章 16: Cultivation-Start!

Shane had many things to purchase but only 11 gold coins in total, which was definitely not enough.

Thus, his happiness knew no bounds when he found a slightly older five cubic meter spatial ring for five gold coins. He immediately bought it, without hesitating for a single second.

Now, Shane had two spatial rings and definitely enough space to gather and store a bulk of Nightshade flowers.

Nevertheless, Shane also bought 5 concealment-[Mortal(Trash)] and 5 Nightsight potions[Mortal(Common)] for 2 gold coins, reducing his whole fortune to 4 gold coins and 24 silver coins.

From the remaining four gold coins, he set two gold coins aside to purchase something from the system soon. With the last two gold coins, he purchased two fist-sized [Mortal-(Uncommon)] mana stones to increase his cultivation speed, once he would start to cultivate.

Even though Shane's heart ached, each time he bought something, he knew that he would gain much in the long run.

As such, he kept forcing a smile.

Once he was done, Shane went towards a gigantic stone field that stood higher than some two-story houses.

There was a huge mountain casting its enormous shadow on the equally vast stone field. As he neared the field, he could see a large number of humans basking in the bright sunlight, sitting on the ground as if they were meditating.

This open stone field was used for cultivators to cultivate and absorb mana, which was invisible and said to be gaseous. It was best to absorb mana on a plain field without walls, trees, or anything else obstructing it.

The rich mana radiating from the mountain range flowed directly into the DeepMountain shelter almost as if it welcomed them with an affectionate hug.

Entering the stone field would cost him 10 silver coins, and the amount of time one spent there didn't matter, as long as one would not leave the stone field.

Shane paid 10 silver coins and only now did he regret having chosen to purchase a room to sleep in.

He was still new to the world of cultivation and mistakes were inevitable, but Shane still didn´t like the fact that he made another mistake.

With him paying 10 silver coins to cultivate on the stone field, it meant he would at least stay here for a few days if everything went according to his initial plan.

Though he wished to spend a few days here, he was worried that Umbra might get bored there and he may have to leave the field sooner than he had expected.

Even if that would be the case, starting to cultivate with the perfect preparations was important!

Sitting down on the outer circles of the stone field, Shane took out some food for himself and Umbra to eat, before he would start cultivating.

Hoping that Umbra would fall asleep after eating, Shane also ate a small piece of pizza to prevent taking a break later, if he were to become hungry.

While eating, Shane purchased the lowest [Mana gathering manual[Mortal-(Bronze)] and [Mana purifying technique[Mortal-(Bronze)] technique for one gold coin each.

These two techniques were required to learn how to cultivate.

To learn how to gather mana, one would need the mana gathering manual and to purify the mana inside the mana pool, a mana purifying technique was indispensable.

Both his techniques were abysmal. Though his replenishing and purifying technique were both bronze quality, they were only at the mortal stage. This meant that the best mana purifying technique could allow him to reach the 10th rank of the Mortal stage at most. This thought caused Shane to chuckle slightly...

How should he reach the 10th Mortal stage with a [Mortal (Bronze)] purifying technique? Maybe, the 4th Mortal stage was more likely...

To increase his cultivation rank and stage, Shane would have to increase his mana purity to a certain degree. Once he reached a mana purity of 1%, he would have to fill his mana pool to the brim and work together with the system to breakthrough.

In the end, it could be said that cultivating in the earlier stages was rather easy, and it either required a ton of wealth or enough time and determination.

WIth his mortal-bronze quality mana purifying technique, Shane could at most reach a mana purity of 3%. He would have to purchase a higher manual to increase his percentage later on.

But to do that, he required more funds and he wanted to make a purchase only when he had enough to purchase a Tier-1 manual. He believed that it would be enough for him to reach the apprentice stage.

But their price was around 10 Gold coins for a bronze quality manual. Shane estimated that he would have to spend 20 gold coins to increase his mana gathering speed while maintaining a nice balance, to reach the apprentice stage.

Considering that it would take a long time to get a miser without any resources to speed up the mana absorbing and purifying process, Shane hadn't even added the price for nutrition solutions, a body refining technique to increase his physique and high-quality nutrition food which was needed to balance out everything.

In the end, Shane needed more funds and the recent deal he made with the Corvi race could be considered a huge opportunity that caused him to smile lightly.

He was thinking of a way to kill the shadow pythons on the main Nightshade field inside the shadow snake valley. In a worst-case scenario, Shane would just go on a rampage and use some crafty tricks that his instructors had told him.

As he held the two bronze manuals in his hands, a message popped up.

[[Mortal-(Bronze)] Mana gathering manual detected--Initiate learning?]

[[Mortal-(Bronze)] Mana purifying manual detected--Initiate learning?]

Shane accepted both messages and a vast amount of information streamed into his mind, answering many questions about cultivation that he had never even thought about.

But, after all the information was shared with him, a warning appeared.

[Host is not allowed to spread the cultivation methods he received from the system, otherwise, he will immediately be evicted from the Primordial Dimensions. Guiding others is allowed but overstepping the line will cause the system to warn the host three times at most. This is considered generous enough. Never overstep your boundaries, my dear host!!]

`Dear host...my foot!! Don't threaten me with your nice words…' but now Shane understood why his father had never shared his cultivation methods or body refining techniques with him and a knowing expression formed on his face.

Apparently, there was a reason why one had to purchase techniques and skills from the system!!

One had to rely on the system and it somehow felt wrong to him...

`Was every race dependent on the system and the Primordial Dimensions?` Shane questioned in his mind. He was shocked to think of the answer.

It was creepy and scary at the same time even more questions streamed into his mind. He was hoping to find a nice and reassuring answer....but there was nothing.

'F**k let's just hope that the system is nice….for now'

Even if the system had bad intentions, he was one of the last ones who could do anything. There was an unknown, yet an uncountable number of beings that were stronger than him and even they relied on the system.

Ignoring the fear that slowly crept through his body, Shane decided to cultivate, as he had learned a few moments ago.

When he activated the mana gathering technique, he could faintly see a few mana particles in his surroundings, shining brightly.

As Shane closed his eyes, he could sense them. According to the mana gathering technique, he had to enter his mana pool with his mind and form a vortex within, which would slowly attract and absorb the mana in his surroundings.

When the first few particles were drawn to him, his whole body suddenly seemed to open up. It was as if the particles were floating towards him on their own. He felt as if he wasn't doing anything to attract them, except he had already created a small vortex in his mana pool.

Unbeknownst to him [Artemis' Blessing] had activated itself. Due to the blessing of nature that he had received from [Artemis' Blessing], his aptitude towards mana was much more favorable compared to other humans.

Most [Mortal-(Bronze)] mana gathering techniques would only be strong enough to gather a few mana particles each minute after exerting the technique for the first time.

However, Shane had already gathered dozens of them within a single minute and his speed accelerated further, the more familiar he became with the mana particles.

Rather than being something strange and unknown to him, mana felt more like an old friend to Shane.

He subconsciously increased the suction force of his vortex to the limit of the [Mortal-(Bronze)] manual which most youths were only able to do after a few weeks.

Only half an hour had passed yet Shane's mana pool was almost completely filled. It was an unimaginable speed for someone who had experienced mana for the first time and in addition, learned how to handle it less than an hour ago.

The mana particles in his mana pool combined with each other. Shane noticed that his mana pool was already filled, even though only a few moments had passed, according to his senses.

When Shane opened his eyes, a gleam full of vigor could faintly be seen shimmering in his black eyes. He activated the mana gathering technique with his opened eyes to test it on something and looked around curiously.

In contrast to the initial few mana particles that he could see in the beginning, Shane could now see hundreds of them all around the stone field. But instead of pride, determination could be seen in his eyes, as he swore to himself that he would purchase a better technique soon. He longed to feel more mana around him because the sensation was marvelous and addictive.

Now, however, the more difficult step had to be done...purifying his mana by fusing and compressing the particles with each other! While compressing, Shane had to exert the purifying technique, while assembling the black dots and gathering them, before he would exhale the impurities through the pores on his skin.

This would emit a foul smell, but the whole stone field already reeked in impurities, as such everything would be fine.

Once the mana was compressed and slightly purified, Shane would have to lead the purified mana through all of his mana channels. He would then have to create a large circle to completely annex it, making it his own mana.

Before the annexation, the mana inside his mana pool couldn't be considered truly his, but after the annexation was completely done, it could be said that this mana was his own.

Exerting the Mana purification technique, Shane could sense black dots inside his mana pools. He began to work hard to cleanse the mana inside his mana pool to get stronger and stronger, while his determination soared even higher.

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