Chương 83: Practice of the Mind & Body

Thanks to the influx of the common herbs, I set up my pot and began the process of making medicine. Some of the herbs could only be used for low grade concoctions. That didn't mean they were useless. Even stuff like Vital Liquid had its place, and could be used to treat injuries. 'I pretty much mastered these low difficulty concoctions. There's no need to go overboard on them, and instead use this time to get some mid-range concoctions', I figured.

My choices were limited, as rarer herbs were required for such concoctions. Thankfully, Healing Essence was the easiest of them all, and the herbs required grew inside forest. Before doing any of the more difficult medicine, I refreshed my memory with Vital Liquids, and some weak poisons that could be applied on my daggers.

"Man, it's been a while. I should practice my medical skills as much as possible during spring, and summer. Nick would kill me if I forgot something, hehe", I said to myself a bit tired from all the focusing. "Maha!", Shelly exclaimed at me. "Hungry?", "Mah! Ma maah", Shelly replied affirmatively. 'Of course you are'.

After our dinner, it was time for me to create the more advanced concoctions. Production of Healing Essence wasn't dangerous. At most, there would be more impurities. During my first batch, there were about thirty percent of impurities. Though usable, it wasn't the best. The next few tries allowed me to improve, with only ten percent of impurities contained within the liquid.

'Ten percent is much better, albeit Nick would probably have none or in the vicinity of two percent. I'll have to do this more often from now on. Even if I'm going to waste some herbs', I figured. Unfortunately, there were no poisonous herbs that could be used for mid-difficulty concoctions. Usually such herbs grew in certain locations, not just any part of the forest. 'I wonder what sort of herbs I'll find at the Silent Pass', I thought.

I ran out of herbs quickly, but it was a great practice for me. Except the very good medicine and poison, I disposed of the rest. I didn't want to carry all that with me for no reason. "Now that you ate, and my practice is done, how about we do some training together?", I asked Shelly. "Maama maah...", Shelly sounded dejected but participated nonetheless.

With its eyes covered, I took out my puppets and moved them about. 'I'm really familiar with four puppets at this point. I should be able to proceed with the last step', I figured and stopped the training after a while. "Wait a minute Shelly. I'll add one more puppet. After all, this supposed to be my training too". A few minutes later, five puppets were attached to my fingers via strings. Each puppet for two of my fingers. The difference was that one puppet had to be controlled by two hands. More precisely, both thumbs would be responsible for one puppet.

I was able to control the four puppets because each hand controlled two. With five puppets, each hand controlled three. That was as difficult as all the stages combined. 'Damn, at least two of the puppets fall to the ground. My mind can't simply cope with this...', I thought but then recalled something.

"I'm such an idiot. Nick already told me how to practice such thing", I said to myself. In the past, Nick told me to draw a circle with one hand, and a square with another. That used to teach me how to divide my attention between different things. That exercise was great for early stages, but for the final stage, it was useless. What I needed, was an improved way to exercise my mind.

"Maaah?", Shelly got confused because none of the puppets were moving. "Oh, I was just lost in my thoughts. Let's continue for now", I said and manipulated the strings once more. Though two puppets were pretty much un usable, I continued for Shelly to get some practice in.

That evening, I tried a few way to make the mental exercise more difficult. Normally, the exercise demanded two shapes to be drawn with two hands. I tried changing the shapes in order to increase the difficulty. This was somewhat effective, but didn't change the fundamental limitation of that exercise. Only two shapes were used. 'But how do I add a third shape? I don't have a third hand... Would using my legs work? After all, it shouldn't matter what I use. I just need to learn how to divide my focus', I figured.

I stood up and decided to give it a go. My left hand would 'draw' a circle in the air, while my right hand a square. As for my right leg, it'd draw a triangle on the ground. '... This seems impossible. I can do it with my hands, but once I try to move my leg, one of my hands simply stops. Though this seems impossible, just like Nick once said. 'Just because it might seem impossible for you, doesn't mean it's impossible for everyone'. This must be the correct way to proceed', I thought.

The following day, our journey resumed. Whenever possible, I'd practice my movements through the forest, collect herbs and train my focus. Five days later, a pleasant surprise occurred. During my morning exercise, I managed to maintain my modified pose for over fourteen minutes. That was getting very close to the fifteen minutes mark.

"I'm not sure whether going over fifteen minutes will be beneficial", I said to myself. The second diagram wasn't modified yet. I've tried a few things at that point, but it was harder to modify than the first diagram. 'I'm not working on it as much, so perhaps dedicating some of my evenings for that wouldn't be a bad idea', I figured.

The second diagram depicted a man in another weird pose. The man had both of his legs firmly on the ground, but in a crouched position and as far apart as possible. Both arms were straightened. Left arm pointing upwards, while the right arm downwards. The back of the man was straightened, and his head slightly tilted upwards.

My changes consisted of different arm placements, different tilt of my head and such. Though some of these changes seemed to improve the pose, some of them downright made it worse.

'The second diagram places greater stress on some muscles. This is needed, because the second diagram was designed to be more difficult. I can't make it less effective, but how about more effective?', I asked myself.

That evening, I tried out a few things and ideas. As usual, some of them brought benefits, but some of them made me more uncomfortable. 'Perhaps the 'description' will help', I doubted, but it was worth checking. The book described the actions of a man on the diagram, but didn't really explain anything else. Moreover, they were written in a weird manner. Things like, 'Warrior collects his composure with his left arm...'. Over the top description perhaps, but there was a pattern of sorts.

'The book mentions stuff like focus, composure or even energy. I'm sure this can't be a coincidence. With the text being so over the top, these could be keywords used to convey the real meaning...'. This was a hunch, nothing else. My reasoning could've been wrong, but it was something worth investigating. 'At most, I'll waste a few hours on this. Then I'll go back to the old method', I figured before going to sleep.