I walked along the cylindrical hall, brushing my fingertips on the cold walls below the burning wooden torch. The corpse directly looked forward, cuffing my eyes to his hollow stare. In this warm hall leading to the gates of hell, that book stayed alive, burning light into my eyes.

  The wind constantly lapped the hall, grazing my skin. Yet the fires atop these metal sconces were unmoving loyal guards, ready to protect their master to the death. I would like to believe all these torches are just mere imaginations. Dead men tell no tales, so how can dead men perform magic? That was my lingering thought.

  Reaching the end of the hall, I kneeled and bowed. “I pay respect to my deceased master. May I spread your teachings?” I looked up, the corpse staring at me like death was to attack and deliver me to the afterlife.

  I chuckled at my foreplay and accepted my own plea without hesitation, taking the book for myself. I wiped the dust off the book, flying down to the ground, and blowing a white mask to my face.

  “Pweh! Pweh! Pfff!!!!! What the fuck!” I scrubbed my eyes and wiggled my head like a happy dog’s tail. “Fucking hell, I did not expect the bones to turn into dust.” I tore a piece of my clothing and wiped my face with it. Because of the extremely narrow path I had to take, my already torn clothes were easily ripped.

  “Seriously,” I sighed. “What magic is this huh?” I sighed again. The phenomenon happening not only in front of me but along the unmovable torches behind, the constant wind around, and the vast forest holding a beast was just fantasy. That was my verdict on the situation.

  After clearing the book of added piles of dust, I was finally able to read, and I already expected what the book was about.

  “Records On Cultivation”

  It was painfully obvious, a skeleton inside a cave just meant some type of hermit dying of old age. There were no swords, nor any writings on the walls, so it was an easy guess when I first saw that a book was the only one around the dead body.

  “Okay, time to read whatever this shit is, I mean, I saw some aura today, I am quite interested in Cultivation too. But I wonder, can I cultivate?”

  My name is Pifan, a reject of magic. Since I saw magic as a kid, I was captivated by its beauty. After coming of age to enter a school that teaches magic, I was punched in the face, realizing how expensive it was. I was just a child of a farmer and a tailor. At that moment I learned that magic was only for the rich; the nobles.

  So I worked hard. I took on multiple jobs just for one day, even if it was just for a day, I could learn magic. Days passed quickly and 10 years had already gone by. At that time, I got married with kids, took my mother’s shop, cared for my parents and I couldn’t save for a magic academy anymore. I was already too old anyway.

  Magic was just a dream, a faraway dream I could never reach. But no matter how much time passed, I was never able to forget that dream. Looking for it every single day, wanting the day I get to experience magic myself.

  However, I lived in a small village, and that scene of magic in my mind as a kid was getting blurry. I was even beginning to doubt the existence of magic or why I was even captivated by it. Why was I looking for magic so much? I don’t get it. Because it looked beautiful? What was it? What made me fall for it?

  Then one day, the opportunity to escape my obscure life appeared, in the form of the worst disaster in my life.

  War.

  Unbeknownst to my small village, the entire world was burning to death. We didn’t know it. I didn’t know it. The world was at war, the entire world was being pulled around on who really owned it. But that type of grand scale even had nothing to do with me. I was just a simple commoner who didn’t even know how to fight.

  Well, I wished my country cared about that. Without even having a choice, I was thrown into the middle of death’s playground. Separated from my family, I was scared, I couldn’t even move a single finger, much less fight.

  Then, I saw it. I saw it again. I realized. I realized the reason why I fell in love with magic. The creation of beauty out of nothing. That feeling of creating, that feeling of beauty, the graceful dance of magic in the air. That was the reason I fell in love with it. My dream became clearer and in the middle of a battlefield, my aspiration to use magic once again sparked.

  Years once again passed quickly. Surprisingly I was able to survive in the war for a really long time. I was even able to become a knight. Someone similar to a mage. If I wanted to use magic as a kid, some others wanted to use aura, or well, be a knight. However, I was different because I never really wanted to be a mage, all I really wanted was just to use magic, even just once, just for a second. I wanted it.

  I reached the age of 60 and retired as a knight. Even if I had a high position in the army, magic was still far from my reach. Even in the 40 years I experienced on the battlefield, not once did I ever get to talk to a mage. Basically, they were all arrogant about their power.

  But, after retiring, I had already amassed enough fortune to live gallantly to the end of my life, so, I was open to doing something I have always wanted. Of course, it wasn’t to join a magic academy, I was already too old for that. Instead, I hired a mage to teach me about magic, wishing, even if I had no talent in it, I could at least do the bare minimum, just to touch my dream.

  Well, if the result was much different, I would have never created the greatest discovery in humankind. I was incapable of using magic. Not just untalented, but incompetent. I couldn’t accept it. There was no way that for my entire life, even if I knew I couldn’t ever have the chance to try it, but now, after 60 long years, I finally had the chance to achieve my dream, but it was all for nothing.

  At that moment, I declared myself to be selfish. I ran away from home, left my family, left my village, and secluded myself inside a cave. Bringing enough food to last me my entire life. Knights and Mages were the same. I thought that if I became a knight, being a mage was entirely obvious. I didn’t wanna show it but I was so confident that day. My control of aura was so good I became a knight. Aura was just magic, but named differently to get a distinction for knights.

  Why was I unable to use magic?

  Aura and Magic were just the names of powers that were derived from the energy of Mana. Knights use mana on their entire body, enhancing physical activities to their maximum capabilities. Mages use mana outside their body, releasing it to create infinite possibilities.

  For years to no end, I don’t know how much time passed, but forcing myself to release mana, to create something from nothing, dying from exerting too much of my old body, I discovered another way to handle mana.

  Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

  Instead of gathering mana to the heart, I gathered them from three different locations. In the stomach, between the lungs, and in the mind. I simply call it the lower, middle, and upper. The principle of this process never really mattered to me, after realizing that gathering mana at the center of my body was more focused and balanced, I just believed in it.

  It was the riskiest moment of my life, much more than a battlefield. The heart was the only place mana was believed to be stored. Anywhere else and you will just die from the rampaging energy inside your body. But I was already going to die soon, there was no risk to doing what I wanted, even if it meant death.

  Now, enough of my long backstory. Whoever is reading this, I apologize, I am an old man, alone for a very long time. It is only through this ink and paper can I express the words I have suppressed for years.

  To my successor, this is not a method in which talent matters. Unlike a heart that needs to be compatible with mana or talent to turn mana into magic, this “Cultivation” I had discovered needs none of that. Though I cannot guarantee the truth to my words, because of my obsession to use magic even in this newfound process, I died without even passing my discovery.

  The next page details everything you need to know, forgive this rambling old man once more, if the formation I had set up, if this cave had chosen you, then I believe you to be my perfect successor. I don’t need you to revolutionize the world with this method nor do I need you to spread it.

  All I want is for my successor to not be like me. If you have a dream, I hope the method I spent my entire life on, at least helps you even just a little bit. Good luck on your journey, my unknown disciple.

  “Well, at least I know he is an old man right? Only old people can ramble on for that long and you don’t even get that much out of it…”

  …

  “It was… kind of touching though. I’m sorry my master, after shortly arriving in this world, your unknown disciple had already almost died. Your successor might be the stupidest in the world, but, because of you, I will, I will chase my dream.”

  By reading the first few entries of the book, I was randomly hit with a mountain of motivation. I didn’t exactly know what to do after all of that. Thinking about my dream? Changing into a better person? I never really had a concrete dream in my life other than the collective desire to live a life where I can buy and go wherever I want.

  I’m the crown prince of the country. So long as I change as a person and show I became a better human being, that dream I have always longed for feels like a waste. Oh… it felt like a waste.

  My mind was agitated with myself. I shook myself back into reality and focused more on the book and less on myself. That was when I actually got the chance to show I became a better person. The place I was at was for me to become stronger, to protect my ideals, and to achieve a dream.

  “However, I don’t really know anything about mana… umm, is it just. I know all about cultivation and magic, and I know full well that to do either of them I need to be able to sense the ‘energy’ for them. Right now all I feel is this wind that really feels like a living being.”

  I looked at the last part of my master’s story once more and noticed the mention of the next page. So, as it should have been an obvious procedure, I turned the page to learn more.

  “The start of Cultivation is just like being a Knight and a Mage, you just need to sense mana. Well, not helpful as I can’t sense mana, though I do think this body did before, I mean I am the crown prince.”

  The book continued upon it’s explanation of sensing mana. Just like any process of meditation, I sat on a lotus position, surprised I could even sit like that. My thighs were too thick to be able to raise both my feet at the same time.

  [To be able to sense mana, either you maintain absolute focus in your surroundings or bring your body to death's door. Hopefully, you choose the start, however, if you don’t have enough ability to focus, the second one is sadly your only option.]

  I took a deep breath in, and then out. My mind entered a blank slate and my breathing stayed in a constant cycle. The wind was still grazing my skin every single second, rendering my focus futile. It was like a cat was constantly yearning for attention, scratching my skin until I yelled at it.

  Even if I couldn’t focus on my environment at the moment, I still had a chance. Mana may exist from outside the body, in the universe itself, but because I am a crown prince of a country, I wholeheartedly believe that I already have mana inside my body.

  All I needed to do was sense it. After that, it was game time. Reading the book, I realized that the concept of this world’s mana or magic is centered around the heart. I can also speculate that it is in the form of magic circles, though I can't guarantee it. Well, whatever it really is, that wasn’t something I needed to know.

  With all the pain I had already felt, ignoring the wind annoying my body was easy. I placed all my attention on my skin and bones, into my heart.

  Imagine mana as an emotion. The feeling of uncontrollable joy, raging anger, crippling fear, excruciating pain, agonizing embarrassment, and awkward nervousness. All those moments in life where your emotions run rampant. That is the clue to mana. An energy coursing through your body that you cannot and cannot control.

  My heart contained this energy. This unknown anomaly. A secret to power I so desire.

  I sense a chill in my heart. It felt like a river was running in circles. Rain tickles my heart with its ice-cold aura. My heart was being enveloped with a thick rampaging body of water.

  There it is. I can sense it. My body suddenly felt cold. The warm wind had changed. No, the thing I have been feeling the entire time was not wind. The reason the fire wasn’t being blown. It was all rampaging mana from the very start.

  The entire cave was covered with incredibly thick mana. I could only think of this as the mana that had scattered from my master’s body when he had rotten to bones.

  I can’t waste this opportunity.

  At the same time, the outside wasn’t the only one that had thick mana. My heart was being powered by such rampaging mana. I never thought about it, but no normal human being could outrun a 10-meter-tall dog.

  I quickly led the mana from my heart out of my mouth, releasing it to the mass of mana. Then I inhaled the mana down to my stomach, leading them into my lower abdomen. I didn’t read far enough to see if the book mentioned the exact location of the lower dantian, but I have also written cultivation stories, I know that it was located two to three inches below a person’s belly button.

  Soon the mana inside my heart was completely dispersed from my body. Slowly, but surely I inhaled and inhaled. My body was burning from my stomach. Like the energy was going to burst. I didn’t notice until it started to burn but inside my body was a beautiful dense ball of energy. In just a short amount of moment, with the amount of mana around me, no, Qi, it didn’t feel right, my energy core was forming.

  I couldn’t stop there, even with the pain. Even if my body felt like it was exploding. Like my insides were being blown like a balloon. There was no stopping until I exhausted every bit of mana in my surroundings.

  More! More! Create a better core! A brighter core!

  …

  Almost there! Just a little more!

  …

  Time flies so fast! But it’s here! Just a smidge left!

  …

  Finally! I’m done!

  Something immediately erupted above me. My eyelids shone like the sun and it was like small pieces of hail were falling on my body. I opened my eyes and looked above the blue sky. A giant purple dog was drooling in front of my eyes.