To Change Fate

While Cheng Hui was busy beating qi control into Ryker...

Long Meiling opened her eyes, gasping for breath as she sweat profusely. The mana she infused into her body was slowly... transforming... her muscles, changing their very makeup, in what was a slow and painful process of tearing down and restructuring the muscle fiber.

[Don't try to circulate your qi,] Mini C gently reminded her, [It'll only make the pain worse and lessen the effectiveness.]

"Yes..." she breathed out through gritted teeth. This was apparently only the first stage of Ryker's body refining technique, with the later stages requiring her to do actual workout exercises while this process was happening.

What she was doing now was just getting her body used to the presence of mana and its sensation.

"Phew..."

She exhaled again after a deep breath, letting go of the mana she was controlling and letting it slowly seep out of her body.

The technique to control mana, or spiritual energy, as she was more used to calling it, wasn't too difficult to grasp.

The thought exercises Mini C had her run through were things like counting backwards from 100 repeatedly, skipping certain numbers after each cycle, and staying as still as she could while keeping track of the burning of an incense stick.

All of this was to prepare her mind for the concentration needed to move mana.

After she had gotten her mind into the required state of focus, he then had her go through some more exercises to let go of her sense of self, feeling her place in the world and finding the balance that was present in all things.

After becoming aware of this balance, the goal was to fight it, moving mana to your will in the use of spells and enchantments.

Control over every aspect of reality was paramount.

It was quite different from the cultivation world's philosophy of becoming one with the Heavenly Dao, and achieving flow with the constant change of the world.

After getting her thoughts in the right place, moving mana was as simple as willing it to do so, though of course the compad's mana sensitivity functions helped the process to be so easy.

She was also curious as to what these 'spells' Mini C referred to were, but he simply said that wasn't something she would be able to use effectively in any short amount of time, so she opted to just follow Ryker's body refining technique, instead.

[Good. You're able to last a lot longer than when we started,] Mini C complimented her, [Shall we move on to the next step?]

"A moment, Mini C," she answered, "Let me rest for a while."

[Very well. I'll plan out the exercises for the next week with my assistant, then, for now.]

The screen of the compad faded to black, presumably to let Mini C and Bestie plan without disturbing Long Meiling's break.

Long Meiling just leaned her head back, taking the time to mentally prep herself for the next painful session of exercises.

She Looked over to where Ryker and Captain Cheng were sparring, watching them duke it out for a few moments. It was a rather even spar, when Ryker forwent the use of mana.

Captain Cheng, on the other hand, was able to go all out as he fought, Ryker's physical body being tough enough to withstand even his full force punch.

"You're too slow for how powerful you are!" the captain shouted as they fought, peppering him with light punches and kicks.

"We'll need to teach you a good movement technique to compensate, once you get better with your qi control!"

"Urk, yeah, sounds great-- pftt!"

Long Meiling giggled as Cheng Hui socked Ryker in the face with a well timed right hook, but quickly caught herself, masking it as a cough.

To be caught tittering like a silly young girl would mean the death of her reputation!

She shook her head and picked up the compad, the screen flickering back to life as she did.

{...you can see the qi flow of her current cultivation technique would interfere with the growth of this muscle group, so we should wait until she reaches Foundation Establishment for that...}

[Hm, yes, that's a good point...]

Bestie and Mini C were huddled around a series of diagrams detailing different aspects of Long Meiling's physique, cultivation, and even bone and muscular structure.

For some reason, she thought that they didn't have a very good relationship when they had started, but as they got into the training, they began to work together more seamlessly.

Bestie seemed to be the expert on various cultivation methods and techniques, while Mini C brought his unique knowledge of mana and Ryker's body refinement method to the table.

They slowly got up from their planning session, having sensed that Meiling picked the compad up and roused it from sleep mode, and walked up to the compad screen.

[Ready to keep going?] Mini C asked.

"Actually, I had a question..." Long Meiling started, unconsciously playing with her hair.

"Back when we first started training, you had mentioned you were journeying to find your friends, did you not?"

She was too excited to start the training back then to mention it, and didn't have much time to think about it when they were going through the mental exercises to control mana.

But she suddenly remembered when she watched Ryker getting beat up by Captain Cheng, funnily enough.

[Yes. We're not sure how many of his friends were transported here, with him, but at least one is relatively close by,] Mini C answered.

"I see," she said, nodding her head.

"So, that means you'll be leaving us, soon?"

[Don't worry, we'll finish up with your training, at least,] Mini C said, smiling gently.

Bestie nodded her head in assent, bouncing on her toes energetically.

{Yeah, we won't stop until you can even beat Captain Cheng in a fight!}

Long Meiling smiled at that, as she sat with her knees pulled up to her chest, resting her chin on them in thought.

"How is Ryker so powerful?" she finally asked, "Even with this body refinement method, I can't see him getting the strength to be on par with Golden Core experts at such a young age."

[Hm...]

Mini C seemed to take a moment to think about how to answer, or perhaps *if* he should answer, before he went on.

[It's actually a bit of a quirk of his,] he explained, [A mental one. He has trouble concentrating enough to control the amount of mana he uses, but enough will power to move a large amount of it, at once.]

[This renders him unable to use spells in a traditional sense, like most people back home do.]

"Hm? But what does that have to do with his strength?" Meiling asked quizzically.

[Well, you've used his 'body refinement' technique, yourself, have you not? Imagine doing that, but with around 10x the amount of mana, and no control over it whatsoever,] Mini C went on.

Long Meiling grimaced as she thought of the implications. Even the tiniest amount of mana she could temper her body with would cause light muscle spasms.

Would this be similar to someone risking qi deviation to forcefully break through?

[He got lucky, I suppose. There would have been a high chance of him dying with each attempt, back in those days.]

Long Meiling looked again at Ryker, who was now tackling Captain Cheng to the ground, and wondered what his motivation might be.

'Why would he go through so much pain to get stronger? He doesn't seem like the ambitious type,' she thought to herself.

Ryker seemed much too easygoing to be a person obsessed with strength, like so many of the other cultivators she knew.

And even they wouldn't do something so rash just to get more powerful!

{Waah, I didn't know Ryker had such a tragic backstory...} Bestie cried, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

[...I wouldn't exactly call it tragic,] Mini C replied in his usual deadpan.

[Anyways, shall we continue, Miss Long?]

Meiling clenched her fist, psyching herself up for the upcoming workout. If that buffoon could do it, why couldn't she?

"Yes, let's!"