Cultivation

Magic is by no means a fixed power set in stone. Even the portion of it in your blood can be altered. There are ways to increase the magic within you and even turn mortals into mages. These methods are extremely rare and costly, but they absolutly exist.

The same applies to your magic itself. Every being with a magical heart can enhance its power through something we call cultivation.

Cultivation means surrendering more and more of your body to magic. By cultivating, you increase the potential of your magic and the strength of your heart.

As a magical being, you can exist in seven known realms. Naturally, every being starts in the first realm after the ascension. With each ascent to a higher realm, the power of your magical heart increases. Consequently, the power of the magic it pumps through your body also raises.

As the power of your magic grows, your body becomes more resilient and the influence of magic around you diminishes. This significantly slows down the aging process for mages.

Mages in the first realm can live up to a hundred years, while mages in the sixth realm could potentially reach two thousand years of age. We only know about mages in the seventh realm from the stories of travelers, and we have no known data about them.

In the millions of years of this planet's and humanity's existence, there is no known human who has reached the seventh realm. However, I assume they could live for at least five thousand years if not more.

Magic is something mystical, so how can one cultivate it? I have spent my entire life searching for effective cultivation methods, but in the end, it comes down to just three simple factors:

You need willpower and endurance. Cultivation is not only a very lengthy and demanding endeavor, but it also brings about incredible pain as you progress through the realms. With each realm, the pain becomes worse, so very few people manage to reach a high realm unless they have the right disposition.

This brings us to the second point: your blood. As explained in the previous chapter on ascension, possessing a high disposition is incredibly important. This refers to the spectrum in which you find yourself. Of course, anyone below the first spectrum has no possibility of cultivation. Mages in the first spectrum can only hope to reach the second realm, while those in the second spectrum can at most reach the third realm. In contrast, for mages in the third spectrum, with a magic percentage between sixty and seventy percent, it is easy to reach the fourth realm and even potentially the fifth.

For mages in the fourth spectrum, reaching the fifth realm should not be a significant challenge, but very few manage to go beyond that. The sixth realm is incredibly difficult to achieve, and anyone who reaches it is on the level of a king. Thus, only mages who have the incredible luck of having more than eighty percent magic flowing through their veins can accomplish it.

As you can see, luck and heritage also play a significant role. As we have already established affinity or the spectrum can be inherited. That is why certain families have been in the royal houses for eons.

This brings us to the last factor, which plays an equally important role in cultivation as your affinity. Naturally, you cannot break through and ascend your realm just anywhere; you have to be in very specific locations for that.

These locations are called magic streams. The name is misleading and originated from the belief that magic flows stronger through these places than elsewhere, but that is not entirely correct.

There is just as much magic in these specific locations as anywhere else, but it is purer there. Understanding this is not easy, and it took me several decades to figure out what it means.

As we have discussed, magic is not only good but also incredibly harmful. Normally, magic is in a state of incredible chaos and impurity, but in these special locations, it becomes pure. As a result, the body and magical heart can utilize it to undergo a qualitative change.

Normally, the magical heart repels magic from the outside, as it is forcibly harmful to our bodies. However, in these magic streams, it is exactly the opposite.

These magic streams can occur in different realms, just like any other magic. This means that if you want to ascend from the third realm to the fourth, you must be in a magic stream of the fourth realm. But there is only a limited number of these magic streams in the world. While new ones are constantly forming in nature, they are unstable and could break apart and dissipate at any moment. Only a few are stable and firm, and these are usually in the hands of kingdoms and universities.

Now we have covered the three most important factors of cultivation, but how exactly does one cultivate?

Before traveling to one of these locations to break the realm and ascend, it is crucial to prepare your body for the next realm. When you ascend, an incredibly significant qualitative change occurs in your body. While it all originates from your magical heart, it also influences everything else. Your body would break if you did not prepare it for this process.

The simple way to prepare is by actively using magic. Whether in combat against others or simply using it passively, your body starts to become stronger and accustomed to it.

Every mage should sense from the beginning how far they have progressed. It is a distinct and noticeable feeling that arises within you when you direct your magic into your mind. It is like an instinctive perception.

Now that we have discussed all the preparations, we come to the important part:

Breaking the realm!

To do this, you must be in one of these special places, the magic streams. You should immediately sense a noticeable change in the environment. It should feel as if you have just stepped out of a house full of stench into fresh mountain air or as if you have transitioned from a thick swamp to a clear lake.

It is an extremely relieving and pleasant feeling, and I pity anyone who will never get to experience it. However, I advise caution for those with weaker understandings.

Many mages have already become addicted to this feeling, but it is absolutely impossible to live in such a place. In these locations, it is not possible to effectively use magic, and it conflicts with the magic around you, meaning you cannot prepare for the realm.

However, this is just a side effect of the purity of magic. Besides that, there is, of course, the issue that magic streams occupied by kingdoms and universities usually have limited space, and magic streams in the wild are even more dangerous. Not only are they incredibly unstable, but they also attract magic eaters like moths to a flame (see Chapter 37: Magic Eaters and Magical Beasts).

But all of this is nothing compared to the biggest and most severe problem with these magic streams. Your magical heart cannot withstand this purity. Once you have spent considerable time in these places, your magical heart begins to crumble and weaken.

While you do not need the filter in these places because the magic is not dangerous, your body still requires the magical heart to pump the magic through your veins. Without this magic, your body will wither and break.

Cultivating is quite simple, yet also quite demanding. First of all, as mentioned before, breaking realms is an incredibly painful process, so you need a lot of willpower and endurance. And you need a considerable amount of patience. Breaking the realm is a lengthy process that could take multiple stays in these magic streams, which is usually the case for most people.

Only those with noble blood in high spectra can break the realm in a single stay, but I recommend leaving the place for at least the same amount of time after a month, or else there is a risk of malfunction in the magical heart.

Otherwise, cultivating in these places should work instinctively, but for understanding purposes, to break the realm, you only need to do one thing: bring the pure magic from the outside into your body and allow it to bring about changes. In doing so, your magical heart undergoes a new qualitative change.

...

Nero closed the thick book "Magic: An Open Mystery" and leaned back on the branch he was sitting on.

It was now the middle of the night, and there was no moon shining in the sky, so it was pitch black. Nero had been in this forest for four days now, and the encounter with the bizarre creature had taught him that there were many unknown dangers lurking in this vast forest.

Nero had always been a cautious person and had taken precautions. After he could no longer continue and his stamina was depleted, Nero climbed up a tall tree to sleep, making it more difficult for predators to reach and discover him.

Of course, he was fully aware that there could still be plenty of creatures in this forest that could easily kill him. But he would try to keep that risk as low as possible.

Nero looked up through the branches into the deep darkness of the night.

It had been almost half a year since he lost his powers.

Nero's goal, his drive, was power. He needed as much power as possible.

He wanted to rise above everything and no longer be oppressed by anything, but he had been thrown back so far from his hopes. Those people who attacked him were clearly superior to him.

While he could restrain them with all his power, he seemed unable to even harm them. But Nero would not give up so easily. Not as long as his heart... his hearts were still beating. As long as he lived, there would be hope. Nero had magic again, and now he had learned about cultivation.

He could make it happen, and he would not let anything or anyone interrupt him. Not any creature or human. As long as he had a breath left, he would fight and give everything to emerge victorious. Even if it required the complete annihilation of the beings on this planet or any other.

Suddenly, a noise interrupted Nero's thoughts. He quickly sat up and put the book back into his bag. Then another noise, right next to him. Nero stood up and balanced himself securely on the branch. He looked down, but all he could see was darkness. Then he heard another branch snap. This time, right behind him.