1587  Levels of Intent

"Is everything alright?" Kaemon asked as he noticed the odd expression on Lex's face.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just saw someone really stupid, being stupid. I should not be too surprised - I don't know why I am."

Of course, as an older brother, he thought his younger siblings were stupid, and his older sister had severe anger management issues. He felt pity for whoever dated her in the future.

"Do you mind if I ask you a question?" Kaemon said.

"Go ahead."

"I see that your forces are quite versatile in their means," Kaemon said as he watched the Midnight Battalion hold back the latest push from the locusts. As the morning light came, the wraiths with the Universal Rejection disappeared, and the locusts returned, dragging themselves out of the water and quickly morphing into a shape suitable for land.

"Many of them have mastered unique and powerful intents. Yet their use of intent is very… amateurish at most, if you don't mind me saying. Why is that? Have you never focused on intent?"

For a moment Lex did not comment, only studying how the battalion used intent. They seemed fine to him. But then again, Kaemon was a professional mercenary, so he was probably more informed in things related to combat than him.

"We are, after all, an Inn. Although we have a security team and a battalion to fight, they have barely been training for a few years. I'm sure with time, their training will eventually address that as well. But for now, if you see any ways in which you can offer guidance, I'd be glad to take it. Admittedly, I myself have not focused too much on my intent."

"I don't think you of all people can claim to not have trained your intent," Kaemon said. "I recall how you used your intent to cut the connection between the locusts' fake souls and their bodies. But it is true that while your application of intent is genius, your actual intent is surprisingly not at the level I would have expected."

"I mean, I think my intent is pretty powerful," Lex said, recalling how he had to raise the level of his intent high enough to destroy that sword hiding in his soul.

Kaemon gave Lex a look that quite clearly meant that he did not want to disagree with Lex, but he couldn't agree with him either.

"Alright, enlighten me. Teach me about intents, and teach me how I can improve them."

Kaemon paused for a moment, as it considered what to say, before it began.

"Let's start with the basics? What is intent? Intent is formed when a being gains extreme mastery over a particular field - any field at all. Their mastery causes a resonance, or a reaction of some kind with spiritual energy, which manifests the level of their mastery in the form as a force.

"A cultivator's internal spiritual energy causes the intent to be formed, and the external energy can power and fuel it. Of course, in the case that a cultivator is in a barren place, their own spiritual energy can be used to power the intent, but that is besides the point.

"The thing to focus on is that intent is dictated by two things: the level of mastery, and the cultivators internal energy which causes it to form. Theoretically, it's entirely possible to form intent above one's cultivation level - it's just that maintaining it will be a strain. However, regardless of the cultivation level, without sufficient mastery, the intent will never grow.

"Now let's start with levels. Intent goes from level one to level nine, though there are legends about even higher levels. We'll discuss that in a moment, but first we need to look at the first few levels.

"From level one to level four, mastering intent is relatively easy, and simply requires sufficient hard work and focus. For reference, your sword intent is at level three, and my Fire intent is at level four. As you can imagine, with each level, the intent grows stronger and gains newer aspects of itself. Think of it like cultivation - the focus of each level is preparation for the subsequent level.

"Intents from level five to level nine become much harder to master, because at those levels, intent is influenced by, or influences laws. The exact nature of the relationship is determined by the user and use case, but either way, the integration and application of laws make them much harder to master. At the same time, they are much harder to learn.

"The reason why I say that none of the Inn workers seem to focus on intent is because while many have intent, and some even actively use it, almost none have gone past level three. In fact, most of them are at level two! Considering that sufficient practice and dedication can, at least, bring them to level four, the fact that a majority of them are at level two is very telling of how much they prioritise intent."

Lex nodded as he understood Kaemons point. He still didn't think they did anything wrong, as there was no telling what 'sufficient effort' quantified. More importantly, while many mastered intent, almost none of them relied on intent as their main form of combat. It was more of an augmentation to their existing skills than anything else.

That didn't mean Lex would dismiss Kaemons expertise.

"What's above level nine intent that you mentioned?" he asked.

"Well, according to rumors, if one surpasses intent level nine in intent, their intent transforms into a Dao, and can no longer be called an intent. However, such things are easier said than done, and I at least don't know anyone or have heard of anyone who has achieved such a thing."

A flash of interest went through Lex's eyes as he realized he suffered no pressure or consequence from learning this knowledge.

"Does that mean if I get my intent to cross level nine, I can become a Dao Lord?" he asked.

Kaemon shrugged.

"These things are way past my paygrade. I'm just sharing a rumor I heard. There's no evidence of it being real."