Chapter 266 - 266. Study
The process of the creation of a martial art from the diagram of a spell wasn't an easy one.
The first phase consisted in the identification of what effects each line of the diagram produced.
Then, a cultivator had to reproduce those lines with his body to obtain a similar effect.
The issue was that a spell was generated with a mixture of mental energy and "Breath", those two energies could be manipulated easily, it wasn't hard to follow the rhythm of a diagram with those.
A martial art, however, needed for the body to execute that rhythm while following the lines of the diagram, it was impossible for a material figure to have the same maneuverability of an immaterial matter.
That was why martial arts were generally weaker than spells, the body would not keep up with the rhythm of the diagram and would produce weaker effects.
Also, the fact that the Shadow step was a rank 0 spell, its diagram was extremely simple, it wasn't created to produce strong effects.
'Body, dantian, mind are the three centers of power on which a cultivator relies.'
Noah had his eyes closed, he was still in the same cave but the density of "Breath" was far higher than before.
He had taken out his "Breath" blessing and resumed his cultivation as he pondered over the creation of his technique.
'Spells are created from mental energy and "Breath", their complex diagrams and those two energies are what make them the strongest weapons of a cultivator.'
The knowledge learned in the academy stormed his mind, he wanted to consider all his options.
'Martial arts only use the "Breath" and the body, the lack of another type of energy is what eventually determines their inferior power. Also, a body can't execute complex diagrams, leading to simplified imitations of the spells.'
The Three Forms of the Ashura depleted a large amount of Noah's mental energy because he required an insane amount of concentration to perform it.
The mental energy was the representation of his thoughts after all, the more complex an action was, the more thoughts would be expended.
'Simply speaking, I would just obtain a martial art in the second or first rank if I just try to imitate the diagram of the Shadow step. That won't do, I need it to be in the third rank if I want it to have some utility.'
Noah was sitting cross-legged on the bare ground, his hands were joint according to the Dark vortex cultivation technique.
'Yet, my body alone is in the fourth rank, creating a rank 3 martial art might be useless too.'
The Shadow step spell could not withstand the power of his body, it was normal that Noah wondered if a rank 3 martial art would do the same.
'There is only one way to approach it: I will identify the lines of the diagram that produce the propulsions of the black circles and remove everything else. Then, I have to balance that simple effect on the strength of my centers of power.'
The more he thought about that idea, the more he felt as if it was the best course of action.
'The complete martial art should produce a sudden acceleration, yet, its weakness will be the need for a foothold to perform it.'
The black circles allowed Noah to stand on them before having the propulsion and he wanted to completely remove their creation from his martial art, meaning that he would need a foothold to perform it.
'Picking the simplest of the effects and then reconstructing it using my body as the foundation, it will take a lot of trials and practice.'
Noah sighed in his mind and interrupted his cultivation, his dantian had completely recovered by then and his body was at its peak form, there was no reason to delay the creation of his technique.
The diagram of the Shadow step spell was in front of him, Noah had observed it from time to time when he interrupted his cultivation.
However, he was now actively studying it, trying to discern the effects that each of its lines produced.
'That won't do. Not only my inscription method is different from the "attunement", but diagrams are meant to be performed as a whole, I can only test the effects of each line.'
It was after that thought that his study began.
Noah would use small amounts of mental energy to trace the diagram in his mind.
Yet, he would always interrupt it after some effects started to appear.
Half of a dark circle appeared under his sole but he forcibly interrupted its creation, making it vanish in the air.
The small line in his mind vanished and the mental energy accumulated there exploded, making his mental sphere tremble from the impact.
The shacking didn't last much but it was enough to make Noah frown.
'Forcibly interrupting a spell isn't really a safe process. Luckily, I'm working with a rank 0 spell, the energy accumulated in its diagram isn't that dangerous.'
That was one of the risks involved in the creation of techniques.
If, for example, Noah wanted to study part of the diagram of the Warp spell that way, he would incur in severe repercussions to his mental sphere.
Creating a technique wasn't easy.
Noah studied the diagram for days.
He traced longer and longer lines in his sea of consciousness, he needed to identify the part where the propulsion effect was added in the diagram.
That process was slow, not only Noah had to constantly interrupt the spell, but he also had to test the half-formed circles to see if he had reached the part that he was interested in.
His mental sphere trembled unceasingly in those days and Noah had to spend many hours resting to prevent the creation of any long-term damages.
However, in the end, he had successfully managed to isolate the part of the diagram that added the propulsion to the black circles.
'Finally, now it's time for the testing phase.'