Jade read the messages again and again, not quite believing what she saw. Another Concept was added to her status. It was one thing to have a special concept but a whole other thing to have two entirely different ones. She quickly explained what happened to her master.

“I suspected it as soon as I saw the proto core. They usually form when you do some light cultivation exercise before your awakening. Many of the empire’s scions have them, as their families provide them with resources and guidance. Since they showed up in your nebulae I wondered if they could hold cores of their own. I was proven correct by what you just did. Check your status I can feel that your mana pool has expanded noticeably.”

Jade was eager to see the changes to her Status.

Name: Jade

Tier: 1

Level: 1

Age: 18

Titles:

[First of your kind] [Mana cultivator I] [Origin cultivator I] [Mana Pioneer I]

[Concept Wielder I]

Hit points: 100/100

Stamina: 95/95

Mana: 453.2/453.2

Genesis Energy: 240/240

(Hidden)

Attributes:

[Body]

[Speed]

[Mind]

[Soul]

10

10

26

24

Concept:

Main: [Genesis] Sub: [Growth]; Displayed: [Growth]

Skills:

Genesis

You create Genesis Energy based on your [Soul] x 10.

Infusion

Infuse Genesis Energy (GE) into anything you touch, accelerating their natural development.

Extraction

Extract Genesis Energy from anything you touch adding it to your genesis pool. This cannot increase your GE pool above its maximum. Extracting GE from a living organism causes damage based on your [Mind].

Origin Core

The origin core contains your mana. Through cultivation more mana can be accumulated to grow your maximum mana pool.

Mana Types available: Neutral, Wood

Current stage: Tier 1 – beginning.

Accumulated mana: 152

Mana stat bonus: [Mind] x 10

Title Bonus: 10%

Origin Pathways

Your Mana pathways mirror the pulse of the universe.

Current stage: Nebulae

Origin of Wood: [Growth]

Current number of Nebulae: 5

4% increased mana gathering speed per nebula

Total mana gathering speed increase: 20%

Wood Manipulation

You are capable of manipulating the wood element mana in plants.

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.

Growth boost

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

Her mana pool had almost doubled in size, this came partly from her increase in the [Mind] stat but creating her second concept increased the mana she could hold in her core. To be more precise there was the beginning of a secondary core in her liver. Some of her old skills had some changes to them but those mostly mirrored the changes in her cultivation. She was especially pleased by her two new skills [Wood Manipulation] and [Growth boost]. [Growth boost] was probably the skill Namoru talked about when he mentioned the special characteristics of the growth Concept.

Wood Manipulation sounded very useful and she was quite excited to try it out. While feeling out that skill she noticed for the first time the different flavor of mana in the air. It must have always been there but now she could actually feel and influence it. Wood mana, one of the five major elements. She was quite familiar with it since her mother made use of it almost daily.

Neutral mana could be used by anyone and was the most basic form of mana. It composed the majority of the ambient mana. But there were always other types of mana mixed in, varying in composition depending on your surroundings. This was the idea behind the danger zones, they possessed a much bigger concentration of one type of mana. This caused external changes like volcanoes, tornadoes, or lush forests to manifest.

Jade informed her master of the changes to her status. After the explanation he got up and motioned her to follow. “Now that I understand how your cultivation works it is time for you to actually use your abilities and discover just what you can do.”

He led her out of the chamber and toward one of the open combat fields. Each one was outfitted with a limited barrier to keep damage to a minimum and not disturb other cultivators around you. Arranged in its center were multiple potted plants and an assortment of random objects. Jade could spot multiple types of stones and minerals, as well as some crystals.

Additionally, there was a table which had a variety of weapons and some defensive equipment on them. But what caught Jade’s attention the most was a crystalline Staff that was displayed prominently on the table.

Namoru approached the potted plants first and turned towards Jade. “We will begin with the things that you already did before. I want you to make one of these plant grow. Now that you have both Genesis and Growth, please try each one on a different plant.

Jade looked at the first plant, a peony, just like the one before the dome. A widow popped up in the corner of her view informing her on the maximum limit of Genesis Energy that she could insert into it. Since it was a normal peony and not a demon sensing one it was quite limited, its maximum was only 10 GE.

Still Jade willed her Genesis Energy to flow into the flower. This time it felt much easier, the energy seemed to permeate her whole being but it was siphoned out of her origin core. It rode along with her mana waves and once it reached her skin small motes of the white energy shot out towards the plant.

It slightly wilted state immediately disappeared and it turned into a vibrant healthy peony that was slightly bigger than it should be. Jade could feel a small steady stream of wood mana from the ground and atmosphere flow into the peony. Jade checked the description of it again.

Common Flower

Mana 3/2 (Mature)

Genesis Energy 10/10 (Evolving)

Strange it showed that the flower had more mana than its maximum capacity. Something to research at a later point. It also showed as evolving. Jade knew that most plants and beast could evolve by cultivating. It was their equivalent of stepping into a new tier of cultivation. Which means that plants could use Genesis Energy to evolve. But the question was do they accumulate GE naturally or do they use mana to evolve.

She turned to the second plant which was an ordinary fern. This time she reached out to her mana and her growth concept she tried to implant the intention of accelerated growth into her mana and send it out in a wave at the fern.

Common plant

Mana 0/3 (young)

Genesis Energy 1/5

Most of the mana washed over the plant without sinking in or sticking to it. But a part of it sunk into the plant and it started to grow at a visible pace. But it was quite a lot slower than when she used Genesis Energy. She checked again.

Common plant

Mana 3/3 (Mature)

Genesis Energy 1/5

This time only the mana level of the fern changed, the Genesis Energy stayed the same. Just like the flower it showed that the plant had fully matured, but this time it did not get past the mana maximum. Checking on the peony again showed that it had accumulated another 0.5 mana past its maximum.

For the next plant which was a small tree in a larger pot she decide to use her wood manipulation skill. She gathered her mana in her hands and shaped into a specific form that was given to her by the skill. Once it was fully formed, she let it loose on the small tree. This time all the mana went into the tree and she felt a connection to it that felt more like a forceful guidance rather than a gentle nudge.

She imagined the tree to grow out and strike at the air nearby. An offshoot grew out of the small tree and whipped at the air. The snapping sound startled Jade and she dropped the skill’s mana construct. The outgrown appendage withered away quickly until it finally dissolved into mana.

“Skills of this type usually use objects or nature as a conduit to create mana-based structures. If you become skilled enough you won’t even need a plant to grow from. You could just conjure up roots to ensnare or strike your enemies.” Her master elaborated.

They continued to test her abilities on all matter of objects. From their test they came to multiple conclusions. First ordinary objects that had been crafted or created by people could not accept Genesis Energy but always contained some of the energy.

She could extract it from them which would damage or sometimes even completely destroy the object. Natural objects such as stones minerals and crystals on the other hand she could infuse. The stone became just a bit harder and lost some of its blemish - nothing too drastic. What confused Jade was that it said that the stone was evolving.

They decided to monitor the plants and objects that were shown as evolving. Another surprise to Jade was the minerals they contained very little energy but had a large maximum. The Iron Ore she infused showed a maximum of 1200 which was a lot more then she had herself.

The Crystals were even more absurd they contained a lot more Genesis Energy but had an even bigger potential pool than the minerals. Simple quartz had a maximum of 13000 but it did contain about 145 Genesis Energy. Jade kept that in mind if she was ever in need of more energy, she would try to keep some crystals with her.

The process of extracting the energy gave Jade a little bit of trouble since it felt wrong just to take what she essentially though of as life energy. The rocks weren’t so bad but she felt uncomfortable with draining the plants. It did not help that it gave Jade this warm fuzzy feeling and a small rush of endorphins.

After 2 hours of testing Jade was exhausted. Nomura called the training to an end to Jade’s relief. But before she could make a quick exit, he called her over to the table with the weapons.

“I have arranged for a variety of weapons for you to look through. I expect you to find one which calls out to you. All of these weapons are spiritual weapons so send out your mana to brush over them and we will see which of them react to you.”

Jade did as she was told but most of her focus was on the crystal staff that was placed center of the table. Her mana wave swept over the table and almost every weapon gave of at least some reaction. Until her mana hit the staff. It reacted greatly to her mana and sucked all of it in without regard for the other weapons.

Some of them started to vibrate in anger but the staff sent out a violent wave of mana of its own which quieted down all of the other weapons. Slowly the staff floated over into Jade’s hands who looked at the whole spectacle dumbfounded.

“I knew it was good idea to let you have a go at this staff,” he smiled wearily, “It belonged to my grandfather and it is quite temperamental. Who would have thought it would take on a new partner after all.”

The Staff radiated a smug feeling and Jade looked at it with a raised eyebrow. Great, a staff with an attitude. She was wondering if she took on more trouble than this obviously powerful weapon was worth.

“This Weapon is called, Duyi, which means “wholeness” in the old imperial language. It is a weapon that changes to make his wielder whole. You should take it with you wherever you go and keep in contact with it as much as possible while feeding it your mana. Over time it will change to the ideal weapon for you. Since you are only at the beginning of your physical training, we will have several weeks before we can start with actual weapon fighting. But this gives you the time to shape Duyi.”

“Okay Duyi it seems I am stuck with you. Please turn into something good I can use, okay.”

The staff shook slightly and Jade got the impression of an old uncle sitting in the shade and boasting about his past accomplishments. Insisting that this will be an easy task and that she shouldn’t worry. None of that gave Jade any confidence in her new companion.

After saying farewell to her master, she made her way back home. Beaten, exhausted but stronger than before.