Grimoire of Duality

Chapter 3: Mystic Beasts

Merely, ridic human, merely. unbridledly living and incognizantly dying. Dissension within one's state. A robust fleshly vessel yet feeble noesis and frail animus equates enigma.

-Tripartite Symbiosis

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Lifting his sword and concentrating, Lex started feeling his body heat up, then, he tries to move that sensation towards his arms and sword.

Right after, with a mighty swing of his sword, he struck the large boulder.

'Kchhtt'

Soon enough, they discovered that he leave a mark, not.

"You also tried to condense your peuma in your sword just like instructor. Unfortunately, you did not succeed," Niles said what he observed in his attack.

Niles, who is a few months older than Lex, actually have an aptitude for the Martial Path and focus on practicing the sword.

"It's a bit tricky," Lex remarks. He really did tried to focus his pneuma on the blade edge when slashing but was not proficient enough in it, resulting in the dispersion of his pneuma at the last second, thus, not being able to leave a mark.

Lex and his friends shared their insights with the group and soon enough, gained massive thanks from them.

Since they are of one village and are few in number, everyone is well acquainted with one another, forming stronger solidarity.

Additionally, the threat of the mystic beasts made the group more coordinated. Since it is not a fight and learning this skill signify the increase in their power against the mystic beasts, Lex and the others are very much happy to shared it to everyone.

Of course, competition is bound to be present in the tribe to ensure the competitive spirits among youths but it is all within healthy, friendly terms. They don't compete with ulterior motive but for the sake of bettering themselves.

Soon, the group started practicing concentrating their pneuma.

Niles patted his back and praised him, "You are, as always, very sharp Lex. Just after the demonstration and already getting the hang of it."

"Not really. I still need to learn more. But you are the sharper one, being able to notice the main point of the training." Lex said to Niles.

"With the instructor's demonstration, Atroth's and your sword strike, it ia natural that I can observe it, but I need more time to practice that move unlike Atroth," replied Niles as he also keep repeating the stance and concentrating his pneuma on the sword.

On the other hand, Atroth laugh as he keep swinging his sword and slashing. He was the type with a more intuitive kind of approach.

His body takes charge and he follows along with it. Sure enough, his progress is not that much slower than Lex.

Seeing him, Lex and Niles break in a laugh.

"You might not be as fast as we are in learning but you simultaneously practice the Marksman Path and very adept at it. You are a genius of your own," Lex said to Niles.

Just like Lex said, Niles is a swordsman and also a marksman. Although not the best in either field, he is still at the top tier of the group and has his own strong points that can make him shine.

"Thanks. But it also requires me to invest a lot of time. By the way, I must go now to catch up to the Marksman Path lesson. Let's practice again after I got the training requirement there," exclaimed Niles.

Then he runs to the group of Marksman Path practicing a short distance away from the Sword group.

In the other end of the training grounds, the Marksman Path group also started their training.

This path, instead of using a sword, focus on using a bow. Marksmanship has harsher requirement than Swordsmanship. Stable arms are required to make sure the bow does not tremble, a keen eyesight to hit the target as well as acuity

The Marksman Path group was taken charge of by another male instructor. But unlike the previous rigid instructor, this one can be said to be more approachable and shows more enthusiasm in teaching.

The group is required to make a long range shooting of a 50-meter target. It might seem impossible for ordinary children but for a cultivator with proper techniques and skills, it will be a piece of cake.

Cultivation enhances a person's physical attribute, enabling them to do what an ordinary person deem as impossible.

Aside from training their body, the training grounds, taught the youths of ages 7 to 15 who steps into the Martial Path the weapon-specific skills, necessary techniques against mystic beasts, combat awareness and coordination, disciplines in the wild, and ways in identifying herbs, mushrooms and fruits edible for consumption as well as basics in concoction in case one got lost in the wild.

All these pretty much sums up what a typical morning for the children of the tribe while the adults toil.

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After their morning training, Lex, Atroth and Niles met up and had a hearty lunch in a nearby tavern.

It was a delectable meal with variety of food on the table consisting of different dishes that showcase the abundance of meat and spices fresh from the forest.

It can be seen how much resource is being used to aid the younger generation.

The trio's consumption can only be described as monstrous since they ate a meal enough for seven people. Clearly, the morning training drained much of their energy reserves.

Sure, cultivators are amazing with monstrous powers but they still require energy to sustain themselves. Most of the cultivators have ravenous appetite since the energy they require is also high.

For body practitioners, eating is another way of cultivating. Through the consumption of high quality meat from mystic beasts, it enables them to digest the beastial pneuma within its flesh which they can annex to improve their cultivation.

Mystic beasts, similar to cultivators, can also harness mystic energies. Powerful mystic beasts have elemental affinities or racial skills that makes them unique.

Just like the Grizzly Lunar Bear that has a racial trait of Moon's Blessing, gaining power from the moon, other beasts have their own unique strength.

Mystic beasts illuviate or accumulate their energy by absorbing mystic energy in the air and storing it in the beast cores within their bodies.

Additionally, mystic beasts have their own rankings based on their threat level.

The lowest tier of threat for beasts is called the Hazard-class and it pertain to those mystic beast level 1 to up to 30.

For instance, an adult Grizzly Lunar Bear is a Level 15 Hazard-class beast comparable to a Platinum-rank Martial Scholar.

[Note: Martial Apprentice, the lowest cultivation rank, has 10 subranks. The next rank, which is the Martial Scholar, also have 10 subranks. Platinum-rank is the 5th subrank.]

Moreover, one key feature of mystic beasts with this cultivation is having a red characteristic.

Most common of them are red aura, a patch of red fur, or red limbs in a mystic beast's body. A little unique characteristic can be associated to a racial trait of the beaat like red irises, red fangs, red horn, red stinger, or a red stigma.

Moreover, as the mystic beast's threat level increases, so will there be change in its colored characteristic.

The next level after Hazard-class is the Calamity-class which has a characteristic yellow color.

After killing a mystic beast, one can obtain its beast core. Although beast cores have a coarse mystic energy, it is still valuable since it can be used for different things.

It can be used as a medium for arrays, a core for weapon, an ingredient for a potion or it can be used directly since it makes the illuviation faster than absorbing it directly in the air.

One can say that Sierra Noluz is a treasure trove waiting to be unearthed. Of course, one must have the strength to back it up.

After the meal, the trio can feel the vigorous beastial pneuma coursing through their body as they digest the flesh.

They spent some time consolidating the beastial pneuma they just consumed before they go and perform their duties for the village.

The village may be small but it has a systematic workflow that keeps the community going, ensuring the safety and sustainability of the whole village.

The afternoon chores for the youths ensures the abundance of food in storage.

During the morning training for the youths, adults mostly take care of different areas, and in the afternoon, the youths will be assigned to assist those different areas.

Some of the works are herb gathering, ore mining, hunting for meat, pelts and beast cores, as well as exploration.

It's true that mystic beasts are dangerous especially to ordinary people. However, just like they always say that fortune and danger comes together, a mystic beast body has a variety of uses.

Atroth steps out of the tavern and said, "I must go now. My mission this week is herb gathering in the Yin Yang Valley. What about you two?"

"I have some errands that the elders assugned me," Niles replied.

"I still have my arcane lesson today with the Village Invoker," Lex said as he started waving them goodbye.

"Saying I am a genius yet you might be the one who can cultivate two different paths!" Niles teasingly remarked to Lex's earlier statement.

"Hahahaha. You are both geniuses!" Atroth added. Then, the trio went to their separate ways.

This is the partition of work in the village. For the young ones, morning is mostly training the martial path or strengthening their body while in the afternoon, most kids do their assigned chores while those with aptitude for the Arcane Path and the children under eight years old are required to attend another lecture.

Lex move nervously towards the center of the tribe where the Arcane Tower is located.

It is only natural because this might be his last lecture since today, he will be tested on his aptitude if he have what it takes to be an Invoker,