Awakening
As he repeated the process several times Su Yuntao became tired with the continued use of spirit energy, but emotionally, he was resigned at the lacking appearance of any Spirit Power in the kids. Like the other villages he passed through on his trip, there were only trash tool spirits such as Hoe's, Sickles, Shovels and Blue Silver Grass. He was at the point of considering storing the measuring orb away.
Duty bound, he continued the ceremony until reaching the last two children, unlike the kids before them they remained rather silent and unmoving during the ceremony except for when he originally possessed his own Martial Spirit. Scanning them up and down he found nothing unique to set them apart from their peers besides their rags for clothes appearing cleaner. "Come boy, let's get this shabby event over with already" he said with a little more insistence than earlier on.
Tang San not at all phased by his tone, moved swiftly towards the center of the hexagon. As Su Yuntao began inputting Spirit Power into the stones, he closed his eyes with anticipation, the expected puff of golden rays turned into a plume with a certain radiance and engulfed him in a thick screen of resplendent yellow light. Caught off guard the overseeing Spirit Grandmaster fumbled over himself retrieving the spirit measuring orb stuck half way in the opening of his bag. Turning back to measure this obvious talent he was greeted by a slightly longer than average stalk of Blue Silver Grass.
Feeling ice cold water, showering over his soul Su Yuntao didn't bother with this pointless endeavor and decidedly began packing away the measuring orb. Ignoring Tang San, the Spirit Grandmaster, oblivious to the flustered child who was astounded and trying to suppress the second spirit currently awakening in his other hand. Beckoned the remaining girl to the hexagon, waving Tang San off to the side he spoke irritatedly. "It's just another Blue Silver Grass, you cannot become a Spirit Master in this life" He spoke with venom, having been bamboozled by the initial shock and awe of a simple blade of grass awakening.
"Spirit Master Su Yatao, you didn't measure my Spirit Power, please reconsider!" Tang San had realized an important part of his awakening ceremony had been overlooked and pleaded with Su Yuntao to bother checking.
Noticing the nasty look the girl was giving him for his treatment of the boy that was likely to follow her own ceremony. He sighed with exhaustion. "Hmph. Fine. Come here boy" Annoyed at the insistence of the children he retrieved the orb and brandished it for the boy's use.
Barely paying attention he was spooked by a bright spark that quickly turned into a shining bulb after the boy's hand made contact with the orb. "Ina- Full Innate Spirit Power!" eyes wide, Su Yuntao was astounded at the abject pearl of luminancence sitting in his hand.
"yet- " Although this was a first for him and likely the continent for a long time he realized that this absurd Innate Spirit Power belonged to the most useless of Martial Spirits. Raising his gaze towards the boy, taking a step back from his position, he could only find pity in his heart.
"Great Teacher what is Full Innate Spirit Power?" Poised at the title of his spirit power grade Tang San was anxious on the inside, perhaps he was considered a monster in this world?
Hearing his words Su Yuntao was shocked but took on a somber face after thinking for a few seconds . Suddenly releasing a gasp of realization at the backwater origins of this once in a century talent while he returned the orb to it's dias.
"It is the highest initial starting point a Spirit Master can begin their Cultivation journey with, sometimes referred to as their spiritual talent as it can often predict how far they'll reach." He enunciated with a sliver of yearning in his voice. "In other words, the energy in which we spirit master's meditate to refine everyday, train in and eventually master has completely saturated your Martial Spirit. Which also means you've reached the ceiling of the first layer of Spirit Master ranks and can thus seek out a Spirit Ring immediately to become a full fledged Spirit Master. You wont be able to continue cultivating until you breakthrough, you must know that I myself started with only 2 Innate Spirit Power." He ended his explanation with a nod and an ugly mixed smile of confidence and self depreciation, likely praising his own explanation but regretting his inferiority.
The eyes of the other children in the room went wide at that but it was soon replaced by anger at the world, frustration with their inadequacies, envy pointedly towards Tang San and a pervading saddness that they'll never be special which coincides with the tears Su Yuntao eventually smelled.
Ripping Tang San from his reverie, Su Yuntao explained the unfortunate circumstances of Tang San's talent so as to nip whatever ego may be sprouting from his mind; while also placating the miserable children. "Although your Spirit Power Talent is incredible the best I've ever seen even. The Martial Spirit itself is nothing special, I consider myself a very learned person and have never heard of a Spirit Master who has cultivated Blue Sliver Grass beyond the Spirit Grandmaster rank, cultivation with that weed is known to be incredibly slow and tedious." Having saved whatever dignity was left of the other children and himself as Tang San took an a calculating expression, he turned his sights on the remaining girl who seemed rather detached from the surrounding group.
"Alright young lady it appears you'll be the final one, come here" Slightly hunched over from Spirit Power depletion Su Yuntao was glad when she immediately appeared in the hexagon next to him. No sooner did he begin channeling his energy into the stones.
Zhi Xing didn't know what she was expecting, she had memories of a different life in a different world. Fractured memories yes but still. Memories. In the span of a year with Grandpa Jack and interacting with the village folk she recognized the poor development of the world at large and it made her uncomfortable. Besides feeling out of time in a way, these memories also proved to profoundly shape her personality, she was far more mature and pessimistic than children her age. Something the adults found commendable but only served to widen the rift between her and other kids.
After her jumbled mind mended and head injury healed she first thought about setting out to correct such a creature comfort lacking atrocity of a society but gave up when she recognized that she didn't have the strength nor intelligence to recall or recreate any of the things she remembers taking for granted. All she had were useless memories of manga, novels, TV shows, magazines, and the odd ball science journals that she barely understood. They weren't introductory but more along the lines of research papers and experiments using equipment that she couldn't even picture precisely. She later understood that all of the scientific material in her mind took up space purely because she had a crush on a rather attractive biology teacher and wanted to impress him by brushing up on subjects so far out of her depth she still felt the suffocating and tired uncomfortability that came along with scanning their glyphs with her eyes.
She felt a rush of warm energy course through her body both embracing and invigorating every cell. She hadn't read many Chinese cultivation esk stories in her last life, mostly occupied with the sleek designs of Japanese and Korean works but she understood enough from what little was seen and heard in this new life to connect the dots. From the greatest occupation in the world; Spirit Masters to the mysterious Spiritual Beasts roaming the wilds and sect like entities such as the Spirit Hall. In most of those stories the protagonist is usually thrust into a dog eat dog world and can only depend on their 'unique' techniques or God tier bloodlines or some other heritage to reach the top and rope in every female that crosses their path, in her case however the only thing that'll determine her survival in this new world was about to wake up.
From everyone else's perspective the usual expulsion of golden light particles from the arranged stones did indeed occur yet the shade of color quickly paled while still retaining its luminosity. From a deep lush gold it had turned into a sallow yellow-green while masking Zhi Xing's body in a strange cocoon from which no one in the room could properly peer through.
Feeling something break inside then leave her body she exhaled deeply-instinctually so as to calm her heart for what she assumed would be the greatest let down in this life. Opening her eyes she was bewildered at the small green-black and brown insect flapping it's wings rapidly in front of her. It couldn't have been any bigger than an inch in size yet it stared at her specifically with its limited intelligence and cute emerald beady eyes in acknowledgement.
"Hmm a Beast Spirit? Yet... different" Su Yuntao spoke the words with confusion, not fully grasping why it is that although she awakened a beast spirit there were currently no observable differences in the child's appearance itself. Normally just summoning this type of martial spirit, the user would undergo some form of physiological change, yet no part of her body had morphed into anything resembling her insectoid Spirit. Shaking his head he chalked it up to a lack of knowledge on his part though the scene seemed familiar, handing the Spirit Measuring Orb to her he waited in anticipation seeing as this was the only beast spirit to appear in any of the villages he's visited.
Scrutinizing this insect that she felt closely connected to Zhi Xing wasn't critical at all of its appearance or size. As far as she was aware, so long as a person possess Spirit Power upon awakening would they have the qualifications to cultivate. Whether or not she awakened an insect or a shoe she would take it all the same as long as she had a path forward to rid herself of the dangerous and pitiable circumstances she finds herself in, a path she would take without hesitation if it meant real power and safety.
Receiving the light blue orb, she felt as it draining her of all the energy in her body. Sensing her discomfort her Martial Spirit flapped it's thin translucent wings and landed on the back of her palm in which the orb was held lessening the stress her body suddenly found itself under. Before the rattled gaze of the other children and Su Yuntao, the orb did shimmer with light, yet it was the weakest faintest light that could possibly be observed with effort.
Nodding his head in understanding Su Yatao retrieved the orb while giving the small girl a once over. "You posses half rank 1 Innate Spirit Power. Although this means your talent and cultivation achievements will likely be low, you still have the qualifications to walk the road of a Spirit Master." He said sagely, although he himself understood that it would be a miracle in and of itself if she even reached rank 10 with such a weak martial spirit, he felt much more in common with her innate talent than he did the monstrosity of Tang San.
Zhi Xing turned a deaf ear to his words, only focusing on the fact that she has the talent neccessary to cultivate, while playing with the strange martial spirit. Eventually her miniscule amount of spirit power dried up due to the insects constant movement after scaring a few of of girl's on the other side of the hall and disappeared within her body, handing the orb back to Su Yuntao she joined Tang San on the side of the room for those with talent feeling slighty winded but happy all the same.
Packing away his belongings it suddenly struck him why the scene of her handling her martial spirit was familiar, he knew of one other person who couldn't possess their beast spirit upon awakening. Leaving the temple with the children in tow he decided to pass this information on to her guardian, as the usual greasy elder made his way forward no doubt to speculate on the talented, Su Yuntao regained his dignified appearance to cover up his exhaustion.
"There were two who awakened with Spirit Power" Eying the boy and girl as they made their way towards the old man, he gestured to them both half heartedly with a smile.
Grandpa Jack's expression turned from a humble beggar to that of a man who had won the lottery as he gazed at the two of them. One of the two was his adoptive granddaughter after all!
"The boy possess Innate Full Spirit Power, alas his martial spirit is a measly Blue Silver Grass." Still feeling envy and disappointment at this wasted talent the Spirit Hall representative shook his head and continued.
"The girl however possess a Mutated Insect beast spirit and an Innate Spirit Power of half rank, speaking less of her cultivation potential I myself am unaware of the spirit's specific species but I know of someone who should, luckily he suffers the same type of degenerative mutation." Looking around he noticed that the other children's parents had come to collect them and already left while those remaining were just these four.
Shaking his head he continued. "I understand that this village has only one work study slot available in the nearby Nuoding Academy" He gazed at the elder who was still shocked at the presence of one let alone two potential Spirit Masters. "Under my recommendation I'll allow them both to attend. It would be a waste for the only two people with talent I've awakened this year to squabble over a slot to a mere Primary Academy." Turning to the girl he spoke with some pity.
"When you arrive I suggest seeking out the one known as the academy's Grandmaster, he will help in identifying your martial spirit and perhaps shed some light on your circumstances" Nodding sagely, he handed over their awakening certificates before leaving in a hurry. Zhi Xing and Tang San were the only people paying him any attention and noticed his rather labored movement but payed it no mind when he returned to the road, likely heading to his Spirit Hall Branch to report.
The trio began their trek back home towards the outer ring of the village, along the way Tang San kept mostly silent with a confused expression only nodding or verbally agreeing with Xing's account of their awakening ceremony "Zhi Xing, Tang San, you both possess talent rarely seen in the village, do you both wish to walk the path of Spirit Masters?" Grandpa Jack knew that this was a hard decision for children to make but he wanted to know their initial thoughts towards the occupation, Zhi Xing more so after she witnessed a proper Spirit Master at work.
"I'll have to speak to my father about this, but I will return with an answer later. Thank you for picking me up Grandpa Jack, Zhi Xing." Bowing towards the elder he nodded at them both before splitting off and walking in the direction of the worn down smithy.
Zhi Xing and Grandpa Jack shared a glance before returning home. It was now the afternoon with much of the day left to get through yet Xing felt as though it was one of the longest days she's had to meander through since waking up here. She and Grandpa Jack agreed to talk about the future at a later date while she got accustomed to the faint energy she could feel pulsing through her body as well as through her connection to the strange bug martial spirit.
Summoning it again she noticed how with a mental nudge, much less effort than actually thinking about it, the insect would fly or crawl over to whatever position she deigned appropriate. For some reason she couldn't get Su Yantao's voice out of her mind, every word he uttered regarding her martial spirit was laced with a pitiable empathy as if it was just announced she was handicapped. It really pissed her off but the guy had his uses, between his lengthy explanations she understood that in order to cultivate as a Spirit Master she would have to meditate. Waving away her martial spirit with an ease the the spirit hall representative likely would've praised if he had seen it, she sat in a lotus position in bed.
Between all her memories, working out at the gym, yoga and meditation exercises were a sizeable portion of her fuzziest memories and so she had no problem reenacting those shared calming methods of breathing. She felt the spirit energy in her body churn slightly as she thought about how best to "refine" it. She didn't exactly understand what that term referred to when the context was mystical energy that let's people do cool shit and get stronger but. If it was anything like in anime, then the best exercise she could think of performing would be the Chakra molding from Naruto. Figuring out the differences between Chakra and Spirit Power would have to come later down the line, since as a regular fan up until she died she had little to no willingness to understand every grounding principle of such fanciful energies.
She first started by trying to gain control of the energy that flowed through her body in a predetermined manner but noticed something wrong immediately. "Why is it resisting!?" Although her eyes remained closed Xing noticed that grasping and controlling her minute pool of Spirit Power was like a game of tug of war. The prospect of her own Spirit Power being sapient and resisting her didn't even float across her mind since the very idea of intelligent energy with a will strong enough to resist the influence of the body it was inhabiting seemed too farcical and alien. What are the chances that her martial spirit is crippled while her own Spirit Power didn't want to listen to her!?
Leaking a turbid breath of both amazement and resignation Zhi Xing collapsed backwards onto her bed with the duality of her emotions toiling restlessly in her mind for answers. Forget knowing how to cultivate she didn't even understand the principles behind what made spirit power possible. To squander her time in the lower ranks of cultivation trying to wrap her mind around how her own energy had a mind of its own!? Any Spirit Master worth their salt wouldn't even know how to begin processing such a concept let alone advising on how to solve such a problem.
Regardless, between her intense struggle of trying to 'mold' her spirit power she realized that the breathing exercises and mind clearing techniques atleast had their uses. In the form of spirit power recovering more quickly and the ability to interact with her energy with more precision. Yet it was pointless if she couldn't do anything with it, summoning her martial spirit for the third time she mentally calculated the drain on her spirit power while the Martial Spirit was active then compared the time it took to replenish the used energy. Give or take, to completely recover her pool of spirit power required a little under 15 minutes while the insect could exist for about the same amount of time if it didnt move.
She didn't know if this was fast or slow as she had no one to compare it to but realistically it likely had to do with her Spirit Power Rank being abysmally low. Sighing again she decided to try something else. Su Yuntao's explanation of Innate Spirit Power made her think about the possibility of her martial spirit being more in tune with her spirit power than she was. Although the energy was technically her's this wasn't her original body and as far as she can tell her beast spirit doesn't seem to intergrate with her body like his did. Summoning it again, she focused on the connection between them while trying to push her spirit power through that connection to her spirit. Unfortunately her body began feeling uncomfortable and the insect spirit began flying around erratically, her spirit power even pushed back at her advances.
Sweating slightly, she tried a different approach. Something the old her would likely commend; she slapped and goaded her spirit power with all the mental focus she could muster. At the same time she commanded her martial spirit to close the gap between them, the spirit now resting on her forehead between her eyebrows, specifically the place Xing felt the oncoming migraine piercing through her brain, simply attempting to coax her spirit power generated. As her spirit power fought back with vigor she slowly led it along the connection to her martial spirit, it was aggressive and thrashed about with abandon leading to the spirit's wings withering slightly and blood to leak from the girl's nose.
Luckily her plan worked and headache ensued, despite the her ears ringing terribly in response to every sound heard inside her small hut she was immersed in an entirely new perspective. She was seeing the scene of her own awakening ceremony, only from the perspective of her martial spirit, somehow she was seeing It's memories.
She could also feel her raging spirit power calm down considerably, focusing on this sensation, she felt the energy flow in a predetermined geometric pattern. A pattern that she didn't think could be mimicked as it seemed that it was unique to her martial spirit's body. But that didn't stop her from trying, once again gritting her teeth she began pulling her spirit power back through the connection.
It was still difficult but it seemed as if after that single rotation in her martial spirit's strange pattern her energy was a tad bit more cooperative. She felt a bit of liquid stream out of her nose as she attempted to push it through the connection again but didn't care as she only had so much time to maintain her spirit essence. When the energy reentered her body once again she could feel it become restless and began circulating chaotically throughout her. She didn't understand what Qi deviation was or any other cultivation term that could be used to explain the pain wracking her body. She felt her spirit power ebb and flow through places it shouldn't, she could feel the pressure it exerted on her veins and organs as it suffused back down towards her stomach from her forehead, trying to return to the center of where Spirit Power usually originates and is mostly grounded, in the center of her body.
Zhi Xing understood that just letting it do whatever it wants is counterintuitive to the exercise she just labored through so, gritting her teeth for what she assumed would be even more suffering as her spirit returned. She wrenched the remaining bulk of her spirit power from her stomach and began carefully controlling the given direction in which it would flow, she didn't wish to forcefully recreate that pattern she observed earlier. Somewhat instinctively she let her spirit power guide itself through her body while she beared through the pain, she could feel her body shivering and the taste of blood in the back of her throat but she kept going.
Using what little mental strength she had, she would occasionally deploy it in the form of a barrier. She was essentially blocking the energy from flowing in any other way than she desired with a primitive coffee strainer but it just barely did the job. For what felt like hours she methodically blocked the energy from leaking into vital organs and only allowed it to circulate along the same route as her circulatory system and skeletal structure only allowing it to lightly suffus into the rest of her body, she didnt possess a body the size of a finger nail and so had a lot more distance for her spirit power to cover before finally! She managed to complete a single circulation.