Every morning Gust woke up and wondered how he should spend his time.

Cultivating, training, studying, forging mana gems, sparring with Locke, practicing Shintotsudo… These were all viable ways to improve himself, but he couldn’t decide which way was best.

Creating his own mana gems was interesting, but quickly disregarded. If Theo required an hour to create one, Gust was sure he would need even longer. Since he could earn them by completing Ephraim’s missions, forging his own seemed a waste of time.

Studying path manuals was a similarly unappetizing option. The information would prove invaluable when the tournament began, but the books were too dry and boring. Reading them required the right mood.

And so, all his free time was either spent cultivating, sparring, or training on his own. His most important, immediate goal was to open more meridians, but to do that he would need to fill his soul space and mana pathways to the point of bursting.

That morning he took out the mana potion he’d received from Ephraim and took a sip. There was a slightly metallic taste which disappeared quickly as the liquid dissolved and entered his body. He saw it as a blue cloud flowing toward his pathways as he willed it. Even that one sip was far more mana than normal cultivation would provide over the course of several minutes. Much of it leaked away as Gust tried to force it into his pathways.

At first, he sat cross-legged in a basic cultivation position and quickly started cycling this new deluge of mana. But even the trickle of mana entering his body through cultivation was too much. As the mana entered through his pores, it overloaded him and more leaked away than was absorbed.

Suddenly, Gust stopped and frowned as most of this new mana disappeared. Only minutes had passed, but he had already absorbed as much of the mana as he could, which he estimated had to be less than a quarter of what he had consumed.

Unsatisfied, Gust walked outside. There was still some time before the morning bell. He avoided the ideal cultivation spot Locke showed him, which he could now see clearly with his own mana sense, and found the opposite location: one with as little mana as possible.

It occurred to him that his previous attempt was akin to wasting more than three quarters of the mana potion. If he wanted to make the most of this resource, he needed to strengthen his pathways’ ability to hold and cycle mana.

He began practicing Shintotsudo and cycling as quickly as he could. A few minutes passed as he struggled to remember every position. With everything else going on in his life, he hadn’t used this technique even once since Alice showed it to him.

At least when he was alone, there was no one to laugh when Gust’s arm’s froze up from the internal pressure and he lost balance trying to change positions. Every time he fell, he stood back up and kept going, pushing himself harder and harder. He cycled his mana so furiously through the kinks in his pathways that pain filled his arms. It was a similar feeling to sword mana’s slicing effect, but instead his meridians felt like overfilled balloons.

They glowed a bright blue as more and more mana fled his soul to fill the pathways nearly to bursting. Gust held himself at this point of pain, worried that going any further would cause real damage, and moved from one position to another as smoothly as he could manage.

The various positions of Shintotsudo targeted every pathway in the body, so some of them naturally put less focus on the arms and allowed Gust a small moment of rest.

Still, by the time the morning bell rang, the Demon was covered in sweat. He already felt as exhausted as any full day’s work. After a quick rinse, Gust glanced longingly at his mana potion before putting it away. He decided to strengthen his pathways until they could contain the torrent of mana the potion provided. Only then could he drink the potion without feeling like he was wasting it.

By the time the school tournament began, he hoped to reach the peak of Pathway Establishment’s first level. Then, he hoped to use the extra resources to open his second meridian.

When Locke noticed how quickly Gust was working that morning, he asked if the Demon was planning on spending another afternoon in the forest. He glanced toward the clear sky and added, “At least this time you won’t get stuck out in the rain. Did you find more goldenseal than you were able to collect?”

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Gust answered carefully. “I am going out again, but no. I’m just gonna return to the same place and search again.”

“Want some company? I wouldn’t mind spending an afternoon with a two-legged friend for once.”

The Demon grinned at that, but shook his head. “Sorry, man, I think its best if I go alone another time or two. I still barely know what I’m looking for, and I’d hate to waste your time,” he offered as an excuse.

Locke shrugged. “If there are two of us, though, we’ll be able to find the goldenseal twice as fast. Plus, you won’t have to worry about beasts as much! We could fan out our mana senses without fear!”

As bad as he felt declining his friend’s offer, Gust couldn’t let Locke in on his plan. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Locke, he just worried about the consequences of getting caught. Gust didn’t know the punishment for leaking one of the school’s path manuals to an outsider, but he didn’t want Locke to get caught up in it.

So, he shook his head again. “Nah, I think this one will be more of an exploring expedition anyway. I might even head to the town to the south, just to check it out.”

Locke pursed his lips and scoffed. Then he returned to mopping the courtyard, mumbling to himself, “The guy spends one night outside and now he thinks he’s invincible? No, no, he just doesn’t know any better.”

Gust glanced around and asked, “Who are you talking to?”

“No one you’d be interested in, apparently,” Locke bit back. “Go fetch the Master’s goldenseal and keep all those sweet merits for yourself,” he sneered. The blond mage kept speaking in a lower voice and Gust noticed a pair of antennae sticking out of Locke’s collar.

While he wasn’t happy about annoying one of his only friends, Gust didn’t see a way around it. He would let Locke join him soon, but it would need to be after he got the cultivation manual back.

Before leaving Myles and Philo, Gust asked them to show him their position on the map he brought. While he could easily remember that location, it was still difficult to find. There were some mountains on the map that would help him navigate, but he was still taking shots in the dark.

To make it a little easier, he took a trip to the treasury. It was a trip he needed to make anyway, to collect the writing materials for Myles and Philo.

The building was near the center of the school. It was tall and constructed of dark logs stacked atop one another. Though it was too large to call a ‘cabin,’ the treasury still resembled the rest of the school’s style. A few green or purple flags were perched on the gabled roof, and there was a large ‘Treasury’ sign hanging above the door.

Whereas the library had Mistress Dyonelle, the treasury was watched over by Masters serving shifts. Gust walked in and felt the presence of the Master’s mana sense. He bowed to the man sitting in the center of the first floor, cultivating, but the man seemed to ignore him.

The treasury had several sections, the most basic of which were on the first floor. Simple materials, such as those he needed, were easy to find, but compasses were on the second floor. There, he found several options.

The enchanted compasses offered for sale allowed their user to mark their current location. Then they could activate the compass to point them back to that location, instead of north. The more expensive compasses held the ability to mark multiple points, but Gust could only afford the most basic. He picked up a single location compass and glanced toward the stairs leading to the third floor.

It was there that the real treasures began. The first and second floors were open to all, but that was because they held mundane materials and tools, and only the most basic artifacts. There were some swords and an assortment of other weapons, but even the most basic enhancements cost far more than the 700 merits he currently owned.

Only one such item caught his eye. It was more the mana emanating from it, than the sword itself, however. All magical items emitted mana, but very few of them released anything but pure mana. Gust approached a short wooden sword of dark polished wood which glowed a slight silver color in his mana sense. It was very faint, nothing compared to the vast orb of sword mana surrounding the Subtle Blade, but it drew Gust in nonetheless.

A sword of this caliber would carry similar slicing capabilities as his best Mana Sword, perhaps better. Gust wished he could just rent the item for a few hours to test it against his spell, but that wasn’t an option. He was sure the combination of a sword this potent, and the silver mana in his soul, would make him powerful enough to defeat anyone even a level above him, but this sword cost a whopping 10000 merits.

That was two hundred ounces of goldenseal. Even if Philo let him take everything they had, Gust doubted it would be enough. With a sigh, he headed downstairs.

The cultivating Master wore the dark purple robes of a Pestilence cultivator, with some golden linework running along the seams. He didn’t open his eyes as Gust approached, but he did speak. “Two hundred for the compass, fifteen for the rest,” was all he said.

Gust bowed his head and agreed awkwardly. He felt strange ‘paying’ in this way, but merits weren’t a physical thing. The Masters held gems which contained each student’s balance, which they amended as necessary. While the Demon walked away, the Master slipped a hand into his pocket and deducted 215 merits.

Gust slipped the writing materials into his bag. He held the compass in his palm and a grin on his face. Now that he could find where he was going, this next trip would be a breeze.