Under the rising sun, a young boy with the appearance of a man living through poverty, could be seen walking out of a store with a smile. Contrary to the poverty stricken attire of the young boy, his face formed a smile that outshone the heavens.

Hum~

Kyril walked with his hands held behind his back and a head that rocked side to side, humming.

“Now that I can cultivate, I should go and take a look at some cultivation books at the library. There should be some within the first three floors that explain the basics of cultivation and after that I can go and take the Cultivation Admission Test. That way, once I get a grip of the basics of cultivation, I should be able to pass the test.” Kyril elatedly said and pulled out a pouch made of Wild Beast skin from his robe’s pocket.

The pouch was dark brown in colour that looked like it had existed far longer than the young boy, Kyril. It stretched a little to the ground, forming a ball shape at its base.

“That Earth Grade Herb was quite a good harvest, I was able to exchange it for five hundred coppers - just half the value of a single silver coin,” Kyril said and lifted the pouch to eye level.

“It’s a pity that I can’t use it to absorb Martial Essence from. According to Zalea, herbs that can cultivate the Primal Attributes are unheard of!”

Although Kyril felt a tinge of regret exchanging the Earth Grade herb, which he fought with his life for, for money, but it was unavoidable. Absorbing the Earth Grade herb that cultivated the Elemental Attributes would just have brought impurities into the body instead.

“But it’s fine. I need the money anyway. Before I take the Cultivation Admission Test, I need to buy a new set of robes that has a hood to cover my face up during the test. I can’t let it become known that I can cultivate.”

Dangling the pouch of copper coins in front of him, Kyril planned for any precautions he needed to take to ensure his secret was kept hidden and then threw the pouch back into his robe’s pocket as he walked on forwards to the library.

Arriving in front of the library doors, Kyril encountered the two guards from before. Like before, the guards made sure that he was not carrying anything banned before allowing him to enter. The weight of the door still made him look at it with disbelief.

Following the different labels on the shelves, Kyril eventually found three suitable books for cultivation that were around a finger thick. Kyril was never one to only obtain his information from one source. By using multiple sources of information, one would be able to form a stronger foundation of the information trying to be learned.

“Let’s see here…” Kyril flicked through the pages of one of the books and briefly scanned its contents while walking to one of the wooden tables located at the entrance of each floor.

After taking a seat, Kyril stopped running his finger through the pages and began reading through each page of the book.

“In order to cultivate, one should only absorb and refine their Elemental Attribute from the World Qi and leave everything else. To do this, one must be able to control their bodies so that only the preferred Element is absorbed. Then with the mind, a Practitioner should control the Martial Essence in their bodies to refine, as much as they can, the absorbed Martial Essence. This is the core of cultivation. Control the body. Control the mind. By developing this foundation, cultivation becomes more efficient and beneficial…”

Kyril read through the first book with a myriad of expressions. Occasionally his eyebrows would form arcs like the crescent moon and other times a sloping mountain.

Picking up the second book, Kyril began reading with an equally serious expression as before.

“To control the body, one must strengthen the skin, muscles, bones, and organs to the point where they can feel every part of their body. To control the mind, one must keep their mind broad and open, and allow it to become all-encompassing…”

Mind and body. These two words appeared on the second book once again. Upon reaching for the third book and opening the first page, the words were both mentioned for a third time.

“The mind and body must be indispensable to all Martial Arts. Even back on earth it was said that one wouldn’t be able to reach the pinnacle of Martial Arts without controlling the mind and body.”

Closing the third book, Kyril let out a sigh.

“Cultivation is truly only for the strongest minds. It is not only physical strength that matters with cultivation, only those with determination, patience, and willpower can become powerful,” Kyril said with anticipation. He was confident that he had all these traits and that one day he would reach the peak of cultivation and achieve his life goal.

From reading the three books, Kyril gained a rough understanding of cultivation.

“All the books explained things so simply, but in reality something so easily explained is actually very complex. If I were to make an analogy, then cultivation is like painting. Anyone can paint a picture, but not everyone can paint an image that is capable of capturing hundreds of emotions,” Kyril said.

Although it was only three books, Kyril learnt many things about cultivation which granted him a deeper understanding of it.

“From what I understand, the most important things in cultivation are the mind and body. The body is used to separate the Elements in World Qi, but can also be used to attack and defend. The mind is for controlling the Martial Essence within the body, but can also be used to activate Martial Techniques.” Kyril recalled what he read.

“To control the body is much easier than controlling the mind. With the body, physical training is enough to strengthen it, but with the mind, it can take years, even decades to fully hone it,” Kyril muttered to himself. “But whether it be years or decades, as long as I can achieve my goal then those years mean nothing!”

Kyril was not the least bit intimidated at the seemingly difficult path he was about to walk on. If he became scared by something like this, he would have never pursued a goal as unimaginable as completely understanding the universe.

And now he was about to take his first step of cultivation. All he had to do now was to put what he read into practice. After all, what use is knowledge if it is just collecting dust in the corner of one’s mind?

“But if I cultivate here, someone might see me cultivating… I should go home to cultivate, that way there's no chance of being seen.”

Kyril weighed the advantages and disadvantages of cultivating in the library. If he cultivated in the library, he would have immediate access to any books if he were to run into a problem, but this risked the exposure of getting caught which he could not have. Thus, Kyril decided to practice at home. There he was certain to not be distracted. Furthermore, he liked the scenery of the back of his shack where everything of nature seemed to gather. Trees, leaves, mountains… there was something about it that brought a sense of harmony and tranquility to him.

With those thoughts, Kyril rose from his seat and descended to the first floor of the library and then to the entrance of the library where greeted the guards before heading back home to his run down shack.

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