Endrian came to some time later. He patted his body real quick making sure he still had clothes on, his hands were free and all the important parts were there. After a quick check between his legs, he let out a sigh of relief and said “Well I’m alive and everything is where it’s supposed to be.” Looking around he wasn’t sure if it was getting dark or getting light but he knew that it had been some hours since he interacted with that old man. Who, conveniently, was nowhere to be found. Endrian took a look at his surroundings and found that he was still in the cultivation classroom so there was that at least.

This incident really made Endrian realize how weak he was. He never felt that the old man had any intentions of harming him but to be unable to react before being knocked out? That would mean he would be dead or worse if that person desired it.

Thinking back on what happened Endrian he felt a weird memory. It was honestly hard to describe the feeling of a memory that he had no recollection of. It was both out of place and natural. As he probes this memory he ‘recalled’ the old man he had just met. However, when he recalled the old man the setting was of him sitting on top of a lily in the middle of a lake with a small waterfall in the background. He was surrounded by nature and Endrian was as well. So much so that he could even feel the cool mist from the waterfall spraying onto his face. The smell of nature and the sounds of the animals and the waterfall. It filled him with a sense of peace and nature much more profound than when he would try to escape for a week in his old life.

While he was filled with wonder at this memory that was not his, the old man spoke. “You may call me Immortal Hue, and I will be your cultivation instructor for the next week. Anytime you have a question about cultivation think of the time we met when I placed this comprehension in you. The knowledge you seek or need will appear in your consciousness.” After which he closed his eyes.

At first, Endrian was wondering if he had lost his mind. He was born in a new world. He’s no longer even human. There are magical powers. Finally, an old man accosts him and implants a memory in his head. If he looked at it from his old rational point of view he was clearly in a coma or in a mental ward staring out the window. That being said, everything about this world and his memories including his newly gained one appeared to be totally real. He could clearly remember the touch of the old man’s hand when he placed his wrist on it. The speed that he moved at was beyond what Endrian's brain even had time to process. ‘Why is this even happening to me?’ he thought

As the thought came into Endrian’s head the old man, Immortal Hue, opened his eyes and said “The reasons these things are happening is because you are this worlds only hope and the last roadblock to a premature cyclic change in the universe. More specifically I am here to assure that your cultivation proceeds smoothly, which will give you the greatest chance to complete your task. Finally, to expound on the necessity for me to assure your smooth cultivation, I am sure you are aware that greed and power tend to lead people to do things that will assure their continued holding of power. The royalty of this world’s different races have decided to disseminate subpar cultivation to maintain their power and control.”

After hearing this it explained a lot about why the cultivation techniques had no foundation. They appeared to be pointlessly forcing people to grope in the darkness with one every now and again lucking themselves into a decent cultivation path. ‘So how did this get so widely spread, and how will this affect my cultivation. Wait! I’m this worlds only hope?!?!’

“It was widely spread because,” Endrian tried to interrupt and ask about being the only hope but Immortal Hue didn’t pause in his talking which made Endrian miss part of what as said, “-focused on their familial cultivation techniques there would be no problems for them and they would even be able to take advantage. As to the impact to your cultivation, honestly, it has none at this point. You have had a basic understanding of cultivation techniques here and are only lacking foundation in the underlying principles which I will give you.” Immortal Hue said while completely ignoring his question about being this world’s only hope.

“Please explain what you mean by I am this world’s only hope and what is this premature cyclic change?” Endrian asked with some urgency.

“This information is not necessary for your cultivation, it is sufficient that you know.” Immortal Hue responded.

“So you're kind of like an AI that will be my mentor to guide me on my mystical journey of cultivation and that’s it?” Endrian asked.

“While I cannot say for sure what an AI is, I can say that I will, to some extent, mentor you in your cultivation. I say to some extent because I will not be giving you cultivation techniques or be instructing you on which intents or concepts to use. Nor will I explain how to cycle your mana through your body or any patterns to use. What I will do is give you a deep understanding of the foundational principles of cultivation, what is needed for each level and what you can expect to have to overcome to go further. How you gather mana, circulate the mana and use it will be entirely up to you.”

Immortal Hue paused for a moment and then continued on “For example, you have pulled in multiple types of mana into your cells. Filling them with mana that you not only awakened but could feel in your surroundings. This mana was then condensed by the cells in your body into a single type of golden nature mana that encompassed all the mana. You even infused a concept of strength into each cell with your mana. What this did for you is not give you great strength but allowed all of your cells to become stronger and more effective at what they do.”

“This golden energy is symbolic of life. It represents the basic foundation of Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Metal, and Energy. Coupled with the neutral, non-attribute, mana that was brought in you gave your mana the same signature as nature. This is both a blessing and a curse. The blessing of this is that you will be more attuned to nature and because of this your body and your mind will be greatly enhanced. You will potentially develop a spiritual sense far before your peers. The curse of this is that your cultivation will be both quick and slow for the next level. You will be able to fill up your core with the natural wild mana quickly but you will then need to refine it to the golden nature mana which will be converted somewhere around a 10:1 ratio.”

“You were talking about concepts as well can you explain that further?” Endrian asked as he processed the revelations of his current cultivation and the potential impacts this would have on him. He had already placed this benefit in a box that he could understand and was now immersed in the desire to understand.

“Concepts are ideas or concepts that influence how something develops. Take for example how you infused your cells with the concept of strength. When infusing your cells with mana you had the concept that what you did would imbue strength in them. You could have chosen a different concept like regeneration, or speed, or any other concept, of which there are many. This would infuse the mana and its container with whatever concept is chosen. Something to note there are both virtuous and sinful concepts. Be careful which concepts you choose to infuse as they can and will cause unforeseen side effects.” Immortal Hue said.

As Endrian was getting ready to ask more questions he was interrupted by someone shaking him. Opening his eyes outside of the memory he saw Chiyo standing there.

“What are you doing here?” she asked him.

“I was looking for Suseras so I could talk to him about a new cultivation. I’m sure he has told you about what happened.” Endrian replied to her.

With a slightly bitter smile, Chiyo gave an affirmative nod. Then she continued “That still doesn’t answer why you are here. It’s almost dark and I figured you would have come looking for me about your new class.”

Endrian not sure how much he could trust anyone that was either noble or a school instructor decided to offer up a semi-truthful lie. “I was struck with some inspiration. While I was focusing on this I must have lost track of time.” Endrian decided that before he would talk to anyone about his experience he would do some research and see what he could find.

“I’m glad to hear that you have had some inspiration in regards to your cultivation. I know the priestesses will be happy to hear something going well for your cultivation after this setback. You have no idea how much they wanted to pull you out of school and take you to their church in the capital.”

Smiling, Endrian decided to broach another topic while he had Chiyo at his disposal. “Academy head, you brought up the new class and I did indeed want to talk with you about this. Why did you put me in this class?” After he said this at least a small part of him was chanting ‘Please don’t say it was so I could interact with my peers.’

“I think you work to hard and you need to socialize with children your own age.” As soon as Endrian heard this he couldn’t hear her anymore because his inner monolog was resounding in his head ‘And there it is! Why are there always people that think they know what’s best for others? Aand it’s always with the best of intentions!’

After Chiyo had stopped talking about the necessity for children to be able to interact with each other, Endrian figured he would try to make his case to get out of the class but first, he needed to verify “So you just want me to interact with my peers? No other reason for adding me to the class?”

“No.” she said with a slightly questioning tone. “Why would there need to be other reasons? You need to make connections with other children and these are some of the most influential children in the city…” Endrian again tuned her out. He understood it was rude to just ignore her like that but it was also naive and condescending to think that he would be able to get along with someone like Xerael. Not to mention if he really was the savior of this planet like Immortal Hue had said then he would need people that he could trust with his life, not people that were using him.

After Chiyo had finished speaking Endrian decided to ask to be removed from the class before he had a chance to really cause some problems with the overly spoiled rich kids that would inevitably be apart of this group. “Chiyo, I would like to be removed from this class.” Holding up a hand before she had a chance to reject he continued. “Let me finish. You may or may not know this already but I have a fairly significant problem with at least one person in your class already. On top of that, I do not really consider them my peers. That’s not to say that I look down on them but more that I have different understandings and experiences that lead me to think differently from other children my age. This would then lead to either being ostracized or fights. Both of which completely defeats the purpose of putting me in the class which leads me to the conclusion that being in the class is a waste of time for me.” As Endrian finished he felt like he had put forth a logical and sound reason for not being in the class that even a grown adult would have a hard time refuting. Further emphasizing the fact that he didn’t think like other children.

Chiyo was giving him a stern look and said “I am well aware of your problems with the Naxxremis boy. This is precisely why I have placed you in the class with him. This way you two will be able to work out your differences and grow closer together. Not to mention that this would be an ideal way for you to find a good pride to join with. This is definitely in your best interest. I know you might not understand it now but you will thank me for it later I am sure.”

Endrian couldn’t help but chuckle a little in his heart. ‘I guess it’s only fair for her to ignore me when I ignore her.’ Realizing the futility of trying to convince her he decided to thank her for coming to find him and head home for the evening. Plus he needed to talk with that Immortal Hue AI thing and he needed to check on Ethese and see how she was doing. So Endrian promptly said his goodbyes and headed home.

After arriving home the first thing he decided to do was look in on Ethese and see how she was doing. Arriving at her room he knocked politely on the wall and waited for her to respond. Instead of hearing a come in or any other acknowledgment the curtain moved to the side and Vanya was looking to see who came. Endrian was a little surprised by this since there was no reason to keep Ethese in her room since there was no one to let the secret out to.

“What are you doing here Ender?” Vanya asked him.

“I just came to talk with Ethese and see how she was doing. Though, I have to say I am surprised to see you here,” he responded.

“We’ve found that you must treat the youngest the same otherwise there are problems when she raises her children so she will get the same treatment so she can understand the importance of these traditions,” Vanya said.

Endrian sighed in his heart at what he viewed as a seriously ignorant tradition, but understanding that he wasn’t going to change anything as he was he moved on. “So, is it alright if I visit with Ethese for a bit?”

“I’m sorry no one but her direct mother is allowed to visit during this time. Besides, she is still sleeping. I will say that once she learns to change properly then she can visit with others again. Until then the best you can do is bring some food for her so she can recover quickly.”

Nodding his head in acquiescence, Endrian headed to the kitchen area and grabbed a plate with some dried meat, and some fresh fruits as well as a glass of water. He could still remember how helpful it was after waking up to have those things, and it was the least he should do to repay Ethese for her help during this time.

Understanding that he wouldn’t be able to visit Ethese for a while he headed to his room to have a discussion about cultivation with a figment of his imagination. At least it’s not a purple dragon. After arriving in his room he sat down and calmed his mind. Thinking about his encounter with Immortal Hue in the cultivation classroom he was once again brought into the memory.

Endrian decided to start off with what he felt was the most pertinent question. “So what do I need to do moving forward with my cultivation right now?”

Immortal Hue smiled and said “You need to gather mana and condense it. There are many ways to gather mana. The best are visualization techniques that incorporate breathing techniques. After you bring the mana into your core you will have to visualize the circulation of the mana throughout your body. This will allow your mana to be filtered and taught how it should work. This will help you condense the mana a second time to the golden nature mana.”

“Okay, so what type of breathing techniques or visualization techniques should I use?” Endrian asked hopefully.

“That is something that you will have to determine for yourself. The visualization techniques just needs to be able to be understood and have the effect of pulling mana to your core. As for the breathing techniques again that is something that you will have to determine. The purpose of the breathing technique is to help you calm your mind and increase your focus on your visualization technique.” Immortal Hue said with a placid demeanor. He continued on in a casual manner as he broke down the reasons for the occurrences. “Remember, mana is not moved by the physical but by consciousness be it primary consciousness or secondary consciousness. This would be what you call sub-consciousness.”

Endrian took a moment to digest this new information before asking another question. “So, in the cultivation techniques that I studied at school, I found that they used patterns to create intent or concept when infusing mana. What is the purpose of this?”

“The purpose is like you said to infuse intent or concept in their mana and bodies. These patterns are used because it helps them to focus the intent in the different parts of their body as they do not have a detailed understanding of the body. This should not be necessary for you since you should be able to understand the intent or concept and directly infuse it in the area that you want. Again I caution you to be careful and fully think through the infusion of intent or concept as the infusion could have side effects. To give an example: If you infused the concept of imperviousness into your skin then your skin could potentially be impervious to poisons, pain, damage and more. However, the downside is that you will have changed the properties of your skin and it will no longer sweat, or even feel. This could mean overheating quickly during a fight or even dying from heat exhaustion due to an inability to regulate your body temperature properly. As with all things in life, there is a balance. So your best option would be to determine a path that is appropriate for you and follow that path while working to mitigate the negative features of that path. There is a benefit to specialization but don’t overspecialize because that is just as limiting as overgeneralizing.”

After Immortal Hue finished his speech about the current base of cultivation Endrian felt both awed and frustrated. It was so overwhelming the freedom to do and choose what he wanted. It was amazing that people could develop their own cultivation techniques like this and customize them to their life. At the same time, it was terrifying. Endrian was used to having something tested thoroughly validated and vetted by many people before implementing. At this point, something else resonated in his mind. Consciousness controls the outcome. What this meant to Endrian was that there was something intangible, and unmeasurable that had a direct impact on the world. This upended everything he understood in regards to science. It didn’t invalidate everything he knew, but rather it changed the framework from which he understood. The best example of this was ironically the theory of quantum entanglement. So if photons were conscious of each other then they would always maintain that status quo. Science was still science the only difference was that Endrian would have to be aware that any preconceived notions that he had could impact the results. This could be both good and bad as he could influence a result towards something he desired. Again something he would definitely have to test and look into as best he could.

Finally waking up from a shift in his understandings and things he took to be absolute. He realized that there were other greater implications to one being the only hope and also the cultivation of people that understood the foundations of cultivation. This meant that the only powerful cultivators would be the older nobles and the royalty. These people would also not be happy about someone else being in control or outside of their control that could threaten their power. So, his only option would be to raise people he could trust by sharing with them cultivation foundations. He could also not trust nobles. After coming to this conclusion he decided to ask Immortal Hue “Would there be any problems with me sharing this understanding of cultivation with others?”

“As with everything, there is a balance.” Immortal Hue responded cryptically.

“Okay, so basically you are saying that if I share these understandings then there will be consequences for my actions?” Endrian enquired.

“Of course.” Immortal Hue said.

“Okay, so what do I need to be concerned about with each level of cultivation? What are the primary things that I need to understand?” Endrian decided to move on to something more productive as Immortal Hue did not seem inclined to explain what type of consequences there would be.

“What you need to know is that each level is a profound change to your mana. The first three levels are fairly easy to comprehend Gathering you have already accomplished and it is both the easiest and the only level of the martial path that can never be removed. This is because it has integrated so completely with your body that you would have to destroy your body to remove your cultivation. The second level is condensing. This is the level that starts to set you on your cultivation path. It will be the foundation from which your cultivation will grow. You can imagine it like gathering is the soil for you to plant your seed of cultivation. Condensing is the seed and as long as it has good roots it can grow even in the most atrocious conditions. However, having good soil or good growing conditions is always helpful. After the Condensing level is the Earth level. This is the level where you solidify your mana. At this point, your mana will replenish to whatever level it has grown but will not advance easily and the amount of mana that you have is limited to what is held in your core.” Immortal Hue paused so that Endrian could take time to mull over these statements if needed. However, seeing Endrian appear impatient he continued on quickly.

“The next level is Core Formation. To get into this level you have to form a core in your mana. You can look at this core like you would the core of a planet. It helps to draw in and purify mana independent of your visualization though it will be modified by your understanding and your visualization technique. Also of note for most people that step in the Core Formation level, they will start to develop a spiritual sense and can start to project mana outside of their bodies to the point of being able to manipulate mana and infringe on other people’s personal domain. Also, the Core Formation turns external mana into mana generated by your core which is yours. This is why you can move it and control it outside of your personal space because it is an extension of your consciousness.”

“Following the Core Formation level is the Sun level. This level will transform your core that was formed into a sun. This is a more powerful version of the Core Formation and generates an exponential more amount of mana that is imprinted with your consciousness. Your spiritual sense will grow and you will be able to have a greater impact on other people’s personal spheres.”

“The sixth level is the Heaven level. Much like the name you will create multiple stars like the heavens. Each star will be similar to a Sun level of cultivation. When you first create a new star you will be able to control its position. What this means is that you can create arrays or glyphs with the positioning of the stars. They can embody intent or profound meaning, laws, or even functions. This can have a huge impact on your future cultivation speed, power, understanding or capabilities. It is not required that you place the stars in any specific order but in my opinion not taking advantage of this is a huge waste of opportunity. As for the number of stars that you will have access to, each rank in the Heaven level represents a star.”

“After making out of the Heaven level you will advance to the spiritual body level. At this level, you will create multiple heavens. These heavens will also need to be set in motion. Again you will be able to create 9 heavens. Each heaven that you create that has 9 stars that are put in motion will enhance your physical body to a degree that you will be almost impossible to kill at least by anyone under the spiritual body level.”

“The eighth level of cultivation is the Spiritual Mind level. At this level, your cultivation is no longer dependent on creating more stars or heavens. You will now have to understand the profound truths of the universe. This includes laws, concepts, intents and determine how they interact with each other. This is an exercise in understanding the balance and the cycles that exist in the universe.”

“The ninth and final level for physical beings is the Immortal level. Advancing in this level requires deeper understandings of the universe such as that there are realms beyond realms. The physical universe is only most basic of the realities that exist. The final goal of the Immortal realm is to transcend your physical body. This will also have the effect of imposing more and more heavenly laws upon you. Or rather it’s not so much that they are being imposed on you but you become aware of the laws and the implications of breaking them. I cannot help you beyond the Immortal level of cultivation as I do not know what comes next.” Immortal Hue finished up his dissertation on cultivation with a look of longing on his face.

Endrian was quite frankly overwhelmed by the levels and the implications of the power and understanding that would be required for people to advance. It was both exciting and daunting. However, with this information, it would greatly help him be able to properly plan for what he wanted to accomplish and how to plan out his cultivation path. The first thing he would need to do is come up with a visualization technique. He could use his current one but if he could teach his mana core to use the visualization technique and there were no holds on how to visualize gathering the mana then he had some ideas on new visualization techniques. Leaving the memory of Immortal Hue, Endrian spent the next few hours recalling different breathing techniques and thinking about visualization techniques until he settled on one of each.