Reading through the books I find the differences between Qi and Mana training very interesting. Mana training can be incredibly difficult at the start but slowly becomes easier over time. The main reason for this is that creating and maintaining your first few circles is incredibly difficult.
The book describes it as flexing a muscle you've never used before. But Circles are the foundation for all casting paths so I need to learn them.
Qi on the other hand is very easy as you just need to take in energy to covert to Qi to fill your seven Chakras. Unlike Mana, Qi will hit a hard roadblock at the seventh level and many are stuck there for the rest of their lives.
To enter the eighth rank, Extinguished, you must snuff out your flame and project it into your meridians. If you fail this step you may never cultivate again which is why most don't even attempt it.
The explanations given in each of these books are incredibly comprehensive however the how you actually do it part is very brief. For the Circle of the Broken Moon, I must take mana into my heart at night and slowly acclimate myself to the cold nature of the art.
With the Quaking Breaths, the flame cultivation technique, I must feel the wavelengths of sounds around me and match the rhythms with my breath. The closer I get the faster I can cultivate.
Luckily for me, my boon gave me far more than vision; my hearing, smell, and touch have all improved to an incredible margin. If I concentrate hard feeling the wavelengths of sounds is pretty easy, but of course, matching it with my breaths may be difficult, I don't know yet.
Concentrating can be difficult since I can still see everything with twenty feet even with my eyes closed. I have found zoning out and emptying my thoughts has been rather effective.
After around forty minutes I can hear footsteps heading towards my room. The door opens revealing Uncle Tristain carrying a tray with a cloche on it.
Smiling at him I tilt my head, "You know you can leave bringing me my food to a servant."
He shrugs as he pulls the cloche off the platter with a smile, "I am a fairly self-sufficient man since I grew up an unwanted child. I also want to observe how your body reacts to the energy."
The food on the platter looks like fried vegetables with large chunks of dark red meat in it. "Is this?"
"Yes, this is Devil meat. We use it in the Cult dining hall to give everyone a pick-me-up. This is a devil rat, it is a very weak creature with next to no energy but it is quite delicious and is enough to give any heretic a boost of energy."
I nod as I take the platter from him and set it on my lap. Picking up my utensils I grab the biggest piece of rat meat I see and scoop it up with some veggies. Shoving it all into my mouth my eyes widen.
"It's delicious!" I exclaim in surprise.
Uncle smirks as he pulls a chair out of his spacial ring and sits down, "All devil meat is delicious, it is the reason why most cooking cultivators come from the Cult. Although raw it is pretty disgusting, unfortunately, no one but heretics can eat it as it conflicts with the energies from Heaven and Earth."
"Is this where the fat heretic stereotype comes from?" I ask taking another big bite.
Uncle laughs a bit, "No, that is from teeth cultivators. They combine mage's runes and knights' armaments to fortify their teeth and stomachs to be able to devour anything. As you can imagine, they are all fat. Though it is a niche community."
I pause as I feel foreign energy radiating out from my stomach. It is warm and comfortable but also feels a bit… sinister? Seeing my pause uncle watches me closely. After a few moments, the energies vanish and I feel rejuvenated as if I just woke from the best nap of my life.
Not wanting to be wasteful I quickly finish off my food.
"The difference between uncooked and cooked devil meet is primarily the energy density. Cooked devil meet expels the loose energy and tightly packed what is leftover together so your body is unable to pull it out effectively."
"Uncooked devil meet is so loose that you can eat a full horse-sized devil without feeling full. That is because devil meat is almost one hundred percent energy. Basically, your body uses so much of it that you will be left with nothing after. As long as you cultivate that energy that is."
"Have you decided what you will cultivate first?" He asks leaning back in his wooden chair.
"I will start with Quaking Breaths. Broken Moon requires night time and I would like to start today."
Uncle nods, "Then sit turn around and sit cross-legged in front of me, I will help you through the first few cycles."
I move the platter to the other side of the bed and shift in front of uncle while sitting cross-legged. Behind me I hear a thud, on the ground in front of uncle I see the corpse of the devil dog on the ground. Uncle snaps his fingers and the skin of the dog is quickly separated from the flesh. With a tearing motion, he removes the skin and puts it in his spacial ring.
Putting his foot on the rump of the corpse he rips one of the large legs off and sets it on the platter in front of me.
"Once you take a bite you will need to immediately start cultivating, are you capable of that?"
I nod, "I will do it."
Uncle smirks, "Good."
Place a hand on my back I can feel a subtle hint of energy from his palm. Using both hands I pick up the devil dog's leg. I have trained physically since I was a baby and I still find the leg incredibly heavy, it is at least 200 points.
Taking a breath I prepare myself for the taste of the bloody flesh. With a big bite, I tear off a large chunk of leg meat and swallow without much chewing. Immediately a rancid taste of iron and bitter meat hit my mouth.
I try my best to ignore it as I try to zone out and begin to try to pull the energy towards my flame in my crown chakra. My bubbling purple flames begin to roll off of me but I ignore it as I try to match my breathing to the world around me. My stomach begins to burn as I feel a sharp pain coming from it so I try and move it faster.
Breathing in I move the energy from my stomach to my flame. For a brief moment, I hold that breath while the energy is converted to Qi. Letting out my breath I flood my meridians with the Qi that I just collected. After my first successful cycle, I feel a sharp pain from head to toe as I force open the never before used meridians.
As I am about to start the second cycle I can feel uncle's energy helping me guide the Qi in my meridians back to my flame. Breathing in the second time is far easier and I can feel I have almost used all the energy from that first bite in only two breaths. After finishing the second cycle I can feel all the energy is gone so I stop and return to reality.
Around me, I can see that the room is a mess, with the candles fallen over and the lantern that was on the nightstand now on the ground.
"What happened?" I ask Uncle confused.
"Quaking breaths is more than just a name," he says looking around the room with raised brows. "I will need to get you a personal training room. Until then just practice here, ask Mary to get me once you have finished that leg. You have good energy retention because of your well-trained body, so you should take care of it quickly."
With the wave of a hand, Uncle takes the corpse back into his spacial ring.
"Don't try to do it too quickly or you could hurt yourself."
"Of course, I don't want to lose my path so early due to greed. I have things I must do."
Uncle smirks, "That you do."
With a nod, he walks out of the room and I hear his footsteps disappear down the hall.
Staring at the devil dog leg in front of me I ready myself as I take two large bites. Concentrating once again I begin to cycle the energy again not paying heed to the pain in my stomach.