“I can do this.” Encouraging myself, I took breaths at rapid succession and got my mindset ready for whatever was going to follow.

Taking five minutes to get my mind and heart ready, I asked the single most important question related to cultivation.

“So how should I do this?”

And my always helping friend or the system replied back without a single delay, as if it was waiting for me to ask it. Well, it was probably a help function of the cultivation technique, put into the method to help novice cultivators on the road to immortality.

Stage one of body cultivation:

Mp required: 10,

Skills required: Mana sense Lv 1, Mana channel Lv 1, Mana control lv 1.

Procedure: Blast your muscles from the inside and destroy them, before using mana to heal them slowly over the days.

Healing the broken muscles will not only improve their overall strength, but also dexterity and their ability to hold load, in other words your endurance.

Effect: +.5strength, +.25endurance, +.25agility.

“So Instead of breaking my muscles by working out, I’ll be systematically break them using mana and then use the same mana to reconstruct them? Sounds easy.”

But it was at that moment that I had an idea; an idea that would take my body cultivation to a whole new level.

I knew I had more than 10 points of mana. My mana pool had gotten deeper quite substantially after all.

“System, can I use more than 10 points of mana to destroy my muscles? Is there any way for me to do it… more thoroughly I guess?”

The first stage of body cultivation takes 10 Mana to destroy your muscles.

“But isn’t that too low?”

The idea behind body cultivation is to have a controlled destruction of your muscles and then reconstruct them with mana over time. Mana is actually quite explosive in nature. With only a single level in mana control You won’t be able to have a controlled destruction and may lose your life in the process of mana going berserk.

“But my mana control is already at lv 9.”

And I didn’t receive any other messages after that.

“Wait, she said using more mana to destroy is not possible because normally one is not able to control the mana required to regenerate the muscles after that, but I have [Heal]. And it can regenerate my muscles, right?”

I thought hard and strong about what I would be doing, and only after a lot of data gathering and brainstorming did I finally reach the result to use 50 points of mana to try and complete my first stage of body cultivation.

It was a bit silly and idiotic of me, but greater danger brings greater rewards.

“Hope the results will be as good as the danger I’m taking.” Reassuring myself that it was okay, I had [Heal] which could even regenerate limbs in case any complication arose. I readied myself for a little ant experiment, where I was the lamb with my head on the line.

“Okay, fu, fu, fu… let do this.”

Closing my eyes, I curled up into a ball and relaxed my muscles. Using [Inspection] on my own body, I looked at my muscles which were mainly connecting my mandibles to my jaw, my neck to my thorax, my muscles in my chest which controlled my legs, and also the muscles at my abdomen; the ones which contract and expand as the need arises.

“Who knows what is going to happen now.”

Distributing one hundred points of mana through my body, I took a deep breath and exhaled. Following the procedure given by the cultivation technique, I checked one last time for any error in my calculations or mana distribution to my muscles.

But seeing that everything was okay, I finally detonated my mana.

And my body went numb.

{-67Hp}

{You are losing vital fluids.}

{-2Hp/sec}

[Hp: 80.62]

{-2Hp}

{-2Hp}

{-2Hp}

.

.

[Hp: 43.67]

The numbness was slight and only stayed for a second, before the excruciating pain came blasting from the insides of my body.

“F-U-C-K…!” I tried to yell, but because even the muscles of my jaw had exploded, I failed to form a complete sentence. I looked at the constant message reminding me of my leaking health with every passing second and shivered in pain, shock and the horror of knowing that I was going to die.

I felt life slipping away from my hands and my vision started blurring before it darkened completely.

Even the messages started fading into the void, and before I knew, I had wasted ten precious seconds of my life fighting against the pain.

“I- ne-need to do som-thing. W-what w-as it…”

With pain overtaking my ability to think, it was becoming difficult and difficult for me to form coherent thoughts as more and more time passed.

By now my body had already become paralyzed. I was sure I felt some wetness underneath me some seconds ago, but now it wasn’t there anymore.

My body felt like I was lying in a limbo with no sense of direction or weight.

There was something that I needed to do, but I simply couldn’t remember. Turned out, the system was right about not using more than the described dosage of mana to complete the first stage of body cultivation.

I had killed myself.

[Hp: 18.36]

But seeing the term Hp floating in front of me, I finally realized what it was that I needed to do now.

“Fuck…[Heal]”

And the golden glow which I had only seen taking lives of the zombies started burning over my haggard and almost lifeless body.

The light was too brilliant, but instead of blinding me with its brilliance, it soothed my pain. First the numbness vanished before a sense of heaviness fell on my chest followed by my body becoming light once again.

The feeling of life leaving my body stopped abruptly and I started feeling alive again. A sense of strength and vigor followed it and soon I was breathing normally once again.

“Ha, ha, ha…”

I took slow fulfilling breaths and ten seconds later the brilliant glow of [Heal] dimmed, before disappearing completely.

I was alive.

I didn’t knew whether I had succeeded in cultivating my first stage or not, but I knew this was the closest I had been to death so far.

“What if I had tried to cultivate when my health was only 20, what would have happened then?”

But I didn’t have to think about it because soon the message I was so hopping and waiting for arrived.

And what a fucking surprise it was.

Congratulation! You have completed the first stage of body cultivation.

You have created miracle on the path of life called cultivation. What you have achieved here is a myth among myths. Though the process wouldn’t have been possible without your experience and skills, and although your mindset doesn’t look normal at all, but you have still achieved something which hasn’t been achieved since the start of time.

First stage of Body cultivation has been completed.

Result: +2.50Strength, +1.75Agility, +1.75Endurance, +5Hp, +5MP.

“That’s…”

Like they say, the dangerous the job, the greater the reward. I knew the results would be entertaining at the least, but who knew I would get such a great return from the pain.

I checked my Mana and saw that it was down to 100. The hungry beast named [Greed] hiding in my conscious started getting restless and tugging on my mind to venture a little further, to complete another stage of cultivation.

“Well, should I?”

I checked with the system how much mana I would require to complete the second stage and felt surprised. I thought it would once again take 100 mana which I had plenty of, but the answer wasn’t that straight forward.

Second stage of body cultivation:

Description: Your body is now a lot stronger than it used to be. So in order to break it down and complete the process you need,

Mana required: 150

Skills required: Mana control lv 10, Mana channel lv 10, Mana manipulation lv 5, Mana sense lv 10

Procedure: Similar to first stage.

*Gulp*

“Damn… that’s, too much.”

But instead of cowering from the pain and hurt I would have to go through from getting internally destroyed by 150 mana, my body started heating up from the excitement and anticipation of seeing the end result.

My total mana had grown to 143. Seeing that I almost had enough mana to at least complete one more stage, I decided to give it a go.

But my mana quantity was down to 84 and checking my Mana Regeneration which was up to sixty six per hour. I calculated and turns out my mana would take a little more than an hour to recover.

It was the time to wait now. But instead of sleeping it through, I decided to evolve my remaining skills.

“Yeah, why waste time. Let’s do something productive.” And I looked at my list of skill waiting to evolve.

With my mind on my mana pool, I choose my first skill to evolve.

{Pheromones has risen to lv 10}

Pheromones has reached its maximum level

and is presenting you with the option to evolve the skill into:

Signaling Pheromones / Tracking pheromones

“So it is asking me to become specialized in one type of pheromones? Sounds practical.”

And it truly was. But I didn’t have to think much to choose between the two because I already had a tracking skill. Moreover my way was untraceable, while pheromone tracking was traceable. After all if I could track a guy from the smell, then others could do the same too.

*Ting*

[Skill: Signal Pheromones gained.]

Signaling pheromones:

Allows you to signal your troops about your condition and even relate simple details and intention through the signal.

The skill level controls the area and time the pheromones stays in the air.

It was a kind of skill that would go quite well with the [Party system] of my [Bonding] skill. Yes, now I also had [Call], but that was more usable in a long distance situation where I needed to have a direct conversation with a single individual. Not good in controlling an army, where one needs to control more than a few hundred to a thousand guys.

“Okay onto the next skill which is pheromone manipulation.”

{Pheromone manipulation has risen to lv 10}

Pheromone manipulation has reached its maximum level

and has reached the end of the boat.

*[Your MP has increased by 1]*

“So manipulation skills don’t evolve? Maybe that is why they are more difficult to level up than other skills. If I am right then they probably grow together with the skills of their specialty. Maybe that is also the reason why I have never seen a manipulation skill which has is higher in level than the skills under its system.”

“Okay… next one up is lift.”

{Lift has risen to lv 10}

Lift has reached its maximum level

and is evolving into Novice Ant strength.

*Ting*

[Skill: Novice Ant strength obtained.]

Novice Ant strength: Is an active skill which increases your strength by .2 per skill level.

Duration: 10 minutes

Cost: needs 5Mp/level.

Cool down: 1 hr- 1day. (Depends on the level of skill used.)

Restrictions: Needs High Health Regeneration lv 1-25 to use.

“Five percent increase means by the time it will reach lv 25, I’ll be able to increase my strength by 5, SHIT!”

But then I read the last line and a thought suddenly crashed onto my porch.

“But wait… if I need High Health Regeneration to use it, then what happens if my High Health Regeneration evolves into Tier 3! Will I be able to use the skill without any consequences? That’s too god damn hyped!”

“Shit… let’s see the next skill before I launch myself to the moon from the happiness. This stuff is too addicting!”

{Longevity has risen to lv 10}

Longevity has reached its maximum level.

+1 vitality

*Ting*

[Longevity (Tier 1) has evolved into Longevity (Tier 2)]

Longevity (Tier 2): Your vitality increases by .2 every level.

“That’s, pretty straight forward of you. Thank you. I always welcome free stats. Okay, next one up is surprise attacks.”

{Surprise attack has risen to lv 10}

Surprise attack has reached its maximum level

and is presenting you with the option to evolve the skill into:

Ghosts lick/Ghosts stare

“Pfft!”

I couldn’t help it. The options seemed really funny to look at that time.

“What kind of skills are these? Will one of them evolve into Ghosts balls or Ghosts Shlong? Haaha…”

And after a minute of laughing my ass off, I finally had enough control over myself to make fun of them a little more.

“I hope the skill is talking about my opponents because I sure as hell don’t want to get stared down or licked by any ghosts.”

“Well if I am going to choose one then I’ll surely go with ghost licking…”

*Pfft*

“Ha-haha… a licking ghost… Man that’s a very passionate skill. Too stunning a skill. Ghostly licking…haaha…”

*Ting*

[Skill: Ghost Lick obtained.]

Ghost Lick:

What happens to those who die, to the ones you kill? Do they become ghosts or enter the cycle of reincarnation. According to myths, there are ghosts in this world and those ghosts sometimes are deadlier than living beings.

Now, the more you kill the greater becomes the number of angry souls around you. This skill channels the energy of those angry souls and increases your attack damage.

The more you kill the stronger the skill will be and the greater will grow your advantage.

Lv1: Kill 1-25 enemies to increase your damage by 1-25%.

Lv2: Kill1-25 enemies consequently to increase your damage by 2- 50%

Lv3: Kill 1-25 enemies consequently within a minute of each other to increase your damage by 3-75%

And so on.

The effect will rise with every kill you get and will remain until you fail to kill another being for a full minute.

I looked at the skill and gulped a mouthful of saliva.

“Goddamn… those ghosts won’t hurt me right?”

Who knew those who die become ghosts and roam around the land of the living?

I tried to figure out what kinds of effect [Ghosts stare] would have had, but even that skill surely would have given me something eerie as this one. So what did it matter.

It was already a sin that I knew the skill names. I didn’t want to get cursed by demanding their descriptions too.

“So, if I can somehow keep killing every fifty or so seconds then I’ll be able to keep the effect forever! That’s too perfect a skill, but I don’t think it is physically possible to kill someone every minute.”

“Okay next one… One of the main skills in charge of body cultivation; let’s see what you have in store for me.”

{Mana sense has risen to lv 10}

Mana sense has reached its maximum level

And has evolved into Mana Influence.

*Ting*

[Skill: Mana Influence obtained.]

Mana influence: You saw and sensed something which was different and stranger than any living entity you had seen or felt. Now you want to grow accustomed to it and find the secrets it holds.

Effect: +.2intelligence/lv.

Next were the language skills, but I knew what their result was going to be, so I only gave them a quick glance and moved on.

{Wasp, moth and Grasshopper language have risen to lv 10}

Wasp, Moth and Grasshopper languages have reached its maximum level

#Error- need four more language skills to evolve.

“This I already know. Okay next up is Haste, but first is Spike; my most useful skill.”

Spike has reached its maximum level.

+2.5 Dexterity. +2.5Endurance.

You need Evolved version of [Mana control] to advance [Spike].

Evolution Halted.

“Oh come on!” I checked the skill to see how far it was from evolving and saw that it was comfortably sitting at lv 9. “Not far now, aye. It’s alright. I can wait.”

With that drama over, I started wondered with excitement about my other skills. I was full of expectation with [Haste], but it thoroughly disappointed me in return. Just kidding.

{Haste has risen to lv 25}

Haste has reached its maximum level.

Haste has evolved into Acceleration(Tier-3)

*Ting*

[Skill: Acceleration gained]

[Acceleration][Lv-1/50][Tier-3]

{It is a sudden burst in your speed for a second.}

{Lets you cover a distance of ten steps in any direction at 500% of your agility.}

{It uses 15Mp and has a 10 minute cool down period.}

{It increases you agility by .3/lv.}

“Let’s see what Perception brings me.”

But the same thing happened with it too and that made me yell out in anger.

{Perception has risen to lv 25}

{Clarity has risen to lv 25}

Perception has reached its maximum level.

+25IIntelligence

Clarity has reached its maximum level.

Clarity and perception are combining together. Would you like to proceed with the skill evolution

Y/N

“Of course it’s a yes from me!”

*Ting*

[Skill: Sight gained.]

[Sight][Lv-1/50][Tier-3][Passive]

{This skill gives you the sight required to see the world clearly.}

{+.1strength/lv, +.1Dexterity/lv, +.1Wisdom/lv}

The last ones were [Wind resistance], which simply evolved into [High wind resistance] while boosting my agility by 1; [Mana Clad] and [Acid manipulation].

Acid manipulation simply gave me 10 mp and disappeared amidst the blue hue of the flashing system notification boxes; while Mana clad evolved, and what a skill it evolved into.

Mana clad has reached its maximum level.

Skill mana clad is evolving and is presenting you with the options to gain:

Aura or Mana drain.

I had previously heard of mana drain as it is one of the most useful skills to have when you are fighting against a horde of enemies, as one can then successfully drain mana of their opponents and use it as their own. I have been through a lot of situations to understand the value of this skill.

But,

The skill, the option opposite to it wasn’t some run of the mill skill which I could discard so easily. It was something which I had only heard the others talk about- a skill which only the greatest of geniuses can unlock and wield properly. The thing is, the value of both skills was so astronomically high that leaving even a single one could have cost me dearly and choosing the wrong option could kill me in the nearest future.

It took me some time to decide, ubut in the end I went with [Aura], just because of the endless possibilities it had.

*Ting*

[Skill: Aura gained]

[Aura][Lv-1/25][Tier-2][Active]

[This skill allows you to clad your body in a veil of mana, protecting you from prodding skills and increases your stats efficiency by 4%]

[Stat and Skill efficiency depends on the skill level.]

[One activated it will drain 1% of your mana per second.]

Seeing that I had already evolved all of my skills I checked my mana pool, but it was still hovering around 100MP.

“Anyways, so what now, Ah…!”

I remembered I hadn’t checked the skills I had gotten from my evolution.

“Yeah, let’s check them too while we are at it.”

What else could I have done? I still had an hour long wait left to do. The mana regeneration speed was too damn low.

So the skills I had gotten from my evolution were, [Rapid fire], [Inventory], [High light resistance] and upgrade to Speed demon and a fixed Evolution of Mandible cut.

Rapid fire (Tier 1):

Effect: Lets you use a skill five times simultaneously without caring about its cool down.

Cost: +100%Mp used, -50% attack power.

Cool down: 1 hour.

+1 attack every level up.

Inventory: (Special)

Inventory has been added to your status. You can check it by either navigating your status or simply saying ‘Inventory.’

Space: 10x10x10 cubic centimeters.

+1 cubic centimeters to the space every level up.

Haste Demon: is a racial upgrade to speed demon for the silver ants.

Your speed increases by 5% every 10 steps he runs.

Actually from all of them, I liked inventory the best. Ants don’t have pockets after all. It is very difficult to take things with you from one place to another. You take something, place it somewhere and then a day later forget where you had place it.

That is why having an [Inventory] was very convenient.

The first thing I did after checking out my skill descriptions was to try opening my inventory and see how it felt to have a dimension at the tip of my fingers.

“Inventory!” I excitedly said and instead of a black hole appeared in front of me.

Sorry, just joking. Instead of any otherworldly phenomenon happening a blue screen appeared with a 10x10 grid appeared in front of me.

“It’s empty.”

Well not like I was expecting anything, but still…

“Okay, leaving that aside for another time, lets…”

I checked to see how my mana regeneration was going and seeing that my mana had already regenerated up to 152, I happily clapped my antennas.

“It’s cultivation time.”