After another night disturbed by not-so-pleasant dreams, Veles sat next to the small flickering flame and enjoyed thin slices of roasted meat.

“I must say, this is delicious,” commented Davis. He was nearby, enjoying the breakfast Veles had prepared for them.

Veles was amazed that Davis hadn’t said a word about last night’s event surrounding that large explosion. Tough, it appeared that Davis made a serious decision last night, which made him less stiff and more accepting of his current situation.

“Of course, it is. That’s a piece of Woodstained Bison that reached the Fifth Stage,” replied Veles while swinging the empty skewer he held in his hand.

This particular type of Bison was a true delicacy. After years of living in the forest, they had consumed just a special kind of plant, making their meat already spiced up.

“Really? I’ve heard of this beast,” added Davis after finishing his last piece. “I’ve been wondering, tough. How did you get all this stuff while stuck inside that place? Was it the others who bought it for you?”

“Hmm, yes and no,” replied Veles. Understanding what Davis meant by ‘others’. “Even after all the time I spent there, no more than sixty humans have reached me. With most of them acting utterly ridiculous where I had to ‘politely’ kick them out.”

After grabbing another skewer that was burning over the fire, Veles continued. “So no, what I gained from humans was mostly knowledge, and most of the time, I had to take it forcefully… As for all the food and materials I have, they are the offerings from the forest’s inhabitants.”

“Forest inhabitants?” Davis intriguingly asked. He picked how Veles addressed those living in the forest not as just beasts but as inhabitants…

“You should know that when beasts advance stages, they gain intelligence that could rival humans. Above the Seventh Stage, you can barely call them beasts anymore. They all develop intelligence where they trade with each other or even engage in long discussions about their prospective magical fields.”

Seeing Davis’s jaw drop, he grew confused. “Which part here is so shocking to you?” Veles genuinely asked, not knowing what was weird about his statement.

“All of it,” Davis instantly replied. “The beasts able to talk and even reach beyond Seventh Stage? I’ve never heard about this.”

“Wait a second,” Veles first decided to ask something important. “You say that even after all this time, you idiots still cannot figure out how this forest works?”

But Davis just stared at him…

“Are you for real? Tell me, what’s the maximum stage the person has reached?” This was just getting strange, and Veles had to ask.

“Still maximum known is Seventh Stage. I mean, there was Kristos, who was rumored to have reached the Eight Stage…”

“Well, that’s right, he did, but it caused him to end up in a jar like a pickle,” Veles shook his head. “That’s not the problem here. What bothers me is that even after three thousand years after Kristos, you people are still stuck in Seventh Stage.”

Davis decided not to comment on this, perhaps not having anything smart to say.

But for Veles, this was a serious matter. The word ‘Stages’ was just short of the Evolutionary Stages. And for a whole civilization—no matter how small—to suddenly stop advancing made no sense. An example of this was the beasts inside the forest. Veles was there when the first Fifth Stage beast appeared and witnessed all the way until the appearance of the Tenth Stage—the so-called Overlords of the forest.

Obviously, how beasts and humans advanced was entirely different. While the beasts’ only requirement was to eat and sleep. Humans had it much harder…

Dedication, knowledge, resources, and luck. These four were always the most important points for them to advance successfully. Of course, not all four were necessary, but without at least one of them, it would be hard to achieve anything.

So, the Veles’s confusion on the matter. It hardly made sense for those in Osvalen not to know about stronger beasts inside the forest. Even if they cannot hope to face them, having some information about them shouldn’t be out of the scope of possibility.

This just proved Veles’s previous thoughts that those in Osvalen were suppressed by some mysterious means… but he couldn’t afford to care about that right now.

Deciding it was time to start their magical journey, Veles stood up and coughed lightly to gain the attention of the two. “Since the atmospheric mana is mostly clear now. It is time for you to start utilizing it.”

Relief was clearly visible on Davis’s face, but Olivia didn’t show much of a reaction. Yet both stayed calm, waiting for him to continue.

“Slowly let the mana enter your bodies, do not stop until your reserves are full.” He then added seriously. “Make sure not to inspect your bodies using it. I will tell you when you can do it. Understand?”

“Yes,” Olivia replied while Davis just nodded in confirmation. After glaring at each other for a second, they both took distance from each other and sat cross-legged. Then they closed their eyes and completely relaxed.

Unexpectedly, they entered a state of absolute calmness after a few seconds, their breathing stabilized, and mana gently flowed with every inhale they took, easily spreading through their whole body, nourishing them, and subduing any possible internal injuries they had sustained.

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This delicate process was hard to achieve. Absorbing Mana like this took utmost concentration and sometimes hours of preparing just to enter this state, but Veles clearing their bodies out of the impurities helped tremendously.

The only problem was that the perception of time could be lost during this state, and the person performing it would be extremely vulnerable. But Veles was confident nothing would bother them right now.

Still, he scanned at them and sighed. It looked like he had a lot of stuff to teach them, but time was limited.

Walking further away—not wanting to disturb them. Veles found a small clearing, a perfect place for him to start. And instead of sitting cross-legged in a meditative position, he just stood there and took a deep breath.

It was time to try this mana for real. Truth be told, he doesn’t know what to expect. Not like this was the first time he’d started from scratch. But despite preparing himself and already having some experience with this world’s mana, he was thrilled to experience something new.

And what made him even more interested was his talents, or more accurately, the change they went through. After all, to get rid of his curse, he didn’t literally remove it. It would be better to say he upgraded it, making sure it wasn’t out of control anymore. This made him fundamentally different, whereas his other non-negative talents most likely experienced some kind of change.

Inhaling deeply, mana rushed toward him, not just by breathing, but it entered Veles’s body through pores on his skin—making absorption a dozen times faster.

A minute later, Veles started walking, not bothered to concentrate, with the rate of absorption still staying the same.

“As expected, the First Stage is a joke. Now onto the next one…” Yes, that was it. The First Stage was also called the Mana Sensing Stage. To become a practitioner, you need to have the ability to sense atmospheric Mana and succeed in forcing it to enter your body. It might sound simple, but sixty percent of people living on Osvalen couldn’t even feel the mana, making them ‘normals’, as the rest tend to call them.

Veles focused on his storage ring, and twelve bright blue crystals appeared next to him, each shining brightly and excluding amounts of mana almost visible to the eye. They were crystalized mana, not the crystals that used to color the cavern walls outside his prison, but the ones he painstakingly earned by coaxing Chomper Moles to gather for him. He could remember like it was yesterday all the outrageous favors those little shits demanded of him…

And still, He didn’t have much, barely fifty or so, and their use wasn’t just for advancing stages. They have many more practical uses. Like in artifact creation and ward placing—something of great importance for his future plans.

Not caring about their positioning, Veles stood next to the small pile of crystals and brought all his attention to them. Enormous quantities of mana extracted from crystals bypassed his skin, freely scouring his body. It gathered in five specific places, slowly forming small vital bodies that were supposed to serve as his foundation in the path of magic—the new organs called: Mana Core.

The first one to fully form was the one positioned in his lower abdomen. A transparent glass-like ball. Known as an Essential Mana Core.

Now came the part that would shock anyone.

The second Mana Core formed in Veles’s solar plexus. Instead of being transparent, it was colored pitch black and not the usual one at that. This color had a strange feeling to it, not the sinister one would expect, but something more natural. It felt unblemished, pure, and untouched by light.

The third appeared at the back of his head, right between his brain and spinal cord, right below the cerebellum. It was a strange combination of silver and purple mass clashing inside the bead that served as their podium. The two colors looked like two siblings brawling but never really inflicting any pain on one another—a fascinating sight.

The next one showed itself in the middle of his brain, a really dangerous place. Small crystal ball, but this time slightly different. It was filled with hazy bluish fog. And this ball had a big difference from the others because it looked like it was trying to contain this fog from leaving at all costs, which in truth, it was…

The final one stood proudly in the middle of Veles’s heart. A tiny sapphirine seed enclosed inside a transparent bead, nothing more.

Veles opened his eyes, and for a brief moment, blueish flames flickered out of the circle surrounding his irises.

“Ahh, this feels good.” Standing up, he stretched, still greedily absorbing atmospheric mana, making the process almost visible to the naked eye.

He looked around and noticed that the crystals had dimmed, being almost nothing more than pieces of gray see-through rock, no more bluish energy swirling inside them. But who cares? They’ve served their purpose and made him achieve a Second Stage.

“Let’s check the details,” Veles said. Using mana to sense his body further, he smiled in satisfaction. Five cores? Just as he expected, nothing more, nothing less. Although he knew just the one in his abdomen stayed permanently and carried the responsibility of storing mana, others would help him find the right path and point him instinctively as to how to improve his gifts. Something that he needed right now… because his speculation was on point.

His gifts changed a lot.

It was honestly easier to point out what hadn’t changed… the one in his mind— his Mind’s Constitution. And no wonder why. It was the one he leaned most on. And was probably the strongest one besides the constitution that carried his curse…

Veles took a tiny bit of mana from the abdominal core and touched the mind’s core. Instantly his senses peaked, a meter around him everything became crystal clear. But more importantly. He focused on the empty crystal near his feet and gently started levitating it, but just as he was about to take the second one, his focus broke, forcing him to stop.

“Looks like I need to practice,” Veles pleasantly smiled. “This will be fun…”

Deciding to check the ones that experienced change. Veles went for the silver and purple core. He knows what both colors represent, but just the silver was what he had before. Like previously, he sent mana, but just as it touched the core, the purple color entirely ignored his approach while silver…

“Greedy…” commented Veles as his body faintly glowed silver. Then he performed the move he was very familiar with.

He vanished from where he stood, appearing ten meters ahead.

“Half mana for a small dash?” he mumbled. But after thinking for some time, he figured out he was lucky to even be able to be able to execute this move. “I wonder how long it will take me until I can perform real Teleportation or a Warp? Or even create Warp gates…”

Not wasting any more time. Veles moved onto the one in his solar plexus, the pitch-black one. And when the mana touched it, he instantly grew surprised. His skin suddenly started releasing a crazy amount of blackish fog that was so potent it made his body barely visible.

Then he noticed a rush of instincts telling him how to handle this gift. But the moment he felt it, he stopped channeling. “Obviously, nothing is simple. That crazy woman must haunt me even now…”

Not wanting to linger on this one for long, Veles moved to the last—the remnant of his curse, representative of his Soul Constitution, which stood directly inside his heart. And as he expected, the moment mana came into contact with the tiny seed, nothing happened… It just consumed it, providing nothing in return.

“Like back in the day, huh? Just being there, refusing to listen,” Veles said bitterly. Hoping he was right that his curse was no more.

“Well, whatever,” he stretched. “I guess I should practice with my ‘pupils.’”

An hour had already passed. Davis and Olivia should’ve finished with their mana refill. It was the time to test how rusty he’d grown. Hopefully, those two would be good partners for a small ‘spar.’