“Young lady! You are positively glowing!” Laird Tokavaig exclaimed, breaking all protocol, as he was led into the room. “Your Grace, Lady Elfie,” he walked across the room to talk quietly to Elfie, “Could you please have these chambers cleared out, and send for master Gareth immediately. Princess Erameya is in trouble. I fear she may die any minute. Cancel all her engagements. I will do what I can for her.”

“You heard him. Everyone out! Duncan, send your fastest runner for Master Gareth.”

Laird Tokavaik walked over to where Erameya sat next to the throne. He studied her as the throne room emptied. “My dear how far are you in the path of cultivation?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t even know about it until yesterday. I felt a strange current running through me, circulated it, and when I felt overwhelmed, I empowered a sword.”

“So, you can direct. The next step is to conserve. You need to use the minimal amount of essence possible. Try to stop pulling in any more essence for now. I know it will be difficult but try to focus on closing the inflow of magic.”

“Like tuning off a tap?”

“Exactly. The pressure might be too high, so closed it as much as you can. Try to hold it closed for now. After Master Gareth gets here, we will leave, and I will help you advance in your cultivation. If you keep pulling in essence you will explode.”

Erameya pictured turning off a difficult faucet with a lot of pressure and was able to turn down the flow of mana into her body. If she kept mental pressure on it would stay closed, but if she relaxed even a little it would spring back open.

“Good. Now, relax. I can feel you fighting the flow. Stopping the inflow doesn’t mean stopping the rivers inside of you. Just let the essence flow through you naturally like a river in the mountains. Did Master Gareth tell you, his story?”

“No.”

“He was a six-year-old boy and had opened his nodes. He was much too young to cultivate, but had the examples of his parents, and trained himself. His father had to step in and teach him. He was kidnapped to force his father to do something or another, but when his father did not do it, the kidnapper crushed the nodes of that small boy. I had a friend, a farmer, who was diametrically against magic. His son had died, but he was away and had no idea he had died. The boy had a diseased heart but his mother begged me to bring him back. My friend had no idea I had magic or that I was a dragon. I summoned a spirit into his body and a baby dragon answered the call. He is fearful but has the spirit of a grand dragon. His father is a god over earth in that reality.”

“Master Tokavaig, are you telling secrets?”

“I am. I needed to relax this child. She was glowing when I walked in. Brighter than she is now. She needs more training in cultivation, and I’d like you to come with us.”

“I will. Where are we going? We need to take her bonds also. I noticed they have followed her example and opened their rivers.”

“Inchkeith.”

“I’ll need to get some things together and send to the kitchens for some supplies.”

“What are your bonds child?

“Ailish is a griffin, and Tintreach is a tulpar colt.”

“Good you can fly on your griffin and Tintreach can ride on my back. Gareth, do you have a mount?”

“I have bonded a hippogriff.”

“Good, go make the preparations you need to. Now child. I need you to push all the essence you can into this money pouch.” Laird Tokavaig said as he handed Erameya a small leather pouch.

Erameya started to meditate and focused on her hand holding the pouch. She forced the essence through her hand and into the pouch.

Attention! Mana level low.

When the notification appeared, she stopped. Feeling as though she had run ten miles, she looked at the pouch and found an identify square around it.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Identify:

Pouch of infinity.

Touch any inanimate object and will it into the pouch. Object will stay in stasis while in the pouch.

Aunt Elfie looked into the room to check on them. Laird Tokavaig summoned her over. “Good now go change from your beautiful gown into traveling clothes. You can pack food, clothing, and extra weapons in your pouch. Lady Elfie, go with her. Bing her to the arena when she is ready to go. I will have the stable master gather her animals.”

When everyone was ready, they met in the large training arena, Tokavaig transformed himself into an enormous white dragon and somehow coxed Tintreach onto his back. After binding him on with magic they flew off.

In less than an hour they landed on the Isle of Inchkeith in the Firth of Forth. Laird Tokavaig stretched his wings and grinned a dragon grin as he landed. “I do love being in my true form.” he said as he transformed back into the young-looking man.

“You are magnificent as a Dragon.”

“You have not seen a truly large, magnificent dragon until you have seen my father.” Master Gareth smiled. “His head is larger than Laird Tokavaig.”

“Your Father is a God. Both because of worship and cultivation. An enlightened dragon, such as myself, cannot hope to be as grand as the true immortal. Now let’s get you cultivating properly before you die. I am shocked at how much essence you are cultivating again after depleting yourself. As, I told you. The next step in cultivation is conservation. Learning to bring in the least amount of essence you can. Try thinking of it as taking a sip.”

Erameya sat in the lotus position and focused on the energy around her. She felt what she believed were the rivers of essence running though the world around her. She continued to keep pressure on her valve, but the mana continued to trickle in. She continued to circulate the essence inside of her but the minimal amount that forced its way in, kept filling her mana pool. Once her mana pool was full, she was able to stop the inflow and just circulated the mana in her body.

“Very good. Now force as much of the essence in your body into your essence pool.”

“She calls it a mana pool.”

“Good name. Force as much mana as you can into your mana pool.”

Erameya forced the mana into her mana pool. As it filled, she pulled back and then tried to fill it again.

“Gareth. How are your rivers?”

“Flowing.”

“Good. Meditate like Erameya and focus on your rivers. Try to over fill them. Tintreach, that filling is your nodes opening keep your rivers flowing. Ailish, try directing your mana into different parts of your body. Erameya, you now need to learn to transform the mana. Picture a small dagger and see if you can make it manifest.”

Erameya pictured a magical dagger hanging in the air in front of her face, she opened her eyes to see the faint outline of it. Startled her concentration broke and the magic back lashed and caused her a lot of pain.

“Sorry , my dear. Open your eyes and try again. Do not just let go of any spell but disperse it. Think of the mana floating back into the ether. Now once you build your mana back up you can try again. I am going to take my true form and go rest in the sun, up there. He pointed to a cliff. I’ll return when one of you needs my help.”

Tokavaig flew off and Erameya started mediating again. Once her mana pool was overfilled again, she opened her eyes and envisioned a dagger. Again, the outline of the dagger hung in front of her. She poured all of the mana in her into the image. It did not seem to matter how much she poured in the dagger never took solid form. She remembered to disperse the mana back into the air.

“He said transform” she said half aloud as she slowly pulled in mana. It took he longer for her mana pool to fill but she could feel how much more refined the mana was when she used it slowly. This time she pictured the dagger in her hand. She felt the mana flow out of her hand and transformed it into metal. Once her mana pool was empty again, she had a solid dagger in her hand. She heard a deep intake of breath and turned to look at Master Gareth. He looked like he was in pain and stuck between fear and joy. “What is the matter, Master Gareth?”

“My dear I go so focused on your efforts to make mana into steel that I forgot my fear and broke open my nodes. I had forgotten how good it felt to have pure mana running through me.”

“Why was I not supposed to make it solid?”

“Try to dispel it.”

Erameya tried but could not change the shape of or dispel her dagger.

Identify:

Magical dagger:

Picture where you want it to hit and throw it.

Erameya followed the directions and pictured a tree about a football field away from her. She threw the dagger as hard as she could and was shocked to see it embedded in the tree. She then pictured the hilt of the dagger back in her hand and it flew back to her.

She turned toward Laird Tokavaig as he started clapping behind her. “Good job Master Gareth, you did the impossible. Overcoming that fear is amazing. How do you feel?”

“Good but still fearful. I forgot how amazing pure essence feels as it flows throughout the body. Look,” he made a shadow of a dagger picked it out of the air and dispelled it. “I’m ready to start crystalizing. I cannot believe it. Thank you.”

“Erameya. I have never seen anyone with the control of mana you have at your level. You should have been able to make an impression of a solid dagger that you could stab with, and it could be easily dispelled; instead, you make a solid steel dagger that is a god level weapon. May I see the sword and pouch you poured mana into?”

Erameya pulled out the magical sword and the pouch of infinity and handed it to him. “Picture the sword in your hand.” She did and the sword flew to her hand. “And the pouch?” She handed the pouch to him. When she pictured it in her hand. It also flew into her hand. “I cannot get any of the three to move. It must be the affinity with their maker. Now for the next step. Crystallization.”