'My blood is pure right now, since I haven't tried circulation and used my remaining mana in bullets I am officially depleted now. I need to halt my breathing technique and mana circulation, I cannot afford more blood, it's going to be traced back to me sooner than expected.' Vaelorian thought and his expression changed to a complex one.
He needs to visit his mom again. In these two weeks, he has visited his mom more times than he did in the entire previous year. After parting with Lan Liuyue, Vaelorian didn't waste any time and made his way to his mom's house.
Vaelorian barged in like usual and found his mom sitting in her usual spot.
"It's getting harder for me to get blood. I tried hare's blood but it was too weak and I am afraid to fight wolves."
"I am fine, thanks for asking," Victoria spoke sarcastically and turned to her son.
"I need to learn more about meridians and how do they work? I cannot go like this. This will gather the attention towards me again and the King Maximus might take action if I am this ignorant every time. The reincarnates have something called a 'system' that gives them quests and after it is completed they get spells! I know a guy who got an intermediate spell because he found my identity, since I killed 5 people the system had given the quests to hundreds of people!"
"I cannot help you with that. If what you said is true then they might get a quest that will make my life harder. I want to live peacefully until my daughter is born."
"Then tell me about meridians. I want to know how they work."
"There are three meridians in our body. The main meridian carries the mana and helps it circulate. It is also called the Primary Mana Channel. The other two meridians are branches of the Primary Mana Channel. They are called Elemental Channel and Pure Mana Reservoir, your elemental channel is ruptured. Since your gates are also damaged the impure mana is leaking into your bloodstream and the Primary Mana Channel is responsible for that. Elemental Channel carries the extracted element of your affinity and Pure Mana Reservoir is responsible for carrying the pure mana to the body and for mana manipulation. Your mana bullets come out from Pure Mana Reservoir."
Vaelorian nodded at his mom's explanation. "I understood all this. What I wanted to ask was is there any way I can store mana? In that way, I won't need to drink blood again and again after using the breathing technique. I can just store the mana and maybe use it later? If not mana then how can I store blood without making it stale?"
"What is your goal Vaelorian? Why are you suddenly so interested in getting stronger? Is it perhaps because you want to rule like King Maximus?"
"I have no interest in ruling or taking the place of King Maximus. I find the reincarnates really interesting and if they can come here then maybe I can go there. I want to live on Earth. I will do whatever it takes." Vaelorian spoke with determination, not breaking eye contact with his mom.
"What I am about to tell you will come at a cost."
"What cost?"
"I won't see you until the time is right. It could be days, weeks, or even years. This will be our last meeting."
"What?!" Vaelorian widened his eyes as he stared at his mom. What did she mean by that?
Victoria stayed silent and observed Vaelorian, who was lost in his thoughts.
"Tell me,"
"You cannot go back now." Victoria began, "There is a way to store the mana. You won't need to use the breathing technique again and again but once and you will have mana for long enough. Your meridians are connected to an organ at the lower abdomen. It's called a dantian. A dantian can store large amounts of mana. There are many ranks of a dantian and with each rank, you will gain a larger and wider perspective of this world and the mana around you. Once you are strong enough, you will be able to bend the laws or maybe become a god yourself. You will need to channel the mana through your meridians into the dantian, once it is full you can use that mana anytime. This is called cultivation. Once you cultivate daily soon you will feel your dantian growing and you will able to break the ranks and advance to the next one."
Victoria moved closer to Vaelorian and touched a particular point with her finger. "This is where your dantian resides. It's contracted now, but you can expand it by channeling mana through your meridians to this focal point. The process will be painful and tiring but you cannot stop once you begin otherwise it will hinder the growth of your dantian. It should approximately take a day to form your dantian. You need to give at least 10 hours, you can take breaks if the pain is unbearable. You need to be patient and very careful in the beginning because if the dantian is damaged while it's growing then it will be impossible to go back."
"Can I store any element in Dantian?"
"If you are thinking of storing impure mana in your dantian then yes you can. However, using the element will shorten your life span and damage your internal organs. Mana goes into dantian through meridians and in the same way, mana flows out through meridians. The gates of your Primary Mana Channel are damaged which will hinder the mana flow and impure mana will leak before going through the Pure Mana Reservoir and Elemental Channel since your Elemental Channel is also ruptured it will only speed up your demise."
"The only option for me is to manipulate the mana like I have been doing before but this time I can increase the intensity because of dantian."
Victoria silently observed Vaelorian. She knew that soon Vaelorian was going to change the entire future and the timeline. He is going to make some very important figures mad just for his own personal goals. After all, Vaelorian was never meant to be born. The future was uncertain now, the loop was breaking and it was all because of her son.
"If you want to achieve your goals," Victoria slowly moved closer to Vaelorian and stared into his eyes. "You will need to achieve immortality, you will need to defeat the god known as Celestrios."
Vaelorian was surprised and he stared at his mom. "So Celestrios is real?"
"Of course he is. He will be back after a century and when he comes you are going to die Vaelorian. He will kill you no matter what you say."
Vaelorian stayed silent and listened to his mother very carefully. "You don't have long Vaelorian. Becoming immortal within a century is not possible simply by cultivation. You will need to use many unorthodox methods that are not going to be taken lightly by anyone."
"What should I do?"
"You already know the answer."
"Temple...." Vaelorian spoke to himself.
"Farewell Vael, my son," Victoria spoke lightly and left her house.
Vaelorian rushed and as soon stepped outside there was no sign of his mom.