Chương 27: Cultivation of Self

As Guy walked towards Al Jeeves' office in the library, he started to look back on the events since his transmigration.

Guy's previous experience during the check-in session with his supervisor gave him a rude awakening on just how weak he was in this world.

Subconsciously, Guy was subscribed to the modern belief that knowledge and wealth equated to power. But it was only after seeing how Jo Way snatched the resources his student deserved through brute force, that Guy realised that in this world power equated to power.

Even the smartest and the wealthiest individuals in this world were beholden to the fists of a bull-headed yet strong pauper.

And so, Guy started to spend his free time trying to advance his cultivation realm. He had been stuck in the Late stage of Mana Condensation for quite some time now, and he understood that it would be damaging to his image as a teacher to remain there.

His main motivator was the fact that he was now a master to Markus. As his disciple, Guy was a pseudo-parent. Well, since Markus was an orphan, Guy could actually be considered a full parent. Therefore as a parent, he was responsible for the well-being of his ward. And to have a better lifestyle in this world, strength was a prerequisite.

Guy wasn't disillusioned by the fact that he was a transmigrator. He knew that he didn't have any inherent advantages compared to the folk native to this world. Maybe his aberrant thoughts and knowledge could give him an edge. After all, he managed to rebuild spellmaking using modern concepts.

But when faced with a nuclear warhead, a superior writing utensil would be useless.

Guy had already resigned himself to grabbing Al Jeeves' thigh. But he recognised that it wasn't a sustainable solution. For one thing, Guy knew that their relationship was built on the sole fact that Al was gaining something beneficial as well. While the scales remained balanced, Al would be willing to put his name on the line to protect Guy. But the moment Guy became more trouble than what the benefits were worth, he would be tapping into the goodwill he had inculcated in his relationship with Al to protect himself. At that moment, when the scales tilted unfavourably, Guy knew that Al would drop him without hesitation.

To an extent, it was unfair to Al as well. The man had held out a rope by virtue of their friendship. It would be selfish for Guy to exploit that.

So with this in mind, Guy tried his hardest to push his cultivation forward and breakthrough into Foundation Establishment. But he quickly realised that his past experiences and education, which he thought were things that gave him a slight advantage in this world, were actually holding him back.

He found out that his mind was unable to comprehend and resonate with the mantras and insights inscribed in the Common cultivation methods of this world. It wasn't that they were exceedingly complicated for him to understand them, but rather that they were too abstract and nonsensical.

The way the cultivation methods approached certain phenomenon was too medieval and contested with his own preconceived notions on the matter.

Take his current cultivation method for example. The Way of the Burning Fist was a fairly common cultivation method amongst mages. It was basic enough to be accessible and was open-ended enough to be built upon with more Advanced methods from specialised sects or organisations.

The goal of the cultivation method was to mould the mage's mind into subconsciously tapping into the fire element in the environment, and infusing it naturally into their mana. The various mantras pulled the mage into a trance where they would observe the naturally occurring fire element in mana and slowly isolating it, circulating it, condensing it, and absorbing it.

This begged the question: what is a fire element?

Back in 1789, Antoine Lavoisier defined his first periodic table in which he included an element called Caloric, or heat. He defined heat as a fluid based on the fact that it had similar properties such as moving from a region of high concentration to regions of low concentration.

Was that the fire element? Maybe it was. Back then, scientists didn't have sufficient insight into the nature of elements and matter to know that heat was not an element but rather a form of energy.

So, was the fire element described in these cultivation methods referring to the heat energy in the environment? Such as infrared radiation, the kinetic energy of particles, and potential energy in intermolecular bonds?

Maybe it was. But how was Guy supposed to visualise them? Energy by nature was an abstract concept. He could visualise the radiation as waves. But how? Maybe he could refer to how infrared emissions were displayed in heat maps that used visible colours to define the intensity. However, this was also a method used by humans to comprehend abstract idea. It was not an accurate representation.

Alternatively, he could identify the energy as waves. Which brought him back to the question, how? How do you visualise waves that don't require a medium to travel through? At least with conduction and convection, the transfer was through particulate vibrations. But that was only a small part of the wide, and abstract, concept of heat and, by extension, the fire element.

While all these methods were plausible in assisting Guy in cultivating the Way of the Burning Fist, they didn't resonate with him. Deep down, Guy knew that these images were only half-baked and couldn't stand by themselves. He knew that even after he built his foundation and broke into Foundation Establishment, he couldn't move further as his base was unstable.

For a cultivation method to resonate with an individual, they must be able to comprehend it and internalise it perfectly. There must be no unsurety or apprehension. If the mage had a shadow in their subconscious that fought with their understanding of the mantras in the cultivation method, they would never be able to advance. And if they managed to advance forcefully, they would face catastrophic backlash in the future.

Having an unshakable will was the only way for mages to advance their cultivation and grow stronger.

This was a luxury out of Guy's reach. He was a foreign man in a foreign world, without any foundation. He didn't have a crutch to fall back on like most people in his position, such as a hidden family with deep roots, or an immortal grandpa with heavenly knowledge, or even a system that gave him some random boosts once in a while.

Another reason for Guy's lack of success in cultivation was because every time he sat down to cultivate, his mind would deviate and he would end up contemplating random thoughts.

For instance, was he unfulfilled in his last life?

He was! He never married, nor did he have any emotional connections with people apart from his family members. While he was psychologically and physically fulfilled, Guy was emotionally repressed most of his life.

Even after being thrown into this world, Guy was quick to adapt to the unfamiliar scenario. Why wasn't he overwhelmed? Of course, he was! He was on the verge of crapping himself the moment the gravity of the situation dawned upon him.

But he quickly reverted to an easygoing frame of mind. It was because he was equally emotionally repressed for most of his life.

Observing the unfairness of the world, and the squalor that a large portion of the innocent population of his old world was subjected to had warped his frame of mind. He recognised that he was born with immense privilege, unattainable to most others even through hard work.

He subjected himself to intense scrutiny and drilled the thought that his happiness was undeserved. He never had to work hard to get the things he wanted, while the kids he taught had to work themselves to the bone for it.

Even after he was given a second chance in life in this world, Guy quickly went back to his old frame of mind and started to sacrifice himself for the benefit of a pitiful kid. Even Jo Way, the brute who called himself a teacher, was collected enough to work towards his own happiness. Right now, that man was raking in money by selling a myriad of potions using his cheat.

"Why couldn't I do the same thing?" Guy would ask himself.

And it was because of these introspective excursions that Guy unwittingly reduced his cultivation time. Guy had lied when he said that he handed so many minute variations of a basic spell to Markus to test him in thinking critically. In truth, Guy was just afraid of settling his mind through meditation.

So ultimately, Guy concluded that this second life of his was inconsequential.

His first life, at least the first 25 years of it, was fulfilling enough. His lack of an emotional connection was his own choice and he should be able to accept the consequences of it. And while he was struck with a battery of illnesses in the final leg of his life, it wasn't as bad as what most others in the world were subjected to. If anyone did deserve another chance it would be them.

Therefore, Guy decided to ride the wave with his second chance. He would tackle things as they came. However, he kept in mind that he was an anomaly in this world. A dead man walking while the others were alive and were living their first and last life. And so, he wasn't going to hinder the course of others for his own benefit.

The moment Guy solidified this thought, a profound yet subtle change transpired within him. His budding foundation, which was a residual from the cultivation of the deceased Guy Larks, dissipated and another one slowly formed in its place.

A mage's foundation was generally in the form of a body of fluidic mana. The base nature of the body was a good indication of the cultivation method employed by the mage. While before, Guy's foundation held a faint appearance of heat and burning, this new one was tranquil and serene.

If one equated the foundation to a body of water, this new one was as if the water body was so unperturbed and clear that a casual viewer couldn't make out whether there was water in it in the first place.

Since Guy was still in the Mana Condensation realm, he couldn't register this change. He casually shrugged off the sudden discomfort as a side-effect of his rather heavy and oily breakfast and knocked on Al's door.