Xan knocked on Rad's door as soon as he arrived before it.

"Who is it? Don't you know what time it is?" the old man complained from behind the door.

"It is me, Xan. I want to ask you a few questions," he replied.

Xan didn't hear anything for the next few seconds until Rad unlocked the door. When it opened, Xan saw Rad's sleepy face looking directly at him.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping? It is still early." Rad said while gesturing for Xan to come in.

"My sleeping schedule became chaotic these last few days, and I didn't take the time to check the hour. I'm sorry if I have disturbed your sleep." Xan apologized as he entered Rad's room.

"I've already told you that you should take breaks from cultivation. I hope at least you made significant progress," Rad replied, a bit disappointed.

Xan smiled after hearing those words.

"I did. I managed to clean my dantian completely yesterday." Xan said with his head high.

"Really?" Rad asked, surprised." I expected you to spend a few more days before reaching that point. Those are fantastic news."

Rad began to rummage on a chest as he said those words. From it, he took a notebook and a knife.

The notebook was small and coated with black leather, making it look like a delicate item. The knife instead had a slightly curved blade made of metal without any ornament.

Rad took those two items and gave them to Xan.

"This is for you. You will find some basic information and techniques you can learn independently in the notebook. They have nothing about corruption or anything like that, so you don't have to worry that someone would look at it. And about the knife, it is nothing unusual. Your fights with Gren showed that you excel in agility, so something like a knife or a short sword will be great as starting weapon, and as I had that mana-steel knife on my chest, I decided to gift it to you to celebrate you becoming an actual cultivator." Rad said with a broad smile.

"Is this made of mana-steel? It should cost a fortune!" Xan said as he grabbed the knife from his hands.

"Its purity isn't very high, and it is already a bit worn out, so its value should have decreased, but it should be more than enough for you now." Rad replied." Well, which doubts do you have then?"

"I wanted to learn how to cultivate more efficiently with my dantian and maybe to know where I should focus my efforts," Xan explained as he toyed with the knife in his hand.

"If that's what you want to learn, you have all the answers in the notebook. And a tip I give you is to focus on your dantian and sea of consciousness for the time being. Training your body may be appealing, but once you start dealing with corruption, you will need a strong mind and a pure energy source to counter the side effects." Rad explained.

"Ok, I will start reading the notebook as soon as I return to my room," Xan replied as he flipped the notebook's pages.

"That's great. Let me know if there is anything that you need help understanding. Oh, and also. Please start your farce about collecting mushrooms as soon as possible. The sooner you do it, the sooner we can begin our battle training."

"If I have enough time, I will go today or tomorrow."

"Great. And now, get out of here already. I want to continue sleeping for a few hours." Rad said while he gestured to Xan to leave.

Realizing he wouldn't get anything more from the old man, Xan followed his instructions and left the room to return to his own. As it was still early in the morning, he didn't meet anyone either on his way to go or while returning.

As soon as he reached his room, Xan sat on one of the kitchen chairs and began to read the Rad's notebook.

The first few pages were introductory to the concept of cultivation. In contrast, the following explained how to cultivate using one dantian, some basic martial arts, and the theory behind the spells and different kinds of energy.

Xan carefully advanced through each page, taking all the time he needed to ensure he understood everything correctly.

Those pages were his first steps into the real cultivation world, so he wanted to do his best to learn them.