Elara Stonefield slowly gathered all the faint energy circulating within her body along specific pathways, directing it to a region deep in her lower abdomen, believed to be a place where energy converged. This was already the seventh complete circulation cycle she had guided this energy through today without a break. She knew clearly that her body had reached its current limit. If she were to force another cycle, the fragile magical conduits within her body would, in all likelihood, rupture again from the inability to withstand the energy's impact, and she herself would undoubtedly taste that bone-deep, excruciating pain once more. The mere thought of that intense agony, as if her magical conduits were being torn apart strand by strand, made a fine cold sweat break out on her back, even though she had always prided herself on her boldness.
Nearly half a year had passed since Elara first set foot in Stonefist Outpost and became Physician Morus's probationary apprentice. The official entrance assessments for the other probationary apprentices in her batch had all concluded over two months ago.
Among that group of probationary apprentices, only a small fraction of fortunate ones were ultimately able to pass the rigorous assessment and officially join the core area to become inner apprentices. Most of the apprentices who participated failed to pass that trial. Those who failed had no choice but to reluctantly pack their simple bags, leave the core area, and descend the mountain to the outer areas to become ordinary outer apprentices of Stonefist Outpost.
These children who failed the core area assessment were mostly assigned to outer branch organizations like the "Treasure Caravan Guild" or the "Eaglet Messengers," based on the different potentials they displayed during the assessment. Among them, those who performed exceptionally well and showed greater potential might have a chance to receive further specialized training before possibly being absorbed into the "Outer Edge Wardens," which offered relatively better treatment. Of course, among the various branch organizations in the outer areas, the "Four Winds Network" offered the most lucrative treatment and held the most special status. Unfortunately, the recruitment standards for the "Four Winds Network" were extremely stringent, usually only admitting seasoned individuals who had already made a name for themselves and possessed unique skills or intelligence channels. To think of joining with just a few rudimentary skills was out of the question, let alone these still wet-behind-the-ears youngsters.
Whenever Elara thought about the assessment content that the other probationary apprentices had gone through more than two months ago, even now, her heart would still secretly flutter with unease, and she would even feel a faint sense of relief.
Those assessment items sounded hair-raising: first, they had to run a full circle around the vast Sunset Peaks, which spanned over a dozen leagues; then, they had to form temporary teams with other apprentices for practical combat in a sparsely populated and complex mountain forest; finally, they had to desperately withstand a specified number of attacks under the frenzied assault of highly skilled and ruthless senior apprentices. All these cruel test items made Elara feel a lingering fear, while also, irresistibly, a subtle sense of schadenfreude towards her companions who had to endure it all.
Fortunately, Elara and Tyg did not participate in these terrifying public tests. Just as Physician Morus himself had said earlier, his assessment of them merely tested their cultivation progress with that nameless incantation. However, passing this assessment was far from as easy as Elara had initially imagined. To this day, Elara remembered the specific circumstances of that assessment as clearly as if it had happened yesterday.
According to Physician Morus's initial explanation, the mysterious incantation he had taught them, whose exact name was unknown, was actually divided into several different levels. Elara and Tyg had currently only received the foundational cultivation method for the first level. That is to say, as long as they could cultivate this first level to a point of achievement within half a year, Physician Morus would consider them to have passed, and they could officially become his inner chamber disciples, enjoying the same high treatment as the other inner apprentices of Stonefist Outpost.
And ever since Elara learned from casual conversations with other apprentices about the heaven-and-earth difference in treatment between inner apprentices in the core area and ordinary apprentices in the outer areas, she had completely abandoned her original naive idea of merely muddling through these six months and then willingly becoming an outer apprentice to return home sooner. For her at that time, compared to receiving a few more silver coins as a subsidy from Stonefist Outpost and having the chance to be escorted safely home, everything else seemed less important. Because, when she was at home, she had truly had enough of that impoverished life and was deeply afraid of returning to a life where she couldn't fill her stomach or cover her body. She knew clearly that for every extra silver coin she received here, the lives of her parents and siblings far away at home would improve by a fraction.
Ever since receiving the incantation for the nameless technique from Physician Morus, Elara had completely shut herself in her simple wooden hut, rarely going out. She began to cultivate arduously day and night, forgetting to eat or sleep, dedicating all her available time unreservedly to comprehending and practicing this mysterious incantation. Because Physician Morus had not provided them with any specific guidance or explanation regarding cultivation after imparting the incantation, Elara could only rely on herself to slowly explore and experiment. She even secretly referred to the methods and experiences of other low-rank apprentices cultivating Stonefist Outpost's basic inner energy art—a technique called the "Solaris Technique"—hoping to gain insights by analogy and discover the correct cultivation path for this nameless incantation on her own.
However, after three long months of exceptionally hard cultivation using this self-explored method, Elara made a discovery that astonished her and nearly made her lose all hope: her cultivation speed for this nameless incantation was frighteningly slow! No matter how hard she tried, she could only barely produce a faint, almost imperceptible wisp of a peculiar, cool energy flow within her body. This wisp of energy was so subtle, so elusive, that if she hadn't concentrated all her mental faculties and used that special "Inner Sight" technique to perceive the energy flow within her body, she probably wouldn't have been able to detect its existence at all.
This was probably what the basic instructors in the Outpost often talked about as "inner energy" or "Source Breath," right? Elara naturally, and somewhat presumptuously, thought so.
However, according to the other children who were also cultivating Stonefist Outpost's "Solaris Technique," the "Source Breath" they produced through cultivation should be a very distinct, warm, and scorching current. Yet, what she produced in her body was a faint, icy-cold wisp. And when comparing the effects produced after actually circulating these two, the difference was vast, almost incomparable.
Those other children cultivating the "Solaris Technique," after successfully mobilizing the "Source Breath" in their bodies, were said to be able to break a small tree as thick as a bowl with a single punch, or leap more than a yard high with a single jump. But Elara, after trying to circulate that strange, faint cool energy within her body, felt almost no discernible increase in strength or physical change compared to before. The only noticeable difference was that her spirit seemed much more vigorous than before, she was full of energy every day, and her appetite had increased significantly compared to before she came up the mountain. But what practical use were these changes for improving her strength and passing the assessment! Whenever she saw the other children who had come up the mountain with her showing off their prowess in the training grounds with high spirits, Elara's mood would become exceptionally dejected and lost.
This unexpected discovery, and the immense sense of frustration it brought, almost made Elara completely give up all her hard work of the past few months. She once believed that perhaps her innate aptitude was too poor, that she was simply not suited to cultivate this mysterious art, and that it was absolutely impossible for her to reach Physician Morus's requirements in the remaining few short months and thus pass his assessment. She had even begun to secretly prepare for the worst-case scenario of being eliminated and sent home.
Just when she was about to completely despair, one day, Elara learned a shocking piece of news from Tyg, who was cultivating with her and was equally taciturn: since Tyg had started cultivating this nameless incantation, his body had not undergone any change whatsoever, nor could he feel any effect from the cultivation, let alone produce even that tiny wisp of "Source Breath" like she could.
This accidental discovery was like a lamp lit in the darkness, allowing Elara to regain what little confidence and hope she had left. In the remaining days, she resumed her previous exceptionally arduous and painstaking cultivation.
No, it should be said, she worked even harder, more frantically, and more recklessly than before.
Elara now spent almost every waking quarter-hour meditating and cultivating. When sleeping at night, Elara even began to try to maintain that extremely physically demanding special cultivation posture, hoping to gain even a tiny, insignificant cultivation effect. Of course, this almost self-mutilating, frenzied practice was forced to an early end after only a few days due to its ineffectiveness. The main reason was that prolonged lack of sleep made it impossible for her to guarantee her cultivation efficiency and mental state during the day.
However, what puzzled and perplexed Elara greatly was that Physician Morus, ever since imparting the nameless incantation to them, seemed to have completely forgotten about them, practically ignoring them. He never asked about their cultivation progress or what problems and confusions they encountered during cultivation, as if he had completely forgotten he even had these two probationary apprentices.
Every day, Physician Morus would almost always be engrossed in reading that mysterious book with three ancient black symbols on its cover, as if it truly contained peerless beauties or was filled with houses of gold. At first, Elara and Tyg even secretly thought that perhaps Physician Morus no longer intended to continue his profession of saving lives and healing the injured, but was instead preparing to study diligently and change careers to pursue some scholarly fame. It wasn't until later, after they had learned some basic characters in the schoolhouse, that they finally recognized those three ancient black symbols as the words "The Eternity Scroll." It was an ancient tome that specifically discussed how to regulate the body and mind and nourish one's vital energy through special cultivation methods, thereby achieving longevity and even pursuing the secret of eternal life.
Only then did Elara and Tyg have an epiphany. It turned out that Physician Morus was not trying to gain any worldly fame or fortune, but rather, like those legendary ancient beings who had lived for hundreds or even thousands of years, he was pursuing immortality, perhaps even hoping to live for thousands upon thousands of years, to explore the ultimate mystery of life.