[The Tome of Mahābodhivān: A cultivation manual. ]
[About: The ancient manual of cultivation by the very first Cultivator, and to many the most powerful cultivator. Containing many secrets to the martial arts, those who have read its scripts are said to be leagues above those who haven't.]
"Purchase," Ren uttered.
[Are you sure?]
"Yes." and just like Enoa had appeared, the book appeared in his hands with a magical dust cloud. Ren almost fell over from the sheer weight of it. The shop had made it seem like a small aged tome when it weighed as much as a child.
"Damn, this is a large book."
The tome was large and an aged jade in color. It looked just as ancient as it was described, and Ren opened the first page. Although he had gotten the class cultivator, he had no idea of what he could do, much less how to exploit the class.
The covers of the book were thick and heavy, almost like they were made out of metal tablets. The first page revealed certain words, information about Mahābodhivān. How he came to discover another way of using the energy mana. He read the words written in bold.
"I died inside on the day the mages destroyed my village. I had heard that a spy for the neighboring nation had taken refuge in the village, and my people had chosen to shelter and protect him. It was true that a strange man came to the village and we offered hospitality, but there was no way we could have known that he was a spy, and not just a mere spy, but also a powerful mage. My people were massacred by both the mage they had chosen to save, and those said to protect us. That day, I died, I was but a hollow drum, until I grasped it. In the most dire moments of my isolation, I felt the invigorating energy that was within me, I could see it in the darkness of the cave. I could see it stream back and forth my limbs, flowing like a gentle river. That day, I was born anew."
The page continued with discoveries Mahābodhivān made that made manipulation of mana easier, containing stances that optimized mana control.
"Shen, Ryuk, and Gan." The three steps stances. Although Ren could not see this mana he possessed, he could see from his stats that he possessed a significant amount.
Mahābodhivān began with noticing the strange energy within him, and then improving upon it. Ren however had no perception of it just yet. This however motivated him. He placed down the large tome, and stood upright. He looked through the movements of the stances again, eying Shen in particular.
"A twist of the right foot, legs held wide apart, and fists balled by the flanks." Ren held the stance for a good twenty minutes.
"Am I doing it wrong?" He could feel nothing, the stance did not improve mana circulation like it said it would. He grunted, "Maybe I have to harness my perception of mana, or was the stance just a placebo effect, I cannot imagine this stance improving energy circulation across the body, it seems rather stiff."
He let out a weary sigh, catching his alpha ram looking at him, "I am doing this to get stronger you know, you would not want me to fail at protecting you now, or would you?"
The ram merely continued looking with its large eyes, of course it did not understand Ren's words.
He tried the Shen for another five minutes and he felt nothing, yet, he was certain that he got the stance correctly, it was simple enough.
He moved on to the next stance, Ryuk. "Hands held open forward and wide apart, legs also opened wide apart."
Nothing, no surge of internal energy, no heightened reception, nothing.
Ren was starting to feel frustrated, these were the very basics, they should not be that difficult, and considering how large and worn the book was, there was still much to cover. How would he hope to cover it all if he cannot even learn the fundamentals?
He grunted, and switched to the last stance, Gan. "One leg forward, and back, facing sideways. A fist over the head. and one lunged straight forward. This stimulates mana vessels and forces mana from the core to jet out like an eruption."
Ren was sure he would feel something from the Ryuk stance, and it was the most flashy of the stances. His hopes were dashed as he did not feel an iota of the energy.
"System! Show me my information."
Name: Ren Hanaki
Race: Human(Earthling)
Class: Farmer/Cultivator
Favor points: 276
Titles: Dino killer, Defender of sheep, Farmboy, Class Wielder
Strength: 57
Agility: 31
Dexterity: 16
Mana: 20
Charisma: 77
Skills: General language understanding, Hunter sense[50%]
"Is 20 mana a lot? I wonder how it compares to normal people." His charisma was the highest, and although he attributed his success with Erigald as a result of being bold, and seizing the moment, his charisma did a lot of carrying. It had also been instrumental in the village developing a softer side to him.
As Ren went through his stats, he realized something, although the numbers had grown over his stay, he had not noticed anything particularly indicative of their increase, he had not put himself in situations to test these boosts in ability.
"Just how strong am I? It says [57] how strong is that?"
'Definitely not strong enough to have taken down the Flourim bear without my rifle.' That much was certain. He had noticed that his improved sight, and his reaction speed against the bear. He had been agile and quick to action, although he did not think so at the time.
He covered back the tome, and lifted it. It was a bit heavy in his hands, and tripping earlier had come from surprise rather than the sheer weight of the book, but Ren could feel its heaviness regardless.
"I want to test my limits. Just how strong am I compared to the average person?" For someone chosen by the gods, he did not feel particularly special or powerful, at best, he was simply just lucky.