Chapter 58: Cultivating

Adam spent most of the night reading through the manual. He was no longer in a rush to create his technique. Understanding how the essence of evolution worked was far more crucial.

The manual described how Spark was circulated through the body as a person cultivated. From the surroundings, the Spark entered through the pores on the body, flowed into the circulation channels, and eventually circulated through a defined path.

The essence first moved to the centre of the chest and then spread out from there. His master hinted at the fact that the centre of the chest served as some kind of storage area. The problem was that no organ, physical or otherwise, made it obvious.

Even technologies could not perceive how exactly that was achieved. Only those with unique ocular abilities could catch a glimpse of what transpired in there.

’This is something I can confidently say I’ve seen...’

After getting a good grasp of what Spark was, Adam moved on to how he could draw upon the Spark uniquely suited for his affinity. The technique was rather peculiar, as he felt that it was easy to grasp.

The key was to focus on his affinity as though he was about to use it. Grasping that intent, he would have to draw in the surrounding Spark. This, in turn, would pull the essence suitable for that affinity toward his body, ignoring all others.

"This should be doable..."

But before he tried it, he read further, wanting to see if there was more. And, indeed, there was. Circulating the Spark was not simply about guiding it to his core. He had to cycle every breath of essence a couple of times through his body before sending it to his core.

The goal was to nourish the entire body and mind while making the essence a part of your being before storing it in the core. This could take anywhere between a couple of minutes and hours, depending on a person’s talent and comprehension.

"No wonder... That’s why the system’s method is so slow. It must first filter each breath of essence before it even circulates."

The breath, as stated in the manual, was the minimal amount of Spark one had to draw in to begin circulation. Adam appreciated the little pointers; It made things a lot easier to understand.

Through it all, his understanding across multiple indexes had been steadily rising. Just the discovery of the true nature of Spark had increased his understanding of essences and how they powered various abilities and techniques.

"This should be enough."

Naturally, there was more. But what was left would not help him, as his master designed the manual based on the affinities he had revealed to the world.

Setting the note down, Adam stood up and walked to the open space in his room. He sat down crossed-legged and closed his eyes.

"Here goes nothing..."

It only took a few seconds to get into the zone, his Mythic-ranked physique stepping in. As a physique born at the peak of physical efficiency, it wasted almost no energy/essence; neither did it waste any sort of movement that required using his body.

Adam honed in on his Genesis affinity and felt the surrounding air shift.

A process that should have taken weeks for a genius to get attuned enough to their affinity took him just a few minutes.

He focused on the pull, and the Spark of Genesis swirled around his body. As he continued focusing on his affinity, he eventually felt that his body had reached a threshold, which also took just a few minutes.

Then came the harder part... guiding the Spark to the core without the help of the system; a process that took a lot more time than gathering a single breath of Spark.

Holding onto the gathered breath, he guided it through his body based on what the technique described. It took a bit of effort, but he quickly got the hang of it. The Spark of Genesis flowed from all around his body toward the centre of his chest, underwent a precise path of revolution before spreading out in another defined path to the rest of his body.

The process felt slow to him. But this too was accounted for in the manual. When a part of the entire technique felt slower than the others, then it meant that it was not for him.

’I should try spreading it out in a wave.’ Adam reasoned calmly.

Since his affinity was toward creation, he didn’t need to meticulously dictate the process. It was a somewhat reasonable assumption. So when the Spark of Genesis flowed back to his core after the first round, he spread it out without holding back, the speed becoming several times faster.

’Mm... That felt rough. B-But it worked.’ He smiled through the pain that came with his impulsive actions. ’This should be done two more times for a total of four revolutions.’

He had no idea what he did was one sure way of overwhelming his Spark channels. Freely letting the gathered Spark travel without precise control could have seriously backfired, as the body needed the cycles to make the essence its own.

But his body and affinity made it work at the cost of a few seconds of pain.

The subsequent breaths that followed became a lot more seamless and efficient. A total of four revolutions would have taken any other genius anywhere between ten and twelve minutes.

But he took just two minutes.

The manual described four as the ideal number. Any more and he would lose more than half the gathered breath of Spark, as cultivation in itself was not 100% efficient. It took the body a while to hold on to the refined Spark. And in that time, some of the gathered Spark diffused.

Sadly for everyone else, Titan Genesis was not Mythic ranked without reason. Alas... the owner himself had not realised this.

Adam completed the four revolutions and continued drawing in more Spark of Genesis into his body, the process becoming more and more efficient.

’This feels nice...’

A small smile graced his serene expression. The cultivation process did more than just absorb and store Spark. It steadily nourished every aspect of the body- blood, muscles, bones, and mind- gradually pushing it to a higher realm.

Adam spent hours cultivating and refining the technique, slowly automating the process and making the technique his own. But then, a sudden knock disrupted his concentration, pulling him out of the zone.

’Damn it!’

Rising to his feet, he made his way to the door while assessing the state of his body. There was no feeling of fatigue or tiredness anywhere. It was like he had gotten a well-deserved rest.

"Yes?" Adam asked as he pulled the door back.

Before him was the pink-haired girl still in her uniform. She looked at him with a frown and asked, "What are you doing dressed like that?"

"What do you mean?" Adam asked in confusion.

"You’re joking, right?" April responded incredulously. "Our first class is in one hour, and you have a duel afterwards!"

"Huh?"

Only then did his thoughts and senses sync with his surroundings. The hallway was brighter than normal, and several students were up and about in their uniforms.

"Ah..."

He had spent the entire night cultivating without even realising it.