Cain and the Elder watched as the Disciple finished her match, totally crushing her opponent before the Elder went down to talk to her about becoming his personal Disciple.
"Excellent work, young Disciple. I also walk the path of the Berserker, and I would like to take you as my personal Disciple. I can help guide you in mastering your skills and the gift you have received, as well as helping you manage the rage that will come with them as you progress." The Elder offered.
"Personal Disciple to an Elder already? Is there some trick?" She asked.
"No tricks. The way of the Berserker doesn't take well to deception and double-speak. I see your potential and the ways that you can improve now that I have seen you fight, so I would like to train you." The Elder replied simply.
"In that case, I would be greatly honored to become your Disciple Elder." She smiled while her defeated opponent gave an envious glare from the recovery area.
"Excellent. I am Elder Murg, and this is my token. Keep it on you at all times, as it will allow you to pass the wards and enter the Elder's area for your lessons with me. What should I call you?"
"You can call me Ali. I've grown fond of the name, and I think I'll keep it."
The Elder smiled and patted her on the head, only to get his hand swatted away, which made his smile even larger.
"Excellent. Let's find you another opponent, and I will give you pointers after the match."
More than a few of the boys looked afraid to face her, but there was an easy solution to that problem. The Elder simply picked one large young man from the older Disciples and informed him that he would be fighting the Berserker.
A few minutes after their match started, one of the new recruits came up to Cain with a slim book in his hands and a pleading look on his face.
"Sect Master Cain, might I ask you for a moment of your time? I picked this skill because it sounded cool, but I can't make the top or bottom of what's written in it." The boy asked.
Cain plucked the obviously incomplete skill book from the boy's hands and laughed quietly at the skill name. Ultimate Divine Mountain Crushing Demon Destroying Fist. Quite possibly the most chunni skill name he had come across so far.
He flipped the book open to the first page and looked at the diagram, then went through the other diagrams that were present despite the missing pages, and then started over to read the words, which were written in Draconic of all things.
The skill was called [Backhand] and was intended to slap impertinent cultivators unconscious without killing them. If he, or another Dragon on his level, had used it against a human, Cain could understand how they thought it could crush mountains.
The skill was designed to stun, so the victim might think that the attacker had held back and spared their lives and not that the skill was a nonlethal one.
"Alright, I can demonstrate this one for you right here. In the earliest form, this is an attack with the back of a closed hand. First, move the mana through your body like this, focusing it on your hand, and then strike out." Cain instructed, highlighting the path that the energy took through his arm.
The boy nodded happily, and then Cain watched as a tiny trickle of energy flowed from his chest through his arm but stopped short of his hand when he began the attack too early.
"No, don't move until it is complete. With practice, you will be able to do it in an instant, but for now, don't move until the power reaches the end of your fist." Cain clarified.
The boy tried dozens of times, but finally, he managed to get it right, and a faint glow surrounded his fist as he struck out at the air in front of him.
"What are you teaching that boy?" One of the Dwarves from the Brewery asked.
"He picked a skill from the Library for his training, and I was available to help. I think he's doing pretty well, even if the skill is a bit odd." Cain shrugged.
"Aye, odd is the word for it. My own mother used to use it all the time, but I've never seen a man who wants to live actually use it in combat." The Dwarf laughed.
"Is it useless then? The name on the folder was very impressive." The boy said, showing the dwarf the cover.
The brewer burst into laughter and then shot a backhand out at Cain with his hand open and glowing with light. It slammed into Cain's open palm, and the Dwarf laughed at the boy's naivety.
"That's the ultimate form of the skill. It is incredible at knocking people out, but if you don't, you've just slapped a man in the face." He explained, making the boy go pale.
"Well, I've only got a week to learn a skill's basic form, and I think I'm getting the hang of this one. Do you think they'll let me pick a different skill after the exam?" The boy asked.
"Of course. Once you get the basic stage of that skill down, you can exchange it. The Crushing Mountain Sect doesn't make any disciple stick with a skill that is unfit for them. We only require that they at least give an honest effort to trying to learn it first."
"Thank you, Elder. Thank you, Sect Master Cain. I will return to my quarters and work on my new skill then. I promise to do my best and make it work before the week is up."
A few more Disciples looked like they would like to ask a question, but with the two high-ranked cultivators sitting together, they didn't dare to interrupt their conversation. Both of them took it as a sign of good character, and after seeing which ones were earnestly trying to learn their skills while watching the matches for inspiration, the brewer eventually called one up to them for instruction.
"See that skill the big man is using on the far side of the arena? The downward strike with the side of the fist? That's the skill book you've chosen. Look at the diagrams. They show you how to move the energy. Try it again, and I will guide you." He offered.
The boy still seemed lost, but after the Elder demonstrated slowly, describing the process as it activated, he started to get a general idea and understand the diagrams.
"I think the major issue is that no one understands how the diagrams work. They're all looking at the basic instructions we are giving, and they still can't understand." Cain sighed.
"They can't be blamed for that. The diagrams are mostly thousands of years old, faded, and intended to be supplementary for someone who can actually read the text.
We have tried to translate them before, but it was a mess. They never come out right, and the readers get even more confused. What we usually do is have the older Disciples help them out since they already know the skills to some degree.
There simply aren't enough Elders to teach every skill to every Disciple, and we're all working on ourselves. Not exactly the optimal method for teaching, but unless we give up on reaching Divinity and spend all our time running a training academy, there's nothing to be done for it."
Cain thought about that for a moment and nodded. He had a point. The journey from Immortal to Divinity could be a touchy one for them, and getting sidetracked teaching others things that weren't on your path could totally derail your own cultivation path by introducing foreign elements that you had taught to others.
"Perhaps we could have someone teach just how to interpret the diagrams? Not the actual skills, but the fundamentals behind the diagrams, so everyone could understand by reading them, even if they didn't really know what they were supposed to manifest?" Cain suggested.
"Do you understand them that well? I don't." The Dwarf shrugged.
"I do, actually. Why don't I start teaching seminars here in the Crushing Mountain Sect while I'm here? That kind Divine Elder from the Seaside Sect offered to take me straight to my destination when she leaves, so I've got the time."
A lyrical voice came from behind Cain, and a pair of delicate arms wrapped around him as the Divine Elder in question arrived in the arena. "What a wonderful idea, Sect Master. Both of our Sects would be forever in your debt if you could teach our students to read the energy flow diagrams in the lost languages."
She gave Cain a kiss on the cheek, and he was certain that he heard Luna growl at her, but the Elder paid her no mind and moved to sit beside Cain, leaning up against him.
"And I suppose you would like to sit in on the classes as well?" Cain asked.
"Unless you have a better idea? I have a good idea of how they work since I know so many skills, but there is still something that is getting lost in translation, and I'm sure that I could learn faster if I could find it." She agreed.
"That shouldn't be a problem, but there is a faster way," Cain told her with a smile, and then transferred the full knowledge of the diagrams, their symbols, and the instructions, much like the key to a map, that told the reader which specific forms and levels of energy in what order was intended to be used.
"It's so simple. How did I miss this the first time? Yes, that is exactly how it should be." She exclaimed, wrapping her arms around Cain in joy.
Even the Dwarf laughed this time, having never seen her this excited about anything before.
"If the key to the diagrams gets you that excited, I wonder how you would react if I started teaching you a new language?" Cain suggested, giving her a wink as the Elder began to calm down.
"Perhaps we can talk about that later."
The source of this c𝓸ntent is fr(e)𝒆webnovel