Third Person POV
Alaric made sure he was up early today. He was excited to learn how to cultivate. After finding out where Novius was from his mother, he quickly approached the arbour.
"Father..." As soon as he saw Novius, he called out, but then he saw his father wearing a straw hat and... watering the plants around the arbour. "What are you doing?"
"Preparing your cultivation lesson," Novius said, turning around while pointing at the plant with his watering can. The water kept pouring out of it while Alaric's brows twitched as he saw Novius's smile.
"Did you not get it? Cultivation? Like growing and cultivating plants." Not even a squeak came out of Alaric's mouth, he simply stared at Novius.
"Oh, fine!" Novius said with an exasperated sigh, "Get into the arbour."
"Get ready for another lecture after yesterday."
Alaric nodded, already seated in the arbour. This place had become his favorite retreat—the one spot where he could relax without interruption. And now, considering his new training required him to sit in one place for extended periods, he figured he'd be spending even more time here.
Novius stepped closer and sat down in front of him, mirroring his cross-legged posture.
"You remember what I said about the two categories of cores yesterday?"
"Oh, yeah! Impure cores and pure cores," Alaric said with a nod.
"Good. And since cores are separated this way, the method of refining them is different too."
Alaric tilted his head in curiosity as Novius raised a hand and placed a single finger against his sternum.
"Close your eyes," Novius instructed, his tone softer now. "Try to feel your core."
Alaric obeyed, his breathing steady as he focused.
"Do you feel it?"
A slight nod.
Novius withdrew his hand, satisfied. "Nice. Now, try pushing your mana outward in all directions."
Alaric's brows furrowed in concentration. A few moments passed before he opened his eyes, his face scrunched in discomfort.
"It's... weird."
Novius chuckled. "Weird?"
"Yeah, it's not painful or difficult, just... restrictive. If I let mana flow normally, it's fine, but when I push it out, it's like something's blocking me."
"Exactly," Novius nodded. "And that 'something' is the impurities in your core. If someone wants to enhance their body, they have to be able to do this—but it's impossible in the impure stages."
Alaric leaned forward slightly, listening intently as his father continued.
"To refine your core, you need to remove these impurities. As you gradually clear them out, you'll rise through the stages."
Alaric nodded. "So... how do I remove them?"
"Push them out."
Alaric blinked.
Novius had a smirk, but looking at Alaric's deadpan expression, he realized elaboration was needed.
"Think of it like cleaning a really old, dirty surface with water. You can't just pour a little and hope for the best—you need to focus a high-pressure stream on one small spot until it's clean. That's what you have to do with mana. Pick a single point in your core, force mana through it, and push the impurities out. Once that spot is clear, move on to the next. When your entire core is purified, you'll reach the Green stage."
Alaric sat in silence, processing the information.
"Alright, Al," Novius finally said, pushing himself up. "If you need any help, I'll be in my office. It's not that difficult—just keep at it. You'll figure it out in a few tries."
Alaric watched his father walk away, his long strides carrying him toward the mansion. He kept staring until Novius disappeared from view.
The moment he was out of sight, Alaric exhaled dramatically and let himself fall backward onto the ground.
"I thought he would figure it out," he muttered to himself.
[Didn't I warn you about training first thing in the morning?]
"But I completed one of the tasks," Alaric pointed out, rolling onto his side.
[Well… true.]
Alaric smirked. "Exactly. Now, let's talk about more important things."
[Quest Acquired!]
[Learn to enhance your body with mana before advancing to the Green stage.]
[Reward: 1,000,000,000 Aurel points, 50 Astral shards]
"So... what do you have to say about this?"
[I don't really have anything to say. I don't give you quests or tasks.]
"..."
Alaric stared at Boon, his expression blank. Then, with a heavy sigh, he got back up. "It didn't even notify me. I just happened to notice a new tab while searching for [Tome], and the absurd amount of rewards made me accept it without thinking."
[Quests don't notify you. You gotta check them yourself. Make sure to look regularly—some quests might have time limits for accepting or declining.]
"Okay, fine, but how do I even do this one?"
[Uh, by training, what else?]
"Didn't Father literally say I need to be in the pure stages to learn it? How am I supposed to do it before hitting the Green stage?"
[Well, it's really ■■■■■■. You just have to ■■■■■ ■■■■ ■■■■ with ■■■■. You need ■■■■ ■■■■.]
Alaric's face steadily contorted into one of sheer disappointment as he listened to the garbled mess. A long, exhausted sigh left his lips.
"You are so useless."
[Oh? You couldn't hear it?]
Alaric shook his head.
[Welp. Guess the person who designed this system really wants you to figure this one out yourself.]
"Forget it. Just tell me if it's possible right now and how hard it would be."
[Right now? No. Your mana reserves are too low.]
Alaric sighed. 'Of course.'
[It is possible, though. Everyone in the kingdom just lacks knowledge. Haven't you noticed the difference between how you use skills and how they do it outsid— … Wait. You haven't been outside even once.]
"You sound concerned about that."
[Well, aren't children supposed to play outside?]
"...You're right."
A brief silence settled between them.
[Anyway, what I was saying is there are a lot of things people around you either don't know or have been misinformed about. There's a reason we learned skills in secrecy, you know.]
Alaric didn't have much to say to that. He simply nodded.
"Can you at least tell me what this enhancement actually is?"
[Well, let's see… I might have to keep it vague. What your father said about enhancement is correct. Half correct. They are enhancing their body only in the places where they have mana pathways by concentrating mana there.]
"So it's actually just coating the body with pure mana?"
[■■■]
"Oh, so I am right," Alaric muttered, hearing the now-familiar ear-tearing static that signaled restricted information.
Scratching his chin, he stared at the tiled floor. "However much I'd love to pat myself on the back, I can't. Two problems. First, my mana reserves are painfully low. Valen almost has three times mine."
[True.]
The panel floated, lowering into his line of sight.
[What's the second problem?]
Alaric scoffed. "As if you don't already know."
He lifted a finger to be in front of his sight. "Using mana to perform a skill is one thing—"
He could see mana slowly come out and cover the tip of his finger before quickly fizzling out as he pressed it against the floor.
"—using it without a skill is another." The mana dispersed before it could form a stable layer.
[（￣︶￣）]
Alaric deadpanned at the smug-looking emoticon. "I hate when you do that."
[Hehe~]
"Whatever. No point in worrying about that quest right now. I need to refine my core before anything else."
Alaric let out a dramatic groan and flopped onto his back.
"Ugh! It's going to be so boring trying to remove impurities…" His gaze drifted to the arbour's shaded latticework. The patterns twisted and swirled in a spiral, finally converging in a single, perfect circle in the center.
For a while, he just stared at it.
Then, he sat back up.
"Yeah. I'm not doing it that way."
.
.
.
A week had passed, and Alaric had spent every moment of it cultivating. He sat in the arbour for hours on end, and today was no different. His eyes were baggy, his shoulders slumped, and exhaustion practically radiated from his body.
He exhaled deeply, his breath carrying more weariness than words could.
"It's done, I guess," he muttered, his voice barely above a whisper.
[What's done?]
Boon got no response. Instead, Alaric's brows furrowed as he clenched his eyes shut. Then, another breath escaped his lips—this one different. It wasn't of exhaustion anymore. It was of relief.
[Wait! Don't—]
Before Boon could finish, Alaric's clothes suddenly billowed as if caught in a violent windstorm. Yet, the surroundings remained completely still.
For a few seconds, the unseen force whipped around him, stirring the air.
Then—
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
[Ding!]
The endless chime of notifications filled his mind, only ceasing when the invisible storm around him died down.
Alaric blinked.
Then, his tired face broke into a grin. "It worked!" He threw his arms up in victory.
[（⊙ｏ⊙）]
Boon's floating panel practically screamed confusion.
"What?" Alaric blinked at it.
[Don't 'What?' me. What the hell did you just do?!]
"What do you mean? I just refined my core."
[Oh yeah, you refined your core all right. Twice. At once.]
"HUH?!"
[Uh-huh. Now you're reacting properly... That's some improvement, I guess.]