Announcementspan>Howdy all, I'm back. I got caught in a st minute work trip and apparently working 12 hour days is not conducive to writing. Who knew? Anyway, welcome to the setup for the first soul rings, and a long discussion about how the power system is going to work.

  TL;DR:

  Spoilerspan>Everyone is born with the potential to have Innate full soul power. As you grow up, and your energies start awakening, they are uncontrolble and tend to damage the body (growing pains). By the age of 6, this has stabilized, and so the awakening ceremony is performed. When the body is damaged and healed by the chaotic energy, scar tissue is born that blocks interactions between soul power and the body. These impurities need to be cleared out at each major interaction point of the mind/body/soul (chakra points), so that the energies can flow better. Typical soul masters use extreme methods (fighting life and death battles) to remove impurities and awaken potential.

  Everyone has tent talents, and after clearing the chakra points, these awaken, but require resources to be consolidated. Typical soul masters bind the remnant soul of soul beasts to their chakra points, and this results in a forceful merge of the tent talent and the soul beast's remnant soul. This causes extra damage to the body, which will heal with more impurities, however by circuting the soul beast's cultivation and absorbing it, the path between the chakras is forcibly opened and solidified, like building walls out of the impurities.

  [colpse]

  Discimer: I do not own Soul Land or its associated characters

  As Jian sat down to begin his first cultivation attempt, he mentally reviewed the contents of the cultivation manual he had given to Ling'er, Cheng, and Xing'er. The first step was always to begin meditating, so that he could sense the energy in the air, and slowly pull it into himself, using his martial soul as a filter to keep out attributed energy that wouldn't be helpful to him. This was actually the most basic cultivation method, but one that worked very well. What most did afterwards was draw it into their dantian and refine it, allowing them to grow their soul power.

  Where his method differed from the norm was that he carefully used this energy to enter his body at the base of his spine, and probe along the pathway to map out his chakras. Once he had defined those nodes, he saw that while they all had soul power coursing through them, the first one was slightly different. It was more active than the others, and soul power was sloshing back and forth lightly, giving the impression that it was battering his body like waves battered the shore. He was excited, as this must be his body's natural cultivation method, and it gave him hope.

  The method he created involved finding these nodes, and inducing a vortex to form and grow. This would circute the energy within it, and by repcing the old with the new, keep the soul power from becoming stagnant. It would excite the node, and let it open further, while removing impurities from the body. Once the vortex formed, it would also naturally pull in some of his soul power through some of the meridians that were outward-flowing, and some of the new soul power would flow into his meridian network through the inward-flowing meridians. Once he identified this cycle, he could push the filtered soul power he gathered along these paths, slowly expanding his meridians through exercising them.

  There was nothing heaven-defying about this method. It was mostly exploratory, letting the soul master map out his meridians step by step and activating the chakra nodes as he or she encountered them. The process of slowly clearing out the impurities by refreshing the soul power in the body with new, filtered energy from the air was the entire basis. The reason he believed his family hadn't seen much progress in this practice was that the impurities had already calcified within their bodies through years of compression.

  Introducing new energy directly into their dantian instead of drawing it upwards had left them slightly stiff, and drawing in new energy didn't help much in clearing it out, as it was akin to waves breaking along a jetty. With no way to pull out the sand that had built up, it was left in the cracks between the stones to be co.pressed into sandstone, which would then be broken up and expelled during tough fights. What some might describe as "realizing potential at the verge of life and death" was, in reality, just the most extreme method possible of clearing out impurities.

  He slowly began to put this into practice, summoning his campfire and drawing the ambient soul power into it. The ambient energy was a chaotic mess, and direct absorption was dangerous. His martial soul filtered it, giving him clean, stable energy to work with and absorb into his body. He let this energy settle around him, forming a slight isotion zone around him that pushed back at the ambient energy, and watched as it slowly flowed I to the base of his spine. That was good, as it confirmed his assumptions that children naturally absorbed soul power through their chakra network like soul beasts did, growing stronger with age alone as they passively cultivated. Why people assumed that humans were somehow special was beyond Jian. Humans were just clever, hairless apes that had an aptitude for the higher mysteries. Soul beasts, on the other hand, had an aptitude for the lower mysteries.

  Now that he had access to his martial soul, he could help this natural process along to cultivate more quickly. He guided this newly filtered energy into his body per his method, and moved the newly gathered soul power into his root chakra, and began the process of forming a vortex. The soul power in this node resisted slightly, like the resistance of still water in a cauldron, but eventually followed his arrangement. The old soul power was drawn out opposite to the new soul power flowing in, and this first exchange caused a sickly-sweet film to exit his pores as all of the loose impurities were drawn out of his body.

  Impurities were actually a self-defense mechanism of the body. The mind housed the soul, and the spine is where the mind controlled the body. While growing, the natural psy, aura, and qi were all a big soupy mess, and without the ability to control these energies, the body provides some tissue to help numb the area and safeguard against future damage. Once control is asserted, these tissues need to be cleansed. The soul has inherent knowledge of the natural state of the body, so by nourishing the lower chakras, the body is refined back into that form. Jian knew this from Old Jian's studies with the druids, who on Terra grew their energy by emuting the trees. The system of chakras is a more formalized version of this, and many druids have adopted this method.

  After cleaning out the easy impurities, Jian took stock of his situation. His soul power stayed at level 7, slightly grown from when he started his cultivation session. This took away a worry he had. He was worried that formally reaching level 10 was a matter of soul power density, and that clearing out the impurities would cause his soul power level to regress. With that potential problem solved, he looked inside of himself to try to stretch his psy for the first time. Psy was linked to the third eye chakra and the upper dantian, and by his system would only show significant growth in the ter stages of cultivation. He had no intention to change that, but having access to his psy energy would be helpful to observe his chakras and make sure that he wasn't leading his family and newfound friends astray.

  Fortunately, he seemed to be able to probe his internal system with ease. Not to the levels of Old Jian, who had become an apothecary with a mild talent in warding, but respectable enough for what he needed to do. Looking at the root chakra, he could see the vortex he created. It was slowing down, and would stop if left unattended for another hour or two. With his chakra mostly clear, as shown from his retively high Innate power, the ck of impurities blocking the flow of soul power let it maintain its course over time. If he wasn't actively cultivating, he'd likely draw in some of the ambient, unfiltered soul power over time.

  Jian noted this down, making a mental note to mention to the others that when they reached level 10, they would have to filter their soul power completely before trying to generate a ring, or it would likely mutate from the influence of the ambient energy. From this train of thought, Jian idly noted that this is probably why soul rings have to be absorbed within a short time, or it won't work. The exclusion zone generated by the soul beast would be swept away into the ambient after a while, and it was this remnant cultivation that was absorbed into the ring, which was captured by the soul master and refined over time.

  Jian idly noted that Ling'er had arrived while he was taking stock of his chakra, and from her freshly-scrubbed look, she had expelled the wave of easy-to-cleanse impurities and washed up, just as he did. Leaving her to her cultivation, he sat down to join her, starting the journey towards his next major goal: creating his own soul ring.

  Six months ter, Heaven Dou Empire:

  Far to the south, an old man woke up from his dreams with a sweat, fear gripping his heart. His son had been at home for the past year, having been unable to overcome their family's poison with cultivation as he had. He was currently a soul douluo, and had managed to stay ahead of the curve. With regur injections of vitality from the soul rings, he still had some time left before he needed to breach the titled level to keep up with the rapidly encroaching poison. His son reached too far in the early stages, and while his poison was potent, the demands for vitality were getting harsher, and he had fallen comatose.

  The old man had been about to set out to try to bargain with that flowery man from the Spirit Hall for a solution, but the dream he had just woken up from halted these thoughts. In his dream - no, nightmare was more apt for what he had experienced - his son had died as he had been about to ascend. He had been having strange dreams for weeks now, all of them urging him north. In some dreams, he saw a serpent circling a world, with its head resting in the north, in others he saw a man with a staff, beckoning to a snake in a field of snow. He didn't know why he was having these dreams, but the vague sense of doom he got was enough to spur him from his original path. This was the second time in recent years he hadn't been able to pursue a lead. When his son first came back, he was pnning to go to the Ye cn to bargain for healing. The next day, the entire cn fell to bandits.

  'Bandits, pah', he thought to himself, 'probably some cn got greedy for their talent and decided to make off with the child to marry her into the family.'

  Still, even with the setbacks, he had been uncertain about going north. His family, while not comparable to some of the rger sects, had a sizeable inheritance with both poison and medicine. It felt strange to leave that all behind, and he hadn't left the area by the capital since he took over for his own father a few decades back. Now, with thoughts of his son's impending peril, he decided to pack everyone up to investigate that bold cim. There was a trade city in the north, West Lu, where he could purchase a small manor and transpnt the legacy garden. His family had written of a pce where they had snuck into to get clippings for these herbs, but they had never been able to determine the properties of them, so they left them to grow for the past 300 years. His next stop after the flower man was going to be to take a look at that pce, but he followed a strict code - power is useless alone. He just hoped that these dreams meant something, and weren't the whim of some unruly title douluo messing with his head at night. If all went well, they'd be in West Lu in three months. It was as fast as he could travel without causing his dear granddaughter harm. She was meant to awaken her spirit in the coming year, and he didn't want to strain her before that happened.

  West Lu City:

  Six months had flown by, and today was the first day of the academy. Jian had reached level 9, nearing level 10, and had figured out a few tricks that he passed on to Ling'er and Xing'er. Cheng had mostly stayed with his own family to help them out at the brewery and learn their techniques before the academy started. The three staying at the Lu Manor had decided to drag him out once a week to chat and learn about each other, and discuss cultivation.

  In those past six months, Ling'er had managed to almost keep pace with Jian, and was also at the top of level 9. In a rather ironic twist of fate, Xing'er had reached level 6, being extremely talented at digging out the impurities within her chakra, while Cheng had fallen behind a little while he was distracted trying to make a mead infused with soul power, and had only reached level 8. They were certain that by the next Awakening ceremony, they would all be level 10, with Jian and Ling'er having a 3-month head start, as they were expecting to hit the threshold any day now, and more of their time had been spent filtering their soul power and converting it to match their martial soul, rather than actually removing impurities.

  The start of the academy was just a brief introduction to the teachers, as all of the new students joining the Hospitality Guild had gotten to know each other while getting introduced to the guild. After going to their assigned dorms, they arrived at a small suite with four rooms, one for each of them. The four quickly cimed their rooms, unpacking their belongings before congregating in the common area. After talking a bit, they settled down to cultivate, as was the norm for them.

  About two hours after they started, Jian started to feel strange as he finally converted the st of the soul power in his root chakra to match the attributes that were filtered from the ambient energy by his martial soul. He found that the moment all of the impurities were gone, and the st of the ambient energy was filtered, he broke through to level 10. While he knew that his theory was sound, and it matched his parents' experiences with a bit of variation, it was nice to have validation. What made him feel strange, however, was the uncomfortable hunger that arose from his chakra node. He could bear with it, but he was utterly confused by it.

  When he had asked his parents what it felt like when they reached the peak of a set of ten levels, but hadn't hunted a soul ring yet, they just said that they could feel that they could absorb a soul ring to break through, but there was no pressing need for it. He concluded that the complete cleansing of the node should awaken instincts reted to that node. The root chakra represented life and survival. He had eaten recently, so the hunger couldn't be literal. Jian mentally tried to observe the source of the hunger, digging with his psy through his body. It took three hours before he finally pinpointed the source, though it left him baffled.

  'My martial soul is hungry? It's a campfire! How does it... eat...', Jian thought to himself, finally arriving at the most obvious conclusion. 'It eats wood! The fire can sustain itself on soul power, but it's basic instincts, if I accept that it is developing awareness, is to consume wood to keep burning!'

  It was a strange sensation, but it also felt important. Thinking it through, most people seemed to treat their martial souls as a sort of tool, or extension of themselves. There was no sense of vitality or thought coming from the soul itself. But these awaken instincts led Jian to another, baffling conclusion. 'If its development follows the chakras, then the first stage is survival. The second stage, should this be true, should awaken its feelings. If that is the case, then as it develops, it would grow into a sentient being. We would be partners in the truest sense of the word.'

  He also started to realize where Spirit ring absorption came from. Soul masters with beast martial souls must have felt this sensation on some level, and then hunted beasts to feed to their soul. A tool soul master then watched and emuted them. Add a few years of blurring the lines and some pride, and everyone hunts for rings. The original intent, however, was markedly different. One was hunting mundane beasts for food, and the soul ring must have either manifested or grown. The other was devouring another being's cultivation and using that energy to forcibly awaken a soul ring.

  Moving on from his musings about how the demonic methods came to be, Jian solidified his path forwards. He had to feed wood to his soul in order to satiate it and keep it growing. From his memories of Old Jian, he knew that different woods were used in burning ceremonies, and he felt that performing some sembnce of these would provide him with a benefit. For the first concept he developed, he wanted to lean towards purification and strengthening. Oak, particurly white oak, was used in a midsummer ritual that he knew of to purify the air and bring protection and strength to the people. With part of his family dealing with carpentry, getting some logs would be simple. He pnned to wait for Ling'er to reach level 10 alongside him before starting the ritual. He wanted to try infusing the logs with soul power before he started the ritual, as that should give him the best gains, should his theory be correct.

  Terra, Hearth of Olympus:

  Back in the God realm of Terra, Loki sighed in relief that the stubborn old man had taken the hint. He had not wanted to see a massive city sacrificed on the word of a killer in the future, and with the family finally making a move, he could be assured that they would at least meet. He had performed a quick Divination to see where Jian was going with his power, and if he kept to the purification route, he would be able to help this tragic family heal themselves by unlocking their martial soul.

  Hestia was very happy with Jian, especially since he seemed to have solidified his path forwards. What she could see, that he was just touching on by clearing and nurturing the unity nodes, was that the cultivation system of soul masters was meant to be a journey of introspection. Soul masters reflect themselves into a martial soul, and then nurture it. As they nurture the reflection, the reflection nurtures them. As they understood their reflections, they gained enlightenment and solidified their foundation. This practice also helped them determine suitable Laws to cultivate, simir to how her family had done through bloodline awakening of their mortal offspring. While many of the legends had Zeus smiting them for their hubris, the truth was that their bodies at that point were unsuitable to house a Divine soul. The only option, if they wished to ascend, was to temper them, and lightning was the best choice.

  In response to both Jian's pn, and the approaching collision with Loki's champion in that strange, beautiful world, she decided to leave some information on some colboration done between her and Brighid on purification rituals for Jian to find. He was on the right track that performing a ritual calls a concept or w to suffuse the area, but she wanted to nudge it a little to keep with his own greco-celtic style. She just hoped that the setback that was to come wouldn't hamper his spirits too much. The ck of immediate gains might be too much for some, but she had faith in this curious little soul, that he would see the benefits hidden in the 'failure'.