Create Your Own Meaning

"Create your own meaning?" Mari asked in confusion.

Anthony sighed when he heard this question. He was also confused when he heard this concept for the first time. What did it even mean to create your own meaning?

"Well, creating your own core meaning, means introducing something abstract into the world, or something like that. I don't really know much about it other than, knowing that core meanings and central meanings are both the same, but different things at the same time," Anthony said

"But, what I have learnt is that cultivators with a central meaning are much more powerful than cultivators with a core meaning. So, every single cultivator with a central meaning is treated with the utmost respect by the royals and other cultivators," Anthony said.

But he shook his head immediately, "But learning about cultivators with a central meaning is useless. It's almost impossible to become one, so nobody really cares to learn or teach about them," Anthony told Mari when he felt another poke on his shoulder.

"Then, where did you learn all of this from? Did a cultivator teach you all of this?" Mari asked as she gripped Anthony's hand tight for an answer.

"I learned all of this from someone called a Creation Master," Anthony said as he nodded to Mari beside him.

"What's that?" Mari asked.

Anthony smiled when he heard this. He was happy with Mari's inquisitiveness. It showed that she was smart and also curious about the outside world.

"Let's just say, they are the teachers of the World's Laws. They are cultivators that have stopped progressing in their power and cultivation. They are stagnated beings. But, instead of settling down and not doing anything, they decided to teach the new generations about the Laws of the World," Anthony said.

"They are highly respected among people of high status. They are the only people in the world willing to teach others about the Laws. But with that great prestige also comes great cost. They are expensive to hire, so only the rich and powerful can have the privilege of meeting a Creation Master and learning from them,"

"So, you learnt all of this from a Creation Master?" Mari asked as she listened with shock.

'The outside world really is different,' Mari thought as she listened to everything Anthony said without missing a single word.

"Yes. I learnt everything I know about cultivators from my Creation Master," Anthony said as he nodded his head with a smile.

Mari looked at Anthony's smile and smiled back. Both of them decided at that moment to stop talking and just look at the night sky as they saw the wonders of the universe through the stars above.

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After the couple enjoyed their time together, Anthony finally went off for his eighth lap around the Kron camp.

Mari waved him off with a smile as she sat on her rock.

She sat and waited for when Anthony would come back from his eighth round.

She couldn't wait to know more information from him.

_______________________

Soon, Anthony reached the hill again, and for some reason, it wasn't as exhausting as the first time he had run up this hill.

And he knew why that was the case.

An ephemeral beauty sat atop a rock and waved at him as he climbed the hill. She had dark blue hair with strands of white. They looked reminiscent of the night sky, while her eyes had a bluish-violet and they shimmered with light as if her pupils were filled with stars.

Soon, Anthony climbed to the top of the hill as he placed his bag beside a tree and sat down in front of Mari on a small rock of his own.

Mari drummed her fingers on her rock as she hummed in amusement. "That was less than two hours. You seem to miss me more and more," She said as she giggled to herself.

Anthony rolled his eyes at Mari's teasing and asked for his due payment.

"So, where's my present this time?" Anthony said as he raised his eyebrows and made it swim across his face.

Mari looked at the swimming eyebrows for a moment, when she blew up in laughter.

Anthony just smiled as he heard Mari's laugh.

She wiped a tear from her eyes as she held her stomach from all the laughing.

After a while, she calmed down enough to make other reactions as she gave her response to Anthony.

"I never said I was going to give you a present this time, did I?" Mari said as she looked at the man standing before her with a smug grin.

Anthony's swimming eyebrows suddenly tightened into a frown as he gave a mock pout to the girl.

Mari laughed again when she saw that expression on Anthony's face. It was priceless for her.

But, after a while, she started waving her hands in front of her as she tried to stop herself from laughing any more than she already had.

"Fine! I concede! Since you made me laugh this much, I think a present is in order," Mari said while she gave a suggestive smile to Anthony and curled up her finger towards him as she asked him to come close.

Anthony gave a wide smile and decided to follow those commands. Who wouldn't when a goddess was literally calling you for a kiss.

Anthony reached close to Mari and grabbed her by the hips as he brought himself close to her.

As Mari's breath tickled his face, he felt a soft feeling on his lips from the woman standing before him as his lips were pried open once again.

Soon, both of them started indulging in their kiss. Sometimes, they separated in-between occasions to catch their breaths, only for them to force themselves upon each other once again with greater passion than before as they continued kissing with heat.

After a while of going back and forth between their kiss, Mari finally separates from Anthony as she held his waist close to hers.

"Not too far, bad boy, you still gotta wait for your next present," Mari said as she flicked Anthony's nose with her finger, only for him to take it into his mouth and lightly bite on it.

"Ah!" Mari shouted slightly from shock as she took her finger back. She gave a pout to Anthony as she saw an amused expression surfacing on his visage.

"So I can imagine that the next lap is going to have a lot more touching?" Anthony said as he pulled Mari closer and touched his nose with hers.

But, Mari gave a loud puff as she blew air onto Anthony's face in annoyance, while separating away from him.

"I was going to until you did that!" She said as she held her finger close to herself as if she was feeling an unimaginable pain.

Anthony once again rolled his eyes when he heard the 'pain' that Mari was going through.

And he was right to assume that. It wasn't too serious since Mari had a mischievous smile on her face and then looked at Anthony as she made a dramatic pose, as if she was suffering from success.

"The only way for me to forgive this transgression is if the merchant before me tells me more about cultivators," Mari said as she tried her best to sound as dramatic as possible so Anthony could get the hint.

Since Anthony wasn't a dense idiot, he got the hint.

"Fine, fine. I'll tell you a little more," Anthony said as he sat on Mari's rock and patted the seat next to him.

Mari stopped acting when she heard Anthony would tell her more about the cultivators. So she quickly rushed to her seat as fast as possible and waited on the rock impatiently for her answer.

As soon as she sat down, Mari requested what she wanted to hear exactly.

"Tell me if there are any cultivators in our camp!" Mari asked as she pushed herself onto Anthony and snuggled her head onto his strong arms.

Anthony chuckled when he saw this expression from Mari.

'Why is she so damn cute!' Anthony thought in his head and cleared his throat as he gave his answer to Mari's request.

"Well, it might not be obvious to the commoners or low-ranking soldiers, the lieutenant is actually a cultivator," Anthony said as he brought one of his hands towards Mari's head and played with her soft hair.

"Oh? Which lieutenant?" Mari asked as she ignored Anthony's loving gesture in place of satisfying her curiosity.

Anthony gave a bitter smile when he heard this.

"Well, it's the leader of the resupply caravan, Lieutenant Cleatus. If you haven't seen him, he has a scar across the left side of his face, and he's really stern to me and my friends," Anthony said as he frowned at the last few words of his sentence.

"'Really' stern," Anthony said once again as he put emphasis on the 'really'.

He looked at the bag leaning against the tree and sighed.

'Maybe this punishment isn't too bad,' Anthony thought as he looked at the girl sitting beside him.

He had reached this state all because of Mari. He wouldn't even have been able to complete the sixth lap if she wasn't here.

Anthony looked forward to the end of each lap now. And he could now have a hope of completing it because of Mari.

"Guess I should start doing my ninth lap," Anthony said as he picked Mari up off of him and bounced off the rock as he walked towards his ginormous bag.

Mari suddenly snapped out of her stupor when she saw Anthony leave.

"Where are you going?" Mari asked and waved her hand toward Anthony as she saw him pick up his bag.

"I'm going to do the ninth lap," Anthony said as he placed the bag upon his shoulders and checked if there was any instability with the hooks.

He nodded his head after he saw nothing wrong and slowly started walking toward the end of the hill, where he had to begin his next lap.

"Wait, so you're going? Then, come back soon. I'll be waiting," Mari said as she bid Anthony goodbye, but she had an idea to motivate him to come back sooner than the last round.

"Also... I've got a big present to give you when you return," Mari said when suddenly, Anthony turned his head towards her and gazed at her deeply for a moment.

Mari blushed and played with her hair in embarrassment. She played with the white strands of her hair as she tried to braid it with the dark blue part of it.

Anthony smiled brightly and gave a nod to Mari.

As the giant bag lay on his shoulders, he looked to the night sky and gave a deep breath and a satisfying sigh after.

'Let's get that present quickly then, shall we,' Anthony smiled at the thought of another gift from Mari.

Before meeting her, he believed it to be impossible for him to even do one more lap after his fifth one. But, now look at him. He was already up to his ninth lap, and he was completely confident in completing it!

Anthony took a deep breath as he exerted his muscles for the upcoming hour and thirty minutes.

It was time for the ninth lap!