Marvelous Martial Arts (A Marvel Story)

The old man, or rather Izo’s notebook, turned out to be a real treasure-trove. Mason was not really surprised by that, but it still exceeded his expectations, as it was not only filled with the core of millennia-old knowledge, but also a path forward tailored for Mason.

Mason might have been dismissive about the ways of old while talking to Izo; that had mostly been for the sake of the argument, and to piss off the old man. In reality, Mason knew they were important, and while they would not hold the key to eternity, the knowledge of old would definitely be one of the many steps he would have to climb.

Mason’s rapid advancement in cultivation had been a boon in many ways, but it also left his ‘foundations’ weaker. That was not to say he was weak, but rather that he was only harnessing a fraction of the power available to an Awakening Master.

Speaking of which, there turned out to be titles associated with the various stages of cultivation. Someone who reached the peak of the Body Refinement Realm would earn the right to be called an Expert, a Body Refinement Expert. It was the least used of the lot, though.

Then, those in the Awakening Realm were granted the title of Master, so they were usually called Awakening Masters, split in the initial stage with one treasure awakened, the second stage with two treasures, and finally those who reached the peak earned the title of Awakening Grandmasters. A bit of a mouthful, but it did represent the peak of martial arts.

It was not the last title, however. According to Izo’s notebook, the day someone managed to break through the limit and reach the realm beyond Awakening, they would become the Honored One.

His future title made Mason smile as he immediately made the connection with one of his favorite mangas from before he crossed over, Jujutsu Kaisen, and there was a real connection as this title was also derived from the Buddhist saying ‘Throughout Heaven and Earth, I Alone Am The Honored One’, which meant transcending humanity.

Anyway, to return to the powers of cultivation, or Inner Alchemy, Mason had very quickly associated it with Haki, because of the many resemblances between the two power systems. However, in the end, the two were not exactly alike, and that had been what had been limiting Mason.

He had awakened his Essence and Breath so far, which he likened to Armament and Observation Haki. That is, one strengthened the body, and the other predicted people’s actions.

For his Essence, although there was a lot left to discover, it was not something that interested Mason much. Reinforcing the physical body was the most basic way to use Essence, but it was also the safest.

Izo, though he did not disclose his actual age, was ancient, in his own terms, and had managed to live so long by ‘burning’ his Essence. This allowed him to surpass his natural lifespan many times over, but it also made him frailer. His body had weakened over time, and his Essence was only a fraction of what it had once been.

Although there was nothing written about it in the notebook, Mason had a hunch that this weakened Essence would also make it impossible to go any further than the Awakening Realm.

Of course, to someone who had not even reached the peak of Awakening in hundreds of years, this limit did not matter, but to Mason, it automatically discarded the practice.

There were some other sub-uses of Essence Mason was missing out on, though. One, for example, was the ability to heal others. One way to do so was to directly transfer Essence to another’s body, but the safer one was to overstimulate the Essence already present in someone. It was a variant of this practice that Izo had used to guide him in cultivation.

There were a few others, but they were all secondary, and it only represented a minor loss for Mason’s combat ability.

Instead, it was with his Breath that he was missing out a lot. The true power of Breath, or Qi, was not to predict the actions of others, but to commune with the world. In reality, this ability to predict was only a subset of connecting to the world.

This was something Mason had already experienced back in Baxter Building, when he had been talking with the Invisible Girl.

At first glance, it seemed useless, but that was only because his understanding of the world was lacking. This was also one of the few terms Izo had written down in Chinese to better explain the concept.

Dao.

The Dao, which Izo had translated as The Way, was the flow of the universe, the very core of everything that was. For most, it was unattainable, but to those few who had awakened their Breath, they could learn to understand it and harness its power.

Unfortunately, such secrets were generally kept safely by those who had learned it, and so, despite the Dao being most easily understood when guided, pretty much everyone was left on their own to learn it.

This was one of the major reasons why cultivation had never reached past the Awakening Realm: the greed and selfishness of men.

Mason intended to change that. The hundreds of thousands of years of human history had already taught him that the ordinary man would never share such knowledge, in fear it would be used against them.

To hold back the whole of humanity because of fear? Mason found that pathetic. Mason knew himself to be talented, so much so that he might be the most talented person to have ever cultivated.

But across all of human history, he would also bet that less than a million people had practiced cultivation, or Neidan.

It was estimated that more than 100 billion humans had lived on Earth, and Mason knew for a fact that there existed trillions more in the universe, and a nigh-infinite number of parallel worlds. Mason did not simply think there might be someone more talented than him somewhere; he knew it for a fact.

And that would never stop him from teaching cultivation to other people.

So, Mason decided to open his dojo. Of course, it was not something he could just do in a day; he had advertising to settle and probably open a social media page. Thankfully, he did not have to spend a round on renovations as the old man had kept both the dojo and the apartment in perfect condition.

Mason was in no hurry to get on with that advertisement, though, as getting students would no doubt eat into his training time. He also had several missed calls from Minx, so he had set up a date for later in the day. She was entitled to some explanations, as his long-time friend.

But for now, Mason sat in the middle of his dojo, with a lit candle before him. He was in a meditation pause, and was reaching out with his Chi, the energy born out of his Breath. The energy that connected all things.

The Dao was everywhere. The Dao formed a unity. Yet, at the same time, the Dao was split in 3000 ways. Actually, it was more than that; the 3000 came from an old Chinese saying, supposed to demonstrate the infinity of the Dao.

The Dao was naturally a singular entity, but it also branched down into many different smaller Daos. The accounts were conflicting in Izo’s notes, which the old man admitted was because of the very meager understanding humans had of the Dao.

Still, they did find some things. For one, not all Daos were equal, be it in power or difficulty of learning. Everyone supposedly had different affinities, but even with that in mind, all martial artists would find it easier to learn a particular Dao.

According to Izo’s notes, one of the easiest Daos to learn was that of the weapon. Be it the Sword Dao, Spear Dao, or even Fist Dao, they all were among the easiest to learn because they were the most familiar to humans, being tools they had created themselves, or even part of their body in the case of the Fist Dao.

Mason would have started with one of those, but he felt like it was not the right choice at the moment. According to Izo’s notes, the power of a particular Dao would be linked to the nature of said Dao.

In other words, understanding the Sword Dao would empower one’s sword, the Fist Dao one’s fists, and so on.

Considering he had yet to learn how to wield any weapons, only something like the Fist Dao would suit Mason among the ‘easiest’ Daos to learn.

But it did not really interest him. His punches were good enough already, and if anything, he feared hyper-focusing on his fist would be of disservice to him, as he used his entire body to fight, not just his fists.

So he had decided to go for a harder Dao, an elemental Dao: Fire.

Unfortunately, progress was not instantaneous, and at the moment, he struggled to sense much of anything from the flame. He knew he was being overly ambitious, but it frustrated him.

He might be no great scientist, but he knew how fire worked. Probing the flame, he could feel how the surrounding air fed the flame, the heat it exuded, and the wick being consumed. He could feel the blinding light it emitted.

But those were all things he knew already, and sensing them through his Chi did not change anything. His Chi did not bring any newfound, mystical enlightenment.

Inside, Mason knew he was being a whiny bitch, that he was looking to master a power that had only been theorized by other humans, but the thing was that he could feel there was something.

He could not grasp it, not yet, but he had the feeling there was something just beyond his grasp. Maybe it was just his own delusions, but it annoyed him.

But while Mason cultivated his blood pressure facing the vein, his efforts suddenly came to a stop as he felt a presence at the door. Izo had chosen a classical Japanese architectural style for the dojo, so the door was one of those sliding paper doors. In other words, not the kind one could knock at. However, it did allow Mason to see the silhouette of the person behind it.

And it just so happened to be the silhouette of someone he recognized. A silhouette unique enough to tell who it was by the shape alone.

The door was slid open surprisingly gently, and a man stepped in. Green cloak, metal armor, and an iron mask only showing a pair of brown eyes dripping with superiority.

Who else could it be other than Victor Von Doom?

The two men stared at each other in silence before Mason broke it with a crisp, ”Sup?”