Staff
Seated cross-legged on the grass, Ryu entered a meditative state for the first time. So he tried to forget about the material world, his problems, and the crazy old man who kept him caged.
But, despite his effort to connect with the world's qi, the maximum he could feel was a shallow layer covering his body, and he forced this energy to enter his body to become part of him.
It wasn't long until his mind started to drift away, but still, he forced himself to continue.
However, cultivating wasn't as simple as closing your eyes and remain quiet seated cross-legged.
To truly cultivate, one has to enter a profound state of mind and connect with the world, something impossible for a procrastinator. In fact, even with the system, most people can't reach a high level precisely because they can't control their minds to get rid of mundane thoughts.
Since this was Ryu's first attempt cultivating, his result wasn't entirely bad. He might have lost concentration a few times, but this is something normal in the first attempt, and this is a task that requires practice in the end.
After about two hours of struggle, Ryu decided it was time to stop, as in the last few minutes, he was more busy scolding himself for losing focus them actually cultivating. So he opened his eyes slowly.
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In two hours of cultivating, he acquired the sum of 500 essence, which was within his expectation since he already knew his grades before entering the sect, which was brow 25.
Thus he decided to open the system and press a button to convert essence.
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That was the real problem for people with bad grades; the same currency used to gain levels is used to buy skills.
Thus, for someone like Ryu, who doesn't have a high affinity with nature qi, he was fated to fall behind, as he has to manage his essence, to gain levels or buy skills.
When Ryu was performing some math calculations about how long it would take to get enough points to level up and buy some skills, he noticed Feng Po squatting at the other side of the barrier dome, staring at him with eyes half-closed.
"Why did you stoped kid?" Feng Po asked.
"It is hard to keep focused for so long. Did you came to release me?" Ryu answered.
"I was expecting for you to be bad at meditating, but not to this extent. We will have to change your training program. Otherwise, you will get stuck at a low level." Feng Po said.
"It was my first time meditating. Two hours isn't bad at all." Ryu said.
"Two hours wasted. With that qi affinity you have, you at least have to be good at meditating. Just by entering a profound state of mind, you can overcome your natural lack of talent, and increase your cultivating base to a point where you can keep up with the others." Fend Po said.
"I can really improve the quantity of essence I get?" Ryu asked.
"Of course you can. By turning off your mind and connecting with the qi, your cultivation will pass through a huge change in quality. But, it will never reach the point of a genius, so you will have to choose the skills you buy very carefully." Feng Po said.
"And how do I do this?" Ryu asked.
"First, you will finish your training with the staff." Feng Po said.
However, picking the staff to train was no longer a matter of wanting it or not. For Ryu, it was a question of pride, as he did not want to give Feng Po the satisfaction to force him to do something. Thus a battle between two stubborn people started.
As Ryu refused to pick the staff, Feng Po started to cook a fish in a fire he lit close to Ryu's dome. When the fish was ready and smelly, Ryu felt hungry and asked for a part. Of course, Feng Po didn't give anything to Ryu, and this way, the whole day continued.
At night, Feng Po went to his cave to sleep, leaving Ryu alone outside.
Sometime after Feng Po went to sleep, Ryu decided to play smart and dig an exit out of the dome, but before he could pass the line of inscriptions, he found that the barrier extended under the ground, shattering his plans.
Then Ryu gave up and tried to sleep outside, with the stars as his blanket, but in the middle of the night, a snowflake fell into his face, followed by another one, and soon the ground was white and cold.
The winter arrived with snow, and Ryu, outside, without shelter, couldn't sleep. As a cultivator, his body can hold against these cold easily, but it doesn't mean he found it pleasant.
After a long night stuck in the snow, the first sunray raised on the horizon, and Ryu got the staff out of his ring and started to train. He knew when a battle is lost, so he decided to give up.
"Finally decided to stop slacking off, kid?" Feng Po said, getting out of the cave.
Ryu paused with the staff to breathe and calm himself. Feng Po's voice triggered Ryu into a rage, but he had to calm down because offend a cultivator of Feng Po caliber can be lethal, so he had to endure.
"Here, let me introduce you to the staff." Feng Po said, taking a staff of his own.
"I chose the staff for you because of that poor use you had with the spear. You only used the spear with the blade, but, this is not right, the spear has two sides. To use it properly, you have to use both of them. There are two types of attacks with the spear, one using the blade as you did, and the other is using it as a staff." Fen Po said.
And for the next hour, Feng Po taught Ryu how to hold and use the staff correctly until, at some moment, a skill awakened.
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Then, Ryu felt the staff become much more comfortable in his hands, and series of moves appeared in his mind, which he started to use.
"What happened? Did you buy a staff mastery skill? No, this should not be the case. You must not have enough points to buy it at an advanced level. Tell me, Ryu, what happened?" Feng Po asked.
"The skill showed by itself. It happens sometimes." Ryu said, not giving much importance to it.
"It happens, you said? Let's go eat something." Feng Po said, waving his hand and dismantling the inscriptions.
So the dome shattered into many pieces, and Ryu was confused with Feng Po's aptitude, as he wasn't expecting to be released so casually.
"Wait, did you just called me Ryu?" Ryu asked.
"No, I am pretty certain that I called you kid, kid. You have to eat a lot of meals to deserving being called by the name." Feng Po said, walking to the lake.