First Lesson

Clion and the others headed towards the room awaited by an old man as he nodded towards them. The old man dragged his thin body as he picked up a long chalk and began writing in the board while speaking out.

"Hello, my name is Iyun Fein, and I will be your instructor in the morning. I will teach you all there is to know about the world and how it runs. You should've felt something if you have been diligently meditating through the techniques shown in the Basics of Energy Gathering book. It is known as Qi, and every lifeform in this universe has it. From the Fen Ravens, to the Horned Wolves to the Gol Fishes in the river.

So what I felt was Qi, I was worried for nothing. Thought Clion. The others nod with understanding as if they too experienced the same thing.

And people who cultivate Qi are known as Cultivators. Through meditation we gather Qi, into our blood vessels and distributed to every cells within our body. And there are 3 known stages within the text, Mortal Stage which is refining the body, Bronze where the gathering of Qi begins and Silver Stage. And each stage has 4 tiers, initial, mid, high, and peak tier." said the old man.

"Excuse me instructor, what stage are you and captain Lani?" asked Jai Lin. Jas looked at him with a thankful expression as he awaited the old man's reply.

"Haiz, in my prime I reached the middle tier of Bronze Stage, but now I am old and only have power of an initial tier Mortal Stage Cultivators. Lani is at a high tier Bronze stage, he may have the chance to reach the peak tier in his life." replied the old man.

"And what is the difference between each tier or stages?" Asked Clion.

"Good question, I was getting there though. An adult may be able to easily carry 30kg of weight but even a mortal stage at an initial tier can through it around as if it was it was nothing. A mid tier mortal stage can carry 80kg of weight easily. A peak tier may be able to carry 120kg but these are averages, and each individual is unique. Bronze Stage cultivators are able to carry medium-sized boulders on their shoulder as if they are nothing and they, you will know for yourself in the future."

Clion nodded with an excited face, he wondered how his past training would differ, compared to the upcoming ones. He yearned to step into the path of cultivation as soon as possible, craving strength.

...

"You will head out and be given a moderate physical training for the afternoon and be given a spiritual herb afterwards. You are to start your cultivation right after you consume them to amplify their effects, it will give you the push towards Mortal Initial Stage, after all you have already been cultivating unless you were slacking off." said the old man as he led them towards a training area.

They were led by a soldier showing them around who introduced himself as Reino Pulin, the area was 100 by 80 meters in length, taking up quite a portion of the village. You could see the past trainings done by soldiers, the place reeked with sweat and blood mixed in. Even if it must've been cleaned regularly and thoroughly, it could not hide those smell. There were remains of footsteps, you could see how they practiced, their swordsmanship, and those of spears and other weapons. The trees poked with holes left by the casual practice of bored archers who wished to seek the excitement of hunting, completely disregarding the targets placed across the trees.

"Lets start off slow on the first day, pick a sandbag to carry and run around the training area. Give me 30 laps. After that the, plan is to use the same sandbags on your back to do 200 pushups. Then you will pick up a weapon manual of your style, be it martial art or spear or whatever and practice that till the sun starts to sets. I'll bring your lunch after the laps are over." said Reino as he headed out to grab the lunch for the kids.

That's not so bad, I've done similar training before. Clion thought as he went to pick up a sandbag that said 20kg. He wondered why Reino specifically said carry them and not just tie them behind his back.

Jai picked up the 25kg one as he stared at Clion, giving him a smug face. He then looked towards Jas who too was looking back, then he ran out carrying a 30kg bag.

"Alright you bastards." said Clion as he too picked 30kg and ran out. Jai didn't compete a further as he just went along with the 25kg bag.

...

After 25 laps the trio was left gasping for air. They carried along til the 30th lap when Clion and Jas fainted from the intensity.

They woke up few minutes after, and awaiting them was the smell of freshly cooked rabbit meat and vegetable broth.

"The run would've been easier without the weights huh? Don't overwork your body, picking bags too heavy for you. And I'm being serious here. Anyways, after you're done eating resume the plan, pushups and I've left these t manuals here, pick one and follow those steps" said Reino as he pointed towards a table with bunch of books laying around.

The trio decided to do some light exercises to digest some before heading straight into the push ups, they were also quite tired from the run as well.

Jas finished his pushups and headed towards the spear manual, Clion followed after few minutes later. They both picked up a spear and followed along with the manual. Jai finally finished his pushups as he excitedly went towards the table in hopes of finding a manual for a martial arts manual. When he reached there, all he found were archery, spear and sword manuals, he felt pissed and betrayed. Did Reino lie?!

Reino stared with a blank face, looking at Jai throwing around the manuals. He realized the situation and spoke out, "Are you an idiot? These three are the only manuals, the other styles are not permissible, did you really think you can hunt beasts with an axe or even your own fist?"

"You are able to practice other weapons outside the military, but in here these three are the only options, HAHAHAH!" Reino roared with laughter.

In the end, Jai gave in and picked up the archery manual. With a disappointed look he too started following along with it.

"Don't be discouraged, if you get strong enough in the future maybe you will get to practice what you want." Reino tried to motivate Jai.

...

Shadows crept up the Village as all the noises were dying out, the built up silence put a stress onto the hearts of every villagers. The light within the village had gone out in a blink of an eye.

"Alright your training is done for today, here take this and head to your room. Just eat it directly, try to absorb as much as you can, these things are limited in supply and hard to find. "

Iyun, the old man, came over with Reino as he handed them three strange plants that had dark red leaves with a vibrant crimson core. The plant must've been plucked out as it still had the roots branching down below.

"By the way, the reason for your training before consumption is to get your body tired and rid of energy leaving it to crave for more." explained Reino.

"Do we have to eat the roots too?" Clion asked with hesitation.

"Every bit of it, now go back." Replied the old man with a stern face.