Marcus's eyelids shuddered as he heard footsteps coming closer. Perhaps it was because of his military training, the sleep in his eyes cleared quickly and he immediately sat up.
His headache had gone and his body was completely healed.
"You hit your limits?" Logan asked as he approached Marcus.
From the moment he entered the room, from the door, he saw that Marcus was lying in the chair.
"Not really."
Recalling all that had happened before he passed out, Marcus resisted the urge to smile.
Logan looked at the ink on his table, and something felt amiss with it. But he couldn't tell what it was. He dropped a bag and a few other aged items on his table.
"You overworked yourself?"
"Something like that. But it wasn't for naught."
"Oh," Logan turned around and looked at Marcus, trying to figure out if he had grown in some way again. His tired eyes scanned the young man for a second. "You don't seem to have grown much… however, your mental state seems more stable than before."
He walked around the table and took his seat.
"So, what was it you found?"
Marcus paused before replying. The interactions between him and Logan seemed to be of one kind. It only involved the exchange of knowledge, or more accurately, a teacher-to-student type of interaction. Logan didn't necessarily ask him of any other thing outside of what he had studied.
At the same time, the man seemed to have no interest in other things that he deemed useless. It hasn't been that long since they met, and yet, he's been open-minded.
To Marcus, it was a bit strange, but he didn't dislike it. And the more they interacted, the better he got to understand the type of person Logan is.
"Is there a record for the highest number of Major and Minor Acupoints ever opened?"
Logan's gaze lingered on him.
Is he already thinking that far ahead? Logan mused. He hasn't even settled into one path yet, and he's already looking to balance two? I've left him room to explore, but if he strays too far, it might break him before he even begins properly.
Still, he answered. "Yes. It is an open secret that most Imperial Armatures—past and present—have opened over fifty Major Acupoints, and at least thirty-three Minor ones."
Over fifty? Marcus's mind raced. But the cultivation art that Nexus gave me only has records of thirty-six Major Acupoints. Could he have found more on his own? Yes, that's possible. I found many more, who is to say that he can't?
"Can one integrate acupoints from different Cultivation Arts?" Marcus asked.
"To a degree, yes," Logan said. "The more Major and Minor Acupoints you open, the stronger you become—or rather, the more efficiently Wilder Force flows through you. Acupoints don't just increase capacity; they influence how far your cultivation can go. But they aren't the only factor."
He leaned back slightly. "Say someone opens fifty Major Acupoints and a hundred Minor ones—without a proper Cultivation Art to refine and harmonize the Wilder Force, they're nothing more than a leaking container, potential without structure."
"I see," Marcus murmured as he rubbed his chin.
"And here's a tricky part," Logan added. "Every Cultivation Art is designed with a form of flow, a way to guide energy through certain Acupoints. If an Art is built to take someone only to the Earth Realm using a specific set of Acupoints, then no matter how many extra points you unlock, they'll be mostly dormant. You might boost your intake, or enhance your output during combat, but without a higher-tier Art to guide and stabilize that flow…"
"…you hit a wall," Marcus finished for him.
"Exactly. Not all limits come from the body. Some are etched into the very path you walk."
Absorbing all of this in, Marcus couldn't help but wonder. Then isn't it better not to cultivate Nexus's Art?
"If every Cultivation Art had been made with a guide of flow to follow, then trying to combine the knowledge from another Art will lead to contradictions." He uttered out loud.
Logan's eyes glinted. "Contradictions would be the least of your worries. Implosion, nerve detonation—those should terrify you more. One wrong flow and an Acupoint could shatter. And that's if you're lucky. Some flows mismatch so badly, they tear the body apart. Cultivators have exploded during breakthroughs for less."
"Opening Acupoints isn't the difficult part, using them safely is," Marcus muttered.
"Yes… Nonetheless, finding the acupoints in the body is still another strain of its own. It is as if they don't want to be found."
Before now, Marcus thought it would be okay to start cultivating with Nexus's Art, but now, he was seriously reconsidering it.
"Do you think it would be good for me to use Nexus's Cultivation Art?" Marcus asked.
Logan blinked. "What?" His brows furrowed. "Where would you even get your hands on that? Captain guards that Art like a jealous father. He wouldn't even let me have a glimpse of it and I have been under him for years."
"Really?" Understanding that he should keep the Art a secret, Marcus stopped his question there. But Logan picked up on his change in attitude.
"Don't tell me that he gave it to you." Getting up from his chair, he closed the distance between the two of them with a few strides.
Marcus hesitated, then nodded. "It was part of the reward I received for running an errand for him."
Logan froze, visibly holding back a reaction. He was going to ask to see the Art. However, he knew that it would be better to get it from Nexus rather than doing it this way. Taking a deep breath to calm his greed, he took a step back.
"Captain's Art is special. Forget its current Tier. The thing isn't complete and yet it took him so far. What's special about the Cultivation Art isn't in its Tier, but in the way it controls and lets energy flow. The way it guides Wilder Force during cultivation and combat. There are few Arts with elemental flow imbued in their essence, most only push one cultivation to higher realms, raw power, Captain's own lets him control a powerful type of flames." Logan revealed…