Chapter 25 - Breathing Methods (1)

The continent had plenty of age-old versus debates besides the argument over who was strongest.

Elves vs. demons

Dogs vs. cats

Summer vs. winter

West vs. East

There were countless other controversies, but people generally avoided most of them because they sparked conflict.

In everyday life, that is. On the forum, all bets were off.

Users often spent their time arguing over which was better at every opportunity. Sometimes things got heated enough to turn into outright hatred, at which point the admin personally stepped in.

And among all these debates, one subject was especially contentious.

Mana training methods vs. internal energy cultivation methods

Vote for whichever you think is better. Go.

1. Mana training methods: 50%

2. Internal energy cultivation methods: 50%

└Wow, how are they both at fifty percent?

└You people don't know anything. Mana training methods are better...

└Cut the bullshit. Better my ass lol

└You're from the Central Plains, aren't you?

└Nope. Messiah Empire.

└Must be a noble, then.

└Not a noble. A knight lol

That subject was mana training methods versus internal energy cultivation methods.

The controversy had continued without pause since ancient times and was still going strong.

The origins of mana training and internal energy cultivation

The accepted account is that they were learned from following the example of Aris, goddess of war and younger sister of Aragon, god of magic.

Of the two disciples she taught, one took charge of the West and the other the East.

The West gradually split into multiple countries, but the East still retains the name Central Plains.

Aris herself developed it by analyzing and studying her older brother Aragon's breathing, so it's basically Aragon's breathing method anyway.

And that concludes today's mythology lesson!

└Is Aris hot?

└You lunatic lmao. Want to get arrested for blasphemy?

└It's the forum lol. So is she hot?

└Sadly, there's no mention of her being pretty. Apparently she always wore a helmet because she was at war.

└Allfather From my research, I believe the accepted view is that she was beautiful.

└On what grounds?

└Allfather Aragon, the god of magic, said so himself. He said his little sister was a pain in the ass, but she certainly was pretty.

└Aren't they just typical siblings? lmaoooo

└If they're typical siblings and he still calls her pretty, that says it all.

└Suddenly this sounds way more credible lol

└Allfather Indeed, the two fought often. They say mountains were blown away and seas overturned whenever they fought.

└Holy shit...

└Gods really are something else...

└Allfather And every time, the chief god gave them a smack on the back.

└So it was just a sibling fight on a bigger scale lmao

└Why are they so human? lol

As in the myth, mana training methods predominated in the West, while internal energy cultivation methods predominated in the Central Plains.

But as time passed, some interesting research emerged.

Geography determined the fate of breathing methods in the West and East.

The West has dangerous neighbors to the north and south—demons, elves, and so on—so it needs to train as many capable fighters as possible.

That's why it spread easy-to-learn mana training methods as widely as possible to bolster its forces.

Problem is, that also makes them easy for people with bad intentions to learn.

So when rebellions happen, peasants beating the shit out of knights is pretty common...

That's part of why the country broke apart into what we have today.

Meanwhile, in the East—the Central Plains—the clans keep a tight grip on internal energy cultivation methods.

The culture is pretty conservative and the geography is favorable, so they don't have problems either internally or externally.

They only teach internal energy cultivation to people they know, while most peasants have never even heard of it.

The scholarly consensus is that geography caused the split between mana training and internal energy cultivation.

└Oh. Thanks for the info.

└A lot of people in the East use mana training methods these days. Is that because of cultural exchange?

└Partly, and partly because mana training is easier to learn. Still just as shallow, though.

└Meanwhile, western nobles tend to practice internal energy cultivation. That's how they widen the gap.

└So internal energy cultivation is for the high and mighty.

└Yep, pretty much.

└Not necessarily. Plenty of knights get taught internal energy cultivation too.

Mana training methods were easy to learn but shallow.

Internal energy cultivation methods were hard to learn but profound.

These were deeply entrenched perceptions of the two breathing methods. They were half true, but there was plenty wrong with them too.

Whatever the breathing method, the one that suits you is best.

Look at Ashe from the Messiah Empire. Made it to the top with nothing but a mana training method.

└Isn't that just because Ashe is a freak?

└Yep, definitely a freak. But even if the process is different, being strong is what matters, right?

└Does the Hero use a mana training method too?

└I heard the Holy Kingdom has its own internal energy cultivation method for the Hero.

└Strong people are just strong, I guess.

Whatever the method, the strong were strong. That was practically a universal truth.

Even so, neither side could easily back down with its pride and history on the line. That was why the subject turned into a versus debate at every opportunity.

For anyone who wielded mana, this field in particular was a matter of pride.

Upvote if you picked up useful tips for mana training OR internal energy cultivation~

I'll start lmaoooo

└For real, all the pro tips are coming out lol

└I was stuck and this got me past the bottleneck lmao

└When whales fight, the shrimp get a feast lol

└I hope they keep fighting lmao

Perhaps that was why these fights often resulted in all sorts of useful tips being shared unintentionally.

Plenty of users occasionally spouted nonsense, but the others generally knew how to filter it out. Few subjects exposed the limits of someone's knowledge as readily as breathing methods.

'Oh. Teaching him internal energy cultivation now?'

Ashe, the Messiah Empire's strongest fighter and current full-time homebody, was intrigued.

She had been lounging around browsing the forum as usual when Heavenly Demon began teaching Grylls internal energy cultivation. At first, she thought little of it.

The Heavenly Demon she knew wouldn't teach him some bogus cultivation method. Even if Heavenly Demon really was a fraud, it didn't matter.

If Grylls announced on the forum that Heavenly Demon was a scammer, the truth would come out.

Of course, she also had to consider the possibility that Grylls lacked talent, or that Heavenly Demon had no aptitude for teaching.

All Ashe had to do was sit back and watch. That was her initial assessment.

└Wild Grylls Heavenly Demon, I got a nosebleed doing what you told me.

└Heavenly Demon What?!

"What?!"

Ashe was every bit as startled as Heavenly Demon.

Getting a nosebleed from dantian breathing was hardly common. After asking detailed questions, she realized what was happening.

'Don't tell me Grylls has it too?'

She had experienced the same phenomenon herself.

Her body accumulated mana just from breathing. With every breath, several times as much mana as an ordinary person absorbed collected in her mana core—her dantian.

That had given her nosebleeds simply from breathing, just like Grylls.

At the time, nobody understood why, so it had been more or less brushed aside. No one had ever heard of such a phenomenon.

Since this was the most basic of basics, she had initially been thought to have no talent.

But once he made it past this stage, he could achieve tremendous growth.

Ashe could say that with certainty because she had experienced it herself.

'Is this real? Really?'

She plied Grylls with questions. The more she asked, the more she realized his condition resembled hers.

Not everything was identical. Grylls's mana had accumulated from spiritual elixirs. Still, the enormous influx of mana with each breath was the same.

'Is it because he's in the Forest of Four Seasons?'

That was probably the most likely explanation.

The mana concentration in the Forest of Four Seasons was several, perhaps even dozens of times greater than elsewhere. It was only a hypothesis put forward by scholars, but a highly credible one.

'The mature mandrakes alone prove it.'

Their circumstances differed, but the conditions were similar. So Ashe made up her mind: she would find a way to train Grylls.

Judging by what he had accomplished so far, his talent wasn't bad, either. Above all, he had more than enough reasons to grow stronger.

He was in a situation where he had to clutch at any straw to survive.

'If he gets stronger than me... Hehehe.'

Ashe smiled slyly. It had been a long time since she'd felt this way.

Everyone she had trained so far had either failed to satisfy her or run away.

But not Grylls. He was in the Forest of Four Seasons, with nowhere to run. His only way out would be to grow stronger himself. It was perfect.

'First, I'll teach him how to break through to the next stage.'

Grylls's body was currently oversaturated. Taking in more mana in that state had instinctively triggered its defenses.

She had intended to pass along some useful tips to resolve that, but an unexpected obstacle appeared.

"This person is so frustrating."

Ashe's pretty face creased slightly, her expression somewhere between displeasure and exasperation.

'Is there any need to be this stubborn?'

The obstacle was Heavenly Demon.

The moment Ashe offered to teach Grylls a breathing method, Heavenly Demon challenged her at every turn. The message was essentially: I've already called dibs on Grylls, so scram.

'I get it, considering they're from the Central Plains, but...'

People from the Central Plains were extremely sensitive about master-disciple relationships. So much so that they called the master both teacher and parent, and the disciple their child.

Indeed, internal energy cultivation methods were secret teachings passed down only to those one trusted.

'That must be how much Heavenly Demon trusts him.'

Had Heavenly Demon stubbornly insisted on some absurd reasoning, Ashe would have fought back to the end. Instead, the rebuttals were detailed and grounded in fairly profound reasoning.

In the end, she chose to take a step back. Fighting here wouldn't help Grylls anyway.

Still, he needed a way forward. So she made one last proposal.

└Sword Masta Then I'll just share my know-how until Mr. Grylls can circulate his mana. You call it circulating qi and regulating breathing in the Central Plains, right?

└Heavenly Demon If that is as far as thy assistance goes, I have no objection. But I shall impart the formulas that follow.

└Sword Masta I don't intend to ask for that much.

She hadn't lied. Those were only her stated intentions, though; she had something else in mind.

Internal energy cultivation was difficult. Extremely difficult.

Both breathing methods followed the same process up through mana circulation. But the “formulas” that came next would reveal a major difference.

Unlike mana training methods, internal energy cultivation included somewhat philosophical concepts. Where a mana training method simply instructed you to send mana to a particular place, internal energy cultivation was more complicated.

'The water that springs from a valley flows to the sea... Ugh. How frustrating.'

But it wasn't all drawbacks.

Just as carp that lived in rivers differed in size from those in lakes, breathing methods had similar differences.

Mana training methods had considerable shortcomings when it came to “enlightenment,” whereas internal energy cultivation did not. Its formulas contained all manner of insights, making it easier to advance to the next stage.

└Wild Grylls So it's all the same up through that qi circulation and breathing regulation thing?

└Heavenly Demon Indeed. But hast thou not already sent internal energy to thy middle and upper dantians, my honored friend? That is what I heard earlier.

└Wild Grylls I'm not sure about that, but some strange energy did pass through my heart and brain and spread through my whole body. Then it came back to my lower abdomen.

└Heavenly Demon How curious. Perhaps misfortune has turned to fortune, for them to open already. Thou mayest possess potential to rival my own, my honored friend.

└Wild Grylls Does that mean I can shoot typhoon-strength palm blasts from my hands too?

└Heavenly Demon Good grief.

"Pffft!"

Ashe burst out laughing.

To think Heavenly Demon would respond with such exasperation. That was just how eccentric Grylls was.

Still, she liked his positive attitude.

└Heavenly Demon First, thou shouldst circulate thy qi and regulate thy breathing. Listen closely to my advice and that of this prickly nuisance.

└Wild Grylls I'll take it to heart.

└Sword Masta By prickly nuisance, surely you don't mean me?

└Heavenly Demon Thou dost have some self-awareness, it seems.

Couldn't argue with that. Ashe nodded inwardly.

But she had no intention of giving up. Before long, Grylls would come looking for a mana training method.

'He'll definitely say internal energy cultivation is too difficult.'

Grylls was an ordinary person. A polite ordinary person.

By Ashe's standards, ordinary people—commoners, in other words—were barely literate.

She didn't know exactly how Grylls had grown up, but she knew full well that his circumstances hadn't been good. His parents had died in an accident, leaving him to live alone. In that environment, he must have been busy just making ends meet.

Chances were he'd never received a proper education. Internal energy cultivation would therefore struggle to do much for him.

'He says he's from another world, but can that really be true?'

That sort of persona was a dime a dozen on the forum.

Who would believe you could blow up an entire city with a single bomb?

└Heavenly Demon Circulating qi and regulating breathing is simple. Think of it as repeating what thou hast just experienced.

└Sword Masta The same thing as before might happen again, so you should take longer between breaths.

Ashe and Heavenly Demon shared their tips in private comments.

Grylls stopped replying, presumably having begun his breathing exercises after reading them. He was silent for quite a while—over ten minutes without a single reply.

Ashe was growing anxious and was just about to leave a comment when he replied.

└Wild Grylls Oh, sorry. My stomach suddenly hurt really bad... I'll keep going.

└Seriously, this guy's stomach hurts every five minutes lmao

└Shitty little poop machine lol

It seemed she had worried for nothing.

Whether his bowels worked poorly or a little too well, this happened quite often.

└Heavenly Demon It would be best to endure the stomach pain if at all possible. One wrong move could leave thee in the grip of an inner demon.

└Wild Grylls I can get qi deviation from a bodily function?

└Heavenly Demon Of course. There was even a fool who suffered qi deviation when someone asked him how to breathe.

└Wild Grylls What the hell...?

Ridiculous as it sounded, it was a fairly famous story.

Mana circulation—circulating qi and regulating breathing—required intense concentration. Even someone speaking to you could easily break it.

└Wild Grylls I'll keep trying for now. How long did you say I should do this?

└Heavenly Demon Until thou feelest internal energy circulating throughout thy body.

└Sword Masta Just as Heavenly Demon says.

└Wild Grylls Okay. Thank you.

Once again, he fell silent for a long while.

This time, she wasn't particularly anxious. Each round of mana circulation generally took quite a long time.

She thought that if she waited patiently, he would eventually reply.

Is mana circulation supposed to do this?

Until she saw a certain post on the forum.

The title was unremarkable, but its author was Wild Grylls. Wondering what on earth had gone wrong, Ashe opened it.

Is mana circulation supposed to do this?

Wild Grylls

I'm circulating my mana like you advised, but every time it makes a full circuit, I need to take a shit. Is this normal?

"..."

For the first time in her life, Ashe faced a problem like nothing she'd ever seen.

"... What is this nonsense?"

Heavenly Demon felt much the same.