Along the way to The Forgotten Pond, Manstein could see several people entered fro and to that location.
The Forgotten Pond, Manstein had thought about the name and the reason why it was named as such.
‘Forgotten, when I entered this place last time, I have forgotten everything else other than the main reason for coming.’
The well-treated road which was made from brick increased the tidiness the city had. And the road that led Manstein to The Forgotten Pond was crowded because it was also the road that everyone used every day.
But When he entered that place, the sound of people, the sound when one walked, the sound of horses neighed, everything was gone.
In the middle of that place, there was a large pond which covered the majority of the place. The once quiet place in Xuan City now become one of the places that people visited sometimes.
Even Manstein could see some people by the pond's side. Some of them enjoyed the beauty of the pond due to its mesmerizing mix of color or perhaps they also enjoyed the freshness of the air around the pond.
Of course they would enjoy the air. The density of qi in that place was enough to affect them so the air was like what they had breathed in the morning, fresh and cool.
Manstein found a suitable place for himself around the pond and he instantly sat crossed legged, did not wait to enjoy himself to the fullest.
‘The state of mind, that is the most important asset one has to learn and master.’ That was what he thought.
He intended to make his state of mind the calmest and the most effective way to do it was to let his eyes see the pond and let it helped calm his mind.
While at it, he also practiced Natural Flow-Sync like he always did when he focused on his meditation.
“Actually, there is not much difference in essence between this technique and meditating. You get to feel the flow of what you considered as natural as the first step...” in his consciousness, Manstein also explained the working and the basic to Alice.
With Manstein explaining like that, how could she not be happy? Actually for Alice, it was a long time ago since she met Manstein but just this moment alone was enough!
“Do you remember when was the last time you are teaching me like this?” Alice asked.
“Around five months ago, including two months in this world.” Replied Manstein quickly as he still remembered it clearly. But soon he realized that the person he talked to had been in this world far longer than he did.
And that time interval, Manstein afraid that the combined age of his grandfather, his father and himself was not than a tenth of her life in this world!
“And for you, precisely how long are you here?” after he sighed, Manstein asked. He did not ask this before but now that the opportunity came, he would certainly grab it.
“More than a...oops, that is a secret.” Alice said playfully. From the looks of it, Manstein still could not find the definite answer.
‘She is afraid to reveal her age? But in this world even a thousand years, as long as your cultivation is high, your look will not change much.’ Thought Manstein while his mouth twitched a little.
“Let’s continue then…” he said to change the topic.
It was rather easy for Manstein to feel the flow of nature and that was also the reason he could feel the energy around him. But to gather them on his body, that was no easy feat.
Directing them was easy but when he tried to condense that energy into a single point, he had to spend more time and effort to do so. And in the case he failed to condense it, the energy would dissipate just like water vapor when the water is boiled.
That was one of the problems Manstein had to face for some time.
‘It’s harder than I thought.’ Despite his keen observation as well as the advantage of having the knowledge about it, Manstein had difficulties in the process.
When one entered Qi Condensation stage, they had to condense the qi they absorbed to a single point. This was the first thing they had to do as this was the essential point of the stage.
And Manstein once asked about why would he had to condense it, Alice explained it to clear the doubt he had on his mind.
“It's to make them visible to the eye. As we know that under normal situation, the air also has qi even though the amount of it is small and scattered around us and intangible if we just breathe the air like normal.”
And the second one why he had to condense it into a single point was to let his energy become dense and easy to refine it.
Refinement of the energy, Manstein had to constantly refine the qi that he absorbed regularly for those energies were not adapted to his body.
‘Refine those energies that I get.’ And the most common thing to refine it was to let it flow in his body, to be exact, let it flow in his blood vein first before he let it enter the spiritual vein.
Manstein could feelintohose energies he got from his breathing technique as he breathed in and caught those energies. He then directed them to his blood vessel, letting the energy to try and familiarize themselves with his body.
From his lungs to his heart. He just let his own body help him to get that qi to flow into his blood vein and let them venture all around his body. Some of them went to the brain while the other went to his body, stomach, muscle, bones etc.
Manstein's brows furrowed slightly when he felt a piercing pain when those energies passed his internal organ. He just felt surprised, for he knew that both the energy and his organ were still not in the phase where they could in coexistence together.
‘This is a crucial moment for me!’ when Manstein felt carefully, even his brain also in pain. In short, every single organ inside his body had to experience painful moment comparable to when he first absorbed cosmic essence to let his energy source produce Cosmic Qi.
“Are you alright?” asked Alice in concern.
“Still alive and kicking.” When he felt enough, Manstein opened his eyes. Even though he could only feel and refine qi but he did not finish the condensation period. So he had to find some easier moment for himself or find a suitable way to condense it.
“Looks like the reason I failed to condense the energy is due to its conversion process. You see that for yourself didn’t you Alice?”
Because his energy source was changed so it could produce Cosmic Qi, he failed to condense it. That was his current thought.
“Well, from my experience and what I know from the records this kind of essence is unique. You wanted to take it inside the wormhole at that time due to that reason right?” said Alice before she continued, “You better be thankful to those people who recorded every content you have seen.”
Manstein nodded. He found the uniqueness of this kind of essence and studied it for some time before he made his decision.
‘In short, the cosmic essence can be changed into many kinds of other essences. I can turn it to become suitable for elemental essence as well to improve the absorption rate. This is to compensate my low spiritual root after all.’ Manstein did not hesitate to take the essence for himself and was faced with the painful moment just to let it merge with his body.
‘So that experience when the essence flayed me from my skin to my internal organ is a kind of trial and its rejection is truly painful.’ When Manstein said painful, he understood that when he said ‘painful’ meant it was almost unbearable for other people!
Even so, the gain he obtained simply overwritten all the hardships he had previously. And he could feel the effect as fast as possible.
He also had to do the refining periodically to let his brain remembered it and his body reacted to it without his direction. This was not easy, for he had to do this for at least a month to let his body and brain adapt this habit.
As for the conversion, Manstein found out that there was no reference to do it! Meaning, he had no one to guide him nor anyone as a reference so he had to do it all by himself.
‘I know this from the start! I know that to condense my qi, I have to increase my pressure. Sounds easy but the realization is not.’
Manstein hated it for the answer was simple but the execution was truly hard. In addition, the conversion rate to change any energy to become truly his was slower them he expected.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
‘Fine. Knowing yourself before anything else is important.’ Thus the beginning of his hardship to find his own style of cultivating.
And at the same time, there was a little tremor which was felt only by some people near the sources.
“Drink slowly. And don't forget to use it against the disease inside your body.” Han Lang looked around him and even let out his sense to check.
He knew that the process would produce some effect so he had to look out for some people that had the potential to disturb them.
As his hands were grabbing the bowl, he could sense another pair of hands move the bowl.
Slowly but surely, he felt the mixture of the liquid inside the bowl started to reduce.
Only after the entire bowl was empty that he felt the bowl was lighter than when he took it previously.
“It's delicious, unlike most of the medicine I have to take every day.” Commented the one who had gulped all the content of the liquid in one go.
“Quick support her! We can only help her by the side and give some pointers.” Han Lang instantly gave instruction as he had to follow some of the important instruction to get rid of the disease.
“Don’t be rash. Remember that the effective time this liquid works is at dawn so let your body digest it.”
-
“I’m done here. Let us see the training ground.” Manstein got up and walked further from the pond.
After all that meditation, there was some understanding of his own energy refining process and energy conversion.
He found the place as fast as his eyes followed. Although it looked rather old, the building was still solid and durable.
When he entered, only a large empty space greeted him. As he walked inside, he could hear his own step reverberated throughout the room, disturbing his ears as long as he still walked.
‘So despite the humble appearance of their residence but their training ground is really good.’
Manstein did not expect to see it with his own eyes. The room may be empty with nothing in it but it was, in fact, the best characteristic of a virtual training ground.
‘One of the discovery Allway Sect has in their disposal, Virtual Training Ground. But to construct this type of training ground is hard..’
And even he wondered why no one even snatched this from the city. But at the same time Manstein also glad for that same reason.
“From the looks of it, this training ground collect the estimated power from anyone who wanted to use it so they can increase their power.” With her long experience and even without the device, Alice could see the working of the training room.
“To activate it, we have to stand in the circle located at the center of the room.” Manstein had to use his device to know the mechanism the room possessed.
And that was what he did. He stood at the circle in the middle of the room and then all the door which led him to enter the training ground disappeared altogether.
A light beam enveloped him for a second before there was a flash from every side of the room.
“This is a good training ground. Its shape could be changed into various kind of form so don't hesitate in your training.” Said Alice.
“No need to remind me about that.” Manstein could not afford to talk anymore as what he had decided on his mind when he entered the circle was battle training.
Therefore he heightened his sense, focusing all his attention to any possible movement.
‘Don’t try to help me, will you?’ that was the last reminder Manstein said. His lips lifted as he felt a slight movement behind his back.
‘Alright.’ Alice even knew the importance of the training and she also wanted to see how he would react.
Instead of moving to the side, Manstein moved backward, with his elbow aimed at the position where he detected the movement.
To his surprise, his elbow hit but nothing before he changed his direction by spinning his feet. This move was not easy to do but he did it flawlessly.
As soon as his eyes caught a glimpse of the opponent, he would not even let a chance for it to go far.
But to his surprise, there was something below his body between the opening of his legs!
‘How is that possible?’ the problem was the gap between his legs were small, only large enough for something like a ball to pass.
And then something bumped him right at his back, making Manstein stumbled forward and off balance.
Manstein used his hands to readjust his body and made it battle ready. He lost the initiative and he lost the preemptive strike so he had to counter-attack.
Only when Manstein stood properly that he could see the figure which attacked him. It was a plain wooden doll, with a symbol on its forehead that shining faintly. Its form truly resembled the figure of human but its movement nevertheless not rigid and even faster than average people.
The doll did not have a thing to show its face, not even a drawing nor a mark on its face at all other than the symbol.
“This thing here, Senior, is the famous training doll. I think that this doll's movement is based on your abilities in combat.” Said Alice.
“What!? That kind of doll is here?” there was no time for Manstein to even let out his protest as the doll charged toward his direction.
Manstein then tried another attack by raising his legs. He kicked at the place that was supposed to be where the doll’s trajectory movement would lead its body onto.
“!” it actually hit. The kick was hitting its target but Manstein knew that the doll skillfully reduced the damage it received and tumbled backward.
And at that instant, Manstein moved its leg. He reacted to chain the attack so to give the doll little time to counter his movement. Additionally, Manstein also activated
Wave Vision let him see the wave that can be produced either by movement, sound, or even the hidden thing which could only be detected through the wave.
‘Such a large movement from the doll, I can't believe it does not produce a single sound wave.’
The world in Manstein's vision was full of the mixed wave between longitudinal wave and transversion ones, which could confuse the eyes.
But it could also mean that at least the movement the doll had made did not exceed the speed of wave it produced.
‘It is good that our speed is close enough, not so far.’
The doll then turned upside down, making its head touched the floor while its legs were spread. When Manstein saw this, he cursed out loud.
“Damn it! Round Table Kick.”
The legs reached farther than before and Manstein instinctively raised one of his hands to block the leg. Then he grabbed the leg and threw it back, changing the momentum the doll had.
‘Even knowing that movement...I'm afraid that the creator of the virtual training room truly copy the strength and ability in our mind and implement it to the doll?’
And before even Manstein cleared his doubt, he felt a tingling sensation behind his back as he saw the doll disappeared from his sight.
“Be careful!” came the warning from Alice but that was too late.
When he realized it, the entire training room returned normal. There was nothing to see, not even the doll he had battled.
“Am I defeated?” Manstein clearly felt something just attacking his back, precisely the back of his head.
“From the looks of it, you are defeated with a sudden but accurate attack.” As someone who had observed the battle, Alice could see the entire situation as clear as a day.
Manstein sighed as he felt a sense of loss and he clenched his fist tight before he looked up and noticed there were some words in his view.
The words were placed on the ceiling atop of his position. He had to focus on the words to see the meaning of the words.
[The greatest opponent one has is itself]
“That words, don't tell me that this is..” Manstein knew the words but he did not expect to see it right here.
“Yes, Senior. That words were carved there by Yang Jian. You know him even though you have never meet him.”
“He and all of the figures at that time...when will I reach their place?” Manstein always imagined it in his mind but that day certainly was far.
But he soon remembered that he failed on his first training.
“Let's try it again then. I hope that the doll is able to self-repair.” Manstein then soon entered the circle again
And like the previous encounter, the doll attacked him from unexpected angle once again.
‘Eh, Violet Haze Art?’ Alice then noticed a faint purple glow from Manstein's eyes as he started to use Qi in his battle this time.
Combined it with
He did not use Wave Vision due to the fact that it could only help him but not effective for some circumstance. And he also wanted to test his new technique.
‘From his habit and the factual experience in dealing with an opponent, he will be ruthless enough to let them only talked after he crippled them from their ability to even move their limb...’ Alice knew that due to the unique trait Manstein's gene possessed, he had better compatibility of Violet Haze Art.
‘And he did not deny it either..’ Alice sighed but she kept looking at Manstein with care.
Manstein and the doll came to a stalemate as both their hands were hitting against each other. He had expected the result but seeing the roll could even let out the same
“
What does that mean? That means the art he practiced could be enhanced if some other requirement was fulfilled.
So far, Manstein had only truly learned Wave Vision and this Violet Haze Art which Alice recommended in exchange for her to be able to learn Natural Flow-Sync.
‘It’s a bit reliant on emotion. There's something that I can learn from this art.’
Now, Manstein was annoyed because the stalemate continued for some time. He poured a bit of his emotion into the output of energy he let out.
A surge of instantaneous energy explosion occurred around his body which pushed the doll far to the corner of the training ground.
“This is...not going to be a good one in a normal situation.” seeing his body flashed purple colored aura when he used his emotion, Manstein realized the problem.
At first, he did not believe it due to the fact that the art was rather balanced. But seeing the practice doll was thrown just now made him realize that the art he practiced got stronger along with the emotion he poured when he used it.
‘Although there is a relation between energy and emotion, this art truly pointed this fact right for the user to feel the effect for themselves.’ Manstein frowned really hard but he still would not decline the art either.
“How is it? I believe that you can reach its highest level.” Said Alice from his consciousness.
“It’s rather troublesome but overall this art is good for me.” Manstein replied before he sighed.
“Keep practicing. Currently, you just using the standard Violetforce. There are six more moves you have not master.”
“Save that for later. I have an opponent to take.” Manstein charged instantly after he finished his sentences. The doll already stood up and even defended from the kick Manstein launched.
With that fashion, he trained for half a day without stopping.
“Hmm, you should take a rest.” After executed Natural Flow-Sync, Alice noticed how much time had passed and reminded Manstein to take a rest.
“Right at the moment!” Manstein held the doll on his grip. His body had some bruises and his clothes were tattered a lot but his expression however revealed his satisfaction.
That was how he ended his first practice in the special training ground. And of course, the next thing he had to do was to visit someone and Manstein knew that this would be no easy feat.
After he got out from the training ground, he would first see his foster father.
“But...” Manstein looked again at the sky as the moon changed its position too far from its position. Its reddish glow still teasing him as if he lost something and haunted him for that reason.
“How long have I been in training room!?”
“Half a day. But time flowed faster inside the training room so you only out when it is dawn.” Answered Alice.
“As...expected of the room that Yang Jian designed himself.” Manstein had the urge to go back and continued his training but refrained from doing that.
It was because he also had not slept for an entire night and now it had already been dawn. Perhaps only after he watched the miracle of Breaking Dawn Liquid that he could go to sleep.