*[Several months later]*
Inside a gigantic city constructed by the federation of a couple of migrated, almost annihilated races, one could see a young man with broad shoulders, black hair that had silver strands, and golden-silverish eyes.
His aura was unrestrained while the stigma above his right eye that looked like a reversed wing was glowing faintly.
Dense currents of mana were passively attracted to the young man.
It was Jason who walked nonchalantly through the crowded streets of Janur, the biggest city of the continent, they had named Manla.
This was not the name mankind had given to the continent in the past, but that was what it was now- the past.
Jason had no qualms adjusting himself because he was already accustomed to change.
Right from the cultivation system to figure out that there was more than one energy with which one could cultivate, everything existed and he had adapted to all the changes pretty well.
Accepting that he was not a pure human had been the most difficult for him, but other than that, nothing seemed to be a problem.
Not even the fact that his grandparents might still be alive, just somewhere else and not on Argos!
Jason had even accepted the fact that Petri's evolution that had been completed months earlier had changed everything about him!
This had been literal, and Jason was glad that the soul connection with Petri was still strong, if not stronger than it had ever been.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})It was difficult to believe what had happened, but not only had Petri shed his skin, which was nothing unique, but at the same time, he had expelled his mana core!
Unbeknownst to everyone, Petri had turned into a beast that was unable to absorb mana anymore!
His physical strength had increased tremendously, and the shared strength Jason had received almost broke his vessel apart!
He had been able to barely bear it owing to the Celestia bloodline that had strengthened his physical attributes by several notches!
Digesting that Petri had become unable to absorb mana was something Jason couldn't comprehend.
It was only when he recalled the memories Anna had transmitted to him, that he remembered that cultivating with mana was only one of three possible main paths to cultivate!
Accepting this was difficult, but Petri had never been a beast that had relied on mana, to begin with.
His forte had always been physical strength and the two curses he harbored.
However, now that everything had changed about Petri, right from his length that had increased to more than 50 meters, to his pupils that had turned entirely golden, up to the pitch-black scales with golden veins spreading through them, Jason couldn't help but feel overwhelmed.
On one hand, it might not be bad that Petri was unable to cultivate in the path of mana anymore, but on the other hand, Jason had to figure out a proper way to increase his soulbond's strength!
This was not necessarily the case for now because Jason could barely bear with a physical increment comparable to 1,500 drops of liquefied mana, but it was important for later.
Despite his body almost breaking apart when Petri had finished his evolution, Jason couldn't help but feel that his soulbonds were striving to become stronger.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})His youngest soulbond had become the strongest after evolving, but Jason had no idea what kind of race it had turned into!
From legends, he had heard that calling it a basilisk would be the easiest answer, which was exactly what Jason decided to call Petri's race.
It might have been wrong, but there was nobody who corrected him either way.
Rejecting mana as his path to cultivate, Petri had turned into a beast that cultivated on the path of strength, Pryr.
The path of mystic energy, Maest, was the one everyone called the path of mana, and Jason could only know these things because of the memories Anna had transmitted to him.
It was still confusing, and he decided to simply take the different energies as a means to determine what path one had chosen.
As such, the path of strength was called the path of primordial energy by Jason! This was the path Petri had taken, to reinforce his life force and every cell in his body.
Jason was not sure what exactly primordial energy was, but he decided to not worry about it for now. Argos didn't have a different energy than mana either way!
It had been an interesting experience to travel through Manla for several months, and Jason had already spent a few weeks inside Janur, which was called the most populated city on all continents.
At least, that was what he'd heard by eavesdropping on the conversation of others.
Despite being able to socialize quickly, Jason's aura and stigma caused others to revere him.
However, he didn't want to restrict his aura, and stigma because it was comfortable to be himself.
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})Furthermore, he could passively absorb mana too!
His thoughts had been lingering on the other path of cultivation, but the only one he had yet to encounter was the path of wisdom.
Known as Spiral, it was the path where one absorbed spiritual force to refine one's mind and create a vessel that could be used to store the energy and enhance it.
While Petri had changed substantially, Jason didn't pay as much attention to absorbing and liquefying mana as he should have.
However, by freely releasing his aura and stigma that accelerated his passive mana absorption by a large margin, the number of highly compressed liquefied drops had increased to 134.
He would have reached double the number by focusing on cultivating, but Artemis had been devouring his mana stones at such a rapid pace, that Jason had been unable to cultivate actively either way.
The surrounding mana was denser on Manla than it was on Canir, but the passive mana gathering with his aura and stigma were already exceeding the naturally generated mana.
As such, he would have to use mana stones to increase his pace, which was not possible as Artemis had devoured everything, only to demand more.
In the end, she hadn't cared about holding back anymore, and almost imploded by eating too many mana stones.
The number of liquefied mana drops in her core had increased to a shocking amount of 600, but it had taken a toll on her body that was now utterly exhausted.
Liquefying 100 drops of mana every month had been too taxing and being tired and fatigued was already a light punishment Artemis' body had given her.
This prevented her from moving around, but it was better than being seriously injured!
Now that half a year had passed since he had left Canir, he had found his inner peace after working relentlessly for four years.
Even if he hadn't done much during the last six months, his strength had increased substantially which was owing to his soul world's high amplification of 40%, and his soulbonds' sincere efforts in becoming stronger.
However, now it was time for him to start acting. He had observed more than enough to determine what was going on and which race he had to pay attention to.
From the looks of it, only Petri had become a being that cultivated using the path of primordial energy, and every migrating race had been a race that absorbed and cultivated with mana!
As such, they could progress without any issues which was interesting to know as he had expected to see races with all kinds of cultivation paths.
However, when he had begun approaching the other races that were extremely friendly to him, he figured out that the cultivation paths were determined by one's cultivation veins!
What this meant for Petri was that he had either transformed his mana veins to primordial energy veins or that he had expelled his mana veins during his evolution.
Yet, other races had told Jason that it was impossible to change one's cultivation veins because one was born with them.
Jason doubted this because Petri had changed his cultivation veins….or had he not??
His mind had been rattling at this thought, and it was only when he remembered that every neutral beast without affinity could only be bound to a certain soul world that shock spread through him.
'Is the physical soul world related to the cultivation path of primordial energy???'
If that were to be the case, every physically attributed beast would be walking on the path of primordial energy...by absorbing mana!!
