Pandora Unchained - B1C13 - A Cultivator’s Disposition

“Each of use can be classified according to our base classes,” said Stephan, taking a seat beside them as they rested. “You, Gareth, are an archer. Lawrence is a rogue, Daphne is a mage, Sorin is a variant, and I am a warrior. Regardless of the specifics, each of us needs to fulfill our respective roles; otherwise, the team will collapse. At least one of us will die, and we’ll be forced to either retire or find another team.”

“I’m a variant?” asked Sorin. “What does that mean, variant?”

“He means that you don’t quite fit into a category,” said Gareth. “Some rogues, assassins, or archers will specialize in poison like you do, but they do it to enhance their roles.”

“That’s correct,” said Stephan. “You fight like a rogue, but you can’t dodge or hide like one. You can infect enemies with poison that causes damage over time, but your attacks aren’t as lethal as a plague mage’s are. You’re mixing it all up, and to be honest, its messing up the team’s dynamics. Anyway, let’s keep the most complex case for later. Gareth, what are your thoughts on fighting the bonecrush python?

“My thoughts?” said Gareth with a frown. “I felt stifled, to be honest. You grabbed onto that snake, so I couldn’t take a shot.”

“Couldn’t or wouldn’t?” askked Stephan. “Please. It’s an important distinction.”

“Wouldn’t,” admitted Gareth. “To be honest, hitting a moving snake isn’t hard for me. I wasn’t worried about hitting you – you were standing still. I was more worried about hitting either Sorin or Lawrence.”

“That’s fair,” said Stephan. “And I’m relieved that you can shoot so accurately at near point-blank range. Many archers can’t.” He then turned to Lawrence. “Lawrence, if he fired his bow at you, could you dodge it?”

“Me?” said Lawrence. “Maybe. I mean, I’ve got a few skills I can rely on. Assuming he’s shooting right at me.”

“And if he isn’t?” pressed Stephan.

“If he isn’t, it won’t be a problem,” said Lawrence. “Worst case, I’ll just pull back from whatever attack I’m in the middle of pulling off and try again later.”

Stephan nodded. “Sorin, what about you?”

“I can’t,” said Sorin, shaking his head. “My spiritual senses are strong enough to know he’s going to shoot, but my reflexes can’t keep up.”

“So what you’re saying is that you wouldn’t be able to react once he shot?” asked Stephan. “Then you wouldn’t change your behavior at all?”

“I suppose I wouldn’t, now that you mention it,” said Sorin. “Why react if you can’t do it on time?”

“There,” Stephan said to Gareth. “So the out of the two you’re worried about, the one that can actually react to your shot can dodge if he has to, while the other one is too slow to react,” said Stephan. “As for me, I’m definitely too slow. Also, I’m durable, so you don’t have to worry too much about accidents. Go ahead and shoot me.”

“I see what you’re saying,” said Gareth. “I’ll take more shots going forward. I think it’ll also get easier the more I get used to everyone’s movements.”

“Good,” said Stephan. “We’ll move on to Daphne. Daphne?”

“Yes?” said Daphne, looking up from her puzzle.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” asked Stephan.

“Nope,” said Daphne. “I did nothing wrong.”

“How so?” asked Stephan.

“Because if it was up to me, I would have killed before it even bit you,” replied Daphne, putting away her puzzle. Your intentions were clearly to test our skills and teamwork. Which I allowed. Had I acted earlier, the battle would have had no suspense.”

“Well analyzed,” said Stephen. “Then let’s talk about you, Lawrence. What is your favorite thing to do in battle and why is it running away and hiding?”

“I’m good at running,” said Lawrence. “I have a lot of experience at it. And I’m great at hiding, don’t you think?”

“But do you really need to use a cloaking skill and retreat so far away from a tied down python?” said Stephen. “Couldn’t you just cut it a few more time instead?”

“It’s the principle of it,” said Lawrence. “My father always said that a good rogue never shows himself before he strikes.”

“Which is great in theory,” said Stephen. “If you were an actual assassin and killed your enemies in one massive burst of mana, that would be a wonderful way to operate. But you’re not an assassin. You don’t have the skill set. You’re a typical rogue that hides and lands sneak attacks on opponent’s weak points. Don’t think I didn’t see how you targeted those spots between the snake’s vertebrae.”

“Fine,” said Lawrence, rolling his eyes. “I’ll work on it.”

“Excellent,” said Stephen.

“Pardon, but I think much of this battle was your fault as well,” said Sorin. He didn’t like Stephan’s one-sided approach.

Surprisingly, Stephen didn’t argue with him. “You’re right.  I intentionally fought badly to give you guys all a chance. If I used my full strength, I would have torn apart that snake with my bare hands.”

Sorin swallowed a mouthful of saliva. “Fine. What about me?”

“You…” Stephen winced. “Have you ever trained in spells?”

“I’ve dabbled,” said Sorin. “Mostly healing spells.” Seeing Stephen’s disbelieving expression, he explained. “I used to cultivate life mana. Now I don’t. So the runes and seals and mana patterns are completely off. I have fundamentals, but no way to apply them.”

“And skills…”

“Broke,” replied Sorin. “I can only play it by ear.”

“And that dagger technique…”

“Improvised from basic mana manipulation on a scalpel,” said Sorin. “I can do the same with needles and throw them. As for the palm strike, it’s also just dumping mana into someone else’s body much like I would life mana.”

Stephen put his hand to his brow and massaged it lightly. “Well. That explains it all. Your battle sense is completely off because you were a physician, and your techniques aren’t up to par because you’re just learning your abilities. You reached the fourth stage of blood thickening very quickly because you’re just recultivating – and trust me, that’s not completely uncommon in big cities. As for your techniques themselves, they’re the techniques of a physician. That includes your footwork, which is clearly geared towards self-defence.”

He looked to Daphne. “I don’t imagine you have any poison spells in that spell book of yours? Acid orb? Acid dart? Poison spray?”

“Nope,” said Daphne. “I just learned magic missile because sometimes fire doesn’t work too well. Aside form that, I’m pretty much all fire-based.”

“It was wishful thinking on my part,” said Stephen. “Sorin, I can’t help you with dagger arts, and Lawrence can’t help you either because he cultivates the shadow element. That’s not a very good parallel to poison. So it falls to me to give you some pointers, strange as that might seem.”

“You?” said Sorin. “You’re going to teach me to fight like a beastshift warrior?”

“Not at all,” said Stephen. “But it occurs to me that you’ve probably never seen a proper application of a palm strike. I happen to excel at swatting things with my paws. Like bears do. Observe.”

Sorin squinted as mana appeared on Stephen’s hand, and it grew hair and claws. “What exactly do you expect me to…” his voice trailed off as he saw that additional mana patterns that shouldn’t be there had appeared on Stephen’s palm. Stephen winked at him, then turned to a tree.

“Healers need to be gentle,” Stephen continued. “Warriors, not so much. Watch.” Mana activated in his body, working through his legs and his other meridians.

“Like last time, barely perceptible patterns appeared on his body to illustrate the movement of mana in his body. They were so faint that Sorin realized perhaps only he and his powerful spiritual perception could make them out.

Stephen charged up power for an exaggerated amount of time before swinging forward with his paw and striking at the tree he’d chosen. His paw smashed right through the tree, breaking it in half. Splinters of wood rained down from the sky.

“Now I’m not completely sure how someone like you would do it, and I can’t teach you my family’s techniques,” said Stephen with a grin. “But if you were to happen to watch me fight and gain some inspiration, who would be able to say anything?”

Sorin’s eyes widened. No wonder those faint patterns appeared. He’s teaching me but maintaining plausible deniability. He’s not showing me his skill manual, but he might as well be!

“Many thanks,” said Sorin to Stephen. “I’ll learn what I can.”

“Not at all,” said Stephen. “There’s no helping it since we’re in the middle of Bloodwood Forest. See what else you can find to imitate. Also… “

“Yes?” said Sorin.

“I hate to say it, but as a physician, you surely have a good knowledge of anatomy,” said Stephen. “I’m sure that even extends to demon anatomy as well. Healing is one of your strengths, but we’re adventurers.”

Sorin winced. Stephen had struck the nail right on the head. He was, in fact, purposefully avoiding his medical arts. Physicians weren’t supposed to harm anyone, demons included. Using what he’d learned in this fashion seemed to go against everything he’d ever been taught. First, do no harm.

“I’ll take your words under advisement,” Sorin said to Stephen.

“Good,” said Stephen. “Then I’ll finish off with one final bit of advice, something your family might not have had time to teach you.”

“I’m all ears,” said Sorin.

“Cultivation is a choice,” said Stephen. “A choice to bravely move forward, risking your life with every step is what cultivators do. They stake everything on their future improvement.”

“Adventuring is also a choice. We go out and we fight demons. We fight demons for money. We fight demons for glory. We fight demons for justice and all sorts of other reasons.

“Every time we go out, we’re facing possible death. That includes our own death and the death of our comrades as well. So its very important to maintain the right mindset: the mindset of a cultivator.”

“The mindset of a cultivator?” joked Lawrence. “What kind of metaphysical bull crap is that?”

“Quiet when the adults are speaking,” said Stephen. “The mindset of a cultivator is just like I described. Risking one’s life to advance. Putting all one’s chips on the table. Knowing that one day, you can be doing quite well, but the next day you can lose everything because of a simple mistake.”

It finally dawned on Sorin that perhaps he’d been a bit too naïve. By adventuring, he wasn’t just risking his own life, but the life of those around him. “That reminds me of something my father used to say,” said Sorin softly. “In all aspects of life, one must take the mindset of a physician. A single mistake can cost a patient’s leg. A single missed acupuncture point can ruin a career. A single second’s delay on treatment can destroy a life.”

Stephen nodded. “It sounds like you know exactly what I’m talking about then. Adventuring is not so different from doctoring then. In both professions, you need to use all the tricks you have in every fight. Otherwise, everyone around you will end up dying, and you’ll be left all alone in this miserable world without anyone willing to call you friend.”