Past history and Knowledge

I learned how she had been alone for a month in a forest before finding peoples. They quickly grew close to each other as they fought, hunted and lived together. Seven months later, they were found by a group of bandits who were eager to **** her and the girls in her group. The group she was in, helped the best they could, dying trying to escape them. She was the only survivor. She hid in the forest and slowly developed a fear of men. She often had nightmares and cried a lot. During these nightmares she could see the face of a man with a missing left arm. He wasn't as plain looking as me. He was just a bit handsome but the cruelty and lustfullness in his eyes just made him a monster that haunted her every night. That man was the principal criminal. Being the boss of the bandit group, it was him who decided who was killed during the 'operation'. She was there, albeit hiding, when he killed her comrades. There were womens too in her group and each of them suffered torture worst than death being handled by every male in the bandit group. She saw everything ; the plead of the womens, their eyes devoid of life, will and hope after a certain number of mens had their fun, her friends she had know for 7 months killed after having been used by nearly 15 mens, the lustfullness in the eyes of the mens, the pleasure taken in destroying the life and hope of others, the enjoyement received through the cry from their victims. The worst nightmare for nearly every womens.

After hiding in the forest for a long time, time she completely lost track of, she began to travel trying to stay away from any group she could see. She eventually was found and couldn't retreat from people anymore. The group was actually quite a kind one, but she couldn't help but raise a barrier between them. After some months, a city was created nearby and the group decided to go establish themselves there. They wanted to find the lives they had before coming to this world full of beasts, a life where you just had to work and you would have a comfortable life, with a house, wife, children and material goods. They arrived at the city and separated. Well they were in the same city anyway, if they wanted it was easy for them to meet each other, but the relationship between them weren't as good as it was in her first group given the barrier she put between her and other peoples. After 2 to 3 months her grandfather found her and they moved together. Being a science freak, her grandfather was deeply interested by this world and in his curiousity he helped the current president of Arrays Association, develop and deepen the knowledge they had on Arrays. It earned him a large some of money which he used in a manor where she could be at ease, away from peoples. It has been nearly one year since she had see someone new other than the servant.

It's after hearing her story that I understood why she had been scared by my missing arm. It should have reawakened memories she didn't want to remember. Even though death was a frequent occurences in the present. It hurts the same way as before. Just that the people were slowly getting used to. Also her case was a bit different, she wasn't merely shocked by the death of her comrade but she also had to face her trauma and fear of peoples, especially men. I was even surpise she wasn't this repulsive of me and told me her story.

While telling me her past 3 years, a few tears slowly fell down from her angelic face, making my heart thump in sadness. I was sad that such a pure and beautifull girl had to live something so devastating. I leaned a bit and reached to gently wipe the tears with my thumb. I gently smiled at her, took her hand with my remaining one and didn't interrupt he anymore. She didn't move her hand away and just let it lay in mine.

Like that her story slowly came to an en and a silence followed. It wasn't an oppresive silence but one where you could regain your calm, think and be at ease knowing no one will ever juge you. After thirty minutes with her hand in mine and in complete silence she gracefully got up, thanked me for my patience and excused herself as she was tired. I saw a deep sadness in her eyes but also a growing tenderness and appreciation. I wished her a good night and got up myself as I went to my room. I had a a lot to do tomorrow.

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The next morning, everything went as it should be. I took my breakfast with the Old man and Zoe. She did glance several times at me but didn't say anything. Seeing as she was clearly less talkative than yesterday night, I presumed she wasn't much of a morning person or it was just because of what happened yesterday, I didn't really know.

The Old man then went to introduce me to the president. The president was extremely enchanted to make me one of his Master Arrays. Afterall I was the genius who first discovered the Array Qi. We talked a lot and that's when I was suddenly overwhelmed by my lack of current information. He looked at the Old man with an interrogative look as if asking 'why didn't you already fill him with all the required knowledge ? He is a valuable asset after all, you know.' The Old man responded.

"Well he just had came out of a blocked area after 3 years. He was tired and needed rest I didn't want to burden him more than necessary. In any case you would have met him today, and that was the perfect occasion to fill in the gaps."

The president looked reassured, nodded and looked at me.

"I advice you go take a seat as our conversation will take a lot of time. To put it simply, during our 3 years of research we have collected a lot of data and you're completely behind in term of the depth of knowledge. You're now part of the Arrays Association, which will be an hegemon in the future. Being someone with statut in this organisation, if you don't have the required knowledge you'll just be a laughingstock and will stain the name of the Association ." The president said, he wasn't kidding and was a bit harsh with his word but I knew he was right. After all it is a known fact since a long time that knowledge is power and I wanred power.

"Currently you just know that there is differents Qis and that when sensed, they have differents effects on your base, your image used during the process to create your foundation and Qi Core. What you don't quite understand yet is the difference in a lot pf topic. There are a lot of nuances for you to understand. First the Qis are divided in 5 differents categories. You have already found some of them but it isn't totaly correct.

First there are the Elementals and Non-Elementals Qis which cover the first category. It represents the most easy Qis to understand. Wood, Metal, Fire, Wind, Lightning, Blood and the likes. The second category represent the Intangibles Qis. They are inherently extremely powerfull and difficult to learn. Lightness, Darkness, Time, Space, Healing, Gravity etc... are goods exemples of them. After that comes the Creational Qis that are basicaly the Qis used for construction, creation of objects, medecines, weapons, and others. Our Array Qi can be considered one of those. They are Qis difficult to sense because you have to create them by using differents Qis or create something new as an object, medecine, weapon, array, etc... and have an enlightment. The fourth Qi category is the Weapons Qi. As the name gave it away, it's for Qis which are sensed as your understanding of your weapon grows. They are the most time consumming but give the most power.

The last Qis are quite strange. It is a Qi produced by differents beings. Actually it's a rumors but we have found proofs of it. We must investigate further but the Qis produced by these beings are quite strange, giving various usefull and unfathomable advantages. We have found a type of Rock Golem in the south which produce an extremely strong Rock Shattering Qi. The Golem itself is like a mountain and doesn't seem annoyed by other peoples. Some have created house near it and have absorb the Qi emanating from the Rock Golem. It gaves them the ablity to shatter everything, based on their individual power of course. We deduced that these beings have a cultivation techniques that make them absorb the Qi present between heaven and earth and slowly transform it into a special Qi. In short they have a powerfull Cultivation Technique." The president just finished talking and I was already completely stunned, serious and concentrated. I wanted to learn everything I could quickly. These information would prove to be essential for my future cultivation.

Then the Old man interjected.

" Your Spacetime Qi is actually quite the specimen. It isn't a Intangible Qi because it's foundamentaly more profound and created by the fusion of two Intangible Qis. It could be said that it's a Variant Qi."

I took a deep breath trying to process everything but was interrupted as the president hadn't finished yet.

" You see there is actually not only a lot of differents Qis available to people depending on their talent, but there is also the depth which is extremely important. We decided to used Chinese legend and eastern novels to categorize it as we, chinese, have the most knowledge about Qi. The profoundness of a Qi is divided as such. First there is Qi which is when you have sensed it and began to use it in your martial arts. It's after becoming a Qi Core Creating that you can begin to truly manifest your understanding of Qis. In the Qi Core Creating you can develop a Will and even an Intent. For now it's all we know as the strongest cultivator out there is just at the peak stage of the Qi Core Creating. The more you understand your Qi, the more it will condense and fuse with your soul using the image of your core as a base, and the more control you'll have of it. It'll, as the condensation and fusion slowly improve, supress the Qis of others and gives you an edge in battles. That's for the depth part.

You must have already understood but at the Qi Sensing stage you can only condense a Qi. But it doesn't mean the depth of your understanding cannot grow. As such the Martial Arts created by fusing Qis in them are divided by ranks being Mortal, Earth, Heaven, Divine, Moon, Sun and Stars. It's the same for every Techniques used in the world. Of course, the classement will change with the peoples growing stronger but it won't change the fact that it will be used for every Techniques, being Martial Arts, Cultivation Techniques, Utilitary Techniques, Creation Techniques, etc... In the end your understand of Qi will not improve your battle power but your knowledge of the world and how to improve your Techniques." The president paused and took a bottle of water. He drank and instructed me again.

" After talking about Qi, I will talk about two topics we have a lot less informations on. Soul and Body Cultivation. The Soul is something extremely profound which cannot be fathomed. First there is the Soul Sea. The Soul Sea is the recipient of our Soul and the liquid the Soul itself. By using Soul Qi to slowly enter our own Soul Sea we can expand the Soul Sea and/or expand the Soul within. If you decide to expand the Soul within a full Soul Sea the Soul will little by little condense itself.

For the Body Cultivation, altough simpler, It isn't something a lot of people are ready to go through. With Body Cultivation, you have to create a Technique which will add a Qi or a special effect to your body. To do that you will have to refine your body using a lot of resources and merge the Qi or special effect through these resources to your body while inflicting terrible pain to yourself. The more pain you suffer, the more strenght you'll receive. It's a Cultivation for masochist.

Since you already have devised Martial Arts, you are already capable of creating your own Cultivation Techniques. It will demand a lot of talent, inspiration and thoughts from you but I'm sure you can do it. If you need help trying to reach the Qi Core Creating you can come to me.

Finally the Qi Core Creating Stage is separated into three levels. Low, Middle, Peak. Each representing a state of matter. The Low level represent the Gazeous as the Qi inside your Core is like that of a mist. In the Middle level your Qi is in a liquid state and in the Peak level in a solid state. Every time a tiny portion of the mist like Qi become liquid like Qi, it increase in quantity and quality tremendeously and tje same goes on for the liquid to solid state." With that said the president finished his bottle of water and told me to come back tomorrow.

I was still digesting what he said during our travel back but quickly forgot about it when I glanced at Zoe who was waiting for us in front of the manor. I smiled at her and she did the same. We looked at each other for several seconds and I said :

"I need a partner in sparring, I think it would be a good idea if you joined me. I know you are strong deep inside, just give you the chance and you will shine as never before." I said as I looked in her eyes.

She had been scared for too long and I wanted her to live her life to the fullest again. To do that, she needed confidence and to little by little tame her fears. I thought that sparring with me would help her growing her strenght and confidence while I could still be by her side during her moment of need.

' Aw James you're so sweet some time, I can't understand why you don't have any woman in your life yet.' I chuckled inwardly and waited for her answer.