Aaron searched for a relatively empty space where he could move, which in the end turned out to be a small clearing away from his camps. He closed his eyes and listened to any sound until he was sure that he was alone and nobody would just run into him training. It was a sort of reassurance he wished he had before. It made him breathe easier and some of the pressure he felt on his shoulders vanished.
First he had to truly learn the stretch routine Mei had prepared for him and so he got out the correct Memory Core and pressed the strange symbol twice for training mode, before putting the core back into the pouch on his belt.
In front of him appeared Mei, who even in her illusion looked really, really good. But he ignored that trail of thought and tried his best not to let his eyes stray to far from her limbs, instead he focused on her movements. He stepped right next to her and mimicked the basic stance of her routine. Then he let her go through the first part of the routine, before he rewound and did it along side her. It really was intuitive as soon as he had the idea the core did what he wanted it to do. Which was equal parts spooky and convenient. He ignored the distractions and tried his best to follow along with her kata. But he had to stop almost immediately and rewind again. It was just too difficult to mimic the movements correctly and after his third try he sighed, got the memory core out and pressed it once for trance mode. He needed to feel how she went through this stretch routine or he would go mad trying to follow her quicksilver fast movements. He skipped ahead to the stretch once he was in trance mode, although the feeling of rushing air made him pause for just a moment to enjoy it. Once he was at the right part of the memory he immersed himself and tried his best to experience the routine it with her body.
It felt so much easier for him to do this in the memory, but he was more than aware that he was not as flexible as she was, not even close. But he got a better feeling for it, there was a hidden rhythm for it and once he thought he had that down, he returned to training mode and repeated the stretches he had just felt being performed. It worked like a charm this time. Having a visual aid alongside the memory of how to stretch exactly helped immensely as well.
The stretches were varied and increased in difficulty slowly until Aaron was unable to follow the complicated flicks and front and back flips that stretched certain muscles and taught him how to move in the air. But his new senses helped him along during the entire progress. Being able to feel his muscles stretch, his ligaments and tendons extend and contract while he stretched was extremely helpful. He had to have perfect control over his body during the Heavenly Kata, but it turned out that it was entirely different compared to this stretch routine. His body was not limber and flexible enough to really follow the routine properly and his rising muscle mass sometimes got into the way as well. So he had to stretch and work on it a lot more than he originally expected he would.
When he was finally through with the routine his entire body hurt, but in a good way. It hurt from extending his movement range. He remembered the demonstration of the Rejuvenating Fist in the memory core where the man displayed it in front of the courtyard of students. That man had an absurd range of movement, his limbs extending, making his simple kata look entirely different than the one Sylus had showcased in the end. It was possible that once he was more flexible his own kata would look more like that demonstration and Aaron was really looking forward to that. Because that man had felt incredibly strong even just as a martial artist.
Curiously he switched to the Rejuvenating Fist kata and did his first few repetitions of the kata while trying to mimic the man’s kata exactly and not Sylus interpretation. It taught him a lot actually. The kata itself was not as set in stone as it felt at first, there was leeway in some parts without compromising the overall technique. But it would take months, if not years to get to the same proficiency as that man. After he was done with half of the repetitions of the Rejuvenating Fist kata, Aaron decided to switch to the true training and called up some of the fights that were stored on the memory core. First against humans. Because he figured those would be more frequent than monsters for a while at least.
It was everything he hoped it would be, but once more his enhanced senses turned it into a more easy set of fights than he anticipated. Being able to exactly gauge the distance between yourself and an enemy was an incredible advantage, even if the enemy was illusory. Which meant no smell, limited sound and no Qi or mana sense. None of those senses worked, because the illusions were in his head and not actually there. Being able to tell that they were illusions from his senses alone was really refreshing, but also meant that the senses that did work were overly focused sometimes. More than once Aaron ended up missing some obvious clues, and got himself a painful reminder of what happened if he made a mistake. The punches did hurt for real and with his improved sense of pain that was no joke. Most of the time the attacks he missed were things like an attack from behind. Before his enhancement he would have been able to hear that no problem, now he had to ensure he was not overly focused on seeing the fight or he would lose perspective and end up muffling his other senses too much.
The fights were incredibly helpful though. Because each and every one of them were difficult to win. The opponents that Sylus had fought were good martial artists and experienced fighters, who reacted really well, even though Aaron had the advantage of them not actively responding to his moves. But for now Aaron tried to win the fights the way they were supposed to be won. By finding the specific series of moves included in the Rejuvenating Fist kata that Sylus had used. It took some time to adapt, to trial and error some fights, but it was a lot of fun as well. There was haptic feedback when he punched someone and also in the rare moments he blocked and not evaded. Sometimes, when a fight felt simply impossible he was really tempted to use the Unceasing Palm kata, now that he had learned it, he itched to try it out in combat, but he refrained from that as well. That was not the purpose of this training. The Unceasing Palm kata would come next.
Aaron had to stop himself from continuing with the fights after the Rejuvenating quality of the Kata had almost disappeared. But his routine was far from over. He finally switched to the Unceasing Palm memory core and went through the basic forms three times slowly after reviewing the memory. He was already bathed in sweat, but his muscles were not as tired as they should have been because of the refreshing effect of the fist Kata. He felt hot though and his entire body was warmed up really well. He had felt this way before while playing basketball in highschool or later in the army when he had adapted to their training and had excelled in it.
His whole body although sweaty was ready to move and he was stretched and limber enough that no movement would injure him. Satisfied with his basic understanding of the Unceasing Palm kata he moved on to the active training part of the memory core. He stood still, in the basic stance of the Palm kata, his feet slightly angled, one hand in front palm open to the sky, the other hand below at his hips, angled towards his body. A set of enemies, beasts this time, were moving around him and Aaron focused on staying in balance with his senses. He had learned his lesson.
The beasts circled him until suddenly he heard something move behind him and he decided to use the 12th stance, a dodge by ducking away in one smooth movement while his hands received the attack. He could feel the feedback as his palms landed on the beast and he guided its charge away, made it bounce against one of its members in the pack. These beasts looked like giant lions, but with very thick fur that shimmered in a dark green luster almost like the shell of a beetle. They did behave like a pack of wolves though, trying to encircle and then attack him from blind spots. Aaron’s reactions were still too slow, many times he was half a step behind and screwing up the timing meant usually he was getting hit, if not killed. His counter attacks, throws and palm strikes were just slower than they needed to be and often he chose the wrong part of the kata to respond with. It was frustrating more than anything, but it also gave him a lot of room for improvement. And to get used to short bursts of pain.
The sun stood high in the air when Aaron finally stopped his training. Out of breath he stood there for a few long moments trying to center himself. He could still feel the phantom pain of enemy hits on his skin. The Unceasing palm kata looked so easy to do, but it was hard work and more than a bit of training was required to do be even remotely proficient at this. When his adrenaline stopped flowing through his veins he realized that he was dead tired and sagged against a tree to catch his breath. How long had he continuously fought for? 4-5 hours? He would have to switch up his routine a bit. This was not how he wanted to end up ever day. Ideally he would take advantage of the rejuvenating effect of the fist kata in between bouts of using the Unceasing Palm kata, having best of both worlds. He would do that later in the day when he had another training session planned. He dreaded and looked forward to that in equal measure.
Aaron drank water from the stream which tasted clean enough so he was not too worried about getting sick. Then he cleaned up his hideout and had lunch. He was quickly running out of meat and he knew he probably should go hunting. But first he needed to cultivate. When he was done hunting he would probably have to start his routine again and begin with stretches before nightfall. But for now he needed to focus on cultivating.
In his newly cleaned and much more pleasant smelling hideout he sat down and calmed his thoughts. His senses played haywire as he tried to settle down, with his eyes closed his hearing, smell and even sense of touch were enhanced immediately as well as the sensation of mana all around him. And when he tried to muffle one sense, the others enhanced even further. It was madening for the first 20 minutes or so. In the end he decided to just embrace it and focus on one sense alone. His Qi sense, to feel his Qi and the mana in his body and nothing else. It was what he was trying to cultivate after all.
Slowly, very slowly he concentrated on his Qi, on the transformation of it in his blood, how it streamed through his body. Until the noise of the forest vanished and the smell of pine needles was forgotten. Then there was only mana left, flowing through the air, being absorbed by his skin, but most of all by his breath. He followed it, watched it turned into Qi and he went in there, he drew the newly created Qi into his dantian, his control over the mystical energy so much more refined and strong compared to when he had started. The Qi flooded the pathways of the Fiend-god art until it felt like a continuous stream of Qi flowing from his blood and flesh through his Qi veins into the core of his dantian. It felt thick, almost viscous when it ended up settling in there. Aaron cut his hand, barely feeling anything, while doing so and let his body absorb another manastone, changing the little trickle like stream of Qi into a roaring mountain river.
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The more he cultivated the more his overly heightened senses started to feel...redundant. He started to focus just on his Qi, the mana almost forgotten. Not the sensation of Qi, but the Qi itself. His control, his power, his might. This was part of him, was the very essence of what made him more than human. His heightened senses fell away slowly until finally he did not feel anything at all but Qi. But the Qi was moving on its own by that point, dragged by the Fiend-god art into his Qi veins it flowed through him without Aaron having to do anything. So he let his sense of Qi go as well.
Almost without noticing it he reached a spot of silence, of nothingness that at first almost scared him, but then he felt the calm, the tranquil nature of this place and he settled down. He felt his Qi still, felt his cultivation, but it was like the sound of a river in the background or the sound of waves. It melted into the background. The world vanished slowly. His sense of self, his heightened senses, his thoughts. Everything stilled. Aaron felt like he was just a small candle of light, of thought, in the vast expanse of endless nothingness. It was calm, serene, like he was sitting on the edge of a dark pond that stretched towards the horizon. Aaron thought of nothing, not of strive, not of his past, his future plans or even what he felt right now. He just felt nothing. Was subsumed and absorbed in the nothingness and for long hours he stayed that way until he felt his bodies limit for mana absorption and slowly woke out of his deep meditative state.
Aaron blinked at the light as his senses returned to him. He felt relaxed and calm, like he had taken a nap. Not a physical nap, but a metaphysical one. Like his Qi had taken a nap and was now much more energetic. His mind also felt calmer, more centered. He felt better about the changes to him, felt like he could deal with anything. He knew this was just a different mindset, but his head physically felt pleasantly empty and fresh, like it was ready to be filled again.
For a minute or two he just sat there enjoying the sensation before the emptiness vanished entirely and he just sat there. The calm and the relaxation stayed though and he took out the Demon’s memory core. For a long moment he studied it, but already knew he wanted to learn the technique. Using his enemies strength, using the towers design to speed up his cultivation seemed like a really good idea. He also thought that this was the right calm mindset he needed to have to learn this properly.
He reached out and pressed the core once, entering trance mode. The world vanished around him and Aaron found himself sitting in almost absolute darkness. Only above him, miles above him, was a single ray of light that fell into the absolute darkness that surrounded him.
“Hello, young one and welcome to the Pit.” the voice of the Demon said and Aaron turned around to the source of the voice and saw the handsome man sit there with a smirk on his face. He sat just like Aaron on his legs and the demon raised his arms towards the ray of light and looked up as if in prayer.
“Isn’t it marvelous? Darkness distilled and pure only broken by purest light. This is where I invented Soul Stealer. This is where you will learn it as well. Because what I will teach you is the true Soul Stealer. The basic, most simplistic version tailored for use on Exterion’s Spirits, yes, but in the end it has all the basic components of my Signature technique. And before you ask, yes this is a recording. But I can do more than most with a memory core as potent as Mortag’s little masterworks. I can answer a limited set of questions and I can guide you in learning the technique correctly.”
The demon held up 3 fingers and smirked devilishly.
“Learning this technique will have 3 steps. First opening one of the Hand meridians, second learning how to use Qi techniques internally and finally once you have found a victim, how to actually absorb a spirit.”
Aaron nodded and sat down in front of the Demon who had paused a moment before he continued.
“Originally this technique was devised to help me breach the gap between the golden Core Realm and the Nascent Soul Realm. It is a divide so wide more than 90% of Cultivators never cross it. Why? Because it requires talent and knowledge of Soul Cultivation. Both things not easily gained unless you already have the predisposition for it. It is the reason why you are not learning from the Ghost, whose specialty is Soul Cultivation. You don’t have talent for it. Well neither did I.” the Demon chuckled, an eerie effect in the darkness.
“My whole life I had no talent and the only reason I reached Golden core was because I used pills and natural treasures to speed up and simplify the process. Still, it took me more than 300 years, while other do the same in 5 or 10 years and when I finally had reached the worst, least potent golden core I was almost at the end of my lifespan.” The demon paused for dramatic effect and than scoffed.
“Cultivation had failed me, every master, every orthodox method, they all had failed me. So I threw away the sect I had sworn fealty to, threw away an old life that had held me back and found myself a real master. A true Transcendant who followed an unorthodox path and accepted me, a nobody anyway. The first thing my new master did was lock me in here. The pit. It is devoid of distractions, resources, pleasures and pain, only Qi exists here. Only your mind and your ambitions! It forces you to invent or die. To wither away in darkness. But I overcame this challenge. I did invent a new technique, in here I forged my deepest desires into a grasp of fate.” the demon held out his arm and made an unassuming grabbing motion. Then he did it again, but this time Aaron could feel the Qi in the arm, see it travel. The third time the whole technique was revealed, it was twisted and horrible and beautiful in its simplicity at the same time. Aaron could see every Qi vein it traveled from the Demons dantian to the center of his palm. It sucked something in, but even visible it seemed like less than nothing.
“In here I realized that talent was a thing created unfairly by the fate of your birth, by chance alone. A person is in the end made up of two parts that both contribute to your talent, to your comprehension, to your very being. First: Your body. It is given to you by chance, can be weak or strong, corrupted or pure, talented or not at all. The other half is your soul. The very thing that makes a being you. It would take me months to describe to you even the vague outline of what a Soul is and for now you don’t need to know. But what you should now is that some strong souls, reincarnated souls, impart their affinities on their bodies. Some bodies fail and die because their soul is too strong. It is a fairly common malady on most Cultivation Worlds and its only solution is to ascend to higher realms of Cultivation.
But I did not have any of those things, I was a new soul. No past, no history. So I had to make my own fate. Why was it fair for others to be blessed with talent, when I was not? So...I stole it. This technique when used in its purest form will steal affinities and power from the body and soul. From bodily features to cultivation even. But it is subtle. How much you take depends on you. You will see.” The demon grinned. “But eventually it enabled me to steal more than just the mere hint of power, of talent, eventually it allowed me to take a souls energy before releasing them back into the wellspring of souls. Unlike what the Monk believes I do not actually eat souls, but I can kill them. Once I have had my fill I release their souls back into Reincarnation to have another try, this time without any unfair boons.”
The demon laughed and shrugged.
“I did not get to have talent and blessings from birth, so why should anyone else enjoy that privilege? So I want you to understand that this technique is used as an equalizer. It was never meant for more than that. It means that when used on someone weak, talent-less and ugly, you will gain barely anything and if used on someone exceedingly strong, handsome and talented you will get more than you could ever imagine. Your version of Soul Stealer shares that trait. The stronger your enemies, the more potent the payoff. But of course there are limits. Some souls are too potent for little old you. If you try to steal their power you will enter a contest of souls. Dangerous and potentially deadly. You will pit your souls against each other in mortal combat and that is not something I would recommend anyone. There are a few who specialize in this kind of combat, but I am not one of those and you are not either. So here is the simple guideline. Never take the Spirit of someone more than 20 levels higher than the floor you are standing on. You will get a feeling for that kind of thing, don’t worry.”
The demon paused again and then said with a sly smile.
“Of course this technique is not free for you to learn and unless you give me your word, this recording will end here. Don’t worry though in return for my prized technique I want nothing much. Only one thing. When the time comes, when you are strong enough to free people from the Prison. Free me first. Let me go, let me be on my way. Do not hinder my escape. If you can swear to that then we have a deal. And no, there won’t be a curse on you or any other unbreakable vow nonsense other Cultivators have invented for this kind of thing. I use only the most basic thing. Karma. You learning this technique from me will bind our fates together in a way. I can follow that string of fate and find you if you betray me. So, make your choice. Swear it to yourself and the rest of the memory core will unlock itself.”
With that last sentence Aaron was catapulted out of the Trance and found himself sitting in his hideout blinking into the light. Well that was more or less what he had expected. A man like the Demon, a bona fide narcissistic psychopath would not just give him anything for free. So he wanted to be freed out of his prison and had told him if he learned this technique that he would find him forever. Great. Well he had no problem with freeing him, or did he? Would the Demon let him live if he had outlived his usefulness? Probably not. But that was not uncommon in his old line of work. So he had to make sure he was always useful to him and then find a way to break the karmic bond? It sounded more and more like a hassle. But then again it was a problem for future Aaron and future Aaron would be a bad ass Cultivator who probably had much more options than he had right now, still sitting at the bottom of the tower. So yeah, if he thought about it, this promise was barely something he had to worry about for now. And in the worst case he would simply free the Monk second and let the two of them duke it out. Aaron had a feeling the Monk was just as potent as the Demon considering he was here to ensure he stayed where he was, locked up.
Aaron hesitated, narrowed his eyes and tried the memory core first to see if it was really locked, but of course it was. Better safe than sorry though. He thought about it for a few more minutes before he shrugged and accepted the Demons offer. He swore that he would free him first and that he would not personally hinder him. He tried the memory core again and it opened, much to his pleasant surprise.
“Good, now then. I will guide you in opening the right Qi veins towards your dominant hands Meridian. This might take some time, since you will have to take your own Qi to open it and you already have opened 2 Meridians in your feet. There will be significant resistance.” Aaron felt the Demon reach out and indicate with absolute accuracy an opening leading away from his dantian. It was more like a potential opening. But Aaron could feel it, physically and when he went there, he could easily follow the Demons advice. He simply had to carve away at that spot with his Qi, carefully and consistently. After two hours at least Aaron stopped and sighed. Well this was a disappointment. After all the grandstanding and talk about his awesome technique this was the most tedious task yet. But he vowed to keep at it as part of his training routine.
It was late afternoon already and Aaron groaned. He would have to start his evening routine soon. Really if he added a few more techniques there would not be enough hours in the day to finish them all. At least hunting was incredibly easy now.
Aaron jumped out of his hideout, floating down with Wind Steps and sniffed the air, focusing on the freshest smell of deer. Once he had found it he moved in that direction and let all of his senses go all out. Not even 20 minutes of jogging later he found a small herd of deer. He chose an older buck with some nice antlers that seemed like the oldest of the herd and moved closer. He smelled like barely anything he knew and he could sense the wind, predict it in its unnatural ways so he basically sneaked up on the herd undiscovered as he moved closer from down wind. Then it was just a short jump and a cut with his enchanted knife and he had dinner served. The smell of blood, fear and panic as the herd scattered was palpable and made him sick for a moment, before he got over his aversion and started to gut and dissect the buck right there. That done he took the buck back with him to his camp and prepared dinner.
This new schedule of his would be really, really exhausting. But he could already feel the improvements and that was a feeling he did not mind chasing. Once he had opened his hand meridian and learned the Demons technique, he could slow down and reap the benefits. But until then, a hermits life suited him fine.