Calm Wanderer
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(MNIBP)Chapter 42 - An unexpected enlightenment
🕑 Added 2024-02-02 17:22:17 +0000 UTCThe Highlands, New Jersey, USA.
Ben's P.O.V.
After the meal, the group went back downstairs, this time in the Training room. They then moved to one of the empty sides, where Ben declared to the adult women present there. “I'll teach the Mortal Transcending Basic Technique to the kids while you train on your own. That way you won't waste any time with your cultivation.”
The three women nodded before starting the technique's movements. Looking at their execution, Ben could see a few flaws, but nothing too damaging. In any case, he would be able to help them correct those once he was done with his lesson. As he turned his gaze back to the eager-looking children, a small smile immediately surfaced on his face. “You're ready to learn how to cultivate, kiddos?”
“YEAH!!” The three yelled, with the smallest of them strangely being the loudest. Or was it really that strange? Shoving that thought to the side, he continued. “Great!” He paused before starting his explanation. “So, this technique is made of two things linked together. The first is body movements and the second is breathing patterns. Once you've got those two things right, you'll have to synchronize them, and voila! You'll have successfully learned the technique!”
Pausing for a brief moment, he asked. “You good, so far?” The two oldest children nodded but Gayle suddenly raised her hand before asking. “What does... Patwon mean?” A small chuckle escaped the middle-aged man before answering. “It's 'pattern'. PA. TTER. N. Pattern! It means some kind of habit or rhythm.”
Pondering for a second to find a simple example for her to understand better, something swiftly came to his mind. “I got it. Think about how you breathe. You inhale.” He mimed the action. “Then exhale.” He displayed the second one too. “Breathe in, then breathe out. This is a pattern. Something that repeats itself. Do you understand?”
With some hesitation on her face, she responded. “I think so?” With an amused smile, he teased. “Are you asking me or telling me, princess?” Tilting her head, she replied, snickering. “Both!” Her response made the two teenagers giggle, but Ben only had an amused grin adorning his face before retorting seriously.
“It's fine if you don't completely understand for now. In any case, we'll work on the movements and breathing patterns separately before trying to synchronize them. It'll be much simpler.” Following his words, he started teaching the movements they were supposed to follow.
It only took around half an hour for the two teenagers to go from the Basic Level to the Intermediate level of proficiency, although reaching the Master Level of Proficiency would take a lot more time. And that was even without taking into account the fact that they had to learn the breathing patterns and synchronize the two. The kids were not pressed for time, though, so it was fine in Ben's opinion.
Unlike the other two, however, Gayle took around two hours to reach the same result. Despite the constant reassurance of the silver-eyed man, her eyes turned a bit misty as she asked him in a worried tone. “Am I stupid, Uncle Ben?” He knelt on the metallic ground to be closer to her height before stating.
“Of course not! Didn't you tell me earlier that you were a very smart girl?” He halted his words for a second before sharing a sudden thought. “You know, I've learned many things in my life and there's one of those that might help you with your situation. Do you want to hear it?” When he spotted the sorrow in her eyes, his heart almost broke, prompting him to do his best to comfort her. “Mmhh!” She nodded her head, waiting for him to continue.
“I learned that if you compare yourself to other people too much, you'll never be satisfied. The only person you should compare yourself to is yourself.” Noticing the clueless look in her eyes, a warm smile appeared on his face as he resumed. “There will always be better people than you and me. They may be smarter, stronger, faster, etc. Even if you outgrow someone, there will always be someone else higher.”
Pausing for a few seconds to let his words sink in, he then added. “The only way to be satisfied is to see your past self and understand how much you've grown since then. Take your case for example. Two hours ago, you didn't know the movements but now you reached the Intermediate Level. You became better than the past Gayle. And I'm sure you'll keep getting better and better. Do you understand now?”
Looking into her eyes, he could see the gears turning in her head while the sadness that seemed to have taken hold over her was vanishing at light speed. At one point, a big sunny smile appeared on her face as she replied. “I get it, now!” She then gestured for him to lower his body even more before she somewhat snaked her little chubby arms around his neck and gave him a big kiss on his cheek. “Thank you, Uncle Ben! You're the best!”
Her words and actions elicited a warm sensation in his heart as he returned the little girl's hug for a short moment before the two let go of each other and Ben said. “Thank you, little princess. You're pretty amazing yourself.” While moving his upper body back, he noticed from the corner of his eyes the other two kids surreptitiously throwing envious glances in his direction.
He thus turned toward them and declared with a gentle smile. “That goes for the two of you as well. Only use comparisons with others as a mere reference. But don't pay too much attention to it. What's important is a steady improvement instead of a quick one.” The two teenagers nodded their heads strongly with a look that told him that they would truly keep his word in mind.
Feeling happy at the sight, he could not help but state in a caring voice. “In any case, I'm proud of the three of you. You've been acting very well those last few days, despite what happened. I hope you'll keep it up.” Scratching his bearded cheeks absentmindedly, he felt a bit embarrassed at his own words, but since it came from his heart, the awkward feeling swiftly disappeared.
His compliment, however, made the three a bit bashful, with Peter looking away with a satisfied smile on his face, MJ looking down with both a joyful grin on hers and a blush on her cheeks, and lastly, the little princess giggling happily. The three's reactions warmed the middle-aged man's heart and made him understand that it was to live many more moments like that that he would strive to get stronger and stronger. Simple goals had the best results, right?
After a brief moment, Ben clapped once in his hands before claiming. “Now that you've reached a decent level of proficiency, I'll teach you the different breathing patterns.” It took the children around the same amount of time to reach the Advanced proficiency level, with Gayle being much slower than the other two.
This time, however, she did not let out a word of complaint and tirelessly followed his instructions, despite her numerous failures. She did not let out and her results spoke for themselves. Instead of the previous two hours, she only took an hour and a half to reach the Advanced Level.
“Good job, princess!” He said while patting her little head, eliciting a proud smile to appear on her face. He then threw a glance at the screen hung on the wall displaying the time before declaring. “It's 5 P.M. already. So, the three of you are free to do whatever you want until dinner time.”
At his words, the two older kids let out a sigh of relief before plopping down on the ground. The youngest, however, asked him hesitantly. “Uncle Ben?” “Yes?” “Could you... Could you teach me the sinchwo... sinchwo... the thing you said before?” Cocking his brow, the silver-eyed man replied. “I can. But don't you want to go play?”
Shaking her head frantically, she retorted with an adorable earnestness. “No. I'm a big girl and I can do like Mom, Aunty, and Uncle and practice more.” Despite her 'logical' reason, he understood that she was not being very truthful with her answer. 'Is she still worried about not comprehending the technique as quickly as the others? It's not like she's slow. Besides, she's only 6 and that technique is not that easy to master for mortals without any cultivation, after all.' He pondered while staring at her cute blue eyes.
“Alright then. But before I help you with synchronizing your movements and breathing patterns, you'll observe your Mom, your Aunt and Kate practicing.” Pausing for a second, he added. “They're already doing that, so you'll learn a lot faster by looking at them.”
The little girl nodded earnestly, declaring. “I'll listen to you, Uncle Ben.” What amused the middle-aged man was that quickly after they heard the youngest's demand, the two teenagers stood up and moved to her side. MJ looked a bit uncertain, but Peter did not hesitate to query. “Uncle Ben. Can we also join?”
“Mmhh! Of course. Just do the same as Gayle.” 'I guess little Gayle's attitude had a positive impact on those two lazy kids.' He thought amusedly before adding. 'Maybe I'm too harsh. They've held on til now despite being only 11, after all. I shouldn't demand too much from them.'
After a second of pondering, Ben shoved that thought aside and focused on the three women practicing the basic technique in front of him. It may have been because of the audience, but the flaws in their technique started to increase more and more, eliciting a slight frown from him.
'They really have to work on their mental fortitude...' He thought before stating. “Stop paying attention to the people looking at you. Empty your mind and focus on your technique. Turn it into a natural body reaction instead of a deliberate one. You are one with the Universe and the Universe is one with you...” As Ben started giving his instructions, with most of them coming from the Basic Technique or his own Cultivation scripture, a sense of comprehension suddenly surfaced in his consciousness.
As his mind fell into a wondrous state, his body started to follow the Basic Technique's movements and Breathing Patterns. Because of his mostly theoretical understanding, his moves were a bit stiff at first. However, as time went by, his proficiency Level started increasing at an incredible speed.
From the Intermediate Level to the Advanced Level, less than 10 seconds passed. The Expert Level was reached a minute later while the Master Level took five more minutes. Once his proficiency could not grow anymore, the middle-aged man sat down on the metallic ground with his eyes closed.
In his current state, the space around him seemed to resonate with his entire being, creating a Universal Energy whirlpool centered around him. Without even having to think about it, his cultivation technique started to cycle 'on its own', bringing that energy through his energy channels and then to his Core. Once there, it was all converted to Five-Elements Energy before being finally used to refine his body again and again.
Unlike 'normal' cultivators, however, his entire being was strengthening simultaneously at every step of the process of the cultivation cycle. When the energy went through his energy channels to his core, his body was automatically refined, while his mental power also grew stronger. When the Five-Elements energy was used to refine his body, the quantity of energy in his Core also grew not only in quantity but also became purer and purer and his mental power did the same. Something similar happened as his will was also refined with his technique.
And that was only what the middle-aged man could perceive clearly in his enlightened state. However, his instinct also told him that some other foundational changes were also happening deep inside him. Unfortunately, his perception was too weak, making it impossible to learn more. He thus stopped thinking about it and instead focused entirely on his power growth.
The Enlightenment lasted around half an hour before his being seemed to return to his previous 'normal' state. Well, not exactly like before. 'It's like my mind became clearer and my understanding of many aspects of cultivation is much better.' Pondering for a second, he added. 'Since my comprehension improved, I'm guessing that my talent did too. I'll have to check it out later.'
Shoving that thought aside for the moment, the middle-aged man started to examine his current body's state. 'Peak Second Level. And my inner energy should be around 80% purity.' Feeling speechless for a few seconds, Ben wondered. 'Is cultivation supposed to be that easy?' After a short pondering, he realized.
'No way. Natalia's been cultivating for a few weeks now, maybe more than a month, and she's only reached Peak Third Level. And that's with her High Talent. No, it should have something to do with my Perks. That's the only explanation... In any case, it's a good thing. Although I don't think this rate of improvement will persist for too long, I'll take what I can get.'
Once he finished taking stock of his cultivation, the silver-eyed man opened his eyes to see the group of six looking at him from the other side of the room with a mix of emotions in their gazes. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he stood up while declaring. “Sorry about that. I've had a small breakthrough there.”
