Nimrod was sitting on a circle of flagstones with a diameter of ten meters, with Eleanor cross legged on the opposite side. The circle itself was surrounded by an expanse of white sand that must have been imported specifically for that purpose, and carefully raked to be as smooth as humanly possible. A trail of flagstones, barely close enough apart for Nimrod to traverse without stepping on the sand, lead to a door leading to the shrine’s interior, and groupings of stones were arrayed on the sand in a pattern that looked completely random to Nimrod.

According to Eleanor, the stones were located in a precise arrangement that enhanced the flow of free essence towards the circle in the center, and that any marring of the sand’s perfect smoothness, especially the sort of marring that came from a misplaced foot, would greatly reduce the effectiveness of the garden, and would require the caretaker to rake it all back to smoothness.

“Make sure you are sitting as comfortably as possible,” his newfound teacher said. “You’ll be staying in this position for the next several hours, and you want as little muscle strain as possible to distract you.”

Nimrod was very happy that years of hunting in the forest have trained him in how to sit still for long periods of time. He made small adjustments to his posture until he felt as comfortable as possible, and nodded for Eleanor to continue.

“Good. We will start with the most basic cultivation technique of all, and the only one possible for you right now. Start by breathing out until your lungs are as empty as possible.”

Nimrod breathed out, and Eleanor continued.

“Now breathe in slowly through your nose, and pull the air down into your stomach, not your lungs. Hold the breath in, keeping as perfectly still as you can. Now breathe out, slowly, through your mouth, until you’ve expelled all of the air. Now do it again. Recite the interactions between elements in your mind while you breathe in, and again while holding your breath. Wood fuels Fire. Fire Forms Earth. Earth contains Metal. Metal carries water. Water feeds wood. Breathe out slowly, while reciting a third time. Now keep going on your own for a while.”

Nimrod obeyed the instructions, breathing in the slow rhythm imposed by the recitations. After a few more repetitions, Eleanor spoke again.

“Now, while still keeping up the breathing exercise, close your eyes and try to look into the center of your being. Picture in your head the core inside you. Try to see it in as many details as you can.”

This was harder for him to do. He’d never been a very imaginative person, and trying to visualize the tiny core he’d swallowed days earlier seemed like a complete impossibility. Strangely enough though, after several minutes of breathing, he found that his attention was somehow drawn into a place that was, and yet somehow wasn’t, a part of his stomach. Inside that strange semi-real place, he could see a sphere that he knew was smaller than his smallest fingernail, and yet filled this new vision as if it was the most important thing in the world. The more he looked, the clearer the vision became, and he could see the massive cracks in the core. From this point of view, it looked like the core was comprised more out of faults than out of crystal.

Suddenly, the vision shattered and Nimrod found his eyes blinking open as he gasped for air, and he realized that he’d completely stopped breathing while enamored with the vision of his core. It took several seconds of coughs and gasps before he could bring his breathing under control.

“You saw your core, didn’t you?” Eleanor asked once Nimrod stopped struggling for breath.

“Yeah, I did. But I forgot to breathe while I was looking at it. I didn’t even know you could forget to breathe.”

“You can’t, usually. Breathing is something you do unconsciously normally. But while cultivating you are taking conscious control over it, which means that you can get distracted and stop. It’s not a dangerous thing, since you’ll be thrown out of your center when it happens, but you need to learn to manage it in order to properly cultivate. Try again now. You’re doing good for someone who is completely new to it, but it usually does take a few tried before you manage it properly, and it takes time before it becomes second nature.”

They stayed in the courtyard for hours. Nimrod found that picturing his center became easier and easier every time he tried it. His first attempt took half an hour of breathing before he could see his center clearly, but towards evening he could reach it after a mere five minutes of concentrating on his breathing. It was then that the real breakthrough happened.

He was once again looking at his core, but for the first time he was also managing to keep his breathing and the recitation of the elemental interactions while focusing inward. It took a few breath cycles, but Nimrod suddenly realized that he could see a sort of fog was flowing over his core with every breath. It was almost too thin to see, but after a few more cycles it was clear that it was too regular to be his imagination.

A few more cycles, and Nimrod was sure that the fog was actually seeping into his core, and the revelation that he was seeing the process of cultivation snapped him out of his trance and brought him gasping back into the outside world. He was shocked to see that the sun was almost completely down, as he remembered that there was at least an hour of light left when he’d started this latest attempt.

“I take it that the smile on your face indicates that you were successful?” Eleanor asked as soon as he got his breathing back under control, and he nodded, still too short of breath to speak. “Good. We should stop now. It’s never a good idea to cultivate during the night, and should be avoided if possible. You should go back to your home and rest, and I’ll expect you back here at first light. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

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***

The next morning found Nimrod sitting in the courtyard on his own.

“You know the basics of cultivation,” Eleanor said when he’d entered the shrine. “We can’t do anything more until you’ve filled out your core with essence, which should take you several hours at your current rate. I need to ensure that there are no Beasts near enough to threaten the village, but I’ll be back around, and hopefully you’ll be ready for the next part of your lessons.”

It took him a couple of attempts before he managed to find the proper cultivation mindset again, but before long he’d sunk deep into the vision of his center, and lost himself in the rise and fall of the essence fog drawn in by his breath and collected by his core.

Time had very little meaning in the center of his being, but eventually Nimrod realized that something had changed in the way the essence behaved. The nearly invisible fog was still being drawn in every time he inhaled, but it was no longer seeping into his core. Instead, the fog remained in his center of the time he held his breath, and was then expelled out when he exhaled. As soon as he’d noticed this new phenomenon, Nimrod slowly emerged from his trance. There was little doubt in his mind that this new development meant that his core was full, and that it was time for Eleanor’s next lesson.

The sun’s position high overheard told him that he’d spend the entire morning cultivating, and his aching muscles signaled that while he’d started the day sitting comfortably, the hours spent unmoving were really not appreciated. He spent several minutes stretching his sore arms and legs, and was soon limber enough to take the stepping stones back into the shrine.

Eleanor was back from the forest, and was in the middle of a simple meal of steamed vegetables, whole rice and what looked like strips of glazed venison.

“Welcome back,” she said with a smile when he entered the shrine. “You were so deep in your center I didn’t want to bother you.”

“Yeah, I might have been too deep,” he answered sheepishly. “I had trouble moving after I was done.”

“That’s fairly common for people at your stage.” She motioned for him to sit down, and the caretaker brought in another helping of the simple fare she was eating. “You’ll be glad to know it stops being an issue once you start tempering your body and cultivating using techniques that involve more motion.”

“I’m glad to hear that. My legs were so stiff for a while that I was afraid I’d mess up the sand on my way back.”

“Well, you’ve got a while yet to go before you can move on to better techniques, I’m afraid. I’d estimate about a week of sitting down to cultivate before you’re at that point.”

“Sounds rather tedious, doesn’t it? Not that I’m complaining. It’s just that I’ve always imagined being a Disciple to be somewhat more exciting.”

“Oh, it certainly is tedious. That’s why those of us who can afford to generally skip this phase.”

“You can skip it? Why am I doing it the slow way if it can be skipped?”

“Because you can’t skip it. You see, what you are currently doing is raising your capacity and absorbing enough essence to open your meridians. Once those are open, you can start cultivating properly, and training in combat techniques, which would get you to those more exciting parts of being a Disciple that you’ve imagined. You’re starting with the weakest possible core, and tier one Fractured core. It doesn’t even hold enough essence to open your meridians yet.

“If you’d have started with a better core, on the other hand, you’d have been able to open your meridians more or less immediately, and moved on into advanced training.”

“Definitely not an option for me then. I barely survived that Emergent Horned Hare to get that core. No way would I have been able to get a better one.”

“You should know that this won’t impact your potential at all. You’ll have some catching up to do, but you can reach as high as your willingness to work hard will allow.”

“I can work hard. I promise you that.”

They were done eating by then, and Eleanor verified that he’d managed to fill his core, and then took him back out to the courtyard.

“I take it that you had one of those better cores to start with?” Nimrod asked once they were settled down in the middle circle.

Eleanor looked a little bewildered at the question for a moment, then shook her head in amusement.

“I sometimes forget that not everyone is familiar with being a Disciple. One of the foibles of coming from a cultivator clan. Yes, I was given a Chipped core when I came of age. For a family like mine, that’s a fairly small investment, and can cut months off of the beginning of a Disciple’s path.

“Of course, there is a price to pay for that kind of shortcut, which is why Disciples from the more prominent clans and families tend to look somewhat different from most humans.”

“Does that mean I won’t start to look like a rabbit soon?”

“You’re safe from the threat of bunnyhood,” Eleanor chuckled. “The essence in your core is too weak to modify your shape, and by the time it's strong enough to affect you, it will have adopted your own characteristics, and not the other way around.”

“That’s a relief. Not sure I could have handled being a prey animal. Err… no offense, of course.”

“None taken. There are very few Beasts that would look at a Markhor as prey.”

“I can definitely see that,” Nimrod agreed, eyeing his teacher’s rather imposing form.

“Enough chitchat. You’ve got your core full of essence, so it’s time to learn the next step in your path.”

Nimrod settled down in as comfortable a position as he could, and signaled that he was ready.

“Start by dropping back into your cultivation. I’ll know when you are ready to continue.”

This time, he found it almost effortless to focus on his breathing and his center. A couple of breathing cycles, and he was back to looking at his core, and at the essence fog that still refused to enter his core.

“Good,” He could hear Eleanor quite clearly, but found that he could listen to her without breaking his concentration and coming out of his trance. “Your core is full of essence now, and can’t hold any more. That means that it’s time to enlarge your core. Cores are made out of condensed essence, which is why you need to fill yours up before you can build it up.

“Keep breathing in the same rhythm, but now when you are holding your breath, you need to will the essence inside your core to leave it and mingle with the free essence. The essence inside your core is already yours, and it will obey you.”

It took Nimrod a few tries, but before long he could see the essence leaving his core and mingling with the free essence brought in by his breathing. There was a distinct, yet indescribable difference between the two kinds of essence, and he could feel the point of contact between them. There was far more of his own essence then there was free essence, and almost instinctively he started to wrap up small clumps of free essence with a layer of his own, and could see that as soon as such a sphere was finished, it sunk towards his core, settled on its outer plain, and solidify.

“Very good,” Eleanor’s voice came into his center again. “Keep at it, until you’re out of essence.”

It was evening again when Nimrod stumbled back into the shrine, his core empty of essence but noticeably larger inside him.

“Welcome to tier two,” Eleanor smiled at him. “You’ll need to fill your core up to its new maximum next, and then we’ll be able to work on opening your meridians.”