Alaric settled into the familiar lotus position and visualized the condition of all the chakras. His root chakra was glowing a brilliant crimson, a small orb in his subtle body spinning steadily. With each rotation, his partially awakened root chakra generated a portion of the energy that formed his Pranic force.
The life force, or Prana of a person, determines everything about them — their potential for strength, intelligence, willpower, growth, soul strength, and more. Each chakra governs a different aspect of one’s being. The purer they became, the higher a cultivator’s potential ceiling would rise.
And if a cultivator managed to awaken their chakras, it would bestow additional benefits.
However, to a chakra cultivator, unfurling the petals of the chakras was the most significant achievement. Unfurling even a single petal would make mastering different abilities, skills, and techniques vastly easier.
Many cultivators in his homeworld knew about the presence of chakras in the subtle body. However, their knowledge was incomplete. Chakras were energy centers, but their impact on the body could vary significantly depending on how they were visualized.
Moreover, even though most people remained unaware of the chakras’ presence in their subtle bodies, it didn’t mean they lacked them.
In fact, powerful cultivators often possessed naturally pure chakras. Some of them even managed to awaken them unknowingly. It happened as a byproduct of cultivating and refining the body, mind, and spirit to extraordinary levels.
However, unfurling the chakra petals required specific knowledge and the proper method. This was what distinguished chakra cultivators from other cultivators.
Alaric’s master had instructed him that the ancient records that spoke of chakra cultivation recommended visualizing these chakras as flowers akin to water lilies. Just as a water lily can blossom even in the filthiest water bodies but remain pure in itself, untainted by the dirt, a chakra cultivator must envision these seven energy centers in their subtle body taking root and flourishing.
These were not physical points in the physical body. They resided in the subtle body, which overlapped with the physical body.
Chakra cultivation encompassed a three-step process — Purifying the chakra by cleansing the body, mind, and soul; awakening the chakras; and unfurling the petals until each chakra bloomed fully.
There were seven chakras in the body:
* Root Chakra (Muladhara) - 4 petals
* Sacral Chakra (Swadhisthana) - 6 petals
* Solar plexus Chakra (Manipura) - 10 petals
* Anahata (Heart chakra) - 12 petals
* Visuddha (Throat chakra) - 16 petals
* Ajna (Third Eye chakra) - 2 petals
* Sahasrara (The Crown Chakra) - 1,000 petals.
The 1,000 petals in the crown chakra symbolize infinity because it represents the universal consciousness, which is boundless.
During meditation sessions, a chakra cultivator must visualize each petal of their respective chakra unfurling if they wish to fully bloom them. However, the process remained truly enigmatic. It combined the strength of their visualization, focus, deep absorption, and harmony with their subtle body.
With the introduction of the system, Alaric was not certain how the system would play its part in assisting or hindering him in his cultivation journey. He eliminated those thoughts aside.
I will cross that bridge when it comes.
Alaric scanned through all the chakras in his body. His root chakra was fully purified and partially awakened. He would have to concentrate on fully purifying all the chakras in his subtle body before fully awakening them.
Then, he could progress to unfurling the petals. His other chakras were at varying stages of purity, with purity increasing from bottom to top.
Alaric was satisfied with his progress for now. Progress, even if gradual, was a good sign. It is only when you notice stagnation does real concerns begin. Reflecting on his growth, Alaric opened his training journal to the last page — where he had recorded yesterday’s results — and analyzed the progress he made over the past year.
* Push-ups - 50
* Sit-ups - 80
* Squats - 90
* Pull-ups - 14
* Plank time - 4 min
* 400-meter timed lap - 1:35 min
* Running -7 laps
* Rope climbing - Can climb effortlessly.
He shut the notebook and pondered for a while. The root chakra governs the physical body — everything from muscular structure, bone density, and endurance to reaction speed and agility.
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A fully purified root chakra would help Alaric to develop a strong physical foundation. When he eventually practiced more advanced esoteric cultivation or mana arts, he would enjoy a tremendous advantage. From now on, his growth would accelerate rapidly with the support of his root chakra.
The root chakra in Alaric’s subtle body rotated steadily, generating a portion of his Prana with each spin. This subtle energy would be filtered through the root chakra and stored within it. However, it could also be directed toward anything concerning his physical body.
The way he had expended root chakra energy during the duel with Rowan wasn’t the most effective use.
The ideal application during his growing years would involve channeling the root chakra energy throughout his body, infusing every bone, muscle, and organ to maximize their potential. It would be a slow and gradual process, requiring patience before any noticeable improvements could be observed.
However, it would pay tremendous dividends in the future.
This subtle energy could also be utilized to gain a tremendous temporary boost in physical prowess — as he had demonstrated in his duel with Rowan — but such usage was wasteful, better reserved for true emergencies.
It was akin to consuming food purely for flavor without extracting its full nutritional value.
Alaric couldn’t wait to finally start his training with Captain Farrow. Although Rowan was competent and an effective instructor, now that Alaric had purified the root chakra, he knew he would surpass him in the near future. A more experienced teacher would become necessary.
For some reason, the count didn’t permit him to study under the same combat instructor who trained Lucien and Edwin. Honestly, Alaric was happy about that.
He had no interest in enduring the same irritation he felt during his academic lessons. However, both his siblings gradually let go of their jealousy after they realized Alaric was truly out of their league.
Truth be told, Alaric preferred the idea of training under a seasoned veteran like Guard Captain Aldric Farrow. Perhaps the count has something in store for me for later. Alaric finally settled down and started his meditation session in earnest.
***
Alaric was currently flipping through the pages of a book that outlined some sword-fighting guidelines. He felt good to be back in the library - one of his favorite places - after such a long absence. Ever since he began studying under Master Vellan, he hadn’t been able to carve out time to visit the library.
His schedule was packed.
There was some good news, though. It seemed that Alaric outpaced the syllabus suitable for his age. In fact, Master Vellan was considering teaching Alaric separately from now on, as studying alongside his siblings would only slow his progress.
Today, he was allowed to skip his morning study session with Master Vellan since he had the sword fighting test in the morning. So, with some free time on his hands, Alaric decided to roam through the library for some time.
He felt invigorated, admiring all the different types of leather-bound books and tomes in all shades of colors.
Today, he opted to delve into some books that detailed weapon fighting styles, particularly sword fighting. There was a lot of information about the various techniques and skills one needed to master to become proficient at the art.
He noted brief descriptions of the basic moves he had practiced with Rowan.
However, the books offered far more, such as advanced strategies that dealt with momentum and tempo control, deception and trickery, psychological and tactical approaches, and more. Still, simply learning theory wouldn’t do him much good.
Alaric was simply preparing himself to become familiar with all the technical terms before Captain Farrow began training him the next day. Understanding the theory first would allow him to grasp the intricacies of the practical application more effectively.
He stumbled upon another fascinating discovery. Alaric heard a faint beep in his mind and instinctively realized that something had changed in his system status screen. Unfortunately, although he could summon the system screen into his vision, it remained blurred, and he couldn’t really interact with it.
Looks like I have to wait until turn 12 before I can finally see what the hassle is all about.
In the past year, Alaric had learned a lot about the system. At least, the theoretical aspects. However, it was still difficult to wrap his mind around it without witnessing the system in action. He couldn’t even access his personal Cultivation Sanctuary, which was a real shame.
Well, no matter. That time will come soon enough.
He cleared his thoughts and honed in on a tingling sensation. In his previous life, Alaric had sharpened his danger sense to a tremendous level. It wasn’t anywhere near that level now, but Alaric had been diligently refining it once more.
He had finally begun to detect a faint tingling sensation whenever he was around someone powerful, such as Captain Farrow or the Count. However, he also felt the same sensation unexpectedly during his regular activities when no one was visibly around.
Alaric suspected that his danger sense flared up whenever somebody was spying on him. After his meeting with the count, he felt whoever was spying on him left him alone. However, the same feeling was back again and it made him a little irritated. There was nothing he could do without awakening his ‘True Vision’ and awakening more of his chakras.
He practically felt blind without his signature ability — True Vision. Alaric would need to awaken his Third-eye Chakra for that and it was going to take a while. Still, he had enough experience to understand that this person was simply observing him without any malicious intent.
It is probably the same person who was observing me earlier, somebody who reported to the count.