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" Moving on to the topic of cultivation, most of you already know that there are rumored to be 9 cultivation realms, however most books on the topic only refer to four of them, Body Tempering, Qi Condensation, Foundation Establishment and Core Formation. The strongest individual in Verdant City, our City Lord himself is at stage 5 Core Formation realm. Now, I know about two more higher realms, the Ancestor Realms and the Nascent Spirit realm. The reason why we don't have much information about these realms are because there scarcely any cultivator, at such high realms of cultivation. Raymond Silvester was only one in the family to break into the Ancestor realm over last century, and only because of that was he able to travel outside the Pontine Region". Ben could feel many eyes on him when his father was mentioned, but thankfully, Uncle Richard didn't pause for long. "Ancestor Realm cultivators can be found in the most powerful forces of the Pontine Region like the Ardent Sect or Martial World Sect. It is said that the Royal family of our Himmel Empire has an Ancestor level being. Now, more about each realm. Each realm is divided into nine stages. Body Tempering realm is the first realm of cultivation, which you will enter after your spirit has been awakened. As the name suggests, in this realms you will draw the world essence into your body to nourish and strengthen your physical body. The nine stages correspond to skin tempering, muscle strengthening, bone hardening, vessel cleansing, marrow washing, blood thickening, organ nourishment, meridian broadening and dantian opening. Your martial spirits reside in your dantians, but unless you open your dantians, u won't be able see them. As for summoning them outside your body, you would have to be in Qi Condensation realm to do it. Same goes for martial skills, unless you have Qi". Disgruntled murmurs could be heard amongst the children gathered. Even Ben was annoyed, he would have to wait longer to train in skills. Uncle Richard just smiled as he said, "Now comes the question, what is Qi? Well, Qi is the stored essence in your body, which is utilised to perform skills or summon out your spirit. The different stages of Qi Condensation are based on quantity of Qi. Remember that both quantity and quality of Qi are important. This is where the importance of cultivation techniques come into play. There are numerous techniques can be found in this world made by our ancestors for the purpose of cultivation. Each cultivation technique provides an individual with a specific pattern of circulating the world essence in his body, initially for nourishing your body in Body Tempering and later for storing the essence as Qi in the body. As for everything , there are different tiers for cultivation techniques as well, Mortal, Earth, Heavenly, Profound are some of them. Higher the tier, the higher will be amount of essence that could be circulated, and in turn higher the amount that could be stored as Qi. So, in a nutshell, better the cultivation technique, faster will be your cultivation, although the potential and spirit of the individual also are important".

" The highest tier cultivation technique in the family is high grade, earth tier technique called Vibrant Swallow Art. Those of you who will awaken a high tier spirit will be allowed cultivate it while others will be given other cultivation techniques. Each clan or family protects their cultivation techniques jealously, so trying to steal one would be foolish, keep that in mind."

"Now a little bit about martial spirits. There are different types of spirits, as you all know, beast spirits, plant spirits and weapon spirits. Now each have their own pros and cons like plant spirits weaker in offense, but great at defense and control, while weapon spirits can be good in either attack or defense depending on the spirit while beasts are more balanced, usually good at both, although how much good, will depend on the spirit. Now, weapon spirits can be summoned as fused with some weapons to be wielded, such weapons are called spirit weapons. Spirit weapons can also wielded by other cultivators, by infusing them with Qi, but won't be as strong as those infused with a weapon spirits. Weapon or plant spirits on the other hand can give the cultivator some unique skills which transform a body part, like a bear spirit can give the cultivator the skill bear claw where one of his hands will be transformed into a bear claw. These skills are acquired as you advance in cultivation realms. Remember, the spirits you awaken are like young beasts themselves, they grow and mature as you advance in your cultivation, providing you with various skills and powers", Uncle Richard paused to let all the information sink in.

" This is a lot of information and I'm sure you all will want some time to grasp all of it, so we will be winding up shortly. Let me introduce Instructors Chen and Ian, with whom you will be spending your mornings for the next two months", he indicated the two instructors behind him. One of them was lean, tall and bald, while the other was bulky, short and sported a thick beard. The former was Instructor Chen while the later was Instructor Ian. "They will be teaching you all some meditation as well as physical exercises to help you get to your peak mental and physical condition. Your physical and mental well being has a huge bearing on your ability to awaken your martial spirit, hence all of you will spend three hours in the morning, five days a week with them, training your mind and body. There will be no exceptions and no excuses will be tolerated. If you all don't have any questions, then you can return", Uncle Richard finished. Ben felt that the last few words were specifically aimed at him. He snorted quietly, he had been training almost daily for 3 years, he was in better physical condition than most of the kid present, and as for the meditation part, he admitted that he was curious. He decided to attend for a few days, if he thought it was useless, he would think of someway to skip the rest. "Don't even think of not attending Ben, I'll be watching you", Ben jumped in shocked as he realized that Uncle Richard was standing near him, looking at him with narrowed eyes. " Don't worry Uncle Richard, I'll be here", he had no other way out. "You better be", Richard said before striding away. Ben sighed, it seemed as though his morning shedule was fixed for the next two months. He slowly returned to his courtyard to resume his sword training.