Chapter 2

After Alexander got into the first mortal rank, he cultivated for another few days but didn't get to the second rank. He had to take breaks every night after all to sleep.

After waking up in the bed chambers Alexander, gets up and exits the room to head to the cultivation chambers. He had learned that the cultivation chambers held denser qi inside that let one cultivate faster, thus leading to better results.

After cultivating in the cultivation chambers for a little over 1 hour, something began to change.

He felt that same sensation of his muscles and bones getting stronger, but it was less drastic than before. Alexander was confused for a second before realization struck him; he had reached the second rank of the mortal realm. As soon as he realised he had broken through to the second mortal realm, he instantly went to fetch Thaddeus to ask what he should do next.

When he arrived in front of Thaddeus' study, he knocked on the door and waited for Thaddeus to call him in. "Come in, Alexander." Thaddeus called, somehow knowing it was Alexander outside his study. As Alexander entered the study, Thaddeus smiled and said, "I see you have reached the second mortal rank. Congratulations, but don't get cocky - the average person is mortal rank 3, that's usually strong enough to fight off the occasional weak beast."

That deflated Alexanders excitement, but he quickly became curious about something. "Teacher, how comes the average person is mortal rank 3?" "Because, to pass the fourth rank, one must go through a life-or-death battle to even have the will to push through to mortal rank 4, and those that are willing to go through a life-or-death battle just to get stronger are called cultivators." Thaddeus explained.

"Surely there must be other ways to get past the third mortal rank." he said hoping he wouldn't have to go through a life-or-death battle. "There are potions and pills to help," Alexander got excited at that, but Thaddeus completely crushed that excitement. "But I will not be giving those to you as they would hinder your potential as a cultivator."

After that was said, Alexander went back to the cultivation chambers and cultivated for the rest of the day.

The next few days went by, and Alexander learnt more about cultivation from Thaddeus. He learnt that there were 4 know cultivation realms.

- Mortal realm, where you empowered your body with qi.

- Above mortal realm, where you need to use all that qi stored in your body and pushed it all towards your abdomen, to then form a core known as a dantian that let you get to this realm. The dantain lets you use your elemental techniques, which makes you considerably more powerful.

- Sky realm, where you must fill that dantian to the brim with qi then spread that qi throughout your body to reach this realm. Most cultivators failed and destroyed their dantian forever ruining their future potential. The sky realm allowed you to exert your will on the world and your body became considerably stronger.

- The heavenly realm, nothing was known on how to get into this realm, or what benefits you get for being in this realm.

- Things fell into a routine for a few weeks, Alexander cultivated, then went and learnt more stuff about cultivation. On the fifth day of the third week Alexander felt his bones and muscles strengthen once again and knew he had broken through to the third mortal rank. He laid on his back for a bit smiling, he had finally reached the average rank of this world.

Thaddeus came in a bit later and smiled upon sensing that Alexander had made it to the third rank of the mortal realm. "Now that you have reached the third mortal realm, follow me I have something to show you." Thaddeus said and started walking out of the cultivation chamber to the right. Alexander quickly followed him. They passed servants who all bowed to Thaddeus and Alexander as they passed them, it made Alexander feel uncomfortable, but he just ignored them and continued following Thaddeus to wherever he was taking him.

They exited the castle and entered a smaller building that had a lot of weapons in it. I was confused why we were there so Thaddeus explained it to me, "you are here to choose your weapon." My eyes widened and I started looking around in excitement.

There were short swords, long swords, spears, and daggers. As Alexander inspected all the weapons Thaddeus spoke up, "you will use all these weapons and choose the one that you feel suits you the most." Instantly Alexander went to the sword section and picked up a short sword and started swinging it around but, instantly Alexanders whole body locked up and he couldn't move an inch. Then Thaddeus spoke in a commanding voice.

"Do not swing around such sharp objects in such a closed in place! You will hurt yourself." As soon as Thaddeus said these words Alexander could move his body again and, he went outside to where a dummy was waiting a few meters away and Alexander started hacking at it. He could instantly feel that the short sword suited him but not perfectly, so he kept on hacking at it, he had no skill with the weapon.

After he had gone through most of the weapons and, not felt like they suited him he moved on to the daggers. when he started slashing and stabbing the dummy at insane speeds, he felt like he was born with the knowledge of how to wield a dagger. It felt perfect in his grip and, he knew he was going to choose the dagger as his weapon of choice. When he made that decision, he called Thaddeus over and made his choice. "Teacher I would like to choose the dagger as my weapon of choice." Alexander said, conviction in his voice.