The Magistrate: Chapter 34 (Patreon)

Bonus chapter because it's so short. Chapter 34

The Experiment

On a cloudy, snowy Winter morning, a noticeably more muscular Tobias stood before one hundred of Cloud Sect’s disciples. Twenty of the disciples before him had entered the foundation realm. The rest were initiate realm cultivators with at least four open and cleansed energy meridians. None of them had reached the end of their natural path, which was precisely why they were there.

Cloud Sect wanted Tobias to test his new training method on not just those who had reached the end of their natural path, but on those who might benefit more if his assumption was proven true. The sect had been watching him and Steward Wo train for weeks and had already determined that his training methods were significantly more effective than the methods they used.

Elder Park had gone so far as to replicate his training equipment hundreds of times so that the disciples could begin training the way they did. Tobias was aware that he couldn’t keep his discovery secret from Cloud Sect, so when he’d gone to the sect to ask them for help, he’d made sure that they would recognise his right to share the discovery with the Great Clans for profit.

They had.

Tobias motioned for the cultivators to sit and then folded his hands behind his back. The fact that he was asking them to sit in the snow meant little to them. The bitter Winter cold that had once kept Tobias indoors no longer bothered him or the disciples in the slightest.

Tobias looked them over. “I’ve been told you were not informed of the nature of the training you will be doing here, so this morning, all you will be doing is sitting and listening. From this moment on, you are not allowed to work on expanding or strengthening your body meridians without my permission.”

A wall of angry silence greeted his declaration.

“The reason you are not allowed to work on expanding or strengthening your body meridians is because my Finch Equations showed me that muscular cultivators tend to have larger and stronger body meridians than their divinity or talent should allow.”

Tobias let that sink in, enjoying their shock. His equations had been openly adopted by Cloud Sect and were now routinely used to help disciples know where and when they would begin to struggle on their path to immortality. His expanded equations were helping them even more. His study guide had also become standard reading for all members of the sect, explaining the purpose behind their actions.

“Starting today, you will begin training your fitness. Once you’re fitness has reached the limits of your cultivation, you will begin training your strength until it has also reached the limits of your cultivation. After both have, you will continue to train your strength until you have grown enough muscle to satisfy me. Only then will you be allowed to return to body cultivation.”

Tobias leaned down and picked up his weighted vest. It was 380 pounds of lead bricks tied together with silk rope, and he’d passed out while wearing it more than a dozen times before he was satisfied that his aerobic fitness couldn’t improve.

Tobias held it up. “This is a weighted vest. I promise you that you’re going to discover you absolutely hate the sight of this piece of equipment before your training is over. However, no matter how much you hate it, you’re going to begrudgingly admit that you respect the results it gives.”

Half the cultivators laughed, thinking it was a joke.

The other half winced, knowing from experience how hard their training would have to hate a piece of equipment.

Tobias motioned to those who were laughing. “Those of you wincing should feel sorry for them.”

Those who were wincing suddenly burst out laughing, and those laughing began to frown.

“This training is going to be intense, so laughter will be an important part. Supporting your fellow disciples will also be an important part. I want you to remember that while you’re training, you’re not competing with each other, you're competing with yourself.”