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One day, a mysterious invite to a server showed up on her home page, an invite to server called "Daoist Discord" from a user by the name of "Transcendent Tourmaline Trapmaster".
Hailey in Cultivation Chat Room
flight-of-foot
All those concerns looked reasonable, looked like she could handle them as they came up. She nodded firmly to herself.
Depends on the process. In practice, it'd probably involve just putting my hand on your shoulder for a few seconds while you relax back and don't resist.
Well that's a relief~
(Certainly not a disappointment.)
Okay! I'm pretty sure I've got my head around enough things at this point, and English Lit 203 is not nearly as important as the real live supernatural, so I'm skipping and heading off to try my first strand. I'd say wish me luck, but you've already checked and mine is apparently good!
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Hailey drained the rest of her water, refilled it and her spare, and threw both in her pack. Stripping off the outfit she'd picked for school that day, she switched into leggings and sports bra and tank top and running shoes and threw her pack on her back. Just before departing, she grabbed her phone and checked the chat, typing out a quick "Thanks!" in response.
And then she dashed out the door.
flight-of-foot
Leaping diagonally across the alley from the walkway around the edge of her complex, Hailey caught tightly onto the brick face of the far wall, climbing a step and then leaping sideways onto the roof of a low building at the end of the alley. She landed in a roll, sprung to her feet, and she was off.
Along ledges, over railings, and off walls she bounded. Her feet pounded along rooftops and scaffolding. She ricocheted higher between gaps, leapt across alleys, and swung around corners.
And after several minutes she found herself in an apparently-inaccessible rooftop garden, thoroughly warmed up. She drank some water, catching her breath, and stretched.
This was it.
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Steadying her breathing further, Hailey walked through what she recalled about the technique. It started with the breath.
Slow and measured, in and out, out and in, she breathed out the chaos and breathed in balance. And then she dipped lower, bending her knees, and lifted and lowered her arms in the graceful motions of the Flowing Fists, flowing through each step of the kata with intent and care. She shifted her weight, she twisted, she moved through slow-motion strikes and smoothly sweeping blocks, the words of her Senior echoing in her mind all the while. Breathe as one with the world, and follow the steps.
Each sequence of the technique in flowed through her body and mind in turn. She built warmth and strain in her body, focus and intent in her mind, energy in both. Eventually she came to a stop, the motions of the technique complete.
She found her breath coming hard, winded but stable, and a gathered glimmer of energy under her skin, invigorating her.
She sat down, breathing carefully, leaning into the mental motion to dive into that internal spiritual place she remembered from the vision. The interconnected flow of living energy spiraled out before her view, the void of an aperture over her heart ready to receive, and the thrumming layer of energy near the surface ready to be gathered.
Carefully, slowly, she gathered the energy, holding it and shaping it into a thread. When it solidified, she gently pushed it into her heart's aperture, and it stuck.
And her focus returned to the world. She'd just taken her first step of cultivation. Wow.
A world of Cultivation!
A thick black sludge coated her skin alongside her sweat, and she was out of breath like she'd spent hours exercising, her newly invigorating heart pumping hard in her chest.
Still, she was stronger and better beneath that all, and could feel the energy inside of her flowing smoothly as she started down the road of cultivation.
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She stood up, briefly wobbly, then steadier. Ick, all this sludge would have to go, but what a feeling! After draining her remaining water and doing some more stretches, she leapt from the rooftop and started the route back. Good thing it was mostly downhill to get home.
As she went, she found herself spotting the familiar handholds just a tiny bit faster, her leaps carrying her just the slightest bit farther. Despite how tired she was, something about the route seemed... easier now.
She finished the route by diving into a rolling landing on the walkway, utterly delighted despite the deeper-than-physical ragged fatigue that hung about her. She unlocked the door, strode inside, tossed her bag down, and grabbed her phone.
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Thread GET.
She started stripping off her tank top, then frowned. A trip to the kitchenette for a garbage bag just in case, and in everything went. Standing naked in the middle of her studio, she pick the phone back up to continue.
Okay, these clothes are just full of this impurity gunk. Should I just write them off? Off to the shower for now.
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Water on, couple minutes of warm-up waited, and then in. Getting under the warm water, she took her time scrubbing away all the grime. Washed her hair, scrubbed her back, noticed that her abs seemed a little tighter. Did Not Notice™ the way her breath wanted to catch as she scrubbed her breasts. Gasped briefly when she started washing her sex and then pointedly moved along, finishing briskly and continuing to her legs.
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Towel-wrapped and fresh, she picked her phone back up to glance into the Discord server...
Silvering Soul
Okay, these clothes are just full of this impurity gunk. Should I just write them off? Off to the shower for now.
Honestly, sometimes your entire set of outfits are a write-off, just from the physical changes from body tempering? The gunk is possible to get out, but not quickly, and probably not worth saving it as an alchemical thing.
Yeah!
Don't feel super bound by any of that - poke Senior Tourmaline and she'll wire you any funds you need for that or your living arrangements...
It's really impressive how much of a mess it is - can soak through most anything if you aren't careful, and it can even resist some really basic cleaning spells...
I'm thankful that it's doable enough to work-around that happening after foundation building.
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Oh and @Lightning Gale, how are you feeling?
I'm feeling great! The run back was amazing — my leaps were lighter and my grip was tighter and the whole thing was awesome — despite being tired!
It's really impressive how much of a mess it is - can soak through most anything if you aren't careful, and it can even resist some really basic cleaning spells...
I'm thankful that it's doable enough to work-around that happening after foundation building.
Honestly, sometimes your entire set of outfits are a write-off, just from the physical changes from body tempering? The gunk is possible to get out, but not quickly, and probably not worth saving it as an alchemical thing.
Okay, now I'm kinda curious what this awful stuff can even be used for!
Seriously, though, I'm glad there are ways to deal with the situation.
Hailey tied up the bagged clothes, bagged them again, and then tossed them into the garbage. Those leggings were getting old anyway.
Don't feel super bound by any of that - poke Senior Tourmaline and she'll wire you any funds you need for that or your living arrangements...
Wow. That's really generous! I'm not really attached to any of this current situation — dirt-cheap studio apartment near campus when cultivating is so much more interesting than school — so I have some thinking to do before I get to accepting any offers like that.
Um. Um. Okay. Well, apparently the crew had some money to throw around? Leaving that be for now.
Oh and @Lightning Gale, how are you feeling?
Um also, my skin is a lot more sensitive. Took me by surprise for a moment in the shower. Warn a girl?
Hailey blushed. Why the hell did she just write that?
Anyway, right. Had a couple more questions: y'all keep talking about things like sword techniques and fist techniques and movement techniques, but what even are those?
Okay, now I'm kinda curious what this awful stuff can even be used for!
Seriously, though, I'm glad there are ways to deal with the situation.
It's useful for being useless, more or less - it's a terrible degrading medium for transmitting spiritual energies, so there's some applications for throwing it in with a binder when you don't need to worry about 'purity' due to other things going on, 'diluting' materials that can't be conventionally diluted by having the detrimental reaction and mix together, and things like that. Overall though, it's not rarely a first choice even for low-grade pill crafting.
Um also, my skin is a lot more sensitive. Took me by surprise for a moment in the shower. Warn a girl?
giggle <3 What were you expecting from a process that refines your body to its peak~?
Anyway, right. Had a couple more questions: y'all keep talking about things like sword techniques and fist techniques and movement techniques, but what even are those?
Fist techniques are for fingering your ass and pussy, Sword techinques are for dicks and dildos, and movement techniques are for thrusting into your partner as fast and hard as you can.
Silvering Soul
Wow. That's really generous! I'm not really attached to any of this current situation — dirt-cheap studio apartment near campus when cultivating is so much more interesting than school — so I have some thinking to do before I get to accepting any offers like that.
It's not conditional on anything, it's just money that you can spend and an idea for something to spend it on, that's all. But feel free to take your time, I suppose...?
Also, goddess you're a horny girl Topaz.
Anyway, right. Had a couple more questions: y'all keep talking about things like sword techniques and fist techniques and movement techniques, but what even are those?
The more serious explanation is something like that techniques are generally broken up by affinity and application - a 'sword technique' is generally anything designed with the affinity in mind that you wield the weapon as a combat technique, a fist technique is generally any unarmed technique not explicitly designed as a kicking one, though they will use that affinity, and a movement technique is anything that lets you move faster then raw physical amplification and base statistics would normally apply as a basic part of its function.
flight-of-foot
It's useful for being useless, more or less
That's an amazing phrase, I have to say. All of that makes some sense, and it's neat to see that even this gross stuff has some value.
giggle <3 What were you expecting from a process that refines your body to its peak~?
Fist techniques are for fingering your ass and pussy, Sword techinques are for dicks and dildos, and movement techniques are for thrusting into your partner as fast and hard as you can.
[blush] Moonsilver's right about you, Topaz!
The more serious explanation is something like that techniques are generally broken up by affinity and application - a 'sword technique' is generally anything designed with the affinity in mind that you wield the weapon as a combat technique, a fist technique is generally any unarmed technique not explicitly designed as a kicking one, though they will use that affinity, and a movement technique is anything that lets you move faster then raw physical amplification and base statistics would normally apply as a basic part of its function.
Oh wow, okay, that's so cool! How does one figure out their affinities? Is this the examination you were talking about earlier, Moonsilver?
It's not conditional on anything, it's just money that you can spend and an idea for something to spend it on, that's all. But feel free to take your time, I suppose...?
It's kind of just a lot. I've been kind of fending for myself since leaving home, and anyone who's offered things to me before has had awful strings or told lies. Y'all don't feel like that, though. So, this feels a bit weird.
That's an amazing phrase, I have to say. All of that makes some sense, and it's neat to see that even this gross stuff has some value.
resists the urge to link a bunch of economics explainers
