Talent can be Grown

The first thing about the mortal city was the stench. While in his family's estate the smells were always somewhat pleasant but in the city he was greeted by the fowl smell of fish and piss.

The city of Polis bordered the ocean and as such the various mortals there worked with the sea. It was already morning when Alastar arrived at the city and the fishermen were going out and saying goodbye to their wives.

Alastar still had a headache which wasn't helped by the stenches and smells of the city. As he walked the streets of the city he couldn't help but notice how busy it was despite it being the early morning.

A gentle hand of early morning mist touched the city. An occasional shout of passion would drift out from a building but still an unearthly sense of quiet had invaded the loud city. Alastar decided to work as a fisherman but he couldn't figure out how.

All of the fishermen that were in the city were currently fishing so he couldn't ask them.

Alastar stood in the center of the cities road gawking and searching for a job. Soon it was morning and Alastar was still out of a job. He sat on the dock overlooking the polluted water of the harbor. Small waves would occasionally hit the little pier. Small waves, waves, nature, water, he felt almost intoxicated with an unknown psychedelic drug.

The headache went away but it was replaced by something else. Alastars vision unfocused for a second, then refocused. His head was full of pictures, thoughts, ideas, everything. He could almost see his own thoughts appear around him.

He felt his thoughts like waves against the pier. His muscles squirmed around in his body lapping against bone. In his thoughts appeared a sea, a sea with no end and only a single island with a single tree on it. He could see the island, he could see the ocean, he could feel his own thoughts.

On the island was his martial soul, no longer crying instead it had changed, warped. Tattooed on his martial spirits body were waves. Small waves like the waves in the harbor. From of the heavens above the sea came a book. A normal, leather-bound book, it hit the ground of the island and sat there.

Alastar's martial soul approached the book and picked it up. He opened up the first page and what greeted him was a title.

[{The Dao Creation Physique}]

The title in itself was confusing, a physique in the empire was an inherent ability that a person's physical, mental or spiritual body had. A Fire Body physique for instance would make the person inherently absorb fire of their level. Physiques were the most magical and the rarest thing a martial practitioner could have.

There were ten divine bodies, four divine souls, and twenty divine minds. These were the strongest known physiques of each kind and they came with extraordinary power and abilities. But Alastar did not know the Dao Creation Physique, meaning it was utterly unique.

Alastar's martial soul turned the page and there in an almost illegible script was a paragraph.

"The Dao Creation Physique is actually a combined physique of a soul, mental, and body physique."

This in itself was groundbreaking knowledge, most physiques were singularly based on one part of a martial practitioner but this was a combined physique.

"The Dao Creation's Physiques abilities are simple, every observation on the natural world evolves into a technique in the controllers mind. This technique is then imprinted on the martial soul of the individual and learnt by the body of that individual meaning that as long as the body, soul or mind of the individual exists they can use the techniques they learned."

Alastar turned the page of the book and awaited with bated breath. Imprinted on the third page was a diagram of the sea. It was a technique, a magical technique. In fancy characters at the top of the page was

[{Ocean Wave Body Manual}]

It was a method of training the body through imagining it as an ocean. The muscles as waves, the bones as rocks, and the mind as an island. It was an underwater training method requiring the user to be submerged and hit with waves for a significant period of time.

It would result in the muscle of the practitioners of it to be fluid, the muscles to be strong and the blood to be as vigorous as an ocean as well as making them equivalent to Tempered Body Stage 12.

The best part of all is that it did not require talent, all it required was hard work and a whole bunch of pain. Alastars heart was thumping out his chest, he could finally cultivate again. These couple of days he couldn't cultivate were a pain he almost couldn't bear, but with this he could feel power again, feel something again.

He turned the page of the book and was only greeted by a sentence stating that he could only make one technique a week.

Alastar opened his eyes, it was dusk and the fishermen were returning to the town. The sounds of sailors in taverns and the screams of prostitutes in ecstasy were in the air. Alastar looked at the merriment of the mortals in the town. It truly was great being a mortal, no worries, no sect, no disciples or ancient masters.

"Hey is that Alastar, that loser still dares show his face after being pummeled by Blacksword?" Speaking of disciples. Turns out some of the sects disciples decided to taste the pleasures of the mortal world and harass Alastar.

They were two burly men with intimidating auras and more intimidating knives at their backs. Alastar wouldn't have even bothered back at the sect they were nothing but trivial outer sect diciples but now that Alastar was a mortal the answer wouldn't be the same.

"Blacksword is a real genius now isn't he George?" said one of them.

"I heard he has a mysterious sword that can change shape and control the winds but you wouldn't know that Bushybrow because you never saw it." They both laughed uproariously at that, they were obviously drunk and not the cool and suave kind of drunk.

"You know George I think Bushybrows here probably has some coin on him from his good old pops."

"Yeah I think he does and he better hand it over."

Alastar was still on the pier but the two burly men were approaching him. Alastar ran towards one of them and tried to dodge past one of them. He stuck his leg out and kicked Alastar right in the stomach with the full force of his cultivation base. Alastar spun in the air for a second while he was sent flying towards the end of the pier

Alastar hit the edge of the pier and slid until he hit the cusp between it in the water. The two disciples kept on approaching Alastar had little time before they caught him and did unspeakable things to his poor virgin body(*authors note* that's a joke).

Alastar looked at the water and then back at them. The water was starting to look more attractive then a beating. Alastar gave the two one last look and jumped into the water.