Chapter 26 - A Child's Interpretation to the First Law of EON

Miracles can be the result of many things. Sometimes we ourselves can be the source of miracles when we dare to do things that others consider impossible. As we grow up and become adults, we get used to often being told that something cannot be done, that we should not try, that we should not waste time, that things have always been done a certain way, and that we should conform to the Status Quo.

With adulthood, many of us forget that moment in childhood when we sincerely believed that we could achieve anything. So many people dream of being astronauts, policemen, singers, artists, and countless other goals and fantasies. But how many people can hold on to those dreams into adulthood, and really strive to make them come true? We often limit ourselves with rules and laws. Don't get me wrong, rules in themselves are not bad, in fact, they are necessary to be able to live in the world. But those who dare to look at the why of rules, and go beyond them, are the ones who end up changing the world. Because they don't conform to the laws, they create and improve them, leaving their mark on the world. Without such people, we could not fly, sail, build skyscrapers or dominate the world around us.

And these changes are often born out of a dream, a fantasy or even an inspiration. As Jules Verne said, "Only a dreamer can make a dream come true".

Nerun, after all, was still a child. He did not fully understand the extent of the rules imposed on the world.

The First Law of EON states: "Balance is the beginning of the world and the sustainer of the world. The Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth can neither be created nor destroyed, but only transformed into either Qi or Mana. Qi cannot be Mana, Mana cannot be Qi. If your Will asserts itself as Qi, how will you yield to the Will of Mana? If you yield to the Will of Mana, how will you be able to impose your Will with Qi?".

There are several laws of EON, of which the ones known on the continent are 5. The 5 laws have long been considered to be the pillars of the known world, as well as the basis that the Warriors and Adepts use to become the great powers that they are. Likewise, the Laws of EON are so integrated into the various cultures and societies of the world, that in the 6 Major Territories, they direct how the 6 Major Territories are governed.

For hundreds of generations, the First Law of EON has been interpreted in the same way. Qi and Mana are two sides of the same coin. And just like the two sides of a coin, the two cannot be in contact with each other. If you choose Qi as your path, you will be renouncing the way of Mana. If you choose Mana, you will not be able to increase your Qi. To pursue both paths is, therefore, greed and apostasy, because it would mean that you wish to be above the Law of EON. And EON is the Lord of the World, the creator and holder of the Balance of the World. That is the orthodox posture of the Temple.

But laws are made not only to be followed. They are meant to be interpreted and interpreted they have been throughout the world, justifying the different cultural differences on the Continent. Nerun had heard the First Law of EON. The 5 Laws are read frequently in every temple around the world. All the citizens of the world have heard and memorised them, as well as their interpretations in the different Territories.

Nerun's thinking was quite simple. After all, he was but a small child. And his dream was also quite simple. The dream of an orphan boy, who does not know his family, and who longs for a better future for those who have become his father and brothers. The dream of being strong enough not to lose any of the little he has. For the weak have no choice but to submit to the will of the strong. And in Nerun's childish mind, both Qi and Mana are equally strong and part of the same power. Both are the Natural Energy of heaven and earth, so both are the same, so why do they have to be separated? If they are both sides of the same coin, why should I use only one side of the coin? After all, a coin is not used for only one side, but the whole coin.

For Nerun, the first Law of EON was not a separation of Qi and Mana. Rather, it was a question. How can you use Qi and Mana at the same time when the two appear to be contradictory? How can you impose your will on the world and at the same time accept the will of the world? Nerun did not know the answer to this question. But the idea was clearly formed in his head since he started training in both ways. Nerun wanted to be a Magickal Warrior, using both Qi and Mana, able to dominate the world and not lose any of the little he had. A childish and impossible dream, others would say.

Perhaps it is not that no one in the world had ever thought of taking the First Law of EON as a literal question. Rather, it was already so ingrained in the thinking of people who are either Expert in the Way of Qi or Mana, that it was already too difficult for them to think of the First Law as anything other than the clear separation of the two Ways, parallel and impossible to meet. After all, the world is full of dichotomies, Poor and Rich, Evil and Good, Cold and Hot, Heaven and Earth, etc. They are part of a whole, but always separated. Not to mention the few examples of people who tried to train in both Qi and Mana, and did not succeed at all.

Now, while Nerun was practising the First Form of the Free Flowing Fist, Nerun who was increasing his Qi, longed not to lose the Mana he had accumulated. What Nerun did not know was that Level 5, of both Qi and Mana is considered a threshold. Once you have reached that Level, neither Qi nor Mana would drop below that level. That is why most great and advanced level Warriors have a small Mana Level 5, and vice-versa, great Adepts have a Qi Level of 5, the level that most normal people reach on the continent. Then when training either pathway, one of them will grow and the other will remain stagnant for good. At least until you reach level 95. After that, well that's for another time...

The volatilisation of the Mana in the Mental palace that Nerun was feeling, therefore, would not lower the level of Mana in it, because Nerun had already reached level 5. It would simply prevent more Mana from accumulating in the palace. Perhaps if Nerun had known this which is considered to be common knowledge among all Warriors and Adepts, he would have continued to train in Qi or Mana without worrying. But in his ignorance, he wanted to go further. If the First Form could mobilise the Qi accumulated within his body, could it not also mobilise the Mana accumulated in his mind? This was a silly idea, how can you meditate to accumulate Mana, if you are in motion accumulating Qi? Nerun did not think, after all, he did not intend to meditate. He simply wanted with his mind blank to continue practising the movements and mobilise the two energies within him.

As expected, he was unsuccessful. The Mana was still cloistered in his mental palace, and the volatilisation of it still existed, and Nerun's attempt to move the two energies, made his Qi start to get out of control and his movements again became clumsy and without the naturalness they had before. But Nerun kept practising. Nerun never considered himself a particular genius. Although his auxiliary meridians were in a semi-open state, he saw it more as a burden, because he constantly had to limit his growth and power to avoid losing control and dying from the accumulation of energy within his body. Then all his dexterity and skill had come from the hard training he did every day. Unseen by the other children, he would escape to the forest, not only to play with Whitey, but to train with him, running in the forest, training his little body, all in order to become stronger, faster. Nerun trained two and three times more than all his other brothers in the orphanage and that's how he got that partial control of a meridian in each limb that he used when he fought Silvester.

Nerun opened his eyes and watched the fight between the Snake and the Gorilla in the distance. Magical Beasts do not use Qi or Mana to fight. Their powers are innate, they come from their prodigious bodies that have absorbed the Natural Energy of Heaven and Earth and it is part of their natural talent to use this Energy for themselves. Every movement of the two Beast Lords mobilised the Natural Energy of the Environment and caused the immense destruction that could be seen in the distance. The mountain was almost completely razed to the ground, and the forest up to a 2 km radius around the fight was ablaze with flames and all the Beasts that had not fled in time were long dead. Pure destruction, pure aesthetics of the violence of the natural world. The Beasts do not think of using Qi or Mana, of imposing their will on the world, or of conforming to the will of the world. They only use their talents to use that energy in its rawest form. That is the gift EON gave them.

Nerun, seeing them, then stopped wanting to accumulate Qi and Mana at the same time. He simply let his body follow in the footsteps of the First Form without thinking and without using the Qi or Mana within. Nerun did not intend to impose his will on the world, nor to influence the will of the world. The movements that began to flow back and forth like a stream of water began to connect with the Natural Energy in a subtle and imperceptible way. And in that moment there was a single instant. An instant that lasted less than the blink of an eye, but that Nerun knew was real, quite real. In that instant Nerun felt his Qi and Mana begin to move at the same time, in a tenuous balance, not mixing, but not colliding with each other, as if a diagram of Ying and Yang had formed within Nerun's body.

However, this feeling was remarkably short-lived, and Nerun could not make up his mind about it. The main reason was three situations. One, that the balance between Nerun's Qi and Mana was not proper, as Nerun's Qi was much more vigorous than his Mana, level 8 VS level 5. Two, the Free Flowing Fist, while being a martial art that seems contradictory and designed to mobilise Qi and possibly Mana, was in fact a true Qi Technique. Actually, the secret to the Free Flowing Fist was to move Qi, as it was Mana, trying to mould to the Will of the World and influence it. This was the true innovation of the Free Flowing Fist, that only the First Ancestor could use. No generation after him managed to understand this truth, and even if they did, achieving this level of use of Qi as Mana was quite difficult since it had a lot to do with the Will of the Warrior, and their natural instinct to impose their own Will in the World would become a natural barrier to overcome. Three, the battle between the Beast Lords of the Rando Woods had reached its zenith and the impact they caused brought Nerun out of his moment of enlightenment.

There was a great tremor throughout the Forest and it spread to the periphery of the Forest. A great roar was heard coming from the Sabretooth Gorilla. He had several wounds and burns on his body. His eyes were red, full of anger and rancour. The Great Cloud Serpent was continuing its guerrilla tactics and had gained an advantage over its adversary. It was only a matter of moments before it would be victorious.

The Gorilla became extremely angry and let out a cry that could be heard for miles around: "Arbak, how dare you covet the Fruit of the Mountain God. It was I who found it and yet you have the audacity to attack me for it. Very well. Since I can't get the fruit, you can forget about getting it for yourself".

The Great Cloud Serpent halted her attack and tried to negotiate with the Sabretooth Gorilla: "Calm down, Kerchak. We can both use the fruit. Don't do something we'll both regret. But Kerchak the Gorilla was clearly frustrated that his plan to consume the Mountain God's fruit alone had been thwarted by the hated Snake. He had no idea how she had found out that he had the fruit, and worse, although they were both Beast Lords, Arbak was slightly more powerful than him. This made him feel even worse, and the truth was that he hated Arbak with all his heart right now. If it hadn't been for the snake, he might have consumed the fruit, increased his power and become another Beast-Overlord.

The Fruit of the Mountain God was a really rare Spiritual Treasure, born in the core of a Mountain, and formed after ten thousand years. It was a Rank 9 Spiritual Treasure and it could allow Warriors and Adepts to increase their level by one rank from level 90 to 95. This made this treasure to be priceless, and it had been countless years since the last time it appeared in the world. If the Major Territories knew one had appeared in the Small Karol Mountains, a small war between superpowers could very well have happened in the Frontier close to the Rando Woods.

Kerchak did not wish Arbak to obtain the fruit. Since Arbak had ruined his good business, he decided to take revenge in the most brutal way. He gathered all his power in his right fist. The full power of a level 9 Great Magical Beast. A sun seemed to have formed on top of the mountain, which made all the clouds surrounding the Karol Mountain Formation disappear.

"NOOOO, STOP!" shouted Arbak as she hurtled towards Kerchak at full speed, surrounded by flashing lightning bolts that made him look like a living lightning bolt.

But Kerchak ignored Arbak's shout and launched an attack towards the mountain:

[Кулак железной обезьяны] - /Kulak zheleznoy obez'yany/*.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The whole mountain suffered a hecatomb and exploded like a volcano. It looked like the end of the known world had appeared out of nowhere. Nerun was completely dumbfounded when he saw the scene and without wasting any time, he climbed down from the tree and got on Whitey while yelling: "RUN".

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* Кулак железной обезьяны: Fist of the Iron Monkey