The Way of Guardians

Chapter 3: Spirit Essence

After a month of being a servant of the Exalted Guardian Society, Leon found himself becoming relatively familiar with what Elijah referred to as "The Sanctuary". According to Elijah, this was not the original headquarters of the Exalted Guardian Society, but a temporary home where he could focus on rebuilding the sect. The Sanctuary was actually located in a hidden, private dimension that could only be accessed by the person it was created for.

It also became apparent to Leon during the month he had been working as a servant, that he would more than likely never have enough free time in to learn how to practice cultivation. Although The Sanctuary was a private dimension, it was still quite large and took almost all day every day to keep tidy.

For this reason, he wanted to complain to Elijah that he would never get a chance to be trained because of the workload and wanted to ask him to reconsider him being a servant. The only issue is that Elijah was never around for Leon to bring this up to him. He had not seen him since he was assigned to be a servant of the sect.

One afternoon while Leon and Seth were having a silent lunch, as was per usual considering they often sat on opposite ends of the table, Seth decided to speak to him.

"I have some time after we eat. If you'd like, I could show you some techniques so that you can begin cultivating your Spirit Essence," Seth offered, setting his spoon down next to his bowl.

Leon stared down into his bowl of soup for a moment, taking in a deep breath. "I don't even know what that is."

"What do you mean?" Seth raised an eyebrow.

"Spirit Essence, or whatever. What is it?"

"Ah... Elijah hasn't really told you a whole lot, has he?"

Leon shrugged, "he threatened to wipe my mind before I begged him to teach me how to become strong like him."

Seth laughed at this, his shoulders shaking as he did so.

"Hmph!" Leon scoffed, "so, what is the first step, then? Since you know so much."

"Sorry..." Seth composed himself, "Spirit Essence is basically your life force. Everyone has it and therefore everyone has the potential to grow it and use it in ways to become powerful and even prolong their lives. It can be a little challenging trying to feel something that you can't quite see or ever really knew was there, but once you get a grasp on it, you'll be able to learn to cultivate it."

"So, like... energy?"

"Mm, not quite," Seth rubbed his chin. "This is deeper than that. It is like an invisible spiritual force. It's what makes you live."

"Huh. So, what do I do?" Leon scratched his head.

"Well, Elijah started me off by teaching me how to meditate. It was effective, but I think I actually found a more efficient way. You've been to the library, I imagine?"

"Duh! Who do you think keeps it clean?" Leon rolled his eyes. "There's only like... ten books in there though. Not that I'm much of a reader or anything, but that's probably the lamest excuse for a library I've ever seen."

"Fair point," Seth couldn't help but agree, "but anyway, there are ancient scriptures in there, ones that delve deeper into cultivation and how to really focus on meditation. Another observation I made is, and I'm not sure just how accurate this is, but it seems like I could feel my Spirit Essence passively increasing as I read through some of the manuals."

"Not gonna lie, that sounds really boring. Can't you just tell me what they say? Like give me the short version?" Leon asked with a hopeful smile.

"No way!" Seth shook his head and then took a deep breath. "Look, if you're serious about becoming a Cultivator then you're going to have to be disciplined and take the time to learn and practice these things yourself. I'll point the way for you, but I'm not going to hold your hand."

The two young men sat there in silence for a moment before Leon finally spoke up, "so, which book do I start with?"

"There's a decent sized book called 'Cultivating the Spirit'. It should still be on the table in the center of the library."

"That makes sense," Leon blinked and then stood up from his chair. He picked up his spoon and bowl and started heading towards the library feeling fresh ambition in his heart.

"Hey, Leon!" Seth called behind him, still seated at the table.

Leon stopped and turned, "what's up?"

"Don't be afraid to ask me if you need any help, alright?"

Leon swallowed and then nodded slowly. The words "thank you" lingered on the tip of his tongue, however he chose to remain silent and continued on towards the library, dropping his bowl and spoon off at the kitchen before doing so.

Gosh, this place really is super empty. It could really use a few more books he thought to himself as he readjusted his servant's robes, which were a faded brown color, a vast contrast from the pure white robes that Elijah and Seth wore. He made his way to one of the shelves, taking note of various titles such as "Aspect of Sainthood" and "The Scroll of Enhancement" and "Gate Walking for Beginners". Although Leon was not much of a reader, he had to admit to himself that just by the titles alone, these ancient manuscripts enticed him.

He then turned around to face the table in the center of the small library where a lone book sat on its surface. That must be it.

Leon walked over to the table and picked the book up which read "Cultivating the Spirit" on the front cover. He smirked to himself as he tucked the heavy book under his left arm and started towards the exit so that he could bring the book to his room and begin studying it.

As soon as he stepped outside of the threshold of the library, he noticed that the book felt lighter. He looked down and noticed that the book was no longer tucked under his arm and in fact was no where in sight! That's odd. I must've dropped it. I didn't hear it fall though...

He then turned and walked back through the library entrance and scanned the floor a couple times to see where it had fallen. A gasp escaped his mouth when he looked up and noticed that what appeared to be the same book was sitting on the same table that he had just picked it up from. What the...?

Leon walked back over to the table apprehensively, looking left to right, making sure there was no one present who might be trying to play a trick on him. Sure enough, when he stood in front of the table, the same "Cultivating the Spirit" book lay exactly how he had found it when he picked it up the first time. It's almost like déjà vu he thought as he scratched the back of his head.

I wonder if maybe there's some sort of spell on the book that makes it so that it can't leave the library? he speculated as he pulled out one of the chairs and sat down at the table. I'll just read it here he decided.

Leon slowly opened the cover of the ancient book and peered at the index. The first section was on meditation. He flipped to the page and began reading the first sentence. As he came to the last word, he felt a tingling throughout his whole body, almost like a small electric shock, but not painful.

Instantly, he felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up and his eyes widened. His breathing seemed to also increase and his heart pumped quickly. Wow, it feels like I just had an energy drink. This must be what Seth was talking about... Crazy! he thought to himself and continued reading the rest of the page.

Through reading, he learned the proper form and that his mind must be relatively clear so that he could focus on his Spirit Essence and learn to be in tune with that before he could practice harnessing it. Leon was so eager to test out this new knowledge, as well as being invigorated from the spirit boosting effects that he received from reading, that he closed the book, stood up and headed to his room to try out what he learned.

Leon pulled the hood of his robes over his head, so that it just barely covered his eyes, crossed his legs, and placed the palms of his hands on his knees. He took in a deep breath, held it for a moment and then exhaled as he began to practice clearing his mind.