rising sun and stretched his back before looking out the window at the
landscape blurring past. The landscape looked mostly the same as it had
outside of Blackoak, but he knew they had traveled quite far.
Out of curiosity, he opened his bag and looked at the
magical map he purchased back in Blackoak to see where they were. The
dot had moved a fair bit from the town, although Sebastian naturally
compared the travel times to what he was used to in the modern world.
This train—which was technically a monster-driven,
carriage caravan—was traveling slower than a modern train. With a well
paved road, even a car could probably go faster. Still, it was much
faster, and certainly more comfortable, than walking.
It was hard to estimate any exact speeds, or times, or
even distances given the fact that he neither knew the answers in this
worlds unit—besides about 3 weeks travel time—nor any sort of conversion
rate for the units he was used to. His best guess was that the distance
between Blackoak and Luxendorf was, at the very least, a couple times
the length of the US.
Seeing as how the capital, and thus Blackoak, was
slightly toward the south of the center of the kingdom, Lumeria was
truly massive.
His training continued, day after day.
The only real break was during the train’s first stop at a
small town. It was a chance for the passengers to stretch their legs,
for the train itself to resupply, and for the beasts pulling the entire
train to rest. None of that was of interest to Sebastian, though. His
attention had been firmly on the possibility that there might be people
waiting for him, to ambush and arrest him. No one came.
He finally allowed himself to relax, to believe that he was safe.
They had told him outright that they hunted draft dodgers
down so it was only a matter of time before they came looking, but he
didn’t have much of an identity in this world. They knew his name was
Sebastian, but that was about it. Once they arrived in Luxendorf, he
would have to make up a new name and hope for the best.
After that, he continued his training to learn the [Spirit Union] Technique, and to cultivate.
Days turned to weeks, and he soon reached the halfway mark on the journey to Luxendorf.
His attempts had seen tremendous improvement.
As he sat in his seat, eyes closed and essence
circulating, every drop of liquid essence followed his will exactly,
moving along the precise path of the Technique. The bridge to the spirit
realm opened, and his spiritual sense spread out around him.
It was blurry and unsteady, but Sebastian could sense the
immediately area around himself. Since his senses were unstable, he
tried to focus on individual objects, rather than the complete image of
the entire area.
His bag, resting against the outer wall, partly hidden by his seat.
The dust bunnies under the seat itself.
The manual for the [Earthen Cultivation Art], nestled inside his bag.
His focus wavered, and he roused back to the physical world, his [Spirit Union] slipping away.
He took a deep breath to calm down, then he went right back to it.
Each day, his senses spread farther than the day before with increasing clarity and detail.
***
Sebastian sensed the world outside blur
past him through his spiritual sense. It was an extraordinarily strange
sensation to sense everything around him.
For the past week he had gotten increasingly familiar
with the Technique and could now sense a few more meters out than before
and with far greater clarity. That meant he could now sense the ground
beneath the train as they traveled, and he felt the strange discrepancy
between the silence and calm inside the train and the chaos outside as
the large wooden wheels rolled over uneven terrain.
If he was using his eyes he would surely have been motion
sick. Fortunately, he didn’t have the same issue through his spiritual
sense. He still found it to be a confusing and rather unpleasant
experience, however necessary it might be.
As Sebastian pushed his essence through the paths of the
Technique and flexed his mind, he spread his senses farther out than
ever.
Along with the increased flow of information, he also felt a series of dings in his mind.
Technique gained: Spirit Union
Status anomaly detected
Analyzing
Analysis complete
Consolidating
Skill consolidation complete
Skill gained: Mind’s Eye
Adjusting status
Sebastian’s spiritual sense rapidly expanded in every
direction to a radius of about 15 meters, within which he could see and
feel everything in exceptional detail—every blade of grass outside,
every insect crawling around, even the contents of the other passengers’
bags if he wanted to.
The sudden change caught Sebastian off guard and caused
him to jump from the shock and the over-stimulation. Luckily, the others
in the compartment simply thought that he woke up suddenly from some
dream and paid him no mind beyond an awkward smile.
That was wild! I saw everything, like the world around me was downloaded directly into my mind.
Sebastian quickly checked his Status out
of curiosity, especially since the [System] seemed to have consolidated
the Technique with a similar Skill, basically giving him a System Skill
to match his Technique.
System status
Name: Sebastian Moore
Level: 24
Skills
- ★Mind’s Eye
Cultivation status
Name: Sebastian Moore
Cultivation method
- Earthen Cultivation Art
Cultivation stage
- Essence Consolidation
- → Minor stage: Middle
Physical cultivation stage
- Leather
Titles
- Blessed
- Sole Cultivator
Talents
- Akashic Connection
Techniques
- ★Spirit Union
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
He immediately decided to get a better look at the details of both the Technique and the Skill given by the [System].
Technique: Spirit Union
A basic technique wielded by every true cultivator. By
using their essence to draw upon the connection between the Physical
Realm and the Spirit Realm, the cultivator can extend their senses
outward in a large radius.
Skill: Mind’s Eye
Your mind’s eye has awakened. This ability allows you to perceive the world around you within your mind in intricate detail.
Well, that explains it. It’s like I was almost blind before and suddenly put on glasses for the first time.
The [Spirit Union] Technique should
allow me to sense things around me but not necessarily see everything
quite so clearly, but the Technique synergizes with the Skill which
takes it to another level.
If I remember correctly, the
[System] awards Skills and Titles and such when someone achieves
something that earns its acknowledgment. Learning the Technique must
have been enough of an accomplishment that it earned me a reward.
I’ll take it!
I’m really starting to like this
[System]. By cultivating, I am constantly breaking new ground which
means I’ll basically get double the reward for my efforts.
Feeling satisfied, Sebastian used his Technique again.
Since the [System] had recognized the Technique, it was
much easier to use than before when he had to do everything completely
on his own.
It still took some effort to circulate his essence
according the specific path of the Technique and draw his attention
inward to open the door to the Spirit Realm, but the [System] seemed to
help things along, make things flow more easily and keep everything
stable.
Using the Technique also automatically activated the
Skill, and as a result the entire train car, parts of the both the train
car behind them, and the one in front of them, as well as the world
outside the train came into view inside his mind.
It’s certainly more comfortable to
use with the help of the [System], but I’m gonna need some time to get
used to this. It’s strange how I can take in so much information without
it being completely overwhelming, I mean it is, but it also isn’t.
Sebastian absorbed all kinds of details that he had never
managed to see before—the subtle expressions on the faces of the
passengers engaging in conversations with loved ones and strangers
alike, the almost invisible stream of magic that flowed throughout the
train car, and the intricate patterns of the wood grain through the
eggshell white paint of the walls.
As he turned his attention outside of the train, he was
astounded at just how natural it felt to be able to take in the minor
shifts in the terrain below the train and the shape of the occasional
shadow from clouds drifting above, even though they flashed past in mere
moments. It reminded him of scrolling through some streaming service
back home at max speed in search of something interesting, trying to
absorb each and every title as they scrolled past. Only now, he had no
trouble at all. Everything moved at normal speeds but he could keep up
with it as though it moved in slow motion.
Wow… this is… magical.
A lot has shocked me since I got here but this… this is something else entirely.
The only problem is that I have to
take a moment of concentration to reach into the Spirit Realm to
activate it, so I’ll need to be careful about when to use it— Wait… The
Technique and Skill are linked, clearly. When I activate the Technique,
the Skill also activates automatically.
Would it work the same the other way?
From my understanding, System Skills
are basically managed by the [System] which means that they’re easy to
activate. You have to work hard to get them in the first place—and you
have to learn how to control it once you have it—but actually using it
should be just a matter of activating it, right?
Sebastian excitedly released his previous use of the Technique and took a deep breath to prepare himself.
He crossed his fingers in hope that his hunch was right.
Much like how he viewed his System Status, he simply
focused on activating his Skill [Mind’s Eye] and in a mere moment his
view of his surroundings returned, exactly as when he activated it
manually.
Hah! It worked! I can activate it
almost instantly with the Skill and it also automatically activates the
Technique, cause they’re linked both ways. Amazing!
For the next hour, Sebastian practiced using his [Mind’s
Eye] Skill. He wanted to keep going for even longer, but a headache was
gradually setting in from the massive amounts of information he was
taking in.
For the first time since he ascended to his current
stage, [Essence Consolidation], he was getting properly tired. It wasn’t
a physical exhaustion but rather his mind that felt like he had just
run a marathon.
That night Sebastian slept for almost 10 hours.
When he finally woke up, the train was still.
At some point in the night, or early morning, it had
arrived at a small town and stopped to resupply and allow the beasts
some rest.
The train car was empty. It had been several days since
their last stop so it seemed that almost every passenger felt the need
to stretch their legs.
Thus far, Sebastian had avoided exploring during the
stops. Even now, weeks away from Blackout, he still felt that lingering
fear that he would be arrested the moment he stepped foot outside the
train.
That didn’t stop him this time. He was going stir-crazy and needed a change of scenery.
Sebastian stepped off the train and took a deep breath of
fresh air. There were some workers moving around the train cars, but it
was fairly quiet. Most people were already exploring the town or
finding something to eat that offered some more variety than what was
available on the train.
As he walked down the town’s main street, watching people
at the market, which was much smaller than the one in Blackoak, he felt
that something was wrong. Something about the town felt… off. He
couldn’t put his finger on it though, at least not for a few minutes
until it hit him.
The cobblestones on the main street were crooked and
broken. Same with the windows on the buildings, they were oddly shaped
and uneven. The houses themselves had chipped paint and broken corners.
This town felt real.
That’s what it is! I suppose it only
makes sense, Blackoak was a satellite town of the capital after all. Of
course they would have better access to magic, materials, and higher
leveled people with Skills, Talents, and Titles.
Given the fact that this little town
is a stop for the train between the capital and a major city, it’s
probably still better than most towns across the Lumerian kingdom.
Along with that sense of realness, unfortunately, came a
very real—and rather foul—odor that crept up on Sebastian. While the
hygiene of this world had been better than he realistically had any
right to hope for, it was still a mostly medieval world with medieval
issues.
The Boarish Butter offered Sebastian a reprieve from the stench.
As a restaurant, or tavern, nearby the station, it was at
full occupancy. When he opened the door, he was met with the boorish
bluster of countless people enjoying themselves after having been stuck
on the train for such a long time.
What Sebastian found most fascinating as he took in the
room was how both the rich elites from the capital and the somewhat
lower class of people traveling by train all came together in this
shabby tavern. They kept separate, of course, but they all shared the
space and were equally loud. It seemed that the long journey had an
interesting effect on the otherwise strict social structure of the
Lumerian Kingdom.
That also meant that there wasn’t a single open table for
him to sit down and get some food. Luckily, a small hand shot up and
waved at him.
Sebastian immediately recognized who it belonged to,
William, the boy from the compartment opposite him on the train car. He
and his grandfather, Verrill, sat with Ridgeley, a professor of
architecture, and his student, Marcel.
He hadn’t spoken with them much in the past couple of
weeks, but they had shared some polite conversations at times. Even if
they hadn’t, Sebastian had overheard so much of their conversations
during his practice with his [Spirit Union] Technique that he felt like
he knew them quite well.
When Verrill noticed the boy waving, he looked over and
noticed Sebastian. He flashed a welcoming smile and gestured at him to
join them.
It was crowded, but not to the point where Sebastian struggled to make his way over.
“John, I didn’t expect to see you out and about, you’ve stuck to your seat for weeks,” Verrill said.
“Yeah, I figured it was time to get a change of scenery,” Sebastian answered.
Professor Ridgeley nodded emphatically. “Quite right, Mr.
Doe. A change of scenery does the mind good, especially for a journey
such as this.”
Verrill scooted in on the booth seat and gestured to the end, next to William. “Please, join us.”
“Thank you,” Sebastian said as he sat down next to the boy, placing his bag by his feet under the table for safekeeping.
He ordered some food, and they enjoyed a simple
conversation while he ate. It wasn’t something spectacular or
sensational, but evoked a sense of normalcy in Sebastian for the first
time in a while.
When Verrill and Ridgeley got into a discussion about
some historical figure, Sebastian took the opportunity to practice using
his new [Mind’s Eye] in a more hectic setting.
With a simple mental command, the Skill activated, and his Technique responded.
It urged his essence to move along the path of [Spirit
Union], and he took control of the Technique to ensure it kept running
smoothly. Most of the tavern, and the street behind the wall came into
view through his spiritual sense.
As before, it was extraordinary.
He focused on one thing after the other, trying to keep
his mind from succumbing to exhaustion from the overwhelming sensory
input.
He focused on the people, then the food, and finally his
attention turned to the little monkey-like creature carrying a bag
toward the back exit. It seemed to be invisible to the naked eye, but
his [Mind’s Eye] saw it with ease. The backpack was larger than the
creature, but it was resting on its back, secured with its right arm, as
it hopped forward with its legs and left arm.
Huh, what’s a creature like that doing here? And that bag looks a lot like mine. He froze, and his attention turned to under the table. His bag was gone. That is my bag!
His spiritual sense vanished, and he shot to his feet.
“Somebody stop that monkey, it stole my bag!” he shouted and pointed toward the back exit.
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