In the cultivation room on the second level, Mane sat cross-legged. His breathing was rhythmic, almost pleasant to watch. The breaths he took in were not too long, or too short. Whenever he exhaled, a tinge of red appeared on his cheeks, making him look extremely adorable. From a third person's perspective, he was asleep. However, those with keen eyes could discern a pale white mist enshrouding the boy. This was qi! By taking in qi, one could increase their cultivation level. Unfortunately, it was very difficult to sense it, hence only by cultivating a technique suited to you would you be able to sense and attract qi.
That was what made this cultivation room special. A cultivation room was not just a simple room designated for cultivation. It was one that was rich in qi. This increased one's cultivation speed. But cultivation rooms were extremely difficult to make. Mane found out from the nine that usually, one had use the essence of the sun and moon to cultivate. But for a cultivation room, compromises had to be made. According to the 1st, cultivation rooms where equipped with magic cores to provide rich qi. Magic cores were ball-like objects that could be found in a magic beast when they are killed. Magic cores were usually formed by beast with an element. The higher the rank of the beast, the purer the core. However, for beasts that were still in the mortal stage of cultivation, it was extremely difficult for them to form a magic core. If they were able to do so, their strengths would become vastly superior to other magic beasts of the same stage. For instance, the cultivation room Mane was currently using was equipped with several magic cores. These magic cores were embedded into the walls of the cultivation room.
The nine had also mentioned that the magic cores that were fitted into the room were all extremely valuable. According to them, they could last till Mane reached the nobility realm! Majority of them were orange in color, with the minority being red. For magic cores, their colors determined their purity. Coincidental or not, the colors of magic cores were based on the colors of the rainbow. The colors were as follows, in descending order of magnitude- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Violet cores were the lowest ranked cores, with the highest being red colored cores.
Red colored cores were rare, since it was easier to defeat an ascended realm beast, than to kill it. For one to kill so many beasts…
After about three hours, Mane woke up from his state of cultivation. He had spent all this time, clearing and fortifying his power channels, before he could attempt to break into the first level of the mortal realm. He was about eighty percent done. He reckoned that he will need about thirty minutes to complete the process and finally, enter the ranks of a cultivator. But now was not the time. It was about eight pm and he needed to go out for dinner. If not, Butler Fin, the butler in charge until Uncle Jake's return, would come up to his room to call him. It would be difficult to explain how he disappeared from his room.
Just when he had left the space ring, he heard a knock on his door, followed by Butler Fin's voice. "Young Master, it's time for dinner". Mane walked out the room with the butler in tow, and went downstairs for his meal.
Mane finished his meal quickly and returned to his room. Though many of the servants were surprised that the usually calm and collected young master was eating so quickly, none of them questioned him. After all, they could think about it, but they did not have the authority to talk about it. Mane reentered the space ring immediately he closed his door, and continued his cultivation. After about thirty five minutes, the qi in the room began moving rapidly to the figure that sat cross-legged in the centre! This phenomenon continued for about fifteen minutes until subsiding. When the cross-legged figure had finally stopped with his greedy absorption, he opened his eyes. His big blue eyes were filled with unconcealed excitement, a broad and genuine smile adorned his handsome yet almost feminine face.
"Congratulations kid. You have officially stepped into the world of cultivation." The 1st took the initiative to congratulate the young man, with the others quickly following suit. Their voices exposed their excitement. They were clearly happy for Mane.
Mane nodded his head, his face still brimming with a stupid grin. He got up and walked to the end of the room, where a large shelf stood tall. On the shelf were several books. These books were not large, their spines only as wide as a finger's breadth. These were all skill books. Mane picked from the lowest level of the shelf, and identified two techniques that did not require the mastery of an element. One was an offense based technique whilst the other was a movement technique.
The movement technique was called 'Star Flicker'. This movement technique involved gathering your qi and releasing it in a single burst. It had three stages. The first stage increased one's speed by three fold, the second gave a fourfold increase whereas the last stage gave an increase of five times the original speed. Unfortunately, this technique only allowed one to move in a straight line and consumed a huge amount of qi. It gave a huge boost in strength and made it seem like the user was teleporting around, hence its name.
The offense book he picked was labeled, 'Extreme Burst'. This skill combined a sequence of attacks, each move more devastating than the last. It also had three stages. The first stage had only five attacks, the second, six attacks, and the third had seven moves. Each attack was stronger than the last. At the first stage, the strength of each move was doubled. The second stage gave one a x3 boost per move and the last stage increased the strength of each move exponentially.
"These are fabulous techniques. They must be high rank skill books", the voice of the 1st was filled with surprise as he praised the books. Skill books had only three ranks- low, middle, and high. High rank skill books were precious but not rare. But it was surprising to find a high rank skill book that could be studied by mortality realm cultivators.
Mane read and studied both books for about an hour, before closing them and returning them to the shelf. He understood the principles behind each technique. Now all he had to do was practice it. After practicing the techniques for another hour, it dawned on him that he needed a sparring partner. He exited he cultivation room and walked into the simulation chamber.