'Cultivator?!'
Fiona looked at him with eyes full of confusion. She'd never heard that word before, other than having a vague understanding of it being used in farming applications.
What did farming have to do with the glowing lights and the soul contract?
'...'
As if knowing her current confused state of mind, Leonidas could only sigh.
'Haahh... I guess I have to start from the beginning.' Leonidas said mostly to himself. He stood up and started walking around his room intently.
'What if I told you that there is more to the universe. What if I told you that there are countless other dimensions filled with energies and existences you had never imagined before...'
'What if I told you that beings are capable of absorbing the dimensional energy inside those dimensions and use it to do absolutely anything they can imagine...'
He looked back at Fiona, and after seeing the fervor in her eyes, he knew she was hooked.
'That's what Cultivation is. Cultivation is The act of a being absorbing the dimensional energies in the universe with the purpose of using it to influence his reality.'
Fiona's eyes went wide with understanding and crazy images of magic and magical beings flooded her imagination.
'So what you did right then... That was magic?' she asked, barely withholding the excitement in her voice.
But Leonidas next words left her flat on the floor
'No.'
'...'
Silence filled the already quiet room.
'What else could it be other than Magic?' Fiona transmitted impatiently. She still had the presence of mind to keep communicating using the telepathic link that she could vaguely feel between her and the boy in front of her.
'Of course not. We cultivators, or Practitioners of the arts as we like to call ourselves, don't just have the option of cultivating one kind of energy. As I told you before there is an innumerable number of energies in the dimensions in the universe'
'So it's not Magic..?'
'Magic is just one kind of energy manipulation method based on the use of a certain type of energy. What I did just now was Sorcery, which is the manipulation of *Spiritual Energy* to influence matter and reality.'
Fiona paused.
'Sorcery... Wait, so what's Magic then?'
'We don't really have a formal definition for Magic, but if I were to create one it would go like this... Magic is the manipulation of *Origin Energy* to bring about changes to matter and reality.'
Leonidas felt proud of himself for this. From what he understood from Gaia's birth memories, origin energy had the inate ability to turn into anything. It is called origin energy because all physical matter in the universe came from it or goes back to it or is existing in tandem with it. Even Gaia's memories were not sure about this part.
But what surprised Leonidas was that human beings were capable of cultivating Origin Energy. The 4th energy center, or the heart chakra as the ascetic call it, was the energy center which could hold the *Origin Soul*.
Just thinking about all the possibilities excited Leonidas beyond compare.
Seeing that Fiona was still digesting the information he gave her, Leonidas sat back down next to her.
As soon as he sat down, Fiona looked at him intently and asked 'Could you show me how Sorcery works?'
Leonidas smiled. This was his favorite part. Weaving runes together. It was like he was joining some great universal puzzle pieces. And he loved puzzles.
'That's easy...'
Leonidas pointed his finger to a pencil that was lying on his bedside table.
'Watch...'
Slowly, the blunt end of the pencil started rising up until the pencil was upright with the graphite end on the table.
"Holy Shit..."
Fiona's jaw was on the floor and she couldn't help but forget herself at that moment. But her jaw was about to go even lower.
The pencil suddenly levitate in the air. When Fiona looked towards Leonidas he saw him moving his hand up and down and around. And Everytime he did so, the pencil would follow his every movement.
While she was focusing on the pencil she failed to notice a page being ripped from a notepad to her right. By the time she looked, the page was already floating with the pencil.
'As I told you previously, Sorcery is the manipulation of spiritual energy to bring about changes to reality. It could be making things move or vibrate or break apart or come together. It could also be communicating with things on a deeper level.'
Then the pencil got to work on the page. It scribbled on and on until after a few seconds it finally stopped. In the end the pencil and the page separated from each other. The pancil went back to the table while the page landed in the lap of Fiona.
'That over there is called a rune from the spiritual energy dimension. Runes are condensations of rules that you can use to influence matter.'
Fiona gazed intently at the notebook page on her lap. On the page was what seemed to be one of those squiggles she had seen before, but now, it was filled with profound meaning for her.
'That rune is one of the fundamental runes in Sorcery:the tier 0 *Force Application* rune.' Leonidas continued.
'It is capable of applying a force in a direction depending on what you stipulate the force and direction to be'
'Woah... So cool. So these runes are like a language. You're talking to the universe and the universe does what you want?'
Leonidas was again surprised by this girl. He could tell now that she puts in a lot of effort into thinking. If this keep going so well, his experiment would definitely become a success.
'That's right. When we do sorcery, or magic, or any kind of energy manipulation, we shape energy into runes or collections of runes and send them out into the universe. Think of the runes as the message and the spiritual energy as the carrier or the sacrifice.'
Fiona nodded fiercely before asking another question.
'You said that was tier 0? So there are higher tiers? Also what does a tier mean?'
'Good question. Tiers are representations of complexity in the message we send into the universe.'
'If you tell someone to STAND. what do they do? They'll stand up in the easiest way possible. But if you tell them to STAND AND FACE THE NORTH, then that's a layer of complexity added to the command. It will take more energy and more time to accomplish. Do you understand?'
Fiona nodded as fiercely smas she did moments ago. It would seem she's been nodding for minutes now.
'So what tier was that... Spell?'
'They're not spells, they're arrays. And it was multiple tier 2 arrays for moving, or keeping objects stable... So on and so forth.'
'How did you become a cultivator?'
'That... Is a secret... at least for now. But you can assume that I was as lucky as you and I was taught by someone. That's all I can say'
Fiona understood. This was too big. Way too big. Sorcery? Magic? When she came to this room she never thought she would now be a part of something like this.
She tried to calm herself down but she couldn't. All of it was real. What she had seen in the last hour. Everything.
Cold sweat condensed on her forehead as she thought about the Soul Contract again. She had really underestimated it back then. She panicked.
"I swear I won't tell anyone about what happened" Fiona said, almost crying
"Hey hey hey... Shhhh..." Leonidas had to calm her down somehow.
'Sorry...'
'It's fine. I'm sure you have more questions but it's late now. So for now just go back and think about stuff. I'll teach you how to cultivate tomorrow.'
Leonidas then turned off the telepathic connection and even Fiona could feel that her thoughts were free from prying eyes.
Fiona's beautiful eyes grew with anticipation for tomorrow. She couldn't help but really like this annoying boy.
She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then immediately stood up and started packing her bags.
Leonidas was stunned.
'Oh no... Even if I don't try to do anything. I'm just too handsome...'
"What was that?" he asked after some time.
" I said I would do it, so I did it." Fiona said matter-of-factly. She was done packing and she tried her best to suppress the blush that was building on her cheeks.
Leonidas shrugged internally and stood up. He opened the door for her and they went downstairs without saying much.
In the kitchen, Ana was just about done with dinner so when she saw them come down, she called out to them. So they came together and stood next to each other.
Ana saw a cute young man with a dashing face and an indifferent demeanor. The boy's deep black pupils and sword shaped eyebrows created a gaze that felt like it could look deep into your soul.
Beside the boy was a beautiful young girl whose face could definitely topple the nation one day. Her bright eyes, which exuded intelligence and cunning, and her puffy cheeks made her look likeable no matter what.
Although Leonidas was older by a few months according to Ana, he was shorter by almost 10cm. But Ana wasn't worried about this at all. She knew Leonidas must be a late bloomer. But once he bloomed he would definitely be the most handsome of men.
Ana was very happy that her schemes were taking shape. She wanted Leonidas to come out of his shell. The easiest way to do that is to introduce him to girls he might like.
This girl is so cute, of course Leonidas would develop a crush.
At least that's what Ana thought.
"Come on boys and girls, sit sit sit" Ana beckoned with a smile on her face.
"Thank you Ms Ana", said Fiona shyly.
"What are you thanking me for? Your dad and I knew each other since way back in university. You might as well call me your auntie, we're basically Family", said Ana while stealing suggestive glances at Leonidas.
Leonidas started coughing as he sat on the dining room table seat.
'This woman...'
"Oh no... Leonidas are you okay? Do you need water?" said Fiona with an anxious expression.
"It's fine... I'm fine. Thank you for being concerned."
Ana ignored Leonidas' helpless gaze as she nodded appreciatively at the concern in the eyes of Fiona. 'As expected of my boy, only a few days and he's charmed her'
After a quick thumbs up to who knows who, she served the food, which was Tuna Mac and Cheese followed by dessert 30 minutes later, which was Custard pie and ice cream.
No matter what, Ana's skill in cooking was exceptional. Leonidas could never figure out how a 35 year old career woman could balance being the best at work and in the kitchen.
No matter what, Ana was a terrifying woman. Leonidas was sure of that.
After dinner Leonidas walked Fiona home, which in a cul-de-sac like theirs, was merely 2 minutes worth of walking down the street.
"See you tomorrow?" said Fiona as she opened the door to her house.
"Yeah. See you tomorrow." Leonidas smiled and waited until the door was closed before heading home.
"haah... Not only am I handsome, but I'm a gentleman as well... Truly God's gift to women'
Leonidas wouldnt call himself a narcissists, but he knew a lot of psychiatrists who would. That didn't make him wrong. That just made them idiots.
'They say 'God gives and God takes away', but in my case he just gave and gave and gave...'
Annoying...
Leonidas was in a really good mood. He would use his precious 'Study Buddy' as a base for his experiments in awakening normal humans.
After figuring out a way to awaken people he would build his own force. But that would be way in the future.
For now, all he was focused on was three things. School, Business, and Cultivation.
"Hmmm... Should I get another study buddy? Open up a study group..."
That thought would be left for another time. He went back home to his room and continued cultivating spiritual power.
He figured at this rate he could reach King Realm before the age of 21. His plans were coming together very nicely.
His other experiments into life energy proved fruitful. He cut himself and was able to fully regenerate the tissue by consciously moving life energy towards the wound.
The wound's cells grew at an alarming rate and came together as they were before. No scars. Now all he had to do was figure out more ways to use life energy. He hoped it could be useful in healing applications.
His work was cut out for him. And in another week he'd be starting his second semester at school. He couldn't help but sigh.
'I'm just too handsome... Even the universe wants to give me dark circles'
Annoying...