Leor sat down on a pile of crates outside the main entrance to the fortress, enjoying the Beastly red sun on his scales as he flipped through the pages of his new cultivation manuals. He had never truly appreciated the strange red sun of the Beast realms until taking the world tree potion. When he focused his mind and shifted into his scaly form, the light felt like a warm massage. He wasn't sure whether that was true for all Beasts or if his serpent nature was showing through.
He opened the Unarmed Combat manual, flipping to the first page as he began reading intently.
['Unarmed Willpower Combat' by Master Calder Oakhand
In the art of Willpower cultivation and combat, the body is the ultimate foundation.
All power flows forth from the flesh, blood, and bone within you. Every warrior should first hone the power of his body, to create a stable surface upon which all other power can grow…]
Leor spent the next hour reading through the entire manual once to fully understand the concepts within it before he began trying to apply them to himself. It was quite straightforward. Master Calder believed that every warrior's first duty was to strengthen and empower their body, and that only then would they be capable of fully achieving their potential.
This manual was apparently one of a set that focused on body cultivation. There were other manuals by Master Calder that focused on improving the physical defense and raw power of the body itself, as well as others that focused on speed, agility, and footwork.
Leor only had access to the Unarmed Combat manual for now, but his body was already strengthened much more than most Adepts could hope for, so he felt that he was at least not falling behind in those categories. He would of course still benefit greatly from training those manuals, but he would have to make do with what he had for now.
The manual for Unarmed Combat taught a form of Willpower circulation within the Body of Will that, if used properly, could drastically increase the power of the user's physical attacks. It wasn't as simple as flooding his limbs with Willpower like he had done as an Initiate. There was an incredibly sophisticated method that needed to be learned to make the most of the Willpower he had access to.
After all, if two Adepts of equal Willpower fought, the one who had learned to harness his Will most effectively would have a greater chance to win the fight. Leor spent a few minutes trying to copy the circulation method that the book instructed, but forcing his Willpower to flow through his limbs in the intricate pattern was incredibly difficult. It was like trying to pick up a pencil and draw a beautiful landscape when you'd never drawn a day in your life.
After managing to create a crude copy of the circulation method, Leor stepped up to a flat stone wall beside the fortress gate. He let his Beastly transformation fall away in order to test his strikes at the most basic level. Reaching his arm back, Leor empowered himself with Willpower in the way that he had always done it before, and sent a punch flying at the hard surface.
A thumping sound of flesh against stone spread through the area as light vibrations moved through the large wall of rock. Leor carefully observed the impact of his normal, unaided attack.
Next, taking a deep breath, Leor focused his mind on the circulation method in the manual. The Willpower in his right arm began to twist and flow more intricately, fluctuating and moving in an almost mesmerizing way.
Leor arched his body back and sent another blow flying toward the thick rock. A similar thump sounded out as another vibration swept through the wall of stone. It was just barely perceptible that the second attack was stronger than the first, but not by much.
"Tsk."
Leor clicked his tongue as he rubbed the top of his sore fist. He wasn't able to bring out even five percent of the power that the cultivation manual promised was possible. He would need to start practicing the circulation method every night. Now that he was an Adept, he no longer needed to meditate to empower his Will each evening, so he would switch to practicing cultivation manuals.
Once a Body of Will had been achieved, it became difficult to further raise the body's capacity for Willpower, even killing defiled no longer increased it. It was still possible, as there were many manuals that worked on this issue, but most Adepts chose to focus on training the Will they already possessed in various cultivation methods instead. Afterall, a highly trained Adept would defeat a lesser trained peer who had a bit more Willpower everytime.
Because of this, the way most Adepts became Masters was by training their Willpower control for so long that they eventually ascended.
A cultivation method wielded by a Willpower Master rather than an Adept was like the difference between a campfire and pure dragon's breath. The very same skills and concepts became almost impossibly powerful when they were in the hands of Willpower Masters. In this way, human Willpower users learned to become strong enough to face the terrible evils of the many Realms.
Leor returned to his seat, placing the Unarmed Combat manual to the side as he began to read about draconic fire control. Scanning through the first few pages, Leor quickly learned why this manual was considered useless by most non-dragons.
The book was titled "'Wielding the Draconic Fire' by the noble Mistress Halperin Slitherack,". It seemed to be written by a woman who had served at a dragon lord's side, tasked with tutoring the new child and heir of the lord.
Because it was so rare and difficult for dragons to give birth, when it did happen it became an incredibly important event. Dragon lords would typically spare no expense to raise their offspring to become powerful members of the clan.
Some dragons were born with an innate ability to wield fire, but this was hardly the norm. In fact, it was rather rare. There existed hundreds of different aspects that dragons could embody. Viridrak, for example, was a green dragon with an innate ability related to the natural world, which was part of the reason he spent so much time and energy creating a vast garden.
For dragons who were not born with innate access to fire, they could develop the trait through practice. But to do so required a body powerful enough to endure the high-pressure Willpower technique that would become their fiery power. The body would not actually produce fire. It would instead become capable of producing a potent form of Will that would ignite into flame the instant it moved out of the body.
Leor looked through the manual as he considered whether or not the body of the great serpent that he had acquired was capable of such a thing.
"It should be possible…" he mumbled, rubbing his chin. "Worst case scenario, I will simply fail at the cultivation method. So even if my body is not capable, I'm not losing anything but time by trying."
Leor nodded to himself quietly as he decided to give it a try. However, the method to compress and empower Will enough that it could generate draconic flame was incredibly advanced. He would need to practice such a thing for a great deal of time before he got close to achieving it.
That was fine though. Leor had free time every night that he needed to fill. He might as well use that time trying to achieve something great, like wielding draconic fire.
Putting away his manuals, Leor headed back inside the fortress. He had seen Alina heading into the large hall that was used as a sort of common room and dining area by the new elvish members of the fortress. Inside, there were a few elderly women running a kitchen. They washed and cut wild vegetables, crushed herbs into spices, and processed meat.
Already they had become some of the most popular elves in the eyes of the Beast population. The old women were given access to the most precious cuts of meat in exchange for their cooking skills, so their new kitchen was well stocked with food.
The smell of salted steak frying in oil and starchy vegetables boiling in a soup made the young man's mouth water. However, he didn't have any way to buy a portion. The old women accepted fresh meat or vegetables in exchange for a cooked meal, ensuring that they never ran out of ingredients. But Leor had not gone hunting since he got back, so he had nothing to give.
As he was staring longingly at a thick piece of sizzling meat, one of the old women walked up to him. She looked to be around sixty years old, with a motherly demeanor and her silky gray hair tied up in a bun.
"Hello, dear. I'm Eldra. Your name is Leor, right?" she asked as she got a good look at the young human. "I've been wanting to thank you for what you did. You saved us all from that terrible curse. Won't you let me cook you a meal as thanks?"
Leor's eyes lit up at the suggestion, and he quickly accepted the offer. Eldra sent him to sit down as she made her way back toward the kitchen, so Leor took a seat beside Alina.
The human girl was looking through some paperwork written in Elvish. Leor couldn't understand any of it, but at the top appeared a hasty sketch of a giant hawk-like Beast.
Alina glanced up from her reading when she saw him, an empty plate of food resting on the table beside her.
"Leor, I've been wanting to talk to you. Listen to this! Did you know there is another tribe of Beasts who survived the defilement living nearby?"
The young man's eyes slowly widened as he shook his head.
"Right! I was surprised to discover it myself!" she explained excitedly. "Apparently their leader is a powerful Roc. That's his picture at the top of the page. They were able to survive the defilement because of the power and protection of their leader."
"I see. That's interesting. What sort of power are we talking about here, Highblood?" he asked.
A look of intensity filled Alina's gaze at the question as she slowly tapped her fingers against the table.
"That was the case sixty years ago when Drelk first made contact with them, but no one has gone to talk to them since. What are the chances that the Roc has remained at the same level of power this whole time?"
Leor's brow rose high on his face as he understood her meaning.
"You mean?"
"Yep! I think there might be an undefiled Elder Beast living in this Realm!" she exclaimed.