Chapter 20.

So much blood, and so many bandages. It took mere seconds for the last fight to be over after Rose had done her part : the last two were so disorganized it was only a matter of time. Yet Rose was not alarmed by the beastly blood, but by Nick's and Enora's. The areas where they had been wounded, the calf and bicep, were very bloody when pierced and the monsters had not been gentle in their attacks.

Thankfully, the new cave included the river, which made Rose's work way easier : cleaning wounds of blood and small pebbles, applying salve and bandaging to the best of her abilities. At the end of this all, Rose felt almost as tired as the two warriors, granted it was more mentally than physically for her. Their complexions went from tired to ashen in a matter of minutes, making it obvious to everyone that rest was necessary. And even if Rose knew she did not have to do more than what she had already done, she still felt like trying Cultivation once again. "If I had been more efficient with that, then those damn mutts would have been dead just by seeing me.".

She faced the other two, observing their pained faces a bit before closing her clear blue eyes. As she was told before, she imagined the Flow, picturing it with as many details as she could : many colourful lines crossing each other like a mess, yet hiding under that façade laid a complicated order. That was her idea, something like harmony under apparent chaos. And what was her place in all of it ? Obviously, she was only a girl. What could she do ? Realising she was not doing anything much different from before and remembering the previous battle, she thought : "No … maybe I am nothing in the Flow, and maybe I don't matter that much, but fuck if I'm going to keep on being useless. I decided that I would at least get good at Cultivation, and that's what's going to happen !". Happen it did.

After a while, contact was made, giving life to the picture in her mind, and a feeling of acknowledgement. She had become firm in her desire to improve, and it felt like the Flow 'recognised' the effort. Maybe. In some way. And just like that, Rose managed to influence the movement of the Magical Flow, making it trace new lines that were not there before, then joining the pre-existing ones as nothing had changed. It was quite a peaceful feeling, to be part of something one could understand to some extent, trusting it. She trained in Attraction as much as her tired mind could before literally collapsing one her makeshift bed.

When she woke up the next day, the other two were still lying under their own blankets, but awake. Rose guessed they used their bedridden time to focus on Cultivation, as it certainly helped to forget how they may have lost some mobility from the bits the monsters had taken from them. Just thinking about it made Rose uncomfortable, so she did the same. Being able to detect and attract the Flow was not the endgame of Cultivation though, as it was even just the introduction. She began by reading the next step from her booklet :

' Now we start the real work of the mage. I already explained how Absorption and Purification worked, but I also talked about 'identifying a specific energy', which is a matter that needs explaining. There are many different energies, many official Schools practising a variety of Mystic Arts, yet just saying to identify one is quite the shortcut. How ? How would a normal mage do such a thing ? Painfully, that is how, but you are not concerned by that my dear reader. You have me to help you, and thanks to me you will be able to train in the Light Energy or Sunray School. As the name states, this energy specializes in creating and controlling the light, first in a straightforward way, and then with some more specialised uses. Those will be explained later, for now, let us try to find this energy in the Magical Flow. You have to understand that this step is a lot like a puzzle, as you will take what you need from the Flow, discard what you don't, and only if you chose well will you have a whole energy, and not just either something useless or something perilous for yourself. Here, the light energy is quite easy to find, as it is a peaceful one. Its elements are generally slow, but not inconsistent in their shifting, like someone walking at a regular pace with an objective in mind, not in a hurry. Look for a shiny and steady energy and coax it into following you. It will be a bit of a challenge to change its course, as its will is firm, so put some efforts into it. Once it nears your lower waist, imagine a perfectly smooth bubble around this energy, and only then try passing it through your body. Without it, you will hurt yourself quite badly. And when it reaches inside, beware of the elements that need to be removed : any dark spots, of course, this is the light energy, but also most colours apart from what you would imagine to be the sun's glow. It will take a while to manage this step perfectly, so do not hesitate to remove more than you think is necessary, as losing it all and working for nothing is better than getting bloody. You will probably get bloody anyway though, it is almost mandatory for a mage, but not as much as mages training on their own. When breaking a bubble, you may feel something different from usual, neither pain nor nothing. That is when you know you succeeded at last. From this point on, try to replicate and go in the direction you found. All those advice may seem very vague and incomprehensible, but Cultivation is mainly a work of the senses, meaning this is the best you will be given. Believe me when I write this though : many crippled and failed mages would have given years of their lives for such a head start, however little this may look now. '