Hey guys, here is your chapter for today. I will release another chapter over the weekend. Maybe two. But don't get your hopes up. I have some work to do. Anyway enjoy this chapter.

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6 months later

A figure rushed through the treetops, chasing after a beast that was fleeing on the ground beneath him. The person drew his dark dagger and sword and rushed forward. Once he judged that he was near enough, he jumped towards the beast, his speed increasing by a large amount. He closed the gap between him and the beast and in one slash managed to leave a deep and serious injury on the beast’s body. There was a gash from the beast’s torso all the way to it’s hind legs. The beast’s speed slowed down by a large amount due to the injury and was no longer able to escape the figure. As both the figure and the beast came to a stop, their details could be seen.

The beast was a large boar, covered in red stripes. It’s tusks were about 2 feet long and they were covered in a green substance. The boar had thick scales on it’s shoulder and neck region. There was also a horn sprouting from its forehead. Determining that it could no longer run away, the boar decided to go all out. It snorted causing embers to come out of its breath. This was the Novice Rank magical beast, Flaming Boar. It’s strength was usually in the 1-3 tiers of the Novice Rank. However it was able to fight on par with those humans who were 1-2 tiers higher than itself. However, the figure on the other side stood there calmly, not showing any fear.

The figure was human, with deep golden hair with azure streaks. His eyes were a piercing dark violet color and he was holding a dagger in his right hand. He looked to be about 7 years of age. However, the Flaming Boar did not look down on him because of his age. After all, this child had already injured it heavily. The boar took a step forward and charged at the child. The child sidestepped at the last second and stabbed the Flaming Boar in the ear. The dagger pierced through its ear canal and into its brain. Instantly killed, the Flaming Boar did not have any time to make any noise. Rather the Boar’s eyes glazed over and it collapsed within seconds.

If anyone had seen this scene they would have been extremely shocked. After all, not only did the child possess astonishing strength, but he also possessed a shocking amount of battle sense. For a child of that age to be able to accurately and quickly locate the weak spot of the beast and slay it in such a manner is absolutely monstrous. The child walked over to the corpse of the Flaming Boar and began to skin it and collect it’s meat. After he skinned it, he also took its horn, scales, meat, and tusks. He put all of this in a large bag and as he was doing so a small bird slightly bigger than the size of a fist flew over and landed on the child’s shoulder.

The child was Ryu and the bird was the chick that he had saved from the Rabid Dogs. Ryu smiled as he saw the bird and smiled, "Spark, come here."

The bird obediently flew over and landed on his shoulder. The bird had grown and its plumage had gone through change as well. It now had feathers instead of down that he had when he was still a chick. Spark stood straight and tall on Ryu’s shoulder. However Ryu noticed that Spark was eyeing the Flaming Boar’s corpse.

Ryu  asked, "Spark? What are you looking at it’s corpse for? I already took all the meat."

Spark looked at the corpse one last time then he turned his attention to the bag that Ryu was holding.

Ryu moved the bag away from Spark, "Hey! Keep your talons off mister. When we get back to base then you can eat and not any sooner."

Spark grew downhearted as he heard this. Then Spark turned to Ryu and stared at him with big teary eyes that made it look like he was going to cry. Seeing this Ryu sighed, reached into his bag, and tossed a strip of meat at Spark. Spark’s eyes light up and he snatched the meat out of the air and swallowed it whole. Then he turned towards Ryu and began to give him the same look again.

Ryu shouted, "No WAY!! I already gave you a piece. Wait till we get back to base."

Saying this Ryu jumped up a tree and started running on the branches. He had learned that this was the safest method of travel because most of the magical beasts here were not avian types, rather they were beast type like wolves or boars.(think of beast type as mammals) Ryu headed North East until he came upon a grove of trees on a mountain. The trees in this grove were all taller and bigger than average. However they were not too big as to attract attention from the other beasts and races that lived here. They were just wider and broader than most trees in this area. This area had relatively peaceful beasts, they would not attack you if you did not provoke them.

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Ryu walked over to a tree and placed his hand against the ground. Pulling up, he revealed door covered by moss and leaves. There was rocks and boulders blocking the entrance. Ryu reached into several crevices and pulled out several arm sized rocks. Almost immediately after, all the other boulders and rock loosened becoming easier to take out. After taking out all the boulders, Ryu walked in and set up the barricade once again. Inside the tree was a giant hollow that was almost twice as big as the hollow he had gone into the first time when saving Spark. The hollow had luminous moss inside, that were significantly brighter than torches or candles. Ryu had discovered these not far from the tree. The moss was parasitic so he did not even have to feed them. All he had to do was attach them to the wall and they would take care of themselves and produce light for him. He turned his attention away from the luminous moss and continued inside.

Once he got inside he went to a corner of the hollow and bent over. There was a small hatch and Ryu opened it. Inside there was a deep hollow about 8 feet deep. Inside there was some traces of meat and food. However, presently it was empty, although i would not remain empty for much longer. Ryu opened his bag and dumped the Flaming Boar meat into the hollow. Ryu had discovered this small hollow, but it had only been about 2 feet deep at the time. He noticed that it would be significantly cooler inside than outside. Though he did not know the reason for this, he put the meat inside so that it would not spoil quickly. This was something he had learned from the cook back at his house.

After storing the meat and feeding Spark some of the meat, Ryu went to another part of the hollow. He sat down and began cultivating. In these past 6 months, Ryu had already finished the previous stage of cultivation. His body had gotten used to the mana core and had stopped absorbing mana. After he had reached this stage he took out the cultivation manual and stared at it. After a few minutes some more text appeared.

Congratulations! If you are reading this that means you have increased your mana core to the max 5 inch diameter and your body has gotten used to the mana core. This means that you are now ready to establish your Dantian. HAHAHAHA NOPE. YOU ARE NOT READY. What did you expect? Anyway there is 2 more stages for you to complete before establishing your dantian. Right now, your power should be at the Early Tiers of the Novice Rank. Good Job! However, after you finish the next 2 stages your power will be at the peak of the 10th Tier of the Novice Rank. That is when you are able to establish your Dantian.

Anyway here what you have to do next. Currently your mana in your mana core is in a gaseous form. So you have to compress your mana core to convert your mana into a liquid form. After that you have to once again slowly increase your mana core’s diameter to 5 inches. Good luck little one.

The last line had made Ryu feel like someone is watching him and giving him instructions on how to cultivate. He had reached this stage 5 months ago. He had finished compressing his gaseous mana to liquid form 4 months ago. And just 1 month ago, he had finally increased his core’s diameter to 5 inches once again. Upon reaching this stage new text once again began to appear on the cultivation manual.

Wow, that was fast. I had originally thought that you would take another month or so. Good job. Anyway your next step is to once again compress you liquid form mana to solid form mana. Your core currently has liquid mana. You need to compress it so that your core is solid mana. Anyway this should take you significantly longer. At the very least, it would take you twice as long. As usual Good luck little one.

This time the text started off with an attitude! Ryu was almost certain that something was monitoring him. However he did not know what it was, but he suspected that it was the same thing that brought him here. Anyway, for the last month Ryu had been busy compressing his core and so far it was still liquid form. the liquid mana in his core had become incredibly dense but not solid form yet. He had already compressed his mana core with a diameter of 5 inches to a diameter of 3 inches. Ryu sat down and began cultivating once again.

After a few hours, Ryu stood up, his body covered in sweat. He had to concentrate and focus on compressing his core. This took considerable effort on his part and caused him great mental strain. After cleaning up he ate dinner together with Spark and went to sleep. As he sank into sleep, his last thoughts were about his family back home. And then everything went dark.