Xan continued walking through the forest for the next few hours. The sparse vegetation allowed him to scout his surroundings easily, so he could keep an eye on any beast while he looked for mushrooms.

Not that he needed it anyway. The only animals Xan saw were birds or small mammals like mice and rabbits during that time. That was likely because Xan had yet to venture deep into the forest, but he didn't feel confident enough to do so.

After all, he had not learned how to use his knife correctly and had no real fighting experience, so if beasts outnumbered him, he would probably end badly.

Even only exploring the outer area of the forest, Xan still managed to gather sixteen mushrooms, far from what he needed, but he was confident about getting the remaining ones on his next trip.

He decided to start his journey back to the fortress when the sun was about to set, as he didn't want to remain in the forest during the night, at least not without making the necessary preparations before.

It was already dark when he arrived at the fortress gate, and he couldn't help but compare it with Rantia, which he could see in the distance. While the city wasn't much more than a few lights in the distance, the fortress was like a beacon at night.

Because of the fires and lights that hung on the fortress, anything fifty meters from the walls would be evident to anyone on them, which made the guards' job much easier than it should be.

Because of this, when Xan arrived, he was stopped by a voice.

"Who comes? Identify yourself!" exclaimed the voices.

"It is me, Xan. I've been in the forest during the afternoon and haven't managed to return before the sunset," he said while raising his family badge.

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"Don't get used to returning so late. Next time I will leave you out." the voice warned Xan as the gate began to open.

The gate opened just enough for him to get through the gap, closing as soon as he passed it. Without losing time, he walked through the fortress to his room at a quick pace.

As soon as he got there, he took the mushrooms out of his bag and stored them in mud jars before preparing his dinner.

Something that surprised Xan during the trip was his new stamina. Thanks to his dantian constantly fueling his body with energy, he could walk for hours without feeling slightly tired.

After advancing this very little, Xan already felt the benefits of cultivation, which made him even more excited to continue training. He went to his bedroom as soon as he ate his dinner and sat cross-legged on the ground before start cultivating.

He focused on his mind and dantian again as they were Rad's instructions.

The room stood still for the next hour, with only the energy flowing through it. Each wave of energy strengthened Xan's mind, which made it even easier for him to control the power he was manipulating.

After cleaning his dantian, the amount of time Xan could cultivate before his efficiency went down increased, which allowed him to cultivate more time before needing to rest.

A few hours later, Xan realized his mind was developing at a different pace than before, even if the amount of energy was the same.

'Rad explained something about bottlenecks when nearing the next stage, right?' Xan tried to remember Rad's words.

Unable to remember, Xan took Rad's notebook and flipped through its pages until he confirmed his thoughts. Knowing that he was nearing the second stage of his sea of consciousness was great news, but it also meant that he would need to work extra hard to break through that bottleneck.

But then, he had an idea.

He stood up, walked to his bedside table, and took out a pouch filled with energy coins.

'I can use them efficiently now that I have a dantian, so using them for this kind of circumstance looks like the correct choice.' Xan thought as he took a coin out of the pouch.

He sat cross-legged again and put the coin in front of his abdomen.

As he started cultivating once again, he could influence some of the energy inside the coin, so he guided it to his dantian, releasing it from its material body.

Thanks to this, the amount of energy he used to cultivate was more than double the amount he usually used, making it challenging for him to control it completely.

Even so, when he realized how much he could advance with the coins, he continued without doubting his actions.