Reincarnated As A Peasant

Chapter 12: Magical Cores and Meridians

Sakura

I sat in the lotus position. The basket creaked as Crash moved rhythmically along. Feel the mana in your core, Yu said. Distracting me from doing the thing she was trying to get me to do. Feel where the mana wants to go, and the places along your channels where it feels like its slowing down or pooling. Cycle it through your body, and pay close attention to that feeling. The difference between Chie and Mana in this situation is

I tuned Yu out and did as she instructed. I did my best to ignore the hot sun overhead, the swaying of Crashs shell, the creaking of the basket, and of course the ever present repetitious rambling instruction of my mother. After the third time through the lecture, there was little more to be learned without doing first.

Be careful not to express your mana outward yet. We have little time until we reach home, which means we wont have much time to allow you to regenerate naturally.

I gritted my teeth. I knew what Yu was saying. I understood the warning. But it was the sixth time she had said it.

The problem was, the mana that appeared naturally in my pool only slowly regenerated. A painstaking process I had to wait for, and had little I could do to hurry along. This was because I was born with a mana pool, but no mana core, like most nobles. The pool was where the excess energy created from my body would be turned into mana, and then stored. A core would allow me to take control of that process for myself. Much like my Danchen, or Chie core, did.

I could now shift mana into Chie by refining it using a very basic cycling technique, thanks to my mother teaching me to connect the two systems through my pool and Danchen. But it was inefficient, far easier to create chie directly in my core.

Sakura. Sakura, are you listening? I dont feel you cycling your mana through your body. I winced. I hadnt been doing what she was asking, instead reviewing my progress.

Vanity, I thought as I opened my eyes and met my mothers disapproving gaze. I am sorry, mother. I let myself get distracted.

It is alright. But you must focus, we dont have long until we arrive back home and other duties will begin taking my time from me. We must make serious progress, and lay a good foundation before I can leave you to study alone or with tutors. Do you understand?

I nodded. Sakuras memories were filled with a nearly constant struggle to earn her parents attention. The times she had been successful, or when her parents could make time, were few and far in between. Her parents were a Duke and Duchess. They had duties that stole away nearly every waking hour. From politics, to economic issues, and the fact we were a border duchy that butted up against the elves great forest made their work even more important.

They didnt just see to the duchys defense after all, but the kingdoms, and by proxy the empires. It was a great responsibility, one my parents both took extremely seriously. On top of that, they had to manage the affairs of the inner family, while steering all members of their family in the right direction.

They were bulwark against attack, manager of defenses, ruler of their realm, and ultimate judge of crimes both big and small. And somewhere in all that mess, these two had to fit in having, raising, and training their children.

I felt a sudden pang of guilt and loss. I was wasting their time and a golden opportunity.

Yes, mother. I closed my eyes and fell back into myself. This time following her instructions carefully. I gently pushed my mana through my mana-channels, and paid close attention to the places where it seemed to naturally want to pool, or slow in its flow. It was hard to spot. I hadnt tried to do anything like this before.

Eventually, after searching inch by inch down my left arm, I succeeded. Found one mother.

Good. Describe what you feel.

The mana is slowing and pushing around something in the channel. Its like a rock in the middle of a river, sticking up out of the water and forcing the river to divert around it. Slowing it slightly as it passes.

Excellent. You have discovered your first Meridian. Where is it? I told her. Arm meridians are some of the safest to try. I am happy you started there. There are two parts to awakening a meridian. First you must cleanse it, then you must infuse it with a mixture of mana and chie. Once that happens, well, youll see.

How do I cleanse it?

Force a small stream of chie into the mana channel. Not down the channel, but into it like a spike. And not a very big spike, just large enough to get a trickle of clean chie to the meridian. Do you understand?

Wont that hurt?

Yes. A little. The one you are describing sounds like it wont take much chie to cleanse. The larger a meridian is, the more corruption it is likely to have picked up along the way.

Why couldnt I do this before I made my mana channels? I was growing frustrated. This sounded like we had put the cart in front of the horse.

Two reasons, daughter. The first is, chie is too fine and pure a substance to pool as mana does. Making it more difficult to feel meridians to activate them. You will eventually do this for your chie lines as well. But not until you are ready to pass Jade and reach into the Noble realms of both mana and chie cultivation.

Second is because Chie is required in order to cleanse corruption. Mana can, but that process takes a lot of energy, and it is excruciating. My grandfather could not form a Danchen, and had to endure that process to make headway as a mage when I was a child. He said it was so painful it nearly killed him. So, this process is better. For now, Im going to leave you to discover all the Meridians you can on your own. When you feel you have a good grasp and feel of it, call for me and Ill return.

Yu disappeared in a blur, only to reappear near Ren at the front of Crashs shell. I sighed, closed my eyes, and went back to work.

***

Thirty two, I announced triumphant to my mother as sunset neared. Though a few of them are much larger than that first one.

Yu nodded. That is about what I expected. Though it is a little on the high end in terms of sheer numbers. But your count is a little off dear. She gripped my hand in hers, closed her eyes, and I felt her presence wash over me. Her unique aura, a field around her created through a mix of mana fields and radiating chie, touched and overwhelmed mine.

For a moment, I felt smothered, but it was clear there was no hostile intention. I forced myself to relax as she scrutinized me. Thirty eight. Well done, you only missed six. I missed twelve when I did this, though your father says he found all of his on his first attempt. Yu rolled her eyes, but the expression carried more of a teasing tone than one of disrespect.

I heard Ren chuckling to himself over the wind, and I was reminded just how keen my parents hearing was.

Now, pick one of the meridians in your arm. Say, this one. She poked one of my knuckles in my right hand. Its small, and the corruption that clings to it is light. This shouldnt be too difficult. Try and extend your Chie over and into the mana channel. A very thin line is all that is needed. But it must run through the vain or nearest blood vessel, so the corruption can be removed.

Wont that poison me?

It would if you did too much too fast. Which is why I am here guiding you. Do not cleanse more than this single meridian until I say otherwise. We do not want to overwhelm your liver or kidneys.

I closed my eyes, breathed deep and slow, and fell back into myself. My mind ran along the mana channels of my right arm, down to the central knuckle in that hand. The meridian there was disrupting the flow to my fingers. Not enough to stop me from being able to express mana or chie, but enough to make that process far from efficient.

The chie line was thin and wrapped around the main vein that fed me with life and energy opposite my mana channels. I gripped it mentally and pushed the chie down into the vein. It burned, but not as badly as I had suspected. I didnt bleed. This wasnt an entirely physical pain I knew. But it was no more intense than growing and strengthening the chie lines in the first place.

That is, until the chie met the mana.

The mana tried to push away from the chie line, but the mana channels walls were thick enough to contain the pressure. Instead of moving away from the chie, the pressure in my mana channels increased more and more with every heartbeat as the chie line pushed inwards.

Finally, the chie line reached the meridian. Its there. Now what, mother? I tried not to wince at the ongoing pain.

Cycle a tiny amount of chie into and around the meridian.

I did, and the change was almost immediate. The mana stopped pushing away, simply flowing around the chie line as if it wasnt even there. Then, black flakes of disgusting awfulness chipped away from the surface of the meridian, revealing a slightly pulsing mass of pure energy and soul stuff. It felt like a miniature core, but instead of generating chie or mana, it increased the flow of both substances.

You will eventually be able to map a technique or spell onto your meridians. But that is a lesson for later, once you reach the immortal realms. For now, focus on pushing mana and chie into it, and solidifying the connections. Eventually it should

I nearly screamed. Not in pain, but surprise as the meridian moved.

It shifted out of the mana channel, and into the vein. Suspended there, connected to both my mana channel and chie line. For a heartbeat, I was terrified it would block the blood flow. Until I realized blood too, was flowing through the meridian. Instead of blocking the blood flow, it increased it.

My heart raced, and I felt sweat spring to life across my brow. Breath Sakura. Breath. Your heart will settle into a new rhythm in a few moments. The meridian increases chie, mana, and blood flow. They are extraordinarily important. If you have questions, ask them now.

I could tell Yu was trying to distract me from the fact my blood felt like it was on fire and my heart was about to explode out of my chest. But I took advantage of the moment, regardless. You mentioned that we all had different numbers of meridians. I couldnt quite get the question out, but Yu knew what I was trying to ask.

Yes. Each person has a different number of naturally occurring meridians. And each realm requires a different number of active meridians for your body to withstand the transition from one realm to another. For instance, you will need no less than five active, healthy, and synced meridians to ascend from Steel, a stage above where you are now, to the Silver stage. Or from the mortal realms to the immortal ones. At the height of cultivation, you will need hundreds cleansed and active to support your cultivation and magic use.

But I only have thirty-eight. My breath was taken away a moment, as the feeling of my racing heart nearly overwhelmed me. I had to stop talking. But Yu smiled knowingly..

True. Those, however, are only the ones you know about that your mana channels are interrupted by. There are others that are not so easy to find. But even then, you will probably have only around fifty to sixty naturally occurring meridians. Once you reach the mid-Noble realm, you will need to graft new ones into yourself. Ones taken from opponents you have defeated have the greatest chance of success at integration with your system. Hunting powerful spirit beasts, taking from defeated opponents in duals or on the battlefield, and even purchasing them from others, is possible. Though buying them is considered uncouth, it is often the only way around the bottleneck of meridians at the mid-Noble realm.

You and father?

There is a reason border nobility such as ourselves often grow stronger, and faster, than our inner province cousins. More risk equates to greater reward. But do not worry Sakura. That is not a problem you will have to consider for a long, long time. And your father and I have put in place strict rules regarding the selling of meridians from the poor to the wealthy. Though, other duchies and kingdoms have not adopted our strict structure around such things, and allow for abuse and terrible exploitation, we do not. Such things are abhorrent if done with the wrong intentions.

Yus face fell as if she were reliving a terrible memory. Besides, the right spirit beast companion, like the mighty Four Holy Spirit-beasts, can help you develop artificial ones.

Sea Dragon, Kame, Snow Lions, and Phoenixes? I repeated the four names of the Holy Spirit Beasts. It came out more as a question because I was still trying to get my heart under control. But my mother took it at face value.

Yes. Though there are others who are powerful enough, or developed enough, to do likewise. Its why the family is split between the outer and inner families. Those with Kames as spirit bonded companions take on a great responsibility. Not just for themselves, but for other family members. They control access to such abilities, rare and hard to use as they are, and distribute that access based on what is best for the family as a whole. Thats not all, of course. Kame spirit-bonded also carry a deep and abiding responsibility for protecting their companion, as well as those mortals assigned to the Kames care. There is more to it than just that, but for now, that explanation should suffice.

So thats why the choosing is so important. It doesnt just determine who is in the inner versus outer families, but also who controls the cultivation resources the Kame produces.

Yu nodded. Exactly. Now, rest. And wash that hand.

Hand? What is she? I looked down at the hand in question, only to find black ooze seeping out of my pores. It stank terribly. It started burning my skin. Its acidic too? What is this stuff?

I did as instructed and went to fetch water and a clean towel.