The Dao of Magic: Book II

by Andries Louws

  “Forcing someone down a well-trodden road allows them to speed on through the beginning stages. They will grind to a halt later on. The sects blamed this slowing down of cultivation prowess on talent, affinity, or aptitude. Making your own path is a slower route in general, but allows you to continue on long after those pre-made-path idiots ground to a halt. The only way to not get stuck between an unsuitable foundation and your own path is to learn from someone else’s road, not copy them verbatim.”

  Ket seems to understand what I am talking about, Tess has a thoughtful look on her face, but the rest doesn’t seem to get it. I look back and see Ares standing in earshot of my little lecture.

  “Time for a practical example, I think. Ares, come here and sit down in a manner that you find comfortable.”

  She timidly walks over, eyes still puffy from crying. She calmed down a little, and she seems a bit more at ease now.

  “Starting your cultivation is a rather important step. Organisations and sects in my previous world taught people to imagine patterns, scriptures, and things related to their way of cultivation when forming their qi-gathering core. The prospective cultivators were then supposed to shove all this stuff, alongside with the qi they were absorbing, in their core location. The ripple sect example I told you guys about a while ago is a good example of this.

  “I formed your cores by shoving a perfect image of your physical bodies in the location that responded best. This then forms a fairly neutral starting point, not great at any specific thing and a bit weak, but great for finding your own path.

  “By the way, don’t be afraid to destroy your current cultivation base in order to try something new. I restarted a couple of dozen times before I found a path that I really liked. Not all of them were by my own choice, but that’s not relevant right now.”

  I see some of my audience shivering. I control my breathing as I reign in my murderous thoughts.

  I then touch Ares, sending some qi streaming towards her gut, heart and brain. My entire mind fills with a high-detail scan of her body. Her brain feels… flat. Her heart has a nice response, but I get the same from her gut. The heart it is then, that should prevent some of the diarrhoea, and it will be temporary anyway.

  I shove the clinical scan of her body inside her heart while I make sure to have no stray thoughts. My entire mind is filled with the physical structure of the poor girl next to me.

  “There, I just saved you a couple of months of work.” I smile widely at her as she clutches her chest. I remove the qi repulsor around her head, and she touches her throat. Vox runs towards his sister and is about to try healing her. I once again grab him by the scruff of his neck and throw him backwards.

  “Don’t interfere. She just had her core formed.”

  “You okay, Ares?”

  Cough cough “Uhm, yeah. I feel fine. Actually, I feel great!”

  “This is what I call a neutral core. You all have a neutral core. It’s a great starting point that is okay at everything, but not great at anything.”

  I let that sink in for a bit. Ket seems to understand, but he has a braincore, so that’s to be expected. “Yes Angeta, what is it?”

  “How did you really form our cores?”

  “I shoved a perfect scan of your bodies inside the core location that felt the best.”

  “Right, so all braincores tend to give answers useless to us normal cultivators. Got it…”

  “I welcome you to try it yourself. You all have a good grasp on what you want out of your cultivation by now. Simply release all of your qi and keep doing that for a few hours. You will feel a snap and then you’ll feel horrible. It kind of sucks, losing the support of qi, but it allows you to customise your cultivation from the start.”

  “Why would we want to do that?” asks Selis.

  “Back in the cultivation world, the standard way to begin cultivating involved a lot of chanting, mental images, spells, movements and all sorts of nonsense. Each method had its own quirks. Your current cores have none of those specialities.

  “Selis, you should release all the qi in your body and focus on the spot you want a core in while thinking about what you like the most about your current skills. If you spend that time thinking of going fast, you will become the fastest being in the universe at your power level. Think of controlling a single aspect of water during your initial core forming, that single aspect will be under your command without any effort.

  “It’s like qi itself.” I spin a small sphere of qi over the palm of my hand. “This is neutral qi. Pure, untainted potential. It has a lot of utility, but not a lot of applied power. I can do some water and fire tricks, but turning all my qi into fire attuned qi will make my flames a lot more powerful. My water control would get shit though, so I like to keep it neutral.”

  Ares is moving her arms, a blissful expression on her face. I look at Bord, he hides the feeling of pleasure while moving well, but he never stands completely still.

  “Ares, run as fast as you can.”

  “Wha?”

  I don’t say anything else, I just jump at her, flooding the poor girl with murderous aura-tinted qi. She pales and bolts immediately. I speed after her, catching up a second or three later. I grab her and drag her back to the group.

  “You all saw how fast she went?” My disciples nod with dumbstruck faces. “Great.”

  I grab my experimental subject even tighter, pulling on the qi I left to coalesce inside her heart. It still has my fingerprints all over it, Ares’ subconscious didn’t have the time yet to overwrite the control I have over the qi. Ares pales even further as I gently rip the energy from her body and heart.

  “Now watch what happens.” I keep the dazed girl aloft while beginning the core forming process all over again. “Speed, fast, quick, momentum, blitz, pace, really really really fast, quickness, fastness, alacrity, velocity, just really fucking fast.”

  Under the effect of my mumbled words and the guided qi, her heartcore reforms. I grin as I present the girl to the group of observers. “She is now a heartcore cultivator again. You all heard what I was thinking about while forming her core. This is a core formed with the aspect of speed. Observe!”

  ⁂

  Ares barely has the time to come to her senses as she feels that terrifying horror again. The muddled thoughts spinning through her brain get replaced with one single message, ‘RUN RUN RUN RUN OR YOU’RE DEAD RUN NOW HURRY FOR FUCK’S SAKE RUN RUN!’

  So, she runs. The freshly formed heartcore inside of her body just finished linking to her cells, and it uses her instincts to squeeze as much speed out of every single muscle fibre as possible. Trees flit by as her eyes fail to keep up with her rapid movements.

  All the information her touch-sensitive nerve endings register rush through the new core as it uses each scrap of data to fuel her speedy retreat. The terror in her belly makes her do some impressive tricks while running away.

  It’s all for nought though, as a hand grabs her collar. The terror is gone at once, allowing the muddle-headed girl to take stock of what is happening.

  “See? She was at least twice as fast. Her movements were different because she has less strength with this core setup.”

  “What happens if I were to think of body reinforcement while reforming my braincore?” asks Ket.

  “You’d become the worst body cultivator in the universe, I think.”

  “Can I control dead plants and wood by reforming my core?” asks Angeta.

  “Sure, you can think of manipulating matter. Limiting yourself to only wood is a bit… narrow-minded and limiting, I guess. You would be the best wood manipulator ever though. You guys want another demonstration?”

  “Please let my sister go…” begs Ares.

  “Hell no, I finally get to confirm so many of my theories.”

  Ares feels the glowing warmth in her chest being sucked away again. Her clear headedness disappears as she sinks into a stupor.

  “What do you guys want to see next? Maybe a strength
-focused heartcore?”

  “Make her be good at triangles.”

  “Bord, what does that even mean? You know what, I’ll give it a try.” Silence reigns for a while as Ares struggles to make sense of this situation. “Triangles, lines, two lines where three points meet, three edges, three vertices.”

  The warmth gathers at her chest once again. The first time it felt nice. The second time it felt fleeting. This time it just feels weird. Ares wants to cry as her head clears up once again. She glares at the horrible man, who is still holding her by the scruff of her neck.

  He dodges her clumsy punch with ease, and she falls onto her face. A triangular tear runs down her cheek as she decides to just give in to this super weird situation.

  Chapter twenty-six

  Intent

  T he wind causes Re-Haan’s hair to flow above her in a long streak of messy white strands. The falling figure approaches the black rock below fast, so she commands the wind to cushion her fall. A slight breeze along her face prevents her hair from whipping into her eyes as she lands in a crouch.

  Dust swirls around the humanoid dragon. Standing up, she looks towards the towering mountain. She wants to say ‘it’s good to be home,’ but that would be lying. The black peak is obscured by clouds, a permanent mist covering the home base of the entire race of dragons.

  Looking upwards, she sees three small dots coasting on the updraft caused by the massive mountain. Re-Haan actually feels slightly guilty. She spent the trip coming here testing out her newly gained cultivation. She tried out every trick Drew recorded inside the jade slip dangling between her breasts.

  There’s a massive gulf between knowing something in theory and knowing something in a practical sense. She thought that hearing his story made her a cultivation expert, until she tried to do all the things he talked about.

  The first commands she sent towards the trio brainwashed them completely, every single thought inside their heads replaced with her orders. She learned some finer control on the way here, and the trio of dragons should be back to normal after a few centuries of sleep.

  She hopes.

  The steep slope crumbles under her footsteps, and she notices that the solid stone is - in reality - finely compacted ash. It’s like walking through fine snow. Re-Haan flew over this mountain countless times, and it’s the first time she ever realised that these grey rocks are not a solid as they seem.

  She keeps walking while trying to flatten her feet into some form of snowshoes. Drew also included his preliminary findings and conclusions about the draconic changing process in the necklace.

  She spent half of this trip gaining control over her qi. The other half she filled with experimenting with the changing process. She has some control over it now.

  Simply imagining her flesh, blood and bones as tightly interlocked stones that are glued together allows her a crude control over her shape. The energy that pours through her locking organ is like a glue solvent, allowing her to rearrange the very structure of her body.

  Gently turning the tumbler under her heart, she guides a trickle of the energy towards her bare legs and feet. Dissolving the glue holding her feet together and rearranging the soft flesh, she covers the limb with flat, wide scales. Her left foot dissolves mid-step as scales grow from the goop.

  She can’t control the liquid version of her body at all, so she just uses the wind to shape it from the outside. She puts her transformed foot down. A smile graces her angular face as the flat scales no longer sink through the layer of ash.

  She found that leaving the bones intact was tricky in the beginning. She’s very glad for the fact that she did a full body scan as Drew recommended in the jade. Else she would have spent days trying to get her limbs back to their original shape.

  The roaring trio calms down as Re-Haan’s influence begins to leave them. The mountain under her feet rumbles while the members of the Flight who are on duty respond to the trio’s emergency calls. Flapping sounds combine with ground-shaking footsteps as she sees winged shape after shape emerge from the fog. She jumped off her ride at their maximum flight altitude. It will take the on-duty dragons some time to reach their height.

  ‘I SHALL NOT BE SEEN. NONE SHALL OBSERVE ME’

  Enough time for her to slip inside the cave complex unnoticed. She has some things to settle, after all.

  ⁂

  “Why does he haaaate meeeee…?” Terrible, feminine wails sound from a small piece of forest lit by multiple small suns hanging in a cloud covered sky.

  “He does these kinds of things for a reason, you know?” answers a black-haired boy standing next to the sorry figure.

  “Vooox, I don’t like this Teacher guy, let’s leave!”

  “I am jealous of your situation, and you act like it’s the worst thing that ever happened to you.” A redhaired boy sitting next to the complaining girl opens his eyes. “Releasing all of my qi into the atmosphere is seriously uncomfortable. He rebuilt your cultivation at least ten times, and all you do is complain.”

  “But… but… he scared me and chased me and did weird things to me. He violated my-”

  “He helped you, sis. You might not see it, but your aura feels more powerful than ours was after a week of cultivation and fighting. He does weird things all the time, but in the end, they all have a purpose. Ket, how are you doing?”

  “This sucks on multiple levels. It feels like my soul is leaving my head.” Ket opens a single eye as he keeps rubbing his temples.

  “I feel like my body is slowly dying. Ugh, why couldn’t Teach have used me as a cultivation base example.”

  Ares looks at her brother with a withering glare. “You could have volunteered to take my place. He forcefully formed my core based on fear that one time! I thought everything in the world was out to kill me!”

  “Your water control rivalled Selis when he rebuilt your core based on fear. She had to control water constantly for a long time to get to that level, and you managed to do that with a cultivation base minutes old!” Ket vents his frustration at the whining girl, his usually calm face showing a rare streak of irritation.

  “GATHER ROUND!”

  The small group slowly stands up as Ares keeps complaining. “But it was really sca-”

  “THERE’S FOOD!”

  Ares is looking at the places Ket and Vox just inhabited. The gusts of wind they made while moving at top speed messes with her hair. With an exasperated expression on her face, she starts walking in the direction the shouts came from.

  ⁂

  Ares joins us for dinner by the time half the food has disappeared from the table. I nibble on some breaded, fried vegetables as she takes a chair. She looks at my disciples eating with blissful expressions on their faces while gingerly reaching for a plate. Bord snatches it before her hand gets halfway. She pouts and seizes another plate.

  I dodge the flying food, the dish the redheaded girl grabbed at exploding. “Ares, control your strength. Wasting food is not allowed.”

  She drops the empty plate back on the table as I hand her another dish. She bites into one of the meat-and-veg rolls. Her face blooms into amazement at the first bite and seconds later she is enthusiastically fighting the other students over the dishes.

  “Right.” They all look at me, only pausing for a second before ignoring me and focusing on the food again. I shrug and take another bite of a pie loaded with qi-rich fruit. “Let’s eat first.”

  I take away the empty plates and fill the table with steaming food once again. Only Bord and Ares are still eating by the time the second round of food is nearly gone. “Don’t put food in your rings. They don’t keep food fresh like mine does.”

  Ket sighs, Tess groans, and Angeta growls as they make a couple of dishes appear on the table. Bord and Ares both snatch half as they keep eating.

  “I am going to continue my lecture; just keep chowing down.” I form another ball of qi over my palm. “Once again, this is neutral qi. I love it because my specialisation has to do with me
ntal strength. I don’t enjoy the feeling of having some highly specific qi floating inside my head. You all, however…” I circle my pointing finger over the entire group. “…should all at least try forming a specialised qi and cultivation system once.

  “It’s like starting a journey. Neutral qi is the beginning point. From here on you have to take your first step. There is an infinite amount of directions to choose from. After the first step, you can take another one, once again having to choose from an endless amount of choices. This changed neutral qi then has an intent. I call it an intent, if you find a better name, please let me know.

  “Let’s take fire as an example. A beginning fire cultivator can let his personal qi take on the aspect of warmth. Then his understanding of fire increases and he realises that fire is the process of oxidisation. His flames will burn brighter, but he will need a constant supply of fresh air. He then can change his qi into the aspect of heat. It will evaporate targets instead of burning them, but mirrors will efficiently reflect it.

  “The same for swords. Someone can swing a sword ten thousand times a day and forcefully try to understand sword intent.” I change the qi above my hand with a single, sword-filled thought. “Now it feels like this qi is stabbing your eyes, yes?”

  Selis rubs her face while glaring at me. Ares has fallen backwards as she blinks furiously. “This person then further refines this intent as he gains new understandings of the sword through endless repetition and battle. For example, an edge intent.” The small ball now gains a sharper aura, like the entire sword has been changed into a single cutting edge.

  “From here on he can take another step forward, like a cutting intent.” The small bit of qi changes yet again, the air around it seemingly being shredded into separate chunks. I dissipate the ball of qi because only Bord is looking at it with a bored expression. The rest of the group is either looking at me through their fingers or rubbing their eyes.