Chương 16: Metamorphosis of Cultivation

Rowan returned to his rented room. The smell of the beast repellent had faded to barely a whisper, but its chemical deterrent effect would last for at least three weeks. He locked the iron door dead, shook the rainwater from his jacket, and walked over to the battered desk to tear open the Novice Parcel he had been forced to spend 80 credits on.

Resting quietly inside were three vials of mana cultivation supplements radiating a faint blue glow, a bottle of armor maintenance spray, a copy of the Federation Mage Code of Conduct, and a thin manual printed on waterproof synthetic paper: Basic Mana Channeling (Version 2. 2). Rowan flipped open the manual. It was entirely unlike the romanticized "meditation" in ancient legends—closing one's eyes, feeling nature, and resonating with the elements.

This standardized textbook issued by the Terra Federation was steeped in rigorous, industrial pragmatism. There were no esoteric or mystical terms. It was filled entirely with millimeter-precise cross-sectional diagrams of mana nodes, pump-pressure frequency formulas for the Source Crystal Core, and step-by-step instructions on establishing a mana-pressure differential between the inside and outside of the body. The style of this novice manual reeked of the Imperial Military.

"This is basically a manual on how to turn yourself into a high-powered water pump..." Rowan muttered to himself, yet his eyes were exceptionally focused. He sat cross-legged on the mattress, took a deep breath, and sank his mental power down into the Source Crystal Core near his heart. Following the instructions in the Channeling Manual, he attempted to actively cycle the crystal core for the first time as a true Tier 1 Mage. Inside the crystal core, the deep blue [Water Source Rune] lit up faintly.

Rowan opened the floodgates of his mental power, attempting to establish the "mana-pressure differential" described in the book between his crystal core and the outside air to extract free-floating elements. However, the very instant the cycle was established, Rowan's face turned ghastly pale, and a violent, suffocating ache wracked his chest! Cough, cough—! He clutched his chest in agony, forced to sever the channeling process. No mana. There was absolutely nothing.

In that instant, he felt like a high-powered water pump running at maximum capacity, only to be forcefully dumped into a parched, cracked desert. The ambient mana in the surrounding air felt as immovable as a solid brick wall. Instead of drawing mana in, the rotation of his crystal core created a terrifying "vacuum back-suction effect" that nearly damaged his fragile internal organs. Gasping for air, Rowan flipped carefully through the manual from cover to cover.

Only in an obscure corner of the appendix did he find a line of tiny print.

"Note: With every ascension in Tier, the 'baseline ambient mana pressure' required to operate the Mana Channeling technique increases exponentially." Rowan quickly searched the net for related knowledge. Now that his ID was updated to Origin Mage, he had access to previously locked content. Only then did he understand: the mana concentration in the Abyssal Hive was simply too low. On Terra, mana was never a "gift from nature."

The Consortium and the government had long ago deployed super-mana-gathering arrays—resembling the tentacles of a colossal beast—across the domes and bedrock of the Terra Republic. Those arrays acted like ceaseless industrial juicers, ruthlessly sucking dry and compressing every single drop of free-floating mana generated by nature. Then, through massive anti-magic alloy pipelines, they pumped it directly into the manors of the elite or officially operated "Cultivation Rooms."

In this world, the poor couldn't even breathe clean air, let alone free mana. Rowan logged into the Seventh Abyssal Hive's public service network and searched for "Public Mana Supply Pods." [D-Class Single-Occupancy Mana Supply Pod (Four adjustable levels): Level 1 concentration billed at 50 Terra Credits per hour. Note: Advance reservation required.] Rowan glanced at the pathetic number in the upper right corner of his screen: [Balance: 8 Terra Credits].

"I can't even afford ten minutes." Rowan shook his head in self-mockery. On Terra, even if a poor kid from the bottom of the hive got incredibly lucky and completed his etching, without money, he wouldn't be able to progress a single inch. Glancing at the novice parcel, he saw the three vials of mana cultivation supplements. Rowan picked one up and downed it. A potent, mint-like flavor mixed with the sour astringency of electrolytes slid down his esophagus. Rowan initiated the technique again.

This time, the effect was significant. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. The potion transformed into a miniature mana cyclone in his stomach. He could feel the rigid "solidification" of the surrounding ambient mana loosen substantially. Wisps of mana entered his Source Crystal Core, slowly being absorbed into the spatial dimension behind the Water Source Rune.

His mental perception sensed that the internal mana space had only been opened about one-fifth of the way during his breakthrough. As the mana filled up again, it continuously washed against the upper boundary of the space like a rising tide, but that boundary remained as immovable as a boulder. After cultivating like this for twenty minutes, Rowan distinctly felt the influx of mana slow to a crawl; he was nearing full saturation.

With the influx of the final wisp of mana, the free-floating mana outside returned to its solidified state. The low-pressure state induced by the cultivation supplement was over. Opening his eyes, Rowan did the math. If he didn't use a Mana Supply Pod and relied solely on the state provided by the supplements, it would take him at least 20 days just to breach the next third of the spatial capacity. The suffocating plight of the poor only deepened once they reached the Mage stage. He raised his right hand.

The Möbius ring on his wrist was glowing with that heart-stopping, profound blue light. It was time. Rowan quickly stood up, strapped on his new tactical chest rig with the impact-resistant lining, and firmly secured the black-steel short-sword into the quick-draw sheath at his waist. He glanced at the Basic Mana Channeling (Version 2. 2) manual, a flash of feverish anticipation in his eyes.

"Since you bastards drained all the water here... I'll just go drink my fill from the ocean." With a thought, the Möbius ring erupted with blinding light. The void silently tore open a pitch-black rift, swallowing Rowan's figure instantly. A spectral blue light flashed in the darkness. After a violent wave of weightlessness, Rowan's boots planted firmly onto soft, damp humus soil. Looking around, he was still inside that massive, concealed tree hollow.

The moment he landed, before he even had time to observe the situation outside, his enhanced mental perception clearly felt the dense, incredibly pure mana enveloping his body like a vast lake. It was overwhelmingly thick!

"Let's see it..." Leaning against the tree trunk, Rowan closed his eyes and, without hesitation, activated the Basic Mana Channeling technique. Boom! If running the channeling technique on Terra was like pumping water in a cracked desert, then right now, Rowan felt like he had jammed the pump's intake pipe directly into a bursting dam! He didn't need to exert any effort to establish a "pressure differential."

In this primeval forest, where the mana concentration was practically liquid, the free-floating mana seemed to line up, following his guided circulation route and surging unstoppably into the crystal core in his left chest. The deep blue [Water Source Rune] on the surface of his core erupted with unprecedented brilliance. The chaotic wild mana entering the core was rapidly purified by the Source Rune.

Stripped down to pure water-element mana, it transformed into drops of deep blue liquid source power, raining down into the one-fifth spatial dimension within the core. An endless river of mana crashed against his bottleneck. His mental perception clearly felt the bottleneck loosening at a rate far exceeding anything possible on Terra. A rough calculation told him it was at least three times faster.

"This is what true 'cultivation' feels like..." Just then, Rowan's ears twitched slightly. He opened his eyes, a profound blue light flashing in his pupils. He ceased the high-intensity channeling, drew the black-steel short-sword from his waist, and gently parted the camouflaging fern leaves at the entrance of the hollow. The light in the rainforest was dim, the towering ancient canopy blotting out the sky. Bolstered by his brimming mana pool, his five senses were sharper than ever before.

From the underbrush thirty meters to his left, he heard a faint rustling—the sound of fleshy pads crushing dry leaves. Accompanied by a familiar, foul stench. Rowan didn't hide. Instead, he calmly stepped out of the tree hollow and stood in the open clearing. Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Almost the exact instant he revealed himself, three dark silhouettes, each the size of a hound, launched themselves like cannonballs from three different directions, hurtling toward him with a shrill whistling sound.

Mana-Mutated Saber-Rabbits! And three of them at once! Looking at their signature dagger-like saber teeth protruding from their jaws, Rowan's eyes were completely devoid of panic. In fact, they held the cold, calculating scrutiny of a hunter appraising his prey. The first time he arrived here, a single Saber-Rabbit had forced him to take a brutal hit to the shoulder and gamble his life on a fraction of a second of mechanical latency just to barely secure a counter-kill. But now, the tables had turned.

Facing a three-pronged pincer attack, Rowan didn't even move his feet. His left hand hung casually at his side. He merely shifted a single thought. There was no grinding roar of mechanical gears. There was no agonizing pain of forced neural overload. And there wasn't a single millisecond of physical latency. The Water Source Rune inside his crystal core responded instantaneously. In a flash, it printed hundreds of source runes condensed from Rowan's pure mana.

At this moment, his powerful mental strength displayed masterful micro-control. With a twist of his thought, the spell model in his mind was 'assembled' three consecutive times in less than a single second. Shhh! Shhh! Shhh! A supercritical water blade, exhibiting a flawless, deep blue hue, materialized out of thin air in front of Rowan. It instantly transformed into a spectral blue flash of lightning, shooting straight toward the mid-air Saber-Rabbit. Swish, swish.

Two more identical blades flew out in rapid succession. Squelch—! The bone-chilling sound of razor-sharp blades slicing through flesh rang out in perfect unison. The three terrifyingly fast mana-beasts didn't even have time to utter a single shriek before they were smoothly, perfectly bisected in mid-air. Rancid blood rained down as the six halves of the mutilated corpses crashed heavily into the mud at Rowan's feet, twitching a few times before going completely still. An instant kill.

A completely suspense-free, absolute slaughter. Rowan looked down at his left hand. That instantaneous triple-cast had only consumed roughly one-tenth of the source power stored in his crystal core.

"The casting speed is leagues above the Aether Core..." Rowan raised his head. His gaze pierced through the dim, layered canopy of the dense forest, and a cruel, lone-wolf smirk curled the corner of his lips. In the world of Terra, where even taking a breath of mana cost money, he was a desperate rat backed into a corner. But in this primeval forest with no rules and infinite mana...

"Now, I am the apex predator." He turned around. Gripping the black-steel short-sword that gleamed with cold light, he walked expertly toward the mangled remains of the mana-beasts, beginning his first large-scale harvest as an apex hunter.