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Chapter 88 - Foundations
🕑 Added 2024-12-01 09:06:38 +0000 UTC16th of Season of Fire, 57th year of the 32nd cycle
Standing at the training area, Newt brimmed with satisfaction at making something practical, something which would help another person do their job more comfortably. Better yet, he got some tasty food out of it.
“Let’s recap. What are you going to do from now on?” Elder Alabaster’s voice was icy, her arms folded, her feet tapping the ground.
Newt’s master knew how to douse his good mood in an instant.
“For two weeks, I won’t cultivate, nor gather spiritual energy. I will spend my time in the library, or engage in relaxing activities. No unauthorized use of spiritual energy. After that I will be allowed to enter the cultivation chamber, but can’t do anything other than draw energy and cultivate my realm, no experimenting, no getting distracted. Any duels, spars, or anything else that could pose even a modicum of danger I will do in this training field. Elder Elmshade will pay extra attention to me while I’m here.” Newt parroted his master’s instructions imitating an earnest tone.
“You cheeky brat, you think I’m treating you like a kid.” Elder Alabaster speared Newt with her gaze, her fists resting on her hips. “Well, I am. Let me remind you, you detonated your lung and a chunk of your heart. It’s gonna take a decade for you to regain my trust and for me to leave you to your devices without someone to monitor you. Is that clear?”
Newt nodded, his gaze downcast, his shoulders drooping.
“Newstar, this concerns your life.” Elder Alabaster placed her hand on Newt’s shoulder, her voice low and solid like a rock. “Disobey me, and I will expel you from the sect. Is that clear?”
Newt once more nodded.
“Good, we will continue building your spiritual sense for the next two weeks. You will start with two threads, and we will increase it slowly and carefully.”
Newt obeyed. Two weeks passed in reading and filling voids in his knowledge on various subjects. The practical training both by Elder Alabaster and Elder Flameax went as expected, Newt’s master stayed true to her word, and in two weeks, they increased the number of threads he could handle to four.
Elder Flameax explained the weaknesses of Newt’s techniques, potential improvements, and multiple ways in which he could develop them. The two weeks were extremely peaceful, allowing Newt to make full recovery.
“Today, you’re learning earth-aligned techniques. Finally,” Elder Alabaster said, leading Newt to the training field. “We should’ve started ten days ago, but someone had to blow himself up. And no, I won’t stop saying that for at least a couple years. Now, as I’ve said before, these techniques won’t be anything earth shattering. I will give you the manuals after today’s lessons, but today, you will struggle through them without instructions, guessing how the skill works based on my descriptions and instructions.”
Elder Alabaster paused, silent for a couple of moments, before speaking again. “If you reach the sixth realm, or the higher ones, this won’t be the case. At that level, you will have to figure things out on your own based on your previous knowledge. You will get the manuals only once you have made a technique you yourself find a perfect fit. I am also learning like this under my master, and none of my techniques have reached the level of perfect completion. Fortunately, the sect cares little for perfecting low and mid tier versions of our techniques, but any improvements you can make will be rewarded appropriately.”
They reached their training area, and Elder Alabaster turned to face Newt.
“Any questions?”
“No, Master.”
“Good. The first skill for you to learn is the earthen barrier. As its awe-inspiring name suggests, it involves creating a barrier of earth to block attacks. You are supposed to move earth and shape it into a rough wall. Due to range restrictions, the technique is very limited at the third realm, but it becomes handy starting from the fourth realm.”
Newt shifted, and his master sighed.
“Yes, Newstar, what is it?”
“If I may be so bold, Master, why am I learning a technique that is useless for my realm?”
“Stop interpreting my words and just listen. I never said useless, I said limited. There is a difference. The technique is limited because you can only block attacks against you and create a bit of cover within a few steps. Once the range increases tenfold, you can do the same for the rest of your team, creating bigger and sturdier walls in the process. At the fifth realm, you can cover an entire battlefield.”
She paused, looking at Newt with bored, half-closed eyes.
“And you should learn it now because it will make things easier later, and the higher your realm, the more starved for time you will become. Especially if you take pigheaded disciples who question your every word and misquote you every chance they get.”
Newt resented the statement, but he could tell from Elder Alabaster’s tone that the woman was joking.
“Master, do all elders have disciples?”
As expected, Elder Alabaster shook her head.
“Most take disciples at certain points. Teaching and writing is also cultivation in a certain sense. Some use disciples to resolve heart demons, others to deepen their own comprehension, others simply teach their descendants, though that one often has questionable results, especially if you’re close with the descendant in question.”
She folded her arms.
“Now, I indulged your idle thought, so get started with the earthen barrier. We have three more techniques to go through and only two hours.” Newt stared for a moment too long, and Elder Alabaster clapped her hands. “Chop chop.”
Newt immediately closed his eyes and sent a pair of earth-aligned tendrils of spiritual energy from the soles of his feet. They entered the ground and moved in front of him. He had already considered the inner workings of his master’s techniques, which summoned rock spikes, and he concluded that she was using the same tendrils of spiritual energy she used for perception, but added a purpose to them somehow.
Yeah, that somehow is the key.
Newt considered the only other experience he had with changing the surrounding terrain, and thought of cultivating his realm. However, his realm obeyed his desires, how would he make the real world obey him.
Please form a wall, Newt thought at the earth, and nothing happened. Then he made the same request to the thread of spiritual energy extending from his feet with the same result.
Maybe I need to be more persistent? Newt kept repeating a simple mantra of, “Form a wall,” but the world ignored his request, no matter how earnest.
Thanks to his youth, Newt’s patience was limited, so less than a minute after starting he poked at an especially thick clump of earth energy he sensed, pushing it up, and the energy moved. It was a minuscule shift, but Newt clearly felt the movement, and the grass shook before him, despite the fact that there was no wind inside the spell formation.
Newt tilted his head and poked again, but instead of stopping after the initial shove, he kept pushing. A tuft of grass rose from the ground, forming what looked like a modest, abandoned molehill overgrown with grass.
New was grinning, so focused on his success, that he failed to notice his master’s eyes bulge. It had been less than five minutes since she gave her genius disciple the vague task, and he was already moving the earth.
Newt mobilized another thread of spiritual energy, rising the tiny mound even higher. He followed up with the third thread, and considered trying with the fourth, but there was no need. The mound slowly rose higher and higher, and Newt felt like someone was sitting on his brain as the world resisted his unnatural change.
Half a minute after the initial success, Newt had a conical, wall-ish, construct, which reached all the way to his knees. Finally, with a sweaty brow, Newt stopped projecting spiritual energy, but the mound remained.
“Was that any good, Master?” Newt’s voice was full of doubt.
Elder Alabaster made her face expressionless before Newt looked at her. “It’s passable, but I won’t lend you the books discussing these techniques. I have to discuss them with my master, and check whether there’s anything better suited for you.”
Newt was unsure what to think. Was his display vexingly inapt and his master needed to consult with someone more experienced? Or was he a genius they would invest more resources into?
Considering the Explorer’s Gate had ninth, and probably tenth realm experts, who were disciples at some point, it was unlikely Newt was staggering enough he warranted Elder Alabaster to discuss his progress with her master. That only left one option in his mind; he was underperforming.
“Master, I will try harder.” Elder Alabaster nodded, dead serious.
“I wouldn’t expect anything else from you. The next technique is earthen spike. The basic premise is the same as for the barrier, but more focused, so creating a wide mound won’t cut it.”
Newt sighed in relief. Making one point to guarantee sharpness was much easier than dispersing his power in multiple spots.
“Yes, Master, I will do my best!”
Comments
James Auwaerter
They all need the Soother to explain how to motivate traumatized 17-year-old geniuses. Positive reinforcement is allowed, after all. “obeyed his desires, how would he make the real world obey him.” -> “ obeyed his desires: how would he make the real world obey him?”
