Chapter 101: Camp and lecture (2/2)
'I can bet she's thinking I'm about to reveal something about myself,' Layn thought to himself as a small smirk appeared on his lips.
”I spent most of my life in seclusion, training in what's called the art of magic. You can consider it as a different way of using the same energy that you guys use to cultivate.” Layn explained, quickly calming Irea's worries down.
'After all, I can also bet she would prefer to hear the truth of my origins on her own, without anyone listening to it.' Layn added in his thoughts, before focusing back on his lecture.
”But to put it simply, mana, the energy that I'm constantly mentioning, isn't something godly. It's not a gift of the spirits or gods, it's not an unexplainable force that rules the world. Just like this stick,” Layn pulled out one of the sticks he saved before, only to drop it on the ground, ”would fall down to the ground once I let it go, magic is just a name for certain phenomena that's natural to this world.”
At this point, some small murmurs started to circulate through the group of mercenaries. According to what Layn already learned of this world, cultivation was still considered either a gift from the gods or a part of their power stolen from them by heroes that ancients considered ancient themselves. And what he just did, was akin to pissing on the believes they hold on dearly to, through their entire lives.
”In other words, when you are cultivating, you are not following some kind of ritual. You are not trying to receive a God's blessing or anything of that sort.” Layn emphasized on this point. ”What you are doing, is infusing this energy into your own body, so that you can improve your flesh, your mind, and lastly,” Layn paused for a moment, before looking at his spectators and smiling smuggishly, ”your soul.”
The last part was what the archmage learned just recently when trying to pass time in the warcamp. During one of his lengthy, drunk talks with Antion, the core of the third dimension of cultivation was revealed to him.
Sadly, as Antion himself only heard the general name for it, Layn didn't manage to learn anything else about this part of cultivation. Thankfully, though, stuck in the middle of the third stage of the second dimension of cultivation, there was no need for him to bother with the next dimension yet.
”You can think of it like that. If you eat a lot of food and then train hard, you will get stronger. But have any of you ever wondered how does that happens?” Layn forced his lips to remain motionless, despite their attempts to form another smug smile.
”…” Outside out a few more murmurs, no one spoke a word. But what was important, no one stepped up to answer Layn's question.
”You see, the very basis of improving one's strenght lays in a simple process.” This time, Layn could no longer control his lips, allowing them to form the arrogant expression he wasn't very proud of. ”By working out, you are killing your strenght. By resting, you allow it to regenerate, but to regenerate even greater than it was before. And for that, you need nutrients from the food you consume.”
What Layn just explained was common knowledge in his times. Coming from the civilization that brought together the power of magic with the wonders of technology and intricacies of knowledge, he was well-versed in the basics of every topic that he deemed important.
”And now, to extrapolate it to cultivation. By cultivating, you are basically fighting with phantoms. You are forcing your energy to act in a certain way, exhausting it in the process.” Layn suddenly stopped his words, before looking at the faces of the crowd listening to him, ”According to what I said about the muscles, what would be the next step?”
For a moment, no one said a thing. Then, Pavrien shyly raised his hand. Seeing that no one was eager to answer, he stood up. ”To rest? Or maybe to eat some food?”
Hearing the answer, Layn could no longer hold himself back.
”Hahaha, you are closer to the truth that you believe yourself. There is no need to be shy, you are actually correct.” At first, the archmage encouraged the very first mercenary he hired. 'Initiative always needs to be rewarded.' He thought, recalling the time when one of his early masters said those exact words to him…
While flogging one of his fellow classmates for the act of stealing some apples to do some magic testing on them.
”What comes next, is rest. But in order to rest and regenerate, those paths that your mana created… needs more mana!” Layn smiled. Right now, he revealed the very reason why the people of this world were capable of using cultivation even without relying on the magic stones.
This was actually a pretty simple discovery. Nature didn't tolerate imbalance. That's why, even if there was no conductor in the air that would allow people to freely draw the mana in, as long as they exhausted themselves while cultivating with the mana they already had, the world itself would do its best to fill their potential back to its optimal state!
”And this is where the entire process of strengthening comes from. By exhausting your power, you are forcing the world around you to help you to regenerate it, and regenerate it to its increased volume!”