"After that, my grandmother experimented with the first generation of this new species she was creating. She even had a few children of her own who she experimented on without thinking twice. Every child she had was completely different from the last, yet while a normal mother would have taken care of her children, she let only nursed them until they reached 12 months old before forcing them to fend for themselves.
Yet even then, she did not keep around the weaker children. She only kept around the strongest ones, with the hope that one day, she would be the creator of a powerful species capable of rivaling the higher races." Eris explained.
"What does any of this have to do with my question? And secondly, why was she so obsessed with creating a new race? I'm sure if she spent that as much time trying to get out of the bubble as she did trying to make a new species, they would have left already." Lloyd questioned after not making sense of Eris's grandmother's logic.
"To your first question, I'm getting to it. To your second question, it doesn't really matter if I tell you, but before entering the bubble, her race had gone mostly extinct.
Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that through all this experimentation, my grandmother had created a race capable of adapting and evolving to suit their situation and make sure their lineage lives on.
You are from the latest batch of void walkers, and since most of the newer generation of void walkers have been dying instantly the moment they awaken, I'm assuming the gene had evolved enough to ensure that you would not be found out by the humans.
While all void walkers are basically split into several factions, each with their unique racial ability passed down from generation to generation. Every faction had a trace of my grandmother's DNA. Hence, no matter how different their unique racial abilities are, they still hold the same characteristics." Eris finished explaining with a sigh.
"Wait, if there are factions, which faction am I-"
"Enough questions now. You won't remember this until you come back here again, or you become strong enough to remember me without becoming a target of everyone and everything that sees you." She cut Lloyd off, and while Lloyd knew it was just another excuse so she wouldn't have to explain any more about void walker's history, he also knew there was a lot of truth behind her words.
"Alright, what do I do now? Do I just go home or..." Lloyd asked, yet when Eris heard his words, she could not help but burst into a fit of laughter.
"Go home? No, no, no. You will not be going home for about-." Eris looked down at her wrist and continued- "Week."
"Yeah, uhm, even if I wanted to spend a week in this... Whatever you want to call it... I can't. Military academy begins next week, and If I miss it, I'm pretty sure my parents will reach a breaking point. Plus, no point in training since I won't remember any of it." Lloyd shrugged.
"I can control time and space in this realm. I'll just extend the time in here to make a week in my realm equal to 6 hours in the outside world." She smiled proudly.
"Doesn't fix the second problem."
"Oh, it's fine. I'll just ingrain the training into every fiber of your being. It's called muscle memory for a reason, you know." She waved Lloyd off.
"Yeah, you'd be making a really good point if I actually had muscles." Lloyd felt like facepalming.
"Can you just assume that I know what I'm talking about? I've lived for thousands of years, the least you can do is take my word for it when I say something." Eris felt like punching Lloyd in the face, but she held herself back. Punching him in the face should be kept for later activities.
"Fine."
***
The first few days were quite normal, well, at least it seemed that way from Lloyd's point of view.
Since Eris couldn't train him in using any of her techniques, she instead did the next best thing.
Train him to dodge.
He already had a lot of experience when it came to dodging, for example, when he trained with Felix (god rest his soul) to hone his senses, Hime to hone his beast fighting abilities, Veronica (May she end up in hell) when he learned to strengthen his pain tolerance through fighting in close combat, and Rex whenever they chose to spar with one another.
However, despite all his previous experiences, all of them combined, multiplied by a hundred, did not compare to Eris.
Eris was not just old and wise, she was ancient, and while such a thought would have usually gotten him an extra ass beating, he was already getting his ass beaten enough that extra ass beating felt like normal ass beating.
Eris's battle experience trumped all the people he knew combined. Even who is considered a martial art prodigy would not hold a candle to Veronica.
After all, there was a saying in the 21st century. You can master any skill if you practice it for 10000 hours.
Well, in this situation, Eris had her entire life, plus her afterlife, to master her abilities and techniques, to the point that even after she reduced her strength to an unawakened individual, Lloyd was still getting his ass handed to him, unable to land a single finger on her since she seemed to see all his attacks coming from a mile away.
However, despite how much his ass was getting handed to him, he was improving at a rate that was beyond his wildest dreams. The only thing he hoped for was that his improvement would carry into the real world, but for now, he was content with what he had.
After 4 days of continued beatings and healings, Eris finally decided to change up the schedule.
"Since you've already reached the first commandment, it would probably be for the best if we try to develop your mana channels and core." Eris thought out loud, making Lloyd raise a brow in confusion.
"You must be wondering-"
"Please, no point of explaining it at this point. Just, what's the plan?" Lloyd sighed.
"Well, since nothing that happens to your body here can affect your actual body, I'm going to have to teach you how to develop your very own cultivation technique. First, you have to create a mana core as well as a few channels too.
After teaching you everything, I will ingrain everything you learned here into your mind and soul as an epiphany or vision. It won't last long, but it should be long enough for you to remember them and short enough that no powerful individual can detect your signature or locate you before the signature fades." She explained.
"Oh? well, we can get started then since I already have a core. Where do you think I've been storing my mana?" Lloyd asked.
"You don't have a core. You have runes that you have been channeling your energy to so you can increase in strength and power. You're a void walker, so you're different from the humans, but there is still something that makes you similar. No one can get a core before reaching the first commandment.
Making a core is pretty simple. You just have to compress your mana into a sphere, the smaller you make it, the better.
Anyway, making is core for a void walker is very important. While humans have organs in the way, so their mana doesn't really run wild inside their bodies, void walkers since we are basically empty
Due to that reason mana fills every inch of our bodies rather than staying in certain places. While its still important for humans to get mana cores, its more important for void walkers since your mana usage is much less efficient than most other races when you do not have a core to help you out.
Think of it like this. When humans use their mana without a core, its like trying to pouring water into a bucket with three holes drilled into the bottom of it. However, a void walker using mana without a core, especially in the first commandment, is like trying to pour water into a bottomless bucket in comparison." She explained
"Anyway, I want you to create you're own cultivation technique. Since nothing you do here affects you're real body, that's really the only thing I can help you with, yet even then I would like you to do it independently. I will simply guide you
No matter how much you try to master someone else's cultivation technique, you will never master it to the degree of its creator, and you will never be able to surpass the creator." She explained, making Lloyd sigh again before quickly resigning to his fate of never having anything come easy to him.
Eris explained the fundamentals of making a cultivation technique, something every person should know before actually going through the process of making one.
The next 3 days flew by in the blink of an eye. Eris ensured to implant as much information on cultivation technique creation, as possible into Lloyd's soul and mind before waving him goodbye.
A flash of light illuminated the palace one last time before Lloyd's figure disappeared.
***
When Lloyd reached the real world once more, he didn't remember a single thing. It felt like he had gone to sleep and woken up the next morning, yet despite having slept for 6 hours, he could not help but feel more tired than when he went to sleep.
However, that's when it happened. The epiphany hit Lloyd like a truck, and despite not actually having one before, Lloyd instantly knew what it was, and exactly what it was showing him.
'How to create a mana core, breathing technique, and mana channels, huh... How interesting.' Lloyd thought, realizing that it was the next step that he needed in the very long journey ahead of him.
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