Jade got off the bus at the west side of town. The Star rise district was where most sects had their Business headquarters. Which meant tall high rising office buildings complemented by nice parks and about a bazillion coffeeshops and eateries.

Jade walked by the Sun forge sect’s building which was a shining crescent of chrome and glass. Right next to it was the offices of the Heavenly Array sect. Both, prime sects for creating cultivator goods. But over shadowing both of them was The Crystal corporation’s building which was shaped like a giant natural grown Crystal.

The crystal corporation created the powerplants and infrastructure that brought mana powered devices to every household in the empire. It was said that its founder was on of the first emperor’s close friends and original inventor of the Crystal System. They also supplied the special crystals that were used to initiate the system in the empires citizens.

The area was inhabited by businessmen and serious looking cultivators that all seemed to be in a hurry to get to the next meeting. An actual police presence could be felt here unlike in many of the poorer areas of the city.

Jade destination was White Tiger Academy. Its campus lay at the edge of the Star rise district which bordered the beginning of the countryside. If you travel about 100 miles farther west you would reach the border of the empire and with it the wild lands.

The campus itself was enclosed by 10 feet tall white stone walls with multiple entrance gates scattered around the district. Its size was quite impressive as it spanned almost 40 percent of the whole district. Its facilities included many different artificial danger zones and training fields, which were quite spread out to prevent interference with each other.

Placed in between the danger zones were isolated cultivation chambers which used the different elemental affinities to create special conditions for cultivation.This of course only really benefited the Concepts that were based in the elements. There were more generic chambers at a different place on the campus for the concepts that were not based in any of the five major elements.

Jade went through the checkpoint at the front entrance. There was a small pulse of mana that checked her for an access- or student card. Thankfully Namoru had already made the arrangements and her card arrived in the mail just a day prior. Otherwise, the campus formation arrays might have just erased her out of existence.

Jade made her way through the mostly empty campus, towards the indoor training facilities. Few students could be seen due to it being in between semesters. Those that were here did not give her a second glance or at most a polite nod.

Jade followed the direction she was sent by her master and made her way through the confusing paths in the campus until she finally reached the locker rooms. She changed in some light exercise clothes and entered the training hall.

Two people stood in the hall already her master and a small and lean woman. She had straight brown hair that was tied into a ponytail and serene green eyes. Her body was relaxed but in a constant state of alertness. To Jade she looked like a wolf circling its prey. She looked tiny even compared to her master who reached only 5’7’’

As Jade approached the two Namoru stopped his conversation with the woman and introduced the two women to each other: “Jade, this is Victoria Cloudfang a combat instructor at the academy. Victoria this is Jade my new disciple. As I already explained to miss Cloudfang before she is to help you build up your body to an acceptable level before we can even begin with combat training.”

Jade bowed to both her master and her new teacher. “I hope to fulfill your expectations and progress swiftly.”

Victoria responded with a predatory grin turning to Namoru. “You know that I will push her past her limits? She will not like it.”

“It matters not, training is never easy. And she will need every ounce of strength if she is to survive her time at the academy.”

Jade did not like where this conversation was going but she kept an impassive expression the whole time. Her master turned back to her. “You will start each day training your body with instructor Cloudfang and then continue on to theoretical lesson until you end the day in cultivation under my guidance. If you have any questions, you should ask them now.”

Jade could not think of any questions so she just nodded her head in acknowledgment. Satisfied he turned away after giving a short bow to the instructor.

“Now, Jade. I hope you like running.”

Jade enjoyed the occasional run but this was not running, this was torture. After 3 hours of sprints, long distance runs and obstacle courses with minimal breaks Jade was at the end of her ropes. Panting she collapsed on a bench that was near the edge of the training hall.

“That was pathetic. But not as bad as I initially thought it would be. We have something to work with. It will be hard and it will take a while but we may still make a warrior out of you.” Jade gave a thumbs up too exhausted to reply verbally.

Her theoretical lessons were given by Professor Gregory an old and bald cultivator who was stuck at the third tier but had excellent knowledge and experience with the basics of cultivation. He used his extended lifespan to learn as many subjects as possible and now he was tutoring Jade in all the things her standard education neglected.

This reached from deeper understanding of mana and cultivation to topics such as politics, higher class etiquette and history. She knew the basics of mana calculations and higher energy theory but lacked a lot of depth in those fields. And she only learned those since they were a necessity for alchemy.

After trying not to fall asleep in her private lecture due to her exhaustion it was finally time for her to start her cultivation session with her new master.She approached the buildings that were arranged neatly in rows behind the academies main building. The cultivation chambers of the White tiger academy were a cut above what even her mother’s sect could afford. Chamber 2b sat in the second row and was rented for her personal use only.

Inside Jade found her master sitting on small cushion at the center of the room. The walls were covered in five massive runes which made a pentagram formation if you connected them. She recognized them from her earlier lessons as Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water.

She approached the second pillow that was set before Master Ogabu and sat down. After a couple minutes of silence, she started to wonder if he fell asleep. She was just about to try waking him when he opened his eyes and stared at her.

“Greetings Master”; Jade bowed to him. He returned a short greeting and went straight into his lesson.

“First I will need to determine your current state and then we can analyze your path and create a suitable exercise for you to cultivate.”

Jade nodded and held out her hands for him to send mana through. Namoru shook his head and elaborated: “No need this chamber was set up with this step in mind. I will use its formation to get a visual representation of your current cultivation. This only works on the weaker spectrum of power since it would be too costly to display the full power of a high tiered cultivator.”

He started to expand his mana into the formation and quietly chanted a mantra. Suddenly the room lit up in a blue glow and a wave of mana slowly crept through her whole body. It felt like a lot of insects were crawling inside of her which made Jade shudder.

As soon as the wave was over motes of blue light started to rapidly gather between them and take the vague form of a human. Several spots were highlighted in different shapes and colors. Her Core was brilliant white dot at the center of her dantian. Her liver glowed a faint verdant green color, her Kidneys, heart, stomach, and Lungs each held a glow so faint it was barely visible, but each seemed to have a different color.

Tiny explosion seemed to originate in her core which send out slow waves of energy through her body flashing lightly whenever they met one of her five organs. It took the waves longer to travel to the top of her head and the bottom of her feet than it took to reach her hands. The distance was just a bit shorter. Every time the wave passed her liver the flash was greater than her other organs.

“It seems your concept has guided you to a five elemental cultivation path. A rare one but not one untreaded. You will need to establish your wood foundation first as it is the most active at the moment. It seems your cultivation method strengthens your body as a whole every time it travels through it. This means you are to some degree a body cultivator. But I am most interested in these nebulae, I have an inkling that they might hold a greater secret. What do you feel when you focus on them?”

Jade closed her eyes and tried to focus on her liver, something she struggled with as it was one of those organs were you knew that you had it but kind of forgot where it really was. Slowly her focus narrowed from a whole body few to an ever-shrinking area. At the same time the projection of her cultivation followed along with her, zoomin in on her liver.

As she had only her liver and its nebula in her mind, she could vividly feel the waves of mana crash over it. Every time a small bit was absorbed and added to some kind of mana structure. Jade tried to feel out what that structure was meant to be but struggled with getting a grip on it.

“Try to imagine a hand or maybe a tool with which you can examine it.” Her master suggested.

Jade pondered on the tool to choose but lastly decide on just a small thread of mana as thick as a hair that snaked its way into the nebula. She tried to feel for the mana structure again. To her surprise she found a small kernel of concentrated mana. She told her findings to Namoru.

“A proto core. Incredible.” He folded his hands and held them up to his lips deep in thought. “I have a theory but you need to confirm it. I want you to focus on the concept of growth as you imagine it just as you did when you established your own Concept Genesis.”

Jade wasn’t sure what this was supposed to accomplish but she still tried. She imagine all the flowers in her mother’s garden slowly growing going through the cycle of the seasons. Her own growth from small child to an adult. Jade’s own growth in power her increase in mana. Her mental growth from an uppity teenager to a moderately smart adult. She smirked at that.

Suddenly there was a rush of mana as the exterior energy was dragged into Jades body and into her Liver. It all ended in the small kernel of mana inside of her liver. The images and thoughts she had conjured seemed to seep into the structure and settle in the small bead of mana.

Multiple messages appeared before Jade’s inner eye the moment she stopprfr focusing on her cultivation.

Congratulations you have unlocked your first sub-Concept: Growth

You achieved a new title: Concept Wielder I

You are the first in this world to achieve more than one concept. This is a monumental achievement, be proud.

Concept Wielder I:

+10 Mind

Change displayed Concept at will.

Wood mana unlocked

New Skill created: Wood Manipulation

Wood Manipulation:

Use mana to freely control any type of plant or wood as long as you keep investing mana in it. Prolonged control increases mana cost exponentially.

New skill created: Growth boost

All your stats grow at an increased rate. Mana gathering speed is increased based on your mind attribute.