Chapter 40 – Anomaly

Since night already fallen, the rest area had also gotten a little crowded. It had also started to lit up filled with large tents, resembling a tiny little village in the forest with one big circle house on the center.

Around the circle house, there were people selling barbecued monster meat in stalls. These people had bought one of the available business areas in the area and had been profiting from it ever since. Most of them were corporations with famous brands although their set-up was quite simple, as if it was in the ancient times.

There were also those gathered around bonfires, singing songs and telling stories. Some was puffing their selves with booze at the sides, loudly shouting at each other, with some music in the background.

To Carl, the scene reminded him a little of his former world.

Looking for a place to cultivate however, Carl decided to leave and headed to the first floor, passing by the stream and soon arriving on the goblin's cave.

'This place works. All the goblins have been recently slayed and if they are any, they should be weak.'

What Carl first did was find a comfortable spot to sit and sleep on. Then he lit up a fire of his own using the available unlit torches inside. Thrown up some wood, the fire started to crackle noise and the cave lit up beautifully.

'Let's just hope the flames don't attract monsters outside.'

Carl then started to sit, cross-legged on the floor.

Instantly, the world mana in the area started to swirl towards him. Specks of light—akin to fireflies—reflected on his retinas, and soon all things went silent, calm as a lake.

'The requirements to breakthrough to a level 2 acolyte is rank 1 body, rank 1 mental sphere, and rank 1 mana pool. I can improve it all by consuming mana stones, but after absorbing the giant bear's mana stone, I had not really advanced at all.'

Carl closed both of his eyes and checked his centers of power, and saw that two circles out of three were three-fourths filled with world mana. This meant his mana pool and mental sphere were currently at the higher tier. Very close to advancement. For his body, it was about 35% filled up but it was already rank 1 in the first place.

'I see. This is doable. I will stay at this area until I make a breakthrough.' Carl decided.

Carl started to stop his breathing for a minute, and started taking long and short breaths afterwards.

Frequency and duration: the rhythm of his breathing became resonant of the bloody boar breathing technique, and gradually, some specks of light in the cave started to disappear but another appeared.

Checking his body, the mana veins in his body also started to flow more naturally, dancing on flow like a stream in his system.

It glowed up until the river-like veins connected into three circles in different parts of his body: one on his head, one on his heart, and then one on his stomach.

As if unconscious, Carl's face began to get bright red, and then he achieved a state of calm, a state of concentration.

Carl maintained this process for about two hours—the longest he had cultivated since he was in this world—and eventually his temples throbbed, revealing some of his veins a little.

_creak_

Carl was about to open both of his eyes and stopped, when he noticed something strange happening in his centers of power.

'It's calmer than last time? The world mana absorption is way too calm, it's a little creepy.' Carl was slightly stunned and continued to inspect the process.

The way his mana absorption veins was absorbing mana was indeed calmer than last time. This was very normal since he had grown familiarity with his new body, but for some reason, he was absorbing too much world mana.

'Almost too much for a middle-tier acolyte 1!'

Carl could hear his faint muscles bulging from time to time instantly turning to their normal states. His senses had improved too, as if he had merged his body with the world itself.

It was currently night and he could somewhat hear the faint movements of the sleeping monsters in the area, and the motion of birds in the trees, the bat in the cave, the insects on the leaves, the tiny animals. He could also hear the motion of the stream 100 meters away from his position.

Since he arrived on this world, his perception of mana had never been this high. The world never seemed closer to this body. It absorbed the mana of the world and flowed inside of him like a calm stream of water, filling his Centers of Power.

'Huh?'

Carl was noticing proof of his improvements, but the effects seemed to be better than he'd expected.

'What the hell is this?'

Carl never felt so detached of the world.

'What is this…?'

Gradually, he felt a familiar sensation – a power reaching the peak of the level 1 acolyte. That did not stop and he advanced through another realm, onto another realm. Soon, he felt the peak of a rank 1 mage. This power was reminiscent of his capability in his former world! Rank 1 mage!

Carl not only was closing his eyes at this point. He had gone completely unconscious. Yet he was still sitting fine. As though he was a statue.

Of course, Carl knew he was currently cultivating.

In theory, the state of cultivation was to feel this way, as if one was beginning to feel more powerful, they start to forget how they used to be, becoming a stronger version of themselves in order to reach a higher power.

But what he did not know at this was the effects started to be much amplified.

During a state of cultivation, one should never feel so detached of themselves they start to feel a part of the world. Even if they improved their Centers of Power, they should never feel so good they feel detached of their existence.

This was called the God-syndrome theory. Cultivators were powerful beings, but they cannot become as powerful as Gods.

Yet, Carl felt the sudden burst of mana flowing to his centers of power. It's almost like a waterfall of world mana was falling down on him now yet he became akin to a statue made of sturdy materials to resist the pressure.

Eventually, a smile unconsciously bloomed on his face. A smile of greed.

If he could cultivate with this level of concentration, his Centers of Power would temper quicker than average.

It was at this moment.

_CRACK_

A vein in his temples started to bulge, fast and loud, and it suddenly ruptured!

Before Carl realized, his eyes shot open and he roared in pain.

What he just experienced was a total anomaly in the world of cultivation!