61 Cultivating with mana stones

Ryan had made his way back underneath the stage after the win. He tried pushing all those uncomfortable thoughts he feel currently down in his head and focus on the fact that he won.

He went straight to the attended to retrieve his betting winnings. Since more people actually bet that he would lose, the odds was stack against him.

Ryan received double the amount he had bet, now he have around 280 LG mana stones in total. Ryan couldn't help but smile, the discomfort he felt from winning was no where to be seen.

(Should I fight again, i only need an hour or 2 to recover my mana. Could i double the amount of mana stones again...)

There was a shine in his eyes with a slight smirk as he stood there thinking to himself. The attended had paid him no mind, this is not the first time she saw that light in people eyes.

Being absorbed in the feeling of ecstasy in gaining so much mana stones, Ryan was extremely tempted to risk it all again. He kept weighing the pros and cons of his actions and than realized it probably not a good idea.

(I'm getting ahead of myself I nearly lost, and that is not even the main problem. Only now I realized how stupid my thought process was, to be able to had convinced myself to bet nearly all my mana stones. There was alot of luck at play for me to win.) He shuddered at the thought of what would of happen if he had lost.

Ryan had came with a bad mindset, thinking as long as they don't know his trump cards he will win. He never even considered the fact other people have trump cards too. Acting arrogantly, and looking down on all the rank1 novices he beat, may of had gotten to his head.

(If the bandit had any actual attacking spells, plus that binding spell i would of lost.)

Ryan don't know this but obtaining spells is not easy, and you have to make sure you imprint the right ones. The bandit had that black out spell as his second spell because the attack spell he was able to get wasn't to his liking. He would have to be a higher rank to imprint the attack spell he had wanted.

(I was to narrow minded in thinking I could just dodge everything with my flash steps. There are many ways to stop me if I can't counter a spell, like what if they have a area attacking spell. Or any attacking spell that could be used fast enough where I have no choice but to block instead of dodge.)

Ryan didn't immediately leave the arena he sat down thinking about his next course of action.

(Now that I am calm and more clear headed, what should I do. I got 80 extra mana stones, and still need to pick up the 5 extra for winning againsta higher rank. That should be enough to cultivate with until the entry test, I think. Actually I have no idea the average amount of mana stones a person should be able to used a day.)

(But let just put that to the side for now, and focus on if I should continue to fight or not. Should I bet on my fights or is it to risky.) Ryan sighed deeply thinking to himself, and decided he doesn't want to think about it anymore.

He left the arena, he rather just enjoy the feeling of having the weight off his shoulders for now. He was always internally worried that he would not get enough mana stones to enter the entry test.

Ryan made it back to the inn, sadly he didn't see Tom or his kids there. He had wanted to tell them the good news, but they was probably out training.

Ryan went into his room, he was eager to cultivate with a mana stone for the first time. Ryan sat crossed leg on the bed, while closing his eyes. He pulled out a mana stone, and held it in his hands.

An hour went passed, and Ryan opened his eyes with a frowned on his face.

(Is this normal.)

When a person cultivate, what there are actually doing is strengthening there mana core. Picture the mana core shell is a very dry sponge, and mana is water. A person would control the mana to enter the body, and direct it to the mana core to be absorb.

Just like a sponge, there a limit in how much it could absorb at a time. When the core shell is full of mana it will slowly start using the mana to strengthen itself and dry back out. You have to keep repeating it until your core stop drying out, and when it stop drying out you can try to rank up.

Of course it get harder to rank up as your rank get higher. Sometimes if you don't have a good enough comprehension over your element, your core will always dry back up. But it will leak out the mana instead of absorbing it.

When Ryan was absorbing the mana stone, he had noticed at the rate he was going at it will take alot of mana stones before his core shell is even full. He never had noticed this problem until now.

When Ryan cultivate with only the mana in the surroundings, absorbing the mana has always been to slow to notice the problem. The mana in the surroundings is not nearly dence enough to absorb effectively.

It's like trying to suck up the last drop of water with a straw. No matter how fast you attempt to suck in, there is a limit to have much you could get when there simply not enough mana in the air. The 30 minutes Ryan had sat there absorbing the mana stone, it would had taken days of absorbing the surroundings mana for it to be equal.

When Ryan absorb beast cores he still didn't notice the problem. Even though you can absorb more mana from a beast core than the surroundings, there are impurities to watch out for.

It's like using a straw to suck up dirty water. The mana core is capable at filtering the dirt out, but it takes time. So you can only absorb the mana from a beast core for a certain amount of time before having to stop.

From what Ryan could tell it will take an hour or 2 to completely absorb 1 mana stone. So far his core still look extremely dry he may need close to 100 mana stones to get full and he not even capable of absorbing that many in a day. So even if he cultivate the whole day his core shell wouldn't get full.

Ryan decided to ask Tom about this when he see him and went back to cultivating.