DungeonFall – [A Dungeon Creation / Cultivation Story]

When the teacher returned a while later, it was with a shadow meditation art in hand. He did promise that he would call around and email the other schools and nearby cities to see if they had a void art. Even if they did, a copy would need to be made, as no one would be willing to send the original.

If he was lucky, Nate might have it in his hands by the end of the week. That was assuming there was one nearby, and they agreed to copy it for them right away.

It was a fairly standard practice apparently, but some schools like to play hardball and pretend their versions were special.

For the moment, all Nate could do was study the shadow art he had been given and take as many notes and photos as possible. He had been given the same warning as the girls had on Friday. He could take all the notes and photos he wanted since the art was probably already on the internet. He just couldn’t take the book itself outside the classroom.

The teacher even mentioned that it might be worth it to look up the void art on the internet once he got home. However, he strongly urged Nate against actually using any method he did find. People had a habit of changing certain details of the arts. Sometimes it was because they thought they had discovered a better way. Far more often, it was simply because they were being malicious or not thinking.

He had actually forgotten that they could be found online. If he had remembered, he would have already looked them up and started learning, not even thinking about how stupid people could be.

Nate promised he wouldn’t be that reckless and settled down to start studying. The first thing he did was take a careful photograph of each page for later use.

The teacher let him have a few minutes to photograph everything. During that time, he concentrated on the girls and answered all the questions they had. They hadn’t yet begun to actually practice the meditation arts they had been given. Instead, they were still trying to understand them and how they could properly integrate them into their existing meditation models.

It was different from the stories Nate had read during his last life on Old Earth. In those stories, cultivators had some sort of foundation that everything built off of. The method in which it was implemented varied from story to story. In some, it was the depth of the cultivator’s knowledge on a particular subject. Most often, it was simply having enough qi built up in a specific manner.

Here, however, the meditation model appeared to take the place of a cultivator’s foundation. Everything they did was being built off the model they created, and they could continuously refine it as they learned. It was literally putting all the tools to a cultivator’s future in their own hands. If they didn’t succeed, they had no one to blame but their own incompetence and inability to comprehend the changes they needed to make.

The people like Nate who were forced to create their cores at an inferior stage were abnormal and extremely rare. Not that it mattered to anyone. In the end, his future was still in his own hands, the same as it was for everyone else.

Angie was busily scribbling down notes as the teacher spoke softly with her and Lindsay. Whichever question she had asked was apparently one the other girl was interested in as well.

He finished photographing the last of the pages in the book and slipped his phone into his pocket. He had caught the occasional word on the pages while taking their pictures, and it had only made him more curious.

The initial meditation model was completely neutral. The qi it took in was unattuned and neutral as well. That was why it worked so well for everyone, and also why it was rather slow. There was naturally not a lot of neutral qi in the world around them. Qi wanted to become attuned to something, light, shadow, nature, wind. Whatever it was closest to at the time.

It was only because qi kept appearing naturally that there was any neutral qi at all.

Still, being able to take in neutral qi and his shadow qi would boost his speed for sure. If he could figure out some way to include the shadow art with his void art when he received it, then that would be even better. Though, if he was being honest, he wasn’t entirely sure how much void-attuned qi he would be finding around here.

Inside the dungeons, he might have a better chance, but outside in the regular world… He just didn’t know enough yet, and that was why he was here, to learn. There was so much he didn’t understand. Would it even be possible to meld the two arts together? He didn’t know, but he was sure someone had tried in the past.

If he couldn’t find an answer in the book, then the teacher was right there. Surely, he would have an answer for him.

It would be a long-term project if it was even possible and would involve a lot of notes.

The teacher noticed he had finally started reading the book and came over to talk to him. “Let me know if you have any questions on the process, or anything else. I can’t answer specific questions on the art just yet, but I’ll review it tonight and be ready for our next class tomorrow. I’ll do the same thing when your void art arrives. However, it might take me some more time to become properly familiar with it. Unlike the rest of these, I have never worked with that one before.”

Nate nodded his understanding. “That’s perfectly alright, I appreciate the effort and extra guidance. I actually do have one question, and part realization, I guess you could say.”

He took a seat across from Nathan and leaned towards him with a smile. “It’s always nice to know that the effort I put in is being appreciated. Now tell me about this realization you had, and then we can do your question.”

“I was thinking about the true purpose of our meditation model, Mr. Jones. It serves as the base, or foundation, of everything we are going to learn from here on in. That is why there was such a focus on modifying or even creating our own. The meditation arts we receive here, we aren’t meant to integrate them as they are written down. We need to change them to fit us personally before integrating them into our meditation models.”

Brick Jones grinned at his student. “It usually takes people a lot longer to realize that. Yes, you are supposed to modify it to fit your specific needs. And yes, the meditation model you created before will be with you for the rest of your life. You will continually be refining and changing it as you learn and grow. Your… foundation, as you put it, is entirely in your own hands, no one else’s. Now, what was your question?”

“Can I combine two different affinity meditation arts? Like, say, void and shadow. I’m more compatible with void obviously, but if I could also keep shadow, then I would get more benefits, right?”

“It is possible; however, it is not something that I can help you accomplish.” The teacher told him awkwardly after a moment, his hand running through the rust-colored hairs he kept cropped short atop his head. “Whenever someone wants to do that, it has to be done by themselves. Similarly, all the information on the process also needs to be kept private and becomes a closely guarded secret. If a normal meditation art is like a bespoke suit, then something of this nature would be more akin to… a second skin?”

Brick seemed to struggle to come up with a decent comparison and instead with the low-hanging fruit.

“I understand, as long as it is possible. That is all I needed to know. I’m not looking to accomplish it right away in any case. I just needed to know if it was possible first so I could start planning and taking notes.” Nate explained, his mind already starting to put together a plan.

“Good, as long as you are aware.” Mr. Jones relaxed and cracked his neck. “Now, I know you just started reading this, but pretty much all meditation arts have a few things in common. Let me walk you through them.”

***

“Way to hog the teacher, Nate,” Lindsay groused as they headed out to the waiting car. “What did you even do to get him so excited in the first place? I mean, the guy is clearly an academic at heart. He obviously loves meditation arts, but I don’t think he enjoys teaching all that much. He would rather be spending the time doing more studying. To see him so excited was weird.”

“I was just asking him about modifications to the meditation arts. Since I am going to be learning two of them, I was just asking if there was a way to integrate them both later.” He replied, dropping his bag onto the floor of the car.

Angie nodded. “That sounds like a question he would love. Did he give you a way to do it?”

“Nah, he said it wasn’t something that he was allowed to do. Apparently, doing something like that is super customized to each cultivator, so the knowledge is really guarded. It is possible he just can’t help me out at all.” Nate shrugged and grinned at them. “That’s fine though. As long as I know it’s possible, it gives me something to work towards. If I’m lucky, there might even be other affinities besides void and shadow I might be able to use as well.”

“You don’t dream small do you,” Lindsay snorted, relaxing into the comfortable seat of the car. “You bring up a good point though. I was never actually tested to see if I had any other affinities, large or small, after I created my core. How about you Ange?”

She shook her head, while gently nibbling at her bottom lip. “No, my family never did any further testing, either.”

“Let me know when you find out. Maybe we can work on understanding and customizing parts of our arts together.”

“Absolutely. After all, if we do have any other affinities, it will be thanks to you,” Angie told him.

“Huh, why?”

“You chose the beast cores that we used during the creation of our cores. Those led to us forming stronger than normal cores and connections to our affinities, remember?” He nodded, wondering where she was going with this. “Well, the stronger someone’s connection to their initial affinity is, the more likely they will have access to a second related affinity. In your case, you seem to have a very high connection to the void, so you are also connected to the shadow affinity which bleeds into the void realm.”

Nate was silent for several seconds, his mind ablaze with this new information. How had he never heard about this connection in any of his classes before? He also had at least three affinities, so what did that mean? Did he have a perfect connection to the dimensional energy affinity?

“I had no idea,” He said at last. “Wait, so you were wind, and Lindsay was metal.”

Both girls nodded.

“What affinities would be considered related… or adjacent to them?”

“Well, you see, that is where things can get a little tricky.” Angie began, before poking Lindsay in the side. “Come on, say something. You know more about this topic than I do.”

She giggled lightly and twisted away. “Fine, she’s right though. It gets tricky fast. Take wind, for instance. When you think of things related to it, what comes to mind?”

“Um, nature, rain, storms, lightning, tornadoes-“

“Exactly, there is all of that and more. Each of those is related to wind in some fashion.” Lindsay continued cutting him off before he could go on for too long. “And those are just the ones you thought about off the top of your head. Some affinities can be very broad, like a nature affinity, or they can be incredibly specialized to just one thing. It’s why so many cultivators simply find their main one and then never even bother with any others. Not to mention cultivating two separate meditation arts is simply time intensive. Not too many people I imagine are capable of properly combining them.”