Parent's Preparation

"Cultivation?" Ryker asked, not knowing what the word meant.

Unsurprised by his son's lack of knowledge regarding the subject, Father clenched his hand before punching at seemingly nothing. Except in the next second, a boulder 10 meters away suddenly blows up.

"Cultivation is the act of gathering energy from either surrounding area or through some other source to be cultivated inside one body, making the one performing it able to perform great fest, like one I showed earlier. And even then m, what I did can be considered basic among basic," Father explained, making the stunned boy nod his head absentmindedly.

"However, to cultivate, two things are required. First of all, Cultivation Art. Cultivation Art is the technique used to absorb the energy from the surroundings, allowing one to raise the strength to the next level.

Cultivation Art also allowed one to understand a Dao or Lore related to said Cultivation Art but that explanation is for other time.

The second important thing is energy. Though there are different ways to refer to it such as qi, chakra, essence, and mana, they are the same thing. It is best to be in a high-concentration energy place, if not it would be hard to raise your strength, or at least take a long time.

Besides gathering from the surroundings, energy can also be absorbed by special materials called energy stones and energy crystals. These items contain high concentrations of energy but are much more expensive,"

Hearing his father explain things allowed him to understand more, though that left him with more questions.

"Mother, Father, how strong are you during your peak?" the two looked at him with surprise before smiling.

"We won't tell you. You have to figure it out in the future. Don't worry though, we going to leave some clues so you can learn more about us," a bit annoyed by their not answering his questions, he decided to let it go, letting his parent continue their explanation.

"Besides regular cultivation art which focuses on energy, there is also Body Refining Art and Soul Enhancing Art, targeting increasing one body and soul respectively. An expert in Body Refining and Soul Enhancement could contend with an expert practicing Cultivation Art.

Though, Cultivation Art is the one preferred as you can increase your body and soul strength using it, though not as much as when you practiced Body Refining and Soul Enhancing art.

After that, we have Cultivation Techniques. These are techniques that used qi to power it up. Only by having qi can you use the Cultivation Technique. Cultivation Technique is split into groups; offense, defense, movement, concealment, body, and soul.

There is also a personal constitution. Constitution affects one speed in either absorbing energy, body refining, and soul enhancing. Basically, it's a way to measure how quickly one could cultivate. Things that affect that are meridian, bloodline, bones, and soul.

There are also special constitutions. Those are unique physiques that can help make cultivation easier though unique constitution usually has their own peculiarities, like only able to cultivate fire qi or needing something to awaken as such.

Then, we have auxiliary items. Things that can be vital to your survival. Pills and potions, equipment, such as weapons, armor, and artifacts, and talismans and formations, just to name a few.

Of course, there is a need for capable personnel to make it. For example, pills and potions are made by an alchemist. The collective name for the specialized personnel is a profession.

While each item generally works the same way, there are different levels, from how effective they are to how powerful they are. For example, a Grade 1 pill is less powerful than a Grade 2. The same goes for cultivation levels. In fact, cultivation level is used as a measure to determine the level of an item.

Of course to make them, one would need materials. Materials such as herbs, and metals are important for creating these items. Then, there is the level of cultivation realms.

There are several levels of cultivation. Those are separated into Grand Realms, Major Realms, and Minor Realms. These realms are the separating boundary of each level, with grand realms being the largest, followed by major realms and minor realms being the smallest. If you wondering, the level of Body Refining and Soul Enhancing follows the same rule as this.

If you don't understand it, is simple. Someone with the difference of one minor realm could hold their own in a fight against someone with one minor realm stronger. The same cannot be said for a difference in the major realm, as the difference in power is too much. The less said about the grand realm the better.

The reason for the difference in power and why cultivation is split into several different cultivation realms is that each increase in realms causes your power to increase as well.

A rise in one minor realm is simply adding more energy, a rise in one major realm did that but on a greater scale plus improving the rank of energy. A rise in a grand realm is all that and transforming the energy into a different level.

Picture it like a rise in the minor realm is adding a pile of ores. Meanwhile, a rise in the major realm is like turning the ores into ingots. A rise in the grand realm turned the ores from being iron to gold. That's how the rise in realm worked."

"I think that's all of the summaries of cultivation and related subjects." Father finished his lesson. He then asked, "Do you get that, Ryker?"

"Yes Father," he replied. While he was still overwhelmed by the when thing, at least he knew what needed to protect his family. However, his parents are not done yet.

"Now you know everything important, we are going to give you a choice," Mother said, Ryker looked at her in confusion.

"A choice?" he parroted, clearly not knowing what else to say.

"Yes, the first choice allowed you to raise your cultivation to the highest realm in this world by the time we disappear, but after that, you can't stop any higher. The second choice is the same, but you will be forced to restart cultivation again, beginning from step one once again.

The advantage is that you will be stronger than anyone else in the same realm, even allowing you to fight someone at a higher realm, though there would be a limit. It also allowed you to ascend to a higher cultivation realm while still in this world," Mother explained.

Ryker nodded, putting, the part 'still in this world' for later questioning, though he suspected they wouldn't tell him anything at all.

"So, which choice will you take?"

Ryker looked at them before giving it some thought, after all, this would affect his as well as his siblings' future too.

"I choose the second option," he said without hesitation.

"Are you sure, the process of destroying as well as rebuilding your cultivation will be excruciatingly painful, not to mention there will be another part, as painful, if not even more, than destroying and rebuilding your cultivation. Are you sure of this?" Mother asked again.

"Yes, becoming stronger quickly would let me protect the others easier, but what if more powerful enemies appear, or many of them, at once? Only by being the strongest would I get to protect my younger siblings better," he replied, his tone resolute.

"In that case, tomorrow, we will begin your training, get some rest first. You have a long day ahead of you," Father relented.

As Ryker entered their home, Father and Mother let out a long sigh.

"He's really our son. I was hoping he would choose the other path but well, ... I can only hope he can handle it," Mother voiced her thought.

"The only thing we can do is prepare him for the future," Father said, Mother, nodding at his statement, followed her husband back inside.