Most meditation arts had certain requirements or actions needed for activation. The person using the art might have to sit or stand in a certain position. They might have to breathe in a specific pattern or act out a series of specific movements. Only by preforming these acts for a specific number of repetitions over a period of time would a person be able to reap the benefits of a meditation art.

Unlike most meditation arts, Zane’s meditation art didn’t require any of these acts. The only requirement for activating his meditation art was to have his mind focus on improving his understanding and connection with weapons. He could move, sit still and even doze off. As long as his mind was focused on weapons, Zane would be able to reap the benefits from his meditation art.

This was a rare method of activation for a meditation art. In fact, Zane was sure his meditation art was capable of reaching a higher grade. However, he didn’t have the slightest clue on how to upgrade it. Zane’s mind was focused on his training when he created his meditation art. If he had to repeat the process of creating his meditation art Zane wouldn’t know where to begin. The only way to better understand his meditation art was through practice and exploration.

Zane begun his exploration of his meditation art by sitting on the ground, closing his eyes and taking deep steady breaths as he let his mind focus on weapons. This lasted for approximately ten minutes and Zane saw that his proficiency had improved by one point. It was a disappointing result and Zane immediately decided to change his method of practice.

Next, Zane stood up and began to move around the private room as he threw punches and kicks. He was attempting to recreate the feeling he had when he created his meditation art and after a few minutes he was able to see some results. Ten minutes of punching and kicking had led to his proficiency increasing by ten points. Zane was satisfied with the significant increase, but he noticed it came with a price.

Loosing stamina was something Zane expected during his training, but loosing mana was not. He noticed that a small amount of mana was lost and he used more stamina than usual. When he was sitting down Zane didn’t notice a loss of energy while he focused his mind on weapons. The change in the usage of his energy allowed Zane to realize he had a lot to learn about his meditation arts.

Once Zane finished examining the results of activating his meditation art unarmed, he took out his sword and activated his meditation art again. Zane immediately felt the difference. With each swing the mana in the room would gather toward Zane’s and flow into his body. The sensation was wonderful and Zane allowed himself to be immersed in if for a few minutes.

Eventually, Zane stopped enjoying the sensation of mana flowing into his body. The first thing he did was look at his stamina and mana. He lost much more energy than he would have when activating his meditation art unarmed. However, the amount of proficiency points he gained increase by four times. Zane smiled at the results and wondered if fighting an actual opponent would help.

Zane’s eyes lit up once the thought crossed his mind. He remembered the figure he created out of mana when he was visualizing his fight with Valin. He initially planned to check what allowed him to create the mana figure, but he quickly became distracted and a tiny bit obsessed with his new meditation art.

Now that Zane remembered the mana figure he created, he directed his attention to understanding how he was able to create it. He did this because he was genuinely interested in understanding his new ability. It was not because he wanted to create an opponent to fight so he could quickly go back to practicing his meditation art. Zane opened his status and immediately went to his talent section. When he first recognized he had a new ability Zane immediately thought it was caused by a change in his talent and he was right.

Talent: Energy Visualization

Description: The ability to use your energy to create the visualization of opponents and skills. Improves the ability to learn and unlock new skills. Improves skill leveling speed. Possible to gain experience from fighting visualized opponents.

The changes to Zane’s Skill Visualization talent were exactly as he expected. Not wanting to waste any time, Zane immediately channeled his mana to summon a figure like he did before. The result was failure.

At first, Zane was surprised by the failure. However, he quickly realized that the key to his talent was visualization. His talent wasn’t a skill that he could perform with very little focus. If he wanted his mana to form an opponent, he had to visualize exactly how that opponent would look.

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Before making a second attempt Zane calmed his mind. Next, he started to visualize an opponent to fight. He began with Valin as a template and slowly increased his combat abilities like before. It was a slow process, but Zane knew it was worth the effort. As the opponent in Zane’s mind grew stronger Zane started to channel his mana and allow it to take shape outside of his mind.

It was a success. Zane smiled at the blue humanoid shape in front of him. He was proud of his creation, but he wasn’t satisfied with his performance. He felt like he could improve the speed of creation and the amount of mana needed. However, before Zane attempted creating another opponent out of mana, he wanted to try creating an opponent with stamina. He dismissed the first mana figure and began trying to create the second.

It was a mistake. A completely disgusting and terrible mistake. The moment Zane tried to channel his stamina; he immediately began vomiting on the private room floor. It lasted for less than two minutes but to Zane it felt like hours. He ended up losing some of his health and wasting more than fifty percent of his stamina.

Zane panted on his hands and knees as he struggled to breathe and regain control of his body. Sometimes suffering can bring clarity. There was now no doubt in Zane’s mind on why mana manipulation was a tier zero skill and stamina manipulation was a tier two skill.

Once Zane recovered, he decided to focus only on using mana. He considered it much more forgiving and gentler in comparison to stamina. Zane only tested out a few methods of creating opponents with mana before he went back to his meditation art. He was still enthralled with the idea of having his own meditation art and he wanted to continue exploring it. Plus, if he leveled up his meditation art, he would be able to improve his stats. High stats were important for reaching the next tier.

Fighting an opponent with his meditation art active led to inconsistent increases in his proficiency points. This was caused by Zane being unable to completely focus his mind on weapons. If he wanted a high increase in proficiency points, then he would need a lot more practice. Also, Zane used a lot more energy than before. He quickly realized that fighting a real opponent with his meditation art active would not be beneficial for him. Therefore, Zane trained himself so he wouldn’t accidently use the meditation art during combat.

Eventually, Zane used most of his stamina and mana. He started breathing heavily and felt pain from a minor headache. Instead of meditating to recover his energy, Zane decided to take stamina and mana potion. He completely recovered is energy, but he didn’t start practicing his meditation art. Instead, he prepared himself to learn his first tier one skill.

Teacher Isabelle told Zane that the system became more demanding as the tier of a skill increased. Preforming the actions for a skill was no longer enough. An individual had to show a greater understanding of the skill they were preforming.

For example, Zane only had to gather his internal energy and preform a slash with his sword to unlock the tier zero slash skill. If Zane wanted to unlock the tier one slash skill, he would have to demonstrate that he understood how to control his energy when preforming the skill. He could also show he could control the specific muscles that are useful in preforming the skill or the proper way to perform the technique with different weapons. Any one of these options would be acceptable and the system would unlock the skill for him to purchase with class points.

The tier one skill Zane was attempting to learn was the Expert Weapon Mastery skill. The system didn’t grade skills, but humans liked to have a ranking for which skills they created and learned. The Expert Weapon Mastery skill was considered a powerful skill for the first tier and to learn it, Zane would have to fuse nine weapon skills or purchase the skill after he unlocked it.

Zane was confident that he could unlock the skill but learning it through fusion would be a bit tricky. Normally, failure in fusing a skill meant Zane would have wasted some energy and would have to try again. However, if he gives a poor performance or doesn’t show a greater understanding of the Expert Weapon Mastery skill the system might give him the Basic Weapon Mastery skill. Both skills were at the first tier, but one was clearly more powerful.

Learning one skill excluded Zane from learning the other unless he paid a high cost. This detail made him feel pressure, but he was still confident in his ability to learn the skill. However, his confidence was affected when he started considering Unarmed Combat Mastery as the tenth skill to fuse.

Fusing ten skills was something people tried before. Each person who tried it agreed that it increased the difficulty without offering greater rewards. The people before Zane tried fusing ten weapon mastery skills, but he would be fusing nine weapons mastery skills and Unarmed Combat Mastery skill.

It would be easier for Zane to unlock the Expert Weapon Mastery skill and use class points to learn it. However, he was unable to take the sensible path. Teacher Isabelle taught him to not be reliant on the system when he was trying to achieve anything related to his personal path. Also, he felt like he had something to prove and he knew he would have an eternal regret if he didn’t attempt to fuse the ten skills.

Zane had no idea if the fusion would work and there was no indication, he would benefit from trying something new. However, he became a moth drawn to a flame when he considered the possibility. During their fight, Spartacus words resonated with Zane and the path he wanted to walk. It sparked a fire and created a desire that completely consumed him. As a slightly mad gleam passed through his eyes, Zane began his attempt to lean the tier one skill Expert Weapon Mastery.