Sebastian spent most of the night reading through the book. Even with his natural understanding of the language, it was still very complex and discussed concepts and natural properties that went way over his head, at least for now. As much as he tried, he couldn’t make it properly past the first part of the book, of which there were many. Not only was the book quite thick, it was also incredibly densely written.

  The one thing he could confirm was that the book never mentioned any System nor levels. It was as though neither existed when the book was written, which, while confusing and intriguing, was fantastic news.

  Sebastian’s heart rate climbed as he read, he realized that this cultivation method was the solution to all his problems. It was a way for him to actually surpass his level limit. The book was a detailed instruction for how to grow stronger through sheer hard work, without any outside help—such as from a System.

  His didn’t fully comprehend the complex and abstract concepts of the book on his first read-through. Skimming through the book and looking at the various illustrations and diagrams, however, gave him an overall idea of what this Earthen Cultivation Art entailed.

  For the most part, it was quite similar to the cultivation methods described in the novels he had read back home, but there were definitely some differences. For one, in the novels most examples of cultivation were based on various versions of Asian—although primarily Chinese—mythology, theology, and philosophy. This method, however, seemed to be based on a more natural and simple approach to the principle of absorbing natural essence to cultivate your spirit body and your physical body alike.

  The Earthen Cultivation Art specifically was—for some reason—based on the process of clay-working. Sebastian felt confident that if there was one cultivation art then there were, at least at some point, more. Most likely people at the time of writing developed cultivation methods based on all sorts of things, and this one just so happened to be inspired by clay-working. He had never done much work with clay himself, but he had taken a couple of classes during his university days and was at least somewhat familiar the process. Though, for all he knew, the methods of this world’s might not necessarily match modern earth practices.

  If his interpretation and understanding was accurate, the cultivation method had nine stages:

  [Essence Gathering]—The first stage looked to be a simple matter of absorbing natural essence through breathing techniques and meditation. It was apparently based on the gathering and wedging process in clay-working, absorbing essence and using it to improve the body.

  [Spirit Sculpting]—The second stage consisted of somehow sculpting ones spirit body—whatever that was—according to certain diagrams and was obviously based on the sculpting process.

  [Essence Consolidation]—At this point in the book, Sebastian couldn’t really grasp the concepts and descriptions properly any more but he had a rough idea about it based on the name and similar stages in stories he had read back home. It was based on the drying process.

  [Core Formation]—Was apparently about forming a Core, as the name suggested. He had read plenty of novels describing different kinds of “core formation” so he mostly drew on his memory and vague understanding of those. This stage was based on the bisque firing process.

  [Nascent Soul]—From here it went almost entirely over Sebastian’s head, but the name of the stage had been around in novels. In fiction, it was a matter of forming a Nascent Soul, a second soul. This was probably similar, though perhaps not identical. This stage seemed to be based on the glazing firing process.

  [Soul Transformation]—Nurturing the soul as one might nurture and burnish a newly formed clay piece.

  [Domain Establishment]—Some references suggested that this stage had some connection with detailing a finished piece.

  [Soul Unification]—The penultimate stage was full of esoteric descriptions that sounded like absolute nonsense to Sebastian, but he understood one word—inspection.

  [Spirit Severing]—The ninth and final stage was even more abstract than all the previous ones. Sebastian’s best guess came from some illustration. It seemed to concern somehow transcending mortality, ascending to godhood, something which was a matter for the distant future, but it was nice to know it’s possible. He had no idea what connection this might have had to clay-working.

  These stages technically weren’t divided into any smaller stages, each stage seemed to be just a long process of both absorbing natural essence, manipulating ones essence and spirit body in certain ways, and gaining some sort of enlightenment and understanding of the natural and magical laws.

  There was, however, a basic, somewhat casual denotation of minor stages—Low, Mid, High, and Peak. These described how far along in the process of progressing toward the next stage one was. When you just reach a new stage, you are considered Low stage of that stage and when you are right on the precipice of ascending to the next stage, you are Peak stage.

  Even as the sun rose the next morning, Sebastian still couldn’t bring himself to put the book down. He kept reading. Fortunately, he now had some food and water—not to mention that he didn’t really have anything else to do—and because this cultivation method was his only hope of surpassing his limit it took priority over just about everything else.

  Sebastian continued making progress throughout the day, only taking a nap when he could no longer keep his eyes open. He focused mostly on the first two stages.

  In every bit of fiction he read on earth, the masters, the teachers, and the mentors always said not to bite off more than you can chew. To focus on where you are and to prepare for what comes next rather than getting caught up in future aspects which you’re not yet ready to understand. To base his approach on the teachings of fictitious masters might not be the best approach, but it made enough sense in his mind that he went with it.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  The day flew by and toward the evening he felt like he had a decent grasp of the first two stages.

  He closed the book, placed it down next to him, and closed his eyes. In an effort not to fall asleep, or lose steam, he made sure not to lay down, instead he leaned back against the cold cliff wall as he organized his thoughts.

  So, let’s review. Stage one—[Essence Gathering]. You meditate with a specific breathing technique and try to mentally reach into yourself to find your spirit body. Everybody—or rather, not just humans but every living being—has a spirit body, a spiritual counterpart to your physical body. Once you reach it, you continue to meditate and breathe while drawing in the natural essence of the world into your spirit body, basically turning your spirit body into a magnet to attract the natural essence around you.

  Your spirit body becomes saturated with natural gaseous essence which strengthens both the spirit body and the physical body. Then you have to choose the right moment, where your spirit body is saturated enough, to move on to the second stage—[Spirit Sculpting]. If you haven’t gathered enough essence then the sculpting won’t be able to maintain a high quality, or it might even fall apart. If you’ve gathered too much then it’ll be that much harder to actually sculpt it, or it might not even be possible any more.

  Once you reach a point that you’re happy with, you perform a so-called essence baptism, where you basically set the current state of your spirit body into place. Meaning, that new stage becomes your new default, your new baseline.

  Which now that I think about it sounds an awful lot like levels. Isn’t that mostly how they explained leveling? Kill monsters, absorb their spirit—which sounds similar enough to essence—and once you reach a certain threshold, a wave of energy passes through you and that becomes your new baseline.

  He opened his eyes and sat up straight. Does that mean that levels are just stages of this [Essence gathering] stage going on forever—or at least up to level 100—with no chance of continuing to the next stage of cultivation? This feels like some massive conspiracy… which I can’t focus on now.

  Let’s just try it. Let’s cultivate!

  Sebastian first took a deep breath, as he had built a habit to do when he needed to calm down, and double checked his surroundings to ensure that no unwelcome guest was on his doorstep. With the coast clear, he followed the instructions in the book.

  There was no specific pose or position necessary, whatever allowed you to be stable and comfortable. Sebastian sat cross-legged and placed his hands on his knees, palms up, and then closed his eyes.

  He followed the breathing technique as best he could. It was somewhat awkward. Breathing in a certain pattern, at first attempt, did not come naturally to him, but after a while he fell into the rhythm, as if drawn to it.

  Gradually, his awareness of his surroundings faded away. The subtle noises of nature, the wind and the rustle of leaves, gone. The solid ground beneath him turned soft and vanished. He felt as though he sunk down, into the earth, and floated in a dark and empty void—not unlike his experience from when he was summoned here, except where that had been bright and energetic, this was dark and serene.

  He continued to focus on his breathing, but the void wasn’t as empty as he first thought, nor was it as dark. In fact, the deeper into his meditation he sunk, the more a copper-esque mist appeared all around him.

  In the center of that mist was a dark blob. The blob contained some of that copper-like color, but it was far weaker. Sebastian focused his mind on the blob. As he did, it slowly gained more and more definition, going from a shapeless blob to more of a pear shape, until finally, as his focus reached an all-time high, it came into clear detail.

  The blob was a silhouette of a man, and the moment his mind made the connection that this silhouette was his own spirit body, he woke up. It was much like he had many times in his life when he experienced lucid dreaming. The dream always started crystal clear, but the moment he became aware of the fact that he was dreaming, it became too real, and the dream came to an end.

  Sebastian wasn’t upset that he woke up. As much as he would have liked to stay in that meditative state, he was more so ecstatic at having succeeded in sensing his spirit body on his first real try, which according to the book was quite rare. He took this experience to mean that not only was this cultivation method real, but it was a real path for him toward gaining actual power in this world of magic and monsters. Power he desperately needed, both to escape his current predicament and to achieve his vengeance.

  Sebastian rubbed his eyes and stretched before looking around. It was the middle of the night. Without realizing, he had meditated for hours.

  He took out the last bit of food he had left from raiding the goblin camp and ate while he went back to reading the book under the soft glow of the rocks. By comparing his experience with the descriptions and illustrations in the manual, he expanded his understanding of various concepts. It was much easier now that he had actually tried it himself. Having confirmed some ideas and prepared mentally for his next attempt, he opted to sleep and try again after a good night’s rest.

  The next morning, after refreshing his memory one final time, he continued his attempts at cultivation. Achieving a proper meditative state still took some time but felt slightly less awkward now that he knew for a fact that it was real.

  As the outside world melted away, he found himself back in the void, surrounded by a copper colored mist. This time, however, his spirit body was in full detail right away. He focused on it in order to try and actually initiate the absorption-process, and he could immediately feel his awareness draw him out of the meditative state. He woke up, again.

  Whew, this is harder than expected. I figured that actually cultivating would be difficult and arduous but I didn’t think it would be so hard just to maintain the meditation. So, according to the manual, rather than using my physical senses I need to feel the essence with my spirit, somehow. I just need to take it slow.

  Sebastian began his third attempt. It didn’t go much better than last time but every attempt made him grow more comfortable with the process. It was a few hours later when he sensed his spirit body and successfully ignored his physical senses, which was about as hard as one could imagine.

  Sebastian almost woke up several times, but he managed to relax and recenter to try again. Eventually, he succeeded in isolating his spiritual sense and observed his spirit body in closer detail. Watching the essence move through his spirit body gave him a feeling of enlightenment, a newfound understanding of how not only he himself worked but how this entire world worked.

  The next step, after sensing his spirit body, was to manipulate it to draw in the natural essence surrounding him. According to the manual, the way to do this was to imagine your spirit body turn into a whirlpool, attracting the natural essence around you.

  Your spirit body wouldn’t actually change shape or turn into a whirlpool, but the image and the intention would draw in the essence from all around you. The manual called it, “intent”. Sebastian had a hard time actually conjuring the image of himself being a whirlpool, it felt unnatural. Worse, the entire concept didn’t really resonate with him in terms of being an attractive force to draw essence toward you, so much as just swirling it around you.

  After several tries, he decided on a different approach. The important thing was to use your imagination and your will to create an intent powerful enough to influence the spiritual world. For Sebastian, the most relevant image for drawing things in wasn’t a whirlpool, it was a black hole.

  Science and physics had always been a big part of his life so the image of the simplified emulations of gravity wells using weights and a large stretched bit of cloth naturally popped into his head. At first, he wasn’t really sure how he could conjure the actual three dimensional image of the gravity well of a black hole through his spirit body, but he reminded himself that he didn’t need to. So long as the intent was strong enough, it should work, in theory at least.

  Slowly but surely, Sebastian imagined his spirit body growing denser and denser, causing the very space around it to sink in to attract all the essence around him. Once the image, or more specifically the intent, was strong enough, reality actually shifted. The coppery mist in the area flowed toward him and pushed up against his spirit body. Sebastian willed the non-existent pores to open, which finally allowed the essence to flow into his spirit body. He felt an exhilaration unlike anything he’d ever felt before as essence saturated his spirit body and invigorated his physical body at the same time.