Chapter 27: 'Real' Cultivator

His mana pool was completely filled and he met the required mana purity of 1%.

It was finally time for him to make his first step as a real Cultivator, his first breakthrough!

To not be distracted by anything in his surroundings while breaking through outside the shelter, he decides to go to an inn, renting a room for 50 bronze a day.

There were always jokesters trying to troll people while breaking through, trying to damage their mana pool in return.

It was illegal but even the slightest distraction while breaking through would be enough to result in a damaged mana pool.

This could either end as a temporary injury, which would heal with time or with a permanent injury that had to be healed by the system with precious items, that were more expensive than the resources most humans would use for their whole life.

Shane didn't want to risk that and paying 50 bronze to be safe from trolls was definitely worth the price.

Sitting on top of the bed a notification appeared in his head as he stated his purpose of breaking through to the system.

[Host met the requirements to break into the [2nd-Mortal] stage]

[Breakthrough will require 8 hours. Commence breakthrough?]

8 hours was a long time and this could be reduced by breaking through at a place with more mana particles or mana stones around him, but right now, Shane wanted to be safe in a sealed place even if fewer mana particles were around him and purchasing Mana stones was not necessary.

In the end, 8 hours were almost perfect for him, because the nighttime circle on the Soul-Onyx-Jungle Dimension would start by then.

As such one could say, everything played into his hands.

[Commence!] Shane thought and his body was slowly enveloped in a white cocoon, covering him completely, sealing him from the outside world.

Not knowing what would happen, Shane looked around, when he felt a slight pain in his abdomen area, where his mana pool was.

Closing his eyes and sensing his mana pool, Shane noticed that his mana pool became unstable, and only now did he remember, that one had to hold one's mana pool together while breaking through.

With the slightest distraction, the mana pool would turn into a violent storm, becoming more unstable which was the reason why one had to mentally hold it together.

Concentrating on the mana within the mana pool would cause the vessel the mana pool represented to become slightly more stable.

The vessel itself would be tempered and grow while breaking through, like a muscle that strengthened itself by exhausting and recuperating in a repeated cycle.

It wasn't excessively exhausting to hold his mana pool together and for Shane, it was rather playing around with his mana than doing anything difficult.

Even the mana around him seemed to like him and one could say that his annexed mana adored him, seemingly wanting to be with him even more and descending with his mind inside his mana pool, he could circulate the mana within his mana pool perfectly, which wouldn't be possible normally.

With that, Shane could strengthen his mana pool more than his brethren, like the Abytor-race that was known for their extraordinary strong mana vessel, did

Even overexerting mana was possible for them and wouldn't cause their tempered vessels to break and if Shane could do something similar, why not?

Having a more resistant mana pool was always good and it wouldn't hurt to have it.

As such, time passed and Shane circulated the mana within his mana pool around filling every nook and cranny, without leaving a single cell.

8 hours passed and his mana pool increased by roughly 10%, which was the common increase within the mortal stage.

One could say that between the mortal stage, the difference of ranks would not matter much, but this was only partially true.

Even though the increase within the mortal stage was only 10% per rank for both body refining and cultivation itself, it was still nothing to scoff at.

With a superior combat prowess, crossing ranks was possible and Shane was confident in being able to do that, thanks to his title he had yet to test out, but playing safe wouldn't hurt for the beginning, because he didn't even have a graded martial art technique or skill.

Apparently the techniques he learned weren't accepted by the system and as such either not strong enough to be graded or the system simply despised his techniques for being crude and full of flaws.

But that was fine for him and wouldn't really change anything for his current situation.

Even if his mana pool increased only by 10%, it was still more than the common human would have as his mana pool was strengthened by 30% since the beginning.

For instance, with his initial mana core of 1.3 units, he now had 1.43 units instead of 1.1 units with an initial mana pool of 1 unit.

[Host broke successfully into the 2nd Mortal stage. Congratulations!]

A notification appeared in his mind and Shane could only smile lightly.

He wasn't sure if he should love or hate the system, but in the end, Shane liked it more than he hated it, because it made him stronger, even if he felt monitored all the time

Looking at his status a faint smile appeared on Shane's face.

_______________

Title: [Berserk-Hunter(F)]

Occupation: [None]

Name: Shane Suro (Orus)

Race:[Human 100%]

Cultivation Level: Mortal-2nd [Purity 1.09%]

Body Refinement: [Mortal-4th]

Cultivation Manual:

→Mana purifying [Mortal-(Silver)]

→Mana gathering [Mortal-(Silver)]

<Skills/Techniques>

![Artemis' Blessing]+

[Innate Skill]: Taming |Trash-★★ ★★★ (+)|

Finances: 2 gold 23 silver

_______________

He hid all the information provided by his Innate skill, as they destroyed the beauty of the panel in front of him.

Looking at the time, Shane decided to leave the Deep Mountain-river shelter, after making a trip to the market.

Even though he hated giving out his funds, surviving was more important.

Purchasing a tracker and a translucent marker for 50 silver, he purchased five marble-sized prismarine-luminous crystals for 1 gold coin, and with his remaining 73 silver, Shane bough another concealment and nightsight potion, increasing his stock to 6 concealment and nightsight potions.

There were still 13 silver left, but he required 2 silver to enter the Soul-Onyx-dimension, as such he had 11 silver left to purchase something.

Thinking for a moment, he remembered running around with wet clothes and shoes.

As such he bought a few sets of clothes, a raincoat and two pairs of shoes, leaving him with a total of 4 silver out of his whole fortune of 2 gold and 23 silver.

After their short shopping spree, Umbra pestered Shane to him by transmitting pictures of food and with his remaining two silver coins, they ate their fill, while Shane stored another few dishes within his spatial ring.

Walking towards the Dimension Portal with filled bellies, Shane and Umbra were ready to commence their mission and earn a mountain of gold in order to increase their cultivation, quality and combat prowess by leaps and bounds.