Sacred Arts

3. Todays Lesson Is Spirit Force

"Good morning, you three!" "Today, Master Shawn will teach you the fundamentals of spirit force and how to control it," Headmaster Edward announced before leaving the room. "As you all heard Headmaster Edward, from now on, I will be your teacher," Master Shawn informed the three students. "Once I teach you the basics, you will continue your training to strengthen your spirit force on your own, now that you are all masters of martial arts" he continued. "For starters Spirit Force can be divided into different categories that martial artists specialize in".

"There are body refiners, which are martial artists that focus on strengthening their physical body, resulting in monstrous physical offense and defense." "Next, we have martial artists that focus on movement and speed skills that, of course, increase their speed or stamina, giving them an edge in battle." "Moving on, you will eventually come across warriors who have mastered certain attributes such as fire, water, wind, and earth." "Lastly, there are fighters that utilize Divine Jewels, which are rare weapons or armor that can increase their strength, speed, senses, offense, defense, or even transform them." "Now are there any questions so far?" Master Shawn asked.

"How many attributes are there?" Jess asked. "There are probably way too many to name them all," Master Shawn answered. "I want to add a side note, there are even warriors who have mastered spells that also give them certain advantages," Master Shawn added. "Moving on, In this world, there are rare Divine Jewels that come from even rarer Sacred Jewels wielded by the four great kings." "Depending on the warrior, these Jewels can be used to fight on par with divine artifacts, which are holy or demonic weapons used by legendary angels and devils."

Amon, Jess, and Matthew all sat astonished by all the new information they were learning. "What attributes do you comprehend, Master Shawn?" Amon asked eagerly. Master Shawn smirked and replied, "How about I show you?" He opened his hand and created a ball of fire. "No way!" Jess exclaimed with a wide-eyed smile. "This is the ability of someone who has comprehended their attribute ability to the second level," Master Shawn explained proudly. "The first level is fusing your spirit force attacks with the attribute energy."

"The second level is summoning that attribute in the form of raw energy, making it stronger." "And the final level is infusing your attribute energy with your body itself." "For example, if my fire attribute is at the soul level, I can use it to purify my body if I were to be poisoned," Master Shawn said. "It sounds like some sort of magic," Matthew remarked. Master Shawn laughed and said, "you're not wrong, but you're also not right." "It's all about what you study and comprehend."

"You are all outer disciples now, as your cultivation hasn't even started yet." "So naturally, you are weaker than your peers at this level," Master Shawn explained. "But I thought we were the strongest of our generation," Jess said, disappointed. "That you are, when compared to other martial artists who are also not cultivating or in this case the students at the first stage of the academy." "After this class, you three will be starting at the next stage of our academy for advanced martial artists, the cultivators," Master Shawn announced.

Time passed as Master Shawn continued giving Amon, Jess, and Matthew their introduction to cultivation. He handed each of them a book and said, "You must study this book and begin your cultivation so you can officially enter the next stage of the academy." With that, the three students were dismissed. Amon, Jess, and Matthew left and immediately went to their own homes, eager to start their cultivation. Amon entered his home, sat on the floor cross-legged, and began reading the book given to him by Master Shawn. After committing the book to memory, Amon felt overcome with excitement and started meditating on the teachings.

Hours turned into days, and Amon couldn't help but smile as his body started glowing with a bright aura. He felt stronger than ever before, and he also felt a sense of protection, as he had learned from the book that it was a result of his aura. Amon also noticed that he was able to summon a divine dimension, which was a place for him to store all the items and treasures he gained during his journey. Satisfied with his achievements, Amon left his home to explore the other parts of the academy he now had access to. As Amon walked through the school, he made his way to the library.

He discovered that he could purchase books and skills there to further strengthen his cultivation. Amon spoke to the librarian, who explained how the library's system worked. He learned that the money earned from completing tasks for the academy could be used in the library to buy books, materials, weapons, and skills. The librarian mentioned that there were five levels to the library, and Amon, with his current level, could only access level one. The inner disciples had access to level three and above.

Amon left the library, contemplating which tasks he could undertake to earn money for cultivation materials, weapons, and skills. He went to the task board and examined the different tasks ranked from F, which were the easiest to C, which were the hardest that the school offered at the moment. F gave the smallest rewards and, of course, C gave bigger ones. Not feeling ready for D or C rank tasks yet, Amon decided to complete two F rank tasks. F rank tasks usually require disciples to gather resources for the academy.

Depending on the amount and value of the resources, that would determine the reward. Since Amon is doing two F rank tasks, his rewards could vary from one hundred to three hundred reward points for each task. A bonus for completing tasks was always whatever else you find outside the tasks requested items were yours to keep. The tasks Amon found offer three hundred reward points each upon completion. Both requested resources for the tasks were quite far, so he estimated that he would be gone for about a week or two.

For the first task, he needed to find some medicinal herbs that were quite common in a forest about two hundred miles east of his current location, Hammond. Hammond is a small territory in the mid-west region of the continent. The second task would take him about three hundred miles west of his academy in order for him to find Fire Lillie's. Fire Lillie's were flowers that had many different uses when it came to healing burns or concocting fire enhancement pills. After prepping the necessary clothes and gear for his journey, Amon set out to handle his tasks.