The meeting hall was silent save for the faint rustling of leaves outside. Pale morning light seeped through the shuttered windows, casting thin stripes of gold across the wooden floor.
Sam sat cross-legged, the others gathered around him.
AJ pulsed softly, his slimy body shifting anxiously. "What do you mean by cultivation system? Realms of power?"
Sam took a slow breath. The words are there, but they're like trying to catch smoke. He'd spent nights staring into the fire, piecing together half-remembered whispers from the obelisk. Now, having gathered some sort of understanding of the world, it was time to share what little he knew.
"The obelisk called it the Realm of Man," he began. "It's the first stage of cultivation—the foundation. We have already reached this stage, but this is only the beginning."
Ethan frowned. "So we're, what, level one peasants?"
"More like... toddlers learning to walk," Sam said. "The Realm of Man enhances the basics: strength, speed, reflexes. Makes you harder to kill. The next realms require more than just gathering more mana."
"What do we do then?"
Sam remembered the obelisk's fragmented visions. "The obelisk showed me something about... circulation. A loop." He mimed a circle over his chest. "So far we've shaped our mana to do certain things, but to advance, we have to circulate it through our bodies. Like pumping blood."
AJ rippled in agreement. "Mana moves through me constantly. But for you it's like a small stream."
Sam nodded. "Exactly. We need to turn that stream into a full river." He hesitated, then added, "I'm not sure what the next realm is called or how exactly to get there. But we aren't far from it, for now we should focus on absorbing and circulating mana through our bodies."
---
The team dispersed to their tasks, their minds still buzzing with Sam's words. The settlement hummed with routine—the scrape of hoes against soil, the clang of stone on stubborn ore—but beneath the surface, each of them chased a silent rhythm: the pulse of mana.
Ethan's blistered hands gripped the hoe tighter as he wrenched another weed from the stubborn earth. Sweat dripped into his eyes.
As he wiped his forehead, he imagined channels going through and around his body.
Sam exhaled sharply, trying to visualise mana as a second breath, seeping through his skin and into the ache of his muscles. The result was a flicker, a spark.
Nearby, Lily knelt beside Kira, her fingers brushing the leaves of a mana-sensitive herb. The plant's veins glowed faintly under her touch.
"You've got the magic hands," Kira said, poking at the shimmering leaves.
Lily smiled, but her attention was inward. Her gift already let her see mana—now, she traced its flow within herself, coaxing it towards her tired limbs. A warmth bloomed in her chest, fleeting but undeniable.
A cluster of wide-eyed children sat cross-legged in the dirt, their slates balanced on bony knees. Walter's cane tapped out letters in the dust: A for Axe. B for Bloodfruit.
"Words are weapons," he rasped. "Sharper than any blade."
The children mimicked his strokes, their tongues poking out in concentration. Walter's own mana stirred—not with the vigour of youth, but with the steady persistence. He let it pool in his aching joints, soothing the old pain there.
This old body remembers its prime, he mused. I wonder if mana can bring it back.
Garret's forge was a symphony of sweat and frustration. The blacksmith cursed as another stone tool shattered against the unyielding ore.
AJ slithered onto the stone anvil. "What's with the ore?" he pulsed.
"Found it to the east. Won't melt right and doesn't want to be bent into shape."
"You got any metal lying around, or is this ore the only bit you have?"
Garret hesitated. "I do have some over there—it's similar to iron. I would make a hammer out of it, but I don't have enough of the stuff."
AJ slithered over to the small ingot and without much thought absorbed the metal.
"What the?" Garret stared at the slime as the metal dissolved in front of his eyes.
Victor, meanwhile, worked the bellows with measured pulls. With each press, he imagined his mana cycling—down his arms, through his hands, and back up to his chest. The fire flared brighter, its heat spreading out through the building.
Garret put the ore into the furnace whilst he waited to see what AJ was doing.
Not too much later, a smallish hammer appeared on the ground in front of AJ—not a stone hammer like Garret had been using up to now, but a metal hammer. The shock in Garret's eyes was undeniable. The man practically ran over to pick up the hammer.
"Gods above," he breathed. Then, with sudden purpose, he snatched the glowing ore from the furnace with tongs and placed it on the anvil.
The first strike sent sparks flying in a golden arc. Where stone tools had shattered, the metal hammer dented the ore with satisfying precision.
Garret's shoulders tensed as he fell into the rhythm of his life's work—strike, rotate, strike again—but now with a fluidity he hadn't known in months.
Sam moved through the settlement's chores with deliberate focus. The obelisk's teachings echoed in his mind: "Mana is a river. Your body is its bed."
As he hauled water from the well, Sam synced his breathing with the pulley's creak. Pushing his mana around his body, not just out on a one-way trip but back up again.
Lily's voice startled him. "You're smiling."
Sam touched his face, surprised. "I think... I figured it out."
Above them, a crow took flight—its shadow passing over the palisade where Jonas stood watching.
---
As dusk painted the sky, the team regrouped in the meeting hall.
AJ pulsed happily. "You're all glowing. Just a little."
The meeting hall's fire crackled as the team exchanged their experiences. Ethan flexed his hands, staring at the faded blisters. "So when I was imagining mana flowing through my arms... that was real?"
AJ pulsed affirmatively, his form reflecting the firelight in prismatic ripples. "More real than you know. Your bodies are beginning to learn how to circulate mana not just expend it."
Lily plucked at her bowstring, watching it vibrate. "It's not just us," she murmured. "The plants today... I could see their mana moving through them too."
A sharp knock sounded by the door. Jonas stood in the doorway, his silhouette framed by torchlight.
"Hesta says the south field's still half-done." His gaze lingered on AJ's form before adding, "I want you lot to help finish it tomorrow morning."
When the door closed, Walter's cane tapped the ground a few times. "That man's eyes linger too long on things that aren't his business."
Later, under cover of darkness, Sam and Victor participated in the watch atop the palisade. The settlement slept below, its thatched roofs lit by the moonlight.
Victor broke their silence: "The blacksmith's new hammer changes everything." His breath fogged in the cold air. "Garret won't be the only one wanting AJ's gifts."
Sam followed his gaze to the forge, where Garret still worked despite the hour—hammer strikes ringing like a beacon through the night.
"We'll leave soon. But first—" He pressed a palm to the wooden railing and circulated his mana. The wood groaned as a small split appeared. "We need to master this."
Victor's eyes narrowed. "That seemed different from usual..."
"Today's different." Sam flexed his fingers, watching moonlight catch on calluses that hadn't been there at sunrise. "The Realm of Man isn't just about power. It's about... alignment."
By morning, the team returned to their tasks with quiet intensity.
At the forge, Garret presented Victor with a newly forged dagger—its blade gleaming with the same strange ore that had resisted all crafting before.
"Without the hammer I never could've forged this," he admitted, running a thumb along the edge. "Take it as a gift."
Victor tested its weight. The blade hummed in his hands, resonating with his mana. He exchanged a glance with AJ. This changes our arsenal.
---
The team had just finished their midday meal when the crunch of boots on gravel announced Jonas' approach.
He wasn't alone—two armed settlers flanked him, their hands resting conspicuously on stone-tipped spears. The one on the left was the same burly man who'd spat at their arrival days earlier.
"We want to discuss your... abilities." Jonas' smile was strange—it seemed forced. Behind him, the spearmen shifted their weight.
"Garret's new hammer. Hesta's fields yielding increased. Quite the coincidence after your arrival."
Lily's fingers twitched toward her bow that was on the ground near her. Ethan casually repositioned his axe within reach.
Only Walter remained still, his hands folded over his cane.
AJ contracted into a dense sphere on Lily's shoulder, his surface rippling with tension. "They're scared. Scared people are dangerous."
Sam stepped forward, planting himself between Jonas and the others. He kept his shoulders loose, his breathing even.
"We can share what we've learned," he said, matching Jonas' smile. "Though that knowledge came to us at considerable cost."
The burly settler snorted. "Cost? You look fed and whole to me."
Victor materialised at Sam's side, his voice a blade sheathed in ice. "You haven't seen what have, you don't know everything we've been through."
Jonas eyed the settler that had spoken up, silently warning him to keep quiet. The crow's shadow passed over them again, its rasping cry the only sound in the suddenly still settlement.
Even the ever-present clang from Garret's forge had stopped. Jonas' eyes flicked to the others, then back to Sam. He spoke again, masking his nervousness behind courage. "Follow me, please."
As they headed toward the central hall, Sam noted the strategic positions of more armed settlers along their route. The friendly faces from yesterday's bonfire were absent, replaced by nervous respect. Children had been herded inside, shutters drawn tight over windows.
Ethan muttered under his breath, "That bread suddenly tastes a little worse."
Lily's whisper was barely audible. "I count 12. All armed."
Walter's cane tapped an irregular rhythm against the packed earth. "It seems like we've created some trouble for ourselves."
The heavy oak doors of the meeting hall loomed before them. As Jonas reached for the iron ring handle, Sam caught the faintest tremor in the man's fingers.
The shift in sentiment didn't appear from thin air, Sam realised. It had already begun the moment they'd proven more valuable than these people knew how to handle.