The First Cultivator

A tremendous force suddenly awoke Azura. It was beyond magic, beyond dragons, and even beyond the spawn that dwelt in the mists. It could topple mountains and make the greatest of kings weep. It transcended all of existence and left those in its wake begging for more. The irresistible smell of bacon and eggs.

Azura bolted out of bed, all drowsiness forgotten. She would topple any foe foolish enough to get between her and sustenance. Wars had been declared over less.

The bedroom door flew open as Azura dashed to the table, a tendril of drool escaping her lips.

"Well, at least you appear to be back to normal today," her mother said.

"Huh?" Azura said as she piled eggs and bacon in unhealthy doses onto her plate.

"You were acting weird yesterday. Do you feel better?"

Azura looked up, her cheeks stuffed like she was a chipmunk-kin, and she stared blankly at her mother. Then it all came back. The endless folding of her mana. She was tempted to stop eating and examine the culmination of her efforts. But the bacon was too damn good.

"I'm fine." Azura attempted to say, but the food impeded her speech. She managed a mumbled grunt, spraying small bits onto the table.

"This isn't a competition. Chew your food. And please take reasonable bite sizes."

Azura continued eating, but this time at a slightly reduced rate.

"You're still in trouble the rest of the week. You have to be back here in the afternoon to help with the clothes. I also want you to apologize."

"I won't apologize to those boys!" Azura said hotly. "They deserved it."

"If they are anything like you, I don't doubt it. I was referring to Miss Grassfoot."

"Oh," Azura said. She did feel a bit bad about that. Well, not really. It was pretty funny. Azura was wise enough to keep that to herself.

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"I'll swing by the great library after lunch," Azura said.

Her mother nodded and gathered the plates as Azura made a quick sandwich for later. With the task completed, Azura headed out to check the results of her late-night efforts.

Azura's home was one of many in the local district, and it was hard to find any place of solitude. Fortunately, there were seldom-used alleys and a few abandoned buildings that appeared to be on the verge of collapse at any time. She longed to head out of the city, but it wasn't safe even during the day. A mana beast might be prowling around.

Azura soon found a secluded spot. This was it. She closed her eyes and mentally dove inside herself. The mana reserves were no larger than before. She expected that. What she didn't expect was everything else. Her mana, previously a thin silvery cloud, was separated into two parts. One part was the same mana she had always possessed from her passive absorption from the environment. That mana was resting atop a noticeably thicker cloud of mana. The mana she folded all night long. It had worked. The mana she folded had changed. It was thicker, with the ambient mana filling the void left over.

"YES!" Azura shouted and then tried to calm down. Barely containing her excitement, she tapped into her condensed mana. Flexing her will, Azura created the only spell construct she knew, the light spell.

"LIGHT!" The spell formed quickly as her mana energized a sphere of light on her palm. Azura held her breath, her eyes closed, and waited. She waited for the weakness, the mind-crushing headache always accompanying her previous castings. Slowly, she opened one eye and then the other. She looked down at the light still in her hand, then grinned.

"I AM THE GREATEST!"

"SHUT UP!" A distant return yell came, but she ignored it.

Azura threw the ball of light, which traveled a short way before winking out. Then she cast another and another. She fed more magic into the latest spell, which made it brighter.

Azura was elated… right until she checked her mana pool. Her condensed mana, which she spent all night creating, was nearly gone. Instead, her pool was slowly refilling with the thin ambient mana.

"No…" Azura whispered as she collapsed to her knees. Of course, it couldn't be that easy. All that time and effort were gone. No wonder mages never bothered trying anything like this. Why would they? They had large enough mana pools to cast whatever they needed and could refill their mana reservoirs quickly. Why would they waste time making thicker mana when it would be lost whenever they used it? Defeat held her down before her iron will made her stand back up.

Fine! Perhaps she could cast something else if she couldn't cast spells like light. All she needed was magic that was efficient or had a one-time cost. There were all kinds of magic out there. She just needed to find one that fit her. Well, she had to go to the library anyway to apologize. She might as well see if she could discover something there.