Chapter 6: Rooms of Refinement

Lucian walked up to the container and felt that it was ice cold to the touch. It felt like it was made of steel as when he knocked on it, it produced a metallic ringing sound. It had some inscriptions inscribed onto it and there was a small stair that led up to the top of the container which Lucian walked up.

He peered into it and saw the dark green liquid flowing within the container, with the inscriptions also inside it. Reaching into the liquid with one of his hands, he felt a tingling sensation on his skin. It felt uncomfortable and as he pulled out his hand, he saw it was reddened and had signs of damage done to it.

'What is this liquid?! Once I touched it, my skin started to have some changes done to it. System?'

[The liquid inside the container is called Skin Melting Acid. It's a liquid that only targets the skin and attacks it until the skin is no more. It comes from a tree, the Burial Tree, specifically its flowers. The acid produced by the Burial Tree can destroy the skin easily within half an hour. The liquid is a diluted version and can only destroy all the skin in 8 hours.]

[The Burial Tree is a tree that absorbs nutrients from the dead bodies that form underneath it. When a creature is underneath it, it will spray them with the acid that comes from its flowers. Once covered, the creature's skin will begin to melt and they will be in great pain. After their skin is destroyed, their flesh will be opened to the wind and elements. Through the pain of having their skin destroyed and the passing wind cutting into their flesh, they pass out and become nutrients for the tree as its roots will drag them into the earth.]

'Holy shit! That's one scary tree. Hope I never have the chance to run into it. So this liquid is its acid that is diluted. That's perfect for refining my skin, it will cut down on the amount of time needed to do so. Originally it would take one week but with this liquid, it would cut down the time needed. What about the inscriptions on the container?'

[The inscriptions are made using Life magic that would detect any danger to the life of the one inside the container. If you surpass the 8 hour mark, it would create a barrier around you and expel you from the container. It will also do so if you wish to leave the container.]

'I see. So it's for safety reasons. That means I would be able to cultivate longer without the risk of actually dying in doing so. Well, let's just test it out and cultivate my Battle Qi.'

Lucian then fully undressed from his clothes and stood at the top of the stairs. He was a bit scared as even though it was a diluted version of the acid, the pain of having your skin slowly melting was not pleasant. He began to calm down and finally entered the liquid. The tingling sensation was instant and his skin started to show signs of damage.

'Shit, calm down! First, let's follow the mantra instructions on cultivating Battle Qi. The first step after sensing it is to build up a tough skin which will increase the amount of Battle Qi and the control over it. While having the skin go through harsh punishment, make the Battle Qi inside go towards the skin and have it activate the body's healing power. As the skin goes through rapid destruction and repair, it becomes stronger. To complete this stage, the skin has to reach the hardness of wood. Of course, it is possible to go beyond the hardness of wood but it's recommended not to in the early stage as to do so would take much more time and resources.'

Lucian followed the instructions in his mantra and sensed the Battle Qi inside of him. He guided the warm energy toward his skin instinctively and the energy helped repair the damage done to his skin. The process was slow as he didn't have much energy and he didn't have much control over it. Now he could see the benefits of the diluted acid as since it was diluted, the speed of destruction was the same as the process of skin repair.

Of course, his energy wasn't enough to support the skin repair. By the minute mark, he had run out of Battle Qi and the destruction of his skin continued without fail. He tried to regenerate his Battle Qi and only succeeded after resting in the liquid for 2 minutes. It slowly came from his stomach and by the 3 minute mark, he rushed to get out of the liquid. The inscriptions sensing his intentions lit up and a barrier surrounded his body. It lifted him out and placed him by the top of the stairs.

Lucian began to take in large amounts of air while laying down. When he finally recovered, he sat up and looked at his skin. It was red all over and some parts were very damaged. Sensing his Battle Qi had recovered, he circulated it to his skin once more. Visibly, his skin started to heal and the redness receded slowly. After using up his Battle Qi, he took out a Lesser Healing Balm from his inventory. The balm was enclosed in a small bronze container and as he opened it up, he smelled a pleasant scent. It was a gold-colored cream and Lucian used his fingers to gather some to put onto his damaged skin. Once it was put onto the skin, there was a warm and tingling sensation.

'How long would it take to heal these wounds on my skin?'

[Looking at your state, it would take 1 minute to heal all your wounds as long as you rub the balm all over your skin. 1 Lesser Healing Balm is enough to do so.]

Lucian took more of the cream out and placed it all around his body until there was no more. By then, his body was covered with it except for the places he couldn't reach. One minute passed and Lucian could feel that the wounds on his skin had healed. He felt his skin and it was slightly rough. When he tried to scratch his skin, it was tough to do so and no marks appeared on his skin.

'Wow! So this is the effect of refining my skin. It feels much tougher and my nails don't leave a mark when I scratch at it. Now I just have to refine it until the hardness is around the level of wood. It will take around a week before I can go to the second stage of the Body Refining stage, Muscle Refining. Now I should check out the Mana Refining Room.'

Lucian put back on his clothes and went out of the Body Refining Room. He reached the Mana Refining Room and decided to check out the platform. It was full of inscriptions and he could sense that the surrounding Mana gathered around it.

'What's the usage of the inscriptions on the platform?'

[The inscriptions are created using Psyche magic that would calm and rest the mind. There is a limit to how much it can do so, roughly once every 8 hours.]

'Oh, thanks for the information System.'

Lucian sat down on the platform while crossing his legs together. He then closed his eyes and used his mind to sense the particles in the air. At first, his mind was still tired and couldn't take in another particle but then the inscriptions glowed pink. His mind began to calm and Lucian felt that he had a good sleep. In that instant, his mind was restored and he took in another red particle. That particle wandered in his mind and rested next to the first particle where it became calm.

Even though Lucian took that particle in, he felt that he could still take in another. As he tried to do so, he succeeded but was instantly overcome by mental tiredness and almost fainted. He quickly pulled himself together and managed to stay conscious.

'Shit. This feeling of tiredness is not pleasant. I'll have to keep experiencing it as I take in more mana particles which is the worst. Good thing I have all these resources before me to help combat the tiredness of my mind.'

Lucian got up from the platform and went towards the area with the herbs. There was only one type of herb piled up when he looked through the pile. The herb was green in color while the flower that it had was pink and it had some leaves growing on its stem.

'What kind of herb is this?'

[This herb is called the Calming Flower. It grows near lakes with a lot of psyche Mana. All those that come near it will have a calmed mind and it is usually protected by beasts that cultivate Mana. It can be eaten directly and will help curing the mind's tiredness but eating more than one per day will lead to the body accumulating some poison that would cause insomnia. Usually it is used as incense as the smoke will also calm the mind. It can also be used to create pills that can calm the mind with no side effects.]

'Wow, that's one useful flower. With its calming effects on the mind, I'll be able to take in more mana particles into my mind. I should use it as an incense as that doesn't have any side effects, of course if I have a pill that would be the best but I don't have any pill creation manuals. I really wonder how it tastes, maybe I'll just eat one today.'

Lucian picked up one of the flowers and put it all into his mouth. As he chewed and swallowed, he noticed that it had a sweet and sharp taste. It lingered in his mouth and he could smell the taste of it. Once it reached down into his stomach, his mind instantly calmed and he could feel that he was able to take in more mana particles.

He went to the platform again and tried to take in the gathered mana particles surrounding the platform. This time, he had gathered 4 particles before being overcome by mental tiredness. Lucian felt the 6 particles in his mind gathered next to each other staying still.

'It seems like each time I take in mana particles, the next time I do so the amount doubles. If it's like that, I would have gained my first orb of mana quickly. My mind after resting from taking in mana particles seems to be becoming more sensitive to my surroundings. It is probably the effect of Mana refinement. Oh yeah, I almost forgot about the crystals. Let's check them out.'

Lucian walked off the platform and arrived at the area where the crystals are placed. There were numerous crystals with different colors relating to the element that they hold. As he used his mana sense, he saw through his mind how bright the crystals shined. There were numerous particles in each one and they were all calm. He picked out one of the red mana crystals and the particles resonated with him. The particles seemed to be wanting to gather around his own refined mana particles but the moment they tried to do so he felt a huge headache and instantly let go of the crystal. It fell onto the ground with a clink but didn't break.

'So these are Mana Crystals! There are so many of them here and of different types. That's good if I gain affinity for other elements when I become stronger in my mana cultivation. The particles inside these crystals seem to have resonated with my element and really wanted to be gathered together. So it seems it really is easier to use Mana Crystals than to rely on the mana in my surroundings to cultivate. Let's rest my mind for a while and try to use the crystals.'

After deciding to rest his mind, he sat down at the platform but he couldn't get his mind to rest after a while due to his mind constantly sensing the mana in the surrounding dancing about. Lucian decided to get out of the Mana Refining Room and entered his bedroom to rest. It was much better as the concentration of Mana was thin. He remembered then that there was a way to recover the mind recorded in his mantra so he tried to remember it. He found what he was looking for and saw that it was a meditation technique.

It was quite simple to follow so he decided to try it out. He first closed his eyes and focused on letting his awareness wander. He breathed in and out in a pattern while doing so. His mind wandered, not thinking of anything while he focused on his breath. Shortly, the particles disappeared and his mind started to rest. Time passed and after sensing his mind recovering enough to take in a particle, he stopped the meditation technique and opened his eyes.

He felt more awake and that he had recovered enough to try out the crystal. He walked out of his bedroom and into the Mana Refining Room. He grabbed one of the red crystals and tried to take in only one of the particles. He succeeded in doing so after a while and the particle was very obedient as it came out of the crystal by itself after sensing Lucian's intention. To Lucian, it felt easy to separate the particle from the rest of the others when his mind was recovered slightly. In separating the particles, he could sense how many of them there were inside the crystal. He counted about 100 of them.

'Wow, that's just enough for creating one orb of Mana. So with this many crystals I can create a lot of orbs. That's neat. Oh yeah, what time is it? I was so absorbed in my cultivation.'

Lucian, not knowing what time of the day it was, walked out of the Mana Refining Room and walked outside of his building. The sky was dark and a bright moon was placed above. The moon was blue in color and shone down a light that illuminated the darkness created by the clouds.

'What a beautiful sight. A blue moon shining its light above my village with the clouds passing by. All is quiet except the sounds of training that could be heard far off in the distance. So this is my first night in this world. This is just my starting point. Just you wait, World of Zergon. I'll create an everlasting empire that would rule to the ends of time and explore what you have to offer. Mark my words.'