Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Mana Cultivation
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Don't sleep, do mana cultivation? What the hell does that mean?
If you've focused on your breathing even once, you'd get it, but doing the breathing technique right washes away all fatigue. It's the principle where your body purifies itself in the process of circulating natural mana inside you and converting it to your own mana. Mana cultivation is basically an extension of breathing techniques. Doing it instead of sleeping clears fatigue and boosts your mana capacity.
Ooooh, killing two birds with one stone, huh.
Just as ExtremeEfficiencyFanatic said, I could feel my body getting cleaner whenever I breathed.
It was like swallowing natural mana through my mouth and scrubbing every corner of my body directly.
Circulating it up to my head seemed to recover mental fatigue on the same principle.
But doing that all night long? That seemed tough.
Subjugating natural mana into my own mana required a ton of focus.
Unlike mana fully assimilated into me, natural mana felt like it had its own will.
The breathing technique was basically forcing that will to bend and become mine.
Of course, it wasn't that hard.
Hmm. But doing that all night sounds intense. It's good, but it takes a lot of concentration. Feels like it'd build up mental fatigue instead.
That's obvious for such a primitive breathing technique.
Basic breathing isn't made for cultivation lol. It's for muggles who can't sense mana or mana to get started handling it.
Basic breathing is just the basics, as the name says. You're impressive for cultivating with it.
"Hmm."
I decided to test it out by opening the window again and trying basic breathing.
Capture natural mana and let it flow through my body.
This time, up to my head. As the natural mana swept through my brain, my mind definitely sharpened.
"Huff... Ha... Ten minutes already."
But this time, sustaining focus for a long time like before was harder.
Just about ten minutes of concentration was all I managed.
And I could only convert some of the captured natural mana into my own.
Just tried basic breathing again, and it's not easy. Guess that one-hour session earlier was because of the extreme situation lol.
Getting stronger when you're on the brink of death...
This guy's a combat specialist. He shouldn't be at the academy—he belongs on the battlefield.
Fact: Even ten minutes is hard on the first day normally.
There are other breathing methods better suited for cultivation. And doing it in mana-rich environments is key too.
Basic breathing definitely seemed inefficient for cultivation.
If I could, it'd be great to learn a better one.
Ideally something I could use in place of sleep. My mana capacity was way too small.
Title: Looking for a handsome, sexy Archmage teacher to teach me cultivation methods
Author: Kim Muggle
My mana capacity is pathetically tiny, so I wanna bulk it up quick.
Sleeping's a waste of time—any Archmage wanna teach me cultivation?
Reward: Photo of the academy's most dignified cutie pie.
(Academy stray cat photo)
Can't resist the academy back gate strays lol.
Academy stray cats are always chonky no matter where you go. Eating and sleeping well.
Hawawa, Lulu-chan loves cats!
Cultivation is way harder than just breathing.
Cultivating instead of sleeping requires a pretty high level. Gotta maintain focus for long stretches. Best to do it in short bursts until then.
Start when your mind's clearest. Meditate first.
Alright, teach me something easy at least?
Day 1 noob demanding easy cultivation methods;; Total thug energy.
Where's an "easy" cultivation method gonna come from?
What, does that mean I'm not ready to learn cultivation yet?
Maybe I should wash up and just sleep. That's when a new post popped up.
It was from RiceTeacher, who goes by MagicIsNotHard—the one who'd been quiet lately.
Title: Easy cultivation method right here^^
Author: MagicIsNotHard
Mana cultivation isn't hard^^ Especially for Kim Muggle of the gallery, who nailed breathing right away—super easy^^
Mana cultivation boils down to three principles: expansion, compression, and optimization. I'll explain 'em simply :)
To keep it to one sentence each, let's compare your body to a mana reservoir.
Every mage's reservoir shape is different. At higher levels, you can tweak it to whatever's most efficient for you.
Expansion: Making your mana reservoir's absolute size bigger.
Compression: Compressing the mana you store to pack it in tight.
Optimization: Shaping natural mana to fit your reservoir perfectly before storing, or adjusting your reservoir's shape for better storage.
That's how mages cultivate using these three principles.
High-level folks juggle all three at once, but beginners can't.
The easiest entry for newbies is 'expansion.'
The lower your level, the more expansion happens early on.
Later, it slows—like how human body size has limits.
So advanced cultivators focus more on compression and optimization.
Here's the simplest, most efficient way to handle expansion.
It's...
Deep breaths! Specifically, sucking in as much natural mana as possible.
Most of it'll flow back out, of course. Converting it to mana requires guiding it delicately through your body.
But for expansion, quantity first—just shove in as much as you can.
Your reservoir stretches primitively as excess natural mana floods in and out.
See? Super easy, right?
Ao, tl;dr in 3 lines pls.
Expansion is basically this lol. There are fancier versions, but fewer variations than compression or optimization.
Still, this one's pretty simple. Can't get easier. Though not for muggles.
Spitting obvious shit in a goddamn essay.
Anyone can say it simply. Sure, it's easy for us.
What? Looks fucking easy? Super straightforward.
Breathing techniques circulate natural mana delicately through your body.
This is just inhale and exhale like a beast, repeat.
Does this really replace sleep?
That's a high level still out of reach. To cultivate past needing sleep, you first need to handle natural mana like your own. Means getting way more familiar with mana.
Lol still a ways off. Grind expansion first.
Cultivation's essence is optimization. But you need solid basics first.
Look at Kim Muggle's puffed-up shoulders. Muggle needs sleep. Even normal mages sleep.
Yeah, overcoming sleep is Archmage level. Or innate high mana affinity races.
Elves have the edge in cultivation at least.
Meditate instead of sleeping.
Gaining 20 mana from one session is good for a first try lol.
Kim Muggle might do better than that. He gained 10 from breathing earlier. Maybe 50?
Hmm. Cultivation seems tougher than I thought.
To reach sleep-replacement levels, looks like I need to master the basics first.
"Let's give it a shot."
I opened the window and stood straight like before.
In webnovels, they always sat cross-legged for cultivation, so standing stiff like this felt kinda uncool.
'Suck in as much natural mana as possible.'
I slowed my breathing pace.
My body's noises faded, syncing with nature's frequency.
I sensed the faint mana flowing in me.
And then, like a light switching on, vast natural mana appeared around me.
No—it was already there. I'd been walking through a sea of mana.
I realized mana blanketed the entire world.
'Inhale as deeply as possible.'
I threw my chest wide and sucked in mana.
No need to struggle grabbing it.
Space was already full; just opening my airways let it pour in.
Long breaths. Maximize natural mana intake per breath.
Whoooosh
My mind lit up blue.
Dopamine-like pleasure. Natural mana coolly pierced to my brain.
Then, it expanded like it would burst.
"Fuuuuh..."
I released the natural mana.
No need to hold it, so I focused purely on exhaling.
The expanded circuits contracted, muscles relaxing in bliss.
I repeated the process endlessly.
It wasn't tiring. My mind sharpened more with each cycle, urging me on.
In a trance. This feeling was too good... I didn't want to stop...
Title: Kim Muggle <- It's been a week since this weirdo vanished
Author: Anonymous
It's been a week since Kim Muggle's last comment. Fuck, Jootak, is Kim Muggle actually alive?
At this point, assume he got raided in his sleep.
Academy raids are canon. Fought demons bloody when I was there.
It's vacation—who raids? Fuck, Jootak, check it out.
Maybe meditating like a meditation nut for a week? Like this lol.
That's it. Kim Muggle joined the meditation sect and they've had him meditating a week straight.
Lmao.
Jootak, what're you doing? Is Kim Muggle still in the gallery?
Title: Kim Muggle's alive. Hasn't left the gallery, so stop asking.
Author: Jootak
I've said it over and over, but Kim Muggle's still in the user list. Quit asking.
He hasn't logged in for a week, true. No idea what's up, can't check.
Doubt it's a raid, but if so, he's probably still alive.
Honestly, my take: Zero chance he meditated or cultivated a whole week. Can't focus that long even if you want to, unless you're a mana-swimming race.
Kim Muggle's definitely human.
Fuck, then why hasn't he logged in?!
Spill some academy life stories, dammit!
No way he's ditching gallery for girls? That girl he bought rice for before?
Fuckin crazy bastard skips gallery for a girl?!
Kim Muggle, you're perma-banned for weirdo shit. It's war, which dimension?
Kim Muggle would never^^ Maybe the cultivation was too easy and he's still at it? Magic isn't hard^^
This guy's concept is ruthless.
Sleep. Something's off?
?
?
?? What's up?
?
Meditation?
Hawawa?
As you know, gallery access has mana capacity limits. So user manas get refreshed weekly for checks. Sometimes lazy asses drop below and get booted.
So what?
Can't manage mana? Not mage material. Didn't know about that system—sounds good. But why bring it up now?
Weekly mana refresh just happened. Kim Muggle's mana is weird. Was 110, now shows 1960.
?
What
For real?
I fucking told you, for real?
Look at this guy jumping in shock mid-sentence lol. Even meditation nuts say this is impossible.
HoeEEEE?!
Jootak wtf are you saying? So Kim Muggle really...
No way, a whole week?
??
Why do you keep teaching him and freaking out??
Fuck?
This guy's really been deep in cultivation for a week?