Aaron waited for a minute or so until his head had stopped hurting and his mind had settled down before he placed the next core to his head. Once again he was catapulted into a small courtyard, but this one was surrounded by giant ferns. Ferns were everywhere actually, instead of grass there were small ferns, bigger ferns loomed above them like bushes and small trees. Overhead giant ferns put the whole courtyard into a greenish shade that took the bite out of a hot summer sun burning down on him. An old man stood in front of Aaron and he smiled, his leathery old face wrinkled and Aaron wondered how old a cultivator this ancient looking had to be.
“Again.” he said and Aaron felt Sylus go into the familiar stance of the rejuvenating fist. At first Aaron thought he had made a mistake but then the fight began and Aaron had only eyes for the old man. The man looked beyond 80 or 90, but moved with alacrity and grace of a man a quarter of his age. Aaron was intimately familiar with the fist kata and so he saw each move that neutered him. The old man gently moved, took advantage of positioning, took advantage of his own movements and those of his opponent to guide away each and every strike. Some strikes he could not defend against this way, but those the old man interrupted with palm strikes that were not really meant to hurt, but stung Sylus every time they hit him. To the young Sylus it felt like punching a wall, like swimming against a current and even when the kata ended and refreshed Sylus, he was still on his knees panting out of sheer exhaustion.
“Good, better. Switch.”
Sylus moved into an unfamiliar stance after taking a deep breath. He relaxed his body, readied himself, his gaze on the old man who had gotten into the first stance of the rejuvenating fist kata. Then the old man began. It was the basic kata without any variations, and Aaron felt like quicksilver, like water as he moved with Sylus to defend himself. Each movement smooth and to a point, predicting and solving problems posed by the fist kata.
Aaron realized quickly that the stance followed dance like circular movements that made him almost disappear from the old man’s view. Very few times the solutions were to block or catch the old man’s fist. Usually it was turning out of the attack by moving to the side or stepping around or back. The direction did not matter. It depended entirely on what his opponent did. Once evaded the kata called for some sort of follow up usually. This could either be a palm strike to disrupt the enemies next attack, a grab or throw of some kind by leveraging the speed, power and strength behind the enemies attack and using it against them. It reminded Aaron of Judo or Aikido, both martial arts he had 0 personal experience with. The few times he had seen those martial arts they had looked underwhelming. He had never understood the whole concept of using the enemies strength against them. He had thought it a waste of time. You could throw a punch and usually do more than just interrupt people, you could hurt them. Judo and Aikido had been too defensive for him and for ground work, grappling and the like he had learned a bit of Jujitsu. But now he understood why even on earth these concepts existed. The Unceasing Palm Kata was build upon those principles, was defence in the purest form, whole moving constantly. The kata was unlike anything he had ever seen or could really compare to, earths martial arts fell woefully short and the real Unceasing Palm kata he felt Sylus perform was so much more refined and he felt each step, each movement set up the next, guiding, taking control of the fight slowly but surely.
Aaron watched how each punch, each move of the Rejuvenating Fist kata that had given Sylus such an advantage over other foes was entirely countered. But it was not as easy as he made it sound in his head. Because young Sylus was struggling. Many times the kata demanded to be reactive which meant it depended on split second decisions and lightning quick moves. Sometimes he was just too slow or guessed the timing wrong. Time and time again he earned himself painfull reminders for his troubles as punches got through and battered young Sylus. On the last few punches of the fist kata the old man suddenly paused. Sylus hesitated and when the punch came anyways, he was too late to stop it. The old man’s fist hit him squarely in the stomach and made Sylus crumple and fold up, while he held his stomach. God that hurt even as a memory.
“Hesitation is death. Expect the unexpected. Never lull yourself into thinking you have the upper hand when a fight is going well. What is the maxim of the Unceasing Palm Kata?”
Sylus slowly got back to his feet and panted, before he said:
“A Palm unceasing, unwavering, but never still, like flowing water.”
“Correct, unwavering, but never still. You wear your opponent down, you grind them to dust like a river cuts through rock. Slowly, but you never ever stop.
Again.”
Sylus got back into the stance and the fight began anew. The more Aaron lived through the fights the more he understood the underlying techniques. There were quite a few. He identified 8 then 12, then even more than that until it felt like there were hundreds of solutions and the decision which to pick for the situation alone would give him a massive dose of decision paralysis. Would make him hesitate too much to make any decision actually. The old man battered Sylus, but the young cultivator got better with every round, refreshed himself with the effect of the rejuvenating fist when they switched and then it began anew.
After what seemed an eternity the old man stepped back.
“Good, that will suffice. Demonstrate the 36 parts of the Unceasing Palm kata and tell me why perfect mastery of these movements does not equate mastery of the kata itself.”
“Because the movements are only part of it, the techniques need to be used, need to actively counter a punch, need to block or evade an attack of some sort to shine.”
“Yes, but why?”
“Because….because timing is the most important?”
The old man chuckled and shook his head.
“Timing is important yes, but this is the Heavenly Kata, my boy. It is not that shallow. Mastery of it means you do not need to time anything, it will be an instant reaction. Your body will remember the way to defend itself and eventually you will have a fast enough reaction to choose how to defend yourself and create an opening to escape or attack out of any attack.”
“How can anyone be quick enough for that?”
The old man smiled and patted Sylus on the head.“You will see.”
What followed was Sylus demonstrating the Unceasing Palm kata slowly. Each Technique distinct and broken down, but it did not feel the same as using them in a fight, it felt disconnected somehow. Aaron felt the headache coming back and willed himself out of the recording once Sylus had finished the kata once. To his relief he found himself back in the prison.
His headache was not as bad this time, because he had stopped earlier, but his mind felt just the same. Awash with ideas, with the feeling, the knowledge of how to do the second Kata. He got into the first stance of the Unceasing Palm kata and then went through each and every of the 36 techniques very slowly. It felt just as disconnected than in the memory and Aaron frowned when he had finished.
“I see you have learned the basics. Do you understand now why this technique is so hard to learn without a training partner?”
“I think so? Something gets lost if its not actually used. Its not fluid. Yes, that is it. A Palm unceasing, unwavering, but never still, like flowing water.”
“Yes, you want to get into a certain rhythm in this kata. But that is not all, its miraculous effect only shines in the fight, when using it to defend yourself.”
“What is that effect exactly?”
“Reaction Speed.” Sylus answered with a broad grin. Aaron’s eyes widened and then he raised his eyebrows.
“Really?”
“Absolutely. That is why it can only be learned this way. The more experience you have using it, the more in depth and perfect your responses, the more the gains. Eventually it will feel like the world is slowing down once someone throws a punch at you. I’ll tell you immediately the effect because I want you to understand why this kata is so amazing. Why you need to spend as much time and resources on mastering it as possible. In the later parts of the core, I have left you a few thousand fights I have won with this kata alone, each one getting progressively more in depth and difficult.”
Aaron stared at the core and then at Sylus as he let that sink in.
“So, how exactly does that help me though. Its not like I gain actual experience while watching or dodge the same way in real life, I don’t actually move at all. It is a physical thing right? So If I don’t actually dodge and react it won’t increase my reaction speed, correct?”
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“Correct. But what you can do is play the recorded fights and try to dodge and react that way.”
“What? Like I can replay the fights and react to it with my body in real life or something?”
“Yes, easily. You obviously won’t take any damage from the memory illusions, the images will be in your head alone. But you could say it is a very advanced form of shadow boxing. You see the fight, try to react to it and I am sure you can give the cores the right instruction set to deactivate when you would get hit. Some things will be impossible to do though. Like executing throws and the like. In the end fighting will be the best training, but you will have enough material to at least gain a basic mastery of the kata before going into a real fight.”
“That sounds amazing. So how do I do that exactly?”
“Intent. I am not too familiar with these kinds of cores, Mortag keeps their secrets close to his chest. But it was very easy to inscribe them The cores are masterfully crafted so it should be just as easy to control them. But also difficult if you have no experience with expressing your will through Qi. But once you manage it you can give the core a set of instructions through your will alone. Will, Intent and the like will become much more important in the Foundation Realm when you create actual Qi attacks or constructs.”
“That actually makes a lot of sense. I sort of willed myself out of the recordings before. It felt...natural. Is that another technique influencing me?” Aaron asked feeling a headache incoming.
“No, that is just...huh. You did exit and enter the cores at will. Your mental imagery must be very advanced for someone your age.”
“My age? What does that mean?”
“You are not even a hundred years old in both of your lives combined yes?”
“What? No, I am like 30.” Actually Aaron was technically 37 going towards 40, but he never actually felt like he was that old and so his gut reaction was always going a bit lower.
“Yeah, young. Usually having good mental imagery is a sign of age, but I suppose it makes sense. The Great Master does not just pick anyone as his student.” Sylus said with a nod.
“But back to the topic at hand, you give the core a set of instructions. But you can’t just think them, you need to want them, you need to hone your intent and transmit it to the core. The easiest way is to start with ‘I want to see the memories of the core with my eyes open’. Then you escalate to ‘I want to move while watching the recording’ and so on. It takes some practice, but it is not that difficult if you have the mental strength for it.”
Aaron frowned and looked down at the core. So he had to just will it to do what he wanted? That did sound simple, but also hard. He hoped he would not have to keep that intent going the whole time or it would be impossible to do. He held the memory core with the Unceasing Palm Kata up to eye level and concentrated on what he wanted. He wanted to see the memories, but with his eyes open, like films and movies imagined holograms. He concentrated as hard as he could and then touched his temple with the core.
Aaron stood in the center of the fern compound and looked around. He could see the memory and it was vivid and real, not like a hologram at all. There was color and even sound and sensations. But he could also see the prison cells and Sylus standing and observing him. Where reality met the illusion both seemed to dim, like two shadows overlapping. He could clearly see the prison bars of Sylus cell and the ferns were kind of blurry and indistinct in that direction, but that was it. It was as real as the first time he watched the memory.
The old man stood in front of him, studying him.
“Again.” was all the old man said and then things went wrong. Very wrong. Because Aaron’s real body was still standing there with the core held to his temple, but Sylus body in the memory stepped forward and got into the first stance of the Rejuvenating Fist kata. It was the weirdest feeling in the world. He could feel every single movement of Sylus, but he could also feel his real body. Together it was the weirdest outer body experience Aaron had ever had. It also came with a bout of nausea so strong he stopped watching immediately and felt how his senses stopped being split and returned to his body.
Aaron retched and almost dropped the core as he shuddered in discomfort. His stomach rebelled and Sylus chuckled.
“Fuuuuck. That was terrible.”
“I assume your senses got split apart and you did not like it at all?” Aaron nodded and gagged but he did not actually puke. But he had to wait a few minutes until his stomach settled.
“Next time do it better. Nothing hones your will more than not doing the thing that just made you almost puke again. Come on, try again.”
Aaron took a deep breath and nodded, but he hesitated.
“What exactly should I want for?”
“The ideal training situation should be: ‘I want to replace the memories host body with my own, see, feel and act freely while the memory stays the same.’”
“That is quite a mouth full.”
“It is and it encapsulates multiple different and equally important trail of thoughts. I also don’t know how to stop holding the core while you do that, you have to ask Mortag about that. I have only used memory cores a few times before and Mortag’s cores are a fair bit more complicated and advanced than anything I have used before coming to the tower.”
Aaron nodded and then started to concentrate again. He still vividly remembered the weaponized intent from the Asura and in a weird way it made it easier to control his own thoughts and hone them to a point. The idea was not simple at all. He wanted to see the memory core and every participant excluding Sylus should remain the same. But there was where the problems began. He wanted to have feedback just like in the memory and that meant he could not just wish for Sylus to be taken out entirely, because he was very much a central part of the whole thing. Still, for the next time he just wanted to replace Sylus entirely and take his spot with his own body, free from the illusion.
Aaron focused and closed his eyes, he visualized what he wanted to happen, what he wanted to do and how. He concentrated on it until he felt like it was the only ting he would ever want in the world and then he touched the memory core to his temple.
At first Aaron thought nothing had happened, but when he looked up he noticed the ferns around him and the old man standing in front of him. Aaron took a step left, then a step right and held the core in one hand, both fists balled as he got into the stance for the rejuvenating fist.
“Again.” the old man said, but Aaron did not wait and pounced the old man. His punches getting evaded and countered as he absolved the basic rejuvenating fist kata. But there was no feedback at all. He did not feel the old man’s palm strikes or anything else for that matter. He could still see it though. For now that was fine. He waited until he reached the part where they switched and Aaron started to try to counter the old man’s fists with the newly learned kata.
Which turned out to be incredibly difficult. Multiple times he chose a wrong move and that continued until finally almost at the end of this memory section it finally clicked. Aaron dodged a punch and threw a palm strike that sent the old man back. Sylus must have used the same move in the memory. Every punch after that he saw and moved, his body reacting in just the right way as he dodged, evaded, misled strikes and became as slippery as quicksilver. It was difficult though, even in rhythm. He missed a few times and got punched by the mirror image for his trouble. More than once he felt himself slip out of the rhythm. One of the biggest problems was that he still had to hold the core with one hand and that meant he fought with one palm and one fist and that hindered him more than he thought possible.
Aaron willed the memory to fade away and Sylus nodded satisfied.
“Good progress. I am sure Mortag has a solution, just ask him and keep on training. This will take time, experience and the best thing would be if you actually used your fists in real combat. To that end I’ll teach you a very simple Qi reinforcement technique. It is not really a technique though, it is that simple.”
Sylus stretched out a hand and showed it to Aaron.
“Imagine your hand filling with Qi, actually take some from your dantian and then reinforce your muscles. Your image you hold in your head is important while doing so. Imagine it strengthening the muscles, reinforcing them as you push Qi into your arms.”
Aaron nodded and waited for Sylus to continue, but the man stayed silent.
“Wait, that is it?”
“Yes, its basic Qi infusion, Intent plus Qi concentrated in one part of your body. At first I recommend to do your whole arm, from your shoulders to the tip of your fingers. The simple reason is that you won’t dislocate your shoulder because your punches are too strong. It does cost more Qi though.”
Aaron frowned and went into his dantian with his inner eye. He did not have a massive amount of Qi left and what was there was lazily rotating around the center point of his dantian. The space of the dantian was at least 3-4 times as big as before, thanks to his increase in cultivation realm. But that would also mean he would probably need 4 times as much Qi to rank up again as well. Aaron dismissed those thoughts and pulled one strand of Qi out of the rotation. The glowing energy followed his will and he directed it out of the dantian towards his arm. He imagined, in the same way he had controlled the memory core, that his arm was infused by power, by strength, reinforcing his muscle fibers, reinforcing his bones, his skin, his ligaments. Then he released the Qi and the energy flooded into his fingers and then filled his entire arm in an instant.
It felt a bit like his muscles were heating up and Aaron opened his eyes and looked down on his arm.
“So… what changes, like what does this do?”
“It makes your arm stronger, go ahead try some punches.”
Aaron slipped into the Rejuvenating Fist Kata and started punching. As soon as his right arm shot forward in a straight punch he noticed the difference. The acceleration and the sheer force of his punch made him stagger forwards, the punch making a crisp sound in the air.
“Huh, that is nice, but difficult to adjust to.” Aaron said, got back into the right stance and punched the air once more. But after less than a minute the effect started to diminish and then it vanished entirely after another 30 seconds.
“Well damn that is not efficient Qi usage at all.” Aaron complained as he rubbed his right arm, trying to feel any difference after the effect had vanished.
“No it is not, that is why its not recommended to do this in Qi Refining. Too much of a waste of Qi. But it should give you a momentary boost to break through armor or defeat an especially difficult foe.”
“Right, that does make sense. Thank you.”
“No worries, just some paltry tricks really. Mastery of the katas is what will really save your life.”
“I know, I know, you made that abundantly clear.”
“If you two are done, I would like a word, Aaron.” the wispy voice of the great master said into Aaron’s ear and he actually flinched. Sylus nodded and bowed towards the prison of the great master.
“We are done, all he needs now is 3 years of dedicated practice or one year of almost constant fighting with those two katas and then he might be capable of learning the Piercing Finger and complete the first triplet, great master.”
“Quite an accomplishment. But alas I fear young Aaron is even more impetuous and impatient than you are Sylus.”
Sylus laughed. “As you say great master, lets hope we can ground him enough to take his time.” He looked towards Aaron who gave Sylus a nod and a bow and then walked over to the grand cell of the great master.