Ch.7 Mistake brings knowledge of aether.

I could now observe all 3 dan tians simultaneously and the vessels responsible for the refinement and purification cycle of life. It was a very pleasing experience to be aware of this path. It pretty much stood at the core of cultivation as a whole. It was the main way to increase the strength of the soul and how we could increase the quality of the jing, which in turn increased the quality of the qi. I now had a way to increase my strength safely without putting a burden on my body. The mere awareness increased the flow of energy through the path and focusing on it during meditation would further increase the effect. Now of course the actual growth was very little regardless but an increase was an increase, nonetheless. As for the future path… I would have to wait until I reached the age of eighteen or until I was sure my energy organs were fully developed and matured along with my physical body in order to proceed.

After the development ended my body was that of an adult, I could start attempting to fuse my qi and jing by balancing them which would give raise to the golden core. This core was what allowed continuous fusion between excess jing and qi produced by the body, as well as natural energy of the world, into true qi. This true qi would have to be gathered and then, once there was enough, one would have to bring his shen down and fuse it, or immerse it, with the true qi, which would lead to the formation of the golden embryo. The golden embryo would have as root the golden core. Once the golden embryo grew and absorbed enough true qi it would be able to carry the soul outside of the body as an energy body.

After the energy body was developed there were various paths forward. Some focused on integration with the physical body, some on strengthening the energy body, some simply explored and used the resulting understanding to further increase the complexity of the energy body. It was kind of an open intersection with multiple paths that led to the same ending. Of course, one could also do all of the above at the same time and in fact mostly this is what was done, but there was a different amount of focus used on each of these.

I kept expanding my awareness to the rest of the vessels while keeping in my mid the vessels going along the spine and front of the body. I was now focusing on the belt vessel since it was close to the lower dan tian and I already had some inklings on it. With a slow and steady breath I kept going for about ten minutes then stopped. The reason? My parents could grow suspicious if I were to just stand there and nothing for longer. After all I was a toddler, what could I do standing still with my eyes closed. Besides it was best that I did not overexert my head. My soul was developed beyond the age of my body and I feared a novel like result from this… The like of head explosion. Not really what one would want.

The rest of the day passed fast. Nothing worthy of note happened as my mom kept quiet the entire afternoon and father went out again. I had two more sessions during that time. The second day after father left the Eld-Mother showed up again. Damn old hag can’t give me a day rest after pressuring me like that! Anyway, she came to pick me up to talk. What could I do? I said goodbye to mother and followed after the Eld-Mother. We don’t go into the village but into the forest. Our gradual sinking into its depths worried me, after all this sort of place seemed good in order to kill or dispose of someone…

“Alright little rascal, drop the act! What are you?” The Eld-Mother asked. This time she emitted no pressure per see but the psychological pressure of this question, from her stand and conviction still made me fearful.

“W-What do you mean?”

“Stop pretending. What are you? You did not succumb no matter how much I exerted myself over you. What child can do that?”

I closed my eyes and breathed in concentrating inside my body all to calm down. This however unwittingly stilled and slowed the aether around me. It wasn’t something I paid any mind to back then… When I opened my eyes, the Eld-Mother eyes were big as if she was seeing something she never even dared to imagine possible. If what I did yesterday did not phase her, and my unresponsiveness to her pressure made her very suspicious of me, then the fact that somehow, I unknowingly surprised her was something that I couldn’t decide if it was right or wrong.

“What is it?” I asked confused. “You’re eyeing me strangely…”

“Cough, cough… Ahem… Nothing, it seems my suspicion was unwarranted. Here take these I did promise you some fruit yesterday.” In her hands two strange purplish fruits appeared… I did not know where she took them out from, or if they were truly safe to eat… They didn’t look like any fruit I knew and seemed to be very ripe.

“Thank you!” I said pouring all the happiness I felt from being left off the hook into the words. “How are they called?” I asked with a genuine curiosity.

“They are called Corrin. They are quite hard to pick as few grow on a tree so don’t waste them.”

“Thank you very much! … So, is this all you wanted to talk with me?” I asked getting ready to leave.

“Not so fast young boy.” The way she looked at me was still one filled with interest. “How do you control aether?”

“What?” I asked confused not recognizing the word. (I will point out that this is the first real mention of aether outside of his mind, so he didn’t know the word for it in that language. I know it’s confusing but there’s nothing I can do without leaving out a realistic line of events.) I got a deadpan face while she scrutinized my face. Luckily, I was really confused. Then aether started to bend around me and I felt it start flowing through me gently.

“This is aether. How did you control it?”

“Ah… This? I didn’t know you could do this much with it… Just… I just focused inside. Like my mind is noisy so I took a moment of respite and it just popped in my senses… I’ve been playing a little with it. It’s more fun than toys…” This is how I truly felt. Of course the reason was my adult mind that couldn’t really get hyped and happy playing with the wooden figures dad made. I appreciated the effort but to me those were nothing more than collectibles.

“It popped into your senses… Ha… If not for how undeniably weak the movement you caused earlier was I’d have thought you were some spirit possessing the kid. Anyway, I’ll teach you how to use this power if you want. But you must promise to help the village after you grow.”

“Of course I will, this is where mother and father are!”

“Silly child… I mean you have to help the whole village not just your family. No matter perhaps I’m tricked by how well you speak and you do not yet understand many things… Perhaps I should wait some more before teaching you after all… Only nine months old…”

“I want to learn! Please…” I asked as nicely as I could. The path I knew right now was not one that brought a lot of power. From the contrary most people even while reaching the peak of the path would be undistinguishable from normal people. There was no super strength no absolute power. Of course, the practitioner gained some direct influence over others or could use weak forms of various telekinetic abilities, but over all… There was no power or real undisputable strength to be obtained from this.

“Hm… Then I’ll take your word for it. I hope I’m not making a mistake trusting a kid this young.”

So she introduced me to the common understanding of aether.

“Aether is the power that fills the entire world. It has certain attributes it can gain like the four elements and variations and combinations of them. A versatile power that depended on ones natural inclination and the imagination of the user.” She said demonstrating by conjuring a small flame, a gust of wind making the dust in the air gather into a pebble and similarly water to condense into a droplet. After she finished speaking she let go of her control and the hovering flame went out, the small pebble and droplet fell, lost in the leaves and roots covering the ground.

I was fascinated. Such manifestations of power took a lot of exertion back in my world with many not even believing them possible and yet she did them effortlessly hinting at even greater strength hidden within.

“The stages of this path are pretty straightforward.” She continued her explanation. “Five stages. From sensing aether to controlling the aether in an entire region to form a domain. They are named as follows: Awakening: One started influencing and controlling aether. Condensation: With one’s consciousness growing closer to aether, the energy would enter the body and settle in either the chest or in the lower abdomen, a random phenomenon to which there was no explanation yet. This also determines what sort of abilities one will develop. Be it spells or martial arts”

“The aether gathers? By itself or forced by the user?”

“ It is supposed to be natural. If it was forced then it wouldn’t randomly gather… It looks like you only seem smart” She teased, then continued. “Then comes Core Formation: With the condensed liquid like aether one forged a solid like aether that was named a core. This core is what gives rise to the affinities one will have towards the states of aether. Manifestation: After further compression and consolidation of the aether in the core regardless of what area one’s aether gathered in they became capable of projecting aether outwards in the form of their affinities. Of course within their normal inclination.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that the aether will cling to their body for those that have a lower abdomen core and will greatly increase the range and power from the spells of those with a chest core… Domain: One becomes capable of controlling aether in quantities superior to what their body could store and form a domain. The method to reach the fifth stage is a mystery to me however.”

“Could you explain the firs stage more?”

“This is all I’m telling you for today. Let’s go back to your parents. There is no point in you knowing more now.”

“Eld-Mother, what stage are you at?” At this question, her gaze turned

“Once again I’ve been fooled by your way of speaking and thinking… Kid, I’m only telling you this once! Never! Never ask someone about their stage. It is rude. If it’s necessary or if they trust you they will reveal it by themselves.”
“O-Oh… Uderstood…” I said while I started walking back towards my house through the trees.

“These old bones of mine are no longer fit of the power I have. My potential is gone and there is no chance for me to go further, I’m at the third stage I barely managed to put together a core.”

“That is amazing! You must be really strong!” I said with excitement hoping I’d make her show me a little of what aether could do.

“Ahahaha…” Her laugh sounded like a shrill wind rustling the leaves of the trees and being mellowed out. It was a strange and unusual sound. It was bitter, containing some happiness and pride, but mostly despair and depreciation of herself. “You really know how to make an old hag like me happy don’t you? Unfortunately, no. As I said, my body can no longer bear the power that my core can produce. I’m over seventy years old after all.”

I barely managed to suppress my surprise from showing. A kid my age shouldn’t know the relationship between how one looks and their age. But I would have sworn the person before me was no older than 50. I felt like I should try to comfort her, but nothing came to mind. To have power but be unable to use it… How bad must it feel? I could not imagine.

We slowly walked through the forest back on the way we came. I carried my corri fruits with care, they were a symbol of my survival through this trial. I wondered what to do or how to keep them, as I didn’t want to just eat them.

“Can these be grown into corri trees?”

“Hm?... Yes, yes they can. They are not easy to maintain in the early stages however. These are mainly forest fruits. Not many bother trying to grow the tree finding the effort not worth the trouble. But if you really want to try, you just need the fruit’s core, some soil and to water it.”

“Should I try to use forest soil? Perhaps they are hard to maintain because they need the forest…” I did not know how to explain the entire nutrient and plant feeding knowledge from my last world nor could I explain how I knew this, so this vague as if guessing suggestion should be more like what a child would be able to do or come up with.

“That… That might be a good idea. Sure try to do that.”

Soon we returned to my house and the Eld-Mother departed. I finally breathed easily again. Despite my best regards for her, this woman scared and pressured me to no end. I was once again happy to be alive and even happier that I learned as much as I did. I now knew the direction in which aether had to be taken, and I was ready to try my hand at advancing through it. It did not matter if it was difficult, I feared anything but difficulty, after all if I managed to find the vessels and dan tians even with the blockade of aether over my senses, then a little difficulty in using aether will not be an impediment.

All this being said I could not wait to form my own aether core…

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