Chapter 77. Cultivation

Cultivation is the process of absorbing the mana present in nature, converting it by making it your own, something unique to you, and then equally distributing the converted mana throughout your body.

A person who has never cultivated before is known as a mortal, and those who have just started it are known as practitioners.

There are many stages to cultivation, and the first three are as follows.

[First Stage: Body Tempering]

The body absorbs mana from the first breath, once the body is saturated, every cell is filled to the brim, and the body is considered tempered. The process can be accelerated through various breathing methods or just simple meditation.

But natural mana is not very pure, the breathing technique also helps in clearing out these impurities whole quickly adapting the body to mana. When the body does not have an ounce of impurity, it is considered to be perfectly tempered.

This was how the regular people, those not in a newly initiated star started to cultivate. As I kept on reading books and pulling out various details, I understood the difference between us and those in the realm.

As we had never breathed in mana throughout our lives, the body would reject mana once it was introduced to us. It was already too late to use breathing techniques as they either required you to be at very high cultivation or be a newborn baby.

So the 'Record' after researching many different cultivation techniques developed a way to adapt these mana-depraved bodies by overfilling them. When we, the initiates classed up, it would stimulate our bodies and remove the impurities.

The 'Record' would provide the mana. For example, if I killed a monster, a fraction of the mana it contained would be absorbed by my body.

This mana did not come from the monster, it was a reward given by the 'Record'. Similar to leveling up skills, or completing quests, all the 'exp' we gained was the mana that the system provided.

That mana was then used to temper our bodies.

But like in the realm, only those that had breathing methods could get a perfectly tempered body, only those that filled their body to a certain limit could have a perfectly tempered body.

[Second Stage: Gathering and Conversion]

The body has absorbed all the mana during the tempering process, now it is a strong vessel that can hold mana and use it as the user sees fit.

Once again the user absorbs mana through various methods, this time though, the mana is given a unique signature. That mana is then stored in the practitioner's body, slowly condensing it and forming a core.

The core would then become then act as a new organ. An organ that would take the natural mana, and convert it to mana that has your identity in it.

It becomes a filter.

The process of storing was the difference between regular storing and the storing method of the Record.

The regular method was to store that mana a few fingers below the navel, also called a dantian, as it is considered to be one of the energy centers of the body.

The dantian would be where the core would ultimately take its form.

The record however let this mana roam freely in the body and when the required amount was met, it would gather all of it in the practitioner's heart. This was where the core would take its form.

But as the mana is converted while it is being absorbed, it is very important to have a perfect body. the closer the body is to perfection, the purer the mana converted will be.

These impurities still enter the, though it is a very minute amount, it is present. This tiny amount of impurity can be removed while forming the core, and so can the impurities that entered while converting the mana.

But forming a perfect core was very important.

[Third Stage: Purification]

The core now only has mana that is unique to you, it is the only place that currently contains mana that is fully unique to you.

What about your body? The mana used to strengthen it was absorbed from nature, it is not truly yours. This is where the mana produced by the core is used.

You slowly start from the core and replace the mana that has tempered your body. This way you can become a truly unique individual, this is also the reason why 'Records' can't interfere in this process or the ones that come after this.

Because if it helps, it will leave a mark, a tiny blemish in your existence.

The process for this was the same for everyone, replace nature's mana with your own. There are 81 points in the body that act as gateways to allow a smooth flow of mana.

Once these 81 points have been 'purified', the third stage will be over. The method to do this can be found in a cultivation manual.

The 'Record' may provide a method if you do not have one, which can later be used to transition into any other manual.

And this was it.

Cultivation, according to the books here, was a never-ending process but there was no more information that talked about it. What were the later stages called?

Nothing.

Compiling all of this was very hard, and the information about the third stage, Purification, was very hard to find. Every script and book had incomplete information and I was still not sure if this was all of it.

I got up and was about to search for more books when,

[0:00:00:00]

[Teleporting out of the library]

I felt a slight pull and disappeared from the library.