Chapter 319 Stages
Dyon immediately delved into increasing his foundation in array alchemy.
The problem with his foundation stemmed from how he started off. Much of his base knowledge in array alchemy didn’t from his master, but rather, Focus Academy. So, one can imagine how damaging that might be.
This was made worse by the fact he had immediately tried to find shortcuts even in those lacking methods.
Dyon couldn’t be blamed for this, in reality. He had done this out of necessity. Had he not sped up his learning process, his life would have been in danger.
For one, he would have died in his very first encounter with Akihiko, the man who had tried to marry his Madeleine. Without his array alchemy, Akihiko’s arrow would have without a doubt flown right through him, ending his life. And that was only one occurrence of his array alchemy saving his life. He even had examples of him using it to trick the higher experts of the big sects so that he could escape to the Elvin World.
However, because of this learning process, Dyon had skipped over many things.
For example, array calculations. He had completely ignored this theory because his simplifications were like cutting straight to the answer while array calculations were the equivalent of showing your work. But, that didn’t mean they weren’t highly important, especially when it came to higher level arrays.
With complex shifting array like the Elvin tome’s technique, calculations became all the more necessary. This was because the array was constantly shifting in relation to itself, resulting in completely new configurations with each passing second. If one didn’t ‘show your work’, so to speak, it was impossible to reach the resultant answer. Thus, this was Dyon’s first barrier to leap over.
In addition to array calculations, there were many branching topics that related to it. These included things like array placement. This was a set of theories that optimized arrays in many ways that included the time of day they were used, the time from creation it was used, even to the areas of weapons and the body such arrays worked most effectively with.
The foundational studies of arrays even touched topics like the depth to which arrays should be drawn into array plates, how to properly prime those plates to be drawn on, and even array maintenance.
In the end, it took Dyon a bit more than a week to fully ingrain all of these things into his memories and put them into practice. It was lucky for him that much of these things were within his master’s memories, or else it was have taken much longer. But, he was still frustrated with how slow he was being.
‘Let’s hope this helps…’ Dyon’s hand flashed as the Elvin Tome appeared in his hand.
Over the past week, Dyon had spent a lot of time thinking about what his grand teacher could have meant. He had settled on one most likely possibility…
‘If this technique is meant to overcome the disadvantage of attacking universes that aren’t yours, it’s likely that it’s a way to tap into your own being to sustain your own wills without relying on the world around you.’
This idea hadn’t come out of thin air for Dyon. In fact, it was highly linked to the fact that the technique itself was drawn as an array.
Because Dyon had recently learned the origins and true purpose of array alchemy, something had clicked for him. If the peak of array alchemy was meant to reconstruct the universe in its purest form.. Then what if that was what this technique was meant to do?
Inner World: Sanctuary? Creating your own internally driven world that sustained your power… A way for your wills to not have to rely on anything else but your own self.
As Dyon began to tease apart the intricacies of the complex array, something else was becoming clear: this so-called energy cultivation technique was also linked with his soul as the old man had said.
His energy was what filled the world, but his soul formed its containers and shape.
In the end, the technique still used his meridians as a focal point. In fact, it could be used as a regular energy cultivation technique if one so wished. But, that would of course be a waste.
So, Dyon immediately decided on the world building option. However, without meridians to use as a focal point, he had to first begin by slowly and diligently refining his body with essence energy.
The foundation stage was quite straight forward.
The first stage was an overall strengthening of the body. Here, Dyon had to flood his body with essence energy, slowly allowing it to become accustomed to the energy.
Often, techniques would be separated in quality at this level. More broad and overarching techniques would simply try and fill the body with essence energy before draining and repeating.
However, Dyon’s technique focused on each cell, slowly priming them for later and more focused tempering.
The second stage focused on the flesh, removing all outward appearance of impurities and blemishes.
This stage was often responsible for the difference in attractiveness between the martial and mortal realm.
As Dyon’s impurities were removed slowly, but surely, he was in fact becoming more handsome. Without being weighed down by bad genes and the like, Dyon became the perfect version of himself.
This led perfectly into the next stage, the bone tempering stage.
By focusing on purifying and restructuring the bones with essence energy, you could effectively boost not only their strength, but also their flexibility.
This stage allowed one to better handle taxing techniques that were heavily demanding on bodily strength.
Following this stage, was the fourth – the marrow tempering stage. This was a stage that allowed for purer blood, but also a nice priming for future body cultivation as well. Although blood essence was a short cut, self body cultivation started with bone marrow which was the source of the body’s blood.
The next stage, the internal organ tempering stage, is what was responsible for the health and longevity of martial artists. In fact, this stage was so important that it took two stages to complete to perfection. Thus meaning this stage was both the 5th and 6th foundation levels.
And yet, the next stage was probably the most important. So important that it took not two, but three stages to complete…