Chapter 19 - Choosing the Exercises (1)

Theodore witnessed Nathan taking out scroll after scroll of rough papers, and he wondered how many exercises his teacher had.

Nathan arranged the manuscripts containing the precious exercise for mana users until they formed a big pile on the table.

"These are all the mana-gathering exercises. Do you have any direction you want to practice?" Nathan mildly asked his disciple. He believed that with Theodore's comprehension, he might have some extraordinary ideas in his heart.

Theodore shook his in response and softly said, "Teacher, can I listen to your explanation of the exercise first?"

He did have some thoughts about the direction of the exercises in his heart and had already prepared an explanation in case Nathan inquired. However, there were many fantastic mana-gathering exercises before him!

He hoped to understand the practice techniques in front of him thoroughly before deciding; after all, what if there was a flawless and outstanding exercise in the direction he had never imagined, and he missed it!?

He did not wish to make a grave mistake he might regret just because he was too hurried at this critical time.

Nathan nodded, signifying that he understood. He picked a scroll up and handed it to Theodore, explaining, "This one suits the person who wants to go extreme in the fire element."

Nathan paused to wait for Theodore to read through the exercise after he briefly clarified its advantages and disadvantages.

Theodore looked at the exercise title; there was a name, 'The Melting Cinder.'

He admitted that its effect was miraculous; the person who practiced this technique to a high level could survive and heal infinitely by continuously absorbing the fire elemental mana from the surrounding.

Of course, there were significant weaknesses. One was that it required great consumption of the fire element treasure to progress. The other was that after practicing it, the practitioner could not cultivate other elements.

The rest of the exercises were also equally excellent in their uniqueness. Thodore previous self would never envision himself being able to select a practice technique from so many pleasing choices.

Theodore read through the exercise one by one with his teacher. He categorized them into three types: the ones with the consequential drawback beyond his tolerated limit, the alright ones, and those especially suitable for him.

Nathan looked thoughtfully at his disciple's action; Theodore surprised him again. It was rare for a child to have the ability to discern his path and have the resolution to eliminate other good choices.

'It seems Theodore is more determined than I assumed,' Nathan pondered. His thought was fleeting, and it did not disturb him in helping his disciple.

Theodore looked at the remaining exercises he favored and considered suitable. He secretly thought, 'There were still a lot of exercises left.'

"Teacher, can you clarify more detail about these exercises?" Theodore asked Nathan as he moved the practice techniques he was unsure of to his teacher's side. He hoped for more explanation so that he could further eliminate his choices.

He skimmed through all these exercises and found that they were all alright; however, with his limited knowledge, he was afraid that there were details he had overlooked.

Although he could change the exercise later, it was difficult.

The attribute of the practicing techniques needed to be similar, and it took time to adjust the characteristic of the mana flowing in the body. There were also many minor and major concerns to worry about afterward.

Theodore concentrated as Nathan described the exercises in depth, including the nature of each practice, the required comprehension, the limitations, the detailed treasures needed, etc.

He then slowly select the exercises from the remaining ones with Nathan's assistance.

At the same time, he was secretly amazed at his teacher's resources. He was curious about Nathan's exercise and could not help discreetly peeking at his teacher occasionally.

Theodore hesitated but decided not to ask his teacher in the end. His rationale told him that it was not a smart thing to do. He and his teacher might be more familiar, but it still did not change that they only knew each other for two days. It might make their relationship awkward.

He could only bury the doubt in his heart.

Theodore's thought then drifted to his future self. He tried hard to recall and found that he knew little about Nathan, even though they had known each other for almost twenty years before his teacher died.

He cursed his previous self for being ungrateful and ignorant. There was such a capable person to depend on, yet the other young him still held on to his self-esteem and insisted on relying only on himself to get stronger.

Although he later eased the relationship with Nathan after many setbacks, they were never really close, not even as good as he was currently.

'If only my future self cared more about the teacher...' Theodore signed.

Nathan glanced at Theodore; he might not deduce all the complications in Theodore's mind, but he could still sense his student's doubt.

With his experience, how could he not roughly guess what was Theodore curious about?

Nathan smiled at Theodore's reaction and pretended not to see it; the exercise he practiced was nothing good.

'It was better to bury this exercise to death with me.' Nathan pondered.

The teacher and student feigned their ignorance and continued focusing on determining the fitting mana-gathering exercises.

...

In the end, there were only three practicing exercises remaining.

The Translucent Phantom: The exercise allowed the mana user to condense the comprehension power into different supernatural phantoms; with it, the technique practitioner could borrow and have the ability beyond their current rank limit. The only shortcoming was the mana user's severe dependence on the figures of the phantoms.

The Chaotic Vortex of Four Elements: The mana user absorbed the four elements of fire, water, wind, and earth simultaneously and used their conflict property to strengthen the body and meridian. However, the practitioners of this technique also needed to tolerate the tremendous pain, and the ability to condense could only belong to these four elements.

The Transmutation Bloom: Forged the meridian as pollen and condensed the comprehension power into different surrounding petals; the mana user could switch between other supernatural power seamlessly. The difficulty in cultivating this technique was the elevated requirement in comprehending and maintaining the balance between the elemental petal.

Each of these mana-gathering exercises had its essence, edge, and restrain. Most importantly, these practice techniques had no upper limit; Theodore could use them to cultivate until he reached the 10th rank mana user or even further.

Theodore contemplated the detail of the three exercises and reflected deeply; he soon came to a decision.