"There are four main paths: Body, Spirit, Elemental core, and Qi core. However, it is important to remember that these are only the broad options the System grants as a guide; there are infinite ways to gain power. There are also, unfortunately, infinite ways for those paths to kill you, corrupt you, disfigure you, or corrupt anyone around you, so they are the safest and known methods of cultivation. If you wish to cultivate a different path, feel free to do so at your own risk and expense." Guanji gave him some intense eye contact with raised brows and only stopped when Gareth acknowledged his warning.

  "So the four main paths are, like, the System endorsed paths, and the others are bootleg paths?"

  "Exactly. While the System chiefly acts as a guide and facilitator, it has the ability to enact some changes in your body. When you advance your skill mastery, it helps your body with muscle memory: hence the skill mastery aspect of the System, which we will get into later. Another phenomenon in which the System directly interacts with the body itself is when a mother gives birth. The System will take hold of the inherent mana within a child and 'freeze it' so that the child is unable to control the mana and accidentally hurt themselves. This lock lasts until the age of twenty, for humans. The System acts simply as a catalyst for positive change, it cannot randomly grant gifts nor can it save your life in any measurable way. It acts as record keeper, facilitator, and to a very limited extent, as guide."

  Gareth made some notes. He found that the quill pen was frustratingly difficult to master.

  “If you wish, you are able to cultivate all four paths simultaneously. This is inadvisable, as it would put tremendous strain on your body and soul - nevermind the financial cost of all those cultivation resources. The body strain might not be a problem for you given your immortality, but based on the description of your Talent, you only seem to be physically immortal. Your soul is very much still vulnerable and may be damaged should an imbalance occur."

  Gareth seemed shocked by this news, "So I can still die if someone destroys my soul?"

  His blue eyes were widened not in horror, but with hope. There was a way out if shit went sideways. There always had been. Now just comes the question, how does one destroy a soul?

  "Indeed. Spiritual cultivators will use aura attacks to weaken or destroy your soul. You must be most weary of spiritual cultivators, though they are luckily scarce enough that it should not pose too large a danger." Before Gareth could follow up and ask why they were so scarce, Guanji moved on.

  “You have chosen Elemental core cultivation as your main path. Different from the Body and Soul paths, because they involve improving the body and soul through essence, while the core paths function with the meridians and dantian, channeling and storing mana. I personally feel Body cultivation has the highest potential for you, as your Talent removes a large majority of the risk associated with this form of cultivation. I will now convince you as to my reasoning:

  Body cultivation involves you absorbing pure essence from beast cores, then refining that essence, and infusing it into the cells of your body. Essence, in all its various forms, causes inorganic matter to become organic, and take on a life of its own. In some circles it is also known as Chaos mana, because its effects are largely random and can have uncontrollable consequences on beasts and cultivators: hence the biodiversity of the wilds. As you grow and cultivate this essence it will: strengthen the base functionality of each cell, introduce new cell organelles, create new organs suited to a certain function, and streamline each system of your body to optimal functionality. You will become faster, stronger, smarter, more durable, larger and heavier. With time you will not require sleep, food, water, or even air.”

  Gareth stopped making notes to stare at him in flabbergasted awe, "WHAT?! Nah man, you gotta be trippin'. I know I've seen some shit since I got to this world, but that sounds insane! How is it even possible?"

  “Tiān wú jué rén zhī lù. Everything is possibly through cultivation. To cultivate this essence, you must first know ‘how’ essence itself functions, and how it interacts with your body."

  Gareth started on a new page, made a heading titled 'Essence', and drew a picture of a little firework with flexed arms on either side.

  "Essence, when compared to other types of energy such as mana, is not as reactive to change from one state of matter…to another. Like Ice turning to water then to steam. Meaning that it requires larger concentrations of essence, placed under greater amounts of pressure, for a change of state to occur. This means that: from level 1 to 9 you will infuse each cell of your body with a safe amount of essence. This will acclimate your body to pure essence and each organic system will evolve a way to accommodate this essence: hence the bloodlines. You will start off as tier 0, and once you pass level 10 you will be considered tier 1. During level 1- 9 you will see some bodily improvement but the essence is still only tier 1: weak and somewhat diluted. The traits and abilities of your bloodlines will not be as powerful as when you pass the threshold to Tier 1.

  The moment you hit level 10 there is enough essence in your body, under enough cultivated pressure, for the essence to undergo a shift in state and become something...more. This is called many things: evolution, ascension, but the most commonly used term is Bloodline Awakening."

  Gareth wanted to say how that sounded sick as fuck, but remembered that he was in a professional environment and didn't know Guanji that well. He thought it, though.

  “Now, it is important to remember that Life essence brings about evolution and change in biological creatures, but it is largely undirected. It is therefore one of the most dangerous paths to cultivate, because your cells could metastasize, undergo apoptosis, develop a hostile organelle, or develop an organ incompatible with other bodily functions."

  This time Gareth's look of horror couldn't be suppressed and Guanji hurried to explain, though he never seemed flustered, "The System largely mitigates this danger by controlling the Awakening in its own designated temples, but it drastically reduces the strength of whatever mutation and bloodline you might awaken. It will guide the process, similar to training wheels, but just like riding a bicycle with training wheels it will lessen the experience of true cultivation.

  "You could choose to Awaken outside of a System temple, but the chances of evolving a deadly mutation are approximately 50%. The risk is worthwhile to some, as the bloodline and mutation is always stronger. There is a final option: to ascend within the domain of an Elder creature or god. Due to their nature and the strength of their Intents: if you Awaken within their temples the mortality rate goes up to 80%. Conversely, the awakened bloodlines and mutations are extraordinarily strong. Since you cannot die, allegedly, this path should be most beneficial, as you will have all of the benefits and none of the risks accompanying evolving outside of a System temple. Do you have any questions so far?"

  Gareth had been diligently making notes, but it was still a lot to absorb. Nevertheless, he had one or two questions, "What are meridians, and are they also improved by Body cultivation?"

  Guanji seemed pleased and raised his dark brows in praise, "Very good question. Meridians are like veins within your body that can channel mana. It is important to understand that our biological matter, our cells and DNA, are damaged by these types of mana. However, the flesh a meridian consists of a flesh that is resistant to mana, able to channel it like veins transport blood."

  Gareth was floored that Guanji even knew about cells, organelles, even DNA, because their society seemed to medieval. He only vaguely knew about these topics because he'd helped his sister study these things for her biology test. She'd been the only one in their family to actually attend school. Maybe it was because cultivation was such a central part of their society that it was a highly researched field?

  Guanji continued answering Guanji's question, "Meridians, and the location in your body where you will store your gathered mana, your Dantian, are extremely resistant to mana damage and can grow to accommodate a single type of mana. Similar to how your skin shields your fragile DNA from the destructive rays of Sol. If you channel too much mana, you may overcome the resistance your meridians have for mana, and you will damage them: causing scar tissue to accumulate, thereby blocking the channel and crippling yourself. Meridians are involved with the core cultivation arts, but can be influenced by body cultivation, though it is rare."

  "Hectic." Gareth muttered in the brief pause Guanji gave him to frantically write down some notes. He had to make an entirely new heading on a different page.

  When Gareth looked up, Guanji continued.

  "On to the second part of your question. Yes, they can be improved through Body cultivation, hence why people often cultivate two paths that compliment one another. Yet, it is important to remember that to cultivate two paths requires the resources of two paths, making it expensive in the later stages to keep cultivating separate paths. Most cultivators will use the resources available in their environment to choose their path, but nothing in life is that simple, especially not cultivation. Nobles have an inherent bias towards elemental cultivation, priests to spiritual, crafters to Qi, and warriors to body. Just because those paths compliment their available resources, occupation, and fighting style. Though this is not set in stone. You are physically capable of cultivating all four paths, but an imbalance might occur in the later stages that could kill you." Guanji paused again to give Gareth some more time to think.

  “This is the first time you mention an imbalance between the paths, what do you mean by that?"

  Guanji leaned slightly back and looked to the sky (ceiling), trying to frame his answer correctly. "To cultivate a path/dao, you resolve mentally that your main path is strongest and cannot waver. Mana and essence are influenced by a person's beliefs, thoughts, and Intents, which is how we manipulate, channel, and cultivate this energy. When your conviction in your main path falters, and your secondary path grows stronger than the first, the energy within can lose its cohesion. It will rampage throughout your body, causing great harm, and in time, it may shatter your cultivation entirely." Guanji, stood to make them both a cup of tea from the tea table to the side of the room. He spoke as he did so, though Gareth could tell he'd the old guy was talking now, more than lecturing.

  "Spiritual cultivation is likewise challenging because it requires immense introspection; awareness of one’s purpose, awareness of one's-self, and acknowledgement of one’s flaws. A person must fully trust in their body or spirit’s dominance, for it to remain cohesive.

  Think of body cultivation as the walls of the room we are in, and spiritual cultivation as water filling a portion of the room. It is theoretically possible to completely fill this room with water, thereby indicating that the two paths are of equal strength. However, the moment an earthquake shakes the world, the walls will not be able to hold the combined weight of the roof and the flooded contents of the room. They will collapse; spilling water all over the place.

  If instead the walls are strengthened, and the room is only partially filled, you may gain the benefits of both paths, in addition to decreased danger. This is why I want your main path of cultivation to be Body cultivation. You might hit bottlenecks in your other paths that cannot be overcome, but Body cultivation will always be safer with your immortality. Do you concur?”

  “I do. If there was one thing I’ve learnt, it's that my body can recover from almost anything. If Body cultivation is the best, then I don't mind doing that.”

  “Excellent! It is, in my humble opinion, the most under-utilised path that a person can take!”

  He took a slow sip of his tea to water his mouth and waved his hand in a philosophical way.

  “I digress, we have drifted down an important, but impertinent, line of discussion. Let us start with Body cultivation since that is your main path. Are you ready to continue?"

  Gareth nodded. This subject, while complicated because he had no clue about some of the things mentioned, was immensely interesting. He was learning how the very fundamentals of this world worked and it was by its nature, magical. He couldn't help but be interested.

  Stolen story; please report.

  I’m learning magic! – He yelled internally, excited like a kid at a sword shop.

  "You now know how essence functions. Yet, to ‘cultivate’ will not be as simple as ‘pushing rampant mana into your body and hoping for the best’. There is a purpose, and there are various methods."

  He reached behind his back and, like a magician, when his hand returned he suddenly held a golf-ball sized glowing blue pearl.

  Compared to the blood-red and disturbing core of the Oni, this one was beautiful. It had a calming blue luminescence that resembled a Bahamian blue ocean.

  "This is the core of a tier 1 Ocean Monitor."

  He tossed it to Gareth, who nearly fumbled the catch.

  "There are many ways to ingest them, but the simplest, and proper way to do so, is to swallow it."

  "This big thing?"

  "Haha! Our bodies crave its essence, the natural intent it commands will soften the mana structure around…” He stopped mid-sentence, got a contemplative look on his face, and shrugged.

  “Your body makes it soft to swallow.” He finished lamely when he saw a lost look in Gareth’s eyes. “It will feel like taking a particularly large gulp of water."

  "Oh, I’ll give it a whirl."

  Gareth shrugged and moved to swallow the thing but Guanji's eyes widened and, quicker than Gareth could blink, grabbed Gareth's arm.

  "Stop! Like I said, you aren't just swallowing it and throwing essence at your body! There is a process."

  Looking into his ruby eyes, Gareth once again realised just how alien their redness were, along with the slit pupil it made any command from Guanji all the more overbearing.

  Guanji paused long enough for him to see that his words had sunk in, before he moved back to where he was sitting and folded his legs.

  "When you absorb this essence, you must close your eyes and meditate. I saw from your status page that you are already at Apprentice 5 with mediation. A commendable feat. However, I am unfamiliar with your method of meditation, and will therefore teach you the commonly accepted method taught to me by my master. So, close your eyes."

  Gareth did so, unsure what was going to happen next.

  "Body meditation starts simply: become aware of the body.

  Step one: Start by moving your mental attention to the tip of your nose. Ask yourself and make a conscious decision to feel: what is your nose sensing? Is it cold? Itchy? Warm? Or is there no feeling at all? The goal is not to feel something specific, but to become aware of the parts of your body that your mind is used to ignoring. Then, I want you to consciously relax and release the tension in your nose."

  Gareth's eyes snapped open and he looked at Guanji with scepticism, "Relax my nose?"

  Guanji just chuckled, used to getting that response, "Yes, relax your nose. Now hush and close your eyes."

  Sighing and slightly shaking his head Gareth closed his eyes and tried to relax his nose. It was hard to ignore his tingling hand that held the core. The concept of relaxing his nose sounded strange, but the moment he became aware of his nose and thought about relaxing it, he felt a very subtle release of tension.

  Raising his brows in surprise, but keeping his eyes closed, he asked, "That was pretty easy."

  Guanji chuckled lightly, "It is the simplest method of meditation. After your nose, move your mental focus to your brow, focus on its sensation and become aware of its hidden tension…"

  So Guanji went on. He had Gareth focus, become aware of, and relax his face, the top of his head, his entire head, his neck, his shoulders, his chest, his waist, until he had relaxed his entire body.

  It felt as if years of tension had just melted away, and Gareth took as deep a breath as he could, not feeling the tightness in his chest that he had grown so used to.

  Softly, and in a gentle tone so as not to break that relaxation, Guanji spoke up again, "Body awareness is only the first step of Body cultivation. Do not ingest the core, but this is normally the state you would be in before you ingest the core.

  Let us say you had just swallowed the core: focus on tracking the ball of essence with your mental focus, up until it reaches your stomach.

  Your stomach is your body's centre for breaking down food, and just like food, your body must first break down or 'imprint' the mana with your 'signature'. It will therefore be the first organ you must infuse with essence. We will speak on how to do that now, but I find this section is easier to comprehend if you understand the ultimate goal you are working towards.

  You will upgrade, in order, your:

  #1: Stomach, which includes your oesophagus, intestines, and pancreas

  #2: Liver and kidneys

  #3: Lungs

  #4: Heart

  #5: Blood, shortly followed by bone marrow

  #6: Bones

  #7: Muscles and tendons

  #8: Skin

  #9: Nerves and endocrine system, which will end with your brain. These also correspond with the first ten levels. You can only level and advance through your path by achieving these milestones. Once your brain is infused, the essence within your body will be abundant, and pressured enough for it to change state, and your aggregate Bloodline to awaken.

  If a person survives they will have reached level 10. Therefore, the ultimate goal is to infuse your entire body with essence. The first tier, level 1-10, is therefore called the Infusion tier, yet its popular nomenclature is tier 0, since you are still very-much mortal.

  The first proper tier 1, level 10-20, is where your body has already been infused, some of your organs may have received a trait, and the overall quality of your body is of a higher standard. Then, at tier 1, you infuse it again, hoping to strengthen the existing bloodline or awaken the second tier of that bloodline. The process is similar to the previous tier and you will essentially repeat all the steps of tier 0. Tier 2 is a different beast altogether, as you will have to infuse our body with essence AND mana in the body forging process. I am aware that you have already forged your body with Storm mana, congratulations."

  "Thank you."

  "It is a pleasure. Now, while you have partially forged your body with storm mana, this is still only a partial forging. True forging will change your body on a fundamental level. You will be able to manipulate your chosen element to some extent, not as much as an elemental cultivator, but still respectably enough to create new fighting or crafting techniques. Your current forging has allowed you to infuse your strikes with storm mana, but since it is only a partial forging your body will be damaged each time your do so. You will deal some damage, but you are very fragile."

  "Like a glass cannon."

  Gareth helpfully pointed out, though he only realised afterwards that Guanji likely didn't get the analogy.

  "Yes, but I have not heard this expression before. Usually cannons are known for their…sturdiness."

  He sounded unsure, but he was humouring Gareth.

  "You know what a cannon is?" Gareth asked in surprise. This civilization's technology seemed rather primitive, and he didn't think guns would be a thing.

  "Of course I know what a cannon is."

  "Then what is a cannon to you?" He replied almost snarkily, but there was an undercurrent of impish teasing.

  "A cannon is a large metal tube," tracks so far, "that you can load with specific types of mana," cool, magic cannons, "which fire spells to frighten away gigafauna." It fires spells, to fright….to frighten away what?!

  "What are gigafauna?!" He asked, his voice somewhat shrill.

  Guanji furrowed his brows in confusion and tilted his head, "Extremely large creatures. You must have wondered why the city's walls were so high? Here, in the wilds, at the edge of the known empire, gigafauna still roam the land, and they are so powerful that all we can do is ‘chase them away’. They normally precede a beast tide."

  "Hectic…" Gareth said with wide eyes, somewhat breathless at the idea that those walls were for creatures large enough to attempt attacking a city alone. They were basically kaiju. What sort of world is this?

  "Are you ready to continue?" Guanji asked patiently. Gareth went for a quick bathroom break and to refill their tea cups. When he sat down, Guanji repeated the question.

  "Ye-hgm- yes, I am, thank you." He coughed lightly and dipped his quill once again.

  Two hours later

  "In the coming levels you will awaken your base bloodlines. Bloodlines are not equal. A dragon bloodline will always trump a mouse bloodline in a straight fight, but it is how those bloodlines are used that define the strength of a cultivator. Where do bloodlines come from? Scholars are unsure, but they theorise that it came from interbreeding with beasts that have gained a human form."

  "Hah! I-I'm almost glad that furries are a thing in this world. At least it provides some sense of familiarity." Gareth joked, though spent the next ten minutes explaining what furries were. Guanji was confused, so quickly moved on.

  "Once again, the location in which you decide to awaken a bloodline is very important, as some cultivators who awaken within a System temple will infuse the organ, but never awaken a bloodline, leaving them fundamentally weaker than their contemporaries. This balances out somewhat, as very few people actually awaken outside of a System temple. The general population of tier 1s have an average of four bloodlines. I theorise that if all your awakenings occur beyond a System temple, you will be fundamentally more powerful than your average cultivator."

  "That's all fine and dandy, but what is a bloodline even?" Gareth asked.

  "Bloodlines grant Traits - which are passively active at all times - and Abilities - which must be activated. Each bloodline will grant at least one Trait, or one Ability, depending once more on where the awakening occurred. Traits and Abilities at tier 0 are almost always internal: like..." Guanji waved his hand in thought, trying to lure the thought to the foreground, "poison resistance, or light footedness. There are two types of bloodlines: Inner and outer.

  Inner mutations are not externally visible and take the form of Ability specific organs like poison glands. External changes include scales, fur, slime, wings, gills, eye changes, teeth changes."

  As Guanji spoke, Gareth became more and more excited until he heard the word ‘slime’. He quickly recoiled in disgust and scrunched up his mouth.

  "I don't want a slimy skin." He blurted out impulsively.

  If there is the possibility that I get slimy skin, I would rather not cultivate this path at all.

  Guanji rolled his eyes but smirked as if this was a reaction he received often, "These changes are brought upon by essence taking form; and just how we can manipulate essence during the infusion process, we can withdraw the essence into an internal well. Unfortunately bloodline expressions, like wings, can only be retracted once you reach tier 3. This will revert your appearance to more human-like. Do not fret about slime skin, it is rare and not as repulsive as one might think. There are even some brothels that charge a premium for slime skinned women."

  "I'll have to take your word for that." Gareth said, but didn’t look very convinced.

  "You will have to experience it yourself; brothels are a hub for information exchange. If you are serious about becoming a Protector, then you must get your hands dirty and do what is necessary for information about your rivals." Guanji looked like he was having a laugh, but had this weirdly serious glint in his eyes.

  "Listen Guanji-"

  "Master Guanji."

  "Sorry. Listen, master Guanji, I have no problem going to brothels. That's not what the problem is. The problem is that I don't want to have sex with a slime covered lady of the night."

  "Perfectly understandable. No one is forcing you to, you just need to realise that unpleasant things might have to be done to secure the safety of your charge."

  "I understand." Gareth said and nodded, he truly did understand. God knows he had done some unpleasant things to secure illicit information.

  "Moving along swiftly." Guanji said and moved on to the next topic, "What does it mean to infuse your body with essence?” He asked rhetorically. “It means that you take the smallest amount of essence that you are able, I'm talking not even half a unit of mana, and you run it along the inside of your stomach, until that mana has run dry. Like you would smear butter on toast. The very cells of your body crave this essence, so will absorb it greedily, but you must stay in control as your cells are unable to absorb large amounts of essence. You will therefore have to gradually ‘smear’ – for lack of a better term – mana all over the specific organ. Then, just like smearing butter, as you spread, it will even out. You will then have to venture back to your internal well, your stomach, and repeat the process until your well either runs dry, or your organs' cells have acclimated."

  "What will happen if a cell gets too much essence?"

  "Your cells would be overfilled, like an overstuffed wineskin, and burst. This is why it is a careful and slow process. Now of course, your immortality would keep you alive and you would regenerate the cells, but they would just burst again and again and again. You must do so slowly, until the entire organ is flush with essence, and then you move on to the next organ. It is a slow process and requires a surprisingly large amount of essence. Any questions so far?”

  "Is the change in power from tier to tier really so big?" Gareth asked. He inferred that, if the System needed information to guide the tier-up and not just let it do its own thing, that it might have a heavy impact on how powerful the change is.

  "Oh-yes, each subsequent tier is exponentially more power than the previous tier. It would take ten tier 1's to take on one tier 2; ten tier 2's for one tier 3; and so on and so forth. The gap is large, but not insurmountable through talent, luck, preparation, and most important of all... hard work to achieve skill mastery. There is a large difference between being able to unleash one massive spell, but be unable to hit anything with it. You must work hard to find a technique that you enjoy, so that it is a pleasure to work hard towards improving it."

  Gareth nodded, it made sense, but a lot of what Guanji was saying was going over Gareth's head.

  Guanji saw in Gareth's aura and eyes that he had reached information saturation, so it was time for him to put his learning into practice.