The sun rose sleepily over the tall walls of The Capital, as the sunlight washed over the garden behind the inn, Myrrin slowly breathed out, expelling foul gas. Myrrin's head seemed to clear, dispelling any fatigue that had built up recently. Unable to get proper rest for the past couple nights, Antebellum suggested that Myrrin learn how to mediate, slowly circulating mana in a route taught by Antebellum. The sword absorbed by Antebellum left lingering mana even after repairing Antebellum, resulting in Myrrin breaking into the first level of mana condensation.
Myrrin slowly breathed in again. In his dantian, the mist-like mana that was gathered by the silver sword made a revolution around the body: starting at the head, going from limb to limb, and ending with the head. This cultivating technique was the same Antebellum used, known as the Stellar Sword Scripture, using the power of the stars to refine mana as it circulated. Each revolution was longer than most cultivating techniques, likewise slowing cultivation; however, the cultivation would result in extremely sharp, condensed mana that would serve as the base for powerful sword-qi. Myrrin realized that while Antebellum could absorb mana and cultivate without Myrrin's help, meditating would significantly improve the cultivation speed.
Feeling refreshed and hungry, Myrrin took a break to grab some food in the inn. Ordering nearly twice as much as usual, Myrrin munched down his breakfast, feeling energy pumping through his body. Although Myrrin's was still on the smaller side for his age, a small sense of sharpness and danger seemed to exude from his body. As Myrrin finished his meal, the door in the inn slammed open. A familiar voice crying out as soon as they entered.
"I DID IT. I GOT MY CONTRACT."
Reila's merry voice rang in the inn, a few of the regulars who recognized her clapped in congratulations. Myrrin turned his head to see Reila showing off the insignia on the back of her hand, a bronze crown decorated with sleek edges. Reila had been taking a few days obtaining her spirit, extremely picky with her contract. Although there were plenty of undiscovered spirits, there were methods to obtain certain spirits. The method to finding some of the more common spirits were publicized, while rarer spirits were often kept secret, used as a family secret or sold at high prices. Delighted in her new spirit, she ran upstairs to show her father.
Myrrin paid his bill and headed upstairs, curious on what kind of spirit she finally decided upon. When he got to their room, he gave a light knock to notify them of his presence. Opening the door, Arwin ushered Myrrin in, his face plastered in smile.
"Hohoho, as expected of my daughter, to obtain a Bronze Emperor Golem after just a couple days."
Seeing Myrrin's face, Reila continued for Arwin matter-of-factly,
"Its a powerful earth spirit that has the best flexibility amongst earth-attribute spirits. My dad obtained the method years ago from a friend, but he already had a spirit by then."
"We should host an expedition now that you've both obtained a spirit. Absorbing mana stones from beasts is a right of passage in a way for all new [Contractors]."
""yes!""
The two voices rang out simultaneously, the two youngsters excited equally about hunting monsters. While traveling, Myrrin had seen many monsters, but each time he had to hide or run, unable to fight. Myrrin's aura began to sharpen as he thought about it, he bowed to Arwin and said bye to Reila before excusing himself. As he ran down to the garden to strengthen himself, he has unaware of a fact that someone was peering down from the window, watching his changes with rapt attention.
**
Every morning at sunrise Myrrin was already in the garden, revolving mana around his body. He found that meditating was more refreshing than sleeping, energizing his body and removing tiredness. After a couple days Myrrins dantian was filled to the brim with a thick fog unable to absorb anymore mana. Following Antebellum's lead, the two forced the entire clout of mana to revolve around Myrrin's body. One revolution. Two revolutions. Three... four... The mana was constantly being refined, until there was nothing left but one strand. This one strand of mana was extremely dense and sharp. Along with the qualitative change, Myrrin released a black gas from his mouth, further refining his body. Myrrin realized that the world seemed clearer, and objects in the distance much more visible. Shocked by the change, Myrrin glanced all around him, taking in his new perception. After consistently meditating and training with his sword, Myrrin had finally advanced into the second stage of mana condensation, turning his mist-like mana into fine threads. Although his entire cultivation had shrunk, Myrrin could feel an even greater amount of energy in that one thread. Eager to test his power, Myrrin began to brandish the wooden training sword beside him, displaying his progress in "Nine Mountains, One Sword."
SWISH!
SWISH!
Although the swings seemed heavier, there was no other noticeable difference. Seeing Myrrin's downcast face, Antebellum gently instructed Myrrin in sword techniques.
'There are five realms to learning a technique: the novice realm, the expert realm, the master realm, the grandmaster realm, and the perfection realm. Right now you are still at the entrance of the novice realm, merely able to display a hint of the technique.'
'How do I improve?'
'You have to either keep practicing, or improve in situations where you have no choice but to improve. You stepped into the novice realm momentarily against Arnold, try remembering that sensation.'
The sound of heavy breathing followed by sword swings rhythmically sounded out in the garden. As Myrrin swung, each swing began to sound heavier, as if a large object was generating momentum. As Myrrin moved, the mana that he had constantly circulated began moving subconsciously, revolving around his body. Once it completed one revolution, something clicked inside Myrrin. His eyes flashed in a silver light as his swing changed qualitatively, a shadow of a mountain appearing momentarily.
FWUMP!
The small thread in Myrrin rapidly shrunk until half of the thread was devoured. The earth right above the sword was pressed down, blades of grass flattened in a line parallel to his sword. A clear line formed across the earth without the sword even coming near it. However, the dense mana strain he had created was now only a fraction of its original size, unusable in its current state. He clutched his pounding head, feeling the effects of over-drafting mana. Still, he had a silly grin on his face, like look of a child who managed to accomplish walking. He decided to take an early break to replenish his body. In his excitement he didn't fully inspect the result of his technique, which would have revealed that a few stalks of blade had been lightly singed. As he walked into the inn, he discovered Reila reading on a nearby table, nibbling on a piece of bread while reading a book.
After a few days of exposure, Reila didn't seem to mind Myrrin too much, occasionally talking about spirits or spells. Myrrin had come to realize in these past days that Reila was a huge bookworm on the subject, constantly studying. Almost the exact opposite of Arwin who was actively training his body. She looked up and saw Myrrin, who seemed to have a different air around him, although he seemed the same as he was before, something had changed. She began to stare at him curiously, like a cat who had found a new time. Noticing the fervent gaze, Myrrin chuckled awkwardly.
"So what academy are you trying to join Reila?"
Myrrin tried to break the tension by asking Reila where was planning to go. Since she was studying so much, it had to be related to an academic field rather than combat. Myrrin didn't know why but cold sweat began to appear on his back..
"Of course its White Castle, the tower master is way too cool. Not only is he strong, but he's one of the top magic researchers in the entire world! But the greatest part is most of their research is based on combat. If even I can't get into White Castle, theres no way a muscle brain like you can get in, so don't even dream about it."
Reila's attention immediately switched to Myrrin as she talked about the benefits of joining White Castle and her dreams of meeting the tower master. Myyrin gulped, judging from her actions, she had no idea that Myrrin was already admitted to White Castle.
"Well you see—"
'Don't do it kid'
Antebellum warned Myrrin, who was about to tell Reila what academy he was attending. Myrrin shut his mouth, realizing the horror that would occur if she failed to enroll in White Castle.
"See what. Wait… Did you already get admitted into a school?!"
"Ugk—!!! No!"
Reila's sharp eyes narrowed as she looked at Myrrin's countenance, although getting admitted into a school before recruitment was rare, it did happen. Seeing his guilty look, she harrumphed and stuck her face back into her book, miffed at being outperformed by a sword-swinging ape. Myrrin booked it out of there, wiping his sweat as he retreated back to his garden. Judging from the mana she was outputting, Myrrin was sure that Reila had caught up to Myrrin's mana pool, though Myrrin was sure he had the edge in quality.
From what Myrrin learned from Reila, spirits naturally evolves once mana becomes filled to the brim in the dantian, the pressure of mana forging a stronger spirit that would greedily devour the mana around it. In the process, the mana that the spirit can absorb becomes denser, a cycle that slowly evolves the spirit to fit the host. One of the mysteries of compatibility was solved for Myrrin when Reila explained how compatibility rate was important for spirit evolution and [Gifts]. Reila managed to obtain high compatibility with her spirit, obtaining the max of 9% that one could possible get during a Contract. With another percent, she would pass into the first threshold of 10%, obtaining a spirit trait— also known as a [Gift], an addition ability that is related to the spirit.
Hoping to pass the threshold before recruitment, Arwin hoped to increase her compatibility the fastest way he knew: through battle. Although it would increase through time and through understanding one's spirit, a candidate who reached the 10% threshold had a greater chance of entering a prestigious academy. He gathered the necessarily supplies and notified the two youngsters of their upcoming schedule into the forest south-east of the city, sending the two bursting with excitement. He smiled warmly as he looked at the two that reminded him of his past self. His smile turned into a mischievous grin as he looked at Myrrin, who had become an even greater mystery after the recent battle. He wondered if he would be able to catch a glimpse of Myrrin's spirit in the coming expedition.
Myrrin, who was oblivious to Arwin's inner thoughts, checked his [Contract Status] for the first time in a while. When the illusory paper appeared in his hands revealing his [Contract Status], Myrrin's eyes shot up in surprise. His contract had gone through a major update since he last checked it. In a daze, Myrrin stood there for a few seconds before hurriedly heading to his room to pack for the upcoming expedition. Arwin, who had just witnessed another interesting sight of Myrrin, chuckled as began loading his carriage for tomorrow's adventure.