His reasoning on taking the older tome was mainly because the drawback was lesser than the SpiderByte Arts in James’s eyes. Hiding in the shadows and ambushing would likely be impossible with so many cultivators coveting his unique constitution. He would never be able to use the greatest strength of the technique. At least Stochastic Simian Arts could be used.

Besides, James had full confidence that Nadia would be able to help him update the techniques for the modern age.

“Now, hold on!” Kevin said, yanking the book away from James’s outstretched hands. “This here is a display copy. It isn’t what you should be using to learn. We have much better things for that.”

“He is correct,” Nadia said. “As important as paper is, it is not always the most effective conveyor of information. The copies stored here in the archive are one of multiple backups. In case someone attempts to destroy our library of techniques.”

“Why not just keep it in a computer?” James asked.

“Security,” Nadia said easily. “We have texts stored in multiple mediums to ensure one attack cannot erase everything.”

She turned to Kevin. “Thank you for your assistance. We must now be off.”

“Ah, Nadia, brusque as ever. Here I was about to offer you some tea. The good kind too, imported from the Cinnabar Phoenix Megacity. Alas, if you must be off, then I shall request your presence another time.” Kevin exaggeratedly gestured like an amateur actor in his first play.

Nadia shook her head and smiled. “As much as it pains me to see you so distraught, things are rather dire for James. We shall stop by another time, when matters are less imperative.”

“Goodbye then,” Kevin said. He grabbed onto the bookshelf and pressed one of the buttons. His voice dimmed as the shelf carried him away into the archive. “Until we meet again!”

James chuckled. “He is certainly fun to talk to.”

“No professionalism, but excellent at his work,” Nadia said. “I believe that to be the only reason he is still employed with our family. Now, come. We must head back to the sect and begin your training.”

“What about the training technique?” James asked.

“Check your handheld,” Nadia said.

Sure enough, the computer had a new document stored inside.

“Why does it say, ‘extra secret technique for extra secret people’?” James asked.

“I believe you know why,” Nadia said as they walked out of the room.

They arrived back in Blue Mountain Sect as the day started to wind down. James had practiced his breathing during the travel, eking out as much progression as he could. He couldn’t feel any progress but figured he wouldn’t see results in a day.

Nadia brought him back to her floor of mirrored lakes and floating gazebos, guiding him to bridge that looked to be a dead end. “Are we going swimming?” James asked.

Nadia answered by making a lifting motion with her hand. The water in the lake below churned. Carved dragons emerged from the water, their bearded faces in sagely aspects. The dragons stood above on the tops of pillars, acting as makeshift railings for the wide training space rising out of the water.

“Woah,” James said. “You had that hiding underneath this whole time?”

“Lakes have many hidden depths,” Nadia answered cryptically.

James rolled his eyes. “So do caves. No need to be vague about it.”

Nadia laughed. “Allow me to indulge in some mystery, disciple. Though, the truth is that you’d likely not understand how it all works. Not with the basic education the Empire grants its citizens.”

The two cultivators stepped onto the space, the platform detaching from the bridge to rise into the sky.

“I think I had a fine education,” James said. “I can read, write, and had all that generic math and physics.”

“Yes,” Nadia said, leading her disciple to the center of the room. “However, a cultivator must know more than algebra, geometry, and basic physics. Learning how the world works is one way we become one with it. A cultivator knows calculus, topology, quantum mechanics, and many other schools of thought. Do not worry, topics sound harder than they are.”

“Doubt it,” James muttered. “So, how do I learn these Stochastic Simian Arts?”

Nadia made another motion and a pillar rose from the center of the training room.

“Simply place your handheld here,” she said. “The training room shall interpret the information and create an appropriate session.”

James did so, jerking back as the handheld snapped onto the pillar as it neared. The pillar then sunk into the ground, sending ripples of something across the floor as it did. The ripples traveled to the end of the training grounds, where the dragons’ eyes lit up. A shield formed over the room, darkening to erase the world outside of it.

Virtual trees and grass sprouted from the floor, growing into a grand jungle thick enough to mask the dragons. The sounds of buzzing insects and chirping animals echoed through the area. James sniffed, and wrinkled his nose at the odd smell of life around him.

“This is way better than a viewscreen,” James said.

The trees above shook and James looked to see a monkey leap from a nearby branch to land next to James. The animal tilted its head at the man curiously. James looked back at it with interest.

With a hoot, the monkey jumped, surprising James and sending him stumbling to the ground. The monkey clapped and laughed at James for falling. James made a face and stood.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“That was rude,” he said.

The monkey shrugged, as if to say, “it might be rude, it might not be.”

“So, is this monkey going to teach me?” James asked Nadia.

He looked around, only to see thick trees and dark shadows.

Nadia’s voice echoed out from the trees. “Do not worry, disciple. I am still here. Each technique likes to give its user a taste of what might be in store for it. Once it finishes, things will be clearer.”

The monkey screeched, causing James to whip his head back around. Coming from the underbrush was a large tiger. It stepped out, teeth and claws bared. Electricity arced across the tiger’s claws, crackling the air and raising the stink of ozone. James stepped back despite knowing the animal was a hologram.

The tiger roared, arcs of lightning shooting from its teeth to form saber toothed fangs. The monkey stood tall, shouting in defiance and stomping the ground. The tiger dashed, ready to bite down on the prey in front of it. The monkey ran to meet it, surprising James with its aggression.

He was sure the monkey would fall to the tiger’s claws, the predator’s electric fangs biting down. Instead, James watched in surprise as the monkey slid underneath the tiger, avoiding the bite by inches. The tiger instantly jumped back, expecting an attack on its underbelly.

James expected it too, so both were surprised when the monkey made no move to attack. Instead, it scooped up balls of dirt while the tiger was in the air. With precision James didn’t know the animal had, the monkey pelted the tiger in the eyes with the dirt balls, blinding the animal.

The tiger roared in surprise and lashed out wildly with its claws. The monkey leaped back, grabbing onto a nearby tree and scrambling up it. It hooted a taunt, turning to slap its rear.

Electricity arced across the tiger’s fur and toward its ears. The animal’s head snapped toward the monkey despite its blindness, something in its electrical powers letting it pinpoint its prey. The monkey screeched in alarm, hastily grabbing branches from the tree. It threw them hurriedly, only a few bouncing off the tiger’s body. None dealt damage.

The tiger ran at the tree, clawing up it toward the monkey. Its prey jumped from the tree, swinging with its tail to another trunk covered in vines. The tiger leaped after it, barely missing the monkey’s tail.

The monkey grabbed a loose vine from the trunk and swung. The vine unraveled, sending the monkey spinning around the tree with a holler. The tiger swiped at it again, but the monkey avoided the strike by pulling itself up. Pieces of the vine fell to the ground in a mess.

The monkey eventually released the vine and flew through the air to land on another treetop. More stripped branches were launched at the tiger in hooting anger. James frowned at the attack. The branches hadn’t done a thing before, and they didn’t do anything this time either. All it did was pepper the ground in sticks.

The tiger thought the same, huffing as it bit toward the monkey. The monkey leaped to another tree, swinging from more vines. The tiger gave chase, but always came back to the spot it had first attacked the monkey.

No, it wasn’t the tiger coming back, James realized. The monkey seemed to be leading the tiger back to the area. But why?

The answer came a short time later. The monkey, seemingly exhausted, landed on the ground next to the discarded vines and branches. The tiger, finally able to reach its prey, dashed toward the monkey.

As the tiger ran, the monkey suddenly yanked a vine near it. The discarded branches and vines pulled together, wrapping the tiger’s outstretched paw and tripping it up. The monkey laughed as the animal crashed to the ground.

The simulation ended then, both the monkey and tiger vanishing.

Nadia stepped next to James. “Well, how was it?”

“It didn’t seem like a fight,” James said. “The monkey was just running around and throwing random items. It almost looked like it was luck that tripped up the tiger. But it wasn’t, right?”

“No, it was not,” Nadia said. “This Art is at its core one of misdirection. The monkey baited the tiger into a chase as it planned moves ahead of its enemy. Actions that seemed random were in fact made for a purpose.”

“It looked nothing like the fight you had with that cultivator,” James said. “Except for the lightning on the tiger.”

“It wouldn’t. As I mentioned, the simulation is only a taste. The Art is showing you its core idea, that of misdirection. Anything else it teaches will stem from that core. Now that you’ve seen the Art, it is up to you to continue. We may still exchange techniques if needed.”

“No, I think I understand,” James said. “Stochastic Simian wins by misdirecting the opponent, even those stronger than it. The monkey never used anything that looked like a cultivation technique and yet it was able to stop the tiger. Sounds like its exactly what I need.”

“Kevin has always been good at selecting martial techniques,” Nadia said. “I’m glad this one suits you.”

“So, where do I start?” James asked.

“At the beginning,” Nadia said simply.

“Oh, more mystery is it?” James snorted.

Nadia laughed. “Disciple, if there is one thing you’ll learn, its that cultivators all love an air of mystery.”

James rolled his eyes. “What technique do I start learning first then, master?”

“That will be shown shortly,” Nadia said.

Sure enough, a second or two later James saw the monkey step out of the forest once more. It waved to James and hooted. James waved back.

The trees around them shrank back, creating a small area of space for James and the monkey. Nadia had again vanished.

“So, what have you got for me?” James asked as he stretched his arms.

The monkey looked James over, turning its head back and forth in thought. It grabbed James by the hand when it finished, pulling him to the center of the clearing.

The monkey stood in front of James and started to rotate its torso. When James didn’t follow along, the animal slapped his arm and hollered.

“Oh, sorry,” James said.

He started to mimic the monkey, rotating his torso in circles. The rotations turned to bows and twists as the monkey leaned lower and lower, its legs never moving. James followed along as best he could, but towards the end his muscles were starting to stretch in ways he’d never used them.

This continued until the monkey seemed satisfied. James wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.

“Why is this so tiring,” he said. “I barely even moved.”

The monkey hooted at him, showing him another set of movements for his arms. The two continued to stretch until it felt like every part of James’s body had been pulled. Then, the monkey had James follow as it leaped through the trees.

“But those aren’t real,” James said as the monkey leaped.

“The training area will mold itself to the image you see, disciple,” Nadia said. “Do not worry.”

“If you say so,” James said.

He trailed the monkey, flinching when he grabbed for the tree. His hand grabbed onto rough wood. James sighed in relief.

The monkey beckoned and James followed. The two leaped through the trees, James eventually gasping as the twinges of pain from his muscles grew. By the end of the run, James was heaving great breaths of air through his lungs.

After the run came more stretching, James barely able to hold on. Then the animal had James sit next to the tree and breathe.

“Use what I taught you, disciple,” Nadia said.

James obeyed, using the breathing technique she’d taught him. He closed his eyes and felt his sweat drip from his arms. He listened to the chatter of the world around him and smelled the vibrant aromas of the jungle. He tried to reach out with his mind, to link himself to the world around him.

He felt strange just sitting and breathing. James had never been someone who sat still. His life was always on the move, a constant dash of one job to the next. This stillness made him antsy. He could feel his leg shaking.

The monkey laid a hand on his leg, reminding him to be still and feel the world. It only made James bounce his other leg.

What followed was a stutter step back and forth of stillness and motion. The monkey would remind James, he would try his best to stay still and feel the world, then his natural disposition would have him fidgeting once more.

Eventually, the monkey had James stand once more. They went through the stretches, the jog across the jungle, and more stretches before trying to once again meditate.

The day passed, James doing his best to follow along until he could no longer keep himself going. Nadia appeared then, holding James up before he could collapse on the floor.

“You have worked hard today, disciple,” Nadia said softly. “Rest now.”

James’s eyes fell as blissful rest overtook him.