They were both instructed by Mr Zhang to shut their eyes and follow his instructions.
Siyash and Pippin were both instructed to envision themselves sitting on a mountain top in complete darkness.
Once the image was clear they were instructed to take in slow and controlled breaths, to eliminate all the distractions and noise around them.
They both followed Mr Zhang's instructions accurately, and in a matter of time, they tuned out the voices of the kids training in the background, only listening to Mr Zhang's voice.
This amused Mr Zhang and if he hadn't witnessed how poorly Siyash performed during the warm up, he would have thought they had done this before.
"Now this is the most difficult part. The darkness in your mind surrounding you visualize it as energy." Mr Zhang instructed.
"Now, when you breathe, imagine absorbing the dark energy within you, through your nose, and circulating it through your body."
"And when you exhale, visualize removing the impurities from your body."
This stage was the main reason Mr Zhang had his hands placed behind them. It was difficult to complete alone for a beginner.
But he assisted their bodies to sense the energy more easily, by controlling the Qi that they both had.
Then when the energy entered their bodies, he would channel it to the dantian, ensuring it didn't break.
This Cultivation technique of building one's Qi is the bedrock of all martial arts. Although the progression of Qi development depends solely on the individual.
Something strange caught Mr Zhang's attention, he furrowed his brows.
With Pippin, everything was flawless, the energy she absorbed was considerable, and a solid dantian was being formed in her stomach region.
The energy had already stabilized in her body and there was no need for him to keep controlling her Qi.
She was purely talented, but Mr Zhang didn't plan on praising her, because words from the right people could hinder one's progress if they became arrogant.
But what surprised him was Siyash, he could feel the enemy being absorbed by him, but no impurities were released.
On top of that, the Qi being absorbed wasn't entering his dantian. That left him confused.
'I can feel the energy entering his body, but where is it going? Is his body truly absorbing it?'
This had never happened before in the history of cultivation, even Siyash didn't know what was going on, but he enjoyed the process.
Siyash had used the cultivation technique perfectly, and this was because it was similar to controlling mana.
But while he used this technique, the energy wasn't going to his dantian, instead, it was going to his mana core, located between his lower chest.
And this dark energy he was absorbing was increasing his affinity with dark magic, increasing his dark attribute.
'This is a strange technique.'
Over decades, mages had devoted studies on how they could increase their affinity with magic.
But due to dark magic lacking research, there were very few methods one could use and their risks outweighed their benefits.
Thereby leaving them to normal methods of absorbing herbs, using elixirs, and beast crystals. But this technique, Siyash had found, was almost normal meditation.
But although his dark affinities would increase, this didn't increase the amount of mana he could control, they needed to work together to progress.
'At this rate, I would soon hit a bottleneck if I don't work on mana control. Nevertheless, if I knew this back at Dotham, I would be steps ahead of everyone.'
"That's all for now, you two, remember this feeling, and we will practice this every day." Mr Zhang said.
When they both opened their eyes, they noticed that the other kids were no longer training and were sitting in a meditating posture, cultivating as well.
"Pippin, do you mind? I want to speak to your brother alone. If you wish, you can join the other kids, they're doing what you just finished, but don't force yourself if you can't." Mr Zhang said.
For a student cultivating for the first time Mr Zhang wouldn't have done that, but Pippin was very talented and had excellent control.
"There's a reason I want to speak to you alone." Mr Zhang said. "I'll be honest with you, I think the dark technique cultivation is not for you."
'How? Not for me? What is he saying? This is perfect! I can increase my dark affinity by just meditating and that's not good?'
"I don't want you to lose hope, Siyash," Mr Zhang assured, placing an arm on his shoulder. This doesn't mean you can't be a martial artist, but I can't help you.
"The reason is, I think there's a large amount of light energy inside your body."
Siyash's eyes widened in surprise, but he didn't interrupt Mr Zhang.
"I can't conclude because I'm not a martial arts doctor, but from time to time we come across those whose bodies contain a large amount of dark energy or light energy."
"They are usually born this way, and because of this, they are very weak and fall sick easily. That's because of the impurities built up from birth."
"That's why we Cultivate to get rid of those impurities. But when you were cultivating now, no impurities were released while you absorbed energy."
"My theory is that the dark energy was being destroyed by the light energy that resides in your body. In a normal situation, it's meant to be empty."
It was now that Siyash understood what was being said by Mr Zhang, but the energy wasn't being destroyed, it was building up his affinity.
"My suggestion is to learn a different cultivation technique, like the light essence cultivation, but I cannot help you with that.
"I don't know any other Cultivation techniques aside from the one I just taught you."
"But if you enrolled in the academy or joined another faction that would be possible, but if you stay in the dark faction, let me warn you."
"The fighting techniques used by the dark faction require dark energy as its fuel along with Qi."
"It's not impossible to use a different technique with dark energy, but you will not grab the dark techniques full potential."
"The reason is that dark energy is more destructive and infectious, whereas light energy is straightforward, so each energy has its matching techniques."
"And I only know techniques from the dark faction, so if you wish to cultivate another energy in the future, you might not progress quickly." Mr Zhang concluded.
After hearing what Mr Zhang said, Siyash bowed respectfully and thanked him, not as an act, but because he was truly thankful.
For others, that might have been disappointing news for them, but for Siyash, it was the best thing he had learnt since he arrived in this world.
'So that means I can practice another technique to learn martial arts and practice this to increase my magic affinity, meaning that I can practice both martial arts and magic at once.'
'I'll be unstoppable!'