Chương 50: Water Everywhere, None to Drink

The book in my hands described the meditation technique as the simplest form of mana cultivation. Parts of it felt familiar, reminiscent of the soldier's breathing method we had practiced since the fifth month of training. The difference was in focus: not just drawing in air, but drawing in mana, weaving it into the body with each cycle of breath. It explained the role of crystals as well. Low-grade crystals, the kind issued by the army, were translucent white and with no element.

There were also affinity crystals, aligned to specific elements, red, blue, green, and others, each color corresponding to its affinity. They cost more than the army's white crystals and usually had to be exchanged through the quartermaster. Cultivating with a crystal that matched your affinity could gradually raise it. Misalign it, though, and the results could be disastrous. That was why, in a strange way, I was lucky. My affinity was so low it barely registered. Wind, 0. 1%.

Which also meant I could cultivate even without crystals. It wasn't like my affinity could sink any lower. Affinity, I'd learned, was its own ladder. The higher you already stood, the easier it became to climb. Someone with medium affinity (65 to 80 percent) could steadily increase it with high-grade crystals and resources. But for someone like me, the climb was a cliff face, too sheer to scale. The records were blunt: the highest recorded increase for someone at medium-level affinity was about ten percent.

For anyone below that, even five percent was almost unheard of. And mine… was the lowest affinity level I had ever come across. To form a mana core and reach Tier 4 cultivation, an elemental affinity of eighty percent or higher is required. I had given up on pursuing progress through elemental affinity after exhausting everything I could find in the Stonegate library. But I had not given up on progress itself. Maybe it was arrogance. Maybe it was the echo of another life whispering in my ear.

My spiritual stats at the start were already stronger than those of nobles; my mana pool larger, my control steadier. And I possessed two skills, non-elemental, yet feeding directly into spiritual stat growth. It made me wonder if the world's obsession with affinity was only part of the truth. If there was another path waiting to be uncovered. For now, I could only walk the road in front of me. I closed the book and settled cross-legged, spine straight, palms resting on my knees.

I drew in a slow breath, guiding it deeper than air alone. Threads of faint light, thin as mist, seeped into me with each inhale. The technique was simple in form, deceptively so: draw from crystal and air alike, let the mana sink, anchor it, then cycle again, building layer upon fragile layer. One cycle, two, three. Each grew heavier, like lifting stones with my lungs. My body shivered faintly from the raw press of energy settling into places it had never touched before. An hour passed. My limit.

I exhaled slow and long, opening my eyes to complete darkness. I hadn't even noticed the campfires had gone out. I didn't feel stronger, just more relaxed. Yet at the same time, there was a strange heaviness inside me, as if my body had been overfilled. Like eating too much, but instead of the weight sitting only in my stomach, the fullness pressed through every limb, every vein, until even my skin felt stretched to hold it in. I shook my head, found my bag, and laid out my sleeping tarp.

Thankfully, no night duty tonight; the Sergeant had spared Michael and me. Which probably meant more fighting tomorrow. I lay back and stared at the sky, wondering when I'd finally have a tent of my own, as sleep pulled me under.

[Class Progression] Junior Officer (Cadet) – Level 5 (025 / 500 EXP) +350 XP – Guarding against a Threat +50 XP – 1 day of expedition in the wilderness +25 XP – Supply run and Drills Level 4 → Level 5 The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

EXP: 400 / 400 → 0 / 500 [Skill Progression] [Guard Duty (C)] – 23 → 25 [Applied Military Theory (UC)] – 7 → 8 [Defensive Spearplay (C)] – 17 → 21 [Mana Sensitivity (C)] – 5 → 9 [Soldier's March (C)] – 19 → 21 [Guard Duty (C)] has reached maximum level Physical Attributes Constitution: 16. 5 → 17 Strength: 16 → 16. 5 Agility: 12. 9 → 13. 2 Spiritual Attributes Intelligence: 18. 7 → 18. 9 → 19 Wisdom: 15. 4 → 15. 5 Willpower: 10. 4 → 10.

5 STATUS Name: Edward Novice Class: [Junior Officer (Cadet)] – Level 5 (25/500 EXP) Elemental Affinity: 0. 1% Wind Mana Cultivation: Tier 1 (0. 5/100) HP: 161 / 170 HP Regen: 47/day MP: 346 / 346 MP Regen: 45/hr Class Skills [Applied Military Theory (UC)] – Level 8 [Soldier's March (C)] – Level 21 [Defensive Spearplay (C)] – Level 21 [Guard Duty (C)] – Level 25* [Minor Restoration (C)] – Level 15 General Skills [Memory Recall (UC)] – Level 3 [Field Medicine (C)] – Level 12 [Basic Rune Theory (C)] – Level 10 [Siege Rigging (C)] – Level 15 [Map Reading (C)] – Level 12 [Mana Sensitivity (C)] – Level 9 [Hand-to-Hand Combat (C)] – Level 20 I woke to the familiar flicker of light across my vision, the level-up notification.

The sheer amount of progress made me grin. [Defensive Spearplay] and [Mana Sensitivity] had jumped, and [Guard Duty], my lifeline through long nights, had finally capped at the top of its tier. [Guard Duty (C)] had been my anchor skill, the one I leaned on more than anything else. I'd made a habit of activating it periodically, even while marching, so the growth made sense. Now it was maxed. To push it further, I'd need to find the condition for advancement, an evolution into uncommon tier.

I wasn't sure what it would take, but I wasn't in a hurry to force it. What interested me more was the overlap between [Guard Duty] and [Mana Sensitivity]. Yesterday, while marching, I'd experimented with [Mana Sensitivity], and their ranges felt almost identical. What if I could merge the two? If I layered mana sensitivity over guard duty, maybe I could do more than just sense presence, maybe I could read an opponent's threat level by feeling the mana inside their body. It was only a theory, but one worth testing.

For a moment, I just lay there, soaking it in as dawn seeped slowly through the forest. Mist clung to the undergrowth, dew soaked the edges of my tarp, and my breath fogged in the cold air. Around me, the squad was already stirring, Owen hunched over his spear with a whetstone, each stroke harsh in the quiet; Michael stretched his shoulders, rolling them loose. Sometimes I wondered if I was doing enough.

Since awakening, I hadn't had the luxury of a quiet week to truly explore cultivation or unravel the mysteries of my class. One day, it was marching toward the fort; the next, it was being thrown back into the wild. Training, patrols, combat, it all blurred together. I envied those who could sit in silence with a crystal and focus solely on growth. Still, the status screen always reminded me of my mana capacity and spiritual attributes, both comparable to that of a noble heir's.

But it also reminded me of what I lacked: elemental affinity. Pride curdled into frustration each time I imagined what could have been. Sometimes, in idle moments, I dreamed of ridiculous things: hurling fireballs across a battlefield and watching enemies scatter, soaring through the sky on streams of wind while soldiers below gawked in awe. With my mana pool, I'd blast through opponents by sheer force alone, or stroll into a noble academy and silence their sneers by flooding the room with power.

Silly thoughts, really. Dreams, nothing more. I was reminded of a line from my past life: Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink. I had the mana, the control, the scientific knowledge of elements, but no affinity to turn those dreams real. Enough wallowing. I sat up, rubbing the fatigue from my eyes. I washed my face, the cold water biting against my skin, and promised myself I'd find ways to practice deliberately"Ready for more fighting, greenie?" Colin's grin met me as I rejoined the squad.

"Yeah," I answered, smiling despite myself.

"Oh, look at you two, enjoying your level progress," he teased, pointing at both Michael and me. Across from me, Michael caught my eye, his own smile tugging wider. We both chuckled under our breath. Though quiet, Michael was someone I appreciated in the squad, he was on the same level as me, and it made me feel like I had some company among all these veterans. But the moment ended quickly.

"Enough chatter," the sergeant barked, his voice cutting clean through the camp.

"Form up. Today we march six hours to a beast nest. One break along the way, then we clear it." Just like that, the atmosphere soured.

"We'll handle them in groups of three. Walter, Jack, and Michael, you'll take one beast. Colin, Owen, and Edward, the other. According to the report, there should only be two. If there are more, I'll throw the conscripts at them to stall, and the rest of you will finish the job. Don't expect mercy. I'll brief you on the beasts during our single break. Until then, keep your mouths shut and march." He doesn't even try, I thought bitterly. Forget the conscripts, he's grinding my morale down with every word.

Still, orders were orders. I tightened my straps, settled my spear against my shoulder, and made my way into formation. The day had only just begun.