Zig walked behind the pavilion elder and listened to him explain what was going to happen in the next couple of days. "Unlike the other pavilions the stone doesn't stand on old tradition with grand welcoming ceremonies " the old man looks back to make sure his pavilions newest appearance was paying attention before continuing. "We immediately got to our technique hall for you to choose your foundation scroll." Making a sharp turn down the hallway Zig had to jog to keep up with the elders brisk pace.
After a few short minutes of walking they reached a wall with a hole the shimmering with black and purple light. Zig paused is shock, he had heard about gateway doors before and knew without even seeing one before that this had to be a gateway door. Noticing Zig staring at the gateway the old man chuckled "follow through or you'll be left behind " before stepping through the shimmering portal. With a shake of his head Zig thought to himself that maybe he might have some hope of becoming powerful in the sect and hoped through after his elder.
Appearing on a rocky trail outside of a walled complex Zigs wide eyes looked around and examined everything. The area was built on a rocky hill with a small forest at the base. Zigs examination was cut short by a grunt from his left. Spinning with a blush he turned to see the elder with an impassive look on his face. "Sorry I was just " cutting Zig off the old man said " follow me so we can pick out a foundational technique, you are already behind with such a small core so let's not waste time " saying that the old man headed to a large building with stone tigers in front of it. Following behind the old man Zigs face was red from anger and shame. He knew that a smaller core made it more difficult to train but he didn't know why. Maybe if I asked the old man he could tell me but I don't think he is in a talking mood zig thought as they entered the large entry room.
Stopping in front of a large set of stairs the old man turned around and addressed me "has your family told you the basics about choosing a foundation technique? ". "No sir my family aren't aspect users and died after handing me to the sect a couple months ago "Zigs reply gave the old man pause and a frown creased his rough features. " well I guess I'll give you a brief explanation for foundation techniques so you can pick a scroll. The foundation technique is the method you use to imbue your body,mind and soul with aspects " looking to make sure I was following he continued "the different methods help an Apprentice control and attune to an aspect or even multiple for some methods."
"So like how the thunder pavilion uses lightning and the burning pavilion uses fire? " I ask excitedly. With an annoying tone the old man replies "in a way yes but that those aren't the only aspects those pavilions use. A single aspect user is highly limited if powerful at lower levels." Raising his hand a swirl of sand formed a Toronto on his palm. "This is an application of multiple aspects the major components being earth,wind and force. It possible to create a similar effect with different aspects the important thing is your choice in foundation technique decides your initial aspects you gain control over." "Does that mean you are only able to control those aspects from then onwards? " I asked hesitantly. "No Zig you will be able to gain control of more aspects by altering your technique as you develop " the old man said with a hint of approval.
"So why does it matter what aspects I choose if I can control them all?" I said with a hint of confusion. " It matters because the amount of aspects is almost limitless " the old man said with a chuckle "the higher you go along your path the more specific the aspects become. Right now most apprentices learn an elementle form of a aspect and that's just in its basic form." With a pensive look the old man continued " some paths use concepts like the thunder pavilions flash foundation technique. It uses lighting yes but also focus the speed aspect of the element enhancing the speed of the apprentices but lacks some of the power or stunning effects of a pure lightning aspect foundation"
Zig was absolutely astonished by the possibilities, with wide eyes he asked "so could you do the same thing with Rock or wind aspects?" "You could but the effects would be slightly different. If a wind and lightning aspect welder both focused speed the lighting welder would be faster in short bursts but at longer distances the wind welder would win" the old man said. " this is more advanced and indepth than an explanation then I should be giving you however " with a hand the old man pointed up the stairs "each foundation technique will have a description of the properties and abilities that method will give you, it's not always completely accurate on exact details because core size and talent can contribute a great deal to the effects". "Now young Zig go forth and choose a foundation technique I shall await here". With his head swirling with ideas Zig ascended the stairs.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
After walking up the flight of stairs and going through a door Zig found himself in a large room with shelves lined up in rows. Looking around there must have been hundreds if not thousands of scroll. Looking closely each row had a label on them. The first said body focus, second mind focue, the third soul focus, and the last said incomplete. Looking through a few of the descriptions each shelf described the main focus of the foundation. The body shelf seemed designed to enhance the user's physical abilities while only slightly improving the ability to use aspects outside the body. The mind shelf seemed to be more suited to throwing aspected attacks out. The soul shelf scrolls described the use of auras effects that affected every in the area. The final shelf seemed to hold scrolls that didn't fully fit any path, some weren't even fully complete manuals and the descriptions recommended taking a scroll from the first three shelves and combining them.
Completely overwhelmed Zig sat down on the rooms only chair and table in the corner and thought about what he wanted. He originally dreamed of wielding Lightning aspects like the thunder pavilion but the majority of the scrolls seemed to be earth based. Did he actually want that or was it just because it was popular zig thought to himself. "I guess I'll start with the body scrolls" he said to himself before walking forward and reading through the descriptions.
After reading through all of the body scrolls he found two scrolls that stood out. The first was called sand body and it was and earth technique that seemed to focus on movement and flow. It stood out because the majority of the earth body foundations seemed to be about defending or endurance. The second was called rockslide and it seems to focus on movement as well but instead of flowing its about rolling over obstacles. Keep both techniques in mind Zig walked over to the mind shelf.
The mind shelf seemed to be smaller than the body shelf but was more appealing to Zig. The main scrolls he found interesting where muddy path which seemed to be a mixture of earth and water though came with a note that it's more difficult to train in because of that. The second was a second duel element technique called desert wind. Thinking back Zig suspected this was likely the scroll his elder picked. Like the other duel element technique it also had a warning saying it would be difficult to train. The final foundation technique that really stood out in the mind shelf seemed to be the mind equivalent of the rocksilde technique in the it's designed knock down and roll over obstacles in large bursts of power. Although it was a single element it also had a warning that it's training difficult was high. Reading through it again Zig couldn't find why besides the fact it warned it had a high energy requirement but he didn't fully understand what it meant. "Core level maybe? " he muttered to himself before moving on to the soul shelf.
The soul shelf was small but had many interesting options and after reading through multiple times Zig came up with three main options he was looking at. The first was called heavy stone and it was an earth path that focused more on the weight of the earth in an aura around the user then actually using earth itself. The second was called sand wave and seemed to be a foundation of sand. It didn't describe the uses of it but from the sand body technique he assumed that it focused on movement somehow. The final technique was something completely different than anything he had seen so far. The technique wasn't earth or duel element it was a dark element technique called null soul. Null soul seemed designed to hinder the use of other abilities instead of causing an effect myself.
Zig was extremely excited at all the choices and wanted all of them but stopped himself from choosing before looking at the final shelf. Going through all of the scrolls Zig was disappointed until he came across an unnamed scroll that read "incomplete soul foundation of the elements dark and water. Designed to slow and weaken those in the area it's too unstable for long-term use". At first it seemed like so many other useless techniques but the words to unstable jogged a memory of a body technique I had read through without much interest. The technique was called mountain base and it was designed as a pure earth path without any force on a specific aspect just plain earth. I had ignored it because the old man told me pure paths made it more difficult at higher levels but if I combined it with the dark and water element technique it might just be enough to stables the technique.
Without hesitation he grabbed both scrolls off the shelf and left the room to find the elder waiting for his at the bottom of the stairs.