Chapter 16 - Mindsteel Body Arts
By the time Lucas had gone through all the available books and recorded the information in his mind, he entered the white space of his consciousness.
“Okay, let's see,” he mumbled. “Compiled a list of cultivation manuals based on its main focus. Mind, body, heart, elements.”
Soon, four grey holographic screens appeared before him.
“Imperial Soul Resonator Chants, Heaven's Serene Mind, Golden Bull Titan Body, Tyrant Beast Ape Physique, Heart-chain Devouring Art, Nine Dragon Flaring Sunburst Art, Wrath of the Aqua Star.” Lucas recited some of the manuals’ names while feeling a headache begin to form. “Why are they all so long? It would be so awkward if I had to shout these names out loud.”
“What even is the Nine Dragon Flaring Sunburst Art?! It’s just a meditation technique that ‘allegedly’ strengthens your kidney!” Lucas roared into the air. “And Heart-chain Devouring Art? More like No-Nuts-All-Year-Long Art! Abstain from carnal acts?! I can understand that, but food, water, and even socializing?! How are those carnal?!”
“I swear to the heavens, these scriptures, or whatever they are, were written by absolute lunatics!” Lucas fumed, filtering out the useless sections from the manuals. “At least eighty percent of this is rambunctious, flowery nonsense!”
Sighing deeply, he muttered to himself, “Why can’t I have a library like Zhang-laoshi’s? It would make this so much easier. Instead, I have to extract the useful parts from these insane books and somehow merge them into one coherent pile manually.”
Concentrating, Lucas willed the virtual space to extract the core information from each manual. Words began flowing out of the books, fusing to form a new one. He then removed the duplicated sections, leaving behind a book that was at least five centimeters thick.
Grabbing the book, he began reading it. At first glance, everything seemed coherent and made sense. It provided a proper method for channeling energy into the mind and outlined ways to circulate it depending on one’s level.
Then, Lucas summoned a white figure. He implanted the knowledge into the figure and willed it to begin cultivating according to the book’s teachings.
Initially, everything appeared to be going smoothly. The energy began gathering at the core, located in the stomach, before gradually flowing to other parts of the body. However, the white figure soon began twitching as its muscles bulged and expanded, eventually causing it to explode into pieces. Then, the figure vanished.
Lucas watched the entire scene unfold, activating his
He immediately noticed several errors in the process. With a sigh, he began modifying the cultivation manual, altering the energy pathways to make them smoother. After finishing the adjustments, he willed the white figure to appear once more and cultivate according to the newly modified manual.
This time, the white figure successfully channeled the energy throughout its body. However, much of the energy dissipated into the surroundings due to inefficiency.
“At least 70% of the energy was lost to the surroundings, while 15% of it is required to channel the remaining 15% throughout the body.”
Once again, Lucas modified and tested the cultivation manual, utilizing both
After numerous iterations, he finally developed an optimized cultivation art, one that enhanced both physique and mind.
“Okay, although it could still use some improvement, this is good enough to establish a solid foundation,” Lucas exhaled deeply, finally satisfied with the newly crafted cultivation manual. “Feels like curating and debugging code written by an A.I.,” he muttered.
“Now for a name,” Lucas said, glancing at the book in his hands. “What about Mindsteel Body Arts? Does that sound too edgy? Or just outright cringy?”
“Nah, it sounds cool enough,” he shrugged.
Returning to reality, he realized only half an hour had gone by. He looked around only to see the girls focusing on some kind of scripture.
Ignoring them, he summoned his status window.
<>
Lucas Kun
Level 11
Class: Mechanic
Title: Forerunner
VIT - 17
POW - 8
AGI - 11
INT - 23
WIL - 11
Free Points: 10
Talent: Avid Reader.
Class-Exclusive Skill:
Oversurge Protocol - Lv 1
Machinery Affinity I - Lv MAX
Skill:
Knowledge - Lv 6
Combat Fundamentals - Lv 4
Matrix Simulation - Lv 2
Analysis - Lv 2
<>
Having chosen to walk on the path of a Mechanic, Lucas resolved to follow the example of the best Mechanic he ever knew, the Great Mechanic Han!
Since the Great Mechanic Han was renowned for his tanky physique despite being a Mechanic, Lucas figured he should be one too. While his soon-to-be-crafted armor could compensate for his POW and AGI, it couldn’t replace his natural physical constitution. This was why his VIT was his second-highest stat.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
Fully embracing this philosophy, Lucas allocated three points to VIT, five to INT, and the rest to WIL. With that, he became a man boasting two stats that had broken the twenty-point milestone.
Stretching his body, Lucas glanced around the archive and murmured, “This place seems safe enough for now. Let’s set up camp here.”
***
One hour later.
Chloe finally finished reading the scripture in her hands. She closed her eyes, letting the contents marinate in her mind. The words in the scripture resonated with her in a peculiar way.
It described the basic conversion of an energy source into light-element energy and explained how to channel the energy throughout the body to strengthen herself.
While reading the scripture, she had subconsciously followed its instructions. At first, the energy within her body felt rough, like water streaming through a clogged pipe. However, after several attempts, the flow became smoother and more refined.
Opening her eyes once more, Chloe could sense that the words from the scripture had sunk deep into her bones; she could even recite the entire scripture backward.
It was then, that an abrupt fragrant smell assailed her nose.
Turning toward the source of the smell, she saw Lucas mixing something in a pot over the campfire. Instantly, her stomach growled, and she dashed toward the pot. But just as she was about to reach it, a voice stopped her.
“Stop.”
Chloe felt her body stiffen suddenly, struggling to move.
“You reeks, go take a shower,” Lucas said while pointing the ladle to a makeshift tarp closure. “There's no hot water, but it'll do for now. There's also shampoo, body wash, and facial one too.”
“Wow!” The moment Chloe saw the makeshift shower, her eyes brightened and charged at the shower.
Looking at the excited girl rushing into the makeshift shower, Lucas smiled softly while mentally pulling out a towel and hovering it slowly toward the shower.
Grinning wryly, Lucas muttered to himself, "A skill with the System's aid and one without are completely different."
That was the whole purpose of Lucas creating the Mindsteel Body Art. It was a cultivation technique primarily designed to develop Psychokinesis, the ability to move objects with pure mental energy.
The Mindsteel Body Art that Lucas had deduced, or rather created, consisted of ten stages. Right now, his mastery hovered around the second stage, Mental Anchoring.
Steel Mind, the first stage, served as an introduction, allowing the user to feel, sense, and concentrate the mental energy within them. Meanwhile, Mental Anchoring was about anchoring one's mental energy to an external object to manipulate it. Just like how he briefly stopped Chloe's movements and moved the towel.
However, the downside of using a System unrecognized skill was the immense strain on the user. Unlike his
Fortunately, being a follower of the Great Mechanic Han, he wasn't lacking in either physical or mental energy, just the finesse to control them. He assumed that with more experience, that control would improve.
Meanwhile, Samantha had finished her reading session and was walking toward him. Seeing the pot and campfire, she smirked. "Since when did you become such a virtuous housewife? What are you cooking? It smells good."
She leaned over, trying to take a peek, but suddenly stiffened, and blurted out in surprise, "What?"
“Go take a shower. It's just over there.” Lucas pointed his ladle at the tarp enclosure. "No hot water, but there's shampoo, body wash, and facial cleanser."
"Here's the towel," Lucas added, mentally pulling out another towel and hovering it toward Samantha.
Surprised by his action, Samantha hurriedly asked, "How did you do that?!"
"Nope. Shower first, eat, and talk later. Go." Lucas ignored her question and mentally commanded her legs to move toward the shower, despite the effort it took.
After the girls finished showering, they sat around the campfire as Lucas served each of them a bowl of stew. “Here you go,” he said, handing them their bowls.
The fragrant aroma wafting from the stew made their mouths water. Without hesitation, the girls devoured their portions before grabbing the ladle to serve themselves another helping. Before long, the pot was scraped clean.
“Wow, that was amazing! I thought the only thing you knew how to make was instant ramen,” Chloe said, patting her stomach contentedly.
Samantha, equally full, asked, “What kind of meat was that? It was pretty tender.”
“Wolf meat,” Lucas admitted casually. “I had to toss in a bunch of wild herbs and some suspicious berries to get rid of its odor.”
“Isn't wolf meat supposed to be really tough and gamey?” Chloe asked, clearly surprised.
Lucas, mentally manipulating a thermal flask, poured tea into cups for the girls and replied, “It is. That’s why I marinated it with vinegar, wild herbs, and berries I found in the woods earlier.”
Samantha, holding the cup he handed her, looked at him with a trace of wonder. “Say, Lucas, how are you even doing that?”
“With big brain power,” Lucas quipped, chuckling. Then, he added, “Those books taught me, well, partly. The rest is just the ramblings of some lunatic’s wild imagination.”
“So, what class did you girls pick?” Lucas asked, steering the conversation.
Chloe raised her hand excitedly. “A Rare Class! Chanter of Steel! It's like a mix of a swordsman and a musician.”
“Musician?” Lucas arched an eyebrow. “That’s interesting. And you, Samantha?”
“I got a Rare Class too. Runic Mage,” Samantha replied, her excitement evident.
Lucas laughed, genuinely pleased. “That’s awesome! Congratulations to both of you!”
Chloe leaned in closer, a playful grin on her face. “Alright, your turn. What about you, Lucas? It’s about time you spill the beans.”
“Sure,” Lucas said with a casual shrug. “Uncommon Class, Mechanic.”
Startled by the answer, Samantha stuttered, “W-wait, you're really a Mechanic? You’re not joking?”
Seeing Lucas’s nonchalant reaction, Samantha smirked. “You’re really going to continue your family’s legacy, huh?”
“Or he’s planning to operate a giant robot and punch our enemies into oblivion,” Chloe chimed in with a playful smile.
“Exactly! Either I’ll be fixing a flying car by whacking it with a wrench, or I’ll have a team of five robotic monkeys and we’ll call ourselves the Super Mecha Monkey Team Ultraforce!” Lucas declared dramatically, raising his hand in protest. “I’m rioting if it’s neither of those!”
Samantha groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. “Why monkeys? You know what, forget it. I’m not even going to ask,” she muttered, facepalming at the couple’s absurd banter.
“Lucas is already done cleaning up. Let’s hurry to the next place. I can’t wait to test out my new skills,” Samantha said as she stood up, brushing off her clothes.
Just as Samantha said, Chloe realized everything had been clean including the tarp shower place and the pot they were using. All while the three of them were bantering around the campfire. All that remained now was just the campfire.
“Wow. Just how? By the way, Lucas, how did you even prepare the water for the shower?” Chloe asked, looking at him in disbelief.
Pondering for a moment, Lucas replied, “Using my big brain power. I detected an underground reservoir, channeled the water up, set up a filtration system, connected some pipes, tarps, and a sprinkler, and voila! A shower.”
Baffled by his nonchalant response, Chloe pressed further, “But how did you channel the water? And how did you build the shower setup?”
Without a word, Lucas used his mental energy to pick up a piece of scrap metal lying nearby. Slowly, he shaped it. Before their eyes, the metal transformed into a polished mug with a handle.
“Like this,” he said with a grin.