Niva skimmed through her sect manual the next morning.

….the next step is to take the essence stored inside your body and move it through your meridians.

Feel the connection between the essence inside you and yourself. Then guide it towards the area below your navel, your dantian, and let it all converge. When you finish, you will experience the difference immediately.…

Closing the book, Niva fell into the lotus position inside her bedroom.

Feel the connection between myself and my essence? Niva thought. What did that mean? She intuitively understood that it required more effort than what she did yesterday because, at that time, the essence entered her body on its own. However, now she needed to control it.

Despite her confusion, Niva kept trying to connect with her essence. She certainly felt something, but nothing substantial happened, so she eventually gave up on the endeavor.

Shuffling towards her window, Niva thought it through.

What connection existed between her and her essence? Did she even own it in the first place? For example, could a more powerful cultivator access the essence inside her body and stop it from moving?

The answers eluded her. Instead of fretting about it, though, she packed her bag and prepared for her Physical cultivation class. Hopefully, her subconscious would figure it out.

When Niva envisioned a top-tier cultivator who focused on physicality, she saw a hulking brute whose muscles bulged with veins; his steps made the earth below him tremble and his very presence brought fear into the hearts of lesser men.

Elder Kiri looked decrepit.

Wrinkles covered his eyes, which made the Elder look blind. His grey hair also did nothing to help his image. However, the biggest let-down to Niva was that his steps did not make the slightest sound whatsoever. Instead, they were more silent than a dead Spirit Beast's howl.

And why is he shirtless? Niva thought.

Elder Kiri's chest did not rise or fall, and if the man hadn’t introduced himself, Niva would've thought him either a statue or dead.

All of this made Elder Kiri radiate weakness. But, as Niva studied him more closely, her heart started to pound in her chest. And soon, even sweat dripped down her forehead. Based on the expressions of the other disciples, her instincts weren't the only one screaming.

Elder Kiri looked over the disciples. “All of you have yet to form your dantian.”

Niva blinked. That came across as a statement. Could he sense all their cultivation levels?

“The dantian," Elder Kiri said, seemingly oblivious to Niva’s confusion, “is the seat of power located under the navel within the body. Without it, you can’t begin to strengthen the physical body with essence.

"Do not be discouraged, however. Cultivation of the body starts with a solid foundation built from technique and exercise. Therefore, until most of you form your dantian, the class will focus on martial arts and strength training.”

“Before we begin, are there any questions?”

One of the disciples raised their hand.

Oh, she takes Physical Cultivation as well, Niva thought when she saw Tia.

“Yes?” Elder Kiri said.

“How exactly are we going to use essence to strengthen our bodies?” Tia asked.

“That is explained in the Sect’s cultivation manual,” Elder Kiri said, giving Tia a deadpan stare. “However, the short of it is that you will infuse your muscles with essence while you are exercising. As you exercise, your muscles tire, and then you pour essence into them.”

"Thank you, Elder."

“Any more questions?”

No one raised their hand.

“Good. Then let’s start with something simple.”

“Twenty laps around the training field.” That caused many of the disciples, Niva included, to make an ugly face. What the Elder called a training field amounted to an enormous nondescript rectangle with sand covering it entirely. A single lap at average speed would take around 3 minutes, which meant that he wanted them to run for an hour.

One of the disciples whispered what many most likely thought. “He can’t even run thirty laps himself.”

A quick glance in the offender’s direction told Niva of the students’ Central Territories origin. His custom training tunic, with a dagger symbol engraved on it, was a dead giveaway.

Contrary to her expectation, the Elder didn’t even look the disciple’s way. This resulted in visible confusion appearing on the faces of the disciples who heard the comment. If they had heard it, then so had the Elder. Did he not care about being disrespected?

Elder Kiri taking a seated position on the ground did nothing to clarify the situation. So, despite their unwillingness, the group eventually started running. No one wanted to get barred from the Elder’s lesson.

Eight laps remained, but Niva felt like she still needed to run the full twenty.

She only drew shallow breaths. Moreover, Solune rained terror down upon them, like a storm hawk in the middle of a frenzy, and her soft-leather moccasins were no running shoes, so every step felt like stepping on the spike of a hedgehog.

More disciple shared in her sorry state, though. She briefly saw Dino and his roommate when they passed her some time ago, and their wide eyes signaled their immediate departure out of this world. They looked so ghastly that their visage gave her more energy.

Leaving any further complaining for later, Niva pushed herself to finish the last few rounds. Immediately after she completed her task, she collapsed on the ground next to Tia. They were one of the only ones truly beat since most of the group had quit midway through. The many disciples on the sidelines, freely chatting among themselves, presenting the evidence.

The Elder saying nothing to the quitters, combined with the wrinkles that covered his eyes, made Niva question if the Elder truly watched them.

“Good,” the Elder said. He got out of his seated position on the ground right as the last person stopped running.

"Now that you are all properly warmed up, we're going to start with the basics of martial arts. Before I allow any of you to touch a weapon, you'll need to learn how to use your own body-"

“What?!” said the same disciple as before in outrage. “Why would we learn to use our bodies? We'll be using a weapon for the rest of our lives."

Niva’s looked like she bit something sour as she prepared herself mentally. A difference existed between whispering something, thinking the Elder incapable of hearing it, and blatantly disrespecting him in his face. Surely, Elder Kiri would murder the disciple.

However, her jaw dropped when the Elder next spoke.

“If you want to do something else, nothing is stopping you. You don't have to follow my instructions at all," the Elder said, shrugging nonchalantly.

The disciples stared at the Elder en masse.

“Decide right now,” Elder Kiri said. “Either follow my instructions or do your own thing. I’ll even give you a part of the field for your use, together with everybody else that wants to join you. However, do know that should you choose to stay, I will punish any further mockery immediately.

“What’s it going to be?”

Searching for support, the disciple looked around him, but the students in his vicinity distanced themselves from him. His features turned ugly as an increasing number of disciples refused to meet his eyes. Thus, while making no motion to leave, he bit his lip and said nothing else.

“No backbone at all,” the Elder said, and he let out a scoff that made the sand below him scatter into the air.

Niva heard the disciple’s teeth gnash in response, but he quickly turned his head downwards.

Elder Kiri let out a well-worn sigh. “I only give this speech because the sect requires it of me. But know this, every year I get another set of cubs from the Central Territories like you.”–Niva detected a tinge of sadness in the Elder’s voice–“All of whom believe themselves destined for greatness.”

“Those thoughts,” Elder Kiri said, “usually vanish on their first day at the frontier. When they die.”

All the disciples perked up at that statement.

“Because your clans provided you with safety and comfort, you forgot our plight. You will be reminded of it soon enough.

“If you absorb one thing from my lessons, let it be this: your privilege means nothing to a demon spawn inside the Infested Lands. That is, they will slaughter you like a pig. As a result, should we recover your body, your mother won’t even recognize you.”

The Elder struck a majestic image as he finished his rant. Holding his hands behind his back, a chilly northwest wind blew through the clearing that rustled his skirt, and Niva felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up. Finally, Niva understood what her instincts had tried to tell her the entire time; the Elder’s presence demanded reverence.

“All I am is a retired general. There is no need to listen to the ramblings of this old man since your death won’t affect me.”

Many faces turned introspective, and an image of a farmer that dutifully worked the fields in Crayton entered Niva’s mind.

The Elder faced the disciples again. “The Sect head asked me to train you whelps, so you can be slightly more useful than a meat shield once you go out there. Whether or not you listen to me does not concern me.”

Niva gulped. Elder Kiri somehow managed to fix all of them with a stare even though wrinkles covered his eyes.

“Back to the matter at hand. We will start with hand-to-hand combat and grappling. Once I deem the group level high enough, we turn to weapons.

“Pick a partner and spread out over the field.”

With not a chirp escaping them, the group of disciples formed pairs when the Elder finished speaking.

Giving Tia a questioning look, Niva walked up to her. In response, the nomad sauntered up to her, after which they both made a half-bow.

“Everyone,” Elder Kiri said. “Observe."

Elder Kiri motioned over one of the disciples for a demonstration. “We start with grappling humans before we move on to quadrupeds.”

"The most impactful form of hand-to-hand combat is wrestling. If your opponent doesn’t know how to throw a kick, but you do, that increases your chances of winning. However, not substantially.

“On the other hand, if you know how to wrestle and your opponent doesn’t, you will win nine out of ten times. Reason being that all of their leg-based and hand-based martial arts become useless if you get them on the ground.”

Makes sense, Niva thought. Someone could most likely get her on the ground if they decided to rush her without thinking of the consequences.

The Elder positioned himself in front of the volunteer disciple.

“First, the simplest takedown that there is.”

Keeping his arms in front of his face, Elder Kiri bent his lower body and slowly moved his upper body closer to the disciple's knees. After he lowered to the required height, he wrapped one arm around the disciples’ knee from the back while the other arm grabbed his calf.

The Elder straightened, holding the disciple’s foot up with both arms.

“From here–” the volunteer disciple hopped on one leg to keep his balance–“I can do any number of things to throw him down. By far the easiest way, however, is to place one foot behind his grounded leg and pull him sideways.”

Doing exactly that, the Elder controlled the volunteer’s descent and released his leg afterward.

“Repeat this move fifteen times. But be careful. If you hurt your partner, you won’t get a replacement.”

After Elder Kiri finished his demonstration, the disciples reenacted his throw slowly while he walked around to give pointers.

Turning towards Tia, Niva asked: “Did you follow all of that?”

“Yep. I’ve done this before, so just try what you think is right. I’ll give you some tips during the entire thing.”

Niva nodded and tried to replicate the Elder’s stance. Niva was taller than most girls her age; Tia formed no exception. Since she was a full two-heads taller, she would have to lower herself quite a bit during the movement. As she did, she bumped into something hard.

“Although the takedown is straightforward, don’t forget to keep your hands in front of your face. Otherwise, you’ll meet my knee head-on. Try again but make yourself small this time.”

Niva reprimanded herself mentally. Silly mistake. I noticed the Elder doing it, too.

She followed Tia’s advice, repeated the attempt, and righted herself after her hand wrapped around the back of Tia’s knee and calf.

“Good. However, you didn’t wrap your entire arm around my knee.” Tia placed her hands on Niva’s shoulders before she swung her leg back with some force to make Niva lose the hold on her foot.

“If you wrap your entire arm around it, then I can’t get it free so easily.”

Niva tried again. Tia didn’t comment, so Niva assumed she finally got the hold right.

"Be gentle," Tia said, and she gave her best innocent-virgin-maiden impression.

“Pfft.” Niva burst out laughing. Tia’s muscular build combined with her tattoos made the entire thing more comical than it should be.

Wiping a tear from her eye, she readjusted her grip on Tia’s calf. Next, she placed her right leg behind Tia’s free one and pulled sideways. Niva miscalculated, though, and Tia impacted the ground harder than she intended.

“Shit, sorry–”

“Don’t sweat it,” Tia said, having used her hands to break the fall a little. “I’ve had worse.”

Niva’s eyebrows lowered, her tone softening as she helped Tia up. “You mentioned that. How long have you been training for?”

"Most nomadic folks are taught how to fight at an early age. That said, I believe I started at six.”

Niva whistled. She knew other children in her city who trained martial arts from a young age, but six was extremely young. “My father had me practice with what was essentially a barn stick for two years. Before that, I only read books and practiced meditation.”

“Isn’t that banned, though? Can’t you accidentally absorb essence while you practice?”

“What I did differed greatly from actual meditation,” Niva said, shaking her head. “My mother taught me how to focus my attention so that entering a meditative state for the first time would be easier.”

“Simple things,” Niva said, “like staring at a candle for hours without moving or praying to a symbolic statue without thinking of other things.”

Tia made an ugly face. “That sounds incredibly boring.”

Niva shrugged. “It doesn’t only sound that way.”

“Stop yapping,” Elder Kiri said, “and continue practicing.”

Alright. Let’s pay more attention to the descend this time.

Getting into her stance again, Niva prepared herself for another takedown.