018 Cultivation Technique

Nico spent the entire night meditating. More manalines continued to wrap around the head node, but nothing happened.

The next morning, Jack was assigned to Professor Teru and Nico was assigned to Professor Quin.

In the Cultivation Hall, there were several small courtyards for one-on-one training purposes. Nico sat down and faced his new professor for the semester, Quin.

Professor Quin had chiseled facial features, but he couldn't be considered handsome. If anything, some people viewed them as boxy and ugly. He wasn't old, but he had a demeanor that made him seemed older than he really was.

Is old-fashioned a good way to describe him? Nico thought.

"Are you paying attention?" asked Professor Quin as he finished his introduction to the boy.

In truth, Nico was caught up by his own analysis of Professor Quin that he had completely ignored the professor's introduction. It couldn't be helped since Professor Quin introduction was very dry.

"Yes Professor!" Nico lied.

Professor Quin was skeptical, but he didn't dwell on it.

"I have reviewed your test results and we'll review your cultivation path today," said Professor Quin. "You have really good combat amplitude, were you trained in the military?"

"No, but I was trained by a retired military instructor," Nico replied honestly.

Professor Quin nodded. "For how long?"

"Since I was a little kid." A few months.

Professor Quin continued to nod. "You have failed most of the paper exam."

Thanks for the soft take-down, Nico thought sarcastically.

"It's not unusual for commoners, it's sort of expected," Professor Quin added. "It is a surprise that you did well in botany. Did you study a bit of it?"

"A little, while I was learning how to read."

Professor Quin's eyebrow rose. "How well can you read?"

"Not too well."

"I see..."

Professor Quin scrolled through other reports. "The cultivation branch recommends that you train using either the Chaotic Devil or Raging Bull Cultivation Method."

"What's the differences?"

"Chaotic Devil focus on boosting strength type meridians while sacrificing defense. Raging Bull focus on boosting a large amount of strength and speed type meridians while sacrificing defense and accuracy."

Professor Quin walked Nico over to the center of the small courtyard.

"Before you select, we'll spar first," said Professor Quin. "Pick a weapon."

"You're going to be bare-handed?" Nico asked.

"Yes," Professor Quin nodded.

"Okay then, I'll take the quarterstaff," said Nico brandishing a staff a head longer than him from the rack.

Nico started off with a low guard with his left foot forward.

Professor Quin watched Nico carefully, but before he could finish blinking, Nico attacked deliberately.

Nico jumped and thrust the staff toward Professor Quin's stomach.

Professor dodged left to prevent a follow-up attack from the right, typical of a staff thrust stance from Nico positioning guard. Nico carried through with a follow-up, swinging the staff from right to left.

Since Professor Quin had already dodged away, Nico could only follow through to maintain balance. However, it allowed Professor Quin to easily grabbed onto the staff and slid the staff under his arm to lock it in place.

Nico quickly released his staff and bent down to sweep kick Professor Quin's right foot from the back. Professor spun his body to the left to avoid. Nico used the opportunity to grab the staff from behind to slip it back out. Unfortunately, Professor Quin's grip was strong despite being in a weird position after the low sweep kick.

Since it was hard to pull, it was better to get rid of the staff. Nico released the gale force with a left jab to knock the staff away.

He locked his arms around Professor Quin's head from the back and clamped the head onto his knees.

"A headlock!" Professor Quin was caught off guard. He released a body burst of spirit force and blasted Nico several feet away.

"Damn kid! Didn't mean to do that," Professor Quin hurriedly rushed to Nico's side. "Are you okay?"

"Oowwwwwwwww!!!" Nico exaggerated.

Nico didn't have much trouble with manabeasts, but being beat up by people like Rooster and Quin reminded Nico how evil and sadistic humans were!

"Luckily, the robe took the blunt of the force." Professor Quin watched as Nico got up. "I didn't expect you to abandon your weapon so easily. When you lose a weapon against an armed opponent, it is extremely difficult to fight back unless you specialize in fist. Even then, a strong fist expert can still lose to a strong sword expert. Were you planning to throw your weapon away or was it the spur of the moment?"

"Both? If you had released and allowed me to pull back the staff, I would have whacked you from behind. Since you didn't and were already tightly pulling it forward, I added to that momentum, easily knocking the staff out of reach. The moment you took my staff and let me sneaked behind you was when it was decided."

Professor Quin nodded. "I wanted to disarm you when I countered, but you have used that to your advantage. With me holding onto the staff, I was turned into the weapon holder. Weapon greatest weakness against a fist or grappling expert is extremely close combat."

Professor Quin had decided. "I think Chaotic Devil will serve you better."

"I thought so too." Nico accuracy was average, and he was hate to sacrifice it for speed.

"You have a pretty strong kick, that's unusual for military training," Professor Quin commented. "Is it self taught?"

Nico thought for a moment. "A kick is just a kick, I don't really think much about it."

"In any case, here are the books you should be studying over the course of this semester." Professor Quin gave Nico the Chaotic Devil Cultivation Method and another book. "There are also several basic techniques you will need to learn, like force barrier. I'll see you next week on the 5th day. Set up an appointment with me in the Administration Hall if you're stuck on anything."

Nico took the books. "Thank you professor!"

Later that day, Nico studied through the materials.

The Chaotic Devil Cultivation Method was a good beginner cultivation method. It explained the steps to absorb the mana into the body and to open meridians.

The meditation guideline described the positioning, rhythm of the breathing, and the state of mind. The correct positions create balance and help the practitioner find the center, often the location for the spiritual root.

Breathing was the simplest way to breathe in the nature's mana into the body and spiritual root. Advanced breathing techniques allow a practitioner to breathe in from their skin. Only when the mind is connected to nature was it possible to create a true meditative state, allowing the spiritual root to absorb the mana.

Although it was a simple process, it was difficult for many beginner students to achieve true meditation. Nico way of meditation wasn't much different, but he was meditating by what felt natural. The guideline had pictorial drawings that Nico found useful and readjusted his meditation form to match it.

The next step in the cultivation method was to open meridians. The method focused on nine strength based meridians. The middle chest meridian was the first. According to the method, during the meditative state, push the spiritual energy from the spiritual root up into the chest meridian using the diaphragm. As more spiritual energy reach the meridian, it would eventually open.

Nico wondered how it differed from opening auras.