The First Cultivator

"No more warden," Azura pleaded, dropping to her knees.

"It's only been an hour. You can go out and play later," Azura's mother said as she stitched away.

"But I want to practice my magic."

Coralline stopped and regarded her daughter. She had behaved oddly since it had been confirmed that her mana pool was too small. Her tail twitched. Perhaps she had given the girl too much hope. When she was born with blue fur, Coralline was ecstatic. It validated that everything that she went through hadn't been for nothing. Now, she probably felt just as disappointed as Azura. She loved her daughter more than anything and wouldn't trade her for a pair of mage children… still, she had hoped.

"Alright," Coralline sighed. Better to let Azura deal with the situation in her own way. She would give up soon enough.

"FREEDOM!" Azura hollered.

Coralline expected her to bolt out the door, get in trouble, and claim it was magical research. But to her complete surprise, Azura dashed to her room, slamming the door. The girl wasn't actually going to train her magic… was she?

Coralline frowned as Azura didn't immediately reappear and dash out the door. Perhaps she had too much of her father in her. The spawn take the bastard. All these years later, the thought of him made her flush with rage. She had been just over twenty and newly hired as a servant at his father's estate. His name was Loric, and he was the youngest son of a mighty Mage Lord. He had been charming and good-looking. His bright blue hair indicated that he was also a powerful mage, a true savant, according to the rumors she had overheard. The number of young ladies fighting for his attention was large enough to field an army. Yet, he ignored them. Some suggested he sought the attention of men. However, Coralline found out he had a thing for kin women. Many humans considered it nearly as bad as bestiality. Still, she wouldn't have allowed him to seduce her if it weren't for the time spent in the yard. His dedication to his spell craft was exceptional despite the man's faults. Coralline had to bring him food while he practiced all day. Otherwise, the idiot would starve. She remembered the first real conversation they had.

"Why do you try so hard?" Coralline had asked as Loric lay nearly comatose after casting a wildly complex series of spells. The crater and the resulting shockwave had rattled the windows in the hall where she had watched.

"I don't know," Loric had said after taking several deep breaths. "I guess because I'm good at it. I want to be the best I can."

He had sat up and looked at her, really looked at her, for the first time.

"I don't recall seeing you here before. My name is Loric."

"Yes, m'lord," Coralline said meekly as she turned her head to avoid meeting his gaze. His piercing blue eyes had seemed to bore into her soul.

"Please call me Loric unless other mages are nearby."

She had looked at him then as he gave her a charming smile. She had been putty in his paw, err hands, since then. Midnight meetings and passionate sex whenever they could. She thought he had loved her. And perhaps he did, but that didn't change her fate. When she became pregnant and their relationship was revealed to his father, Loric did nothing to stop her from being dismissed.

Loric had promised so many things back then. That he would marry her. How they would raise the child together. Lies, all lies. She should have known. Kin or half-kin didn't count as people. Non-mages never did. Only mages mattered. That was until Azura was born with blue fur and hair. When she was only a month old, Loric visited for the first time since her dismissal. Perhaps he had spies to report on any mage qualities the child might have, as unlikely as it was. The confrontation was not pleasant to remember. He said he loved her but couldn't go against his father's wishes. She refused to listen to any of it. If he truly loved her, he could have done more. She had accused him that the only reason he showed up now was the possibility that the child was a mage. What bitter memories.

One good thing did come from that meeting. Loric managed to get a small stipend for Azura's sake and to hire a mage to train her once she was old enough. Despite her anger, Coralline had agreed. Money was tight back then, and she needed the help. Fortunately, she was never satisfied with relying on the stipend. She ensured she could support her daughter if the money ever stopped. Which it did once the Azura's teacher reported that her mana pool was too small. Coralline didn't believe it at first. She was convinced it was a way for him to escape any financial obligations or any right of inheritance Azura might have. If Azura could be a proper mage, she would have rights. The rights that were denied to all non-magic folk. However, yesterday, she confirmed what she had feared. Azura's mana was insufficient to become a mage. So that raised the question… What was she doing?

Coralline looked at her daughter's door and dared to hope.

***

A brief history and limited practical uses of body magic.

Body magic is a relatively new branch of magical study dismissed as useless shortly after its discovery. The magic temporarily inverts the mage's mana pool, forcing magic to diffuse into the mage's body rather than be stored in a centralized location. With mana infusing the body, the mage is stronger, faster, and tougher than any typical warrior. However, the effect is less than a combination of haste, strength, and iron-skin spells, albeit it is much more efficient than continuously casting the three spells listed. So, the question one must ask is why it hasn't already been dismissed as useless. It is beneficial in low mana-dense regions, commonly called mana deserts. When magic is infused into the mage's flesh, no mana is lost during the body's enhancement. Instead, when the mana is used for power, it becomes tired or exhausted, for lack of a better word. Exhausted mana can be recharged through the body's natural recovery processes, although excessive hunger is often a side effect. This is exceedingly useful when there is insufficient ambient mana to recover naturally. In addition, the enhancement effect is always active and does not drain mana unless the mage goes beyond their physical limitation. At this point, they will draw on the mana in the body automatically. However, there are numerous disadvantages. The biggest, as any experienced mage will tell you, is that casting spells is impossible with your mana pool inverted. The second is that once the mana pool is returned to its normal state, the mana will start flowing back into the pool. This process is extremely slow, often taking several hours, and any exhausted mana is practically useless for spell casting and is difficult to excrete. The mage must wait till the mana naturally recovers.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

General Tiberius of Kalanue famously made the mistake of using body magic as an inexpensive way of transporting mages to a conflict on the eastern border of Termania. The General did indeed save money on horses, but the enemy's forces had already entered the border and laid an ambush. All the mages under Tiberius' command had their pools inverted to speed their approach. Thus, they could not cast a single spell when they were attacked. Tiberius' forces were eliminated to the last mage without inflicting a single casualty on their attackers. Worse, once the details of the attack were revealed, it was discovered that only apprentices and other initiates, who were deemed easily replaceable, participated in the ambush as they were not expected to survive. Tiberius's forces included multiple grand and arch-mages, a significant portion of the nation's strength. The losses resulted in Kalanue's surrender three days later and ultimately led to its dissolution.

Modern mages only use body magic if they expect to transverse…

Azura skipped ahead as the book droned on about the follies of body magic. Blah, blah, boring. She skipped ahead and finally saw instructions on how to invert her mana pool. It was exceedingly simple. She was tempted to do it right now, but if she did that, the text said it would take hours before her mana pool would be restored. She had extra time now. It was better to fold her mana instead. Azura frowned. Fold sounded… well, lame. She needed a better name for it. Condense? Nah. Clenching? No, that sounded like she had to poo. Growing? Closer, but it still didn't sound right. Hmm, cultivating? Azura pondered that over. That sounded like she was building up something with a lot of care over time. Okay, cultivating it is.

Azura abruptly stood and whispered, "Today, history is made, as the first cultivator has appeared." She gave herself a playful salute and got to work.

Fold

Fold

Fold

Press…

***

Lord Arthos sat at the Deepmere council room table, his face grim. "Another village was lost to the mists. That's the second one this year."

"Casualties?" A robed man asked as the others gave Arthos their full attention.

"Roughly a tenth of the mages were lost. It would have been more, but the nulls were used as a distraction, which allowed them to escape."

No one asked how many of the nulls or non-magic folk survived. None of them cared.

"This will stress our already dwindling food supplies. We'll have to export more from Darnassis as we begin to reallocate farming closer to Deepmere," Grand Magus Arwin said, rubbing his fingers through his deep blue hair. He leaned forward as much from age as for ease of use, reviewing the map splayed out before them. The magical map showed their entire kingdom and was updated regularly by seers and diviners. The map had each city and village displayed as a small building. The larger the building, the larger the population of its residents. Tiny forests and snaking blue lines for rivers made the map a living thing. A more accurate term might have been dying, as a black cancerous cloud had invaded the far western side of the map. Black tendrils stretched out from the cloud like grasping worms, corrupting the nearby area. One such tendril intercepted a building that now looked like a rotting ruin. Several more buildings were exposed to the tendrils, each representing a farm. Further to the west, a small cluster of buildings represented the fortress city of Fortunia, situated in a gap between two mountain ranges. The gateway to the west.

"We need to burn back the corruption before more farming villages fall," Lord Arthos said.

"We don't have the mage power for that," Grand Magus Arwin replied.

"We have little choice unless we plan to starve to death. Exports will only take us so far," Archmage Denayd replied, his long green beard nearly touching the map. The other mages liked to joke that he was so old that moss had started growing from his chin.

"We can't hold the line and cleanse the corruption simultaneously. As soon as we start, the spawn will flood out to stop us," Arwin said.

"We need time to reallocate the farming villagers behind the Fortunia stronghold," Archmage Denayd argued.

"Perhaps we can solve all the issues with one stroke," an elven woman said, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. The elf was slender with pale skin that was flawless like most of her kind. She was taller than the humans with long pointy ears and deep blue, almost violet hair. Her eyes were a vivid green that matched her gold-laced robes.

Arwin frowned. "Explain, Kelfina."

"The nulls," the elf said with a scoff. "Use them to hold the line while the mages work."

"Forcing conscripts might incite rebellion," Denayd said. No army used nulls to fight unless they were a sacrifice for the mages. That didn't bother Denayd, but the trouble was that the nulls knew that too.

"Then don't force them," Kelfina said. "Redirect most of the food supplies to the proper city limits. Then quadruple the price of all food in the city. Offer monthly stipends to magical families to help offset this cost. Once several weeks go by, offer the nulls a chance to join the army for food. Promise them that their wages would be used to provide for their families."

Denayd nodded along as Kelfina spoke. "We can blame the mists while ensuring proper magical families are provided for."

"But wouldn't that mean many kin… er nulls would starve?" the young man said, trying to hide his concern.

The man's father, Lord Tarwin Coldwell, placed a hand on his shoulder. "Loric, the loss of some nulls is hardly important compared to the kingdom's safety." The hand resting on him squeezed to the point that he nearly cried out in pain. The tone was light and conversational as if confirming something everyone already knew.

"Of course, Father," Loric said. Inside, he cursed his father and the others for their casual cruelty to the non-magic folk. But Loric said nothing else as the plan unfolded. He never did. Even when it meant his daughter might be among those who suffered. As the meeting went on, he continued cursing those around him, mostly himself. What kind of man was he when he couldn't even take a stand for his daughter?

***

"Husband, how was your day?"

Loric looked from the entryway of his private estate. Well, his father's estate. It all belonged to him. There on the stairwell was Maeve. She was a political marriage arranged by his father. The two did their best to get along, but no love existed between them. The most significant contention point between them was the kin, specifically his bastard, Azura. However, they felt about each other; they loved their daughter Elise, who ran right at him in a giant tackle. Her long, blue hair resembled a wave crashing behind her.

"Whoa!" Loric cried. "Please assist me, my lady. For a mighty brigand has ambushed me."

"That's right!" Elise shouted, then began poking him. Maeve decided not to render any assistance at all as she headed further into the manse. "Give me all your gold or your nulls get the sword!"

Loric frowned. "You shouldn't say nulls, Pumpkin." He then began poking his daughter back, and she squirmed in his grasp. "It's kin okay? Nulls is rude."

"Mommy says it," Elise argued, still trying to escape.

"Do it for me. Okay?"

"Sure, Daddy."

"Thanks, Pumpkin. Why don't you go outside to play? I'll be out there shortly."

"Promise?" Elise pouted, her gray eyes severe.

"Sure thing," Loric agreed.

"Yea!" She cheerfully ran off to the garden. No doubt she intended to hide and ambush him with a harmless spell.

Loric watched her go, a pang in his chest. She was two years younger than Azura. Maeve was the price he paid to get support for Coralline after Azura was born. He just wished that he could hold both his girls. That wasn't an option. His father made it clear. His 'perversions' with the kin had to end. If only Azura had been able to cast spells. He could have changed his father's mind. He couldn't be there for Azura, but he could for Elise. He quickly changed and headed into the garden. The moment he stepped outside, he was struck by a stink spell as his giggling daughter ran away. Perfect.