Chapter 0103

“I will put my life above my reputation.” Tempest answered in a serious tone. Given Cardis carefree nature, for him to make a solemn request from her, he musts have lost many people near and dear to him because they were stupid. Picking a fight you know you can’t win isn’t an act of heroic, but one of stupidity. Tempest may seem brash at time, but she isn’t stupid. She knows when to fight and when to back off.

“Too many mages die young because they don’t have the ability to sense the strength of the their opponent. Sensing abilities is one of the skill set I wish we mages possess.” Cardis reverted back to his carefree attitude.

Tempest was diagnosis with schizophrenia and bipolar might has been added to the long list of mental issues she suffers from.

The weird pervert in front of her might have more mental issues than she does and bipolar is definitely one of them. Either that, his mood swings is worse than a pregnant woman. Tempest has enough younger brothers and sisters to know the symptoms. One moment he doesn't have a worry in the world and the next he’s serious as a heart attack then he goes back to his devil may care attitude.

“Good, now onto cultivation. You know how to go into a meditative state to communicate with your spirits.”

“Yes.”

“Good. We’re done with cultivation then.”

“What?! What do you mean we’re done with cultivation? Isn’t there like a skill or technique or something that increase the rate of cultivation for mages? It can’t be that easy.” Tempest exclaim incredulously.

In all the cultivation stories she read, the main character starts off weak then they discover a cheat like ability, be it a space where they can grow herbs at a phenomenal rate, the know it all soul following them around giving them all the heaven defying skills or their spirits vein get misclassified as trash when it was legendary rarely seen mutate spirit vein or a combination of all three.

How can cultivation be so easy?

Where is her heaven defying skill?

Where is her know-it-all cheat?

Where is the misclassified skill?

Ventus, Mizu, Astrapi.

“What?”

The answers to the questions you unconsciously asked. Ventus, Mizu, Astrapi.

“Huh?”

You were thinking about a cheat ability or an instantaneous knowledge ability or having a mislabelled slapped on you, weren’t you?

“Well, yeah.”

Your cheat, aka instaneous knowledge is us. Any secrets spoken, we’d know. Any secrets hidden in the waters, we’d know. Any mysteries of the heaven, we’d know. You have all the knowledge at your fingertips. All you had to do was ask.

Damn. If Ventus didn’t point it out, she wouldn’t have realized she has such amazing cheat like ability all along. Tempest has been so use to treating her spirits as the enemy or avoid them as much as possible lest she be deemed crazy, she didn’t realize the treasure she had.

“I’m sorry.”

All has been forgiven already. Unconditional love comes with no strings attached.

Whack.

“Pay attention!” Cardis glared at his dazed student before continuing his explanation. “In order to cultivate the heart as their immortal potential, mages require two things - ambient mana and the knowledge of rune words so you can use your mana. Everything else is secondary.

“Mana is comprised of elemental energy from the spiritual plain and the ambient mana in the physical plane. When a mage develops affinities, what they are doing is actually opening a channel to the spiritual plane. The spirits supply the elemental energy and the mortal supplies the ambient mana, creating a purer form of energy we call mana. The spirits take a portion of the mana and the other portion is given to their mortal by through the mortal’s mana reserve.

“Our so-called mana reserve is located in the heart. It is why our immortal potential is called cultivating the heart. Anyways, when mages meditate, what they are actually doing is submerging their consciousness into their mana reserve and following the flow of mana to the spirits.

“Mages start off by learning the language of the spirits. When they are proficient enough, then the move on to learn about the elemental theories, concepts and laws. The spirits make the best teachers in their respective elements since they are considered the embodiment of the elemental theories itself. There is no way to tell how much a mage understands the elemental theories, hence no way to know how strong a mage is. That is why mages are judged on power, control and complexities.

“As for cultivation itself, the spirits handles it. It is the spirits who collect the ambient mana and combine it with elemental energy then circulates it through the body. They work in a very systematic way. Firs the change the skin of their mortal, making it easier to absorb ambient mana, then they change the muscle and bone so their mortal can withstand the increase absorption rate. Once they know the body can withstand the increase absorption rate, they circulate the mana throughout they body via the blood vessels. The organs are then modified to so it can eventually take over processing the mana and lastly, the senses are affected. Mages enter the Mastery Stage when they have complete control over their mana. Afterwards, they just have to cross the line to become an immortal.”

“So all I have to do is ask my spirits to teach me about elemental laws…ummm then aren’t you completely useless as a teacher?”

Whack.

“This mouth of yours needs to be washed with soap and water.” Cardis was disgruntled by Tempest’s blunt question. A teacher isn’t useless as his little Successor made it out to be.

Communicating with the spirits is like communicating with an alien. When a normal mage communicates with their spirits, they are trying to learn an alien language. They have to start from the beginning when learning a new language - point, speak the name and wait for a corresponding word from the spirits. Once they learn enough words, then the mage tries to start a conversation. Only when they are proficient enough can a mage tackle the philosophical questions or questions concerning elemental theories.

Tempest, the little monster that she is, bypass most of the learning process a mage goes through because she has a built-in translator. She doesn’t have to through the centuries of painstaking work the other mages go through. She can immediately learn the elemental theories and put it into practise.

“Mages are cultivators of two extremes. Either you understand it or you don’t. Before you grasp all your elemental theories, you are no different from a weak mortal. Instead of fumbling in the dark during your time as nobody, you might as learn some basic spells to protect yourself.”

“Oooohhhh. I don’t have to innovate, when I can copy. Yeah. That will save a lot of time and effort.” Tempest cheered. She finally saw the light.

How much trial and error did it take for Edision to create the light bulb? How long did human exist in the agricultural society before the industrial revolution took hold? How much more research is needed before the cure for cancer was created?

All the technology Tempest enjoyed back on Earth was the result of years of hard work from thousands of scientists. Trying to replicate the foundation of modern technological advancement with only one person is impossible. Tempest could spend her entire life trying and she’d only get to the 90’s. By then human technology would increase to the point where Star Trek isn’t science fiction but reality.

Tempest stared at Cardis like he was her favorite internet sensation - Google!