Kiro sat outside the cave, trying to contain the sheer amount of information going through his brain. As Aer was currently working with Seira, she had offered him a jade slip to study in the meantime. What she hadn't offered was any warning as to how overwhelming using a jade slip would be. A thousand foreign voices floated through his head, each demanding his attention as they shouted different tenants of cultivation.

First, pull mana from the air…

There should be no impurities left in the subject…

The legendary fourth stage of Foundation Establishment...

The opposing aspects will war inside the cultivator's body…

Mercy is no virtue of the powerful…

Purification, Condensation, Infusion, Formation…

The channeling should not affect the user…

He dropped the crystalline scroll, gasping for air. How long had he been sitting there? It had felt like hours, but judging from the sun’s position, it couldn’t have been too long. Unless time was different in this world too? No, it seemed normal — it had been dusk when he fell asleep.

He rubbed his temples. Despite all the information being shoved into his head, he didn’t remember a thing. Surely this wasn’t how people used jade slips?

He picked it back up, trying to figure out where he had gone wrong. All Aer had said was to channel mana into it… ah! Upon closer inspection, he noticed a small symbol on the butt of the scroll. He carefully pushed a wisp of mana into it, and words appeared in his mind.

The Cultivation Manual of The Sect of Endless Storms (modified) - Written by Alaric of Din

Chapter 1 - The Basics

Fundamentally, mana has four distinct uses — conjuring, manipulation, imbuement, and as a source of power. Each and every technique utilizes some mix of these four (dare I say it?) *aspects*.

Let us start with an easy example. Channeling is, at its *core*, supplying energy to the channeled area and temporarily imbuing it with certain beneficial properties. Then, to go from smooth channeling to a shroud, you simply add a bit of excess creation to the mix. (To see the various uses of shrouds compared to smooth channeling, see page 457.)

The majority of the techniques taught by The Sect of Endless Storms do not implement conjuring, as air is naturally available in nearly every context. Thus, we are able to devote more mana to the actual execution of techniques. (To see an example of a technique that uses creation, see page 788.)

Now, before you go off and try to create a dozen techniques using your newfound knowledge, it’s important to *establish a foundation*. The air slash is one of the most widely-used offensive techniques of The Sect…

***

Seira ducked under a blade of wind, lashing out at Aer with a whip of verdant fire. Before it could hit, though, the Saint stepped to the side, avoiding the flames by a hair’s breadth. Then, before she could follow up with another attack, a gust of wind blew in from her left, taking her off guard and slamming her into the floor.

Another gust picked her back up, and Aer brushed some dust off her shoulder. “Good! You’re getting more efficient with your techniques. If that whip would have connected, your opponent would have been distracted by the pain, which would allow you to get a stronger attack in. However, your energy is all directed forwards. That’s usually fine for when you’re attacking, but you need to be able to change your focus the instant you sense something coming. Again.”

They sparred once more, and this time she managed to avoid the first push of wind. She retaliated with a barrage of tiny flames, but they were instantly snuffed out by another breeze. Aer motioned for them to stop.

“Better with the awareness, but you’re starting to lag with your technique efficiency. Smaller isn't always better. Again.”

A few dozen tries later, she finally managed to land a blow.

A flurry of air slashes came towards her from different angles, but with the slightest amount of mana, she activated a shroud of regular flame, consuming the attacks for fuel. A moment later, she deactivated the technique and struck at the Saint with an emerald whip.

Aer sidestepped, and brought her palms together with a resounding clap. Seira ignored the incoming rush of air, finishing a technique she’d been working on since the beginning of the fight. A condensed bolt of green fire flew towards the Saint, blasting past the sonic wave and directly into her chest.

Seira let out a concerned squeak, but the technique impacted harmlessly on her master’s robes, not even leaving a scorch.

“Amazing!” Aer patted the spot where the bolt had struck, nodding approvingly. “You really are a fast learner, you know. I was expecting for this to take the better part of the day. Since we got done so early, why don’t we go bother your brother?”

***

Kiro let out a yawn, exiting the jade slip’s trance. Alaric of Din, for all his cultivation-themed wordplay, was quite knowledgeable when it came to anything mana-related. Even though he wasn’t able to use any of the techniques listed in the manual, he still felt like his combat ability had drastically improved.

For one, the passage on page 187 regarding air’s interaction with fire had given him a number of ideas for alchemical weapons. While not strictly cultivation-oriented, he reasoned that now that he was living his life as a mystic, he would need at least a few precious treasures to use in combat. Seira always walked around with a handful of talismans, so why couldn’t he go into battle with a full closet of bombs?

That wasn’t to say that he didn’t glean any cultivation-specific knowledge. He took a breath in, carefully observing the Hong clan’s passive cultivation technique. It relied entirely on the emptiness of his core to operate, which was inefficient in numerous ways. He took another breath, and this time he focused on the specks of fire mana in the air.

Countless wisps of mana were drawn in upon every inhale, only to stay there and do nothing until they were expelled out again. With a slight adjustment, he shifted his channels to collect some of that mana.

This was based off of the passive cultivation technique of the Sect of Endless Storms, and despite the aspect difference, it worked wonders. Once he read more of the manual, he’d be able to make some small tweaks to his technique in order to optimize it. He pulled out the jade slip, but a sudden force tackled him from the side.

"Surprise, Kiro! It's training time!"