The First Cultivator

Azura spent two hours at Toren's home. By the time she left, they all looked a bit more cheerful. Good deed done for the day; Azura figured she could now go be bad for a bit. After all, you have to balance your life.

Azura quickly made her way to the smuggling tunnels near Hamal's home. He at least didn't even seem to notice the changes. Or at least he acted like he didn't. It was hard to tell with that guy.

"You're not hunting then?" Hamal asked as he stacked some illicit goods.

"Nope, just training," Azura confirmed. "Did you hear about Martel?"

"I found out last night. I was going to check on Toren. I assume you already did that. How's he doing?"

"Better now. I spent some time there. You should go cheer him up."

"I think I will," Hamal agreed, turning around to stack a few more items.

"I hope I run into a mage. I would love nothing more than to kick one in the nuts for what happened," Azura said, slamming her fist into her palm.

"Be careful. The mages have been acting weird recently. Something's up. We haven't been able to find out anything yet."

"Probably some boring magic stuff," Azura snorted. "And what do you mean 'be careful'? I'm always careful."

Hamal just stared at her.

"What? It's true. I'm the most careful kin of all!"

Hamal just continued to stare.

"They'll erect a statue of me. A perfect manifestation of carefulness. Perhaps a ballad?" Azura mused. She was confident in this destiny.

"Uh huh," Hamal grunted.

"What, you don't believe me?" Azura asked askance.

"Uh huh."

"Beneath the statue, they will even have a placard praising my caution and my brilliant mind," Azura stated with all the confidence and honesty of a politician as she turned and walked away.

"Will they mention how humble you are?" Hamal inquired as Azura headed down the smuggling tunnel.

"That will be the second golden statue," she yelled back.

"Uh huh," Hamal chuckled as Azura left his sight.

It took almost no time at all to reach the mana forest. It felt like for every step Azura took, she moved five and wasn't even trying. After a quick check of the area, Azura found what she was looking for. A rather large boulder sat not far away. Before that, she calmed her mind and examined herself closely. Her entire body had been re-forged. Her organs were lined with ki, and her muscles and bones were the same. This was far greater than the body enhancement she had with mana. Azura refocused on the challenge before her. Azura centered herself and lifted the boulder over her head.

At least, she tried to. She lacked the leverage and ended up pulling herself over. The problem was that no matter how strong she was, she lacked the mass to lift anything so heavy.

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Azura sat down, thinking the problem over.

What she needed was an anchor. Some way to attach her feet firmly to the ground. A way to create leverage. Well, she had one tool to use. Might as well try it. She focused on her ki swirling inside. She immediately noticed the increase in ki production due to her proximity to the mana forest. Still, it was minuscule drops in a puddle. This would take years. Decades? She instead focused on her circulating ki. As the ki flowed, she tried to move it outside her body, below her feet.

Success! It flowed briefly before returning to her. So now what? Her ki was acting, in a limited fashion, outside her body. How much control did she have? It flowed a hand-width underground from her paws before cycling back to her. Azura tried to change the flow. Instead of having it return immediately, she altered the flow so it did a horizontal spin, staying in the ground before returning. She then used that spin to seal her paw in place. It was awkward, but not difficult. Her years of controlling her mana made such a task trivial. Experimentally, she tugged at her paw. When her foot easily lifted off the ground, she sighed in defeat. That was when she noticed the clump of dirt stuck to her foot. Surprised, she tried shaking it off. It wouldn't budge. Where her ki was, the earth was unmovable.

Azura grinned as she released her ki. The dirt instantly fell.

Perfect.

Azura took a deep breath, seizing control of her ki. She then planted both feet firmly on the ground. Exercising her will, she sent the ki out in a widespread arc beneath her.

How thin could she make it?

How far could it go?

The answer was about five meters from the point it left her body. Beyond that, her control got sloppy, and the ki returned to the flow. The return was done without any effort on her part. It naturally wanted to return. Perhaps her core was pulling in like it did the ambient mana? Or was there some deeper connection? Right now, that didn't matter. No longer worried about her ki drifting away, Azura turned to her metaphorical opponent. Then she tried to lift the boulder again. And found another problem.

She couldn't grip it.

The handholds she used broke. It was apparent now that she thought about it. She couldn't expect to grab a tiny part and keep the whole thing intact. That would be like holding up a falling tower at a single point. Would that point have enough strength to support the whole thing? Of course not! However, ki comes to the rescue! Azura copied the rooting technique and sent her ki from her hands, this time into the boulder, spreading the force. Now she lifted. Azura blinked in surprise. It had worked. She held the boulder above her head. It was the size of a small wagon. It had been… easy.

This was scary.

Even now, as she tested the weight, it didn't strain her much. A check on her ki saw a minor usage. The exhausted ki flowed to her core, absorbing the collected mana and restoring itself.

The mana used to restore the ki was far less than it took to make new ki. But doing so did interrupt the creation of new ki. However, being so close to a dense mana supply, the amount of mana used quickly replenished her exhausted ki. It was restoring faster than she was using it.

Ki was amazing!

She could hold up the boulder till she got bored of it!

"I AM THE GREATEST! MAGES FEAR ME!" Azura yelled.

Next test… toss the rock!

Azura threw as hard as she could and immediately regretted it. An incredible tugging sensation pulled at her as she failed to release the ki cycling through the boulder. The boulder, herself, and a large chunk of earth traveled ten meters before crashing down. Her hand was still stuck to the rock, and her paws to the center of a rather impressive chunk of earth. Azura hung in midair, caught between the two.

"Ow," Azura said lightly.

She then released the ki in both and fell to the ground. The earth that had been attached to her paws toppled on top of her, burying her. Azura's head popped out a moment later, looking like a disturbing vegetable from the collapsed earth. She was sincerely glad she was alone. Her friends would have mocked her for months.

Azura climbed out of the kin-sized anthill, shaking off the soil, and considered the issue.

Practice. That was what it came down to.

Calming her mind, Azura started walking toward the mana forest. With each step, she sent her ki below her, then released it when she took the next step with the same paw. Progress was… agonizingly slow. She had her arms out for balance as she failed to release with her intended steps, nearly falling. It was like learning how to walk again. With her arms flailing about, she slowly entered the mana forest, almost toppling with every step.