Chapter 26: Cultivating

"...the Xecno Military will pay for it in exchange for two years of service after your training."

"2...2 years!?"

Arlo said out loud.

"Yes, but you won’t have to do that. because I’ll be paying for it."

"But I thought the two years training was mandatory?"

"You’ll get tutored by me personally."

She replied, making Arlo pause.

All of a sudden, he dropped the cutleries on the table, and with eyes locked onto her, and fingers folded spoke:

"I want to ask you something important, Ennessa."

Arlo called out, as she blinked.

"Do you believe Power...great meaningful power, comes for free?"

"Of course not."

"Paying for my first core transplant, personal tutoring...all of that is an offering of power."

"So, can I take it from your words that...all of that won’t be for free."

"Of course you can," She replied with a smile, causing Arlo’s eyebrows to furrow.

"Good. So, what exactly is the price I’ll have to pay you?"

"Simple."

She said and Arlo’s ears perked.

"You just have to be mine... forever,"

Captain Ennessa said in an evil tone, making Arlo sigh.

"You already said that twice now..." Arlo said, raising two fingers.

"Well, you simply just have to be mine forever."

"Thrice now..." he said, putting up a third finger.

"But seriously, Arlo, you won’t have much of a bright future if you don’t fuse with your first core."

"Life as an ordinary civilian is a thing of the past now. Millions of teens like you have already fused with their first cores and are preparing to enter the Xecno Military."

"That is the only path to a successful future on Earth right now, unless you want your survival placed in the hands of others,"

Captain Ennessa said, this time with a more serious tone.

"You have to fuse with a core."

"And besides you have someone willing to pay for your first core transplantation and won’t have to spend a fraction of your life bonded to a large and muddy organization like Xechno Military."

"You know how many people die during the training phase, and how many more have died before even completing their two years of service to repay back the debt of their core transplantation."

"This isn’t your backwater sector where you hunt for big fish and, as soon as you find one, your day is done."

"We’re in the middle of a war with the possibility of outright extermination of an entire race or the mutual destruction of both."

"Grow stronger or be nothing for life. That is Earth right now as we speak, and your performance in the last mission, even as someone who has yet to fuse with his first core gate, is nothing you should be proud of"

Captain Ennessa said and Arlo knitted his eyebrows together.

"So go to sleep."

She said, slowly rising to her feet.

"Tomorrow, the training begins."

She jumped down, landing on the ground before quietly quickly disappearing into the distant steps.

[I guess the Vorath aren’t the only ones having their own fair share of troubles. The Humans can feel the heat too.]

The system’s voice rang through his mind as Arlo packed up the remaining dishes and quickly devoured them before collecting the plates from the table.

Even though he was a prince, it had become a minor responsibility of his to clear away the family plates whenever he ate with his brothers and father, as they had said it was a sign of courtesy for being the youngest.

But instead of simply jumping down, Arlo looked at the particles oozing from the Anti-Gravity Teleporter before stepping onto it.

Just like before, the teleporter gently lowered him to the ground, after which he made his way toward the kitchen before heading back to his room.

However, on his way, a notification panel suddenly appeared.

[NEW QUESTS HAVE BEEN GENERATED!]

[Channel Your Mana Continuously Throughout Your Body for 6 Hours]

[Rewards:

1.) +100 EXP.

2.) A New Attribute: Mana Points.]

The golden notification panel appeared right in front of Arlo as soon as he grabbed the doorknob, preparing to enter his room and get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow.

Instead, he entered the room, shut the door behind him, and a wide smile immediately appeared on his face as he looked at the panel.

"My first quest..."

"Once I do this, I’ll be able to level up to Level 2, won’t I?" he asked, almost jumping for joy at the sight of the quest.

[Technically, yes.]

The system’s reply only made Arlo’s smile grow wider.

He walked to the side of the bed and removed his clothes, leaving himself in his underwear.

He couldn’t help but look at his body, noticing it was far from being developed with not much muscle in sight.

He had always tried to keep up with his brothers and father, who were all true muscular giants, all to no result.

Now, however, he too was going to walk the path of becoming stronger, and the mere thought of finally changing his fate sent a powerful surge of excitement through him.

Who wouldn’t want to slash out a sword of flame, fly through the sky and touch the clouds, or reduce entire armies to nothing with a single magic art?

"Huuuu... Time to concentrate."

Arlo exhaled, clearing his mind before getting into a cross-legged position and calming his breathing.

Channeling Mana through his body wasn’t exactly foreign to him, as he had been taught by the clan elders how to properly cultivate after his great affinity for magic had been discovered.

"First rule, empty the mind and enter a state of absolute calm..." Arlo whispered.

The first thing he did was close his eyes. The eyes were the windows to the mind, and once they were shut, clearing away distractions became much easier.

After ten minutes of absolute silence, he finally managed to clear away every other thought from his mind.

"Second rule, form a Black Sun hand signal and draw in Mana..."

Arlo shifted his hands from his lap and brought them together, leaving a small gap between his palms while extending his thumbs and pressing them against each other.

"Done. Now I simply have to will the magical energy to come to me..."

He waited calmly, but the system’s voice soon rang through his mind, breaking his concentration.

[That is not the correct hand signal.]

Arlo immediately snapped his eyes open.

"What do you mean this isn’t the correct hand signal? This is what the elders taught me, along with everyone else."

He could even remember his brothers and father using the exact same hand signal whenever they cultivated, so hearing someone tell him that his clan’s method was wrong left him confused.

[This hand signal can work. I’m not saying it’s wrong. I’m saying it isn’t the best one for a beginner like you.]

"Why?"

[Because this hand signal isn’t requesting Mana. It is a hand signal for someone who has already established a connection with Mana.]

[When you’re starting out on the path of magic, you’re like a slave begging for power. That power is concealed within Mana, and to obtain it, you have to beg for it, not simply ask it to come to you.]

[While it may eventually come to you, it won’t come willingly. It will be forced to do so by the primordial rules of cultivation.]

[But if you beg for it to come, you show your willingness and your need for it. As a result, it will flood toward you in much greater amounts, around three times more than if you simply asked it to come.]

The system explained as Arlo furrowed his eyebrows.

Thinking about it, the entity’s explanation seemed more convincing.

When Arlo had once asked the Grand Elder why they had to form that particular hand signal instead of another, the only answer he had received was that it was simply how it was done.

There had never been any concrete explanation, making this the first time he had ever heard such a clear reason for a cultivation hand signal.

"Okay, then. What hand signal should I use?"

[A begging hand signal.]

"Huh?"

[Imagine you’re a farm boy who has lived in a land, where rain only comes once every five months. But suddenly, the rain doesn’t come for reasons you don’t understand, though it’s the sixth month.]

[Your cattle are dying, your plants are withering, and you’ve almost lost everything.]

[Then, just when all hope seems to have disappeared, the clouds darken and the first drops of rain begin to fall. How would you respond to that rain? That is how you beg for Mana.]

Arlo furrowed his eyebrows as he carefully thought about the system’s strange explanation, but soon, he understood.

In the next second, he changed his sitting posture and dropped onto both knees instead of remaining cross-legged. Once he was on both knees, he stretched both hands toward the sky and closed his eyes.

[Excellent!]

[Now start willing for the Mana energy to come to you, like you’re praying for the rain to become even more abundant.]

The system’s voice whispered through his mind as Arlo steadied his breathing and concentrated even harder.

Ten minutes quietly passed in silence before dark particles suddenly began materializing from the empty air, slowly gathering around Arlo’s outstretched palms before flooding toward him and circling around his body.

With every breath, their numbers doubled, and soon, the entire room was filled with countless motes of dark energy, each one pulsing like a heartbeat.

[Now it begins...]