Arthur, in the army, started to train with the other newbies since he was eight. The first reason was to put his peers in shame for can't do what a little kid can. The other reason is to expose the differences between those who can feel the mana and those who couldn't. Arthur could see guys that got the same result with half of his effort and couldn't help but felt envy.
His father stopped to send him to do errands when he completed eleven years old and said that by now he will work only in the library, to accumulate knowledge. He only could leave the library when he could think in something that can substitute his relevance a worker, better saying, if he can produce his own theory and write a book he could stop being librarians.
Arthur's envy of talented people who can sense mana early was obvious. It is a burden to him to know that dandy kids, that were pampered for all his life, could become stronger than him just because they sensed the mana. He got a beat, sweated, trained again and again and it didn't put him on the list of talented…
Seeing this, Luke promised to teach Arthur Soul Cultivation when he can't understand why he was so unlucky and looks like the world doesn't want him to be strong.
Arthur already knows how the people talk about his parents, how hard is his father life and how strenuous is his mom life. His dad deserves to rest and his mom deserve to be pampered and cared. He wants to be strong to be able to give a better life to his parents.
Arthur is on the path to maximize the manuals and technique his father gave him, the next step was to be able to use simultaneously and naturally each ability. The breathing method became natural for him and every time he rests while waken he uses the meditation technique. The next step of the training his father devised was to make every simple move without any waste of energy.
At the army he trained with many weapons, but he loved the feeling of the sword, for that reason, he decided to become a swordsman. He is already capable to use the stone that his grandpa gave him with easy at the full weight, he just lacks a sword method and a master.
So, the most that he could gain with the same exercises is if he perfected them, and it demands time.
…
"The spirit" told his father "is a concept that is barely known by the humanity. We all know that it exists, but only the powerful beings have the knowledge and the means to obtain solid information about it. This is why it is too hard create a new soul cultivation method for both reasons. Even a family considered powerful to his city don't have even a single manual of a soul cultivation.
There were many humans through the history that could break through in a soul realm but most of them comes from a family that have a huge background that inherited manuals. The natural breakthrough in the Soul Cultivation doesn't create a method to train, to do that is needed many resources to hire hundreds of people who naturally break through.
This manual that I will impart to you is considered the most common and public soul manual, it is because every big clan has at least a part of it. Its name is 'Swimming against the River' and the complete copy have three volumes with a total of twenty-eight scrolls. It will be on you if you can get the other scrolls at the future because now I only have the first three.
Just to give you a reminder son, your soul will not affect directly that way you feel the mana in the world, it just makes you keenly and smarter, give you better control of your body. We have no information about the effects it can have in making you apt to feel the mana." Said Luke.
After pondering about what his father said, Arthur says:
"Dad, if I can improve mine strength I will be able to, at least, shorten the distance between me and the other talented students. I just don't want feel weak."
And these are the real feelings that he have. He never told his parents but it was common to see him being bullied by his cousins. He knows that he is stronger than most of his relatives around the same age, but he knows too well from where comes most of the herbs and medicine he needs to use daily, so he didn't dare to hit back.
Arthur knows that with his strength he only would bring pain if he tried to meddle himself with his parents problems and history. He is nothing but an ant in the eyes of the weakest cultivator, even when he is most skilled than them because his future is limited by the natural limits of the human body and the cultivators could simply cultivate to surpass the mortal body limits.
"Son, let me explain all the knowledge about cultivation that I could accumulate in my life. The first thing you should know is that most of the cultivators start to cultivate at twelve years old. Just because at this age the body starts to change and is like a natural breakthrough.
There are two common paths of cultivation that everyone knows about, you can be an Internal Cultivator, an External Cultivator. The Internal Cultivators cultivate his meridians, the External cultivate their muscles and bones.
Usually, the ones that could feel the mana easier chooses to become an Internal Cultivator because the initial output of power is bigger and the process of cultivate is smoother.
The other teens that feel hard to sense the mana usually chooses to train the External Cultivation. It is a hard path because you have to basically torment yourself to grow in strength. Normally, the Internal Cultivators will see the External in contempt.
The External Cultivators are usually called inferior to Internal Cultivators because of the brute way to get power. It is complete bull crap, if you only choose the worst talents to train in external cultivation it will become harder to them to shine even if they receive a godly technique. Your mom is a very talented person who walks into the External route, it is a pit that she have to pass too many problems in her life...
Other famous, but even harder, method is the Mixed Cultivation. In mixed cultivation you need to evolve both body and meridians. The result is that this cultivator is stronger than others at the same level, but is too much harder to breakthrough.
There is the Dark Cultivator, that relies on obscure and maleficent magic to force his power to rise. Their power is strange and the origin is unknown. The only thing that everyone knows is for use the dark rites you have to pay a huge price. (sigh)
And the last cultivation is the Spiritual Cultivation, I have just a little info about this kind of cultivation. The only thing that everyone knows is if you train your soul your cultivation path will flow smoother."