[You attempt to cultivate the [Mountain Sitting Technique], but are unable to sense spiritual energy. As you open your eyes, the martial elder asks you whether you imagined the mountain.]
"How should I imagine the mountain?" Lem's simulated self asked, bowing his head.
"What is a mountain?" Master Brightflame asked.
When Lem's simulated self did not respond, he continued. "Patient. Unshakeable. Unshakeable to the point of inevitability. Humans may be exterminated, the seas may boil, but the mountain will remain. Two thousand years pass, and the mountain has gained a meter of height. Is it bothered? Is it in a hurry?"
"Massive. Encompassing. One with the world-or even a world unto itself. A small beast may live its entire life without leaving the mountain, without ever knowing that anything exists outside of the mountain.
"Who can bargain with a mountain? Who can force it to concede? What has more gravity, more weight? It is the essence of solidity, the essence of strength, of virtue."
Lem's simulated self frowned. "But Senior, where are these elements in the visualization diagram? If I cannot see them, how can I imagine them in my mind?"
"See them? I have already told you the qualities, and you still cannot see them? Focus! Focus, and if you still cannot imagine the mountain, you may ask me again. What other questions do you have?"
Lem listened intently as his simulated self began to ask specific questions about the aspects of the mountain in the visualization diagram.
A few of them were points of confusion that he shared. Others were questions that he had already resolved, and a few were completely novel, drawing his mind in a different direction.
Master Brightflame carefully answered each point, one by one.
Lem could see his experience in teaching from the competent manner in which he summarized difficult concepts.
Both he and his simulated self were making constant realizations after every sentence the martial elder delivered.
Finally, as Lem's simulated self was about to ask another question, Master Brightflame cut him off.
"The details are less important than the approach. You are pestering me for everything I have seen when you should be focused on how to open your eyes."
Lem felt a slight sense of enlightenment.
Details are less important than the approach!
The words resonated with his understanding of the visualization diagram.
He quickly began to visualize the mountain again.
Details are less important than the approach!
Where was the mountain?
He stopped trying to hold on to every detail in the image, stopped trying to mash everything together into a comprehensive vision. Instead he tried to see the mountain in a new light, he tried to imagine it!
Slowly, the image began to morph. It was difficult to understand what had changed, but it felt alive somehow, invigorated.
If before it was merely a fixture on the environment, now it was an embodiment. It was no longer just a collection of visual elements, but an actual mountain!
At the same time, Lem's simulated self closed his eyes and began to follow the steps described in the First Chapter of the [Mountain Sitting Technique].
Fixate on the mountain. Fixate on its qualities, its characteristics.
It was solid! It was huge! It was inevitable!
Lem's simulated self attempted to follow the complicated breathing movements. They were choppy and not at all natural, but he did not make any mistakes in the order.
Breathe in.
He began to contract his muscles in the correct proportions and order.
Breathe out.
He contracted his muscles, and began to try and nudge the spiritual energy within him. If only it could stir, he could identify it from the amorphous sensations within him.
Where was the spiritual energy...
He could feel the power distributed throughout his muscles, the specific sensations that allowed him to move with speed and precision.
Some muscles felt like they were full of strength, but that was the extent of the sensation.
Where was the spiritual energy...
Breathe in.
Breath out.
He attempted to nudge the spiritual energy again.
Wait! What was that?
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I'm Contaminated With No Hope Of Recovery
FantasyInfected by a mysterious evil and abandoned by his village, Lem is at death's doorstep when the Goddess takes pity on him and bestows a life simulator! He may die once, twice, three times, but if he simulates a thousand lifetimes, can't he find a wa...
