The First Cultivator

Nicola looked over the vast number of students before him. There had to be at least two hundred. When he was told his lecture would be in an amphitheater, well… he first asked what an amphitheater was. Then he asked if he had that many attendees. Dageth had been selling his knowledge at a high price. The real deal maker had been the awakening of a mana pool live on stage. It would be absolute proof of his abilities. Dageth had used that as a marketing tool to great effect. It was why he had postponed his lecture until his advancement. Now it was time to change the world.

"Mana. It is the foundation of civilization. The powerful wield it, and the weak desire it. Today, I'm going to demonstrate that mana is obsolete." Nicola continued as murmuring began in the audience. "It is the first step of something greater. A power known as ki. I know you're confused. Just have some patience, and all will be revealed before class is dismissed."

Nicola gestured toward Abigail, who was standing near a young woman with brown hair offstage. The woman was nervously clutching at her fine dress.

"Beatrice, please join me," Nicola said as Abigail ushered the brown hair woman onto the stage.

"This is Beatrice Stormwind," Nicola said as the woman joined him. "The name should be familiar to all of you. She is the daughter of the Head of the Stormwind clan. She was born with a small mana pool which has never awakened. Much like any commoner."

Beatrice lowered her head as he spoke. Nicola placed a finger under her chin and lifted it so she met his eyes. "Don't worry, that all changes now." Then addressed the students. "Feel for her mana. You won't be able to miss it." With that, he pulled a piece of ki on his fingertips as the audience went silent. That was good, as this was more difficult than he expected.

"Open your mouth," Nicola commanded, and Beatrice hesitantly obeyed. And much like Azura did for him, he activated her mana pool.

***

Douglas was incensed at the kin's words. Mana is obsolete. What blasphemy was that animal talking about? He would have to complain to his father. This class is nonsense. When the kin introduced Beatrice, he sat up straighter in his seat. He knew her. Not well, but his family had often visited the Stormwinds. There was even talk of a marriage between him and the eldest daughter. She was a proper mage, unlike the family shame that was on stage.

"What is he doing?" Douglas asked.

"No clue," Jonathan replied.

"Pay attention," Victoria whispered as she leaned forward.

"Don't tell me you believe this crap," Douglas scoffed.

"The mana. It's all being drawn into the professor. I can't feel any mana from him either," Victoria said.

Douglas's senses came alive as he felt for the mana. The mana was thin, abnormally so. Douglas frowned. The school was founded on a leyline. The mana here should be much thicker. Victoria was right, the mana was being drawn into the kin where it seemed to vanish. His eyes widened in shock as a surge of mana erupted from Beatrice.

He was on his feet before he knew it. So was the majority of the class. Expletive shouts thundered in the amphitheater. Douglas responded with much more dignity.

"WHAT IN THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" Unlike the verbal barbarians in this class, he used complete sentences.

"That's impossible!" Jonathan bellowed, also on his feet. Victoria's eyes were wide, and her hands covered her mouth. Beatrice swayed on her feet as tears tracked down her cheeks.

"Silence," the kin said, but no one paid attention. More curses and demands were shouted. The kin's face became harsh. This time it wasn't a polite request.

"SILENCE!" The kin's voice thundered over the noise with such force that it rattled their seats. Instant silence fell over the amphitheater.

Douglas didn't dare breathe. That wasn't a spell. Yet it was more powerful than any voice amplifying spell he knew. There hadn't been a trace of mana from the kin or any incantation.

"Good," Nicola said. "I will take questions after the lecture is over. You will remain silent and respectful until then."

Douglas collapsed in his seat. He didn't even mind being reprimanded by a kin. This was too big to be concerned about any such petty annoyances. His father had been right. This is the most significant development in the history of magic. The ability to awaken mana pools could shift the balance of power on the continent. Worse still, Douglas had a feeling it was only just the beginning.

"Now that I have your attention, I will start with a brief introduction to cultivation and credit the one who discovered it. I owe her that much and more. This is the story of Azura, also known as the Azure Magebane…

***

"Azura is a half-kin. Her mother is a cat-kin, and her father was human. He was a talented mage from a powerful family in Deepmere. I don't have all the details, but from what I've heard, Azura had an awakened mana pool. I've never heard of a kin or half-kin with a naturally awakened mana pool before. Perhaps some scholars here might know, but that is not important. What is, is that her mana pool was too small to cast any spells. Even a light spell would exhaust her. Her mana pool was barely enough to awaken, but was useless otherwise."

Douglas leaned forward, his attention entirely focused on the kin's following words.

"Azura discovered that mana can be manually compressed in your mana pool to a denser state. I understand that dense mana is nothing new. Leylines are often used for such purposes. Or meat from a powerful mana beast. She took it to an extreme. She never stopped compressing it, or as she calls it, cultivation."

Douglas frowned as he leaned back. Dense mana was useful. His family manor was built on a leyline for that reason. Manually compressing mana would be tedious and of limited use. Once the mana was spent, you would have to start over again. It would even be possible that the dense mana would cause spell instability. Many mages have died from trying to overpower their magic with dense mana that broke their spell structure. It was an act of madness or, more likely, ignorance.

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"I'm sure many of you see the issue with spell casting. You are correct, her mana eventually became far too dense to cast any spell. That was never her goal. There is a technique, which I wouldn't call a spell as it lacks a traditional spell structure, called body magic. It involves inverting your mana pool to empower your body."

Douglas had never heard of such a technique. It must be somewhat obscure and niche.

"This became the way she became stronger. With this technique, mana is not consumed. The mana becomes exhausted instead and will replenish over time. Azura was able to make denser and denser mana without losing any."

It was rather clever, Douglas admitted. However, the disadvantage of never casting a spell would make it rather useless.

"Azura did this for years. Never casting a spell and kept compressing her mana. She became a cultivator."

"But I don't feel any mana from him," Victoria whispered. Douglas and Jonathan both nodded. It was interesting, but didn't make much sense.

"She did this until something marvelous happened. When mana is compressed enough, it changes from a gas… to a liquid. This liquid is called ki."

Douglas's eyes expanded to the size of a squirrel and were just as jittery. Mana could be liquified!? He knew about solid mana, but that was just mana trapped in a crystallized shell. If the container is shattered, the gaseous mana would be released. It was helpful for enchanting as it acted as a limited external mana pool, drawing in ambient mana but not much else. What would pure concentrated mana, er, ki be capable of? Would it even be mana anymore? Then he knew. He looked at the kin, shocked. The kin smiled as others came to the same conclusion.

"Yes. I am a cultivator. I have compressed my mana for years to achieve a liquid state. I no longer used mana but ki. I guess you could call those of us who achieve this state true cultivators. In this class, I will be guiding you on how to become a cultivator. I will now allow a few questions."

Immediately, a hundred hands shot into the air, including Douglas's. Nicola pointed to a girl on the opposite side of the amphitheater from him.

"How did you awaken Beatrice's mana pool?"

"When you transition from mana to ki, your mana pool is condensed into tiny fragments of ultra-dense solid ki. These are core fragments. Azura discovered you could awaken mana pools by using a piece of solid ki. She used that to awaken my mana pool and those of all her followers. They are all striving to become liquid cultivators. As I last knew, there are a total of five others besides myself who have achieved this. That was months ago. There are probably more now. Next question."

Even more hands were in the air now. There were more with their hands in the air than not. Nicola pointed to an older mage. Wasn't he a professor too? Were even the staff at Dageth attending?!

"Can anyone become a cultivator?"

"To my knowledge, yes," Nicola said. "There is nothing special to it. It requires a significant amount of time and effort. One more question before I continue."

Douglas again shot his hand into the air, but so did everyone else. Then, miraculously, Nicola pointed at him.

"How do you cast spells if you are condensing your mana?" Douglas asked. If he was going to do this, then how would he live his day-to-day life?

"Excellent question. The answer is… You don't."

That got an uproar of complaints and babble from the students. They all went silent as Nicola raised his hand again.

"You may only use the body magic technique. That is, you may invert your mana pool. You should avoid doing so as much as possible. Every time you use that technique, you must recover. Time you could use to cultivate."

"No magic! For years! Is this even worth it!?" A voice yelled.

Nicola frowned. "I said only three questions, but I'll allow this as it is an excellent segue. You will be the judge of whether it is worth it or not. For the next part is a demonstration of what ki can do. I need ten volunteers who can cast barrier spells."

Fewer hands rose into the air. Who knew what would be required of them? Douglas was not perturbed. His hand shot straight into the air along with his companions. They were the elites. They wouldn't let a kin intimidate them. Sure, the kin might have something new and unexpected power, but it couldn't be THAT much stronger.

Nicola pointed at his group and then at many more. One Douglas noted that one of the chosen was the other professor, whom he had noticed earlier.

"That should be enough," Nicola said. "Please join me on stage. Abigail, please fetch the item we discussed earlier, while I inform our volunteers of this demonstration."

Douglas and the others made their way to the stage. If the kin wanted those who could cast barrier spells, he might attack them to demonstrate whatever power he had. But why so many? Perhaps he was going to show them a technique that does area damage. Douglas nodded to himself, yes, that made sense.

"Thank you for your assistance. For this demonstration, I want five of you to cast a barrier spell on that jointly." Nicola pointed at a dummy that his assistant dragged onto the stage. "I'm going to attack it with all I have. I want you to defend it. The others will cast a second barrier behind the first to protect the students from any damage. Any questions?"

Douglas gawked at the kin. He wanted what?! This was ridiculous. Barrier spells were strong and took time to break. Even if they were casting it at a distance, the five of them could create a barrier equivalent to a military formation. Such a barrier could withstand siege spells.

"Is the spell you are going to use create any backlash we must be aware of?" The attending professor asked.

"I'm not using a spell. I will punch the barrier, empowering my fist with my ki."

Douglas stared in disbelief, a trend that seemed to be repeating itself. The kin was going to what? Just punch it? Ridiculous. Perhaps this was a hoax after all. Then again, the kin probably didn't know how sturdy barriers were. He was ignorant of the ways of magic. Douglas smirked, humiliating a professor would be somewhat entertaining.

"GRAND BARRIER," Douglas chanted, casting the spell over the stuffed figure. If he was going to this, he wasn't going to let the arrogant kin off easy. He felt his companions cast their spells on his barrier, reinforcing it.

Once everything was prepared, the kin professor stood in front of his barrier in a punching stance. The kin stood there for a long moment, eyes closed. Douglas smirked. No doubt the kin was attempting to come up with some excuse now that the time had arrived.

The blow was so fast that Douglas never saw the kin move. A thunderous explosion and a shockwave made him stumble as pain exploded in his mind as his spell shattered. His connection to it was abruptly severed. The stuffed figure protected by his most powerful spell was destroyed in an explosion of fluff, like a mighty club swing striking an extremely feathery bird. Douglas broke out in a cold sweat as the realization of what had happened registered. His barrier had been destroyed in a single punch. Unbelievable. Head jerking in small movements, Douglas looked at the barrier protecting the students. The barrier held, but cracks and fissures ran along its surface. The mages behind the barrier were pale with shocked expressions. Sweat could be seen soaking their robes as they trembled to maintain the spell construct.

Nicola retracted his extended fist. "Thank you for your assistance. I should have asked for more mages on the secondary barrier. My apologies. I didn't expect it to be so weak."

Weak… Douglas collapsed to his knees, eyes wide in panic as his world collapsed around him. Weak. His magic was… weak? That couldn't be true, but his throbbing head from his spell breaking confirmed his fears.

"I think that will be all for today," Nicola said. "We are ending early, but you all need to decide if you want to continue my class. To put aside being a mage and become a cultivator."

Nicola turned and began walking off stage, only to pause and then turn back to the students.

"Oh, and one more thing. The Azure Magebane is FAR more powerful than I am."

It was too much. Douglas fell to his ass panting as the world spun around him. Everything he worked for since he was ten years old was reduced to nothing. His magic and many spells were worthless before such power. This kin could slaughter him effortlessly. And worse still, there were others more powerful out there. For the first time, the scion of the powerful magical house felt very small.