[Severed Divinity] 59. First Technique

Jorin handed the glass slate over, his eyes fixed on Isen the entire time.

“Don’t you need to see it first?” Isen asked.

“It’s for your eyes only, unless you choose to share it with me.”

Isen ran his thumb over the edge and inspected the tablet. The elven sigils were carved into the glass with neat strokes. More magic at work. One thing that kept sticking out to Isen was the sheer variety of magic effects and enchantments, from the appraisal kit in Shevenar to Conrin’s projector.

Magic could do so many incredible, versatile things. Cultivation felt almost boring by comparison.

Isen struggled to understand the tablet’s contents. He saw one line that said what he already knew—seven rings—but there were other measures he didn’t recognize.

“Jorin,” Isen called. The older cultivator had gone back to Freyan and Arthum. “Can you help me understand this?”

Jorin finished answering Freyan’s question and came over. “How can I help?”

“Can we just… read through it, line by line?”

“Of course.” Jorin was tall, but his superior vision meant he didn’t need to hunch over to read the fine etchings. He drew his finger over the title and said it first in common, then in Eldrassin. “Hollow Ring Assessment Report.” He placed his finger lower. “Estimated hollow formation stage impurities…” He paused.

“What is that word?” Isen asked.

Jorin’s voice was level. “Nilus—undetectable.”

Isen figured that was probably as ideal as anyone could hope for, courtesy of a divine blood diet.

“Below it is a measure of your body’s tempering. In other words, your constitution. Yours is at low C, which is very high for only seven rings.” Jorin gave him an appraising look.

“Is it because I had fewer impurities than most when I broke through?”

Jorin’s eye twitched. “Probably something like that.” He moved to the next line. “This section measures the strength of your meridians. How much energy they can hold, and how quickly they can disperse it. It’s not uniform over the entire body, so it’s been broken down into sections.”

Isen’s meridian strength averaged around mid D, which Jorin said was quite good for a young cultivator. C was the median measure for a half elf adult.

Next, they came to readings that Jorin called meridian complexity and rigidity. Meridians could be shaped to better perform certain techniques. This specialization made them slightly worse at other tasks. How much worse was characterized by rigidity.

Rigidity was a score that was best minimized, but complexity was a bit more complicated. There were pros and cons to shaping one’s meridians, and typically, a good cultivation art, like the one Clan Femera practiced, expected its cultivators to specialize their meridians.

Like the measure for impurities, complexity and rigidity didn’t follow a letter-scale grading, instead using a numeric score that needed to be interpreted.

“A cultivation art instructs you on how to move energy. Over time, through repetition, your meridians will conform to the flow. What distinguishes a good art from a bad one is how much rigidity is introduced.”

“It says my rigidity is zero,” Isen murmured.

“That doesn’t mean much when your complexity is also zero,” Jorin said. “Your master did not teach you a cultivation art.” It was a statement rather than a question.

Ros had said from the beginning that human and monster cultivation differed. As far as Isen knew, monsters didn’t learn techniques. They had inborn power that they used instinctively, and when they evolved, that power did, too. Ros’s energy ball was the closest thing to a technique that Isen had seen from it, and even that had been little more than forming raw power in its mouth.

Jorin’s finger trailed to the last line on the tablet. “Can you read this one?”

“Re… sponsiveness?”

“Your control over your energy.”

“Is mine good?”

Jorin met his gaze. “You aren’t blind—you tell me.”

“It says...” Isen paused. “A.”

“It’s the same score as mine,” the half elf confessed. “It’s... surprising.”

Isen thought of all the hours spent learning to cloak himself in the ambient energy. He’d wondered if it would all be a waste on the surface.

It seemed he had his answer.

“Why am I E-rank in the clan?” Isen asked. If anything, it seemed like he should be closer to C rank. That said, he still felt most comfortable in the D-rank cultivation chamber, probably because of his number of rings and the relatively low strength of his meridians.

Jorin worked his jaw. “We’ll have that adjusted when the new rankings come out in a few days.”

“How do I learn a cultivation art?” Isen asked, setting the glass tablet to the side.

“Me and Meridia will teach you the Femera sequences and the starting techniques. After that, you’ll need to buy technique manuals with sect points.”

“It’s not all just… public knowledge, within the clan?”

“No.”

Isen supposed that would be too easy.

“You’re better off with the tier ones for now, since they’re running through the sequences,” Jorin mused. “It’s impossible to properly execute cultivation techniques at the hollow formation stage, so they’re practicing the basics until they break through.”

Jorin almost looked like he expected Isen to resist being sent to the tier ones, but Isen didn’t care. He bowed his head in thanks, tucked the assessment stele into his tunic, and walked over to the other side of the ring where Meridia was teaching.

If she seemed surprised, she didn’t show it. She wasn’t actively instructing anyone, so she immediately focused on Isen. Her eyes crinkled. “Have you ever learned a cultivation technique before?”

“No.”

She held out her arm and wrapped her other hand around it. She dragged the hand over the limb as she spoke. “A cultivator’s meridians circulate refined energy through the body, tempering it. When you cycle your energy, you become stronger, faster, tougher. But that’s only the beginning.” She opened her hand and drew her finger in swirls around her forearm. “A cultivator can flow energy through their meridians in specific ways to produce techniques.”

Meridia breathed in the ambient energy, the mist barely visible in the harsh sunlight. She adopted a stance, then punched out with her fist, producing a shockwave that split the ambient energy and a flash of dark shadow.

“Shadow fist.”

“Is that… external manipulation?” Isen asked.

“A controlled form of it. For cultivators, control is king.” She raised her voice and glanced at the tier ones. “Power without control—”

“—is a storm without direction,” the students recited.

Meridia smiled, though for once the expression didn’t touch her eyes. “Dangerous to everyone.”

The saying made sense, though Isen knew that when your back was against the wall and enemies were all around you… sometimes the storm was all you had.

“The Femera sequences underlie the techniques the clan offers its cultivators,” Meridia continued. “By performing them diligently, you will conform your meridians to practice any of the clan’s base techniques and their evolutions. Our techniques are based on the path of shadows. Shadow step, shadow cloak, shadow fist, shadow sight, and shadow bolt are the basics that all clan members learn before they graduate the sixth clade, assuming they reach the second tier.”

Isen felt his excitement wane. It didn’t sound like changing his meridians would happen overnight. “Am I unable to learn any techniques until I master the Femera sequences?”

Meridia laughed good-naturedly. “Of course not. The sequences will only change your meridians such that all the techniques will be more natural to learn, take less energy, and put less strain on your body. I’ll flow through the sequences once with you, then I’ll show you one of the techniques I mentioned. Does one appeal to you in particular?”

“Do you have a suggestion?”

“The easiest to learn is shadow step, but it has a high energy cost, and may be unsuitable until you’ve practiced the sequences. The same goes for shadow fist and shadow bolt.”

“What does shadow sight grant you?”

“The ability to perceive the environment in darkness.”

That immediately disqualified it. “What about shadow cloak?”

“A cultivator skilled in the technique can conceal themselves in shadows. It works especially well at night, though it will only confound visual sight. A more versatile evolution of the technique is available for sect points, and if you gain your own insights you’ll be able to evolve it yourself.”

“I choose shadow cloak.”

She first launched into an explanation of the Femera sequences, narrating her movements as she shifted through the poses. Isen followed as best he could. It wasn’t hard given the glacial speed she went at for instruction purposes. The cultivators in the ring yesterday had performed the sequences several times faster.

It looked even more like a dance when slowed down. Isen shifted every part of his body in odd ways, using muscles he didn’t even know he had to execute lunges, bends, twists, and jabs. As he flowed through, he got the sense that the sequences were intended to be performed with a weapon.

The Shard of Erasmus itched at his side.

“Very good,” Meridia said. “Now, time for the technique.” She withdrew a stack of paper from a fold in her robes. She flipped through, then tore a page off and handed it to Isen. “Basic Shadow Cloak” was written along the top. Beneath was the diagram of a cultivator, with a close-up on meridians of the shoulders. The technique was mostly visual, showing how energy should be shaped to produce the controlled external effect.

“Get as far as you can consulting the diagram, then ask me if you have questions,” she said.

Isen’s Stele:

Cultivation Stage: Hollow Ring (7)
Estimated Hollow Formation Impurities: Undetectable

Body Tempering: Low C

Meridians
Strength: mid D
Complexity: 0
Rigidity: 0
Responsiveness: A

[ Yes, I know Meridia is teaching Isen about meridians... whatever :P ]