from some villagers that you had gathered some cultivation manuals. I'm quite embarrassed to say this, but just like I told your uncle, I never received any formal education. If you don't mind, could you provide me with some guidance?"

Yue put her teacup down and looked at Chester with a curious smile, "Surnamed Wang, I wasn't aware we were back to formal terms." Chester felt his face burning and a smile found its way to his face. "I'm shamelessly asking you to teach me, after talking big last night. Even I find it to be too much." Yue couldn't help but release a laughter that resembled the tinkling of wind chimes, filling the atmosphere with a light and joyous aura. It danced through the air, echoing the beauty of their surroundings. Yue's eyes sparkled with delight as Chester joined the melodious laughter.

After Yue was done laughing she wiped her tired eyes. "You're going to be helping me with the clan, why would I hold back from teaching you? Do you want to go inside or would you rather talk here?" Chester leaned on the guard rails. "Here is fine, Miss Yue." Yue put the cup of tea down on a little table and took a moment to organize the information in her head. "What do you know about cultivation?

Chester tried to remember anything he had seen from old movies but his mind drew a blank. "Miss Yue to be honest, I have no idea, your uncle asked me if I practiced demonic techniques once but I've never been formally taught anything." Yue looked at him with shock. "What do you mean you've never learned, how were you able to use Qi when we were fighting?" Chester took a deep breath and wondered about the best way to explain mana and the story he had come up with.

"Miss Yue, the truth is that my family practice a different form to use Qi, we don't even call it that way, we refer to it as mana, the thing is, since I'm the last survivor of my family, I don't know how to move forward with my path of power." Yue looked seriously at Chester and stood up. "Give me your hands." Yue stretched both hands towards Chester and he grabbed hers. "Tell me what you feel, don't resist." Chester felt a foreign energy surrounding his body, if he had to explain it, the mana he gathered was someone wearing two headphones and the energy he felt from Yue was him only wearing one headphone that was playing stereo music.

"It doesn't feel complete, I don't know how to explain it. I feel something but I can't grasp it well. Let me show you my mana." Yue stopped circulating her Qi and Chester started to run the base path of the skill tree. Although he didn't know how to move mana outside of his body, he pushed his mana in the path towards his hands without going into the skill branches. Yue felt a strong force assault her body. 'Impossible, what kind of Breathing technique does he practice?'. Chester stopped his mana "Miss Yue, what's the difference between mana and Qi?" Yue put on a serious expression 'That's what I want to know as well!' She cleared her throat and let go of Chester's hands.

"I will explain to you the cultivation realms and you tell me if there is anything similar to what your family teaches." "Cultivators steal the energy of heaven and earth and make it theirs." As Yue began explaining the intricacies of cultivation to Chester, he listened intently, captivated by her voice. The concept of stealing the energy of heaven and earth made him think about absorbing the natural mana, and he understood that becoming a cultivator meant defying the natural order and challenging the heavens themselves.

"As you cultivate the Qi, you will undergo changes. We have come up with realms to measure how far along in the road of cultivation you are. Not everyone can become a cultivator. Feeling the essence of Heaven and Earth is not enough. Every cultivator begins their journey once they become able to steal it. The easiest way our ancestors came up with, and the start of every technique starts with your breathing, Breathing methods help the body absorb the energy you will turn into Qi, there are grades between Breathing methods. The difference between grades are vast, having a low breathing method will cause you to advance at a slower pace or could cause other lasting consequences. There are also different types that are better suited to certain body constitutions and natural affinity of the cultivator. Some mystic arts only work in harmony with a specific breathing method, which is why breathing methods are a closely guarded secret."

Yue's words painted a vivid picture of the cultivation journey, starting with the absorption of essence and its transformation into Qi. The emphasis on breathing methods as the foundation of cultivation intrigued Chester, and he realized the significance of choosing the right method for his body constitution and natural affinity. He understood that the grade and type of breathing method he selected could greatly impact his progress and potential. 'So it's like the chosen path at the start of calibrating during the awakening.'

"Every cultivator starts in what is known as the human realm, and the first minor realm is called Essence gathering, every cultivator must have a place to store the energy stolen. And that is known as the dantain. In essence gathering realm cultivators use the energy they absorb and give it shape inside their body. The formation of every dantain is different and many people believe it is the best indication of a person's potential. A bigger stronger dantain gives the cultivator a better starting point. Once the dantain is formed you begin gathering the energy inside the dantain, once it passes a threshold the Qi in one's body starts to take liquid form, that's when the essence gathering realm ends."

"The next realm is known as the Qi nurturing realm. Once your dantain becomes saturated with essence it will start condensing it, your body will then change to better accommodate your Qi. The Qi nurturing realm is subdivided into early, middle, late and peak stages. As your dantain holds the liquid Qi it will start to expand, you must use the Qi to nurture the dantain and avoid the stress from fast expansion, that's known as the early stage. Once your dantain is resilient enough to hold liquid Qi you can start nurturing your meridians, the meridians are the places in your body you can release your qi from, after nurturing the meridians then you nurture your qi veins, which your qi uses to travel around your body. Those are the middle and late stages of Qi nurturing. A lot of self taught cultivators skip the last stage of Qi nurturing and go straight to the Qi condensation. In the peak stage a cultivator would force his strengthened meridians and dantain to undergo more rounds of nurturing by absorbing even more essence, every breathing method has different requirements for the dantain and meridians and this is the only chance some cultivators will get to strengthen them due to the low quality of their breathing methods."