Chapter 171

Lykan

Cultivation and Advancement

There are very few moments in time that can truly be defined by one event, before it happens. Sure, one can go back and eventually deduce that one motion, one perceived sleight caused a cascading change of events that would have a monumental impact on the development of a nation. But most of those moments are fleeting and require a lot of people to speak about the event after it happened.

For Lykan he was living in that moment. He was experiencing that moment right now. He knew this was a defining moment, one that would likely have world changing ramifications.

Worse, he knew beyond all doubt that this Titan would wish to challenge him. She would do it to assert dominance, Lykan had extended an olive branch of peace and tranquility. Only for her to devour that branch, gain its sustenance and try to use her newly gained powers to strike him and the other inhabitance of their world down.

He knew all this, and still he decided to teach her.

He knew all this, and still irrationally so, wanted her to succeed. Part of it was to stroke his ego, letting him know that it was not just a fluke with Air, and Earth, that he could teach the path of cultivation to those who were dedicated enough to learn.

If that was the case, then three of the four major elemental forces of the world could be harnessed by individuals willing to learn. This would be huge, if he was able to push this forward, then everyone could learn. The only thing he had to do now was go with his gut, see the way this monster, this Titan merged their essence with the element of water, then wait for the inevitable betrayal.

For her part in all of this, Pentra was a natural.

She took to the lessons easily. Once she was told what element would suit her best, it almost appeared like several facts she had always known, but never fully grasped, all clicked into place.

She was water, not because that was where her people came from. Rather she was water, the same way Lykan was Air, or Brenna was Earth. She was water because that was what suited her best. What complimented her personality.

Water was strong, firm when moving, and able to adapt when at rest. To strike water would mean to meet resistance equal to the force exerted. There were so many lessons in water, so many factors that went into water that could only be touched on slightly by Air.

In a way Lykan was jealous, just as he was jealous of all the elements for their strengths. He almost wished he could incorporate all the strengths of each element into himself, to create one all-powerful elemental force. But he knew such actions ran the risk of folly. Only a fool would risk their entire cultivation base, on the hope of a better future.

Still Lykan watched and took note of what worked and what didn’t. He noted the way water had to be circulated to gain any real attack patterns from it. The way even at its fastest, it was at best an in between of Earth and Air. Faster than Earth, but not as strong. Fiercer than Air, but not as adaptable. It was a good element, but one that was at the extremes when compared to certain aspects of both Air and Earth.

Then there were cases where it was completely on its own in terms of sheer power and ability. The ability to absorb impacts and redirect them freely was amazing, something that could not be done in earth at all. With Air, it could do similar aspects, but only by completely nullifying the energy of the impacted area. After all, how could one truly fight against smoke?

The more he watched, the more he also noted the movements and styles of his student. He noticed the way she was rigid.

“Dismiss that swipe, it is taking away from your understanding.” Lykan would say, when he saw his student use a particularly Earthy, attack.

“But that is my most powerful attack.” Pentra shot back.

“It might be, but it is also clouding your understanding of your way. It gives you a false trail to follow, one that leads to an oxbow lake.”

At the water reference, Pentra paused. That was the term used to describe a river that had at first gone down the path of least resistance, and in so doing went down a long meandering path. Only to find that a quicker and easier path was available should they only focus on working towards the ultimate goal, rather than towards the area of least resistance.

Over time the lakes that still existed long after the river had corrected its path could be found throughout the lands. These seemingly random lakes helped when there were floods, but rarely did more than hold water for a region after the great river disregarded them for a clearer path.

With this image clearly in mind, Pentra nodded her head in understanding.

“This one thinks they understand.” She said, bowing her head.

Fortunately, the analogy translated well in the alien tongue. For after that Pentra wishing to continue her training began doing as Lykan suggested. She focused on keeping certain movements and forms that would help her, while discarding movements that were not how Lykan thought water should move.

Of course, once they were done, she could always go back to the paths and attack patterns that were familiar to her, but that would be after they were done. After, she had hopefully unlocked her cultivation talent for Water.

At least that was Lykan’s hope.

Form after form they moved.

After a point when she was finally through her natural fighting forms, Lykan proceeded to join her. Having her first demonstrate a strike or technique, then he would help her refine the movement until it was fluid like water.

This was where Lykan’s superb understanding of the different weapons and weapon types came in handy. He was so well versed in each weapon, that trying to demonstrate a particular elemental aspect with a weapon was easy.

For his purposes he chose the bo-staff, as it was clearly the only weapon he had on hand. With the bo-staff ready, he would mirror and perfect the movements that he wanted Pentra to copy.

At first, he was content to have her try to mirror the movements, but as time went on she would need subtle adjustments. This was when Lykan would order a “halt.”

“Keep your body frozen in place, as I move your body and muscles into the right position. Maybe it will make more sense to feel the way your body is meant to be.” Lykan said.

Then with that came a painstakingly long effort, where Pentra would begin a movement and Lykan would adjust her muscles, gestures, and the way her body exploded with force after every strike.

“Water must flow, the movement is your power. Without proper movement, you waste much of your potential. You must stop fighting the current of energy within your body, and instead be the current.”

Lykan spoke a lot. At least for him he felt like he spoke a lot.

Finally, once one set of movements were good, he would have her go onto the next fighting form, then the next. Then once they were all done, he would have her go back to the beginning and start over.

This was the way Lykan was able to show both the true way that his student Pentra could interpret water into her own daily life and fighting style. It was also the way that Lykan understood the limits of Pentra’s forms and techniques. She was a skilled fighter, but one who focused primarily on fighting large swaths of enemies at once. This meant she had wide arcing attacks that would often leave her open to quick precision strikes in a one-on-one duel.

During this time Lykan also wondered what it would be like for him to cultivate as Water, instead of Air. While he knew that Air was his ideal choice if he was stuck with just one element, he felt that all the elements had their true merits. He also wondered if he could cultivate with Earth in a way that didn’t steal from Brenna, but rather allowed them to get closer as a couple.

But he didn’t want to cultivate Earth, at least not without telling Brenna his true reason for wishing to copy her. He thought, or rather he had a feeling that should both be able to cultivate Earth together, their overall impact would be far greater than what Brenna alone could do on her own.

Of course, this was just what he thought he could offer her, not what he knew for a fact he could offer her.

So instead of potentially offering up more than he could. He opted to do something different but still in the same mindset. His plan was simple, cultivate Water and see if he could add to Pentra’s cultivation or effects by using his own cultivation method.

By now Lykan had more than a strong enough understanding of his own cultivation base and figured he would be able to easily tell if he was getting close to breaking something within himself. Being as he was one of the few people who broke everything internally and still managed to get his body repaired, he felt more than confident in his ability to at least survive such a challenge. Again though, he had no intention of pushing himself beyond his current abilities.

There of course was only one problem with his plan to test out his own aptitude for Water cultivation.

That problem began with a capital ‘P’ and ended with ‘entra.’

He had no clue what the alien Titan would do if she saw him potentially weaken himself while trying to cultivate with Water at the same time as Air.

By now, he figured the two were solid enough in his mind that he could begin to compartmentalize the two as separate entities entirely.

But before the two were separate, there were parts where they did overlap. The overlap came from healing rain, or chilling blizzards, all the way to devastating hurricanes. These were the areas that Lykan figured would be the easiest to prove his concept one way or another.

Rain seemed to be the simplest form of combining the two elements.

While Pentra worked through her own personal discoveries. At this point, her personal discoveries mostly consisted of circulating her qi throughout her body, in a way that followed the explosive force of water to be natural. The key factor for her was to limit the want to go with the old, ingrained paths that would offer the least resistance for now but were detrimental to her overall development.

As she worked on this, Lykan focused on moving his cultivation to the next level. He focused on incorporating gentler motions of water, these were the cleansing aspects of rain. The part that spread hope and healing to parched lands and fields. The part that allowed for lands to be broken up so they could be more easily moved.

As he focused on his cultivation, he went through his own fighting forms. Using the movement of his body, to help solidify the feeling of oneness he now felt by combining these aspects of Air and Water together.

Drizzle.

There was a faint drizzle, but Lykan kept moving through his forms. Wishing to solidify this thought within his mind and body.

In this, all three of his components had to be absolutely linked in unison. He had to be linked in Mind, Body, and Soul to cause the minor downpour of liquid that was flowing all around him.

Idly he knew that both of his students, well one current and one former student, both were staring at him. Still, he did not care. Instead, he focused on the movements and sensations going on inside his body, until he felt a change.

He felt something crack and shatter from deep within his body, as something fundamental had changed within him. Still, he worked on increasing his understanding repeatedly, until finally he could do the actions in his sleep.

Then he opened his eyes to several forced messages that he had to address immediately.

(4)Qi Alter: Sage -> (Maximum) (5) Mind Strike: Novice (5) Mind Heal: Novice Blessing Bestowed: Fifth Echelon Fifth Echelon: You have managed to push your mind, body, and soul beyond the normal limits of human capability. You have reached the fifth echelon of transcendence. Requirements: Minimum of two Attributes to fifty (5 of 2). Minimum of sixteen Skills evolved to the fifth skill tier, or beyond, (16 of 16). Minimum of eight Abilities evolved to the fifth evolution (8 of 8). This is an evolutionary echelon, as such you can pick options that will change not only yourself but will be carried down to your future progeny. Reward Options: [Advanced Sight of the Predator], [Advanced Skin of the Chameleon], [Advanced Wings of the Eagle], or [Advanced Mind of the Psionic*] Note: Traces of [Mind of the Psionic] are already identified within host. Next stage (Stage 3) of adaptation is now available.

Lykan saw his gains and paused as he contemplated what he should do next.