Shio vaguely recalled how he got here. Although Shio had been in that place within his mind before he had always assumed it was simply his imagination, a way that helped to process his thoughts. He never imagined it could be a real place within his mind.

Shio instinctively entered into a meditative and entered that place within his mind, walking into its depths. As before, he found that white light shaped door. This brought me here, it should bring me back. Shio thought before walking into the light.

Suddenly, Shio found himself back in his room. That easy, huh?

Shio began to contemplate this recent event, but couldn’t say anything for sure. Although Shio has heard of teleportation before, that sort of thing usually required some sort of energy to support it, but Shio didn’t cultivate in anything. How could he have that sort of energy in his body? Is it an illusion? Shio wondered. As he grew curious, he decided to test it.

Shio went to the drawers where his clothes were and pulled out a hunting knife. He then went into his mind and re-entered the white light, once again finding himself in that strange room.

Shio looked in his hand and saw that the knife was still there. He furrowed his brows as he got off the bed and stood up. Then Shio suddenly slashed across his left hand with the knife, cringing and silently enduring the pain.

To Shio’s surprise the wound only bled for a couple seconds before his blood started clotting, until, eventually the skin started to knit back together, leaving behind a thin white scar. Although Shio was slightly surprised, he was even more annoyed. Now I have to do it again! Shio thought in anger. Although Shio’s curiosity was strong enough to cause him to cut his own hand, that didn’t mean he liked doing it.

Shio once again cut his hand, but before it healed, he had already threw the knife on the ground and left through the white light.

Back in Shio’s room he saw that his hand was still bleeding. So it is a real place, Shio thought, amazed.

With a thought, Shio went back and as soon as he entered he saw his hand heal once again. He got out of the bed and looked at the ground and saw the knife he left here was still there. There wasn’t any more doubt in Shio’s mind, this place was real. He could even use it as a place to store objects.

This next step is going to be tough, Shio thought, as he planned to test out a feeling. Although Shio didn’t want to do it as he would miss his family and friends, his curious little mind couldn’t help himself. He planned to spend a couple years in this place to see if he would age. His foolish thought was, Since time stops when I go to that place, doesn’t that mean I won’t age if I stayed there? This was a simple thought, yet he was determined to spend five years of his life to satisfy his curiosity.

Shio still hesitated though. Maybe I should do a time test first, Shio thought trying to delay the matter. Although when he was first here and left, time seemed to be the same, but those clouds were there, making it difficult to tell.

Shio went back to his house, grabbed a pencil and paper and went to the kitchen to see his father. He was still cooking breakfast. Rice, eggs, and sausages, Shio observed.

“Hey, dad, what level of mage are you again?” Shio asked, and as his father turned around to speak, Shio had already left that place

In that a strange place, Shio simply planned to kill some time, so he thought he should do some past-due exploring. But first Shio took out the pencil and paper and wrote down the things his dad were cooking, and the question he asked before he left.

Shio walked out the door and once again found himself in the library. This time he ignored the books and walked along the wall as he didn’t want to get lost within the massive library.

Sometime later, after walking for quite a while, Shio looked down an aisle and saw there was a spiral staircase there leading to the next floor. He ignored it for the time being, as he had confidence that he could find it again.

After finding the corner Shio kept walking. He has yet to find any doors leading anywhere else, and it went on in this way till eventually he circled back to the king’s room. Not only did he not find any other door, there weren’t even any windows. Shio became frustrated earlier, about halfway through and tried to break through a wall but ended up breaking his fist, which, fortunately, healed soon after.

What’s wrong with this place? Shio thought before once again looking for the staircase, which he followed up, only to find more books. Frustrated, Shio could only keep moving up the staircase where there was still more books. Even after reaching the tenth floor, Shio only saw books, so he gave up helplessly.

Might as well read with all these books. There’s all this knowledge here, but where to start? Shio thought. Suddenly space warped and Shio found himself in an aisle of books, his eyes becoming drawn to the particular book above him: A Guide to Cultivation.

Shio pulled it out, sat on the ground and began to read, entering that Zen-like state.

Hours passed until Shio finished the book, growing more knowledgeable in the process. Time to go back, Shio thought, willing his mind out of the library.

“A 44 Star Earth Elementalist. Why?” Rio asked suspiciously.

“Oh, no reason.” Shio replied, glancing at what his dad was cooking. With Shio’s theory satisfied, a touch of melancholy appeared on his face. “Bye, dad.” He said quietly. Without saying more, Shio turned back in the direction of his room.

Before leaving again, Shio grabbed a clock and some paper to mark the days.

Shio sighed, then left once again. At the moment he was 10 years-old, and after coming back, Shio would be older than his actual age. And if everything worked as he suspected, he would still look 10.

A white light enveloped Shio’s vision and he once again found himself in that room. What can I do now? Shio asked himself before smiling wryly. Read…

Everyday Shio would read, without sleeping or eating for days, never once feeling unsatiated. He learned as much as he could from the library, about the world, about magic, and about general cultivation of the body. Every once in a while he would get bored of the routine and would sleep in the king’s room to calm his busy mind.

After a while, Shio started to occasionally practice martial arts that he learned in that room, and once, after waking up, he found that there was another door in that room. After walking inside he realized that it was a wide closed-in area with many martial arts equipment, such as various weapons to practice with, punching bags, and wooden manikins that seemed indestructible. There were also various weights for body training, and all sorts of other equipment. Shio grew very excited after discovering this room, as he could now freely practice different martial arts.

After a period of time, Shio had read various books on cultivating Body Essence which made him question the place he was in and what kind of energy could be cultivated here. When he tried to sense the energy in this place, he discovered it was an extremely pure form of energy. It made Shio suspect that those different types of energy, in their most basic and pure form would be like the energy in this place. Unfortunately, when Shio tried to absorb this energy into his body, he discovered that he couldn’t affect the energy at all, as if it refused to be used by him. Shio could only sigh helplessly.

Fortunately, cultivating mindforce, which is also a pure and basic type of mental energy that mages would use, was possible here, as you could practice it anywhere, as long as there is something to exert your will on. Mindforce cultivation was like Body Essence cultivation, where one strengthened the mind and the other strengthened the body. But unlike mindforce cultivation, where all magical arts practitioners only cultivate one type of energy, Body Essence Arts, depending on which Art you choose to practice, can be one of many types of energy.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Shio would spend several hours a day cultivating mindforce. At first Shio could do nothing with his will and for weeks he sat there, doing nothing, until the day he was able to turn the page of book. This development, naturally made him very excited.

Eventually, Shio cultivated his mindforce to its current maximum capacity, completing the first step, Desire, which anyone can basically accomplish with enough time. To reach the next step he had to convince his very being that he needed it. As such, that step was called Need. This usually required several life and death encounters, until there was no choice but to continue growing.

After this, Shio started practicing several magical arts to see which he had an affinity with. There were many ways to test for affinity to a magical art, where personality matching was simply one of them, but since Shio had the time he would just test out the ones he had an interest in. It wouldn’t really affect him much.

Every once in a while Shio would look into the mirror in the king’s room only to see that he didn’t seem to be growing.

In this way 5 lonely years of learning, slowly passed. Fortunately, Shio’s loneliness did not affect his eagerness to learn as he spent all his time either reading or strengthening himself. By the time five years passed, all Shio could feel was excitement, because there were things he could do at home that he could not do here, which meant that there was more opportunity to learn. Although this place had knowledge, the real world had resources.

Time to go back, Shio thought in an eager manner. Shio slowly entered a meditative state and found himself within his mind. This place was different from the way it was before. There was a sparse energy here, giving Shio a sense of security, for this energy was his to command.

Eventually Shio found that door of light and entered.

Back in his room, Shio had a smile on his face, and heaved a sigh of relief before going to the kitchen. His father had just finished cooking.

“Need something else?” Rio asked as he saw his son, a little worried. His son was acting strange today. “Or are you hungry?”

Shio smiled. Seems as if nothing is out of place. Like it never happened. “Just hungry.” Shio replied as he grabbed a plate and some utensils, then sat down as his father put some food on his plate.

“Thank you.” Shio responded. He was quite excited, he hadn’t eaten in five whole years! “Hmmmm… So good!”

Rio chuckled. “What? I give you this at least once a week. Is your stomach empty from all that playing you did last night?”

A touch of red found itself on Shio’s face as he remembered what he did that night. “Dad, please don’t tell anyone about that.”

Rio laughed out loud. “What, kid, are you embarrassed? That’s what kids do you know.”

Shio just smiled, ignoring it. Although Shio still looked 10, he still felt older than he looked, and all that time spent in seclusion has tempered his mind to be more patient allowing him to endure. It also evened out his emotions, so it wasn’t as wild as your usual 10 year old child.

“Dad, do you know of any places where I can find some herbs around here?” Shio suddenly asked.

“Kid, your interests change every day. Yesterday you wanted to learn magic and now you want to learn about herbs. With that kind of attitude you won’t get anywhere.” His father reproved in a disappointed manner.

“Dad, trust me. I’ll surely make you proud.” Shio said with a grin.

Rio observed his child’s smiling face for a while, before finally answering. “Go find your Aunty Grenda. She should know of those places.” Rio replied. This kid seems to be up to something.

“Thanks.” Shio said, before continuing to eat.

After eating, Shio left to go find his Aunty Grenda who told him of a meadow in the woods and a valley along the mountains. She only picked out herbs with healing properties so according to her there should be many herbs there. Before he left, his aunty warned him not to wander too far into the forest as there were wild beasts that lived there.

Along the way, Shio saw a familiar figure on the path he was walking on.

“Ronin!” Shio called out and watched as the figure continued to jog in his direction. Ronin was of similar age to Shio, and as his parents were part of the Goodwill church, they would often play together.

“Hey, Shio.” The figure said as he got closer, before finally stopping in front of Shio.

“It’s good that you still exercise. A healthy body means a healthy mind.” Shio said light-heartedly.

“Haha, of course. My dream is to grow strong enough to provide my family with whatever they want. I can’t slack off now!” Ronin said with a smile as he panted slightly. Ronin was a very determined boy, and concerning the welfare of his family, he’ll do anything to make them happy. You could almost compare his pure determination in everything he does with Shio’s pure curiosity.

“Since your jogging, come jog with me to a valley nearby. I’ve got some stuff to do there.” Shio suggested.

“I’m running anyways, might as well run with you.” Ronin shrugged his shoulders as he complied, after which they started running towards the mountains in the distance.

Shio didn’t start any conversation as they ran, as Ronin looked like he was having a difficult time. He probably ran for quite a while before meeting him. This kid usually ran 20 km every day and Shio met him near the end of his route. There’s also about 8 km to the valley. Will this kid last? Knowing his personality, he’d probably take it as an insult if I suggest a break. Shio thought as he continued to run silently.

About 4 km in, Shio could see the struggle on Ronin’s face, but he kept his mouth shut, as Shio saw he didn’t slow his pace at all. Shio even tried to slow down a little to make it a little easier, but Ronin mocked him for it, then went even faster. Shio simply chuckled, admiring Ronin’s determination before continuing on.

“We’re here.” Shio said as he looked around, recognizing various herbs, before looking back to see Ronin holding himself by his knees, panting heavily. Shio simply watched silently, waiting for him to recover. Unfortunately he had no water with him to offer.

After a while Ronin stood up, a smile on his face as he continued to pant. “Thanks, Shio. I haven’t pushed myself this hard in a while. It’s all thanks to you.”

Shio chuckled. “No problem. We’re friends after all.” He replied, making light of the situation.

Ronin laughed out loud. “Hahaha, I’ll make sure to push you just as hard next time.” Ronin retorted with a smile.

“Anytime.” Shio replied before focusing on his purpose here. “I’m going to look around.” Shio said as he walked forward.

After a while, Shio saw several pale-silvery flowers nearby, and he quickly ran over excitedly. These flowers were considered worthless to most people as they were fairly common and most people did not know a use for them, but to Shio they were very important to his future cultivation.

Shio bent down and picked the flower, leaving the stem and leaves, and threw it into a plastic bag he got out of his backpack. Shio handed a bag over to Ronin as well, as he looked decently recovered at the moment. “Help me pick these and I’ll be sure to return the favor.” Shio said to Ronin, whose brows furrowed.

“Moonlight Flowers? Those things are pretty but useless. If you’re trying to court a girl you should at least pick it from the stem.” Ronin replied as he grabbed the bag while he offered some kind advice.

“Don’t worry about that, just pick it the way I just did and it will be fine.” Shio instructed.

“Okay, I hope you know what you’re doing.” Ronin responded before starting to pick the nearby Moonlight Flowers. Shio also quickly went about this task.

25 minutes later they picked about 170 flowers in the surrounding area, which Shio stuffed into his backpack.

“What now?” Ronin asked after picking his share of the flowers.

“Now I’m going to hunt an Iron-ranked beast, want to come?” Shio replied casually, as Ronin’s eyes grew wide.

“What!? Are you crazy? Do you want to die?” Ronin responded, worry in his eyes.