Chapter 104: First Cultivation Lesson

Adam used the Ethereal Recovery Skill and recovered from the injuries that his master dealt him within an hour and he was ready for the training that his master had in store for him.

"You seem to have broken through to rank 2, but you have strength that is equivalent to a rank 3 both internally and externally. What an incredible specimen you are" stated the old man.

He really felt as though he had finally lucked out after the centuries of misery he had experienced as he was slowly dying.

He was burning his cultivation and because of it his strength was slowly decreasing over time, but it was a forbidden technique that allowed him to increase his life span even after his vitality and life force had depleted.

If it wasn't for that he would have died centuries ago even with his high cultivation level, and he merely extended his misery, too afraid to die, not knowing what was in store for him after death.

He had so many things that he wanted to leave behind and pass on to a successor, but his trust issues were stopping him from taking in a disciple and he still saw Adam as only a temporary student to pass the time.

Although the old man was beginning to warm up to Adam, he was still untrusting of him and didn't want to ever feel betrayed again.

"Come over here and sit opposite me" instructed the old man as Adam did as he said.

"You saw me grab your energy blades when you threw them at me, how do you think I did that," asked the old man as he became serious and was ready to teach Adam seriously.

"I am not sure" answered Adam as he delved his mind back into what he could remember from that moment.

He couldn't see or sense anything around his master's body and had no idea how he did so, but it seemed to have a similar capability to Chase.

"This is your first Cultivation Lesson and I will be teaching you some basics and fundamentals that you seem to be lacking. Despite you being quite talented, it is obvious you haven't had somebody teach you cultivation and you have relied on a cultivation method and your talent alone to increase your strength" stated his master.

"Yes you are correct master and I would appreciate your lesson and advise" replied Adam respectfully who knew that his master's observations were all correct.

"There are two basic ways that one can defend their body using energy. One is accessible to Internal Cultivators and one is accessible to External Cultivators and as you are both I will attempt to teach you both. However, you need to figure out the External Cultivation way for yourself as I myself cannot use it and am an Internal Cultivator" said the old man.

"The way I will teach you first is the most basic way that an Internal Cultivator would defend their body using Internal Energy. An Internal Cultivator cannot harden their body itself, like an External Cultivator would be able to do, and can only enhance the power of their body to replicate physical power that was similar to an External Cultivator of the same rank.

But for one to actually harden their body itself, it requires one to be an External Cultivator and use their External Energy to harden and reinforce their cells, which will give them a hardened exterior. However, there is a limit for the hardening that External Cultivators can display as there is only so much energy that their human cells can hold to harden themselves, but there are some cultivators that have cells that have a higher energy capacity and can harden their body to become harder than some metals" explained his master.

[So it must be that Chase has a special body constitution that allows him to harden his body to a level that is abnormal even for an External Cultivator] realised Adam.

"For an Internal Cultivator, the most basic form of defence is known as Energy Sleeve. An Energy Sleeve is a thin layer of Internal Energy that the Internal Cultivator spreads around their body and forms a layer of armour around their body formed of Internal Energy. I coated my hands in Internal Energy in order to catch your energy blades with my bare hands and even if an Internal Cultivator can enhance their physical strength, they also need to increase their body's durability otherwise it won't be able to sustain the power and impact that it is capable of producing.

There is not much more to it than the simple explanation and it requires the individual to learn and adapt the basic concept to themselves, their fighting style and their skills. But for you can use one or the other and can even use both to have incredible defensive power, and you have the advantages of both cultivation types that cover the other cultivation type's weaknesses" continued his master.

Adam with that was ready to begin attempting to wield his energy storages in a way that he didn't rely on the system's automatic activation of his skills, but before he did so, his master had some final advise.

"You should be able to feel and differentiate between your Internal and External Energy and the last piece of advice I have for you is not to go against the current and allow it to flow instead of attempting to forcefully control it. I want you to experience and teach yourself and don't want to give you all the clues otherwise you will be less skilled in its use as you didn't learn it for yourself" advised his master as he returned to the corner of the dojo where he always lay.

"Thanks for those so-called snacks, I will return to my slumber. Wake me up when you finally succeed in one of the fundamental defensive techniques. But I would recommend you to learn both the Energy Sleeve and the Body Hardening Techniques before moving on to learning something else in order to have a strong foundation" stated the old man as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Adam took his master's advise gratefully as he crossed his legs where he sat.

Before he even began attempting to use either of the fundamental defensive techniques, he needed to differentiate fully between his Internal Energy and External Energy.

He needed to attempt to wield them comfortably and be able to spread his energy all around his body and to any single point that he chose before he attempted to use the techniques.

Trying to control his energy was like trying to hold air with a bag with holes and wasn't working for him no matter how much he tried. Without the system initiating the movement of his energy and him being able to control how much energy was used through his skill, Adam couldn't control his energy much by himself.

Remembering his master's advise, instead of attempting to control his energy forcefully, he pushed and pulled his energy around his body making sure to follow the current of his energy and found it easier to wield and manipulate.

Wielding his energy was like an invisible force, that he felt he had control over through his mind, and was like an additional limb within his body that he had to learn to control and use in specific ways and on specific areas of his body.

However, that invisible force had a life of its own sometimes and was hard to gain control over and required great mental power and control in order to wield it properly.

Adam was still in the process of learning how to wield his energy and with his unique constitution and circumstance, he didn't have any fundamentals before he began using skills and fighting.

He had no idea how his Unique Collector Skill worked in the slightest and all he knew was that he lost energy and used energy to be able to sustain his summons, and he only had a brief idea of how the Dual Slash Skill worked, so wasn't as skilled in wielding energy as one would expect of someone of his ability.

Although the system increased his strength massively and allowed him to use it without knowing how to, it also made him reliant on the system to use skills and he was yet to learn how to do so himself.

Adam had nobody to compare to when it came to learning skills and talent in wielding energy, but he felt that for the amount of time that he had integrated with the system, his progress and ability to wield energy was quite low.

He knew that there was more potential for his cultivation speed and the speed at which his strength was increasing at, and he was slowly learning more and more about the system and cultivation, allowing him to slowly tap into that hidden potential that he had.