Today marked the first day of cultivation lessons. Normal training had been going on for a week now, and all the cadets were becoming more comfortable with life in the academy. They learned that, as long as they did as they were told, and could handle some physical exercise, they weren’t likely to have issues. Nonetheless, the cadets themselves often caused their own issues. As everyone tried to prove why they were worthy of being a squad leader, they all came to the same simple method of elimination – beating their competition in to submission. They were teenage boys after all. By the end of a long week of following orders, physical exercise, and nighttime brawls, three boys in 14th squad had stood out among the rest. Those boys were Samson, Viktor, and Jebe.
Jebe sat down slowly upon a bamboo mat. His body ached from days of training and nights of sparring. He had not taken one day off from sword fighting practice with Vik since he had arrived. The result was a rapid improvement in his skill and a rapid deterioration of his body. Thankfully, his youth allowed him to shake off most bumps and bruises.
Today was the first day of the academy’s special cultivation boot camp. It was a week-long event where they would do nothing but focus on studying and practicing cultivation. Hopefully they would all understand the basics before it was over. Their teacher was an old man who was simply referred to as the sage. Jebe thought it was a bit pompous to refer to yourself as a sage, but Vik frowned at him when he said that.
The sage had a long white beard that touched the ground and a mustache like a koi fish. His face was heavily lined with wrinkles that demonstrated a lifetime of kindliness. He was an odd sort to appear in the military, seemingly more at home in a temple than in a military academy.
Once all members of 14th squad had taken their seats the sage opened his eyes. “Qi Cultivation is the intentional development of life energy,” he finally spoke. “Qi is in all living things. Humans, birds, trees, and even insects have qi. The more qi a creature has, the greater its life force. For instance, most bugs only have a sliver of qi and when it is gone, they die. Humans have far more qi and thus live quite a while longer. What we as cultivators aim to do is increase the amount of qi in our body. By doing so, we increase our lifespan and the fitness of our body.”
Jebe nodded. He understood these basic concepts. Before his father passed he had taught him how to properly tend to crops so that they absorbed as much qi as possible from the sun and rain. He had even learned how to sense the shape of qi in horses to understand which were calm and which were wild.
“The ancient cultivators were unsurpassed in wisdom and foresight. It is they who created the system which allows humans to awaken their spirits at age fourteen. These spirits assist us in our cultivation. Spirits are complex. They are both the real and unreal,” said the sage.
A series of quiet coughs and scrunched eyebrows followed that sentence. Jebe had to resist his natural urge to ignore the man’s abstruse words. He had always struggled to accept flowery language as useful, whatever the knowledge behind it.
The sage laughed softly. “I did not say that for purposeless profundity. I said that because it is true. For you see, a human has seven corporeal and three incorporeal souls. All of them are you, but none of them are you in entirety. The you that exists at this moment is a combination of all ten of these souls. When you are born, eight of them are under your control. The seven corporal souls and the primordial incorporeal soul. Your spirit is the second incorporeal soul, which you seized control of in the awakening ceremony.
Jebe thought back to the Nightmare Steed he saw during his interaction with the orb. “So that was my ninth soul,” he murmured quietly.
The old man looked towards Jebe as if sensing his thoughts. “Although all humans have equal potential power with their ten souls, one’s ability to draw out that power is dependent on the ninth soul. Some people have stronger ninth soul than others, and are thus able to draw out their power more easily, that is how spirit ranks became established.” The old man looked away now.
Jebe could feel the heat of everyone’s gaze upon him. He had done his best to keep quiet about his spirit rank so far but it seemed the old man’s gaze had ignited something that had been buried just below the surface with all his squad mates.
“What about the tenth soul?” asked Viktor. “How do we gain control of that?” Jebe gave Viktor a knowing smile of appreciation which was received with an unconcerned nod.
The old man closed his eyes and nodded his head. “The tenth soul is the true soul. It is the object of ultimate desire for us cultivators. The true soul is different than all other souls. It is unchangeable and immortal.” Everyone drew in a breath at this. Jebe had never heard of an immortal soul before.
“When the body dies, the seven corporeal souls stay with the body and the three incorporeal souls leave for reincarnation. During this cycle the eighth and ninth soul will change. This is so the three incorporeal soul may more easily enter a new body. After all, no one body is the same as no seven corporeal souls are the same. Thus the eighth and ninth adjust to circumstance. But the tenth does not. The tenth will never change no matter how many reincarnations it undergoes. That is why it is considered the true soul.”
Jebe felt his mind whirling at this new knowledge. An unchangeable soul… what did that even mean? How can it never change over the countless eons of existence? Under the merciless hands of time, all things change as the heavens will.
A loud murmuring chat began to rise within the room. “I know, I know,” said the sage. “I remember how shocked I was at your age when I learned of this. But you see whatever the tenth soul is, it does not matter,” said the sage. “For no cultivators, save the ancient gods themselves, were ever able to gain complete control of the tenth soul. Theoretically anyone who could gain total control over the tenth soul would become immortal, but as you all know, besides the dragons, there are no immortals. That is why there are only nine ranks to the human cultivation system. One for each accessible soul.”
Jebe pouted in an uncharacteristically childish manner. “Too bad my ninth soul isn’t a dragon,” he thought aloud.
After the sage finished his discussion on the souls, he went on to teach everyone the most standard cultivation method of the world – the circulation method. In this method, one practices slow breathing while attempting to sense the qi in the air. Once they have sensed that qi, they guide it into their lungs by inhaling, then circulate it through their meridians.
For most people, it will take six days to sense qi with this method. Exceptional talents will sense it in three or four days, and geniuses will sense it in one to two days. Jebe did not sense it today. In fact, Jebe did not sense it in the following two dies either. As he left the room on the third day he could feel the sage’s disappointed gaze on his back.
“Who said my spirit rank was high?” Jebe grumbled despondently. It was begining to annoy him how people had formed expectations of his success without consulting him first.
Sitting on a log in the grass clearing later that evening, Jebe discussed his concerns with Viktor. “What good is a rank 7 spirit if it doesn’t mean any progress in my cultivation?” Jebe complained.
Viktor shrugged. “Not all spirits help with cultivation, you know that.”
Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.
“Yes, but I don’t feel any different otherwise. I don’t feel stronger, or faster, or smarter,” he started.
“Definitely not smarter,” Viktor quipped. “Well then again, I never did meet you before training. Who knows what you were like before? To a rock, a turtle must appear quite nimble,” Viktor joked.
“Yes, you must see me as quite the swift turtle, huh?” retorted Jebe.
Viktor smiled placidly in response. “Are you planning on entering the tournament this weekend?” he inquired.
“Are you?”
“I believe so.”
“Then no,” Jebe said.
Viktor titled his head, failing to appropriate the words.
“It’s a weapons tournament. Since you’re going, I can’t win, so I might as well not go at all,” answered Jebe honestly.
A guilty look was revealed on Viktor’s face. “You beat me sometimes,” he started, “how about yesterday? Yesterday you knocked me to the ground.”
“Yesterday you disarmed me so easily that I got pissed off and kicked dirt in your eyes before dropping you with a haymaker. Unless my raging temper qualifies as a weapon, I don’t think I can legally replicate that situation in the tournament.”
“Well it’s an open weapon contest, so you could finally use those saber skills you’re so proud of,” said Viktor.
“Oh?” sounded Jebe with a raised brow. “Well that changes things. I’ll see you at the tournament then. You can touch my money after I win,” Jebe winked.
Viktor smiled earnestly. “Looking forward to it. You should go to the library and try to research you spirit before then. It may be able to give you some advantage. I have already figured mine out,” Viktor said with a poorly hidden display of arrogance.
Jebe scrunched his eyebrows and turned his head. “You mean to say you’ve been taking it easy on this here poor farmer boy?” Jebe asked with an intentionally heavy country accent.
“Not easy per se,” Viktor spoke slowly with a self content grin.
“Hmm, yeah,” Jebe nodded blankly while edging his toe downwards. Suddenly he kicked it forward, attempting to fling dirt at Viktor’s eyes.
“Hah!” Viktor shouted as he blocked it with his arms. “I knew you would do that!”
Before Viktor could finish gloating, Jebe had kicked out with his other foot and slammed it home into Viktor’s crotch. Viktor dropped so fast one could have mistakenly thought he was dodging enemy fire. That is, until he stayed faced down moaning and writhing in pain.
“Talk to you later Vik,” said Jebe as he walked away from his invalid friend.
He took the long way to the library, enjoying the twisting path which passed alongside the old willow trees whose branches hung low and kissed the cobblestone. It reminded him of the horses back home taking long, slow drinks out of the trough on a hot summer day.
Arriving at the great stonework library he pushed softly on the thick, wooden door, painfully aware of how disturbing its loud creaks were.
“May I help you?” asked an older officer behind the desk with large spectacles and pallid skin.
“Yes, I was hoping to find some books on advanced spirits,” said Jebe. “Specifically around rank 7.”
The eyes of the older man lit up as he pushed his spectacles more firmly up his face. “Ah, so you are the young man with the rank 7 spirit,” he said.
Jebe turned red and nodded his head with pursed lips. “Yes, sir. That is so,” he said.
“I have heard that you had a disappointing showing this week.”
Jebe turned his head down as to avoid showing any anger in his gaze. Collecting himself he looked back up, “yes, sir.”
“It is good of you to take initiative like this. Go three floors up and head right to the shelf labeled S7.”
“Thank you, sir.” Jebe said before turning towards the stairs.
“Haaah how unfortunate, if I had a talent like that…” The clerk said somewhat too loudly as Jebe walked away.
Jebe turned deaf towards the man’s complaints and continued upstairs. His spirit was bringing more trouble than it was worth.
When he reached the correct section, he began scanning the titles for one that seemed like it may contain his spirit. Eventually he picked one called Greater Shadow Spirits and Other Nefarious Spirits. The cover was made form dark brown leather and title was written in silver lettering. It was too specific for casual reading, and thus in good condition.
Jebe sat down at a table and flipped the book open. The beginning was a brief introduction on how the book was made, and why. This included a shameless description of the authors accolades and picture of a wiry man with slick backed hair and a pompous puffed out white shirt. He was holding a quill in his hand, as if that fact that he wrote a book wasn’t enough proof that he was a writer.
“Phantom Lich, Shadow Wyvern, Yellow River Eel,” Jebe mumbled the names of the creatures aloud as he flipped through the pages. Finally, he found the one he was looking for – “Nightmare Steed.”
The Nightmare Steed has only one reported owner in history. This was the Grand Vicar of the Alocious Empire in the Year 635. The Grand Vicar was a powerful individual who reached the Four-Human Realm and was proficient in the manipulation of both shadows and fire, as well as, the usage of the lance. The Grand Vicar was eventually executed by King Francis when it was revealed that he had been capturing and torturing people in his castle for several decades. The number of individuals tortured to death by the Grand Vicar is estimated to be between two and three score. (120-180)
Jebe sucked in a breath. “Well he sounds like a real charmer.”
The following details were ascertained by observation of the Grand Vicar contemporaries and my own studious research.
Human Progression: Ranking up is standard increase to strength, vitality, speed, and endurance by a factor of two.
Unique Trait: (Unconfirmed) Increased cultivation when in the presence of suffering individuals.
“Hmm. Well that’s not what I wanted to hear,” said Jebe. “This means I will get no advantage in combat during the tournament. At least I will have the possibility of breaking through to high ranks at a good pace in the future. I wonder if it is the physical pain or mental anguish that causes a boost to my cultivation speed? Perhaps I can replicate the scenario in the tournament?
Human 1 Trait: Ability to gather qi in eyes and see through any level of darkness. Physicality of 2 men.
“Hmm. Not the best, but it may help me get a position in the scouting or raiding corps.”
Human 2 Trait: Ability to exhale smoke-like shadows from mouth and nose. Physicality of 4 men.
“This I can work with. They definitely line up well.
Human 3 Trait: Ability to shape shadows based on the will of the user. Physicality of 8 men.
Jebe smiled. “Now this is the kind of skill a captain deserves. The feints I will be able to deploy on the battlefield with this skill will be unimaginable.”
Human 4 Trait: (Unconfirmed) Possible minor fire manipulation.
Jebe closed the book and leaned back as he pondered. “Variable cultivation boost, average body progression, and skills based on deception. It appears the Nightmare Steed relies greatly upon the capabilities of its user, as opposed to the simple advantages given by most spirits.” he put the book back, cracked his neck, and smiled. “I can work with this,” he said.
Leaving the library, Jebe bumped in to Samson. The collision caused Jebe to step back, but he made sure it was no more than one step. Looking up he saw the great blonde giant staring at him with a calm gaze. The gaze told Jebe that bump was not intentional, but he also didn’t mind that it happened.
Beside him was another boy, slightly smaller than Samson (Is Samson the giant?) but still significantly larger than Jebe. The boy had a lean muscular build, high cheekbones, and yellow hair. He wore the Martial School uniform instead of the Military Academy’s. His shoulders had a silver lion on them, demonstrating a rank equivalent to an officer; hence allowing him to walk around like this.
Jebe gave a curt salute to the boy before turning to Samson. “Samson,” he said.
“Jebe,” Samson replied.
“Who is your friend?” asked the other boy.
“Just a member of my squad,” replied Samson.
“Hmm,” the boy sounded. He then turned away dismissively and strode into the library.
The two members of 14th Squad stared at the boy’s retreating back with differing expressions.
“Lovely friend you got there,” said Jebe.
“You would do well to become his friend too,” replied Samson. “That’s Roland of the Leo family, he’s currently 4th in line for the throne. He already has the rank that is meant to be given to you upon your graduation. I imagine, when our four years are up, he will already be a colonel.”
“That sounds like a whole lot of political bullshit,” said Jebe.
“You’re in the military, political bullshit is what we’re fighting for. You would do well to learn that.”
“Clever giant, aren’t you?” Jebe acknowledged.
Samson smiled a frightening grin. “Predators don’t always rely on their claws.”
“The tournament is this Friday and me, you, and Vik are the last candidates for squad leader standing. I say the one among us who ranks highest at the end gets the position.”
Samson nodded his head in thought. “Makes sense to me. Prove you’re capable and win some honor for the squad in a single move, I like it.”
“Good. I’ll tell Vik later tonight.
“Well, I’ll see you then little man.”
“Best of luck, Sir. Bullshit.” Jebe retorted.
Samson grunted and walked stiffly inside after Roland.
Jebe smiled as he walked towards the quartermaster. “Now then,” he began, “it’s time to get a saber.”