Chapter 19: chapter 19 Physiques

“Hmmm, so nine took root. No, there’s a tenth.” Marina muttered with a frown from on top of Raul’s back.

She was doing a physical to check the changes in Raul. Different from before however, qi would constantly leave her hands and permeate Raul’s body. It gave her much more information than just physical means.

“? Ten what?” Raul asked nervously. Though Tai and Marina told him he’d have no trouble with his foundation, he still couldn’t help worrying.

“Physiques.” Marina made a pondering face as she answered.

“Physiques! Wait, I have ten physiques!?” Raul roared in surprise, almost throwing Marina off his back in his excitement.

“Well at least you know what a physique is, I was scared you’d be clueless about it.” Marina replied with a cold gaze after whacking him.

Raul’s face turned red in embarrassment. “Hey, I’m not an idiot you know!” He shouted in anger.

Even regular commoners knew about physiques. They showed up in most cultivation legends, like William Ocean beating back an entire eastern armada with his Abyssal Ocean Physique, or when an unknown hero only known as Knight saved the continent from a great disaster by destroying a gate to hell with his Heavenly Eight Mountains Physique, and there wasn’t a single child on the planet who didn’t know about Arthur and how he sacrificed himself to save the entire world from a powerful void eldritch with his True King Physique.    

“Hopefully not, but at the very least, you are uneducated.” Marina’s blunt words caused him to flinch. “Or can you tell me anything about physiques that a street performer couldn’t tell me?” She narrowed her eyes in challenge.

“Guh…” Raul averted his eyes. He knew of physiques and that they gave power, but nothing more.

“Thought so. To answer your question, no, you don’t have ten physiques. You have the seeds of ten physiques. I developed them during your smelting period. Well, nine of them anyway, the tenth one is an unknown.”

“Hold up, physiques can be made?” Raul asked in shock. All the stories made it sound like those born with physiques were simply chosen heroes.

“Some of them. Physiques can loosely be broken down into two categories, innate and created. You can guess the distinction by name.”

Raul wondered for a moment which of the legendary physiques he’d heard of could be created, before remembering his own situation. “Ok, so… When you said that ten were seeded, you mean they’re in the process of being created?” He reasoned.

“Correct. Most Physiques can’t be made through just eating and training, those are just seeds. Whether they’ll actually manifest or wither is unknown.”

“Unknown? What do you mean unknown? Isn’t there some kind of training program or requirements I need to fulfill?”

“Partly. I’ll be grooming you in the direction of growing those physiques, but it’s not an exact science. All cultivators are unique existences, so it’s impossible to predict how your body will deal with them. Some might manifest, some might decay, some might evolve, and some may even fuse. Frankly speaking, it’s a numbers game, that’s why I planted so many. I actually planted forty-six physiques in you while hoping some would stick, nine did. You should expect only two or three to manifest in some form though.” She patiently explained.

“Only two or three.” His face scrunched up in disappointment. He really thought he’d become a superman for a moment there, but of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

“Two to three is plenty. Although none of the nine are particularly powerful, they’re all useful. Plus, you did get a physique.” She added the last part almost reluctantly.

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“Really!?” Raul’s excitement shot back up.

“It’s called the Natal Physique. Your body has turned to a state similar to at birth. Impurities won’t build up as easily for you and they clear out faster. Your qi will also flow through your body easier, slightly. It has a chance of appearing when someone removes a lot of impurities during their smelting trail. It’s as basic as they come, but it’s technically a physique still.” Marina fought hard to keep the disdainful edge out of her explanation.

Raul didn’t pick up on it though, he was too busy riding the high. He’d finally become a cultivator, and he even had a physique! He felt right now that all the pain and suffering he endured was worth it. He looked back at Marina with an excited smile and a gentle gaze.

She flinched at the sincere gratitude apparent in his eyes and looked away. “Don’t get too excited. Physiques are only an aide, if you want to become truly strong, you’ll have to put in the work still.” She got off his back and threw his shirt at him. “Come, it’s time you learned what being a cultivator is truly about.”

She led him to the backyard. He tilted his head when he saw her stand before one the ten-year posts. He thought they’d be going to the thirty-year one, as even he could break the ten-year ones with a bit of effort.

She gentle placed her palm on the wood and looked at him. “What you’ve done so far is simply using your body. That is the way of mortals. Cultivators have stronger bodies than mortals, but they’re mostly just vessels. Our true strength comes from qi.” The wooden post exploded outwards and splinters rained across the yard, causing Raul’s jaw to drop. “We have a dantian that can store a large amount of qi, as well as meridians that allow us to use it in many ways. Forget everything you learned when you were a mortal. From now on, your strength and ability depend on how well you can use your qi.”

Raul picked his jaw up and nodded with barely controlled excitement. His hands were already itching to try.

“Good. Now the first step is to get your qi out of your body. Try and damage this post with just qi.” She pointed at another ten-year post.

Raul eagerly ran up and put his hand on it. He drew qi from his dantian and sent it to his arm. His hand immediately felt full of strength and power. He was certain he could take a chunk off the post by simply squeezing, but that wasn’t the exercise.

He willed his qi to go into the post, but it wouldn’t budge past his fingertips. He pushed even harder, yet the qi refused to leave his body.

‘Hmm, this might be harder than I thought.’ He let the qi return to his dantian while giving it some thought. Next, he tried making his qi travel quickly from his dantian to his arm, hoping momentum would do the trick, but it only made his hand numb. He tried it again, but this time he circulated it through his body to pick up speed before sending it to his hand. The numbness turned to pain.

An hour passed as he tried sending qi in waves, vibrating it, pulsing it, spinning it, dispersing it, condensing it, making it sharp, and even imploding it, but all he ended up with was a red and irritated arm.

‘I’m going to smash this thing!’ He swore vengefully while panting and staring daggers at the post. He didn’t expect such difficulty with the first step. He switched arms and prepared to try again when Marina spoke.

“There’s no need to do it the way I did. You can punch it, kick it, whatever feels the most natural to release your qi in.” She’d brought out a chair, some tea, snacks, and a book while he was training. Now that his smelting period was over, there was a lot less she needed to prepare.

Raul’s face cramped and he almost lost control of his qi when he heard this. He mechanically turned towards her and asked, “Why didn’t you tell me that in the beginning?” with a twitching face.

 “You never asked.” She said simply before sipping her tea. She was actually happy Raul didn’t immediately ask for help, it showed he was still thinking for himself.

In truth, releasing qi was more complicated than it looked, she had no expectations of Raul succeeding quickly. The point of the exercise was to test his qi aptitude while also giving him a chance to exercise his imagination and get accustomed to moving his qi around while it was still safe.

Right after reaching the Qi Refining Realm was the best time to play with qi, as once he learned a Qi Cultivation Method his qi would become much more powerful and intense. At that time, the repercussions for mistakes wouldn’t end with just numbness or light pain.

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