[Aiden’s POV]
Waves of mana struck against the wall, which was thinned out with cracks all over the wall. As the continuous stream of mana collided with the wall, the cracks widened, and the wall finally broke.
An ethereal feeling washed all over my body as I opened the 6th node on the 28th day. This has been an uphill battle, as expected.
After I started cultivating and practiced my breathing technique for more than a day continuously, I only stopped after my whole body started aching. This was Cultivator’s Fatigue, a common and ever-existing bane to all cultivators.
The more mana I pushed into my body and all the mana vessels and opened nodes worked overtime to complete the process of Mana → Mana vessels → Opened Nodes → Origin Heart → Closed Node.
This continuous process puts a strain on the whole body, Origin Heart included, which is commonly known as Cultivator’s Fatigue.
However, only a few hours were required for me to return to a normal state. I decided to use Aerewyn as my messenger to relay the message to send Felicia into the area. She agreed happily to it, which was a bit confusing to me, but I wasn’t complaining.
Felicia brought food with her and also shared gossip about what others were doing. She really helped with the mood in the monotonous work of cultivation.
This became my routine; I cultivated until my body couldn’t, then I took a break for 2-4 hours. Felicia wanted to stay near me as I cultivated, but I denied as I remembered the effects of staying in time dilation.
On the 4th day, I opened my 4th node, which was slightly faster than the 3rd node. This was the result of abundant mana and such a suitable environment. I was elated, as with this speed, I may be able to reach Master rank soon.
However, that happiness didn’t stay long, as it took me 8 more days just to open the 5th node. My body was adapting to the fatigue, but as soon as one more node opened, the fatigue also increased.
These days, I also learned that free pulls by the system didn’t work according to dilated time but rather the natural timeline of Aetherionis.
This was also slightly dampening news, but the rewards were still S-rank, so it didn’t hurt that much.
On the 12th day after I opened the 5th node, I checked the reward and was pleased to know that it was a cultivation mat. The mat allowed longer duration of cultivation and better mana conductivity from surroundings.
After sharing a meal with Felicia and hearing her stories, I got back to my cultivation again. Following the same routine, I practiced; the fatigue visibly decreased, and I had to wait for 2 hours at max.
That was also because Felicia will try her best to stay by my side. I had to promise her to buy rewards to make her agree to leave. But it was also a fun time for me, so I didn’t mind much.
By the 28th day of cultivation, after all the positive effects, I was finally able to open my 6th node today. Now, I only had 2 days to create an affinity ring, which should suffice.
As I opened my eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled, my body felt less painful than normal, and the opening new node also alleviated some of the pain. I contacted Aerewyn to send Felicia with the food.
A few minutes later, Felicia appeared before me with food floating on the ice, but the food never got cold; such was the exceptional control of ice she had. She was an ice spirit for a reason.
"Nice mister. Big sis made fish today. Bird lady has gotten in for us. It was tasty; Felicia loved it," she spoke enthusiastically, setting the food down.
"Bird lady" was the term she coined for Aerewyn, and they became too close in just a few days.
"Then, I am sure I would love it too," I remarked.
She started telling me about how she spent her day and what others were doing while I ate my food. Especially about Seraphine, Thane, and Damien.
"It was just very tasty, just like you said," I commented after finishing the meal.
"Can Felicia stay here, nice mister?" She repeated the same question again.
"No, how about you add one more reward to your list?" I negotiated.
"Hmm...you always say the same. Okay, Felicia thought about the reward she wants, and it’s chocolate cake with strawberries on top," she presented her demand.
"Okay, let’s see, we have 3 cakes, 4 ice creams, and one sweet bread. This is now your 4th cake; are you sure you won’t get a sweet tooth after eating this many sweets?" I asked.
"No, Felicia is strong; my teeth are strong too," she said confidently.
"Okay, now go. Also tell Damien and Thane that we will leave the realm soon, so be ready," I communicated.
"Okay, Felicia will do. See you soon, nice mister," she said happily as she flew away.
After sending her and feeling completely at rest, I opened my inventory; a blue screen with a golden rim appeared.
[INVENTORY]
– Aeon Tidebreaker
– First Breath of Primordial
– [SKILLS]
– [ORES & MATERIALS]
– [MANA STONES]
– [ELEMENTAL ESSENCES]
– [EQUIPMENT]
– [SUMMONING CARDS]
– [MISCELLANEOUS]
The Archive Codex I got in the starter pack; otherwise, this would have become a mess. I opened the elemental essence section and took out S-rank Fire elemental essences and closed the panel.
It was in the form of a red-hot burning lotus; just as I took it out from inventory, the temperature spiked, and I could feel the heat on my skin.
The heat wasn’t very effective due to my physique, but I could understand the temperature just by the heat radiating from it.
Taking out the cultivation book from inventory, I opened it to see the instructions related to forming the affinity ring. After going over instructions and putting the book back, I sat in the Primordial Anchor Seat again.
Following the book, I put the burning lotus in front of me and started the breathing process, inhaling the elemental energy along with every breath.
As I breathed in fire elemental energy, I started feeling a bit hot as the temperature of my body rose.
This was a normal situation in the affinity ring-making process; however, I thought I would be exempt from it, but I guess not.
The more energy I breathed, the more fire energy flowed in passing through six opened nodes.
But instead of guiding the energy to Origin Heart, I had to focus on collecting the energy outside the heart.
The opened nodes worked by compressing the fire energy, making it suitable for forming the ring.
After breathing in the elemental energy for about 4-5 hours, when the energy was almost depleted, I stopped the inhaling process.
Now was the time for the second step, compression into a ring. The origin nodes had compressed the fire energy earlier.
Now I had to press it further and form a ring while keeping my breathing, mana input, and energy stable.
Focusing on the scattered energy around the origin heart, I projected my intent to move the essence into a circular formation.
As I pressed the energy with my intent into the shape of a ring around the origin heart, it released more fire energy, which spread through my whole body.
My whole body started to feel on fire, threatening to break my concentration. Gritting my teeth, I kept my focus completely on the ring formation process.
Time trickled by as I continued the process; a small amount of sweat beads had formed over my head. However, I kept my focus and didn’t let my thoughts go astray.
Just as I started to feel that the process was almost complete, a system panel appeared with confirmation.
[Congratulations on forming your first affinity ring, the Fire Affinity Ring.]