Dyon’s master began to construct a training plan for Dyon, arbitrarily choosing an eight-month time frame. There was no real rush to do anything, and since Dyon insisted on entering Chaos Universe, this was the best environment to train him.
‘We have three main goals for these months.’ Dyon’s Master began. ‘The first is to increase all of your wills to the 1st intent level. The second is to solidify your energy cultivation. The third is to solidify your soul cultivation.
‘The first will be the second easiest. Because your soul is at the peak celestial level, comprehending such low-level wills with the assistance training rooms will be a simple matter. However, what will be difficult to bringing your control to the level of a peak celestial. Although I can forgive your comprehension being at the 1st intent level, I won’t accept your control being at that level.’ Esmeralda said firmly. ‘Essentially, we will use two months to bring your control to an adequate level.’
Dyon nodded, understanding his master’s intentions.
A 1st level intent, or one with mind, is the threshold of understanding a low-level essence gatherer should have. However, Dyon’s master wanted to increase Dyon’s control to the point where, from the outside looking in, he looked like a high-level expert purposefully using a lower level of intent.
It was the same way Dyon lowered his will level in order to fuse his wills. Except, in this case, he would be using his highest level of comprehension.
Because of Dyon’s soul level, it would be difficult, but not impossible, to reach this level of control in two months. Especially with his master’s guidance.
‘I’ll teach you a few techniques to achieve this. The first step requires familiarizing yourself with energy manipulation techniques. Remember when I told you that you weren’t allowed to learn any middle grade common techniques unless you mastered 100 energy manipulation techniques?’
Dyon nodded.
‘Good. Energy manipulation techniques are exactly what they sound like. They are methods of utilizing qi that can often decide the difference between two masters on the same level.
‘Under normal circumstances, these energy manipulation techniques are reliant on energy cultivation. They can be used to do anything from controlling the body of lower level cultivators to increasing the strength of your strikes or the nimbleness of your body.
‘However, the term ‘qi’ is an umbrella term. Qi can refer to both the energy that powers wills as well as conventional energy. Therefore, the methods of manipulation you learn for conventional energy can be applied to wills as well although it takes an added degree of difficulty.
‘Before we continue, I have to understand something about you. Exactly how does the Dragon King help your energy cultivation?’
After a moment of thought Dyon answered. ‘As long as I have the connection with the Dragon King, I gain his talent in sensing and absorbing energy. However, because my meridian grade is low, I’m limited in the amount of energy I can absorb. So, even though I can technically energy cultivate at near or similar pace as compared to the Dragon King in his prime, my meridians would sheer apart if I tried.’
‘That’s good.’ Esmeralda smiled, confusing Dyon.
How was this good? Wasn’t it like having a treasure you couldn’t take full advantage of?
‘Think about it. Since you have his ability to sense energy, even though you can’t take advantage of this to cultivate, you can take advantage of it to practice energy manipulation techniques. However…’ A devious smile appeared on the 25th White Mother’s beautiful face.
Dyon sighed. ‘That would break one of your rules… I got it… I got it…’
Esmeralda giggled. ‘Don’t be so disappointed. Think about it this way. When you’re in enough danger that ignoring my rules is justifiable, the Dragon King will provide a great boost to your energy manipulation abilities.’
‘So you only asked to confiscate the Dragon King from me?’ Dyon asked bitterly.
‘You know me so well.’ Esmeralda smiled.
Dyon could only sigh as he placed the Dragon King within his spatial ring. The moment he did, it felt like the world became considerably less bright. Although he could still sense the overwhelming soul energy in the air, it felt like half the world was taken from him in an instant, making it seem bland and colorless.
Seeing Dyon’s bitter expression, Clara, who was still in his arms, understood that his master was likely training him.
With a giggle, she kissed him on the cheek and entered the Demon Sage Tower. The twins were in there, so Clara decided that instead of sitting around doing nothing, she might as well spend some time with them. She had grown fond of those little girls over the past few days, especially when Dyon told her their story.
Dyon almost didn’t notice that Clara left because the moment the Dragon King was no longer with him, he realized what his master must have.
His clones that were still fighting hard against the beast horde didn’t show any drop off in power. That meant that the Dragon King didn’t have any effect on their strength.
‘This must be something that was holding me back from better understanding the Florence family technique. I was viewing my clones on a pedestal they didn’t deserve while trying to manipulate them as though they had the same senses as the Dragon King. If it wasn’t for the fact they had 10% of the strength of my body, they wouldn’t anywhere near this strong. I’ve been blind!’
Even though Dyon planned on listening to his master no matter what from the beginning, this only reaffirmed his decision. He finally felt that the door to progressing the Florence family technique was opened to him.
How could one expect to improve a copy of himself if he didn’t fully understand himself first? Removing all external factors was the best way for Dyon to gain a clear view of himself.