Support Manuals

Apart from the cultivation manuals,there are many other types like:

* Soul Strengthening Manual
* Body Tempering Manual
* Beast Mastery Manual
* Bloodline Methods

"The subject of manuals was one such topic. Zac had been looking for something like a meditation manual to combat the splinter in his mind since he returned from the hunt. Calrin hadn’t been able to get his hand on anything useful though, and Zac had been forced to solely rely on the miasmic fractals in his mind.

But such a thing did in fact exist, along with various other types of manuals." **Chapter 430**.

## General Information

In either case the manuals weren’t something that would benefit Zac in the short run, but with enough time all of them could help him in different ways. Finding a compatible manual was extremely rare, and most were created through an arduous process of trial and failure by clans that had the resources and manpower to experiment.

A few of the peak forces in the sector would no probably possess them, but having the means to create a specialized constitution that fit your heritage and bloodline was no doubt rare even among the strongest forces in the area.

All three manuals were also a chance for a warrior to gain more class options before evolving, so Zac could understand why they were presented as a reward. Of course, the additional classes Zac would get from a stronger soul or acquiring a beast companion probably wasn’t something that Zac wanted right now.

His bottleneck wasn’t his constitution either, but rather the Dao and the concept of creation.

But even if Zac didn’t need them to get a better class they were still useful in their own way. Zac guessed that this was a way for the System to provide an uncommon perk that most powerhouses could benefit from, or use to shore up weaknesses.

Indecision plagued Zac as he looked back and forth, and he couldn’t reach a conclusion. All of them had benefits and drawbacks that made Zac leery to pull the gun. The body refinement manual would allow him to improve on his already monstrous constitution, but there were some pretty big question marks about his body.

There was obviously something special about his body, and Zac worried that the body refinement manual he got from the System wouldn’t work well with a body of Technocrat heritage even if it said it was compatible. It might take away what made his body special in order to create something new.

Or perhaps the constitution that would be formed from a technocrat heritage simply wasn’t in line with the cultivation path he had embarked upon, that of Life and Death.

Getting a beast companion would be a pure plus, Verun had proven that many times. But there were extremely few decent beasts on Earth, and it wasn’t even sure that the manual would work on it. He was also hesitant that there were any beasts strong enough to actually make a difference. He would have to find a pretty monstrous animal to be able to keep up with his own power and growth.

As for the Soul Strengthening Manual, it was simply too slow. Zac wouldn’t see any direct benefits until after the incursions and Dominators were gone. He also wasn’t sure whether the time spent grinding such a manual would be better used to kill beasts and open up nodes. Leveling up did strengthen one’s Soul as well, and reaching higher grades was probably the best counter to the Splinter of Oblivion.

## Soul Strengthening Manual

A Soul Strengthening Manual was a technique to gradually improve on one’s soul, just like the Pool of Tranquility did. It would not only make one more resistant to soul attacks and Illusions, but would also increase one’s spiritual energy reserves.

The soul was the power source of the Daos, and none of the attributes directly contributed in this regard. Intelligence and Wisdom didn’t help you with controlling the Daos or strengthen your soul, and neither did any other. The soul’s strength was pretty much inborn, though it got stronger from leveling up.

Zac had a feeling that his soul was a already lot stronger than normal, especially after having completely steamrolled the Enlightened Three with his Dao storm. The Splinter of Oblivion had helped by strengthening it even further, and his dip in the pond had helped remove some impurities.

This manual was a chance to work on his soul even further.

Better yet, it was even possible to use such a manual without being a cultivator, so it wasn’t something that he would have to throw to the Merit Exchange. There was, however, a pretty big reason as to why it was almost unheard of for cultivators to practice Soul Strengthening Manuals.

It was slow. Excruciatingly slow.

One could spend millennia refining and empowering one’s soul, turning it into a diamond completely free of impurities. But you could instead have focused on meditating on your Dao or progressed in levels during that same time, and both would have a greater effect on one’s survivability and strength.

## Body Tempering Manuals

Body Tempering Manuals were related to special constitutions or improving one’s bloodlines. Practicing a manual along with taking certain treasures or medicinal baths would slowly transform one’s body to gain a specialized constitution.

Alea was such an example, though there seemed there were some problems with the method she used. Ogras’ grandfather was probably unable to acquire a complete manual, so they had jumped into it blindly. Another possibility was that they had tried to forcibly use a manual with low compatibility.

If the main reason for the scarcity of Soul Strengthening Manuals was the slow progress, then compatibility was the main reason for there being almost no Body Tempering Manuals in circulation. Pretty much all manuals had extremely strict requirements on things such as race, affinities, and even bloodlines to work.

To simply train an unsuitable manual was to court death. If Alea was practicing an incompatible manual then just turning into a monster was the least of her worries. She ran the risk of dying at any moment, and considering her class and constitution she might end up taking half of Port Atwood with her in a storm of poison.

## Beast Mastery Manuals

Beast Mastery Manuals were somewhat of a mix between a skill and a mental exercise, and likely the most popular of the three supportive manuals that Zac was offered. It allowed anyone to gain a facsimile of the abilities that a true Beast Master like Verana possessed by allowing you to slowly form a connection to a beast through prolonged meditation.

One could use it to gain a mount like the floor guardian that Ogras fought, or a pure battle companion to fight alongside you. The connection sounded a lot like what he had with Verun, and the chance of betrayal was pretty slim unless the beast got too powerful.

There were drawbacks to this type of manual as well though. Compatibility was an issue with both Soul Strengthening and Body Tempering manuals, but with Beast Mastery Manuals the compatibility issue lay with the beast. You needed certain manuals to tame certain beasts, and some beasts were simply not possible to form a connection with unless they wanted to.

Ogras was the victim of a forced connection from what Zac could tell, where The Umbra had forced a connection that normally wasn’t possible to create. He hadn’t dared to experiment on himself due to the risk of death, so he had used Ogras to satisfy his curiosity after having turned into an Inheritance Spirit.

Since the System didn’t mention compatibility with the manual Zac guessed that it would have to be either pretty general, or that it was like a lottery what sort of beasts that it would work on. It might turn out useful, but it might also only work on beasts that didn’t exist on earth. **Chapter 430.**

## Bloodline Methods

These manuals are designed for allowing the user to activate, control, and strengthen their Bloodline. Unlike Cultivation Manuals, they don't alter the user's pathways or affinities, and can be easily swapped out if the user finds a superior one, though they do require a degree of affinity with the user's Bloodline to be functional; Bloodline Methods tailored for a particular Bloodline are the best, but more general Bloodline Methods do exist, and can apply to a wider range of Bloodlines. Like cultivation manuals, higher-quality Bloodline Methods offer a percentage increase in the cultivator's abilities. **Chapter 643.**

### Known Bloodline Methods:

* **[Wargod Tactics]**
* **[Bloodline Resonance]**