They've finally get to the Bosporus, after having walk for a few day. Nhieling had given rendez-vous to Inherent at night, in the Everlast ruin. A few room were still solid enough to be called so, and Nhieling intend to use it for Tsun training.

[Didn't see it up :P]

Tsun was almost tired of waiting for Nhieling to return from the city or Bosporus. Although he understood that he needed to talk to his employer and give him the bag which they just recently received he had wanted o see the city and meet new people and see how different it was from the Human World. He looked around the place he was told to wait for Nhieling and saw that this place might have been abandoned for at least a century, but had withstood a cataclysm of some proportion. He didn't mind since he thought they would be heading for town as soon as Nhieling came to fetch him and spent the time waiting of thinking what time of magic correlated with his inner self.

He had been sketching the surroundings in a daze when he felt a presence appear on the map. He looked up to see that it was Nhieling's puppet and was relieved to see that he had finally arrived. You're back! And here I was wondering what you were up to for the entire day. Nhieling came and sat down on an overturned log the puppet coming up towards Tsun. So I was think of what type of magic I wanted to learn. And I've decided that the first thing I wanted to learn was a simple preservation type skill, if that exists. Err... To explain it, kind of like Keeping something from being destroyed or to prolong the time I can maintain my Ki or other magic. Do you think I could? Tsun was extremely eager at the idea of it, thinking that with his large amount of endurance that he already possessed he would one day be able to maintain his Ki indefinitely.

Tsun got up and began to pace the space in front of entrance to the Everlast ruins.

Preservation... magic? Asked Nhieling, surprised about this answer. He start to think about it. Sure they were different type of breathing method, one leading to explosive power, other to stamina, but it's not like skill of this kind exist.

Hmmm actually there is no "preservation" magic. It's generally by training your body at using magic that you got able to use more, and for a longer time, nothing more. I through of starting with the basics, and maybe some little application spells of the kind you want. But I'm sorry there is no secret if you want a better stamina : It's training.

BUT... Nhieling added, stopping from dramatical effect, if you're most the defensive type, or if you want to last longer in battle there is skill that might help you.
Defensive skill are generally a fashion, meaning that from a generation to another, the kind of defensive spell mostly used can change. The last generation was more in the barrier spell, leading the offensive mage to come up with barrier breaker spell, it's just a cycle after all. Currently... It's more to hardening body, it's different from the barrier in the fact that it don't repulse the attack but allow you to take it head one more easily. I can add by experience than generally, people end up using regeneration magic after the hardening phase, there is a logic in term of measure/counter measure I guess.

Anyways, if you want to get more resilient, I have a few spell I can teach you. The first kind of the "1 step before" spell. It's all the kind of spell that can lead you to anticipate your opponent attack, meaning that by mastering them you could always get 1sec in advance over your own opponent. It's at the same time defensive and offensive, because you can counter attack, but also very risky because generally only a few of them are working on an opponent, and to become able to fight against everyone you need to learn a few different kind, but still extremely efficient, maybe my favorite.

There is also the barrier and hardening skin spell, I've already explain you the main idea.
Regeneration magic is quite interesting too in the fact his power is exponentially growing. The better you get at using it, the more incredible it become, by far.
Being able to repair your body in an hour is interesting, but getting it fixed in a second is just insane.
This magic is really interesting to, but training it mean you won't have to be weak against pain, it's nearly masochism. A side effect of this training is that you become able to ignore pain. It can be learned very fast through some harsh training.

There is also the magic that can be used to drained your opponent energy, making it your own, I'm very good at it, but it's a complex kind of magic.

Nhieling was thinking : What could I add... No, it's mostly everything when it come to defensive magic. Mix, or different thing can be found, so ask if you have an idea, but it's the most common one.

He was slightly concerned that Nhieling had a fast pace with what he was saying and barely being able to process all he said he still wondered why no such thing as a 'preservation' magic had been created. There were probably variations similar to what he was asking or he might not have been phrasing it correctly but he decided to let it go and pursue the idea later on once he learned more of magic.

So with all the defensive type magic in mind he believed he was more apt to learn the instinctual magic, which from what he could gather allowed him to see events extremely close into the future and with enough training able to exploit it. Meaning he would need to get a lot faster and more accurate in his movements, and probably a little more endurance seeing as it probably caused a strain on the body as well. He decided that it would be good to learn at an early stage so that he could use it always, but felt that it would be too taxing without further training first. So he decided to first learn how to use regeneration magic. But...

Is it possible to cause the opposite of regeneration magic...? He looked for the words to explain it. To learn how to make a persons wounds that they recovered re-appear? I would like to try to learn that after learning how to regenerate.

He didn't understand why degeneration magic wasn't just the reverse application of regeneration, just negating the effects of regeneration by reversing its process. But he didn't mind. He still thought that regeneration in and of itself would be very useful, and training to use it would be a plus, since the more you train the faster you regenerate, and the faster you regenerate the more that you can train. It could only be beneficial to learn regeneration magic first. he put his rucksack down and said I'm ready whenever you are.

Okay, no problem at all, we'll start with the basic ki training, this will be what will help you to keep your stamina, and to distribute it more wisely. Meaning you'll increase at the same time your strength, your stamina and your control. It's the most basis of the training, and you'll have to master it. It's not really hard, there exist a lot of different breathing method, but by mastering one you'll get able to use your ki properly.

Nhieling started explaining him of the "earth breathing". It was one of the most efficient in Nhieling opinion, because it was basic, and allowed you to max your endurance. It's explosiveness wasn't the highest, but it had also as an advantage to be very close to the magic preparation training.

You must breath with your whole body, not just the stomach like in meditation, you must assemble your ki in your solar plexus while breathing in, and send it to your body when breathing out.

The difficult part of this training isn't totally to get a proper breathing, but to be able to maintain it under any kind of stressful situation.
You should be able to get the way to breath after a few minute, then we'll start the phase 2. The part 2 is... Somehow my special one. A lot faster than most of the classic way... If you survive.

Tsun wanting to fully understand the breathing actually prolonged the start of phase two, asking if he was allowed to go on a jog and try to maintain it. At first the contractions caused his ribs to become sore, since his ribs were expanding sideways, instead of his stomach expanding. But after about 20 minutes he was starting to be able to do it without thought. As he returned to the ruins shortly after his jog, he was slightly out of breath, but felt much more in tune with his surroundings. He asked Nhieling whether or not he was doing it correctly, and received only the reply that "You must remember that you must try to always breathe like this when you use your Ki, so that you may efficiently use it." And with that Tsun bowed and asked for the second part of the training, knowing full well that he may be endangering his life by doing so.

Okay, you've catch the basic at least. But the hard part in a breathing technique is to master it. Not because it's hard in itself, but because of the precision and the lack of way to verify it. Basically, how do you master a breathing technique? By Trying, trying, and trying, perfecting it by nothing each time, but with years of training you become able to use it more effectively.
A master can help you by correcting you, but it will at most make it a little faster. And it's here that the super Nhieling's technique started...

Asking Tsun to remove his top clothes, he asked him to lie down on the ground, and said : Okay ~ I'll explain you the rules. Said him with a grin.
The basics of this training is that I will block you're breathing in such a way that you'll have no choice but to use the earth breathing technique to survive. But you'll have to use it under his perfect way....
Moreover, some of the needles I'll put will "block" your sense, to you will be able to fully concentrated over yourself. You'll be plunged into the absolute darkness.
This method will also amplifying your ki circulation during the training, meaning you'll have to get a perfect control over your breathing to survive.

Then, when I'll see you started breathing correctly, I'll weaken your abdominal and your diaphragm, meaning that you'll have to canalize your ki to be able to breath correctly.
It's very hard on the body, and if you fail for too long... You'll die.

Seeya... Were the last word Tsun could hear before Nhieling started applying the needle, sending Tsun to the void.

HUH WAIT WHA- were the only words he could get out before the first needle went in. All of a sudden he felt like he was thirsty in a room full of water. He was unable to breathe and although he heard what Nhieling said his body hadn't been able to process what he had been saying. He gasped for breath reaching out at the sky and forced himself to think. He was exhausted, but how long has it been. He thought 18, maybe 20 seconds? He could hold his breath for a minute as he was now but he knew the more he despair the less time he would have to breathe. His ribs started to cramp up and his eyes started to dilate out of fear. Think Tsun Think he said So, I can't see or hear anything, but maybe... he moved his hand to feel his sides, he was still conscious. All I need to do is breathe like I was taught to and that is all there is too it... Come on... and.... He took an enormous breath expanding his solar plexus and his ribs but could feel no air rushing in. Damn it! Come on... and... This time he took a smaller breath and tried to breath using his entire body instead of focusing on his solar plexus and finally... He was able to feel the air entering his lungs. He gasped the breath out again feeling completely exhausted before trying it again. The more he kept going the faster it came to him, and after a few minutes, his sharp torn breaths came closer to a ragged breathing that could be discerned over his coughing.

Once you'll ki will be stabilized you'll get back your sense to their fullest, so don't worry right now if you still fell dizzy.
Efficient isn't it? In less than a few minute you get able to do such a proper breathing. Just do as i explained you, generally it take one full hour to get back on your feet, but you should be able to talk and move to some extent in a few minute.

While watching is new guin... Student, Nhieling was reading, one about some theory about self synchronization magic. The time was getting near though him.

Although he could hear nothing, he could somehow feel his breathing from his surroundings. He could tell that it was already easier to breathe after a few minutes. And all of a sudden, a voice projected from all around him. Once you'll ki will be stabilized you'll get back your sense to their fullest, so don't worry right now if you still fell dizzy.

Efficient isn't it? In less than a few minute you get able to do such a proper breathing. Just do as i explained you, generally it take one full hour to get back on your feet, but you should be able to talk and move to some extent in a few minute. And he reached out trying to catch the voice. But he could no longer feel his arms reaching out. Simply his ribs moving in and out. and his solar plexus pumping in and out. He felt his blood beating through his body, reaching his finger tips, travelling to his toes and all the way his spine into his brain, before returning to his heart to be moved out again. How long has it been? He could ever so slightly feel the heaviness of the world around him, and the darkness around him was getting brighter and brighter, he could start to feel the wind on his face and he could see Nhieling sitting on a log in front of him. He looked up at the sun after what felt like days, to see that he couldn't have been in that state for more than 45 minutes. Impossible!? But he looked around to see that everything was the same as when he was first plunged into the darkness.

He looked up again to see Nhieling moving towards him with a smile on his face with two needles in his hand. No! No- He staggered backwards falling to the ground and not being able to get back up he accepted his fate, coughing up the slightest amount of blood on his impact.

Don't worry, it won't be as through as before. Since your breathing is correct now, you must learn to balance your power. Not too much in the abdominal, not too much in the plexus. Your breathing amplify your ki, and your ki hold your breath, it's the last basic I can learn you.

Nhieling charge the needle with his cripple curse, and then put them "in" Tsun.

This will be easier, you've already survived the hard part. But it will burn your muscle a little since you're not used to use them this way.

[....Don't really know how I'm supposed to follow that :P]

He could still breathe after the needles went in and he could still see and hear whats around him. But every time he breathed in too much or too little his sides began o burn immensely. Every time his ribs went out he felt like they were going to burst but he listened to Nhieling and tried to breath evenly. His ragged breathing softened and became more uniform the longer he kept at it. He felt exhausted but after a while he could talk normally and not have to focus on his breathing, because every time he breathed out and it was wrong it would begin to burn, and he almost naturally adjusted to stop the burning. He felt like he read something about this sensation before. Where was it? Ah that's right, the idea of The Soul by Nietzsche... Wasn't it something like our Soul, which controls our passions and desires, is in constant struggle with our body, who reacts to the passions and desires of the Soul? That's right. It was the idea that the Soul constantly wants dominance over the Body, and so it makes us thirst, and because we are thirsty the Body reacts and tells us we cannot be thirsty. Our Soul tells us we must feel pain, and so our Body reacts to try to stop the pain. He amused himself with the idea that Nhieling was the "Soul" in his training, and all he has been doing was reacting to everything he does, and how the Body in and of itself would have no duty without the Soul, but the Soul would have no duty without the Body. He assumed the same with his training, his training would be pointless if he did not learning, and his learning would be pointless if the training did not teach him something of value. By the time he finished his thoughts he could barely feel the pain from the needles, and almost started laughing if for the fact that his ribs were sore. He got back up off the floor and felt the world sort of slide from beneath him and fell to the floor again. And slightly embarrassed he got on all fours and crawled to the tree and picked himself up.

He saw no reason but to do what Nhieling asked. And so he drew in his Ki like he normally did and then tried to 'envision' the Ki around him. At first he saw nothing, but then he tired to think of the world as his map and the Ki as his 'surroundings' and he started to see dim figures in the area. He saw a large mass, which he assumed was Nhieling, and a slightly smaller mass of Ki, which he assumed was the puppet always following Nhieling around. As Nhieling said, the Ki felt almost as if he could take it, but he had heard his warning and decidedly tried to feel for more things. He groped around for a more accurate picture, and his mind started to become wearied out, he could feel the trees, the birds above them, and then the insects below his feet, and then he could feel the leaves begin to take shape, the individual blades of grass, and even see the Ki lines connecting Nhieling to his puppet. He tried to store it but... every time he felt it coming inside of him. It promptly became undone. He tried multiple ways, and for what seemed like hours but to no avail, the only thing he was doing was tiring himself out. Several times he lost the image completely, his Ki faltering and disappearing, but in the end he had an epiphany. He envision the Ki like paint in a landscape, and in storing it he was simply placing the paint back into their containers to 'paint' later on. And although he didn't understand how it worked, he was able to, just ever so slightly, eek out a drop of Ki into his bottle. And then another, and another until...

He passed out from exhaustion.

Nhieling though out loud : Note for later, this technique seem to bring the patient to total exhaustion.
It was predictable, but Nhieling had felt he had to try it out before reaching a conclusion.

Using his puppet, he carry him to a camp bed he had prepared, knowing something like this would arrived. He nearly fall headlong after stumbling on the shovel he had also prepared just in case...

nhieling started auscultating his body. His respiration was fine, a real pomp of energy. Without even knowing it his ki circulation had become more fluid, and stronger. Even unconscious he was able to distribute his ki to recuperate.

Well well, a great success. But the magic part still seem difficult. It would take him some time finally...
Or maybe... There was still this solution. It wasn't sure Tsun would like, but it would surely make the process faster.
Nhieling unconsciously massaged his throat, remembering at Mortimer reaction the last time he had try something like this on him... Bah ! For the science sake !

This operation was delicate for Nhieling in the fact he had to do it slowly to not disturb Tsun energy, since Nhieling wasn't human anymore, and was getting closer and closer to a condensed form of dark emotion, it would probably gave him a good Nightmare, and make his dark sides come out, but Nhieling didn't really care.

The faster way to make Tsun gather magic was to show him, so Nhieling just send some of his magical energy in his body, slowly, but just enough for him to remember the feeling.
The main problem about this technique was that he would probably get the same kind of aura as him, and since Nhieling energy was turned over soul and death since he had started the transcendence spell, Tsun would probably get affinity with this kind of magic. Well... We'll see it later.

Cleaning sackcloth in an abandoned city, And for some reason Tsun was locked in a prsion cell, surrounded by walls on all side. He had a spare key to the door but he refrained from leaving, deciding to clean his sackcloth rather than leave the cell.

Tsun could hear shouts from outside the prison and having finished cleaning he decided it was time to leave the prison. All the doors were abnormally too small and all the windows were too large for some reason. Stepping out of the windows he could see a maelstrom approaching and hear more shouts coming from the lighthouse.

Tsun headed towards the lighthouse to see an armed guard leading several lifeguards to try to block the oncoming tsunami. The tsunami was over 20 feet large but the life guards wee holding sdtrong at it. Until a life boat came over the heads of the life guards.

Something was wrong about the life boat... as if something was absent, it was missing someone or something. The levies opened and Tsun could see that there was no captain or navigator of the ship. But, out stepped a raging bull that ran at him with all the intensity a bull could have. Tsun ran falling in a bean field with the bull rushing at him

The bull landed on Tsun, but it's movements were odd, blood was spurting forming a pool of it around Tsun, almost as if he were bathing in it, the bull feel over landing on its side, showing a scorpion protruding from its skull, the scorpion let go of its grasp, and entered inside Tsun's mouth and Tsun got up, smeared the Bulls blood over his chest, and left towards the see surrounded by hundreds of crows.

Tsun woke up, covered in sweat lying in one of the rooms of the abandoned ruins. He felt so much better having had slept, but still felt perturbed by the dream he had, he asked Nhieling how long he had slept. Nhieling replied a little less than 3 days. Tsun was astounded, he's never had such intense training to the point where he could sleep for three days to recover. Tsun explained his dream to Nhieling hoping to uncover some of the mystery behind his sleep.

Hmmm I'm not especially good at analyzing dream really... Yours make me feel like you've smoke something illicit. Or maybe it's because of the magic energy infusing I've tried on you when you've fell asleep.

Seeing Tsun reaction, he lift his hand, in a sign to let him finish.

Magic wasn't something instinctive for you, meaning that it would have take mouth to get something, and you would never have been able to use magic effectively. So to help you, I've infused you with some of my own energy, meaning that if you try now you should be able to gather energy a lot more easily.

The only little after effect of this method is that people will sense your aura as if it was mine, and that it might draw your dark side out.
But if you try you'll feel like magic is a lot easier, it may make you evolve in a being linked to the element that composed my energy. Generally, it's just magic, but I'm a little special since I'm drawing my energy from darkness, from the death, the dark emotion etc...

Back to your dream, it probably my energy that could have caused him, but from what I know you could "explained" it like this. But I swear I'm not good at this kind of stuff.

Nhieling took some time to gather the different idea and put them this way :

First, you have an unsolved problem in your life, something that bother you greatly, you feel trapped into your "everyday" but still is reluctant to left it behind. You already know how to solve your problem, but you still dunno if you should jump in the unknown.

You're seeking for guidance, but you're overwhelmed by your emotion. You keep them under control with a rational thinking, but for some reason you still feel that you need help into your life, and the person that is mean to provide you this help is long lost now, making you uneasy, putting you in a position when you're own emotion are winning over you.

The last part is... Its sense it clearer to me, it's directly related to my energy. By receiving it it seem that what I said sooner wasn't wrong... It's just a dream after all, but it dangerously close to what reality could be, leading me to some doubt about one of my conjecture, but I'll go straight to my point :

You may... Not be human anymore. The fact that you've receive my energy could have made you evolve. Since my energy and soul and death related, let's call what you've become a "shinigami" ,an "apostle" or whatever you want. In your dream there were the symbol of immortality, soul, and death, that could comfort me in my theory.

All of this greatly confused Tsun's mindset, he came way with the idea that everything that has happened was a result of his primal instincts? He didn't understand what his dream had to do with reality but did not deny the fact that Nhieling had put energy into him. Without even asking. Tsun could now see the Ki around him with no difficulty, but he was irked about the idea of losing his own humanity. He contended to the fact that his training will be less difficult and that the'd be able to learn more quickly, but he still wondered if this was the correct thing to do. Did Nhieling really have the justification to have done what he did?

So then I'm ready to learn regeneration magic then? I do realize the implications of what you have said have changed my life completely, probably even causing a breakdown in my own ideas... But I see the logic behind your actions, even if I do not understand your motivation to do so. He picked up his rucksack from where it was sitting and put it on his back once again addressing Nhieling, How about we start now.

Yep, we should start now, a proper magic training ~

Nhieling hoped he would take it easy, not being human anymore wasn't this important, it even came with some agreements such as immortality...

Okay ! So... we can start. First of all, what is regeneration magic? You can obtain it through two way : The first one is to force your natural regeneration to some extreme by pushing on your ki, this is efficient, but you still can't repair damage your body wouldn't be able to repair such as one to the dorsal spine...
If overused it can weaken the cell for some time, meaning there is a limit of how far you can push using ki only, here come the magic part.

There is multiple way to combine magic with the basic regeneration ki-based ability.
I'll give you some example so you can understand :First, you could by example infuse your body with magic, giving you the possibility to restore the damaged part of your body by putting back in place the matter that have been tears apart. For this skill, you must be able to make your magic "memorize" your body, so that you can instantly recreate it.

This method still require a lot of concentration, and is weak against spell that destroy the matter, or turn it in something you can't use. Moreover if by example you get bite, since the flesh will get eaten by your opponent you won't be able to take it back to heal the wound.

It's called : Restructuring.

The main other method is the magical regrowing one.

To use it, you need some tremendous concentration, even if it become easy for an high level mage, and a perfect knowing of the human structure.
This method is close to the ki one, but instead of boosting your natural regeneration process, you artificially recreate it. You use your magic energy to control the cell around a wound, and make them duplicate themselves to regenerate the damaged cells. This method is important because it can allow you to regrow an arm, of whatever you want, as long as you have enough energy, that you know your body, and that you're able to concentrate on the spell.

The ki method is most fitted to fighting since you don't have to control it, but just let the nature do her job, but it's only by combining this three that you'll obtain a decent regeneration skill.

When you'll have master this three skill, and maybe even come up with your own, you will get close to be an undead.

If you have any question, just ask.

How does one learn to restructure the body then? Do you perhaps try to focus on the Ki channels when pressuring it with Ki, so that you can envision a body of Ki so that when a part of it is damaged you can restructure it using magic instead of Ki? I feel as if it is a rather simple magic once you learn it...

Also... About magical reforming, How necessary is it that I am able to artificially create natural regenerative processes? From what you are saying it seems to me that without it you end up having a rather slow regenerative process, or moreover, not fast enough to use during a fight. So if I were to learn how to do this, will I be forced to fight your puppet to try to regenerate as quickly as possible? Or is this a personal process where I simply try to control my body more, like with the Ki Breathing?

Tsun paused thinking about any more questions he had before continuing on.

Can you also tell me about the magic infusion that you completed earlier? How is it that I am able to use it if I never drew the magic in, moreover, in giving it to me can you no longer use that part of your magic? Is it possible that in giving me some of your magic, that I am more prone to using the same magic that you use or not? My final question being if I use up all the magic given to me, will I lose the aura that surrounds me as well? Or will the new magic that I draw in give off the same aura as the one I already have?