Chapter 48 – Body Cultivation

  “How far away did they set up their camp?” Teresa asked Zephyr. They were preparing to head out now that night had fallen.

  “I’m not sure,” Zephyr said. “I can only go part of the way. We’ll have to wait for one of them to take you the rest.”

  “Have we figured out where the tunnel will exit once they are done?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Not sure exactly,” Teresa said. “Savgar is confident it will lead south somewhere, but it’s not like we have a map. Might need to think about making one though. Are we ready?”

  Sia and Elizabeth nodded. They slipped out of the tunnel following Zephyr’s lead. The Sylph took them on a similar path through the jungle as she had taken the others, but now she had time to learn the area better and was able to beeline for their meeting point.

  Teresa thought Elizabeth would have difficulty keeping up in the terrain, especially at night. However, she proved quite adept at moving through the jungle. She wasn’t the fastest, but she wasn’t having too difficult of a time either. She must have gotten a few skills to help her during the Trial because she never used to move like that.

  They traveled most of the night, only stopping to rest once they were out of sight of the Wenduags’ camp. They made good time according to Zephyr, arriving at the meeting point several hours before sunrise.

  “Do we just wait here?” Teresa asked.

  “It might be a day or two before one of them comes by,” Zephyr explained.

  “Savgar and the others might be done with the tunnel by then,” Teresa said.

  “Should we have waited?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Nah,” Teresa answered her. “We’ll do some hunting while we wait, get a feel for the area a little bit. Maybe try and help you get your class.”

  “I can set up some traps,” Sia suggested.

  “That works,” Teresa said turning to Elizabeth next. “Any idea what you want to go for?”

  “Some,” Elizabeth said. “If I don’t get it though I can just work towards it later.”

  “So long as you don’t end up like Jack,” Teresa said. “You’re the first person since him to go for classes after taking that Trial.”

  “I’ll leave you then,” Zephyr said. “There is a Terg that has been practicing singing, and I am going to cheer it on. You can come with, but you have to be quiet. It’s shy.”

  They each declined the offer and Zephyr sped off again, leaving them alone on the edge of a river. Sia looked to the others.

  “What’s a Terg?” Sia asked.

  Teresa shrugged. “What do ya think? Sleep then hunting?”

  “Actually,” Elizabeth said. “Before that, can anyone help me get a few more skills?”

  “Sure,” Teresa said. “What are you thinking? Some more hand-to-hand skills?”

  “I was thinking more crafting skills,” Elizabeth explained. “I haven’t done anything crafting related.”

  “Might have to wait until we meet up with the others for that,” Teresa said. “My profession is hunting, but I don’t have a lot of supporting skills for it.”

  “I can help you with skinning,” Sia offered. “When the sun is up.”

  “Yes, please,” Elizabeth said

  “Have to do some hunting for that though,” Teresa said. “Two birds, one stone. But I wouldn’t worry about what options you will get to choose from. You should get the option to choose from a list like Elaine did when she first leveled.”

  “I think I have an idea of what I want,” Elizabeth said. “I’m just not sure how I’m going to get it.”

  “I’m sure it will be fine,” Teresa said. “Just don’t choose something like Jack’s class. Akashic Craftsman, I believe that is what it is called. Avoid it if you can. That is if you ever plan on reaching the next realm.”

  “I…,” Elizabeth started but stopped, unsure what to say.

  “We could take the time to work on our cultivation first,” Sia said sitting down. “If you have a meditating skill. Until the sun comes up.”

  “Yea, might as well,” Teresa shrugged. “Was hoping to work on body cultivation, but I suppose the others wouldn’t hurt.”

  “My meditation skill is a little different now,” Elizabeth said.

  “How so?” Teresa asked.

  “It upgraded to Battle Meditation,” Elizabeth said. “Works better when I am active and fighting, I think.”

  “That sounds nice, but does it still help with Cultivation?” Teresa asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Elizabeth said. “Maybe. I haven’t tried cultivating before.”

  “Try it now,” Teresa said. “Should feel natural, even without a cultivation technique and every little bit helps.”

  “Being able to cultivate while fighting,” Sia said. “That can be useful.”

  “I don’t know if it will let me cultivate while I fight,” Elizabeth said. “It just calms me. Helps me focus.”

  “Cultivating while fighting doesn’t sound great anyways,” Teresa said, joining Sia on the ground. “If you have to always be fighting just to cultivate, that sounds like a serious drawback. Imagine reaching a breakthrough in the middle of a fight and dealing with the purging while something is trying to kill you.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  “I didn’t think about that,” Elizabeth whispered. “Is it going to be a problem.”

  “Problem for a different day maybe,” Teresa said. “Just try it out a little for now and test the limits. We got a few hours before daylight to try. Were you told the basics of Mana cultivation?”

  Elizabeth nodded sitting down as well. “Daniel explained the process to me.”

  *~*

  Jack was bent over once again, this time next to the river. He was slowly working the poison out of his system. It would be so much easier if he used his Purge spell to get rid of the poison, but it would also not help him improve his Body Cultivation and Poison Resistance skills. He nearly balked at the thought of going through it all again just to work on improving his Purge spell as well.

  Sylvian watched over Jack as he worked off the poison. She kept an eye on his vitals as she continued her work with growing the garden and helping to adjust the trees around them to provide more shelter. Rayne was off scouting the area. She was working on making a map of the area and noting any place of interest between their camp and the Wenduags’. It also gave her an excuse to try and get a closer look at the Wenduags’ camp. They could keep an eye on the camp from here, but they couldn’t see details of what was happening.

  “Are you sure you want to try for a poison constitution?” Sylvian asked him.

  “Seems useful,” Jack replied. “Elaine told me about it. Heat tolerance is enough for blacksmithing, but poison will always be a danger whenever I try to make them unless I can get the constitution. Not to mention it will help me in general. No one likes being poisoned.”

  “But you will have to keep poisoning yourself to pursue it,” Sylvian said. “There are other body cultivation paths that could be just as useful to you.”

  “I only know about dwarven body cultivation,” Jack shrugged. “I don’t think the dwarven constitution is right for me. I’m more of a dodge tank than a tank tank.”

  “I don’t know what that means,” Sylvian said. “But there are other body cultivations techniques beyond dwarven and poison. The elves don’t follow either of those paths. Poison constitutions are usually only sought after by those that make poison a part of their path. More than just their craft.”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know much about the other types,” Jack said. “What do the elves do?”

  “It varies,” Sylvian explained. “We tend to focus more on what would be best for our path than having a standard expectation like the dwarves. The most basic would be just infusing your body with ambient Mana using a cultivation technique. Then there are those that focus on specific Affinities and infuse concentration of that affinity into their body. Some want to infuse a specific essence of a type of creature, so they use Monster Cores from creatures of that type to infuse into themselves.”

  “That’s a lot of possibilities,” Jack muttered.

  “Nothing is truly impossible,” Sylvian nodded. “Just because it has not yet been done, doesn’t mean it can’t be. It only means that they haven’t found the way to do it yet. But they don’t always offer great benefits. Some can be just as limiting as the benefits they offer.”

  “I think I am starting to understand that,” Jack said. “Just from the paths I was offered alone, it seemed like the possibilities are endless.”

  “They can be,” Sylvian agreed. “But that doesn’t mean every path is worth pursuing. You will nearly kill yourself for this constitution, but how much will it really help you?”

  “I get it,” Jack acknowledged. “I didn’t know about any of the others, and I already progress my Body cultivation a little by poison. Well, venom. But I suppose there is more to it than just reaching the next stage.”

  “Your foundation in your Cultivation is important,” Sylvian nodded. “It deserves consideration.”

  “Well, I don’t have a cultivation technique for Body Cultivation,” Jack said. “And I was thinking of trying to unlock more Affinities. Maybe I’ll start there. I have an ability that allows me to change the element of my spells with any I have affinity for, but right now I only have darkness and fire, and I don’t know how I feel about infusing myself with either of those.”

  “Infusing Darkness Affinity into your Body Cultivation will help you to meld with the shadows, and you can even gain strength and cultivation from being in darkness,” Ciao interrupted. She’s been nose deep in the books now that Jack had learned the Karzasic language that Jack had honestly forgotten she was there.

  “That doesn’t sound too bad,” Jack said.

  “It is not,” Ciao said. “I can even help you in achieving it if you wish, my constitution is that of Darkness and Light after all.”

  “What does Light Affinity do?” Jack asked curiously.

  “You gain strength in areas of concentrated light, and it helps with amplifying auras and presence-based skills and spells including aura spells,” Ciao explained. “Darkness constitution can also help in masking presences.”

  “How’d you get both?” Jack asked.

  “I didn’t get both,” Ciao said. “I am both. I’m an elemental. But if you are asking for yourself, the process would be the same as one as it is for two. Infused yourself with affinities from the two in equal portions. An imbalance would only result in a weaker version of the one you have more of, or nothing at all.”

  “You need to already have the Affinities for both as well,” Jasper added. “Using Affinities to increase your Body Cultivation is like trying to become a part of the element. The further you continue down that path, the more elemental you will become. Fire will help you withstand higher temperatures, light things on fire with a touch, walk across lava without burning, that sort of thing. Water will allow you to breathe underwater, withstand pressure, even change shape a little. And of course, whatever element you choose to infuse yourself with will also allow you to draw on it when you are surrounded by that element.”

  “Does that mean that the dwarves are actually following Earth Affinity cultivation?” Jack asked.

  “They do,” Sylvian confirmed. “Most of them. Earth is always the base line of their cultivation, but a few have techniques for different variations. Those are closely guarded secret of the different Breath clans.”

  “Breath?”

  “Savgar is one,” Sylvian said. “He is an Ironbreath.”

  “Oh, I just thought it was a last name,” Jack said. “But I suppose even in human culture, last names came from something.”

  “What does your come from?” Sylvian asked. “Was your family descended from a Master?”

  “Not sure,” Jack said. “Master has a few different meanings where I am from. But I’m not too familiar with what my ancestors did to earn the name.”

  “So, are you going to try for a Darkness constitution?” Ciao asked, coming up to him.

  “Maybe,” Jack pondered. “But there is one more thing I want to ask about before I decide.”

  Jack pulled out the Monster Core from the Kerga. “This is the Monster Core of the Apex creature that Elaine, and I killed. You mentioned some people use these to increase their Body cultivation as well. What would using something like this do?”

  “You won’t be able to reach the first stage with only one core,” Sylvian said. “You’d need a lot more. So, it would depend on if you are using Apex cores or whatever…”

  “Feline,” Ciao cut-in.

  “Feline cores,” Sylvian continued. “Apex cores will improve your natural predator features, like your teeth, nails, whatever humans used to use to hunt with before you started using tools. It may even cause physical change to your body to increase your speed, strength, and stamina. It may even increase your senses. Feline cores will start to give you traits more common among felines and it will also change your body to be more like a feline as well. It could even cause you to grow a tail.”

  “Not sure if I like the idea of it forcing my body to change,” Jack muttered.

  “Whatever you choose, the important thing to know is you can only choose one,” Jasper said. “Affinity, cores, or something like poison. They don’t mix well, and there isn’t much value in doing any path part-way. Once you start down one path, you will have to improve upon it or add to it to keep progressing.”

  “But whatever you do decide to follow you can change up a little for future cultivations,” Sylvian said. “You just can’t change from core to affinities or reverse. But there can be issues when changing your cultivation path. Even if they are similar.”

  “In that case,” Jack said. “Maybe Affinities cultivation is the best option for me, but I think I need to unlock the other affinities first.”

  “I should be able to assist you with that,” Jasper said.