An Amber? Never in her wildest dreams did Ves expect to become a cultivator. Aside from not having permission, the brand supposedly made it challenging to gain the blessing in the first place, likely due to both heavily affecting the soul.

  Question was now what? Her soul was now stronger, containing a surplus of mana she could draw on. Maybe even allowing her to do magic. She had heard cultivators often did a lot of meditation and breathing exercises. It seemed to her like a good enough place to start, as any. Finding a quiet spot a little way away from the refuge, Ves sat down and closed her eyes. She could feel the warm rays of the summer sun brushing against her face through the trees, as a gentle breeze whisked through the ends of her hair, carrying the sweet scent of wildflowers. It was likely the most relaxed Ves had felt in, well, forever.

  ‘What do we do now?’

  “I heard the core of cultivation is breathing techniques. That allows you to draw in or exhale mana. That process is how cultivators do everything from enhance their bodies to casting spells”

  ‘So, we just breathe? That sounds overly simple.’

  “I guess, maybe deep breaths?”

  Ves took a deep breath before slowly exhaling. She did this a few more times. It was honestly having a calming effect. Maybe this was the mediation people spoke of? She honestly didn’t know anything about mediation beyond the image of people sitting very still for long periods of time. Lacking a better idea, Ves continued, slow, deep breaths. Letting the beauty of nature around her lull her, eventually lulling her to sleep.

  “Ves?”

  Ves snapped her eyes open only to find herself feeling groggy, lying among the flowers. Looking up, she saw Yujiro standing there, giving her the oddest look.

  “Just letting you know that’s not the safest place to nap, even if it is close to the camp.”

  Ves sat up, brushing a few petals off her clothes. “I wasn’t sleeping, or at least I didn’t intend to. I was cultivating.”

  “Cultivating? Do you even have a blessing?”

  “No…” Ves then went on to explain everything that happened with the core, and Ogata telling her she was now an Amber.

  “Ves, cultivating isn’t that simple, there is a reason the blessing exists. They just kind of, I don’t know, pop knowledge that would normally take decades of study and practice into our heads instantly. Long story short, it may look like we are just meditating, but the reality is much more complicated, requiring the ability to interact with the mana flowing through one’s own soul.”

  “Then how do you do it?”

  “What part of decades of study didn’t you understand?”

  “Fine, I’m just excited. We suddenly became an amber, itching to do something with it.”

  “Ves, you two are already stronger than most lower-rank cultivators.”

  “It’s not the same thing.”

  “I know, but here. I may not be able to teach you, but I can do some cultivation. Maybe you can pick up something by watching”

  “You want us to watch you meditate?”

  “Ves, not all cultivators meditate, especially body cultivators. It just takes breathing and focus. It’s actually easier for us to do it while training, going through the motions and all that.”

  Yujiro then unsheathed a large axe. One he apparently looted from the slavers' base. Taking a stance, he began with a few deep breaths.

  “I thought you used a bow?”

  “I use both, the bow was just easier while I was still injured. Now shush and watch.”

  Shutting up, Ves let Yujiro get back to his routine. While at the end of the day, he was just swinging his weapon around in a field. It felt more than that. The grace of his movements. The way the flower petals would twist and twirl in the air with each swing. It was more like watching a dance. Ves honestly found it mesmerizing. As she watched closer, she could feel herself getting drawn into his routine, and as she did, she sensed something. Like there was something else there in the air around him, she couldn’t see, just sense it. It was something there she had no proper way to describe, and nothing like anything she had ever felt before. After a short time, Yujiro was done, the thing Ves sensed was gone as well.

  ‘Ves, did you feel that?’

  “I did”

  “Did what?” Yujiro asked as he wiped sweat from his brow with his shirt. Ves then proceeded to explain the strange force she and Nell sensed as they watched him.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  “Huh, interesting. If I had to guess, that was mana. Normally, you shouldn’t be able to sense the higher forms without being a cultivator. Maybe a product of your strange advancement.”

  “Higher forms?”

  “Mana comes in many forms, with cultivators normally only tapping into and using a few of them.”

  “Like what?”

  Yujiro just shrugged, “No idea, ask a mage. My blessing taught me how to cultivate, never bothered to learn the underlying mechanics of it.”

  “I swear I have seen other body Cultivators use spells, like Ryuko’s trick with her bow. Wouldn’t that require working with mana?”

  “Yes, but we kind of just brute force using a spell someone else created, requiring a lot of practice at that. It’s also not like we really understand how the spells work, limits what we can do.”

  “Couldn’t you learn?”

  “I mean, sure, we could. But there is a reason most cultivators are body cultivators. Mages require years of education that are only offered at a handful of schools. And from what I hear, it takes a lot of connections and coin to even get into one of them.”

  “Like I said, if you want to learn more, ask a mage.”

  Taking Yujiro’s advice, Ves went to find a mage to ask, and there was one obvious choice in their camp, Xeeta. For better or worse, it didn’t take long to find the woman. She spent nearly all day, every day, working on molding the stone cliff they have turned into their home. These days, the cliff face looked more like a fortress. Xeeta even managed to install a crude wooden gate. Currently, she was creating a set of battlements from which archers could safely shoot.

  “Don’t you think this is a bit overkill. It’s not like armies will attack us or anything.” Ves asked the women after spending more time than she cared to admit finding the way up.

  “Eh, maybe, but it’s more for the intimidation factor, as it’s not something anyone would expect to run into out here. But honestly, who knows? The dragonewts have already been attacked once. As well as both you and me have targets painted on our backs. Granted, I still don’t know why in my case. So what did you want? It's not time for food already, is it?”

  Ves shook her head, “I actually wanted to ask you a few questions on mana if you don’t mind.”

  “Sure, I can work and talk at the same time. Not doing anything to demanding right now,” Watching the way the stone reshaped itself, albeit slowly, before her eyes, Ves was unsure if she agreed. Still, if Xeeta said now was fine, who was she to argue? Ves started by explaining her unexpected advancement and her conversation with Yujiro.

  “An Amber without a blessing, that is weird. Just full of surprises, aren’t you?”

  Ves just shrugged.

  “Well, I suppose a good place to start is to ask you this. What is mana?” Xeeta asked as she continued with her work.

  Ves honestly had no idea, she never really thought about it. She just knew cultivators used it. “Invisible magical stuff in the air that cultivators use?”

  “While true, it is way, way more than that. Mana is everything.”

  “Huh, is this like some mage philosophy thing?”

  Xeeta laughed at that, “No, I mean literally, mana is everything. Everything you see, the entire world around you, including yourself. It’s all mana.”

  “Wait, what? I thought mana was some invisible gas like the air or something. Isn’t that why cultivators do breathing exercises?”

  “Mana has states, in the same way water can also be ice and steam. What you and most people think of as mana is actually the essence state of mana. Which, by the way, is the same stuff souls are made of. In contrast, the physical world around us and our bodies are mana in the magicite state. There are technically three other known states, but they are rare and not really relevant in day-to-day life.”

  Ves just stood there blinking at the women for a moment. Souls are mana? And somehow the same stuff as the stones under her feet or the food she eats? How did that make any sense at all? “How can everything be made of the same stuff. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Yeah, it’s a little mind-boggling at first to wrap your head around. That everything around us, including ourselves, is made of the same stuff. But what makes everything so different despite all being made of mana is what mages call intent, which is what we manipulate when casting spells.”

  “And intent is?”

  “I’m getting there, you do realize this is information most people need to go to expensive schools to learn, right?”

  “I take it that means you went to an expensive school?”

  “I did, prodigy, I am they paid me to attend university, got a full scholarship.”

  “Why did you leave home then? Sounds like you had it made.” As soon as Ves asked the question, she regretted it. For the first time in their conversation, Xeeta actually stopped working, her face solemn.

  “Let’s say a difference in opinion and leave it at that. Back to your original question, intent.” Xeeta resumed working, her solemn face gone as though it had never been there. “Intent is what tells mana how to act and what it is. So, the magcite around us carries intent that tells it is a stone and all its other properties. Same with the magcite that makes up our bodies, it is filled with intent that gives it the properties of flesh.

  In the simplest terms, when mages cast a spell, we are using a higher form of mana, essence, to alter the intent of whatever we are trying to manipulate. In my case, to reshape the stone around us.”

  “Where did the intent already in everything around us come from? Was it the gods?”

  “That is the question, isn’t it. Honestly, no one knows. It's doubtful it was the gods, as remember our world existed long before the descent, the temple also makes no claims that the gods are the source. In turn, we call this unknown intent that imbues everything natural intent, which functions according to its own complex set of rules to which some spend their entire lives trying to understand.

  The important part of all this is when a mage casts spells that fall in line with natural intent, the easier and more efficient the spell is. It’s one of the reasons mages require so much education. In my case, I spent years studying geology, learning about rocks, how they form things like that.”

  “I think I kind of get it, but not really.” This was honestly all starting to give Ves a headache. She didn’t consider herself a fool, but she still lacked even a normal education, let alone whatever Xeeta went through. She just wanted to find a way to make use of her amber soul, but now she felt even more lost than when she started.

  “This is only the basics of the basics, I haven’t even started to explain the core types of spell casting and how they interact with intent.”

  “What there are different types as well?”

  “Yep, what I use is a modern standardized form of spell casting that rose to prominence shortly after the descent. But then there are older forms like rituals. Even fae magic, which honestly makes no sense to anyone but is arguably the most powerful and flexible form of magic.”

  “You lost me. I think your explanation has just left me even more confused.”

  Xeeta gave Ves an apologetic shrug. “There is a reason mages need years of education. Magic is an unending rabbit hole, and there is always more to learn.”