CH 014: Cultivation

"Believe me, you'll find out how incredible your Skills are with time." Natasha said :"But forget about that for now. Right now, you need to take advantage of the leftover Mana and absorb it."

")But I thought you could only absorb a specific amount of Mana everyday.)"

"That's right. Keyword, "absorb". You see, there are two types of cultivation. Mana Cultivation and Mana Circulation. Mana Cultivation is when you absorb the Mana in the world, which strengthens you and is recorded as XP in your Status Screen. But there is a limit to how much Mana you can absorb. If you try to absorb more than your limit, which your Talent Stats show, then it will get dangerous. Very dangerous.

It would be like trying to forcibly fit in more water in a full bottle. What will happen in that case? The bottle will explode. What will happen to your body, which is the full bottle, when you try to absorb more Mana, which is water, than you can everyday?"

"(... I will explode.)"

"Only if you try too much. That's why, it's common sense to NOT absorb more Mana than your limit. But then Leveling up would be way too time consuming. So across time, another method was also invented. To circulate your own Mana and strengthen your body and soul.

Let me put it like this. You try to get fit, get a more muscular body. To do that, you need to train. Which is done by your body absorbing Mana and getting stronger. Mana Cultivation is like taking protein and such along with your training, while Mana Circulation is just weight lifting and other things without the use of anything.

Mana Cultivation allows your XP to rise by a large margin in a short time, but Mana Circulation instead allows your body to absorb Mana for a longer time. So it is possible to get even more XP than Mana Cultivation if you perform Mana Circulation for a long time in the day. Like, doing it for an entire day may not only get you as much as Mana Cultivation, it may even get you more than that. Maybe just a little, or twice as much, thrice as much.

Depends on your Talent Stats.

The Mana you'll be absorbing during Mana Circulation is the Mana recorded in the Status Screen, below HP. So basically you can perform Mana Circulation until your Mana runs out. Then you can do it again once there is enough."

"(Hm, I get it more or less. So is the XP you gain through Mana Circulation equal to your Mana? Like, I have 960 Mana. If I completely absorb it through Mana Circulation, does that mean I'll get 960 XP?)"

"Unfortunately, no. That's not the case. You already have that Mana, you're just absorbing it even more."

"(Oh, I see. Alright then, thanks for explaining.)"

"*Smiling* No problem, lil buddy. Then should we proceed to Mana Cultivation and Mana Circulation? You haven't done Mana Cultivation yet either, so we should do that first. It would be a total waste to not absorb 960 points worth of XP, you know? Oh, by the way, you may not be able to sleep tonight since you'll need to absorb all the leftover Mana. It would be a waste to not absorb all that."

"(Sigh, alright, sure, let's get to it then. I'll get my beauty sleep tomorrow.)"

"*Chuckling* Cute. But don't worry, you won't feel tired. Be it Mana Cultivation or Mana Circulation, you will always enter a state of trance where your mind will unconsciously recover if you aren't consciously staying awake. Your body will do the rest by instinct. It's basically being asleep with extra steps."

"(Oh, thank goodness for that. Alright, what are we waiting for? Let's start already.)"

And so, for the rest of the night, Natasha guided Slathilia in how to perform Mana Cultivation and Mana Circulation. Afterwards, when he got the hang of it, she herself started cultivating as well. It seemed that she wasn't a lazy person either.

-

(A/N: So by how I posted the number of "Days", some of you may have already figured that I was going to write what day MC did what, since I wanted to show he made the best of his Skills and was always on the hunt. Like Re:Monster, one of my favorite Isekai mangas. But I decided against that. Why? Because other than just that, it's completely impractical.

There would be constant timeskips for every day. It would be like "Day 52, Slathilia killed this and this" and "Day 65, Slathilia killed him and him", so it would be completely repetitive. There would also be no character development or romance development, since even if a lot of chapters passed, the time in the story wouldn't really be that long. It would be like "oh, they got in a relationship or got married in chapter 100! What time is it in the story? Day 79". You get my point?

So because of that, it won't be day by day. Time won't be specified, but there won't be large timeskips and MC will be on the hunt most of the time. Hope you're alright with that.)

The next day arrived, and the two woke up early. They hadn't slept, just cultivated. But it felt like their minds and bodies had rested perfectly. In fact, Slathilia couldn't remember the last time he had rested so well. Nor the last time he felt so refreshed so early in the morning.

"Hmmm, good morning, Thilia." Natasha groaned as she stretched, smiling afterwards and scratching his neck :"Did you rest well?" And he hummed comfortably :"(Yeah, surprisingly. It really was just sleep with extra steps.)"

"Told you so." She chuckled before looking at the table beside the bed :"Hm, 6 am. It's pretty early." Catching him off guard a bit :'Wait, there are clocks here?' As he spotted a small, wooden clock ticking :'Huh, didn't even realize that was there. Guess I was too tired and too focused last night.'

"What should we do? Should we just rest, or do something else?"

"(We've already rested enough, so I think that's enough, no?)" Slathilia loved sleep, but only at night. He didn't like to sleep during the day, and always liked to just get up if he could after waking up. Sleeping during the day always left him tired for some reason instead.

"I guess you're right. Then let's see if breakfast is being served here too. After eating something, why don't we hit the Guild to look for a job?"

"(Yeah, sure, I'm down with that.)"

"Alright, just let me get changed."

And so, she got up to change. While Slathilia prayed to and thanked his dear Crow for giving him the ability to see that magnificent ass and those beautiful breasts. If not for wanting to look weird, he would get into a praying position. Cause damn, did that ass deserve it.

He had to Level up fast so he could grow fast. Because boy, did that ass do things to him. Just that ass was enough motivation for him to Level up as fast as he could. He honestly wondered if this was how Issei Hyoudou, that disgusting pervert with no guts to actually fuck any of the girls throwing themselves at him, felt.

(A/N: By the way, I don't use exclamation marks while narrating. So if I do use it, it's like a third person POV of someone's thoughts.)

That wimp really pissed him off! How are you going to be one of the most overpowered characters who can double his power infinitely, yet be the most useless and pathetic one at the same time?! Girls were literally naked in front of him countless times, yet he never, ever did anything. He deserved every little bit of hate he got.

Shaking his head, he stopped his mood from worsening at the thought of that little shit. He wasn't like him. And he never would be. He didn't even want a harem anyway, too much trouble for too little gain. If a girl threw herself into his arms, he would definitely not waste the chance. If he wasn't in a relationship, of course. Death to cheaters.

After Natasha changed and stored away her clothes in her Storage Box, she picked him up and exited the room.

"So did you gain anything from cultivating all night?"

"(Yeah, actually. I Leveled up.)"

[Lv: 12 -> 13 {+1}

Stats: 960 -> 1,040 {+80}]

Gaining 960 XP in one go was really awesome. And combined with the leftover Mana and the some XP that he already had, it was enough to make him Level up.

"... Fuck..."

"(What's up? Why do you sound annoyed?)"

"I'm not annoyed. I'm actually happy that you're growing at such speed. After all, not only are we teammates, we're also Contracted Companions and are friends. But do you have any idea how much everybody has to work for what you gained in not even 24 hours?"

"(Eh, not my problem I'm awesome.)"

"*Chuckling* Asshole. Whatever, we gain from it anyway."

Walking to the first floor, they saw some people already awake and eating breakfast, with Devyn bringing them their meals. "Oh, good morning, Ms Natasha and Slathilia, was it?" Spotting them, he smiled politely.

Natasha :"Just Natasha is fine, and Good morning to you too. And yes, his name is Slathilia."

Slathilia :"Gauw. (G'morning.)"

Devyn :"Alright, Natasha. Would you like some breakfast? You both must be hungry."

Natasha :"Yeah, thanks. We're pretty hungry."

Devyn :"It will be ready in a moment. Just take a seat."

As the two took a seat, with Slathilia sitting on the table, they waited while chatting. Just small talk while she scratched his head and back, causing him to growl lightly in enjoyment. After a while, their food was served. As delicious as last night's dinner.

After eating and paying for breakfast, they made their way to the Adventurer Guild. But on the way, Slathilia noticed even more attention on them than yesterday. More specifically, admiration and adoration pointed at him. He was confused, especially since how people, mostly girls, would squeal with adoration when he looked at them.

He was confused and slightly weirded out by the reactions, but then it hit him. His Charisma Stats! The higher the Charisma, the more beautiful the individual is. This beauty mostly affects those of the same race and species. But at certain points, it affects other beings as well.

With 1,040 Charisma Stats, it was no wonder he was getting so much attention! He wondered why he wasn't getting so much attention yesterday, when his Charisma Stats were over 9...!

Hundred. 'Maybe because I was just born?' He thought, but couldn't make heads or tails about it. But he could feel it. Feel it inside of him even without looking at his Status Screen :'My rizz... it's evolving!' He mused, chuckling to himself :'But no, it might be because it takes time to take effect. I feel smarter too, and I feel like it's not just a feeling. Oh well, why bother when I'm just benefiting from it?'

They finally arrived at the Adventurer Guild and found it open already. As Natasha walked in, she found a few people inside, but nowhere near as many people as there were yesterday. Understandable, since it was so early in the morning.

Seeing Shyann there, Natasha walked towards her :"Hey, Shyann, good morning." And the brunette smiled back, looking a bit sleepy :"Oh, hey, Natasha, Slathilia. You two look chipper so early. *Yawn" Mind giving me some of that energy?"

Natasha, chuckling :"I don't think we can do something like that."

Shyann :"Yeah, figured. What quest would you like to accept today?"

Natasha :"I'll tell you right after picking one."

Shyann :"Sure, I'll be right here, waiting for you. Remember that you can also accept F-Class quests."

Making her way to the large Quest Board on the ball specifically for F-Class quests.

"Let's see... let's see... anything catches your eye? I'd prefer subjugation quests, since those are more fun."

"(Fun, huh? What about that one, Saber Tiger subjugation?)"

"Hm? Oh, sure. That sounds fun. Let's see."

Quest: hunt down 5 Saber Tigers and bring their two long fangs as evidence.

Time Limit: 1 day

Reward(s): 50 copper coins each, 5 AP

"(I think it's good enough. Also, I've already beaten E-Class monsters, so I don't think I'd have any problems with F-Class monsters.)"

"Yeah, you're right. We won't have any problems here. Alright, let's do this then."

Taking the quest paper, she took it to Shyann :"Here. We'd like to accept this."

Shyann :"Saber Tigers, huh? Alright then, good luck on your quests and please be careful."

With their quest chosen, they set off.