Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 103: What is Meditation?

"Yes, actually! Now, do you see why I put up with it even though it’s the most annoying thing in existence?"

Gravana stroked the fur on his chin with a curious hum.

"Yesterday, the Little Shapeshifter didn’t seem surprised when we saw this... System, as you called it. Does she also have access to it?"

"Unfortunately. All of the kids do. You could call it an aid to help them get used to this world. Sapphire also has it despite being a native. If you join me, you also get the perks of having a snarky System panel enter your vision every minute or so."

"An aid? What exactly does it do?"

"Uhm..." Alchemy hummed as she pondered what to say.

A better question was, what didn’t the system do? Alchemy was sure it could file her taxes if it wanted to.

"It streamlines Divine Power usage. It’s probably the same with Mana, but I don’t have any of that, so I don’t know. It reveals things like the pocket dimension Nera found yesterday. It runs the tedious and most of the menial things around my territory. And it puts all of my strengths into quantifiable numbers so I can track my growth!"

As she listed off the benefits of the system, Gravana only grew more curious.

"And you hate this thing because it’s annoying?"

"And Cryptic." Alchemy nodded.

"Half the time, it doesn’t give you an answer to your question if you inquire about it, and when it does give you one, it’s a riddle. So yeah. You know, you’ll get those benefits too, I guess, if you worship me as your Goddess." Alchemy smiled smugly.

"In your dreams, young brat." Gravana joked sarcastically.

"I’m probably older than you!"

That raised Gravana’s eyebrow.

"Aren’t you a newborn Goddess?"

"This body isn’t." Alchemy shrugged.

’Wait, is this body that of a newborn?’

|<Notice: Your biological age is the same as your main body.>|

"Yes. I don’t know the age of adulthood in any of the cultures in this world, but I’m 25. I am an adult woman."

Gravana took a step back and looked Alchemy up and down.

"N-no way. Disciple, you shouldn’t lie to me!" He struggled to hold in a laugh.

Gravana’s reaction made Alchemy’s eye twitch.

"I hate all of you. Just because I’m short doesn’t mean I have the proportions of a child!" She stomped her foot.

Her anger only made Gravana want to laugh more.

"To think that my disciple is actually older than me!"

"Have you been beating me half to death while thinking I’m a child? How old even are you?"

"17," Gravana said blankly.

Both of them went silent.

’17... I guess that’s quite old for a wolf, right?’ Alchemy thought.

’25... That’s still very early into childhood for the Fae, which she seems to be taking the form of. What species is she identifying with for her to be an adult? Humans?’ Gravana mused.

The two looked at each other before turning and clearing their throats almost in unison.

"Ahem... Where did we leave off last night? I was going to teach you meditation, yes?" Gravana recalled.

"I think so, yeah." Alchemy nodded.

Gravana looked around.

"Normally, you’d want to do this in a quiet area, but all this noise might be helpful. If you can consistently meditate through all of this, your progress will hasten significantly. If you were to move deeper into the forest, you risk being attacked anyway." He explained.

"Alright. Take a position you’re comfortable with. If all goes well, you’ll be in this position for several hours, so you’ll want to be comfy." He continued.

"However I want? There’s not a correct posture?"

In both A.O.A and back on Earth, sitting cross-legged was THE WAY to meditate. Hearing that she could hold whatever position she wanted felt bizarre to Alchemy.

"If you want the most efficient one, it’s standing straight with your arms by your side, but nobody wants to stand that long. You’ll eventually reach a point where it doesn’t matter anyway, so just pick something comfortable."

’Comfortable, huh? Where is my gamer chair when I need it?’

The joke that she made to herself didn’t work. She didn’t use any brand of chair that could fit the stereotypical gamer chair. Instead, she used a good ergonomic chair, but that was beside the point.

After thinking about it for a while, Alchemy ran away to go punch a tree down. After that, she grabbed the entire thing and ran back to Gravana, the entire tree over her head as she moved.

She dropped it on the ground and took and crossed her legs as she sat.

"Not quite as good as my throne, but it’ll do."

Gravana nodded at Alchemy’s use of her immediate surroundings to create impromptu furniture. It was something he did often.

"Now, before we begin. To you, what is meditation?"

"Oh my me, are we doing this again? I already failed to identify what I was doing wrong."

Gravana chuckled. He wasn’t brilliant, but he didn’t already forget Alchemy’s distaste for that.

"No. This is actually important. Meditation is a spiritual art used to activate and mediate one’s Inner Ki. Unlike Mana or your Divine Power, Ki is a type of energy born from yourself, and as such, understanding your own outlook is of the utmost importance."

’Ki? Wait, System, what is Ki? I thought meditating could only give the Enlightenment skill.’

|<Notice: Ki is the Energy of the self. It did not exist on the Edge of the Universe and more research will be needed before the System can give you a detailed answer.>|

As she thought. Ki or whatever it was. That didn’t exist back on Earth.

’Is it safe for me to learn?’

|<Notice: Unknown. You will be the first Prospect to attempt this. The System will keep you alive and negate any severely harmful effects. Status Effects that don’t cause physical problems like Phantom Pain or Mental Disturbances will still be significantly more dangerous if you’re unable to resist them yourself.>|

’So basically, I’m your guinea pig?’

|<Notice: The System is not forcing you to learn it. Please note that Divine Species have the highest resistance to debuffs, however.>|

’Yes...? What’s your point?’

|<Notice: The System cannot currently warn other prospects of the potential dangers.>|

’I see. Well, as long as you’re here to help, I was planning to be your patient zero anyway.’