It's strange. I'm not sure if it's just the excitement from beating that time I set or if that minor cycle with my head somehow improved my mood, but I feel refreshed and strangely motivated all of a sudden—which isn't really like me at all. I guess I might as well make the most of it, I wasn't sure before, but besides using some mana up in these circulations, it's definitely coming back thicker now. It's not a huge difference, but especially on that last cycle with my head, I could really feel the difference as it flowed back into my core.

I remember reading something like this in those novels. I think the energy is being refined into a higher form—for each level of cultivation there seems to be three minor realms; Beginning, Middle, and Peak. So it makes sense that within these minor realms, there would be minor steps in between those as well.

Lost in thought, continue to cultivate, and before I know it—I've already completed three major cycles. With six minor cycles each, that makes eighteen. Huh, the number three again, did I stop at three subconsciously? Just like how each major realm is divided into three minor realms. Even the six minor cycles I perform for each Major cycle, is divisible by three as well. Why does the number three feel so significant? What did that one novel say? From one begets two, from two begets three, and from three begets everything.

I guess it's an attempt to explain the creation of the world, right? In the beginning, there was nothing—or rather, just one thing. Some primordial force, whatever it may have been, that eventually split into yin and yang. Yin representing creation, Yang representing destruction—the two forming the original cyclical nature of our world. Life and Death, Light and Darkness. And from that came Humanity.

This trinity—Heaven, Earth, and Humanity—became the foundation of existence. Heaven ruled the skies and the immaterial; Earth, the solid ground and the tangible. Between them, Humanity emerged—a bridge between the immaterial and the material, destined to seek balance and understanding, what we now call the Dao—or The Way of Cultivation.

At least, that's how all the novels seem to go.

Well, after three cycles I should finally have refined enough mana to do something right? It's hard not to start believing after what I felt during meditation, but without some concrete real world result, I'm still a bit skeptical—that's just human nature though I guess. I need to use some of this mana—I need to do something with it, but what?

Keep it simple I guess, right? I'll just pick something up. I've got some dumbbells lying around here. Lifting 20 pounds isn't exactly superhuman, but at least I know how "heavy" they are without using mana. So they should feel lighter if I can tap into it, right? But, how exactly do I do that? I mean I circulated the mana throughout my arm, but that was more like pushing it to the tips of my finger and letting it gradually blow back on its own.

To use it, maybeI have to hold it there. If I close my eyes, I can feel the mana swirling inside my core, almost like it's performing some kind of cycle of its own while it's at rest. There is still some "unrefined" mana there as well, but it feels different—seperate I guess? It feels less pliable, more difficult to control than the stuff I did refine. Well, since this is my first try, it makes sense to go the path of least resistance right? I can always try using this unrefined mana later, but for now, let's just keep it simple.

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Focusing on the refined mana, I imagine using my core to slowly start pumping it into my left arm—but this time, with the intent to use it for something. For what? Strength of course—like feeding fuel to a fire, I imagine the "engine" that is my arm revving up, my arm starts to tingle, like it's waking up.

As I lift the dumbbell, it's not exactly light, I can definitely still tell that it's heavy. It still takes effort to move but it does seem a bit lighter—if only slightly. It's hard to tell, though. I mean if someone handed you two twenty pound dumbbells, and one that was half an ounce lighter, would you be able to tell the difference? Probably not, hell most weights are already like that anyway aren't there? It's not as though they're precise scientific instruments, carefully checked and balanced to the last gram. This isn't working, I think I need to start smaller, with something I couldn't normally do.

I'm getting thirsty, I guess sweating your ass off for an hour and a half would tend to do that huh? What do I have that's nice and cold in the fridge? After purising my sparsely filled fridge, my eyes can't help but be drawn to the final ice cold beer sitting all alone in a six pack. It's exactly the most workout friendly beverage, but I wasn't exactly working out either was I? Sure I was sweating, but it was just meditation after all. Besides, how cruel would it be to leave the sole survivor behind to suffer in solitude—I should put the poor thing out of its misery—lol pour thing, get it?

Wait where do I leave the bottle opener? Drunk me is so inconsiderate, never putting things back where he found them. Wait, something I couldn't do normally, God knows how many random objects I've used to open one of these, but the point is—I always use an object. It's not like I could just pop the top off with a flick of my thumb... but what if I could?

My thumb needs to be firmer, so the cap doesn't dig into it—and I need more explosive power to knock the cap off in one go, instead of a gradual push. As I slowly focus the mana into just my hand and thumb, allowing the remaining mana in my arm to gradually flow back into my core—I imagine it reinforcing the flesh of my thumb, making it tougher, and more resilient. And with the energy in my hand, I slowly compress it, like a spring, before finally realizing the build up power

Pop.

My heart starts racing, as my eyes widen in shock—it's real—this isn't just my imagination, as I shakily set the beer down on the counter, my thirst long since forgotten, I start to examine my thumb—but there isn't a mark anywhere to be found. Holy shit, I just sent that cap flying all the way across the room—with these keyboard mittens that look so soft, you wouldn't believe they had picked up anything in weeks.

Okay, okay—calm down—deep breaths. That wasn't strictly speaking "impossible" to do right, I mean there are probably plenty of people who could have done that without any sort of "mana". Hell I saw on YouTube a 60 something year old comedian shock the crowd by ripping an apple in half—one rabble hole later, and it turns out it's all just technique, just like with ripping phone books.

Maybe I'm just really great at opening beer? I mean, I have had a lot of practice—okay weird thing to suddenly brag about—I need to remember never to say something that pathetic out loud. I mean I never seriously tried to do that before, who's to say I couldn't right? I'm going to lose my mind if I don't get some actual proof. But how much longer would I have to meditate before I could do something truly superhuman—superhuman huh, like a mutant? Wait—maybe I'm thinking about this the wrong way.

There are different kinds of "superhuman" right, increases in strength might be hard to measure, especially when it's such a small increase, but what if I tried another kind of power—something a normal human could never do. Fire. Even if it's smaller than a birthday candle, If I'm able to create a flame, hell I'd settle for enough heat to scorch some paper, if I could do that, that would be absolute proof.