Ren had grown accustomed to his new pet and so did his farm animals. He called the little guy Neg, and he was a brown furry dog with the energy of a golden retriever. It had been a month since he had gotten the little guy, and every morning since then, whenever Ren went up to train, Neg would be up with him like it too wanted to be a master cultivator like Ren. It mostly spent the sessions watching Ren, and barking whenever Ren flared up his mana.
Ren had gotten up on that fateful day, he had long wished that he could tell the days of the week, he could do without knowing the time, but the absence of knowledge of each day itched him. For a month, the gods, and their spokesperson Enoa had not bogged him, it was like they acknowledged that he was studying and they gave him the time to learn, that was what Ren speculated.
Ren felt luck was on his side this morning. The sun hadn't come out. It was early enough that Ren could feel the sounds of some nocturnal animals in the bushes.
Through the month, despite learning the stances, and having projection come easy for him, he struggled with mana reinforcement; the utilization of mana to momentarily boost one's physical prowess. He had used it when he had dashed into the woods and tested his abilities, it had come instinctively then, a mere product of passion from the moment, and although he had come to reinforce himself on a few occasions, they were always imperfect. He could feel the areas where his internal energy burned hot.
Reinforcing specific parts of his body however was always successful. Reinforcing his fists was the first thing he had learnt, he burned so much mana that they were strong enough to break through a large rock mass, but that was not enough. Obviously, one needed more than strong fists to land powerful blows. He had struck a tree, and ended up suffering sprained wrists, apparently the wrists needed to be strong to cushion the opposite force that came from striking.
Then, he learnt to reinforce his entire arms, then his legs, chest and torso, and eventually, his head. However, reinforcing his body entirely all at once proved to be a daunting task, mana wasted greatly from burning them to maintain reinforcement all across, there was simply just too much waste. He could only reinforce two body parts at a time before he eventually ran out of breath.
He had plateaued, but it was only for a short time. Each day, he felt closer to improving his use of mana. The day seemed auspicious, he went through the stances: Shen, Ryuk and Gan, his little dog Neg barking with excitement at every stance.
He maintained Gan, and had mana surge through him, encompassing his frame. His mana burst in a bright blue veil around him, and then, just as soon as it appeared, it shrank, maintaining a thin almost invisible field around him. He felt the invigorating effect of the energy around him immediately, it was freeing and contained, calm and passionate, a synergy of opposites.
He let out a soft exhale. He had done it, he had reinforced his entire body, now how long could he maintain the reinforcement before he exhausted his fill of the energy? He needed to find out.
It took a little above eleven minutes before the energy deadened like it had never been present in the first place. He let out a sigh of exasperation, but he was relieved, he had crossed a huge bridge. With this, he could call himself a cultivator, but most would not see him as such, many members of the society were capable of mana reinforcement, especially knights, and many Junjun fighters like Tuarine. To be a proper cultivator, he needed to be able to execute more than mana reinforcement, he needed to be a master at projection, his mana reserves needed to be at least twofold than how he was currently.
"A shield of energy." He uttered verbatim the words from the tome.
"System," he called out.
Name: Ren Hanaki
Race: Human(Earthling)
Class: Farmer/Cultivator
Favor points: 276
Titles: Dino killer, Defender of sheep, Farmboy, Class Wielder
Strength: 57
Agility: 31
Dexterity: 16
Mana: 3/20
Charisma: 77
Skills: General language understanding, Hunter sense
He had utilized most of his mana, but he wondered, "How do cultivators grow their mana?" He knew that with added points for mana from completing quests and tasks could have him increase his mana, but these lands bore its cultivators, surely they must have an orthodox way of increasing the mana their body held.
"The answer must be in the tome."
"I have learned that mana thrives on use; the more it is called upon, the stronger it becomes.Through constant exertion, mana grows dense and unrefined. It carves itself into the body, forging sinew and bone into walls of flesh, a vessel built to endure. However, there are other ways to grow one's mana."
"One's internal mana could be increased by absorbing the world's mana. Like all things within it, even the world itself ebbs of mana, this explains how mages could create magic that would activate itself far away, far from the distance their energy could cross, they simply manipulate the world's energy from a distance, how they do so, I bear no knowledge but I travel the path which unravels all of these."
"I now travel this path." Ren muttered.
He then began to feel the warmth of the sun on his skin, and he could hear the crows of roosters. The people had begun to step out and start with their day.
Ren could hear the muted sounds of activity below, he had been out training for hours. The only time he had felt as much passion as he currently felt was when he had decided to get himself the piece of land he stood on, and start his own farm.
"Cultivation is passion." He recalled the words of Mahābodhivān.