Chapter 44-Learning to Walk

                                    

                                          


                          
Ugh when you know no one in the city la la la like at this point I should just start buying random people coffee. Well if I had a job I might lol
                          
Mei's instruction was incredibly ruthless and unyielding. Despite the motions being variable based on circumstance, and unique to each situation, she specifically instructed on key points mercilessly. Over and over he was made to practice certain patterns and certain ways to prevent these patterns from being noticed. It was a pattern... but without form, a formless pattern!
                          
"Never let an opponent figure out what you want to do, before you do it. Any sort of pattern must be erased! Similarly, a complete lack of a pattern is naturally a pattern this too must be avoided! Only then will you truly achieve formlessness and move in such a way that no one can predict your path. This will allow you freedom, the most possible safe moves! If your enemy is wary and doesn't know what you will do, he will hesitate and your options will increase. Only then can you maximize your options and walk in the midst of many despite being just one." 
                          
On and on Mei lectured, and Lineir listened carefully. The degree of difficulty of this kind of training was not like the basic stroke and footwork training of before. Before, it was enough to build muscle, and through repetition gain some semblance of the correct movement.
                          
"Kiddo, what will you do when your enemies turn the battlefield into an ocean of fire and magma, where every step is a possible path to the hells? How can you be ready to deal with such an extreme situation if you have never encountered such a thing before? The answer is, you must have the feeling! By building up the feeling of how to move, even in unfamiliar situations, you will intuitively know what to do. You have an advantage here, your madness ability naturally gives you a critical edge, but you cannot simply rely on this innate ability. You must also have experience, now move faster, feel more!"
                          
 And so on Mei forced Lineir to walk in strange and unfamiliar ways, to go out of his path randomly, and to sometimes repeat the same movement unnaturally several times, all for the sake of creating form without motion. Lineir asked once, as a joke, when this training would be complete, and Mei simply retorted,
                          
"It's always as complete as you want it to be. If you feel like you are unpredictable, that your opponents could not possibly fathom your movements, then you are free to stop. However, if you think there is even a fraction of a percent of a chance that they could eventually predict where you will go and how you will get there, then you can only analyze more, and increase your sense of feeling. Even when you walk in a straight line, I want you to be analyzing how you could make the enemy think you are not!" 
                          
Presently, Lineir ended up entering another field of golems. They were only about a quarter larger than the last ones, it seemed the rate of growth was slowing, but instead there were significantly more obsidian ones! There were now four obsidian ones, and five silver ones! Additionally, there was one blue golem which Lineir had never seen before! Wary of the new enemies, Lineir approached slowly, carefully staying out of their range.
                          
"Mmm, Mei is it worth fighting them? At my new level, I feel much less threatened. However, those four obsidian golems are pretty annoying being resistant to electricity, and as for the blue one, I have no idea. But if one seventh tier core could advance me a realm, even if these golems all also only contained seventh tier cores I would still gain greatly correct?" Lineir was excited. The idea of breaking through realms so quickly was simply unfair to the Heavens and all the other regular practitioners who spent their lives cultivating.
                          
"Disciple, let me clear your head right now. While you may have easily crossed the Gathering Storm Stage, the Raging Storm Stage is different. The Gathering Storm Stage has very little actual technical difference from the Rising Storm Stage. The only real difference is the power level of the cultivator. However, now that you have entered the Raging Storm Stage, not only will your requirements for elemental energy to break through grow greatly, the technical requirements will vastly increase! Simply put, not only would seventh tier cores not greatly increase your level, they would not do much at all if you do not raise the level of internal spin in your Second Heart! You actually cannot devour too many cores, you will in fact be better off spitting out the cores if you need to use the Three Headed Hydra's devour ability. Otherwise, if you do not have sufficient spin in your Second Heart, the extra energy will cause your inner elements to go out of control and go wild, tearing itself apart! You will lose all your cultivation, and possibly become a cripple. Thus I can only warn you once again, do not think you can simply keep skipping realms without properly cultivating!"