The First Cultivator

The self-proclaimed king of boars drove off another competitor for the mana-rich fungi it had discovered. The beast honestly thought of itself as a king. He feared only a few other predators in the mana forest. There was the wandering river, which was a blue serpent several tree lengths long. The bear god was the largest mammal in this section of the forest. Lastly was the Eater of All, the beast at the center. The boar king had no idea what it was. Nothing that went to that place ever returned. Besides those threats, no other creatures would confront him. Except… well, there was something new lurking about, an unseen predator. Several summers ago, it showed up and slaughtered many lesser boars and continues to slay many even now. The king snorted as it ate. Unlike them, he was big. He was strong. The boar kept thinking that right until a fist penetrated its skull and into its brain. Then darkness.

***

Azura wiped the sweat from her brow. "That was a big one." The boar she just killed was the size of several horses! Usually, she wouldn't use mana in her hunts, but there was no way she was risking attacking such a beast without her full power. As the beast's size fully registered in her mind, a realization struck her.

"Shit…" How was she going to get this back?

***

Toren waited at the edge of the mana forest with his friends, Gerald and Hamal. They weren't the only ones. A dozen other rat-kin smugglers were there, weapons ready. However, in the past two years, they haven't been needed. Azura had handled the mana beast on her own quickly enough. He expected this time to be no different. What was different was… everything else.

Gerald had come into his full stature. He was large, taller than his father, standing close to seven feet tall, and densely muscled. His brown fur had a healthy shine that seemed to ripple as Gerald moved. He was a bit terrifying. The large two-headed axe he held supported that statement.

Hamal was the opposite. He was lean and wiry. Between the two of them, Toren was still faster, but he was a close second. Hamal, however, was far more dangerous. Even more dangerous than Gerald. While the bear-kin could beat any non-mage in a straight-up fight, Hamal trained as an assassin. He had blades on his forearms and many more hidden in his clothes. Toren had seen him skewer an apple from 30 yards away.

As for himself, Toren had grown a bit taller and put on some muscle, but he didn't stand out, unlike his friends. Gerald's overwhelming size made even mages hesitate to order him about. The dark, calculating looks that Hamal gave you could leave an itch in your back as you waited for the knife. As for Azura…

Just then, the Azura emerged from the mana forest, struggling to drag an almost comically-sized boar behind her. It was like an ant pulling along something twenty times its size. Azura slipped as she gave a mighty tug, pulling the creature from the confines of the mana forest. Immediately, all the rat-kin rushed over to assist.

Azura was now taller than he was, which still bothered him. She was lean but muscular, which wasn't surprising, considering their rigorous training regimen over the past four years. Despite her build, she had some good curves, although her chest wasn't massive like her mother's. Okay, they were relatively small. He was careful not to say that again as a phantom pain overtook him. Her face had lost the last of its baby fat, and well… okay, Toren had to admit it. She looked good. Regardless of her physical changes, the magical ones were even more pronounced. He wasn't sure, but he imagined she could beat most red-class mages. Of course, just because a mage was a red class didn't mean much. Their spells and strengths were also crucial, but still, he'd seen Azura do some fantastic things.

"Whoa! Damn, that's a big one," Gerald called out happily as he rushed over.

"Yup!" Azura called proudly, hands on hips. "Took it out in one hit. Stupid thing never even saw me."

That didn't surprise Toren in the least. He'd seen her drive her fist into a tree before. Toren suppressed a sigh. He still cared for her, but his feelings were now confused. No matter what, she would be a little sister to him. But the gap between them always deterred him when he considered trying to be something more. She wasn't a mage. She made that clear. She referred to herself as a cultivator, whatever that was. It was something new and, frankly, terrifying. His inferiority got in the way of anything more profound they could have. Besides, he wasn't sure she would even be interested. All she had been doing the last month was cultivating. Whatever that meant. She kept saying she was close to a breakthrough of some kind. Toren watched as the others struggled to move the gigantic boar, only to have Azura grunt as she lifted up the back end. She must have stepped on some slick grass, losing her footing, the carcass falling atop her. Only her legs were visible as she kicked frantically around. Toren sighed as he joined the others, hoisting the dead mana beast and freeing her. Okay, perhaps he wasn't as inferior as he feared.

***

Azura felt good. The kill today would keep the kin fed for at least a month. But more importantly, she felt it again today. The way her mana was moving when she used it. Something was happening. She did a quick check inside her mana pool. Her mana was a thick gaseous wall that couldn't be called mana anymore. It was so thick you needed a knife to cut it. Recently, she hadn't even been able to cultivate. Well, that wasn't entirely true. She couldn't fold it anymore, despite her best efforts, but something began to happen when she tried to compress it. Words failed her to describe the experience. It was as if a fundamental law of reality suddenly decided to change, as if gravity had decided that it would occasionally go in the opposite direction or do nothing at all. She felt that the all-encompassing change grew ever closer each time she squeezed her mana. Yet before she could complete it, her control faltered. It was so annoying!

As they traveled back toward the city, Azura exchanged light-hearted pleasantries with her friends. The past four years had been tough, but the gains… Well, she felt powerful. She wasn't sure how she measured up to a mage. What she did was so different that there was no proper comparison.

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"A trader from Fortunia was setting up shop this morning. Want to check it out?" Hamal asked as he twirled a knife.

"Sure," Toren said. No doubt he was looking for news about his brother. Sometimes, such traders carried letters.

"I need to help my pa," Gerald said.

"I'm cultivating the rest of the day," Azura said. Toren looked vaguely disappointed for a brief instant. A second later, he gave a lopsided grin. Perhaps she had imagined it.

The friends said their goodbyes after exiting the smuggling tunnel. Azura made her way home. The city had fallen on hard times. Well, at least the kin part of it had. The steep food prices never returned to normal, and the citizens suffered as a result. The slums had expanded like a rash on a prostitute, and now there were quite a few of those as well. The poverty expansion had engulfed her home. She could have moved to a nicer area with her mother. The funds she received from hunting could pay for a home, even in the mage district. But she was born here. These were her people. She didn't want to leave.

"Mom, I'm home," Azura called out.

"Hi, honey. Lunch will be ready soon." Of all the things that had changed, this was the same. The smell of roasting meat made Azura's mouth water. She bolted to the table, trembling in excitement. Soon, a plate containing a portion of mana beast steak large enough to fill up two bear-kin was placed before her.

Coralline pulled her hand back as if in fear. As Azura tore into the steak, her cheeks expanded like an eager chipmunk. Her mother sighed, grabbing her handbag.

"SO GUD!" Azura declared, her voice muffled. Coralline ignored her. Her daughter was an adult… at least in theory. If she wanted to eat like a pig, there was little she could do about it.

"I'm heading out to do some shopping. I'll be home later tonight," Coralline said as Azura ate and left shortly after.

She cleaned her plate in less than five minutes, which would have taken a reasonable person at least four times as long. Azura patted her extended stomach and stretched. That was amazing. A quick mana check showed that the high-quality meal had restored her exhausted mana. It was time. She suppressed the shudder of excitement that wanted to burst out of her. She needed to be calm and focused.

Aura sat down in the center of her home, going into a meditative state. For this, she needed absolute focus. As her mana continued to thicken, she had to devote every single drop of her mental willpower to perform the next fold. The next compression. The slightest distraction resulted in failure, making her start over.

Azura took a final breath as her focus became razor-sharp. Ready, she mentally dove into her mana pool. The thick wall mana greeted her in challenge as she took a firm mental grip, Azura squeezed. This time would be different. She could feel it as she began to squeeze. Unlike the effort when she started this journey, this was like trying to squeeze a rock instead of some thin fog. Well, she could crush a rock, but that took her mana… Wait… Was that it? Was that the key? She has been using her mana to enhance her body. Why not do the same to her mind… her control.

Azura trembled in anticipation as she took the smallest piece of mana she could and directed it to her brain, to her will. Her already tenacious willpower expanded. Everything suddenly seemed easier. With a savage grin, she squeezed down her mana. Sweat beaded on her forehead as she bent her will to the task. She determinedly crushed her mana down. She would not yield! Slowly. So slowly, she didn't notice it at first; it began to compress. Then it rained. Azura was so surprised that she nearly lost her hold on the mana cloud. It was raining. Her mana was changing from a gaseous state to a liquid. How!? How was this possible?! She expected something, not this. Everyone knew mana existed in a gaseous state. It was like saying fire was hot. It was an immutable fact. That was until now. More and more droplets fell. Soon, the process cascaded on its own. She couldn't halt it even if she wanted to. All her mana and all four years of effort led to this defining moment.

Yet, the surprises were not done. As the last drop fell, Azura was left with a small puddle. Then, her mana pool shriveled. Another impossibility. It collapsed like a dying sun into the center of her mana. No… this wasn't mana any longer. Whatever this was, it was the key to her future. As such, it needed a new name. A quick thought, and she smiled. This was indeed the key to her future.

"I shall call you ki," Azura declared. "And now to see what you can do."

Curious, she tried to compress and fold it. Nothing, not even a twinge. She spent twenty minutes, yet no matter what she tried, it would not yield. Perhaps that is as far as she could go with that technique. She would have to find some other way to improve.

Azura switched tactics as she sent her ki into her body… or tried to. The ki wouldn't move. She frowned. Focusing harder, Azura attempted to send a stream of ki to her arms. Nothing. Azura panicked a little. Did she mess something up and was now powerless?!

Azura spent the next ten minutes frantically trying to move the ki. It wasn't until she started spinning it out of desperation that the tiny puddle began to churn. It was slow and sluggish. However, it was something. With no other ideas, she put all her willpower behind the motion. Azura imagined a paddle as she mentally spun the liquid. Gradually, it began to pick up speed. First, it moved like a gentle snow melt. Then, a trickle of a brook. Soon, it was a mighty river, unstoppable. Then, a whirlpool that could pull in entire vessels. Once it could move no faster, it began seeping into her body. Small tributaries of ki seeped into every appendage and through her whole body. Then the ki flowed back, returning to the center, starting the process anew. It was thin. She didn't have much of the ki, but that didn't matter. The power… She could feel it. It was far greater than anything her mana could achieve, and… it was in constant motion.

Curious, Azura tried to slow the spin. Her mental paddle broke, giving her an instant headache. The flow was unstoppable. She would have to find a way to improve from this point.

She was about to pull her mind out when she saw something. In the center of the whirlpool was a small void where several minuscule dots rested. They were simultaneously small yet endlessly large. The contradiction blew her mind. It got further blown when she realized this was the remains of her mana pool. That was when she noticed a trickle of ambient mana drifting into her body. Bereft of any mana pool to gather in, the ultra-dense remains of her mana pool pulled in the mana like a gravity well. The mana began to swirl around the micro singularity before collapsing into ki! Amazing. It produced only a minuscule amount, but her collapsed pool produced ki even when she did nothing! This would also require a new name.

"You shall be called a core," Azura said, liking the sound. It was the core way for her to get stronger now.

"Yes!" Azura cheered as she pulled her mind out of her ki spiral. She had a big smile, which changed into a frown as something felt off. Then it morphed into absolute terror as the worst case of nausea she ever had overcame her. All thinking was obliterated as a black sticky sludge surged and promptly exited her mouth… and from all other orifices. Continuously… Azura collapsed into the foul puddle, spasming uncontrollably. She never shared the details of that little event with anyone. Later, when she wasn't as sick as a rapid dog infected with Ebola that had spent an hour racing in a circle, she would call this little event 'the purge.'