“We are all born with Meridians. The complexity and sturdiness of the Meridians in our bodies, determines how easily we channel our current stage of Mana. It plays a major role in determining how far along the cultivation path we may proceed…”
Ren listened attentively to the bald-headed teacher in brown robes, soaking up her every word. She talked in clipped sentences and the air of an experienced tutor wafted off her in waves.
“... Whether you are a beginner channeling Essence, or an experienced Qi or Chakra cultivator, your meridians are vital to moving the Mana throughout your body, and eventually storing a portion of it in your core.”
As she paced in front of her seated audience, her sleeveless robes showcased the corded muscles of her tattoo-covered arms, clasped firmly behind her back. Ren was glad he had arrived early to stake out the perfect seat with both a clear view of the teacher and a defensible position. With his back against a wall, and a clear view of the only entrance into the room, his need for situation awareness was sated enough to let him fully focus on the captivating data being presented.
“Some of you have been blessed by the gods with stronger Meridians, while others are destined to struggle climbing every Cultivation Tier. Accept it, and make peace with it,” the teacher paused for a second, letting the message sink in as she met the eyes of her eager students. “But do not let it stop you from reaching for the best you can be. The Immortal Venerable Kringle teaches us to strive to be better versions of ourselves every day, despite our advantages or shortcomings. Who knows, one of you could attract his divine notice and have your fate enhanced with a Blessing.”
Excited murmurings filled the room at the mention of blessings and Ren looked around at his fellow students. The majority of the class’s occupants were young men and women ranging from the early teens to adults in their late sixties. The air was filled with the smell of unwashed bodies and from the rough attire, it wasn’t difficult to deduce that these weren’t nobles. While dropping him off earlier, Algor had helpfully informed him that the majority of his classmates for the free lesson would either be from poor families or part of the homeless.
When he had asked why, the old man had laughed in his face, informing him that everything he’d be learning today was basic knowledge. Things that were common knowledge to the middle class and nobles who could afford to hire personal tutors for the task. Looking around, he could see that not many of his classmates valued the information much either. He noticed too many eyes focused more on the table laden with bread, fruit and cheese strategically placed out of reach in a corner of the room, than on the lecture being provided. It was now obvious to him that the primary driving force behind the packed class, this early in the morning, was the promise of free food. What a shame.
He focused back on the bald teacher as she reached into her robes, pulled out a bag full of essence stones and upended them into the air. The stones defied logic and gravity, refusing to fall down and instead bobbed in place as they hovered in front of her. After carefully folding the bag and stuffing it back into her pocket, she turned to the class, gesturing at the hovering stones, before continuing her lecture.
“For those of you who are not aware, these are generally called Mana stones. The most common types of Mana stones contain either Essence which is white in color, Qi which has a blue tint or the purple Chakra. As you can see from the color of the mana within, these stones contain Essence, hence some people refer to them as Essence stones. Cultivators usually suck out the —“
“I’ve got something for you to suck on!”
A group of boys burst into juvenile laughter, at the timely interruption. The jester was all smiles, enjoying the reaction of his group, his scrawny arms crossed across his chest as he smirked at the teacher. Ren frowned, looking at the young men seated slightly to his left, and then turned his gaze to the teacher's indifferent face. Everyone not part of the group, was looking expectantly at the tattooed teacher to see her response.
Silently watching the group for a few breaths, she casually pointed at the scrawny teenager who’d interrupted her class, before flicking her hand upwards. The class gasped in unison as a sudden gust of wind threw the young man into the air, shrieking. A loud thud shook the room as his body hit the ceiling, then before he could catch his breath, his arms and feet were splayed and pinned to the wooden boards by an unseen force.
Ren’s reflexes kicked in, startled by the sudden attack and his hand fell to his knife’s hilt. His muscles tensed in preparation for a potential fight but then the teacher turned her gaze on him and he paused, staring right back. She arched a brow in challenge until he unclenched his fists, releasing his grip over the weapon. Seeing her point made, she turned back to the class.
“As I was saying, Culti—“
“You can’t do this to me! My brother is a part of the Syndicate!” The pinned man bellowed in rage and embarrassment, interrupting her lecture again.
“Young man, you are on Temple grounds. I don’t care if you are the Village Lord herself. More importantly, you are in my class. The pull you think you have from whatever slum you crawled out of, means shit to me.” The teacher replied in her usual clipped tone. “Now if you value the air in your lungs, I would suggest you shut up before I take it from you”.
The man wisely swallowed the retort he had on his lips and the class was pin-silent after witnessing that exchange. The members of the smart mouth’s group averted their eyes when the teacher looked towards them, apparently becoming spineless without their leader. The teacher spent a few moments looking around the class, making sure no more interruptions would occur before returning to her lecture.
“Where was I? Oh yes, Cultivators usually … pull the Essence out of these stones and run the extracted essence through their Meridians.” She held her middle finger with her thumb and flicked it lightly. The hovering mass of Essence stones separated and shot towards each student, like homing missiles, before gently settling down in front of them. One Essence stone remained hovering before her and she reached out a callused hand to pluck it out of the air and stuff it in her pocket.
“Today I’ll be walking you through a cultivation session using the X’chor technique, graciously provided by the Luminous Temple,” she paused for the scattered applause before continuing with her lecture. “First, grab the essence stone in front of you, cup both hands around it, and close your eyes. This is the easiest way to remove distractions and allows you to fully focus on the energy within the stone. Now, feel the gentle heat of the condensed threads of essence within the stone. Once you can feel the condensed essence, try pulling a thread of essence with your mind and let it hover within your palms. Unless you know a valid cultivation technique, do not attempt to absorb it!” The teacher paused, as she allowed her audience time to do as she instructed.
“Um, excuse me Madam,” a woman timidly raised her hands, gaining the attention of the teacher.
“Yes? And I am no Madam. You can address me as Miss Keta, or Priest Keta outside of this class.” The teacher nodded at the shy student who still had her hands up. “What do you need?”
“Yes, Ma–, Miss Keta. I ..um … I can't feel anything from the stone,” the woman replied. She had black hair interwoven with colorful beads, all wrapped up into a bun on her head. Ren noticed some bruising on her face and arms, poorly covered up with cheap makeup. Her dark eyes constantly darted across the room to an unremarkable man seated there. The woman looked to be in her late twenties, but the clear signs of malnutrition on her physique made it hard to be certain.
The teacher's eyes narrowed and she swore quietly as she came to the same conclusion as he had. When next she spoke to the young woman, her tone was significantly more delicate than it had been moments prior.
“What is your name?” the teacher asked gently.
“Aylona, Miss Keta.”
“Well Aylona, it's possible your Meridians are very tiny, or blocked with impurities,” Miss Keta pursed her lips in thought, then looked towards the man who Ren suspected was Aylona’s Pimp. She frowned in disgust, making the pimp tense up in fear, before smoothing out her expression and turning back to the skittish lady. “Keep trying. If you can’t get anything by the end of class, I want you to stay behind so we can try some other things”.
Ren was sure, this was not an offer Miss Keta usually gave out and he couldn’t help but be a bit jealous. If he had been aware that all it took to get special privileges was to come to class looking bruised, he would have thrown himself against a few walls and furniture before coming here.
“Thank you Miss Keta.” Aylona smiled sweetly, before quickly ducking her head and concentrating back on her Essence stone.
The rest of the class was silent as well, everyone focusing on feeling the essence within the stones and interacting with it. Everyone except the young man whimpering quietly from the ceiling, too scared to attract the ire of Miss Keta. Ren turned his full attention back to his stone, feeling the slow swirl of the energy within. Like the majority of his classmates, Ren had always found it easy to sense the cultivation energy in others. Some called it aura but to him, he likened it to the feel of standing in a particularly strong field of static electricity—nothing significantly changed, but the feeling of your contracting hair follicles gave you an intuitive cue of what was happening. Sensing the energy within the stone proved to be just as intuitive to him.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Unlike in humans, the nature of the stones and the glow they gave off made it easy for anyone to have an inkling on the energy trapped within. However, Ren was not only able to feel the energy within other cultivators, he could actually see it. Especially when the energy was being circulated through their bodies during technique usage. Since his arrival, he hadn’t heard of anyone mentioning this ability so he hadn’t brought it up in any of his conversations. Maybe his unique situation made it easier to interact with the ambient energy? Or it could be the case that everyone could see energy within other people so no one felt the need to mention it. Like air being invisible.
Focusing back on the task at hand, Ren attempted pulling a thread of essence from the stone with his mind, but the energy didn't even budge. He tried using his fingers to grab the essence from the stone and soon felt foolish, as all he managed was to poke the stone around a bit. Twenty minutes passed this way, as he continued trying different ways to manipulate the whitish essence out of the stone to no avail. Ren was absolutely frustrated. Times like these made him want to plunge his dagger into the nearest living thing. His right hand fell to his belt where his golden knife resided, his fingers playing with the hairs on the hilt. He frowned as he felt a few strands break away, worn down by compounded friction from his hands. Sighing in defeat, he pulled his hands away and focused back on the issue.
“We have used up half the time of a Temple Bell, so I will move on to the next step of the X’chor Cultivation technique” Miss Keta’s voice interrupted the silent class, making several eyes open from their cultivation attempts. “Those of you who haven’t been able to sense or pull a strand of essence from the stone, keep trying.” she continued.
“The rest of you, have the extracted essence begin spiraling slowly around itself, as you direct it to your right palm, slowly absorbing it into your body. You will feel some itchiness. Do your best to ignore it, and continue pulling it in for a count of 10, then stop absorbing the essence thread from the stone. Wait for a count of 2 seconds, then start absorbing the essence again. Notice the path the essence is taking within your body, and all the branches from the main path? Those are parts of your meridians. The philosophy of the X’chor technique is to treat your meridians as pipes. Just pour essence into it and let it flow as it will. Eventually, some will reach your core which will absorb it pushing impurities away from your body, and pushing you closer to the next cultivation Tier. Who can tell me why the X’chor cultivation technique is rated as a low technique?”
Ren was paying close attention as he continued his attempt at moving a strand of essence from the stone. He raised his hands at the teacher’s question and got a nod from her. “I am guessing it is not optimal?” Ren replied.
Miss Keta rolled her eyes. “Of course it's not optimal. If it was, I would not be allowed to teach it for free. The correct answer is that the Meridians in most humanoid bodies are not always connected.” She watched the class digest this information for a moment, before continuing. “Depending on which meridians you use to absorb the essence, the Meridian pathway from that part of the body might be blocked with impurities, separating it from the rest of the Meridians. So if you keep attempting to absorb energy from, say your right hand, and a few distance in there is a blockage, only strands of essence might slip through and make it to the core if you are lucky. This will continue until enough essence has been fed through that pathway over time to dislodge the blockage. The key to the X’chor technique is how you absorb the essence after rotating it into a spiral motion. That is exactly what allows you to eventually clean up the debris and blockages, but on the flip side, it causes itchiness, sometimes pain to the cultivator.”
A series of coughs interrupted the calm tranquility of the class, drawing Miss Keta’s attention to the man pinned to the ceiling by mini cyclones of air. “I hope you have learnt your lesson, so I will permit you to rejoin the class,” she said as she waved her hands, releasing him and forming cyclones that wrapped around his coughing form, and gently placed him back on his seat. An essence stone came flying towards his face, pinging off his head and dropping onto his table. “Take that and try to catch up to your mates.”
The young man murmured his thanks through gritted teeth and picked up the essence stone to begin his work. He was surprisingly really good at it because he soon had the essence spiraling into his body. Ren averted his eyes in annoyance. What rotten luck. He had been trying all this time to move the essence an inch, and this bumbling thug gets it in minutes. He soon gave up on interacting with his essence stone, and instead was looking around the class at his fellow students. An idea dawned on him as he watched the essence move within the bodies of the cultivators. He turned his attention to the teacher and wondered if it was worth the risk. He would have to wait for the class to be over and try his luck. About fifteen minutes later, the teacher spoke up again.
“Amitabha everyone. The class is now over. Those of you who want to keep practicing, feel free to do so till the Temple Bell tolls. Everyone is now welcome to come up and partake in the meager meal the Temple has provided.”
There was a rush as the majority of the participants of the free lecture made their way to the bread, cheese and fruit at the front of the class. Some people were still seated with concentration, essence stones in hand, as Ren made his way up to Miss Keta. He noticed her attention fixed on Aylona, who was at the moment making her way over to her suspected Pimp. Miss Keta had a slight frown on her face as Ren came to a stop before her, bowing.
“Greetings Priest Keta,” his actions earned him a smile but then he tilted his head towards the shuffling Aylona. “Pardon my curiosity, but why don’t you stop him from leaving with her?” Ren continued, curious as to how the Priest would respond.
“It is not my place to save those who do not want to be saved.” Priest keta responded, her smile quickly fading into a frown as she looked at Ren in his Temple robes. “Is that all, Acolyte?”
“Just Ren, Priest Keta. I have yet to become a Temple Acolyte but I’m working on it,” he replied, trying to get back in her good graces. “I apologize for my insolence. Diviner Estrid is treating me under Kringle’s Mercy so I am new to all of this.” Ren smiled internally as he saw Priest Keta slightly relax as he continued to speak.
“I am having trouble pulling the essence from the stone. I think I can sense it, but it has not budged an inch, no matter what I do. Do you have any tips I can use?” He asked sincerely, hoping the Priest would divulge some of her knowledge.
“That is not good. From what you describe, I believe you might have fully damaged meridians - in other words, you are a Zero - or you have major blockages throughout your meridians preventing you from manipulating essence. Either way, you will need lots of money to be properly diagnosed by a specialist, who can confirm if treatment is possible. I am sorry to be the bearer of bad news, Ren.”
Ren was silent for a few breaths, even though he was not completely surprised by her diagnosis. Although, he doubted his issue was blocked meridians. He knew for a fact that he had 0 meridians. How could he get one of those? He idly wondered if he could cut it out of someone and integrate it into himself. The issue with that was, every meridian he had observed so far, seemed ethereal. Not something that could be easily cut out using only physical blades. Nevertheless, he made a mental note to find a volunteer to confirm his hypothesis.
“Priest Keta, thanks for the information. However, I have a favor to ask you. I never managed to extract the essence or have it spin around itself so I don’t know how it should look. Can you please give me a demonstration? Maybe it would give me the inspiration I need.”
Miss Keta hesitated for a second before reaching out her palms to Ren, requesting the cultivation stone she had sent to him earlier. Ren cursed internally at her frugalness - it wasn't even a high quality essence stone! Why did she have to take it back? Despite his misgivings, his face remained placid as he handed the stone back to her. Ren internally put 95% of his computing power and memory at the disposal of his visual and energy scanners. He didn't want to miss a single millimeter of the Priest’s Meridians and he wanted it recorded and triple stored.
“Just so you know, I will only be using the X’chor technique I taught in the free lesson.”
“Yes, Priest Keta.”
“And you’ll miss half of the process, since it’ll happen within my meridians. Are you still ok with wasting your allotted Essence stone on this?
“Yes, Priest Keta. I need all the help I can get to overcome my weaknesses.”
“Hmm. I suppose seeing a demonstration of the X’chor energy movements outside the body could be educational,” she mused, as more students started paying attention to their conversation. “Watch carefully, I will only do this once.”
Ren nodded, and watched with half the class as she let the stone hover in front of her giving him a clear view without her palms obstructing it. In moments, the stone began to dim as the energy was extracted from its structure as a white haze.
“Now watch as I spin it in place just before absorbing it”
A strand of the freed essence quickly formed mid air, twisting into a beautiful spiral that gracefully moved towards the outstretched palm of Priest Keta. Everyone in the class was paying attention now, even the people stuffing their faces with food turned their gazes towards Keta’s demonstration. She made it look so easy!
But Ren refused to be distracted by petty jealousy. Unfolding before his very eyes was exactly what he had been hoping to see. He watched as the essence spiral entered her palm through a channel that had been invisible to him seconds ago. Once in, it branched out like a spreading virus, filling numerous pathways in her right arm to her torso. Then it split, with a portion moving lower towards her abdomen and legs, while the rest moved towards her core. The further it went, the duller the energy became, like the channels themselves were absorbing a portion for themselves.
Even so, he watched as portions of her meridians lit up and dulled with the passing energy eventually making its way to her core. The amount of essence that reached it was a pittance, barely a fraction of a fraction of a drop. Not enough for him to witness a Qi Cultivators core in action but Ren was ecstatic. This was exactly what he wanted. By watching its movement through the majority of her meridians, he’d gained valuable insights into what was feasible and what to avoid.
Like the portions in her meridians that remained dark, with the essence never quite reaching them. The complexity of her meridians was outstanding, but he knew it could be better. When he created his own, he would have to design it in a way that while complex, would give him fine-tuned modular control for efficiency. He continued watching the display and in seconds the essence stone hovering in the air cracked, then crumbled into essence, which was swiftly absorbed by the Priest.
“And the exhibition is over. I hope that helps you, Ren.” She turned her gaze to encompass the entire class and raised her voice to address them all. “Two Temple Bells from now, there will be a Memorial held at the Grand Temple, for the brave souls killed in last night's attack. The Village Lord as well as the Grand High Priest will be leading the ceremony. Everyone is welcome to come pay their respects.”
With that, she nodded at the class, then left to prepare for the ceremony. Ren made his way to the door, diverting a portion of his mind to analyzing the recording of the Priest’s Meridians. The portions of the Priest’s Meridians he could see were highly interconnected. Although, some of the connections formed loops, completely separated from other parts of the meridians. If he was to create a Meridian for himself, he would have to ensure he did not have any unused —
“Oy! Watch where you going, maggot!”