The Mind World had its own rules and just as science emerged from the rules of the universe to study these same rules, here Mental Cultivation was science.

That's why the soul was a subject recognized and studied only by the higher powers.

When Nicalua first got to this Earth he had the soul of a 22 year old inside the mind of a 11 year old. And not just a simple 22 year old from this world, but one that could access every information and stimuli freely whenever and wherever he wanted.

Because of this his mind had a higher baseline of what it considered improvement, or rather what the world ruled as improvement resulting in his supposedly low talent.

In turn this brought him more power at the same level of Mental Cultivation as the average Mental Master. This advantage though, useful has it had been, brought more troubles than it was worth and quickly faded back at higher levels of cultivation.

Now Nicalua had an even stronger soul and even more difficulies awaited him, but he already had a plan.

His restricted mind might not remember everything from his previous life, but the most important and impactful things he had been through weren't too many.

His target was another continent altogether, where Mental Cultivation had always been refined to its pinnacle without Mental Masters relying on their improved minds to construct machines and contraptions restricted by the rules of the world itself.

Of course this early in his cultivation journey Nicalua didn't care about a more advanced environment, but the multiple inheritance sites scattered throughout the politically unstable territory instead would help an untalented child like himself immensely more than the uncertain goodwill of the factions of the rich maritime republics of the peninsula or the powerful kingdoms of the inner continent.

Ironically this brought him on the same convoy of carriages he had taken his previous life.

Today they arrived at Venziara, their last stop and one of the maritime republics. Here the richest amongst them will deposit most of their earnings at the new bank while the others will already search to restock on the exotic local products.

As they made their way through the innermost part of the city, they noticed more and more people donning colorful masks and strange costumes.

Wherever these strange characters went they would dance and bother passer-byes, even the best dressed and probably most important ones, with loud noises and screeches, sometimes slapping their butts before running away laughing at their own pranks.

Open theaters, jugglers, animal shows and all kinds of exhibitions were present everywhere.

Street vendors could offer anything from simple seasonal fruits to fancy fabrics or exotic spices.

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Here and there the masked people could be seen entering with purpose into cafes or private buildings, many of which with opened dresses that left little to the imagination.

Sometimes shouts of outrage or passion could be heard, but upon trying to identify their direction the curious debauchees would find themselves easily overwhelmed.

The Carnival of Venziara had begun.

Soon, the convoy dispersed itself with hasty and brief directives; like a spell had descended upon them, many faces seemed to become the literal personification of greed, lust or malicious mischief.

At this Nicalua quickly left, searching for a tavern while trying his best to dodge the masked people.

As he entered one he was greeted by a woman in her late thirties at the counter.

"Welcome. Oh, what a proper gentleman we have here."

Nicalua though wasn't wearing anything fancy and his skin tanned from years living on the poorly shaded wood platforms at sea certainly couldn't help, so his steely and unfazed demeanor had to be what the woman was noticing.

Her tone of voice didn't point to anything deeper than a bit of teasing, however catching sight of the fancy black and white frilled dress that didn't really suit someone her age but it sure matched the theme the tavern was decorated around, Nicalua tried to disperse whatever tension could have built up from the contrast of his disposition with this place.

"Hehe. I guess a charming and fun loving young woman like yourself can't be bothered by someone like me."

Rolling her eyes in a playful way, the tavern keeper replied with now a hint of interest in her tone.

"Oh please. It's my husband that insisted to decorate the tavern this way, at least, until the carnival ends."

The casual conversation could have ended here for all Nicalua cared; well, his body seemed to disagree with that, but he was more than capable of restraining its urges.

However he noticed a poster on the wall behind the counter advertising brain enhancements.

The material form of the mind was the easiest to train as simply maintaining healthy body was enough and all else would follow in a virtuous cycle.

The greatest advantage though was that it was more accessible as focused surgeries joined with expensive drugs could achieve more in less time.

The other aspects instead required time and opportunities for enlightenment, even if properly guided by Mental Arts.

The problem was that to receive a dangerous procedure like mental enhancements only the most reputable Mental Masters would be trusted, and they certainly couldn't be found in a random tavern.

The thing is, this was exactly what Nicalua needed right now if he didn't want to exhaust his lifespan before even reaching the first level of Mental Cultivation.

"What about the mental enhancements over there? Who is doing them?"

The woman quickly shook her open hands sideways.

"Ah, no. You don't have to worry. My husband is doing them. He is a retired teacher of the Aristocratic families here in Venziara so you know he is good. He opened this tavern now; although I'm the only one working here as he always does oh so great and esoteric things.

Obviously the mental enhancements costs too much for anyone entering in a normal tavern like this, but he still likes to have the poster here, you know, to maintain his pride."

As all the bits and pieces of information, deliberately said or inferred by body language, were falling into place an idea was beginning to form into Nicalua's mind.

He tried to look at the smiling woman in front of him.

Her dirty blonde hair were messy and frazzled, but the shape they found themselves into seemed to create a proper hairstyle.

Her lips, skin and eyebags weren't really neglected, but her signs of age could already be inferred from there.

Her smile though, it was one of genuine appreciation, maybe of the conversation, maybe of the company or maybe something else, but Nicalua knew he could take it from here.

"By the way I'm Nicalua. What's your name? As you can probably tell I'm not from around here. I would really have stricken gold if I can have such a gorgeous woman such as youself show me around these parts."