The Weekend

Like that the first week of school had passed smoothly and Peter hadn't heard of the girl named Uriel since his previous encounter. This solidified his gut feeling that she was definitely up to something, whatever it was he had to be prepared for it.

'We should really focus on increasing your mana core stage. I won't be able to do much with the limited mana you hold right now. Also I have to do some physical training and move around in this body, to get used to it. My current movements feel sloppy.

'At the moment, I only have 3 spells of the Darkness Element at my disposal along with a couple chore magic spells that I still remember. The 3 darkness spells are:

'Darkness Entrapment - Trap an individual or group of individuals by freezing their shadow momentarily.

'Shadow Steps - Propel yourself forward by creating a pad of darkness mana under your feet that pushes you, allowing for nimble and fast movements.

'Darkness Slash - Create an arc of concentrated darkness mana to severe your enemies.

'Those are the 3 Darkness Spells I can use. With your current limited mana reserve, I'd say we should only use the shadow steps and mana augmenting to fight, only using the other 2 spells as a trump card or finisher.' Noah explained, speaking in Peter's mind.

'That's fine brother. Let me devise a course of action for these 2 days whilst I cultivate.' Peter replied mentally.

The blind boy sat in a lotus meditation position, absorbing mana from the Novice mana crystals situated in front of him. These were naturally mined solid crystals that held dense forms of a mixture of mana of different elements.

They could be found deep in the Earth and were used in this modern day as a powerful fuel source. Whilst cultivators used them to increase their mana core ranks, normal day people used them as a valuable fuel source.

They were ranked according to the ranks in cultivation. With each grade, the purity of the mana held within the crystals became much purer. Novice rank cultivators would use Novice Crystals and vice versa. This was to ensure that the purity wouldn't harm the mana core and cultivator's body.

'Okay, I've brainstormed a plan. I'll cultivate for several hours today and tomorrow and with the help of the cultivation necklace, I will aim to reach the 2nd stage of the Novice Rank by tomorrow.

'We'll go shopping today for a couple of survival items we may need just in case and I'll let you train in the Apex Combat Facility in the main city for a couple of hours after. What do you think brother?' Peter organized a course of action, to spend the weekend efficiently.

'That sounds good. Let's show those fools not to underestimate the Magtris brothers!' Noah said with vigor.

**

After cultivating non-stop for 6 hours, the clock struck 4 pm. Peter felt mentally and physically drained and couldn't help but yearn for rest.

'This is where the help of potions comes along. We have access to several potions, in your bracelet, there should be health potions and mana potions. We'll keep the mana potions for when we're in dire situations.

'You should consume minor health potions during your cultivation to regain your energy; health potions will heal any injuries and restore your energy slightly, so give one a go.' Noah replied to Peter's thoughts of yearning for sleep.

"Friday, give me a Minor Health Potion."

A small vial materialized in Peter's hands. He didn't hesitate to open it and chugged all the liquid down. It surprisingly had a nice peach-flavored taste.

"I feel energized!!!" Peter stood up stretching his limbs, "With these potions, I should be able to cultivate efficiently without rest."

'Now let's do some quick shopping. This cultivation session was extremely fruitful, I'm already ¾ of the way through the first stage. I'm improving much faster now as the Stigma is absorbing less of the mana I absorb and the Cultivation Necklace is also constantly absorbing mana for me.' Peter thought, reflecting on his short cultivation session.

"A taxi has been called as scheduled. It's waiting for you outside sir." Friday's monotonous voice played.

Peter immediately headed to his wardrobe and changed into some better clothes before rushing down the stairs and leaving the large mansion in a hurry.

The hovering vehicle was already turned on and patiently waited to start driving.

"Where to?" The driver asked in an annoyed voice. He had to wait a couple minutes for the blind boy to get prepared and arrive at the vehicle, not only that he didn't like waiting unnecessarily especially, for a cripple.

"Shaman Market Please." Peter answered quickly.

The man pressed down on the accelerator and the vehicle sped down the street and in 10 minutes or so, Peter had arrived at his destination.

This time was the peak hour in the Shaman Market so the bustling of people moving here and there and people buying all sorts of gadgets and Enchanted items could be seen all around.

Peter wired the driver 10 credits and left the vehicle.

With the help of Friday's guidance, Peter walked onwards towards a Grocery store, buying several ready-made food pills that could be bought for 100 credits each. Food pills were a useful alchemic invention that helped busy people refill the nourishments their bodies needed without having to eat a hefty meal. Even though it was expensive, for Peter this sum wasn't too bad.

He bought around 50 of them and a large bundle of bottled water totaling 5200 Credits. Wherever this Enchanted Forest was, Peter was taking all measures to ensure his survival there in preparation for the worst-case scenario.

'Phew. That's done, what now?' Peter asked stepping out of the Grocery Store with 5000 less credits in his bank account.

'We should head to the Combat Facility. I need to do some training in this body.' Noah replied.

'Oh yes.'

"Friday, directions to the Combat Facility please," Noah said out loud.

"As you wish sir."

**

'I'll take it from here, as you've never been here before.' Noah said. Peter nodded internally, swapping control with Noah.

Noah immediately took off the white bandage around his eyes and closed up the walking stick in his hands. His purplish gray eyes glowed as his dull vision of a colorless and poorly defined world entered his view.

He cracked his neck left and right before entering the Large Facility.

Several altars were placed around the large entrance room. They had state-of-the-art digital screens and technology built into them to allow Cultivators to hire a combat room without issues. Hundreds of cultivators came to this facility to hire rooms everyday so these blocks were the most efficient way to register and sign up for a room.

Noah walked towards one of the blocks and looked at the digital screen that showed him nothing except gray. He sighed, realizing he'd have to rely on muscle memory to get through the signing up process, since there was no voice assistance.

Whilst Noah was typing away, a familiar voice resounded from behind him making him flinch.

"Peter? What are you doing here?" Elizabeth's voice caused Noah to turn around.

Noah was stunned momentarily, 'Elizabeth?'

Although her face and other features were covered in a gray outline he could still make out her figure.

'Beautiful…' Elizabeth was immediately taken away by Peter's handsome looks, she had never seen him without the bandage so this was her first encounter with his real devilishly handsome looks. She couldn't help but gulp.

'Stop it Elizabeth! You're older than him!' She scolded herself, trying to regain her composure.

"Oh… I'm here to hire a combat room but I'm struggling. For such a high tech place to not have voice assistance, it's beyond me." Noah smiled awkwardly.

"Elizabeth. Who's this-'' Elizabeth's friend walked up to her to see who she suddenly stopped to talk to but she froze mid sentence. She also couldn't help but also be captivated by Peter's unique glowing eyes and his handsome features.

"I-I'll leave you to it." She stuttered, leaving the pair to talk while she headed outside.

"Uhm, Peter. What happened to your bandage?" Elizabeth asked, trying to not stare at his features for too long.

"I ran out of bandages. Haha!" Noah laughed.

'Nice one brother.' Peter smiled at his brother's stupid answer.

"Anyways, do you mind helping me out? I want to rent a room for 3 hours." Noah changed the topic. He had no feelings for Elizabeth unlike she did in the past and only saw her as a friend so it was easy to talk to her.

'He seems so different. I might fall in love if I stick here any longer. Damn Magtris brothers, why are both of you so damn hot!' Elizabeth shook her head, trying to contain her reddening cheeks.

"Yeah Sure! Gimme a sec." Elizabeth hurriedly moved past Noah and began typing away, signing him up and applying for a room in a matter of seconds.

"How many credits would that be?" Noah asked.

"D-Don't worry. I already paid for you. I should get going now a-and Peter, you should really get another bandage for your eyes." she replied in a soft voice, feeling her heart flutter every time she looked at his face, "Goodbye."

Elizabeth ran past him leaving him behind.

She opened the doors wide, running through, allowing for Noah to hear what her friend had abruptly shouted out upon seeing her friend exit the facility.

"Who the h*ll was that guy? You've been hiding such a good looking-" Her friend's excited shriek passed through the glass doors and cut out as the doors closed again.

'I told you you're good looking. She was clearly flustered.' Noah teased his brother.

'Oh shush. Just hurry up and get to the training room.' Peter smiled, shaking his head mentally.

"Your room has been activated. Please head to room 69 on the 7th floor Mr Magtris." A female autonomous voice announced from the digital screen. Noah shook his head, the altar had state of the art technology but no voice assistance and now it was teasing him by speaking to him.

'I can't wait.' Noah cracked his neck side to side before walking to the lift.

**

As planned, Noah spent 3 hours in the large Training Room. He first began with light stretching, push ups, squats etc. as a warm up. Then took out his <B Grade> sword from Peter's bracelet and practiced the 'Ethereal Blades' Martial Art - A martial art Noah had completely mastered, when he was alive.

Martial arts existed and worked alongside spells; they required less mana and could output less power than spells but they were a Cultivator's basic attacking method. Both Martial arts and Spells were ranked according to the number of stars they were given.

A 5-star martial art for example was extremely strong and most King Rank and Magus Rank Mages would usually be able to learn and completely execute it.

The strongest martial art Noah had completely learned before he died was a 2-star basic martial art - 'Ethereal Blades'.

This martial art consisted of 3 forms, the first form was a series of moves not requiring any weapon. The last 2 forms required a sword, it created 2 more ethereal swords next to him when attacking, the last form was a powerful one-shot type of attack.

This martial art was good for facing several opponents and he thanked his luck that he had managed to master it fully before he died since he didn't have access to the manual any longer.

Another bonus was that due to his complete mastery of the martial art he required minimal mana to execute the moves luckily.

'It seems I'm a bit rusty in executing the 3 forms of the 'Ethereal Blades' Martial Art but I should be fine by tomorrow. I should probably practice using the Shadow steps spell too. Damn! We have a lot to do.' Noah's chest heaved up and down as he lay on the white ground.

"Summoning 5 more attack dolls." A monotonous female voice played out in the large room, announcing the formation of 5 AI-controlled dolls.

The combat room was perfect for honing one's skills and for testing one's capabilities. It included a setting to modify the terrain and the difficulty of the bots.

For the past 3 hours, Noah had been diligently fighting against 5 opponents all at the same time, only recently changing the difficulty from beginner to intermediate.

The only downside was the dolls couldn't attack with spells, they could only execute basic moves sequenced by the AI.

**

The following day was almost identical to the previous. Peter woke up early in the morning and consumed a hefty breakfast to kick start the day. Alex and Marcus were out of the house attending their weekend extra classes so it was surprisingly peaceful.

This allowed Peter to meditate non-stop only stopping after he had broken through into the 2nd stage of the Novice Rank.

'Yes!! I've done it Noah!' Peter couldn't help but feel content with his rapid progress. He had broken into the 2nd stage!

'Well done Brother! Keep going at this rate and you might reach the Proficient Rank even faster than me.' Noah smiled.

Peter then spent several more hours solidifying his entry into the 2nd stage of the Novice Rank and stabilizing his mana core. He then spent 2 more hours channeling mana towards the Stigma filling up its reserves.

At exactly 5 pm he headed out of the house and towards the combat facility to allow Noah to practice the Ethereal Blades Martial arts for 2 hours.

In the end, Peter felt extremely happy with his progress and slept with a content smile awaiting the next day.

He had officially cemented his beginning on the path of Cultivation…