"First off, to get by in Heidas and not get treated like trash, you need power. How do you gain that power? Cultivation.

Cultivation is the process of absorbing different-affinity Qi using various techniques in order to make oneself stronger. The farther one progresses in cultivation, the stronger they grow. And, if you reach the pinnacle, you become unrivaled in the world.

But besides cultivation, other methods exist to make oneself stronger. For example, body tempering is a technique outside of cultivation that strengthens the body without affecting the Qi or soul. Qi augmentation and soul enhancement techniques are the two other methods. Think about it like this: cultivation is something that strengthens all three aspects of oneself, but each to a lesser individual degree. Reaching a certain level in cultivation would grant the same body strength as reaching a lower level in body tempering, but reaching that level in body tempering would make it so that the Qi and soul was weaker than what would happen with the level in cultivation. Essentially, either of the three methods of body tempering, Qi enhancement, and soul augmentation, are the fastest way to increase the level of progress for that specific aspect, and the tradeoff is that the other aspects are not increased. These three methods are also incredibly useful for becoming unrivalled within your level and even being able to go against those with a higher cultivation. If you want to be underestimated, these methods are also useful, because it is far easier to measure someone's simple cultivation than their progress in body tempering, soul enhancement, or Qi augmentation.

Besides those three alternate processes, battle techniques can also help one's prowess in battle, although in a different way. Often consuming Qi, battle techniques are ways that one can use their Qi more efficiently for a burst of power. They are separated into four categories: Attack, defense, movement, and utility. Also, they are restricted by their affinities, meaning that an Earth-affinity warrior cannot use a Fire-affinity technique, no matter how hard they try. Affinities are additionally better at certain categories. For example, the Wind affinity's movement techniques are far better than those of the Earth affinity, and the Fire affinity's offensive techniques are easily more powerful than Water affinity offensive techniques.

All of the previously stated techniques, cultivation, body tempering, soul enhancement, Qi augmentation, and battle techniques, are all divided into the same categories. Hollow, Mortal, True, Earth, Heaven, and there are rumors of a grade above that one, called the Ancestral grade.Each grade is divided into four levels, with the lowest being Low grade, after that the Middle grade, then High grade, then Peak grade. As the grade and level increases, the value also increases, exponentially. For example, our clan has plenty of Low-level to High-level Hollow grade techniques, but then at the Peak level and above, we have very few. When you get to a certain level, you also can pick up a few battle techniques and specialized inprovement tehcniques, if you are so inclined.

But I forget the true foundations. First off, what is Qi? What is the soul? What do they do?

Qi is the energy of heaven and earth. It can be used for battle techniques, body tempering, and other miraculous things, such as pill forming. Qi also has various affinities. The most known are Wind, Water, Fire, Earth, Light, Darkness, Life, Death. There are also rarer affinities, such as your affinity, the Force affinity, and the Spatial affinity, among others. You will encounter them in your future study material. Qi is extremely profound, and people spend lifetimes only to comprehend part of it.

The soul is even harder to understand. We hpothessize that it is what controls Qi. It is the soul that grants those inexplicable senses all have, the feeling we have for danger, the awareness we have for the view of others. Through the countless time spent and the countless experimentation of our ancestors, the Spirit Fox clan has various Soul Enhancmenet techniques that would be considered pricless in the outside world. It is what we specialize in, after all. Strengthening the soul holds many benefits, such as a sharper mind, faster reflexes, longer memory, and more perceptive senses, as well as many easily unnoticed boons.

There are also realms and levels in cultivation, but those will come later.

Now, any questions?"

With that extremely long lecture that was extremely educational, Qian Feng reeled for a second, overwhelmed by the new wealth of info.

"Yeah, I have one. What now?" Qian Feng asked, curious. What would he undergo? How would he grow stronger?

"Now, I hand you over to the Iron Fox, who shall train you. For three years. It's gonna be great!"