' Immortality?' Someone thought.
' What a child. There is someone over the age of 10 who still believes those fairytales?' Another youth thought.
' Haah...Why is it this kind of teacher? See what a waste of time asking him was?' A youth sighed internally.
' Tsk, just what you would expect from a person who would go around a house to use the back door.' Someone clicked their tongue.
" Mhm." Miss Noble grunted with a nod.
" Your answers..." She paused.
" Are all both right and wrong." She continued.
" Begining cultivation...can lead to you ending up in a variety of positions." She said.
" My point is that cultivation has different meanings for different people." Miss Noble shifted her gaze from face to face.
" Whether it might be becoming a god, or gaining confidence...the difference between these two things might be as far apart as the heavens are from the earth in your eyes..."
" But in the end...they are not much different." She finished.
"..." Grumbles of discontent were secretly released.
Some of the youths felt as if Miss Noble belittled their ambitions by comparing them to the 'much less significant' goals of their peers.
" Always remember that...in comparison to other people's goals or feelings, to you, yours will always feel more important..."
" But in reality, you are the only person that views them with such importance." Sensing the discontent, Miss Noble said.
" So in a sense, while you might think that your goals are more important than another person's, they are probably thinking the same about their own goals and yours." She said.
" If you think about it like this, what I said earlier wasn't wrong, was it?" She asked seriously.
"..." The class was silent.
Seeing the supposed lazy Miss Noble patiently explain something, and with such sound logic made some of the youths change their opinions of her, however slight.
" All in all, thinking that your dreams are bigger and more important than others' is selfish and tactless." She finished.
"..." Levi looked down at the podium silently.
' Demon saint.' He called out.
'...What?' The demon saint answered, somewhat unfriendly.
' Isn't cultivation supposed to be carried out selfishly for your own goals? What is she saying?' Levi asked.
When it came to the path he walked, his will was unshakable, but hearing such a thing piqued his interest.
'...Cultivation is a practice utilized by humans. Different people will have different thoughts about it. Don't think too much about things you have no sway over.' The last line was directed at Levi.
' I walk my path because it is the only one I can. I just wanted to understand an unfamiliar thought process.' Levi thought.
' Such thoughts will only put your mind in disarray.' The demon saint snorted.
'...' Levi kept silent.
"...Then...Now, we will move on to...cultivation theory...or at least, how your body allows for cultivation to work." A tinge of gloom escaped with her voice.
Puft!
Miss noble ignited her mental energy, causing a ghastly light-green flame to float before her.
' This mental energy flame suits her too well!' The youths thought.
With Miss Noble's gloomy personality and this green flame, wasn't she looking more like a ghost?
Without a word, molten lines snaked across the large metal plate behind her.
" Who can tell me...how cultivation works?" Miss noble asked.
"... Simply, Qi is absorbed into the body and stored in the dantian. This process is repeated when one enters new stages. It also causes slight changes to the body." A scholarly youth spoke after a short silence.
" Mhm...Look at the diagram." Miss Noble directed their attention with a raised hand.
On the large metal plate behind her, a simple outline of a human figure sat.
At the stomach of the molten figure, a circle was drawn just above the crotch, as multiple wiggly lines extended from the top half of it.
"...Oi is absorbed from the air by the meridians." After a moment, Miss Noble spoke.
" It passes through the meridians, is purified and compressed before being stored in the dantian." She explained.
"..." The youths all silently nodded their heads, as this was common knowledge. It was just that, it was their first time hearing it explained so simple, yet so informatively.
"...But while the dantian stores Qi, in this world, nothing is perfect." She said after a pause.
" Qi seeps from the dantian, into and throughout the body, which, in turn, strengthens it." She said.
" This also means that the more Qi stored in a dantian, the stronger...Or should I say, the more durable that body will become." She continued.
" Does...Does that mean that, when your level increases, the strength of your body will also increase by itself?" Someone asked.
"...Yes." Miss noble answered.
" Suuu..." The youths sucked in breaths of cool air, their eyes twinkling with excitement.
Who never dreamed of being stronger than what was considered normal? Even if they weren't the strongest in the sect, outside, where the majority of people weren't cultivators, who could be stronger than them?
Molten lines snaked below the first figure, as Miss Noble tapped the second figure with a green pointer.
" Then...What does this represent?" She asked.
" What's the difference from the first...?" A youth mumbled.
" There is no difference!" Another one whispered.
They all discussed among themselves quietly.
" Is that..." A voice suddenly sounded.
" Hmm?" Miss Noble shifted her gaze.
'...If the answer is wrong, I will answer it myself.' She thought.
" The outline of a fleshly cultivator?" Levi questioned.
After looking at the two figures closely, he found that they were indeed identical.
He then recalled that aside from 'regular' cultivation, there was still another way of cultivating that wasn't much different from what was considered the normal method, which was the strengthening of the body with Qi directly.
"...Correct." Miss Noble spoke after a slight pause.
" What?"
" How could he know..."
" So there was a difference between the two figures..."
Some of the youths' faces twisted in dissatisfaction.
"...There was no difference." Miss Noble spoke up.
" What? Then why did you ask if there was?" A girl with a flower hairpin stuck to her black hair blurted out.
' Then how did he notice the difference?' The youths all thought.
" I asked if you knew what it represented, not if the two were different." Miss Noble said.
' If anyone heard the question, they would all think " what's the difference"...' The youths were all speechless.
" You all assumed there was a difference. Sometimes it requires deep knowledge to be able to tell two seemingly identical things apart." She said.
"..." They all automatically turned to look in Levi's direction, feeling indignant.
"...But what is a fleshly cultivator!" Someone couldn't hold back any longer and questioned.
" If regular cultivators are known for their ability to command qi, then fleshly cultivators are known for their nigh-indestructible bodies." Miss Noble explained.
" Oh..." The youths quieted in awe, waiting for her to continue.
" The reason these two diagrams are the same is that the two types of cultivation are the same, aside from a few slight differences." She said.
" Qi cultivators absorb qi into their dantian, while fleshly cultivators absorb this qi into their flesh. Their muscles, tendons, bones. Refining their bodies beyond the limits of humans." Miss noble said.
" Instead of allowing the qi to be absorbed by their meridians into the dantian, they redirect it through the walls of the meridians, directly into their bodies." She explained.
" But...But, if...If you did that..." A voice wavered.
" Mhm. It is strenuous and painful as one might expect, which is why there are not many fleshly cultivators in the world. Some of them don't make it through the pain, while others train continuously out of the sight of the world." She said.
" And most don't consider becoming fleshly cultivators from the beginning." She said.
" To determine if someone is a fleshly cultivator, just look at their body type. Although different cultivation methods result in varying body types, most of them are relatively larger than normal people." Miss noble explained.
"..."
" What are you all looking at me for?" The brown-haired youth sat with his back straight, listening to the discussion quietly when he suddenly noticed multiple gazes.
" Haha, my body was strong from a young age, so I figured that since it would be a waste to just get stronger by cultivating, I might as well learn how to make inscriptions instead!" He suddenly laughed out while scratching the back of his head.
" Since I am already strong, what's the point of getting stronger? I just want to learn how to earn some money! Not a fleshly cultivator!" He waved his hands.
" Nobody asked for your backstory!"
" So that means that whole speech about becoming a god was bullsh..."
" No, No! Where I grew up, that was what everyone said!" He explained.
" Humph!" No one listened to him anymore as they shifted back their attention.
" Another trait of theirs is their scant amount of Qi. Since they wholeheartedly pour the Qi they absorb into their bodies, only a minuscule amount reaches their dantian. Intentional or otherwise." Miss Noble continued.
" They also don't awaken any of the abilities us Qi cultivators do." She said.
" I don't know much about fleshly cultivators, but I heard that they only gain one ability, called the " Heart Tree"." Miss Noble recalled.
"!!" Levi's eyes widened.
"...Is something the matter?" Miss Noble questioned.
" N-No...Nothing." He hadn't realized that he stood up.
' Isn't that the same little white plant shooting roots all across my body?! But I am not a fleshly cultivator!' Levi thought.
" In any case..." Miss Noble began speaking again.
" Excuse me! What kinds of abilities do Qi cultivators acquire?!" Someone shouted in excitement.
"...Well, the first ability Qi cultivators gain is the " Seed of knowledge"." Miss Noble slowly said.
" Although it doesn't seem like much, it's ability is heaven-sent." She said.
" Whether it be cultivation techniques or skills, inscriptions, mechanisms or pill refining, studying will allow you to become better at them to a certain extent." She said.
" This is a result of the seed of knowledge's ability to order information and filter out what is found to be wrong, allowing you to remember only the right methods to complete your tasks." She said.
" Even more magical, while in the Mind Opening Realm, the more engrossed you are in learning about your future path will directly affect the automatic absorption of Qi." She continued.
" Meaning, for example, if you were extremely engrossed in your study material, the absorption rate would increase. Of course, not everyone is the same, and it also works oppositely sometimes." She said.
" So what I am trying to say is, while fleshly cultivators seemingly have to practice endlessly to understand a skill, in comparison, Qi cultivators, with the seed of knowledge, would already have a grasp of that skill as a result of the seed of knowledge."
" The only reason Qi cultivators still practice is to allow the body to become accustomed to what the mind already knows. While the extent of this ability varies, you all should understand the value of it, yes?" She questioned.
"..." Some of the youths felt their faces heating up in excitement, especially those who were close to breaking through to the "Mind Opening Realm".
"...But, do you all remember the one ability of fleshly cultivators?" She seemed to recall something before asking.
" Yes?" They answered obediently.
" That ability is almost the same as with the seed of knowledge, but there is a key difference." She said.
"..." Levi's breath quickened.
He had always suspected a thing or two about his current cultivation state, but without confirmation, who's to say that his suspicions weren't false?
As he felt that a part of this long-awaited confirmation was at hand, he couldn't stop the excitement welling up in his heart.
" It focuses on the body instead of the mind. So if a fleshly cultivator picked up a 'Body-based', as opposed to a ' Qi-based' skill or technique, their bodies would be able to grasp it first. To have their minds grasp the skill, practice would be necessary." She said.
"...Isn't that just the opposite of the seed of knowledge then?" Someone questioned.
"..." Miss Noble kept silent.
"..." Levi wore a conflicted expression.
' That does sound like how it worked for me with the 'hypnotizing steps', but...it didn't take much time before I was able to understand and use it.' He thought.
' While on the other hand, it sounds like it takes a while for fleshly cultivators to get a grasp on why the skill works, even when their bodies understand it...Is this rate of understanding related to the fact that my heart tree was once a seed of knowledge? Or because it was a skill absorbed through blood?' Levi thought.
'...I've also been thinking... I can't absorb any skill, can I? I've been using the blood evolution skill for a good while now, but the only skill I have ever absorbed from blood is the hypnotizing steps.' He thought.
'As I thought, there must be a condition when it comes to what skills I can absorb...and that condition is, I can't absorb any skill that isn't body-related!' He concluded.
' It has to be a 'body-based' skill! Which would make even more sense, since the blood evolution skill was created to better the human body...' He thought.
' Sigh...I've only been here for over a day and I have already confirmed a few suspicions that have been plaguing me for over two years!' Levi thought.
'...I wonder though, will I be able to confirm or correct some of the thoughts I have about Primordial Cultivation?' His eyes narrowed.