Abi frowned as chakra desynchronization was a disease normally difficult to detect but easy to fix. One just needed to stop the operation of the chakras involved before restarting them at the same time. It was easy in theory but only in theory. If it involved a minor chakra, stopping it wouldn’t cause too much harm to the soul but what about a primordial chakra? They were named “primordial” not just for show. Their functioning was critical to the body’s survival. It was like the heart, if it stopped functioning, one would undoubtedly die which explained why Abi was a little reticent right now. She was pondering, weighing the benefices and the risks. After a long time, she finally decided to do it. After all, she wouldn’t die this easily and the risks of failure were not so great.

Always seated cross-legged on the ground, Abi quickly performed a set of hand seals. The effects on the primordial chakras were immediate. Chakra were not just braindead organs working like robot. On the contrary, they possessed a kind of intelligence which allow the mage to program them to do specific tasks. When making hand seals, Abi was creating a closed mana circuit within her soul which connected the two parts of her meridian system, one part for each side of the body. The mana inside the closed circuit could be manipulated perform a spell thanks to the chakras. Right now, though, Abi didn’t want to cast a spell but just program the chakras so that they would disactivate and reactivate at the same time.

Once the set of hand seals were finished, Abi activated the program with a thought. All her primordial chakras stopped functioning at the same time. She suddenly sensed an excruciating pain. It was not a physical pain but something more terrifying. Her soul itself was trembling. The pain was so strong that were it not for the fact that she wanted to live this strongly, she would have already killed herself. If she could she would have emitted a screeching shriek but she was entirely paralyzed and then couldn’t talk. She turned pale as if all her blood had completely drained. Soon after, violent convulsions ran through her and she dropped on the ground before squirming like a fish out of water. It didn’t take long before she fainted.

When she woke up, several hours had already passed. Groaning, she straightened up while shaking her head as if to chase a big headache. “My head hurts like mad!”. She grumbled under her breath and sat cross-legged. Her naked body was very tensed as if it had passed through a painful experience. All her muscles were painful and beads of sweat were rolling down her skin. She waited for the headache to disappear before checking her body condition. Her manipulation had obviously worked as she was still alive. She had predicted it though, she would have never died for something like that. Her chakras were now synchronized perfectly, pumping mana in unison inside her soul. This made Abi smile with satisfaction. She could now cultivate properly.

Before beginning the serious business, she made a single hand seal which cast a water spell inside the room. Water elements gathered before creating water droplets. The latter condensed into a big water bubble. Abi moved the bubble which headed toward her before enveloping her body entirely. Water element was the best for cleansing. It removed all the sweats in the blink of an eye. She made the bubble disappeared once she didn’t need it anymore as she was now fresh and clean. No matter what, women didn’t like to be filthy. Afterward, she focused and began to absorb the ether from the surrounding. This time, the absorption speed become several times quicker than before.

The ether entered the 7 primordial charkas and the central canal at the same time before being refined in mana. It flowed through all the meridians without a single one of them inactive. The mana was nourishing the soul as well as all the cells inside her physical body. She was already feeling healthier and stronger. Soon after, her soul was full of mana and couldn’t absorb anymore. “Good. I’ve broken through the third level. I should be able to reach level five before the end of tomorrow.” She was planning to cultivate non-stop from now on. Cultivating was not difficult but one needed patience and diligence. Power couldn’t be obtained easily.

Performing a spell required mana, the essence of the soul. The mage used it literally as fuel to manipulate the elements. If one of your needs was not met by a certain spell it could be meet by another one. You just have to create the spell yourself. You wanted to fly for example? Just manipulate the wind element and you can fly like a bird. You were cold and needed warmth? No problem, just let your body absorb fire element to warm you up. You can even materialized matter out of thin air, like foods, water, gold, etc. Those examples were very basic but elemental magic had limitless potential. A mage with infinite quantity of mana was theoretically a god. Nothing was outside his reach.

Abi was not a god yet, she was very far from being a god. A level 4 mage was no different than a baby having learnt to walk. She had to become stronger and fast. A average mage would need a long time to gain a single level without using some special pills or elixirs. However, Abi looked down on such methods. She was only at level 4, if she began to take drugs to advance, she would never attain a high level in her entire life. Using drugs damaged the body progressively. If the damage built up too much, all her potential would be wasted and her cultivation stuck without any chance of advancement. Fortunately, she knew a several methods to speed up cultivation without using drugs.

One of such method was a cultivation technique she had acquired from an enemy she had killed in the past. That guy had been an assassin hired to kill her. Unfortunately, he had been killed by her instead. He had been a freak of nature like all the member of his race. They possessed the ability to cultivate at an insane speed and their race was famous in all the multiverse for that. Of course, countless people wanted to acquire their ability in the past but quickly gave up on the idea. Like many rare racial ability, theirs couldn’t be copied. Only a freak like Abi had the power to study racial abilities like no one else. Her eyes allow her to decorticate the inner working of any spell and in the end, she had discovered how the assassin cultivated.

He was relying on a cultivation technique hardwired in his mind since birth. Abi had adapted it to a human anatomy so that it could be used by any human when she got back on Earth. She had called it [Renaissance of the phoenix] in the hope that one day she would bring it to humanity so that it could grow stronger the fastest possible, like a phoenix reborn from its ashes. However, humanity would have to wait her return. The technique would be used by her first.

She began with a hand seal which created a certain mana circuit within her soul. She continued with another hand seal afterward then another and another. Soon, peculiar mana waves flowed within her meridians and keep circulating like standing waves. Those waves had dramatic effect on her cultivation speed. Basically, cultivating consisted of surpassing the natural limit of the soul. A soul at rest contained a fix amount of mana used for the vital needs. This amount of mana could be increased consciously till a certain extent and once the limit was reached it was difficult to increase it any further.

This limit was the cultivation level and the only way to increase the limit was to mobilise mana as often as possible. In other words, one had to do magic as often as possible to increase one’s cultivation. It had some similarities with physical training. A set of movements strengthened certain muscles whereas other set of movements strengthened other muscles. Similarly, certain spells strengthened certain meridians whereas other spells strengthened other meridians. Over the years, mages had created special techniques to train the soul and called them cultivation techniques. [Renaissance of the phoenix] was the peak of cultivation techniques. It allowed the user to strengthen all the meridians at the same time so that they developed quickly.

Abi cultivated for the rest of the day and the entire nigh. The next day morning, her body shook violently as she broke through the fourth level to the fifth. She enjoyed the familiar feeling as if she was born anew. All her meridians have expanded in size and had become more resistant. The mana they could store was now much bigger than before. Gaining 2 levels in just one day was a cultivation speed never been seen in the entire northern continent. Some great clans or sects would go crazy over this kind of cultivation technique if they had known about it. After this second breakthrough, Abi stopped cultivating as it was not good for the soul to advance too quickly. She had to let her newly developed meridians consolidate themselves several days before beginning to cultivate again.

Nonetheless, she was already satisfied with the result. Gaining two level in one day was sufficient. Anyway, she couldn’t remain in her apartment as she had to go to school sometimes. Today was Monday which meant that she had courses she must attend to. She stood up and headed towards the bathroom as she needed to perform a ritual bath before going out. It was a kind of tradition, a good practice all mage should do as much as possible. When she entered the bathroom, she got stunned by what she was seeing. She had the impression of being inside a five-star hotel instead of a student apartment. A single glance was sufficient to know that everything was made of the highest quality porcelain. The floor was covered with high quality marble and everything metallic was coated with gold.

“What extravagance. A mage shouldn’t live in an apartment like that. I feel like I’m a tycoon or something.” She thought that this kind of luxe was superfluous. A mage sought wisdom and knowledge above everything else. Wealth was just a mean to acquire wisdom and knowledge. Living in luxe was just a waste of resource. If you were so rich why not buy cultivation resources or spell books? Why waste money on useless luxury item. She shook her head while entering the shower. Soon, water rained down on her while she was whispering something. Water had the amazing propriety of cleansing the body, the soul and the mind. With the help of a simple incantation, this propriety could be reinforced.

As the water slid down, Abi felt her tiredness vanishing progressively. The water was taking her fatigue away. Her mind was also calmed down as she became more focused. All the parasitic thought vanished which was very beneficial when performing magic. Her negative emotions were also disappearing progressively as if being meted like a block of ice before a strong fire source. She finished bathing after ten minutes and dressed up quickly. Having nothing left to do, she decided to leave the apartment and headed towards the Royal Academy of Magic. Her apartment was part of a huge multi-storey building destined for students. It was not far from the academy itself, just few kilometres away. Her own apartment was, of course, located at the highest floor of the building. It was as if she was a queen destined to be above everyone else. She thought that the nobles of the Spirit Mountain Kingdom cared definitely too much about status.

The moment she crossed the apartment door, she didn’t bother with the stairs and jumped down from a height of several tens of meter. Once landed, she took the road leading directly to the academy. Today’s class would only begin in one hour but Abi wanted to take a stroll along the road. The day promised to be a beautiful one, the morning sunlight was shining brightly from the sky. As she was walking, her long golden hair waved beautifully as the wind blew. Her mood was very good as she had never been so carefree since she had left Earth. No danger was lurking somewhere ready to strike at the slightest moment of weakness. She felt as if she was on vacation and she was decided to enjoy it. After all, good things never last. However, her mood dropped slightly soon after when she sensed three individuals following her from behind.