5 chapter update incoming! It's probably going to be at least a total of 20 chapters for the first story arc based on the current plans.
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"Do you remember that feeling when you first entered your Dantian?" asked Akira.
"Yes, Master," Akiza responded.
"Then you must recreate that feeling and that sense so you can enter it once more, but this time on your own," Akira explained.
Akiza closed her eyes and blocked out her surroundings, focusing on her Dantian located just below her navel. When she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the cave.
"Welcome back!" shouted Akira. "Whenever you wish to return here, just focus like you did just now."
Akiza nodded and said, "Okay."
Akira continued, "Meanwhile, this is what I have prepared for you." Akira pointed at the three books located just in front of him. "These books will help you form your base."
"Base?" asked Akiza.
"The base consists of three parts," Akira explained. "The first, is a meditative technique. This will help you increase your internal energy and use it more effectively. The one I have seleted for you is known as the Nine Yins and Nine Yangs Manual. The second, is the ability to increase your sensitivity to the internal energy present in other things in the world. This will help you detect other people and find natural supplements for your development. It is called the World Spiritualist Technique. And the last, is the Book of Foodies."
"What is a foody?" asked Akiza.
"It means someone who loves to eat," explained Akira.
Akiza did not respond and just stayed silent. She looked at Akira and thought that the Hero standing in front of her wanted to do something to help her relax again.
"This is not a joke," Akira continued. "The things that are best at increasing your internal energy and boosting your development comes in the form of things you eat. Monster meats, medicines, and elixirs are all food."
Suddenly Akiza understood what Akira meant by food. Food was anything that you could eat and nearly all of the greatest sources of internal energy was food. Therefore, a special technique to absorb the energy from the food you ate suddenly made sense. The greater percentage that you could absorb from food, the more you would get out of it. Since people ate all the time, simply changing your diet could grant you quick increases in power.
Akiza flipped open the first book and began to learn the meditation technique. It contained numerous drawings of the human body, from pressure point locations to the reasons for focusing on the different points on the body. However, what stood out was the reason why it was called the Nine Yins and the Nine Yangs. It drew upon all the terminology that Akira spoke of. Internal Energy was actually divided into nine separate categories: Yin, Yang, Ki, Aura, Chakra, Mana, Elemental, Nature, and Divine. Each one was divided into positive and negative versions. Negative versions were to be avoided because they harmed the body unless they had something special to resist it. Most people focused on one type, due to the limited amount of energy available in an area, but someone who used the technique in the Nine Yins and Nine Yangs Manual could make use of all of them.
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"I want to try," said Akiza.
"Do you think you understood the contents?" asked Akira.
"Yes," Akiza replied.
"Then go ahead," Akira stated calmly.
Akiza focused herself on the words in the Nine Yins and Nine Yangs Manual. As she focused, she could feel the energy around her. The forest was filled with Nature energy, though there were traces of others as well. Plants and some creatures generated their own Aura. She felt both Yin and Yang energy within her own body as well. However, this was interrupted by a sudden pain in her stomach.
"AHHHHHHH" Akiza screamed in pain.
"Are you okay?" Akira asked.
"It hurts just as bad as before," cried Akiza as she fell over wincing in pain.
Akira looked and saw as the Hero's Seed opened into a flower. At the core of the flower was a red sphere. "I can't believe it," he muttered to himself. "Aki, you just made your first step into the Elementary Stage on your first attempt! This pain should be as a result of the sudden rush of energy flowing into your body."
As the flower fully opened and the red sphere begin to lose its glow, Akiza was able to get up again. "You really need to warn me of these things. You have no idea how much it hurts," she said.
"Well I didn't expect you to skip directly from nothing directly into the first Elementary Stage. This is a huge leap in your development," stated Akira. "Jumping this much so suddenly after being injured will do this kind of thing to you."
"Elementary Stage?" asked Akiza.
"Oh right, I keep forgetting you don't know about these things," Akira said. "A martial artist is someone who has opened their Dantian for use, but even then, they are divided into stages of develoment. You have just entered into the Elementary Stage, a point in which a martial artist is able to detect and concentrate Internal Energy into their own body to grow stronger. As you grow stronger, you will develop more uses. Your first goal, in terms of Internal Energy is to reach the Spirit Stage. Life and Limit come inbetween them, so you have three whole stages of development to get through."
"Life? Limit? Spirit?" Akiza was still as confused as before.
Akira tried to simplify what he had just said. "Think of it like this, at the Elementary Stage, you just learned how to increase your power. At the Life Stage, you are able to control it by hiding it and releasing it when you need it. The Limit Stage allows you to reach the peak of human physical limits by using Internal Energy. What changes at this stage is when you get a spirit. Only by obtaining a spirit will you be able to break through into the Spirit Stage, but luckily for you, there are four waiting right here for you."
Akiza remembered the four egg shaped objects in front of the Hero's Seed in her Dantian. Each of those eggs must contain a spirit meant for the Hero. If she could reach the Spirit Stage, she could easily get a spirit and continue training.