Hey guys here is your chapter for today. I will try to release another chapter tomorrow and the day after. However I do have midterms coming up so I might not be able to. Sorry in advance if I don't manage to release chapters this weekend. Anyway Have a WONDERFUL Weekend.

Northern Continent, Year 12210

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11 months later

The sky was just rising in the east. A person was lying down on a patch of grass and thinking about the past few months. He was about 3.5 feet tall and covered in sweat. He was toned and fat could not be seen on his body. This was Ryu and there was a reason for his current appearance.

Ryu turned five years old 9 months ago. His parents held a small birthday party with the girls, his parents, and his uncle Doran and Syra present. Mister Syra had given him a training manual. His mom had given him a water gun. His dad had given him a training sword.(think Bokken-wooden obviously) Uncle Doran had given him a book about a hero’s adventure. The girls had got him a nice bracelet as a gift. It was obsidian black with small amethyst gems in it.The gems allowed him to store a bit of mana in it so it would help him out when he began to cultivate mana.

Thinking of the bracelet, Ryu pulled out a small book that only had one chapter. It was the training manual that Syra had given him. He opened it and read the title of the first chapter, Training-Body Refining. He began to read it again.

In this stage the person must absorb mana to refine his Skin, blood, bones, muscles, and organs. The person must refine his body in the following order; Skin, Blood, Muscles, Bones, and finally Organs. After completing this stage, the practitioner will be at the peak of the Initiate Rank.

And then the book described several breathing techniques to absorb mana into the body. So far Ryu had not made any progress. His father consoled him saying that it is very difficult to practice before one is 6 years old. Even so, Ryu was disappointed and spent his time training his body. Although his father didn’t allow any weights or muscle training, he trained his body other ways. He ran, swam, and practiced the sword. He had become stronger over the last 11 months. Especially after he had reached 5 years old, he felt as if there was a boost to his progress. What he didn’t know was that with every year that passed, a limiter was removed from his body.(This applies to all people in this world) The next limiter would be removed after he reached 6 years old. At this point he would be able to cultivate. The final limiter would be removed when he reaches 8 years old and this would boost his cultivation by a large amount.

As he lay there thinking about what to do, two figures suddenly ran up to him. They were carrying a bucket and without any warning, they poured it’s contents all over Ryu. Ryu jumped up as the ice cold water splashed all over his body, wiping his sweat and exhaustion away. He turned towards the girls and started shouting, "AHH! COLD!!! AHHH! Why do you keep doing that??"

Yuki said bluntly, "Because you’re not playing with us as much."

Sylphie shyly scolded him, "Th..That’s Right! Ryu bad."

Ryu just stood there, his mouth wide open. He couldn’t believe that they would throw ice cold water at him just because he was spending more time training. This behavior had started about a month ago. Ryu had just increased his time training and when he was resting from exercising, the girls had thrown a bucket of hot water at him. Although the water was not hot enough to burn, it was hot enough to cause discomfort. He had wondered why they had begun to act like this. And every time he asked they said the same thing, that he wasn’t spending enough time with them. He sighed. He was getting stronger so that he could protect them in the future, but his mom told him not to tell them otherwise they might feel guilty. So he just sighed and put up with their pranks. Instead of being angry, he took it as training; how to get used to extreme conditions.

Ryu held up his hands in defeat, "Alright, alright. Your birthday is in 2 days right? I’ll spend the whole day with you. Is that alright?"

Yuki nodded, "Deal!"

Sylphie smiled, "Ok."

Ryu sighed as they responded and ran off without waiting for him. He looked up at the sky and thought about what to do. The girls birthday was in 2 days and he had yet to pick out a present for them. He sighed, "I guess I’d better go eat breakfast and then go get them a present."

Then he ran back to the house.

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A Few Hours Later

Ryu ran through the forest, looking around and scanning the area around him. He pulled out a book and opened it. The title on the book was ‘Flora, the Complete Edition’. He proceeded to flip through the pages until it came to a particular page. The title on the page read ‘Jade Hydrangea’ and under it was a drawing of the flower. Ryu was looking for this flower because a few hours back during breakfast, the girls said that they very much liked the flower. So he decided to get it for them for their birthday. And so here he was, running around the forest looking for it.

Suddenly he saw a glimmer and he ran towards it. A flower was sparkling in the morning sun and Ryu reached out to grab it. As he did a vine suddenly burst out from the ground. Ryu jumped back and climbed up onto a tree and watched the situation. There were vines extending from the plant’s roots and they were waving around as if looking for prey. Ryu checked his book. As he was flipping through, he suddenly spotted a page. On the page was a drawing of the same plant that was on the ground. It’s name was Jade Mimic Plant. Ryu read the description.

Jade Mimic Plant: This plant often mimics nearby plants to lure in prey. After its prey gets close enough, it launches out with its vines to ensnare and kill its prey. It then pulls the dead prey underground where it can decompose the body and suck the nutrients out of the corpse. Beware, this plant’s vines have miniscule razor sharp blades that are used to latch onto the prey and suck out it’s blood. It’s vines have a radius of about 20 feet. This plant also has miniature sensors that allow it to detect vibrations both on the ground and in the air. This plant has a core that can be crushed to be used for a large variety of potions and medicines.

Seeing the last line, Ryu’s eyes lit up. That meant that this plant could be useful to him in the future because he could use it or sell it for money. Upon thinking about this he decided to get it’s core. But that meant that he would have to kill the plant. He resolved himself, determination showing in his eyes, and he pulled out the dagger that he carried with him. Holding the dagger in his right hand he started to devise a plan. If he ran on the ground the plant would realise and attack him. So the right way is to attack from the air. But he has to be fast, otherwise the plant would sense him and kill him. Observing the plant he realised something. The plant didn’t attack the leaves that were falling towards it. Did that mean that it couldn’t sense the leaves or was ignoring them? Deciding to test this, he picked up a small acorn like nut and threw it at the plant. When it reached about a foot away from the main body, the vines suddenly attacked it. Observing this, Ryu came up with a plan and began throwing nuts at it.

A few minutes later, Ryu had climbed up the tree and was directly above the plant by about 30 feet. He noticed that the plant reacted slowly when the nuts moved extremely fast. It also ignored objects that were falling from above that were smaller than a certain size. And if they were bigger then it took an extremely long time for it to react, almost allowing the object to hit it. Ryu suddenly positioned himself and threw some leaves into the air. He counted to 5 and jumped after making sure that he was in the right position, holding something in his hands.

The plant was on the lookout to see if the prey that had escaped it earlier was going to come back. As it was on alert it suddenly sensed something approaching it from above. As it prepared its vines, it realised that it was just leaves and relaxed. Suddenly, there was vibrations coming from the ground about 15 feet away. The distance was not at it’s max distance so it launched all of its vines all at once. The vines struck the target and they all crashed into the ground. As the plant was puzzled it sensed a large threat above. Quickly, it began to retract its vines. However it was too late and a sharp object cut it off from its stem. Its conscious began to fade and its vines fell to the ground.

Ryu stood up holding the flower head in his hand. He carefully pulled of its petals and discovered its core. The core was dark green, blending into its petals. As he began to leave since he got what he wanted, he suddenly tripped over its stem and landed face first on the ground. He looked down and he could see the entire root system in the ground. At the center of the root system, a bright green object caught his attention. It looked just like the core he found except this one was much brighter than the core.

Little did he know that he found a plant variant as it possessed intelligence far above its level. This 2nd core was responsible for its intelligence and was 10 times more potent than the one in Ryu’s hand. Ryu stuck his hand in and pulled out the 2nd core. When he pulled it out a rich fragrance began to spread from the core.

As Ryu breathed in the nice fragrance, a sudden ruckus to his right side caught his attention. There was a sudden noise and the birds rose away from that direction, the one he came from. As Ryu observed all of this, he had a bad feeling. Suddenly, he put the cores in a pouch and began to run in the opposite direction. As he ran, a shadow began to chase him. Ryu looked back and saw a magical beast. It was a Novice Ranked Moonlight Badger. As Ryu had not even broke into the Initiate Rank, the Badger was a frightening existence for him. It was on a totally different level from the plant that he had killed. The plant was a common beast. It was a plant that had sentience that was not in the Initiate Rank. This is why Ryu had confidence when facing the plant. However this confidence shattered when he saw the Moonlight Badger.

As he ran he remembered something his mom and dad had said to him many times, “Never panic. Always think calmly and run if you can. Don’t be a foolish idiot. Use your brain.” This drove him and so he began to run away.

As he thought, he also observed his surroundings and suddenly he saw a chance. There was a depression in the ground up ahead and there was a crack in the ground where he could hide. He began to push himself to his limits and began to run faster as the Badger was slowly catching up. As soon as he reached that hole, he dove in and went as far as he could. Behind him he heard the Badger begin to tunnel. As he realised that the Badger could tunnel, he suddenly felt that this was a bad idea. So he began to move faster.

As he went deeper, the rock around him changed color from dark brown to a deep black. Not paying attention, he just began to crawl faster. As he suddenly reached a dead end, he turned back and looked. The Badger had reached the black rock but was unable to tunnel any further and the passageway was too small for it to fit. So it stretched and began to wave its arm around in an attempt to kill him. Although Ryu was not close enough for it to injure him seriously, it did manage to scratch him. The blood from his wounds splashed on the tunnel. A bright light flashed and Ryu disappeared. The Badger pulled its arm out and looked into the tunnel to see where Ryu had gone. Not finding him, the Badger grumbled and turned around to leave. The place where Ryu had been was empty, not even a drop of blood or a single hair remained to tell that he had been there.

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The Entity was in the sky watching Ryu. As he disappeared, it chuckled, "Haha, the fun begins now. Don't let me down little boy. I hope you make it through. HAHAHA."

If you find any mistakes please do tell me. After all I am not perfect. Thank you.