Alex and Amelia listened to Kyle’s brief story about his origins. They were utterly astonished! It was truly hard to believe the existence of another world.

“So, that’s that. I am technically no longer human. What your world used to call ‘high humans’ is probably closer to what I am. I don’t know how strong they were though.”

Alex stared hard at the man he had known for over nine years. He recalled the memories of seeing a younger Kyle. His looks reflected what he believed to be Kyle’s age the entire time.

Amelia was equally quiet. But, at the end she could not resist the urge to question his story.

“How can you prove that you are from another world? How can something like that be even possible?”

Kyle glanced at the bewildered Amelia.

“Miss Amelia. I myself have no proof nor do I need to provide you with one. I just felt like sharing a little of my past. Whether you believe it or not is entirely your problem.”

Kyle paused and looked at the two’s expressions before continuing.

“As for the existence of other worlds. Hmm…where do you think those ‘monsters’ that you fight come from?”

This caught the duo off guard. They had never thought of it! One would think that the monsters were the inhabitants of another continent. Everyone had always believed in that theory.

“Hmm? Oh, could it be that you didn’t know? I thought the upper echelon of your alliance of races would have told the ruling class at the very least. Perhaps your father hasn’t told you about it, Miss Amelia.”

“N-no…I haven’t heard anything like that…from anyone!”

Kyle gave the two of them a few moments to let the information sink in.

“Ok, now that you know what I am, hopefully you won’t be questioning what I’m about to teach you.”

‘It’d be super annoying if you asked about every little thing.’ Kyle thought to himself and waited until he had the full attention of the couple.

“Ok, so. First thing first. Can you see if I have any mana in me?”

Alex replied straight away.

“No. There’s not a trace of mana in you.”

“That is correct. I cannot draw it into my body. It rejects me as I am not of this world. I can, however, do this!”

Kyle gathered the surrounding mana at an astonishing rate, forming into a visible blue blade.

Alex and Amelia opened their mouths in shock. Kyle’s speed of employing mana was far too fast! It was at the level of Grandmaster rank mages!

“Mana, in essence, is a type of energy. I am a being that has escaped the confines of a lower realm. Therefore, I am able to manipulate any type of energy to some extent.”

Alex and Amelia fixatedly stared at the lump of mana in Kyle’s hand as they listened. Their seemingly ordinary brother in law was full of surprises tonight!

The sword changed its shape into that of a perfect sphere. It proceeded to morph into inanimate objects such as cubes, shields, arrows and daggers. Alex and Amelia were simply dazzled by the display.

Before they had a chance to speak, what happened next took their breath away. The lump of mana changed it’s form to that of a tall tree. The tree then started to breath into life, with it simulating the act of being swayed by a breeze, its leaves shaking and the small branches bending in the direction of the wind.

“Now, this is what your so-called demigods are capable of, regardless of warrior or mage, the distinction no longer exists at that level.”

The swaying tree slowly transformed into an eagle, flying in the skies, with it’s wings flapping, every feather clear and distinct. Kyle further demonstrated a few more forms before letting the mana disperse into the air.

Alex and Amelia both looked at Kyle with sparkling eyes. They had never imagined that Kyle was such an expert!

“I will be teaching you three things in total. Well, just two tonight. Now, pay attention.”

Alex and Amelia frantically nodded, listening in earnest, afraid to miss anything.

“First, let’s teach you about a breathing method. Your meditating to draw mana into your bodies is far too inefficient!”

Kyle spent some time, teaching them a method that was designed to simply calm their minds. In reality, this was not a proper cultivation method. However, it would be very useful in battle, allowing one to replenish mana and keep a calm head at the same time.

As the process was rather easy and both Alex and Amelia being talented people, they got the hang of it rather fast.

“Oh!! If I use this while meditating, the effect doubles!” Alex exclaimed in excitement from the discovery.

Amelia was beaming. She had a higher innate talent than anyone else her age. This method was simply godly! It more than tripled the speed at which she gathered mana!

“OK, before you get too happy, this breathing exercise is meant to passively draw in mana into you at any time. I think you understand the implications of that right?”

The couple froze at the words ‘any time’. This meant it was very useful in battle! They could fight longer without having to replenish through meditation!

“It isn’t all that great other than those effects though. All it means is that you will simply hit your limit sooner. I guess reducing the time it’ll take you to reach Grandmaster rank isn’t all that bad.”

“OK, next method is very important. Miss Amelia, I’ll have to get you to perform a mana contract. Without Alex’s permission, you cannot pass it onto others. Feel free to teach the breathing method to anyone.”

Amelia was bewildered. The breathing method was already heaven defying in her opinion. It was hard to imagine something even more powerful existed! Still, she agreed to the mana contract.

“Now, before I teach you this method, let me tell you something first.

After you gather mana into your bodies, it merely sits in your dantian without doing anything. You people simply force more mana into it until things follow the natural course.”

“Dantian?”

“That’s the place where your mana goes if you are a mage. Warriors don’t have one. Don’t worry about the name. It’s not important!”

Kyle continued after introducing the unfamiliar term to the couple, who were surprised by the sudden theory lesson.

“So, all of you mages don’t actually have a foundation! That is until you reach demigod rank. No wonder there are so few of them around. Ok, so this cultivation method, paired with the breathing method will allow you to overcome your innate talent barrier.”

Kyle spent the rest of the night teaching them a cultivation method that allowed one to reach the gold core stage from his old world. Except, in this world, the core would consist of the blue energy known as mana.

As the two were already ‘cultivators’ in reality, it was not difficult, and they learned to cultivate very quickly.

“Alex, you are still an apprentice mage so it’s the equivalent of Qi gathering stage, although it won’t be long until your breakthrough. Miss Amelia just became an adept rank mage. You should be able to feel your mana starting to condense into a liquid state in your dantian!

Now, that’s enough for tonight. I will teach you the final thing tomorrow morning. Let’s go rest.”

The campfire was still being manned by Captain Ruby, her fiery red hair accentuated by the flames. Liz seemed be dead tired from running through the forms. Vanessa was getting a small bath ready for Kaylee. She greeted the trio as they approached the campfire.

“All finished? Let’s clean up. Kaylee needs to go to bed dear.”

“Daddy! Story!”

“Ok, after you have your bath little girl.”

Alex was very much excited and wanted to ‘cultivate’ some more. The boy headed straight into his small tent after simply cleaning himself.

Amelia sat next to Liz and Ruby, puzzled at whatever caused the maid to become like this.