THEOS

Luke soaked in the pool of frigid blue liquid, which was most definitely not water, and did his best not to immediately swallow the healing potion in mouth. With his improved Constitution, it wasn’t hard. It was still uncomfortable, and the liquid was cold enough to be damaging, but it wasn’t pure agony like the boiling water had been a mere month ago. Instead, the training had become a test of his mental fortitude.

Closing his eyes he just observed. Concentrating in spite of the chill, and paying particularly close attention to the mana that was entering his body. Before he had reached the peak of the Mortal-tier, his body would have soaked it up like a wet sponge, but now it just stayed there until the Seed roused itself and sucked it away. Absently, he dismissed the Stat Point notifications.

Waves in the water alerted him to the others shifting about, and leaving. The first person triggering a domino effect that made the rest leave.

A few more minutes should be fine. Luke thought to himself, separating a drop of the healing potion in his mouth from the rest, he swallowed it. A single question on his mind.

Is everything capped?

It was a question he had asked himself on more than one occasion ever since he had hit the peak a few days ago. This time, he wanted an answer.

As more and more mana built inside of him, he moved his own mana to capture it. Intending on doing the one thing that he had been warned not to do. Cultivate manually.

It should be fine. He assured himself. Vowing not to do anything too drastic incase it worked.

He didn’t think it would work.

The Seed distributed mana in a way that no single part of his body was ever left behind, and it improved all parts of his body equally. Luke had never noticed a time where his right arm was stronger than his left, or one of his eyes or ears less sensitive than the other. Even exercises that should have fundamentally improved one part of him over the rest didn't seem to. It was the same whether he assigned points with the Seed or let his body deal with the mana. They both preserved the natural balance in his body’s abilities naturally. It was likely for that reason, that Cyzicus expressly discouraged kneading mana into various body parts manually.

Still. People do it, and are fine, and unless you have a manasink, it's the only way to cultivate.

Besides, he clenched his fist, I already have a solid base. I doubt I’ll break something if I use a tiny little bit of mana to improve something.

Mixing the Aetherial Mana with his own, he briefly considered where exactly he should put it, before deciding on his eyes.

He had witnessed the Seed at work in the general area when he used it to boost his agility enough times that he was confident that he wouldn’t ruin anything on the off chance that it did work, and with his Arcana as high as it was, he could move it around with a fair bit of dexterity.

As he moved the mixture of his own mana and the seeds to his eyes though, he immediately realized that it wouldn’t work.

While he had never cultivated manually before, he had gone through the motions. Doing everything besides pushing it into his tissues, and at the last second surrendering his control of the Aetherial Mana to the Seed.

In those tests, his body felt porous and permeable. Full of tiny little holes that the gathered mana would sneak into. Now it was akin to a smooth surface that actively rebuffed mana. Not wanting to give up quite so quickly, he tried other parts of himself. From his skin to individual organs, all of them felt the same.

In a way, that’s good. No, it is good. Luke consoled himself. Happy in the knowledge that the Paragon’s Path considered every single part of him to be at the peak of his tier. If I had been able to cultivate at all, then that would mean that the Seed was leaving blank spots. The fact that I can’t… Well that just means there's nothing left to cultivate.

Swallowing another portion of the potion in his mouth, he relinquished his hold on his mana. Once again, letting the Seed carry it away.

He opened his Status. There was one more thing he wanted to test.

Turning his attention back to his mana, he added a single point to his bloodline. Closely watching to see how exactly it was spent. Then another two points, and then three, and four at a time when even that didn’t work.

Is the mana even going to my body? Luke frowned, swallowing the last little bit of the potion still in his mouth.

It has to be. Is this another situation like the one with awakening my mana? I keep adding points, until something triggers it? Fuck, I better not have another episide of some kind.

He shook his head. Whatever. I know something is going to happen at ten thousand points. I’ll keep trying until then, but my real focus needs to be the Techniques. I’ll get the points eventually, but if I don’t master the Stances, then I’m stuck.

Climbing out of the water, he brushed the hair out of his eyes. Frowning slightly as the slimy liquid slid off his body, leaving him covered in the icky substance. They didn’t use water for the cold pool because it froze, but the more he used it, the more he wished it was water.

“You were in there for a while.” Said Rex the second he stepped out. A hint of something in his eyes.

Luke shivered as he walked to the healing potio, wincing in pain with every step he took. “Yeah well, you know how it is.” He answered vaguely. Grinning slightly as he threw the other cultivators words back in his face.

Picking up the heated towel left there for him, he wiped himself clean. Enjoying the warmth of the towel as he stepped under the shower and ignoring the weird looks that the others were giving him. He had been inside the pool substantially longer than any of them had so it wasn’t unexpected. Especially considering that a month ago, he was the first one who had climbed out of the hot water.

The Seed really is ridiculous.

I went from having the shallowest cultivation among them to the highest, and these guys look like they barely improved. Is it Arcana that's making them lag behind? Even with the manasink, the amount they can increase the attribute is probably nowhere near close to what I can do with the Seed. And if my guess about everyone starting out with a single point in it is right, they probably don’t have more than a hundred or so points in there, if that. Depending on the relationship between a person’s saturation point and Arcana, that could be it. Especially if it's a one to one ratio… No, that seems too small. It’s likely a one to two or a one to three ratios. Not that I can blame them, using a manasink is torture. At least when you work out, it’s your body that’s in pain, and it's easy to ignore. A headache though, that shits inside your head.

On top of that, any mana their body doesn’t use gets wasted. So anytime their Arcana isn’t up to snuff they just waste the mana.

Getting dressed, he waited with the others for Clite to come and retrieve them. Wondering what she had planned for the day. The last two days he had been here, she seemed content to leave them alone. Only showing up at the beginning of the day and at the end. Citing that the oncoming Tide was keeping her busy.

A minute later, the curtain between the hot and cold pools parted, and she emerged with all the girls. Then without wasting time led them away from their usual courtyard and out towards the back of the castle. Stopping at a seemingly random room, she ushered them in.

That’s a lot of weapons. Luke thought as he stepped in. Hundreds of spears, bows, swords, shields, and bits of armor littered the wall, sat in barrels, and shelves arrayed in neat rows. Easily enough weapons to supply an army.

Rex gulped audibly next to him. “Are we going to fight the giants today?” He asked.

“You will be.” Clite said. “If I’m not mistaken, Lord Cyzicus gifted you each a manasink and an artifact. However, it is unwise to go into battle with anything less than a full set of arms. These are all Mortal-tier weapons, enchanted with basic durability and nothing else. They will suffice for Mortal-tier giants. I want each of you outfitted in basic armor, with at least one sword, one spear, and one shield. If you have skill with a bow, you may forgo a spear for it and a quiver.” She instructed, stepping to the side, and indicating for them to enter.

Ignoring the nervous faces of those around him, Luke confidently strode into the room. Making a beeline for the shield section, he picked a medium sized one. Casually feeling its heft in his hand he tapped it with his knuckles, and nodded in satisfaction. He still had a handful of shields and some training spears in his inventory, but he never had a chance to pull them out. Not without exposing the fact that he had some kind of storage space. This one though, was a lot better than anything he had on hand.

Picking out a long metal spear, he headed over to the armor section.

This is the real deal, huh. Sylcra is really at war with the giants and they dress like it too. He felt his heart beat in his chest. A part of him was nervous. Another, much bigger part of him was excited.

Shrugging into the chest plate, and then strapping the grieves onto his wrist he realized why that was. He wasn’t weak anymore. Compared to heroes, warriors, and whatever the hell Arke was, he was a gnat. Against even countless mortal opponents though– He wasn’t someone they could take lightly. More than that, he was confident in holding his own. With more mana than he knew what to do with, Techniques guiding his movements, and his boots giving him mobility, he had come a long way since he came to Theos.

An army of Giant’s wasn’t even something he considered to be a threat to him any more.

If my enemy is a mortal, I can kill it.An army of mortals… they're just points. He grinned.

“You’re not nervous?” Said Nikitas, one of the other guys in the group training for the Tournament. It took Luke a moment to place his name. The shorter boy hadn’t made much of an impression on him. He had dark hair, average looks, and nothing about him stood out.

“Should I be?”

“Probably.” He shrugged, picking a helmet off the rack. “The Tide isn’t a joke. A lot of the people we’re fighting with are going to die. Not us, they’ve spent too much money so we’ll be fine… Probably. But a lot of people will.”

“Right. Well, let’s do what we can.”

“Yeah.” He said, picking a quiver full of arrows of the ground he slung it over his back, and walked away.

Once they were all outfitted, Clite led them out behind the castle.

There were more cultivators gathered than Luke had ever seen before. Nearly a thousand warriors and tens of thousand blue robed warriors stood around Cyzicus.

He was seated on a floating throne, a holographic map of the island floated in front of him. Red dots, signifying giants, and greed dots signifying cities littering the half of the island occupied by humans.

Every few seconds, a cluster of blue-robed cultivators dressed in armor, would step forward onto a platform and a warrior would fly in and join them.

“Come.” Clite said, and they cut a path through the assembled force, and made a beeline towards him.

He looked exhausted. Sweat poured down the side of his face, and drenched his robes. His chest rose and fell in exaggerated movements. His ring flickered, and a large crystal appeared in the air, and dissolved into his crown. Instantly his complexion became better and he perked up in his chair.

Their group made their way to the platform, Clite stopping a group of cultivators from moving forward with a wave of her palm.

Cyzicus didn’t even glance at them, as the world around them flickered, and whisked them away.

Here we go. Luke blinked away the nausea, as they appeared in the center of a town. In the distance, stones hurled from by enormous hands shattered against a translucent barrier.

“YOU’RE HERE.” Yelled a scared looking fat man. Raising his hands into the air in relief.