“Wait, does that mean that I can create my own skill?”

“Perhaps in a century or so. In most cases several tens of thousands of attempts are necessary in order to see any success, which requires both time and energy that you’re incapable of investing.”

He followed his mentor’s gaze and said, “I can’t imagine the guy that made that skill was thinking anything good at the time.”

“On that we agree, dear disciple.” This time it was the Crippling Blood Palm manual that floated in front of the old spirit. “I must admit that this technique is very strange. The inner essence circulation methods aren’t of traditional stock. For this skill one must relocate the blood within their body by relying on inner essence, and yet the focus seems more centred upon blood manipulation than anything else.”

“Is that uncommon?”

“Not just uncommon, it’s unheard of; equally as much as the concept of a core cultivation method that requires movement in order to activate.”

“Is that so?” The Ancestral Body Technique originated in Nia, the forgotten world wherein the glade resided. Was Uncle Grey hinting that this technique was also of extravagant origin? “None of that matters to me as long as I can use the skill.”

“It might be difficult considering that you don’t cultivate the same core cultivation method as the original owner of this skill manual. I suspect that the main techniques of that sect were all created by the same person, to accent one another, no less.” The light lines of Uncle Grey’s aged face suddenly twisted in a rare exhibit of troubled thoughts. “While the quality of the techniques aren’t top notch, to create several in one lifetime is a remarkable feat. I’ve begun to fear that the origins of that tiny sect aren’t as simple as I first thought.”

“Have you ever made a technique?”

“I’ve made three, though that was my limit.” He waved him off. “Enough dallying, there is still a long way to go before you can begin to attempt the implementation of this skill.”

Although the old ghost’s mind state had been impacted by eons of solitude, Nolan had no doubt that Uncle Grey was an extreme expert of indeterminable skill. If even he had only been able to create three martial skills, just what type of person had made the techniques that formed the basis of that dastardly sect?

“Yeah, you’re right. Time to get back at it like a crack addict.”

Ignoring Uncle Grey’s raised eyebrow, he closed his eyes and returned to his training, which persisted for about seven hours before he was interrupted by Sean and Esteban, who were eager to learn the next set of stances to the Ancestral Body Technique.

Goddamn it, he thought after he confirmed that others had properly absorbed his explanations and demonstrations on the twenty-first and twenty-second stances. Why couldn’t Sean have showed up a few minutes later? I was like a second away from understanding the internal energy system of that emerald! Now that he had been interrupted and sidetracked for at least an hour, he would have to chase a broken train of thought until he arrived at the same threshold of epiphany that he had almost crossed just a short while ago.

Disgruntled as he’d been, the realization that he desired arrived half an hour after he returned to his silent meditations, at which point he willed the Emerald Skin skill manual to hover before his face a mere centimetre above the water’s surface. The pages began to turn very slowly, as it was many times more difficult to implement his spiritual energy in a delicate manner than it was to project small amounts in rudimentary shapes as had been his primary focus in the past.

He read the book in its entirety, which was profound and complex in content despite its brevity. In order to successfully activate the defensive martial skill it was necessary that he visualize the rigid inner essence system of the emerald that he had studied, which vaguely resembled circuit traces.

It’s about time I gave this a shot.

Deep breaths and deeper exhales, Nolan provided a robust supply of inner essence from his dantian and set it moving in slow circulation throughout his body. He did his best to compact the strong supply of energy so that it adopted a more ‘viscous’ flow within his system, at which point he attempted to replicate the specific mind state recorded in the skill manual. In summary, he had to explore the profundity within the statements “Immovable like a mountain,” and “solid as stone.”

First he imagined a particularly ancient mountain which he based upon the countless ones that he had seen throughout the Dragon’s Tail. He entertained the thought of moving the mountain, questioned what it might take in order to do so. Although it was extremely boring and seemingly of no consequence, he continued to contemplate any possible meanings that might relate to the words that he was working with and catalogued any relevant thought that came to mind. He did the same thing with the image of a large sheet of pale granite, particularly a great outcrop of rock that he remembered from one of the summers that he spent camping at his Uncle Ted’s camper, which had wandered its way through countless campgrounds within the Great Lakes Basin area in the warmer times of the year.

Unsuspecting memories of his family began to flood through his mind, though he was quick to smother them as he continued on with his attempt at activating the defensive martial skill. Very carefully, he distributed his sequential supply of inner essence so that it began to cover his limbs and torso. The thin sheet of energy that moved to cover him was terribly unstable despite his heightened levels of concentration, and there was a sharp reduction in the speed at which it spread once it began to reach for his shoulders and neck. Before the growing cloak of encompassing energy could fully envelop him it began to ripple like the distorted surface of a disturbed lake and then quickly dissipated into nothingness.

Why did the technique fail? I was in the zone.

Nolan stared down at his palms for a few moments and eventually sighed in acceptance. After dedicating dozens of hours toward learning the most basic function of the Tranquil Void Step, he had assumed that the lesser techniques that Uncle Grey looked down upon would be a cinch to learn, though evidently that wasn’t the case.

Repeating the steps that he had just followed, he was able to maintain concentration long enough for the calculated streams of manifested inner essence to reach his chin. Shockingly, not only was this pale green energy visible to his mind’s eye but he could actually see a slight haze of lime-coloured light that hovered over his body like a hesitant coating of luminescent fog. The loose energy began to condense as he willed the thick covering into an ever-thinning layer of emerald skin, though his concentration broke once the unstable cladding of energy achieved two centimetres of thickness.

Looks like I’ll be in this fountain for a while. He stretched and then initiated another attempt. The blanket of energy was supposed to be about the same width as his skin and completely whole, with not a single gap in its surface. At his current level of progression, the energy that he was able to manifest around his body had absolutely no defensive properties, to the point that he would find more protection in an extra set of clothes.

Many hours had passed by the time that Nolan was able to successfully cloak himself in a feeble and unstable layer viridescent energy without suffering through a disruption to the skill and a dissipation of his efforts. Once he’d reached this level of proficiency he dedicated fifteen days to sitting still as a stone within the fantastical waters of the Divine Spirit Fountain, maintaining the defensive martial skill all the while so as to completely familiarize himself with the technique.

It took him a little over two and a half weeks to learn the Emerald Skin technique, during which time his spiritual space and the amount of energy within it had expanded by about ten percent more as a consequence of sitting within the fountain for several hundred hours on end. His newfound mastery of the technique coincided with Ian’s breakthrough to the middle phase of the Integration stage’s second level, their recent successes marking the beginning of their group’s third month within the glade.

“Are you sure about this?” Hesitation filled Ian’s hairless face as he regarded Nolan from a few metres away. “If your technique fails then I could really hurt you.”

“Then I just have to make sure that it doesn’t fail, don’t I?”

Sean and Esteban observed from fair distance away, Uncle Grey floating above them with a contented smile.

“Is he really going to hit him?” Esteban looked up at Sean with a worried, albeit slightly eager expression. “Which one of them do you think is stronger?”

“They’re not going to fight,” said Sean, his dark eyes locked onto the two youths as he prepared to watch the forthcoming scene play out. “Just be patient and watch.”

Everyone grew silent within the windless, soundless glade.

“Come on, Ian,” Nolan eventually said through a focused frown. “The crowd’s getting antsy.” It was indescribably more difficult to maintain the defensive martial skill when engaging with others in any manner, though at this point he was just barely able to manage it.

“If you say so.” The golden-eyed boy took a deep breath and then regarded Nolan with a serious look.

“Good lad,” called an exuberant voice. “Be sure to put some force behind it!”

“Damn ghost…”

“Get ready, Nolan. I’m going to lay one right into your stomach!”

Suddenly nervous, a gentle haze of pale green light began to arise around Nolan, signs of instability in the technique’s execution. Gentle energy from the Millennial Ring quickly soothed his mind and set his nerves at ease, the light dissipating within moments so that it was only visible to his mind’s eye as a translucent set of impermeable armour.

Ian’s fist hammered into his gut at almost the exact instant that he finished speaking, as the powerful boy was able to close the short distance between them in a single instant. Nolan stood firmly in place with no intent to dodge, his mind straining under the sole focus of maintaining his newly learned martial skill. He was literally lifted off of his feet and sent summersaulting backwards through the air like a poorly thrown football. The arch that he drew wasn’t gentle, though he only flew at about eye-level and covered perhaps five metres. He almost smacked his front against the ground upon impact, but deftly threw out his arms and eased into a push up position so that he landed with a semblance of grace. He took a deep breath and deactivated the martial skill, climbing to his feet with calm surprise as he rubbed at his stomach, which was a bit sore after the recent strike.

“Are you okay, Nolan?”

“I’m fine.” He shrugged Ian off with an appreciative smile. “Damn, I hardly felt that.”

“Truly? I only used about half of my strength, but still…”

“Let’s do it again, and this time go all out.”

“I told you, there’s a chance that I might seriously injure you.”

“When one of your friends asks you to hit them, just do it. Next time I piss you off, just think about the punch and you’ll feel better. These chances don’t come around often, man.”

Ian wore a complicated expression which soon gave way to one of frustration. “This is an awkward position that you’re putting me in. You’re kind of pissing me off right now, to be honest,” he laughed.

“Then send it!”

Nolan covered himself with another layer of ‘emerald skin’ and then braced himself yet again, his stance one of endurance. He managed to stay on his feet this time around, and was only knocked a few metres back despite the sharp increase in the force behind the strike. He’d locked his legs and resisted against the attack to see if he could take it without budging, though Ian’s hits were much more heavy-handed than anticipated.

“Ah I’m feeling that one,” Nolan said as he hopped up and down to hype himself up. “Let’s do it again.”