Chapter 3: Elder

"Ahhhh- Huh!?"

Van's screams quickly turned into confusion as the absorbing force dissappeared. He took a look at his surrounding, only to find nothing except the color grey surrounding him.

"Where am I?" He tried to move his body but failed. He can't move any of his body part nor can he feel them as if he was paralysed. Van tried to move even more as a desperate attempt but nothing changed.

"W-What are these things...?" He muttered, it seems only his mouth can move. Small orbs of black and white float around his body, each at the size of a pebble.

"Haizz...." He sighed. Inside the vast, color grey empty space, Van has floating for an unknown amount of time. He watched as the orbs of black and white continue to hover and revolve around his body. He was bored. Other than boredom, the inability to move and feel his body bothers him.

"I guess I'll try to cultivate." He closed his eyes before trying to sense the energy in his surrounding. He was currently at Veteran Stage of the 1st Real Magic Cultivator on Magic Path and Warrior Stage of the 1st Realm Mind Cultivator on Mind Path.

The 1st Realm are divided into 7 stages, mainly- Novice, Warrior, Veteran, Master, GrandMaster, Expert and lastly, Sage.

There are three Path, known as Physical Path, Magic Path and Mind Path. On a Cultivator, there are something known as Book of Attribute. This Book of Attribute are bound to the Cultivators Soul and will only exists after the Awakening Ceremony.

"Empty the mind, and chant the Empty Mind Sutra...." He repeated some phrases of words from the Empty Mind Sutra. The Empty Mind Sutra, once used has the ability to let its user get extremely focused.

"!!!"

Van widened his eyes in surprise, the Natural Energy around him was so thick. Although it can't be seen, it can be feel. Because he was too focused on trying to move his body, he didn't have the time to check the Natural Energy around him.

With the abundance of Natural Energy near him, he was confident to reach the Expert Stage on both Magic and Mind Path easily. Not wanting to waste anymore time, he closed his eyes and return back on cultivating.

Cultivation is the act of absorbing Natural Energy within the surrounding and feed them to a Cultivator's core. Once a certain threshold has been achieved, a small explosion inside the body will occur. This phenomenon is called breakthrough. For the Physical Path, a breakthrough will increase their physical strength and endurance and the quantity of Aura Energy in their body.

For the Magic Path, a breakthrough will increase the efficiency of their elemental abilities and the quantity of Elemental Energy in their Elemental Seed. For the Mind Path, it will increase the quantity of their Mind Energy.

The Natural Energy got absorbed in to his body and went straight in to the core on his heart. The Natural Energy accumulated inside the core, filling it with Natural Energy as time passes. When the core was filled, the core shone in blue color softly, all the Natural Energy accumulated inside it exploded inside his body, around 25 percent of it was absorbed by skin, bones and organs. The remaining 75 percent was absorbed into a small orb with sparks of lightning surrounding it. It was his Lightning Seed, revolving around the core in his heart.

It didn't caused any discomfort for him, as breakthrough are meant to be pleasurable. With that, he has advanced from the Veteran Stage to the Master Stage 1st Realm Magic Cultivator. Next, he diverted all the Natural Energy he is absorbing towards the core in the central part of his brain. The core was filled faster, mainly because it requires lower amount of Natural Energy. The same scene happened again, with the core in his brain shining softly in purple color and the Natural Energy exploded in his body again. This time, 25 percent of the Energy was also absorbed in his skin, bones and organs. The remaining 75 percent was absorbed to his brain, enhancing it to increase his Mental Energy.

The same scene happened over and over again, Van only stopped the moment he reached the Expert Stage on both Magic and Mind Path. "This is enough for now. Too much breakthrough is harmful for the body." Recalling his father's advise, he momentarily stopped cultivating.

"Hmm?" His curiosity was piqued by the orbs of black and white that seems to orbit around him...much faster than before, atleast that's what it looks like for him. Since he couldn't move his body, he figured to use one of the ability of an Mind Path Cultivator.

Conjuring a small amount of Mental Energy outside of his body, he compressed it in to a small hand, before attempting to grab one of the orb around him.

"W-what!!?" To his shock, his Mental Energy was devoured by the orb! To make sure he wasn't seeing it wrong, he attempted to grab a few more with his Mental Energy at the form of a small hands. And all of them met the same fate of the first hand, devoured as soon as contact is made with the orb of black and white.

"I wonder what Energy are these orbs are made of...." He mused. With nothing else to do, he decided to familiarise himself with his new strength, creating small hands made of Mental Energy and Lightning Elemental Energy. Of course, he made sure not to accidentally touch any of the orbiting orbs.