Returning to the game I was once again met with empty space. 'Just wait a bit more, then you'll have your core and I'll start to really have fun.' I sat down once again and focused on my breathing.
Once again I was in that state of mind where I could feel the mana around me. Focusing inward the mana inside my body was swirling all over the place with no form of order in sight.
I started to move the mana in the way I wanted it to and it following my will. The mana gathered around one place but I didn't condense it, I allowed it to flow through some of my meridians I found out about online and completed the loop through some of them.
Instantly I felt something different, the mana inside me felt depleted but I also felt a sense of...accomplishment! I had done it, I was on my first step towards a journey that I knew would be fun.
"Yahooo!"
I couldn't help but scream out my excitement as I had did what I set out to do. I didn't know how much time passed but I was covered in sticky sweat, it was very uncomfortable.
'I wonder if there is a way to have a clock so I know what time it is?' The sweat would go away on its own as I had no way of cleaning myself in-game yet. As if on command a clock appeared on my screen showing me that 4 hours had passed.
I already had a name in mind for the stage of cultivation, I would call it Mana Channeling as this stage focused on building mana channels throughout my body.
"Let's try something!"
I once again focused inward but this time I didn't meditate, I focused on my mana and willed it through my newest channel and had it center on my palms.
Opening my eyes my palms were glowing a shade of light blue. I pushed the mana with my will to leave my palms and it went...wrong. The mana didn't come out the way I wanted and instead, just a mist of mana exited my hands before disappearing a second later.
*pfft* "That was a good one, I almost thought you might have learned something!"
Ruby was sitting in front of my laying on her back as she did not try one bit to hold back her laugh.
"Hahaha, real funny don't you think?"
I picked her up while she was dying laughing and kicked her far away, I knew that wouldn't hurt her after the last fight we had and I knew she was more then what she's letting out.
"Hey!"
My couple seconds of peace was ruined as she somehow appeared behind me.
"What?"
"You...you...oh forget it!"
With a humph and a cloud of smoke leaving her nose and mouth she disappeared, most likely going back to sleeping in her doggy bed. 'Slacker!'
"Alright time to form my [Core], hey umm...Irean, how exactly do I go about forming my [Core]?"
'Nothing, she totally ignored me, well that's great!' Moving on I decided it was good to at least try. I tried to feel the mana around me without closing my eyes and it sort of worked. 'Will this really work?'
I moved some of my mana to my eyes and surprisingly I was able to see the mana around me. With that done I tried to control the mana into a spiral shape. It had only one spiral and it spun at a slow pace.
'Did it work?' I slowly released the spiral just for it to collapse on itself. 'What am I doing wrong?' I was able to control the mana though on a small scale but I still wasn't able to stabilize the shape.
'What am I supposed to do now that I can't stabilize my [Core]?' For the next hour I tried over and over to form my core to end up with it collapsing over and over.
"What am I doing wrong!"
"I'd say your missing something to hold that mana spiral your making."
Ruby was back and this time she seemed...calm, something was definitely up.
"What do you mean by something to hold the mana spiral?"
"Look, you got really good at controlling mana outside your body, which is a hard thing to learn by the way. But unless you create a physical body for the mana spiral whether it's a crystal or something else it'll just keep on collapsing."
Finally it dawned on my, Ruby was right, I felt so stupid that it took me an hour to realize my mistake.
"Why are you giving me this information?"
"Just take it and don't ask questions, you might just find yourself in a bad situation if you do!"
Yep, that's the Ruby I know, she left once again after giving me that helpful information and I once again set out to form my core.
I didn't want my [Core] to be confined to something like a crystal or body, I wanted it to be able to move on its own even while staying it place, like a whirlpool if anything.
Would that work, could I make it so that the water is some sort of liquid mana or something? Why not, mana in its natural state is a mist so I would think I can make it a liquid.
Instead of just making the spiral I focused on condensing the mana around me. It wasn't that hard actually, after the last hour of repeated fail I got a good control on the mana outside my body.
After what felt like hours the mana focused on where I wanted it so and turned into a tiny speck of liquid mana. 'Would this work at the size it is now?'
Just to be safe I moved around with the speck of liquid mana and allowed it to absorb the mana in domain until it grew to about the size of a raindrop. But because of my actions my [Domain] was completely dry of mana besides this one drop.
"Okay, now for the next step!"
Focusing on the drop of liquid mana I felt just how much mana was inside that one drop. It was overwhelming, it felt as if I had a lake of water right before my eyes. Slowly I was able to form a mana spiral within the drop of liquid mana.
"Okay, please work!"
Slowly I realized my control on the drop of mana to see it start to fall. 'No no no no, come on!' Quickly I too control of the drop of mana but I didn't need to control the spiral, 'It worked!'
"Yes!"
The drop of liquid mana started to change shape as it took on the shape of a small whirlpool. Irean said after I made my [Core] I would need to imprint my soul onto the core, this way I would have complete control of my [Domain].
SoI just started to add my own mana to the spiral and before my eyes another spiral formed. 'Oh, I get it, their would be a spiral for each type of mana, so because my mana is different from the pure mana two spirals formed.
"Well done James now it's time for the next step. Increasing the rank of your [Corre] as well as your own power."