Theodore was shocked!
"You want to teach me about mana?!"
The idea had never occurred to him!
This was something he did not expect and he much preferred to remain cautious.
"And what would someone like you possibly need my help with? Changing the world?"
"Before I decide anything, I need to know what exactly it is that you want from me."
Turia smiled. He was not stupid. This was good!
"I am interested in your mana ability, Theodore!"
"Help me figure out if it can help me with my bottleneck and I will teach you how to use your mana!"
"That's my offer, what do you say?"
'…'
"How can we figure that out?"
Theodore couldn't help but ask.
He had no idea what had happened to him. How the hell was he supposed to help this woman, when he knew nothing about how to use mana?
"Simple!"
Turia replied, her smile blossoming in anticipation.
"First we find out what exactly has happened to you."
"If we can figure that out, we should be able to discover exactly what kind of ability you have awoken."
"Everyone that naturally evolves their mana obtains a special ability, Theodore."
"Here, watch this!"
She slowly held her right hand in front of her, palm up.
A moment later, Duunims cup appeared on it as if it always had been there!
There was no movement in the cup at all!
The surface of the tea stayed completely still!
Theodore's mind exploded at the sight!
'How was this done?!'
'There was no spiritual energy used at all!'
'I felt no formations activate either!'
Everything had happened instantly, right in front of him!
"My ability is called [Space], Theodore."
The cup became blurry, sometimes it was on the table and sometimes in Turia's hand!
"It allows me to control the space around me and lets me switch the positions of objects and people inside of it."
Turia leaned back in her seat and lazily propped up her chin using her right hand. She looked up.
Numerous objects inside the courtyard suddenly began constantly switching positions!
Furniture and decoration constantly kept teleporting!
At one point even the water of the pond appeared, floating in the sky above the pavilion!
Then it stopped. Everything had returned to its original place as if nothing happened at all!
The cup returned to Duunim, who gladly allowed a maid to refill it with hot tea.
From their reaction, Theodore could see that they had become used to it.
Theodore however was thoroughly impressed!
He glanced over at Duunim, who only shook his head wryly in return.
"Unfortunately, I do not have an innate mana ability, despite being able to wield mana."
Theodore was confused when he heard this.
'Wasn't everyone who wielded mana like him and Turia?'
Turia sighed and explained it to Theodore:
"Virtually all of the machine cultivators today operate on mana that is artificially generated."
"To my knowledge, I am unfortunately the only machine cultivator, that has awoken an innate mana ability."
Theodore gave a small nod.
'That's how it was.'
"So how exactly will we figure out what kind of ability I possess?"
"Eager, are you?"
"That will take a little bit of time I'm afraid."
"You see, to learn everything that we can we may have to look into your memories."
"If you think that this is extreme, let me remind you that we need to be very thorough."
"Both of our lives depend on it, Theodore."
"We cannot afford to miss anything."
"No secrets, nothing held back, remember?"
Theodore however, had no plans to agree to something like this right away!
He was as fearless as always when addressing Turia:
"To be honest with you, my day was quite shit."
"I woke up a pretty disgusting mess."
"All my plans went down the drain and I had all kinds of people coming after me today."
"I did not even have time to cultivate one single time today."
"I'd love to help you but I could seriously use some time to think about everything if that is ok ?"
His reply surprised Turia but Theodore was not lying about that at all.
He felt incredibly overwhelmed with everything and wanted nothing more, than to cultivate for a bit to clear his head.
Theodore was not about to simply trust everything on the spot either.
He felt relieved when Turia reluctantly offered him to retire for the night and Duunim led Theodore towards the guest suite.
While only meant for hosting guests, this suite was already larger than Theodore's old condo.
He simply sat cross-legged on the king-sized bed and began to cultivate there until morning.
Turia was very happy with Theodore's attitude.
She leaned back in her pavilion chair, alone with her thoughts.
"Theodore reacted to everything as I expect of someone, that has not lost his head."
"He is a cautious person but still, he can roll with the punches if need be."
She realized, that in the end, Theodore and the old man were both fearless and yet very unique.
It was something in their eyes, the way that they looked at her.
The old monk's mindset was unfettered and unrestrained.
Theodore on the other hand was reserved and cautious.
She felt reassured that a person like Theodore was mana sensitive.
It was the kind of relief a person would feel if they discovered a reliable teammate.
While Theodore was quietly cultivating and sorting out his head, Turia had begun to spend astronomical sums of money.
As soon as Duunim had led Theodore away she began spending it.
Within moments, she had spent more money than the entire revenue, that the whole planet generated in a year!
All over Turia, workshops, auction houses, and factories were bombarded with expensive orders overnight.
Many were confused because the orders had simply skipped to the front of the line!
People hurriedly called for senior managers, for help!
Orders of this magnitude needed approval and the system had just simply begun to prioritize them!
When the most senior managers arrived they discovered the strangest thing!
Several machine cultivators among the staff reverently looked upon the seal on their screens!
This exalted figure was moving again! She could not be offended in any way!
Upon recognizing the digital insignia of Turia, shock went through the senior managers!
The money flowed unobstructed and a steady stream of deliveries was sent towards the island.
It possessed an underground warehouse many times larger than the island itself.
Several big rooms were used by Turia's servants to receive the teleported goods throughout the entire night.
Theodore never noticed a thing while he was cultivating.
He would soon be shocked to find the island a completely different place!