“Hey Teacher, have you ever worked it out. Like the whole meaning of life, point of existence, etcetera, etcetera,” I ask quite half heatedly, not really expecting an answer.
Teacher scoffed a bit before giving me an even lazier reply, “I think that's Mother to you and. . . uh, the meaning huh? As you know I don’t plan on continuing along with the coil nor do I have any desire to break the taboo and touch divinity in this life. I figure I’ll leave that up to my next incarnation, hoo I hope the next me is a Sam. It's such a good name, actually, any S name is fine. . “
“No, no not going to happen. Also, I’m not asking about that. I’m asking if you’ve ever worked it out,” I ask again, stopping her from changing the topic.
I could see her mull the question over in her head before Teacher responded, “Aubrey must’ve kept you quite idle this past month if you're contemplating the nature of existence. Still, you’re really adamant about breaking that Taboo. I. . I gave that up eons ago.. These days, I only care about fulfilling my promise to the fourteen then returning to the dust.”
That was just about what I expected. As much as I appreciate the tutoring I’m not really learning anything I don’t already know. At most I’m just engraving the techniques into my body rather than my mind. Mindlessly performing the 9 Forms Stepping Method has left me more than enough free time in my head.
The fabled fourteen, I haven’t heard about that in a long, long time. She never told us about what the promise was or who it was made to but, it was clear as day how important it was to her. Teacher even uses XIV as her alias and sometimes even as her practitioner name. It was so important to her that all of us took Xiv as our family name after graduating, much to her displeasure. Fourteen, thinking about it, that's just one away from thirteen. I wonder. . .
“Well enough of that, have you made your decision on that matter yet,” Teacher suddenly spoke.
That’s. Yeah that's a good question. I answer, “To be honest, my mind was made up the moment you told me about it. If it wasn’t for the traps littered in my fate I’d never consider it but, drastic times and all that.”
The entire point of the first level is to get to a point where the body can retain energy. It’s safe to say I have exceeded that measure. Here comes the problem. Do I go on to the second level? Or do I try to branch out into the hidden mysteries of the 10th to 13th step?
Teacher, quite satisfied, continues, “That’s my girl. I don’t have those answers but, I’ll tell you this. If you want to unravel the secrets of reality and shed yourself of the Taboo, then the true path is the correct path.”
The second level is about building or enhancing an energy network into your body and soul. This is for one to help increase the intake and output of energy and two to help support the vast amount of energy that will be coursing through every single cell on the latter levels.
A better way to explain is to imagine your body is a bottle. At the first level, the bottle is sealed tight moving air in and out of it is nearly impossible. The best you can do is to move microscopic amounts of it through the small gaps between the lid and the lip of the bottle. At the second level, it's as if you took a pencil to the lid and jammed it through the cheap plastic to make a small hole. That way not only can air freely move in and out but, even water could pass through it. The analogy breaks down after that because you have to then add valves, and filters, and in certain cases logic gates to the bottle to freely regulate it but, the visualization should hold for the most part.
The first step to the second level is building or reclaiming a channel. Meanwhile, the tenth step to the first level is also building a channel. There’s a bit of nuance to it like the nuance between a paved road and an unpaved one. But, I..
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“If I was building a second-level channel I could do it no problem but, I have no experience making one for the first level, “ I voiced my concern.
Teacher looks at me like I’m stupid before saying, “Doesn’t your loli redux whatever dragon have a channel building method?”
I confusedly answered, ”Yeah but, how. .?
Teacher cuts me off and holds up a bottle of. . . Bottlenecking Powder? Teacher, you want me to ingest poison? Do you really favor me that little? Wait no that, that makes sense! Advancement to the second level happens due to the energy of earth converging into the channel nourishing and strengthening it. So, by using that powder I can temporarily cut off my connection to both heaven and earth. Letting a newly formed channel remain unpaved and me unbaptized.
“Well? What are you waiting for? Start meditating, I’ll handle the rest,” She urged.
No time like the present. Sitting in a full lotus this time, thank the creator for this tiny flexible body, and begin casting my sight inward. Only after feeling a cold substance coated across my torso do I begin channel building.
I had already divined the method for this a month ago. The Loli Art uses a channel-building skill called “cuteness connects all” to connect two points with similar energy and then slowly widen it to build a channel. On the other hand, Dragon Heart uses its circle method to slowly carve a channel through the flesh and bone called “Unyielding Might”. The byproduct of which is the “Unyielding Cuteness” method which acts as a guided tunnel bore pushing everything to the side to make the channel. Needless to say, I’m not fond of the whole cutting thing so, I adjusted it to be a bit less intrusive and a bit faster.
If I control it correctly I can carve the 9 needed channels to the outside all at once. What if I pre-carve all the channels I can now? I currently have 9 circle-sources which will become my nine principal nodes later. I would need to make a channel to connect each future node so that would make. . . 36 channels? 45 If I include the nine needed to connect me to the world. Hrm, I can sense it now. I’m probably going to be jumping a lot of steps later when I do make it to the second level. Well better sooner than later.
The first thing I do is make nine channels to connect my hearts. Then another nine making a new circle overlaying the old circle. Then another, and another. Every single heart is directly connected with 8 others letting energy cleanly pass through if a bit primitively. Now for the main event, as I go on I’ll have more channels connecting with the outside world but for now, this is enough.
As the tunnel bores reach my skin widening 9 imperceptible holes, I feel a tremor flow through my body. Energy, not of earth, rushes into my fledgling network. Each of my hearts pulses as the energy passes through them. After the 9th pulse another change occurred, something different but all too familiar begins to form. Slowly it takes a similar shape as the rest and grows tentacles that tap into my cardiovascular system.
Another Creatordamned heart. I don't know what to say about it, not much to say. I didn’t even have to do anything to it either. Just like the rest, it catches up in development in no time flat. First, a circle, then a source inside the circle, and lastly 10 tunnel bores are each guided to their appropriate destination. Do steps these days just give away free hearts? Was there a bargain sale I wasn’t aware of? Buy 9 hearts and get one free?
This is utterly ridiculous but, then again what hasn’t been ridiculous since my transmigration. Honestly, this is just a cherry on the top of the already cherry-infested top. Who am I to complain about another set of innate spells? If anything it's a rather joyous occasion. Well, it would be but, I also know this means I’m going to have more energy, specifically cute energy. This also means that my network which will focus on refining the purity of cuteness will have another factory plugged in letting me increase the concentration even further.
I’m quite screwed. I should have been more worried about becoming insanely cute instead of becoming a love or happy-go-lucky freak. Actually no, the alternative is absolutely out of the question. All energy will cause personality changes but I've met people who use emotional energy and let's just say I really don’t want to become anything like the Cult of Sorrow.
“Teacher, is it possible for us to continue going? I think a little bit more and I can form primitive virtue and sin nodes and step into the 11th step,” I ask with anticipation
Teacher just says, “You do realize Bottlenecking Powder is a black market drug, right? That's all I had on me. Even if you're my daughter I’m not going to coddle you. Learn to rely on yourself and not me. On that note, I think it's time we have Aubrey take off those training wheels and have her teach you some basic chemistry.”
. . . I see, that was your plan all along. . . with those words I take one step into a world of nightmares.