17 Youthful Exuberance

Casmir and Elena spent all evening discussing cultivation.

When night rolled around Casmir didn't want to stop, he was enthralled by the complexity and wonders of cultivation. He learned about some of the most powerful and influential people in recent history, all of them Qi cultivators.

The strongest cultivator in recent history, a Grade 10 Qi Warrior named Helios Jing-Sheng, who commanded the united forces against the Ariel kingdom, creators of the Lifeless Plague, bringing about its fall.

The Ardvang battlion, a group of Elite Qi Warriors from various race's under the command of the Heldan Republic, their purpose, to defend the people from the Unintelligent Race's.

The person Casmir most identified with however, was the Ocean Maiden Ena, she was responsible for the Creation of the greatest and most beautiful city in the world, named after her, it is called Ena City. She lived over 100 years ago and belonged to a small Class of Qi cultivator's, the Builders, they sought to use Qi energy and resources to build unimaginable structures.

Casmir identified with her because she didn't want to create a structure for wealth or power but simply for beauty. When people came to see Ena City they would always pay tribute to her work, the city was described as the jewel of the ocean, a city free to from all restraints.

Casmir hoped to one day visit the City.

Eventually as time passed further into the night, Elena and Casmir decided to stop, they agreed to meet again in his room the next day to talk about cultivation further.

When they met again the next day, Elena had thoughtfully brought some breakfast and snacks for them to enjoy.

As they ate, Casmir began to bring up topic's and questions for Elena, however this time, some of the questions began to confuse Elena. She was knowledgeable about Qi energy but she couldn't know everything.

The pair dove back into the books, they found answer after answer and question after question.

It wasn't until the Evening that Casmir and Elena had finished reading through everything Gloria had given to Casmir, they both felt mentally exhausted.

As they finished, Elena and Casmir found themselves laying side by side on Casmir's bed, they both had smiles on their faces as they talked to each other.

"... that's why there are so few examples of Grade 10 Qi energy resources being used, it's simply impossible to find any." Elena said in response to one of Casmir's questions.

Casmir laid there thinking about her response for a few moments, every time he asked something it would open up new question's and Elena only knew so much.

Casmir's unending thoughts led to him eventually let out a sigh.

"It's amazing... Elena... I've decided. I'm going to go to Heldan Academy, I want to become a Qi cultivator." Casmir said firmly.

Casmir had already explained to Elena what Gloria wanted him to do, Elena was very supportive of him becoming a Qi cultivator.

It wasn't a path that everyone would take, there were many that simply choose to work on it like a hobby, they simply didn't see it as being that important. It was like another career path to a lot of people, something one could choose not something necessary.

As Elena heard Casmir, she smiled, it was already obvious to her that he would chose to go there, from there conversations Elena could tell that Casmir was hooked on the idea of being a cultivator, just like her.

"That's great Casmir!... Haha... we'll be learning together in the future." Elena said happily, with a large smile on her face

She then sat up grabbing a piece of paper that had been set aside, it was a University admission slip, made from coarse paper it was clearly mass produced.

"Come on then, we've got to fill this out. I'll go with you tomorrow I also want to check out some things at the university." Elena said.

Casmir nodded as he sat up.

He took the form from Elena and started filling out the required information with a pencil, as he did so Casmir suddenly thought of something.

"Elena, why didn't you go to University?" Casmir asked.

Elena wasn't shy with her reasons, she didn't have anything to hide from him.

"Well because of my special circumstances as part Tree Dryad my Qi energy has a special attribute. I have a low grade plant Affinity and a mid grade Healing Affinity, I'm not sure on the specific grades. I want to become a Qi Healer, unfortunately Gloria wouldn't let me enter a university until I was grade 2, for safety." She explained.

Casmir was amazed, a fair amount of people had Affinities to specific things, the most common were elemental affinities or racial affinities such as animalistic or floral traits. Affinities allowed people to use their Qi energy to interact with objects or people with similar Qi energies affinities.

For example, 2 people with a high grade fire affinity could exchange Qi energy and also had a better understanding of the applications of fire. They could also absorb and manipulate Qi energy with the fire affinity much more easily, this increased their efficiency at using certain item's and cultivation resource's.

Other affinities could have strange properties, Healing was one of many rarer Affinities, it meant that Elena's Qi could interact with a living things, typically it would give cells the energy to replicate and regrow, creating a healing effect.

Of course this was an oversimplification of the processes, in reality it took years of training and understanding to effectively use affinities in a practical setting such as combat. Healing using Qi energy was even more complicated, a comprehensive understanding of biology was needed to achieve proper effects.

"Wow, a mid grade Healing Affinity... I'll have to look for you if I ever hurt myself." Casmir joked but was genuinely impressed.

"Wait a minute, do you cultivate like a human or like a Dryad?" Casmir said as he realised something important.

Elena frowned as she knocked Casmir on the head.

"I explained this earlier. My body is human, so I cultivate like a human, I only have a few... minor traits inherited from my mother, like my hair. My Hair can naturally contain some Qi energy, similar to Tree Dryad cells from what I know, but it is only a small amount so it basically doesn't matter." Elena said strictly but she blushed as she remembered another aspect she had inherited.

"Ouch... sorry I forgot, clam down.... Also.. a Qi Healer is a Class right?" Casmir said timidly as he shifted away from Elena afraid of being hit again.

Casmir looked extremely cute to Elena as he timidly asked her, she couldn't help but laugh at him. Realising he had finished the form and put it away, she thought of something fun to do.

"Hehe... yes it's a Class, they're basically Doctor's that use Qi Energy... Now, how far away from me do you think you can get?" Elena said as she inched closer to Casmir as if a tiger ready to pounce.

Casmir was taken off guard as Elena pounced at him, she wanted to jab and tickle him to death for her own amusement. It was a fair repayment for all the effort she had put in, in the last two days.

"Ah.. Ah stop it... hahah... no.. not there.... ah ah..." Casmir cried as he was tackled on his bed and attacked by a ferocious beast.

Elena couldn't stop laughing as she watched Casmir squirm, they used to play like this when they were younger but they had stopped as they got older.

Suddenly, Casmir counter-attacked, he managed to start tickling Elena's arm pit, she was very weak there.

"Ah.. no.. no... Ahah... not fair..." she cried out as her body squirmed uncontrollably under Casmir's attacks.

"Hah haaah... you cannot defeat me little girl!" Casmir shouted proudly in a faked deep voice.

They played for a few minutes, neither one being truly victorious.

Eventually they were out of breath, Casmir managed to grab hold of Elena's hands and hold them down as he laid on top of Elena.

They both attempted to rest for a moment, but Casmir started to stare at Elena's face with a smile.

Just as Elena was going to attack again, Casmir let go of her hands as he bent down kissing Elena.

"Thank you a lot Elena, I know I was annoying you for the past two days... so thanks. I love you... I mean it..." Casmir said softly.

Elena wasn't expecting this kind of attack, she was undefended, It was only a matter of seconds before she was completely conquered.

Elena's face flushed as she squirmed, she felt warm and loved, her face wore the biggest smile it could.

"I love you too Casmir... come here..." Elena said as she grabbed Casmir dragging him into her embrace.

They were both mentally exhausted from their conversations and a little bit physically tired after their battle, they didn't care about kissing or having sex, they just wanted to hold each other.

The two of them laid their facing each other as they hugged one another's bodies and closed their eyes.

"Let's just stay here tonight, we'll finish everything else tomorrow..." Elena said gently as she covered them both in a blanket.

"Ummh..." Casmir replied in agreement as he snuggled up to Elena.

For them to so easily accept each others embrace and fall into rest was a wholehearted confession of love to each other...