„The Venerable… we believe Chiron has killed him.”

Faust’s head turned to Chiron who just shrugged softly as if nothing had happened.

“I kicked him and he evaporated.” He said in a calm manner. Titus looked to Faust for help.

“And in the process dodged a killing… spell? Was that the right term? Anyways, he dodged a killing spell and then used…” he raised his eyebrow at Chiron and then continued.

“… a magical artifact to kill the Venerable.”

“Huh?” Faust was unable to follow. Chiron smiled gently.

“A spell is an intentional and controlled use of mana outside of our body for a specific purpose. My master is the only one who can use them… or so I thought.” Chiron scratched Felix behind the ear while explaining.

“Before he died he said something I did not understand. Clone… he said he did not want to lose another clone. If only we knew what that meant.” Chiron shook his head softly.

“But I believe we should be safe for the time being… at least I hope so.” He finished and then seemed to remember something.

“Oh! And it looks like I have made some kind of breakthrough in the process!” a rare excited smile hushed over his face and was gone as fast as it came.

Faust reached for his own head which started to hurt again.

‘This is a bit much… I will have to ask him again later.’ He turned to Leona.

“What happened?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After hearing her story he took her into his arms and held her quietly, pressing her frail body against his, giving her the feeling of safety he wanted her to have.

‘Whatever slumbers inside of me… it was awoken by the Venerable.’ He bit his lip.

‘This could have gone very wrong. But right now… it looks like it has made Leona into a Cultivator and for me…’ he clenched his fist and felt an ancient and foreign strength within him. Yet at the same time, it felt as if weights had been taken off his body. As if this was the proper way his body was supposed to function.

He felt free of baggage. Natural power.

“Aquila and Cassius have been sent out to guard the vicinity. We still don’t know if any threats remain.” Titus stood up and looked down at the couple.

“You two should rest some more. I will make arrangements for new accommodations in the city. We cannot stay here safely.” He opened the door and left, closing it behind him.

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Chiron on the other hand sat still and softly patted Felix’s back who gagged twice, emitting two small clouds of crimson mana.

“Good boy.” Chiron petted the cat's head. Felix finally stopped shivering and looked up at Chiron who winked at it. Then he turned to Faust.

“You have made a big step in your cultivation. And so have you.” He looked at Faust and then to Leona.

“You must have a whole swathe of questions. I will answer them until you’re satisfied.” He leaned back and Felix climbed all over him, coming to rest on Chiron’s shoulder.

“The Mana Pathways within your body… they are thoroughly cleansed Faust. This is the natural state of your body.”

Faust’s ears perked up.

“Natural state? How come everyone has so many impurities then?” he asked the monk who smiled bitterly.

“This place has no natural mana in it. Our bodies cannot absorb or produce it on our own. The dormant Mana Pathways clog over several generations of being unused. Normally… it takes a long time to cleanse them, yet something has caused your body to expel all its impurities at once yesterday. The Venerable?”

“I… I think it’s the Venerable. He stirred something inside of me… I still don’t know what it is, but it’s the same thing that made me a Cultivator in the first place, I am sure of it.” Faust replied eagerly.

Leona hesitated and then asked the two:” Then… how come I have become a Cultivator?”

Chiron sat there in silence for a few seconds before sighing.

“I do not have the faintest idea. According to your description, it seems that some of Faust’s excess Mana generated by the incident has most likely vented into you, forcing your Mana Core to activate and partially unclogging your Mana Pathways as well. It's truly a miracle.”

He was silent for a few seconds.

“But considering all that happened yesterday it doesn’t shock me anymore. I have thought a bit, and using some clues I gathered and what Master told me I have pieced together a reference for Cultivators.”

He rubbed his hands together.

“One becomes a Cultivator once one has mana inside of their core. Then they rotate it and increase the amount by focus and long periods of time. Until their Mana Pathways are cleared. Following this process, the next step is to attune your mana to an element. Like I have for wind. Can you follow me so far?”

Leona and Faust nodded eagerly and didn’t dare to interrupt him.

“Now all of this is what I call Stage One. A stage has three levels. The low level is reached as soon as one becomes a Cultivator. The medium level is reached when someone has cleansed their Mana Pathways like you have Faust. Leona is still in the low level but bordering on medium level. Now here it gets a bit tricky. Over time your mana, depending on your training style, will attune itself to an element.”

“For me… that would be water and darkness?” Faust asked, a bit uncertain.

“Exactly. You would do best to train underwater, probably. Leona will want to train in both Water and Fire attuned ways.” Chiron nodded in reply.

‘Now it all makes sense.’ The pieces began to fall in place for Faust.

“At some point, this attunement will be finished and you will be unable to proceed further. You will hit a wall so to speak. This is where all my brothers from the Order are stuck at, and what we perceived to be the end for Cultivators except for our Grandmaster Arkan. Nobody could proceed further, or so we thought.”

“Wait, so he is even stronger?” Leona asked with big eyes.

“Or so we thought? What changed? Did you break through?” Faust asked excitedly and Chiron chuckled, nodding.

“I have. The state of encountering that wall is what I call the peak level within stage one. I have broken through to stage two. As to how exactly that is achieved… I have no idea. I used a magic artifact and within the heat of battle… it just happened.” He sighed.

“My Mana is no longer confined to my Pathways, but has spread to my blood, revolving throughout my physical body, connecting the ethereal and physical… that’s where I see the transition to low-level stage 2.” He concluded with a smile.