It was currently midnight and most students should be asleep at this time but there were a couple night owls who refused to sleep.

In the darkness of the night, one could make out the rough outline of a student sitting on the ground. Daniel was sitting in a lotus position right outside the dorms on the grassy magic training field. The reason being so was not that he was sick of sleeping with guys...

'Damn does this world not have deodorant or something? F*cking Robert bombed the place. Not even the windows could bring in enough fresh air. Why are guys so biologically smelly?'

...

I was trying to train my magic at night when Robert's odor combined with his atomic bomb struck. Just what the h*ll did he eat? Taco Bells? I threw away that thought and focused on my training.

The darkness that comes with the night was prime time for me to train my Darkness manifestation.

Something the professor did not explain was the environment. By training in more open areas with nature, more magic particles are available for the body to absorb. I would normally just train in my room with the windows open, but with Robert...

Anyway, by training at an area of a similar affinity, like if I were to train my Fire manifestation in a volcano, my growth would be amplified drastically. The reason being was yet again magic particles. Over time, the magic particles exposed to such environments would adapt and become more beneficial to beings with a similar affinity.

It was also because of this very reason that those who had an earth affinity would cultivate a lot faster.

At the initial stages of magic cultivation, all you had to do to breakthrough was to increase mana capacity or expose the body to mana for a while. Learning to control mana helped the body to familiarize itself with the existence known as mana. Once the body is comfortable with mana, this is the stage of a Beginner Mage Apprentice. Wizards classified this stage like that because it was only when the body was familiar with mana that you could cast spells.

From this point onward, I would have to train my magic manifestation in order to breakthrough.

The main way to breakthrough was to refine the quality of mana. This could be done with many methods but the one I'm doing is practicing manifestation fluency. By practicing magic manifestation, the mana in our body will gradually get used to turning into magic which forces it to condense itself into a purer form so it converts to magic better.

For people without an affinity, they would have to refine their mana by getting better at controlling it which allows them to manually remove impurities and condense it.

Getting back to the topic, I had an inspiring thought a while ago. I wanted to try manifesting Fire on one hand and Darkness on the other hand. Since you could breakthrough by either getting better at controlling mana, or by practicing magic manifestation, why not do both at the same time by multitasking? In a way, this was similar to Multi Cast but it wasn't. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to try.

I took a few breaths in and started with Darkness on my right hand.

Within a second, a floating mass of nothingness appeared above my right hand.

Closing my eyes, I focused some of my attention onto my left hand as well and imagined the mana flowing to both hands but one side turned into a bright fire while the other turned into a space devoid of light.

After an unpredictable amount of time had passed, I felt a slight warmness in my left hand which made me open my eyes.

Right there, above my palm was a bright fire in the air. With the stark contrast found between the cold dark night and the warm incandescence of the flame; its beauty was incomparable to anything I had seen before. To think the first thing I would fall in love with was not a nude woman but a dancing fire...

Most of my focus was still on controlling the mana to go to both hands in sync so I did not have the luxury to admire it any further. I lightly glanced over at my right hand and sure enough, the ball of void was still there.

I closed my eyes and put all my attention toward imagining the orb of darkness and fire.

—3 hours later—

After an amount of time had passed, I heard a rude dinging noise.

[Ding!]

[Host has reached Mage Apprentice(Intermediate)]

[Ding!]

[Host has reached Mage Apprentice(Expert)]

[Received: 2000 Merit Points]

[Learned: Technique - Dual Cultivation(???)]

[Received: 100 Merit Points]

[Ding!]

[Host has successfully recreated and discovered a technique that the God of Magic personally created without any prior knowledge]

[An achievement has been created on the spot for your legendary feat]

[System Achievement: The Start of a Legend]

[Unlocked: Title Function]

[Automatically appraising]

~~~~~~~~~~

Dual Cultivation(???):

What'd you think. This isn't a s*x art.

1. Magic cultivation increases 5 times as fast as usual.

2. Cultivates two manifestations at once: The yin and yang.

~~~~~~~~~~