Ben did not linger. He ran back to the camp. He did not know what that was. But something deep inside his mind caused a repulsive feeling for him. He did not understand what it was. It was a mixture of fear and a feeling of disgust. It was as if it emerged from his soul, from his bloodline. So Ben did not even look back. He just ran and only stopped near the camp.
He used a circular disc like device to enter the camp. The camp could not be seen from outside. He had to use the circular device to locate the camp and enter it as well. When he activated the circular device, the trees and canopy in front of him blurred and rippled. Ben, without any hesitation passed through it, reaching inside the camp.
Inside the camp, at the moment no was there. So Ben took out the spoils he collected and divided them into perishables and non- perishables. The corpses of the creatures were skinned and bones, fangs and claws were separated from energy cores, skin and other easily perishable materials. The students were given some amount of training in both simulations and outside to handle these kinds of tasks and Ben's knight realm allowed him to do it somewhat easily. But it still took him some time.
As the sun went down, Mahaansh, Vishok and Azurbaan came back from their hunt. When they saw that Ben had collected so many materials they were astounded. Ben explained everything to Mahaansh and Vishok. Azurbaan was also listening intently to Ben's explanation. Ben did not know whether he understood everything or not. Hearing the explanation Vishok and Mahaansh went into thought. After a few minutes Mahaansh started the conversation.
Mahaansh: It seems that it was a lord class prosimian. It must have been using the corpses for increasing its powers.
Vishok: Most likely. Ben, you have not faced the hostile pressure of a Martial lord, right?
Ben: I have faced pressure from teacher here and there was pressure in the forest when I came. Does that count?
Vishok: It does not. What we meant was the hostile pressure from a martial lord.
Mahaansh: Simply facing my pressure means that your brain is evaluating the threat level and assessing that I am a threat. But hostile pressure from a martial lord is different. It resonates with the world and thus your very being becomes shocked. If done to the extreme it can even kill people.
Ben looked at both of them solemnly. Then he remembered what happened on that day in his city when the conference was happening . He guessed that it was the hostile pressure from some powerful person.
After some time, Vishok and Mahaansh helped Ben in sorting out the spoils. They had special containers to prevent certain items from being spoiled.
The mineral 'Quareka' he collected was almost 50 kgs. The plant 'Nyxralph' he got from the cave was kind of a lesser version of 'Ratherai'. It would fetch a decent amount. It was about 10kgs. Then there was the pelts and energy cores of trava lupis and qon prosimian. There were 5 energy cores and 6 pelts. There were also some miscellaneous items. Vishok and Mahaansh had extensive connections. They thought of selling after this was over. It was only the 2nd day here for them and 28 days were still remaining. Vishok also said he had someone who could sell it the next day even. But he had to make sure of something.
Next Mahaansh had a sit down with Ben. He asked him, "What id you think of your fight with the qon prosimian?" Ben thought for a bit and said "I think there are areas to improve. I actually did not have something to lethally harm him. I have yet to master the use of aura properly. So, my defense was also paltry. The fact that I was too invested in that fight, without checking my surroundings was also a mistake I guess."
Mahaansh and Vishok had a slight smile. Mahaansh said, " Good, you have some amount of common sense. I can see that you have learned some fancy fighting techniques, which are practical. The claws that you have, I think that is from the meridian seed." Ben nodded.
Mahaansh continued, "Good. The technique which makes you go berserk, I would say to use it carefully. It can affect the organs and meridians if abused. It can be used occasionally. Any way, the reason why I want to talk to you now is connected to your martial prowess and future path." Ben listened carefully.
"Till now, whatever martial techniques you learned, they were physical in nature. It increased your physical fitness and conditioning and utilized your body's power to attack, defend or maneuver effectively and efficiently. The technique which you learned from your meridian seed is innately in you, passed on to you from the shamanic inscription. That is how, despite not knowing anything about the internal structure of your hand, you were able to cover it inside out in aura unconsciously and give it the shape of a lupis claw. That is something which is called 'Innate meridian techniques'.
Now, you will only have limited number of these techniques associated with your meridian seed. That may not always cover all the aspects of combat or other professions that you may choose. That is where the 'Meridian Techniques' come into play. These are techniques that use the aura in your body to perform various techniques. Without such techniques you will be unable to maximize the potential of your meridian seed."
Ben was listening intently to what Mahaansh was telling. He was eager to try anything to improve himself. He had some doubts regarding what was told to him. " So, my meridian seed is a Shamanic one. So how is it going to enhance the various aspects that are not associated with it?"
Mahaansh smiled and answered, " A valid question. The aura does have characteristics associated with meridian seeds, but you have forgotten one thing. The aura stems from you ultimately. The meridian seed is materializing it or rather transmuting your life force. But if the life force is used within you, it can act as an enhancement agent for your bodily functions. Also, yours is a neutral meridian seed and hence the techniques which it can use will be more diverse."
He paused there for the facts to sink in to Ben. Then he continued, " You need all types of techniques associated with combat and your meridian seed. But as you said, the pressing issue might be your attacking power which severely lacks. Even then you can't learn techniques carelessly. It can cause conflicting results and can be harmful to the meridians as well. So you should only select techniques that are necessary for you and they should not conflict with each other."