[NR] The Mental Side - Chapter 720

Courtney and Rosha catch Jason next time they see him, and Courtney is the one to ask. “We’ve been wondering about something. As it stands, no matter my training, I can’t stand up to others in my field, let alone those more specialized in information gathering or making a deal.

“Without the ability to at least hold my own, we aren’t going to be in the best position. Will cultivation help me be better at planning and plotting?”

Jason shrugs, “In the short term. You’re asking if cultivation will help in the short term. After all, I doubt it will change much if a thousand years from now you become an intellectual powerhouse.”

Courtney nods, “Yes, I need to be able to handle my network of people. The only reason I’m not worried about the tests we did on cultivation is because they were only provided the barest of information, despite the trust I have in those I used.”

Jason shrugs, “Proper cultivation is the rising tide that raises all the ‘boats’ which make up who you are. Except that metaphor breaks instantly as they don’t rise equally. You don’t reach the highest heights without some of everything.

“Even the beasts that manage to cultivate without a heritage will eventually exceed most of humanity on a mental level. Let alone a cultivator that comes from a proper lineage who has elders guiding them. But that doesn’t answer your question.

“Will cultivating grant you the mental faculties to handle the various snakes out there who have had decades to hone their craft? Now, obviously, I won’t give you a guarantee, but I personally believe it will.

“Cultivation is a personal journey. From the start, you were clever, so it would be hard for that cleverness to not be advanced.” And from there, they went into greater detail.

Rosha didn’t fully understand the chat, but to her, it sounded like they were in the clear. Though disappointingly, it seemed cultivation also wasn’t going to make her the next genius. Change was possible, but at the most basic level, cultivation took what was already there and improved it. Not that she was an idiot or even “slow”.

Rather, she wasn’t going to develop out of nowhere, that intuitive spark which allowed the geniuses of the world to leap ahead of others. Given time and lessons, sure, she could match them. But in the end, it would be the difference between seeing a complex math equation and just knowing the answer compared to needing to work through each step.

Both ways can get you to the right answers. It is just that if each step requires a bit of a person’s mental space, the one who can just jump to an equation’s answer will be able to go deeper, quicker. Though it did bring something to mind.

Rosha, “Does this mean there will be literal mad scientists?”

Jason turns to her, “Well, I guess it depends on how you define things. Though in general, I would say yes. Sometimes intuition lets you solve a math problem instantly without knowing how. Other times you end up making a ray gun only you can use.”

Rosha sighs, “I’m sure that won’t cause a bunch of nonsense.”

Jason shakes his head, “I actually think it won’t cause that much trouble, except maybe early on. It is like the old bit about how if everyone is special, no one is special. Once even the most basic of cultivation knowledge is spread, things even out.

“It isn’t entirely true and there will always be those who break the mold. However, it is similar to this game. Whether you’re using muscles or magic, someone at level ten will be within a certain range. So yes, a mad scientist will be able to throw together a ray gun, but if they’re just at meridian excavation, that ray gun isn’t going to be zapping others at a similar stage into dust.”

Rosha frowns, “I feel like that’s even worse. Also, I’m not saying I’m against it, but why spread cultivation around so liberally?”

Courtney sighs, “I can answer that. There was an... Incident involving one of our testers. Not with the tester themselves, but someone close to them. Said tester seems to have had loose lips, likely because they were testing some of the minor things that didn’t show results on their own. However, the leak managed to achieve something. They were brought in and put under an NDA.”

Jason nods, “Cultivation is a genie that once out, can’t be put back in the bottle. In fact, trying to hide the knowledge only causes suffering. Because people will cultivate and if they can’t find a reputable in, what they do find will be anything but.”

Rosha, “So that whole Orthodox versus Heterodox thing you see in the novels, or do you mean demonic cultivation?”

Jason shrugs, “I wish it was the first, but tends to devolve into the second. Heterodox cultivation means nothing. People will likely make a big deal about this, but basically what we are cultivating would be purely Orthodox.

“To balance all things and advance one step at a time. The slow and steady grind which doesn’t focus on any one aspect. If you stray from that, you are technically Heterodox. That includes things like Sword cultivators.”

Jason shrugs again, “The problem comes from when Heterodox devolves into harmful. The most important factor to prevent wild examples of this is to provide at least the first few ranks of an Orthodox method. Most people won’t even get past the first couple stages. Some places in my last life didn’t even count you as a cultivator until after you completed them.

“Though that’s more because they wanted to make actual cultivators into something of a noble class. So if they counted every farmer who happens to clear a meridian or two, it takes away from things.”

Courtney, “So I get that, given how easy it was for that other person to come up with something. Though I have to wonder why there aren’t already cultivators. But why give a legitimate method and not just something that ruins future potential or some such?”

Jason laughs, “The lessons of history. That’s a good way to find someone getting inventive and then coming for you when they miraculously break through. As for why there aren’t cultivators irl?

“Well, for one, we don’t know that there aren’t. Not for certain, anyway. But more importantly, the energy is kind of chaotic out there. Given time, someone near my apartment would likely figure something out. Out in the wider world? Well, the Orthodox method might not have been the first, but it was the first successful.”