Grimoire of Duality

Chapter 7: Way of Cultivation

A once monochromatic dull life suddenly got colored. Pleasure painted it red, as anger glossed it green. Yet, just a thought can make it yellow. When sorrow and worry collides, whiteness dominates the panorama. On the other hand, blackness spreads due to fright and fear.

-Seven Emotions

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Lex left his father's room quite excitedly as he prepare to head to the training grounds. Nothing changes in the village but something is slowly changing within him.

He himself feels the changes that occured.

'I can feel the mystic energies in the surroundings'

This is the clear indicator of a successful awakening. As a matter of fact, mystic energy are virtually present everywhere. However, for common citizens, mystic energy is invisible. It is imperceptible to them. The New Moon Ceremony awakens the latent capability of an individual to sense mystic energy and possibly harness them.

'It's time.'

Lex excitedly heads off, raring to start his cultivation. Not long after, he is at the training grounds already, a full hour earlier than usual. Of course, he still have to wait, his excitement completely unecessary. 

"Hey Lex, I can see how excited you are. You are so early today. Hahaha"

Atroth beamed while walking down the walkway. Usually, he is the ealy bird of the batch which makes Lex's early arrival more apparent. They joked around some more before Niles arrived as well. 

"Monstrous genius indeed, Lex."

Niles said while giving a thumbs up.

'Thumbs up'

'Thumbs up'

Of course, the others joined the fun as well. Since this is a small village, everyone is tightly knit together and news fly very fast. Lex's New Moon Ceremony is the latest talk of the village and everyone is excited for his future.

Soon after, their morning training commenced, which was overseen by the strict instructor. Everyone still tried their best to condensed their pneuma to bring out the full capability but to no avail.

Lex immediately felt the difference before and after his awakening. If previously, he can only helplessly try to attack the boulder, now, he can feel a brand new strength coursing through him.

It was all brought upon by his rapid advancement in cultivation as well as the pneuma that is enriching his body. With his Platinum-level cultivation, his attack on the boulder became more apparent, albeit still extremely shallow.

"Atroth, can you show me again how it is done."

Lex requested. Since Atroth is pretty much have a knack in grasping techniques, he, or should I say most of his classmates, asked him to re-demonstrate certain techniques.

"Look closely"

Atroth said. Although he still needs a lot of practice, Atroth's sword have a glow brighter than the others which shows his enormous progress.

Lex is still trying to familiarize himself with his newfoud strength as well as learning the new technique. Soon, morning training ends and lecture commenced right after. 

Today, it is the Village Invoker, Cassandra's turn to give lecture to their batch. Most of the lectures are conducted at the Cultivation Hall where simple formation is engraved around to enhance mystic energy absorption. It doubles as a lecture room and cultivation hall for different batches of students.

Entering the hall sporting her flaming red robe, Cassandra cast a curious gaze around the crowd, locking in to Lex.

"Let us congratulate our new awakens especially Lex who awakened his dual path. No wonder you can easily understand concepts of the sword as well as arcane knowledge. Turns out, you are destined to walk both of the paths,"

She greeted enthusiastically to the crowd, a sharp contrast of their martial instructor. 

"For those who unfortunately did not manage to awaken their talent in cultivation, do not lose heart. Your efforts in training will not go to waste since improving yourselves is important. Your assistance is the foundation of our village so don't forget that."

Cassandra further encourages the others. Well, she is not wrong in that regard since having the proficiency in combat might save you when mystic beasts attack and you only have yourself to defend. Moreover, the about seventy percent of the world's population are unawakened but they are integral in the sustenance of a village or city. 

Soon after, Cassandra started her lecture on cultivation. Her demanor completely changes when she started teaching. As a follower of the Arcane Path, her regards for knowledge is high which is why she take teaching seriously.

She wanted to reiterate the ways of cultivation so that the newly awakened will be more guided. This is not a special treatment for Lex, rather, every month the day after the New Moon Ceremony, lectures will pretty much cover the ways of cultivation for supervised cultivation.

"For those newly awakened, keep in mind that you must first open up all the Illusory Gates within your meridians before you can formally step into the Apprentice Rank, which is the first major realm in your path of cultivation. Even I started there."

Cassandra started to discuss common knowledge in the cultivation world.

"Now, opening up those Illusory Gates are done in different levels. We have ten levels in cultivation which are Iron, Copper, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Quicksilver, Mithril, Obsidian Orichalcum and Adamantium progressively. Now, first, I want you to enter a meditative state. Relax, calm your mind and feel your connection with the world."

Everyone started to follow Cassandra's instructions, even those with higher cultivation. Just like what they always say, the path of cultivation is the path of accumulation. By piling up efforts by efforts, you can progress in this path.

Lex also enters a meditative state rather quickly. He can feel his surroundings filled with particles as they are moving somewhat randomly in his senses. Soon, he tried absorbing them and guiding them in his system. These particles are the mystic energies and each cultivators used them to enhance their cultivation.

Cassandra continued.

"As you try to circulate the mystic energy through your meridians, you can feel that it is passing through a gate at different points. Although the mystic energy can pass through them without problem, but there is a slight resistance which slows down the flow."

True to what she said, everyone of them can feel that at certain parts in their body, there is a slight resistance as the mystic energy circulate in that part.

"Those points are what we call as Illusory Gates. Now, in cultivation, what we want to do is unlock those Illusory Gates, which in turn, makes circulation of mystic energy smoother, more efficiently and faster."

The lecture became quite extensive at this point. Surely, Lex and the others pay special attention in order to not miss anything or misremember something.

"Cultivation follow a set of Illusory gates to be unlocked. The first trinity gates are the first set of illusory gates that must be unlocked. One is accessed under the nose, the second below the thumb nail on the radial side while the last one is on the medial side of the big toe below the nail."

"From Iron, Copper and Silver ranks, each of the Illusory Gates unlocked is related to an increase in cultivation by three minor realms. "

"The second Illusory Gates Trinity are as follows: one is in the middle of the wrist crease between the tendons, the other is in a depression directly below the external ankle, and lastly is on the back of the neck directly below the external occipital protuberance to be unlocked respectively. Each will also increase the cultivation rank from Gold to Platinum to Quicksilver."

"The third Ilusory Gates Trinity, they can be unlocked in these locations: one at the angle of the jaw on the belly of the muscle, one below the mouth in the center and the other located in the center of the palm, between the second and third metacarpals. Just like the first and second trinity, unlocking them will also increase your cultivation by three minor realms, the Mithril, Obsidian and Orichalcum ranks respectively."

"Bear in mind that each increase in your rank makes it much harder to reach the next one. In other words, the first gates that you will unlock are quite easy, requiring less mystic energy to break them."

"Cultivation can be likened to climbing up a mountain which makes it harder the higher you climb or rowing a boat against the current. In essence, cultivation is going against the heavens. So, right now in your young age, we want you to have the determination to continue in your chosen path."

Although her explanation is quite lengthy, everyone is rapt with attention and engrossed in her teachings.

"The previous illusory gates can increase your cultivation by one minor realm for each one of unlocked, meaning one is to one. However, for the tenth minor realm which is the Adamantium rank, the fourth Illusory Gates Trinity must all be unlocked before you can be considered having reach that."

"The fourth trinity gates can be found on the head above the midpoint of the anterior hairline, on the perineum which is at the midpoint between scrotum and anus for male or posterior labia and anus for female, and at the end of the crease on top of the elbow."

"With the first, second, third and fourth trinity of Illlusory Gates, you can unlock the ten minor realms. Furthermore, if you want to proceed to the next major realm, you must unlock the final Illusory Gate as one of th requirements. This one is Located under the tongue at the centre of the lingual frenulum."

"Finally, once you met all the requirements for breakthrough, your cultivation will move to the next major realm."

Cassandra finally concluded her introduction for the cultvation. Of course, there are a lot  more intricacies to be discussed but that is for another time. Then, one of her students raised his hand and asked.

"Instructor, if we already unlock all the illusory Gate during this realm, is there more to unlock for the next realm?"

Indeed, a very thoughtful question that every beginner will want to be answered. So, Cassandra acknowledged her and replied.

"One thing we must remember, unlocking these Illusory Gates are related to unlocking our bodies potential. For your current realm, the illusory gates you are feeling are just the tip of the iceberg, the outermost layer of the seal. Since your cultivation is at the lowest level, of course, the seal that you can feel and be able to unlock are just the weakest. But as you increase your cultivation, so are the strength of the seal you will feel and in turn, each unlocking will substantially increase your power."

This is common knowledge for cultivator, and because it is extremely common, very few can see the underlying implication in it. 

"I see, so the position of the Illusory Gates are constant but they get stronger for each major realm which also means the strength needed to unlock them at the higher level is enormous."

Lex suddenly added. A few also had that realization. 

Cassandra nodded seeing how a lot of them easily caught up to her explanation. During the next hour, she let them cultivate freely while guiding them when she see that some are making mistakes.