392 Outside Help
"Why?" Jean pressed with a snappy tone. She halted Rianna and Shay-Hade's proselytising and cut right to the chase. "Why do you want to recruit Kili?"
"I believe we were quite clear on the 'why'," Rianna mumbled.
"All I heard was that you recognised her special physique or bloodline, when you don't even know what it is, and wish to exploit it to train her in a cultivation method followed by your Sect Leader?" Jean pointed out. "What's in it for you?"
She skipped past Rianna's stunned expression and said, "Nothing in this world comes for free - it is a fact of life and a key tenet of cultivation. If something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. So tell me truthfully, what is in it for you?"
"I..." Rianna blurted out, but her words halted as she failed to formulate a reason. "-don't know."
____
A few moments before Rianna and Shay-Hade burst into Guy's office.
"Do you remember the talk we had a few weeks back?" Marie asked Guy.
"You have to be more specific," Guy said with a chuckle. "It's not like our conversations are so infrequent that I can perfectly recollect them."
"I'm talking about the lack of battle training in our Sect," Marie highlighted.
A few days earlier, Guy brought up a point in the weekly team meetings about a potential vulnerability of the Sect.
'The Sect Members are total novices in combat. Being able to spam low-cost spells to gain the upper hand can only go so far.'
Guy nodded and hummed as the memory resurfaced. "What of it?"
"I believe we have an opportunity to address that shortcoming," Marie said with a thoughtful expression. "We have two guests in the Sect today. They are members of the Mystic Celestial Sect. It was where my Master took me and where I managed to break through into the Foundation Establishment realm."
Marie then went on to explain the nature of the Mystic Celestial Sect and introduced the identities of the two visitors.
"What role do these two play?" Guy asked, finally.
"The Mystic Celestial Sect specialises in combat," Marie pointed out. "We should exploit this resource to the Sect's advantage."
"You make it sound easy," Guy responded while shaking his head. "To call in a request like that, we have to sacrifice much in return."
"Not necessarily," Marie hinted. "We have a juicy bait roaming around in our Sect - something that is valuable enough to give us equal footing in negotiations."
Guy looked into Marie's eyes, his face started to warp into a frown incrementally.
"You've been using your powers again, haven't you?" Guy probed.
"What? No!" Marie denied vehemently. "Okay, in truth I saw the Sect's future the day I advanced. It wasn't anything too specific, just the important bits - the significant events. Of that, I observed that Rianna Maddi and Shay-Hade played an important role."
"Based on your explanation. The fact that you befriended them before your advancement may have been the thing that placed them in that important role," Guy pointed out. "If you didn't befriend Rianna, she wouldn't have been selected to deliver the message here, and thus we wouldn't be in a position where discussing the possibility of a collaboration could be an option."
Marie shook her head dismissively and said, "I've decided to not think about the paradoxical nature of fate and how I - as an observer - do or do not play a role in how it changes. Look, I don't want to get into this discussion right now. Coincidentally, we are short on time, and I need to tell you how to take advantage of the opportunity that is going to burst through your door very soon."
She leaned forward and said, "The key reason why you will have the upper hand in this negotiation is-"
____
"Plain curiosity," Guy parrotted Marie's words with a faint smirk. "I can see it in your eyes. They gleam just like my Sect Members who are nearing an epiphany or a crucial breakthrough in their research. What I am interested to know is why. What makes Kili the optimal candidate for the cultivation method you are proposing?"
Rianna exchanged a glance with Shay-Hade before explaining cautiously, "As I've explained before, the cultivation method was envisioned and followed by our Sect Leader who is- was a Tesseract Transformation realm mage. This is enough to prove that the method works."
"I disagree," Jean interjected. "Just because a cultivation method works for one person doesn't mean it will be effective for another. We both know that, so please do not insult my intelligence."
Shay-Hade let out a mirthful snort at Jean's retort but was immediately silenced by a deathly glare from Rianna.
"I cannot share the details-"
"Then I refuse your request," Jean said plainly.
Rianna gritted her teeth and expounded, "I'll explain in simple terms so that you can understand. The human body is an adaptive machine. By exposing it to scenarios and adversarial conditions repeatedly over a long period of time, one can train the body to adapt and withstand those conditions. We use this ability when training the body physically. For instance, by progressively lifting heavier weights, we can increase our strength and muscle size."
"Muscular hypertrophy," Jean affirmed. "I know what you're talking about."
"Huh? Hyper-what?" Rianna blurted out.
Jean waved her hand dismissively and said, "Continue."
"As I was saying, the body can be trained to adapt to increasingly adversarial conditions. But after a period of time, one will hit a natural wall. This is the peak a human's physique can develop to. However, our Sect Leader realised that this wall is just a construct of the mind. It is possible to push beyond this limit but to do so, one must have the will and tenacity to endure," Rianna added.
"So, how does this apply to Kili?" Jean probed.
"Well," Rianna said with an elongated tone. "The training will follow the methodology of progressive overload. We will focus on callisthenics and bodyweight exercises mostly, with added natural weights. We will supplement this with combat training. We expect the process to last for a year or two, depending on how well Kili's body takes to the training. Then..."
"Then?"
Shay-Hade cut in at this instance and said, "Please understand that the path to greatness is never easy."
"Kili will be broken and rebuilt, again and again," Rianna said bluntly. "She will have to willingly push herself onwards, fight through the pain and push her muscles, bones and tendons to their utmost limits. When they can push no more, she will have to call upon the raw power of will to force them onwards."
15:54
onwards."
"You're kidding!" Jean snapped. "This is madness!"
"Madness that is guaranteed to work. The cultivation method is so simple and straightforward that there is no chance of failure - the Sect Leader confirms it as so. It is built upon the concept of sheer, unadulterated willpower."
"You're asking me to be complicit to child abuse!" Jean yelled.
"It won't be child abuse because Kili feels no pain and regenerates from injuries that take weeks to heal within seconds," Rianna corrected. "I may not be a learned mage, but I have read enough to know that abilities like those can be counted on one hand. Upon second thought, I'm certain that what she has is a special physique, since a bloodline activation would leave physical remnants... The Universal Panacea Physique!"
Seeing Jean's subtle flinch, Rianna let out a smirk and said, "Information like that would fetch a hefty price in the black market."
"You wouldn't!"
"You're right," Rianna shrugged. "Or maybe I would. Who knows? Consider this another incentive to place Kili under my tutelage. Look, the cultivation method I'm talking about is practically legendary. Your Sect Leader is right, I am curious to see it succeed. I have personally taken this cultivation method to limits no one else barring my Sect Leader has ever reached. I could not go onward because I lacked the willpower to do so. Sure, there may come another prodigy with unbending will like my Sect Leader's who will tread the path to completion. But that may take millennia - I don't have that kind of time."
At this point, Guy truly understood Rianna's personality. Deep inside, she was an inquisitive person and a closeted completionist. She liked to finish anything she started, and the fact that she could not take the cultivation method to completion was bugging her to no end. It was like a rogue string sticking out of an elaborately knitted sweater. One strategic pull and he could unwind the whole thing!
"The way you've explained it," Guy spoke up, "Feeling the pain and pushing through it is the key piece of the puzzle. But as you've seen, Kili does not feel pain if she doesn't want to. Furthermore, the way she heals injuries may not always follow standard processes."
His strategy was to first poke enough meaningful holes in her understanding so that he could then redirect her attention from training Kili to actually exploring the nature of the cultivation method itself.
"Now that I've confirmed her special physique, I am even more certain that she is the perfect candidate. Kili can be convinced to believe that she is always feeling pain just a smidgen above her limit. She can also be convinced to heal the injuries in the way defined by the cultivation method. She can also be convinced to change her body's absorptive properties to extract maximum benefits from potions, medicinal baths, and nutritional foods," Rianna contested. "So, what do you say?"
"I say no," Jean rejected firmly.
"I say... it depends," the Guy mumbled, hoping to poke at Rianna's curiosity.
"Sect Leader Larks! There's no way this is good for Kili!" Jean argued.
"Hear me out," Guy prefaced, "I'm not for the blatant abuse you intend to put Kili through. It is clearly inhumane, and it isn't something that a kid needs to be put through. Your Sect Leader may have been in a position where such measures were necessary. But I'm trying to build an environment here where kids are afforded a choice and can practise their interests safely. So, I don't want to put Kili through the same regimen as your intention."
He intercepted Rianna just as she opened her mouth to plead her case again and said, "I am more interested in tickling the curious itch bubbling in your eyes, though."
"Do you know why the body adapts the way it does?" Guy asked. "Do you know the most optimal way to get the body to adapt? I'm sure there are superior ways than to just brute-force everything, right?"
As Rianna pondered on those questions, he raised a finger and declared, "I hear your offer to train Kili but raise you this in return: I am willing to give you a platform to research the cultivation method you hold so dear. Break it down into pieces and really get to know it. Maybe you will realise where you failed?"
"Look," Guy added while Rianna was struggling to reach a conclusion. "I agree with you Sect Leader in one fact. Cultivation doesn't have to be selective. A method shouldn't have to be suitable for a select group of people. The nature of the cultivation method you've described assures that everyone can practise it. But I also believe that it should be accessible. Just like how only the rich and powerful shouldn't have access to the best cultivation methods, the strong-willed and tenacious shouldn't be the only victors in the race to follow a cultivation method."
"If a cultivation method is accessible, it makes it less special," Shay-Hade pointed out.
"Does that make it necessarily bad?" Guy challenged. "I can allow you to work with Kili, if and only if you can make the method less inhumane. And to do that, I think you need to hit the drawing board and really think about what it asks you to do your body."
Rianna debated in her head for a long time, letting the room stew in silence, until she eventually let out a groan and said, "Fine!"
"Rianna!" Shay-Hade exclaimed. "What about-"
"But I'm warning you, what you're asking me to do will only reduce the efficacy of the method," she growled at Guy.
"Maybe it will, maybe it won't, who knows?" Guy hit back with a victorious smile. "Now, Jean would you please show our guests to their accommodations?"
Jean begrudgingly guided the duo out of the office. Guy waited until they were far enough out of his mana sense rage before finally letting out a bellowing laugh.
Word Count: 2122
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