Faust’s entire body was covered in a thin layer of sweat when he opened his eyes and looked into the night. His body was the same, nothing had changed.

He had only discovered what had rested within him, dormant for the last several weeks.

“That… mana… has been there for weeks and I did not know it was there.” He mumbled and Elena nodded.

“It’s a miracle to me you could even gain mana in the first place. The Venerable told us it's only possible with the help of a cultivator!” she leaned against the tree leisurely.

“Did you consider he lied to you?”

She scoffed.

“What do you think?”

“Fair.” He replied and slowly stood up with wobbly legs, one hand on his head.

He rubbed his temples to alleviate the terrible headache that started to assault him.

While he was focused on fending off the pain Elena chuckled.

“You must have overdrawn your mental energy with that long meditation. You were in deep focus for at least half an hour.”

“For how long?!?” Faust couldn’t believe her words. To him, it felt like barely a few minutes had passed.

When he turned to look at her he saw her shrugging.

“You can believe me or not. You can train your mind by meditating for prolonged periods of time. Only when you have strengthened your mind will you be able to feel the mana for prolonged periods of time and eventually start to move it.” A grin snuck onto her face.

“Move it?” Faust asked as his headache faded.

“It is how you cultivate silly. What you felt was your mana core. It is a part of you like your heart. In fact, it is the door to unlocking your true potential.” She pointed her index finger at his heart.

“Right there is the key to the door of strength. This core is connected to the main mana pathway inside of your body. It is a large circle where your mana should be able to circulate.”

“Then why… doesn’t it circulate?” he asked, looking down at his chest, trying to remember the feeling of touching upon his mana core.

Elena sighed.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“I was told humans on our continent have our mana pathways clogged with impurities since there is no natural mana on our continent… that limits our natural strength.” Elena walked over to a rock about the size of her upper body.

“Humans were supposed to be much stronger than people are on this continent. Naturally.” She picked up the large rock effortlessly and balanced it on one hand effortlessly before Faust whose eyes threatened to pop out of their sockets.

“This… this is insane! That must weigh two hundred kilos!” he exclaimed, and she gave him a chuckle.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg. The first step on your cultivation journey is to clear your mana pathways so your mana can naturally flow through them. Your natural strength will be unlocked. You will be much stronger,” she suddenly dashed forward and before he could react whispered into his ear:” …and faster.”

She backed off and smiled as Faust found this difficult to believe despite the obvious proof he was facing.

“So this… is the power of cultivation.” He gulped and covered his mouth with his right hand.

‘If I reach that level of strength… I would be the strongest person in the Kingdom, even stronger than Schenk!’ he thought excitedly, but then a scary thought entered his mind.

“Elena… if you are this strong… then how strong is the Venerable?”

She sighed and let her head hang helplessly.

“I cannot fathom how strong he is. I have no confidence at all in defeating him.” She pursed her lips before smiling briefly.

“But the beautiful thing about cultivation is… that everyone can become strong with hard work and a bit of luck.” She clenched her fists.

“I hope I will become strong enough to take revenge… no. I will definitely grow stronger than him.” She mumbled through clenched teeth. Faust watched her silently.

‘I swear I just saw a small flame flicker in her eyes…’ it scared him a bit as he knew the strength of this woman. She could easily kill him and his entire party. She didn’t wear any armor because she could afford it, but simply because she didn’t need it.

She looked up at him.

“He killed my sister. I need to kill him. I can feel you are strong. You independently became a cultivator. With my guidance… we can become strong enough to beat him. I will offer Alexander to enter his service and-“ she closed her mouth again and coughed briefly.

“Sorry. I’m just… finally feeling some hope. The last weeks and months weren’t exactly easy.” She scratched her head, looking away.

Faust stepped forward, putting a hand on her shoulder. Her gaze met his and she was confused to see a large grin on his face.

“Let’s kill the bastard.”

Her surprised expression shifted into a relieved smile, then she gently punched his chest and chuckled.

“Get strong before you make promises like that.” She said, but Faust could hear she was cheered up.

“Why don’t we go to our rooms and meet again tomorrow morning? I will introduce you to Alexander’s most trusted knight. He will know what to do next. He is a very competent man… well it's not like you need to be afraid of him…” he waved off and chuckled.

Elena giggled and they started walking back towards the town.

“I never expected today to take such a turn…” she mumbled and looked at the stars.

Faust remained silent and thought about the recent events and how they had affected him.

“Sometimes… I feel like we are all just leaves blown about by the wind of destiny…” he said dreamily, thinking about his betrothal, knighthood, and mission, all within the last weeks.

Elena chuckled.

“We are. But there is hope… your leave comparison isn’t quite right. You have forgotten something, that allows you to change it.” She smirked at him and her crimson locks flew through the air while her eyes had a soft ember-like glint to them.

“Cultivation will change your destiny.”