The Pernwyn empire is split into 6 territories, the 5 dukedoms who are responsible for the borders we share with the surrounding 5 Nations and at the center is the imperial region which is governed directly by the palace. Each of the dukedoms is strong enough to rival a kingdom, yet even all 5 dukedoms together would not be able to overthrow the Pernwyn Empire, which goes to show how much power the imperial family holds. But not all dukedoms are equal in strength either, for example, the Dukedom of Van in the west of the empire is weak to the point where some marquess in the imperial region wield more power than Duke Van. The Border that the Dukedom of Van is responsible for is the border we share with the Elven Kingdom who are a peaceful kingdom, as such there is no reason for the imperials to invest in the area. And in the remote corner along the border in the northern area of the Dukedom of Van is the city of Arbourne which is positioned as a fort town in a rough mountainous area.
In order to travel to the next city over you need to cross the Agnolog Mountain range that stretches across the entire continent like a river of dirt and stone. Crossing the monster ridden mountains can take days, so I'm not worried about Varen going farther than the city of Oldenwald.
The first day I ran along the road knowing it was pretty safe, taking short breaks to cultivate my mana and ease my fatigue. I pick up berries along the way to snack on and of course I make sure to chat with Nox along the way to find out more of the dragons cultivation methods, unfortunately he seemed to be thinking about something else so all i could get out of him were unclear half answers, although what i did manage to piece together was that mages are divided into levels, and each level was broken up into 12 ranks, each time you manage to fully saturate one of the 12 mana points it would bring a breakthrough to the next rank and once you reach rank 12 you would need to refine your mana into a purer form and fully saturate your core in order to break through to the next level. Currently i am at the very bottom rung as a rank one mortal mage, the mortal level is apparently meant for building the foundation of your body by refining it using mana so according to Nox i should be able to cultivate at full speed once i break through to the spirit level
I managed to make it over many hills and to the foot of the first mountain the first day. As night falls I stop outside the mouth of a relatively safe cave to make camp for the night, I cultivate my mana for most of the night and sleep for a few hours before dawn. Cultivating cures any fatigue I built up over the day so I don't need much sleep as long as I'm replacing it with cultivating. When I walk out of the cave I look up at the extremely barren mountains that reach up into the clouds, the paths along the low parts of the mountains are usually safe because they plant herbs that monsters get irritated by along the side of the path but those herbs dont work on bandits, from here on i cant run freely, ill need to conserve strength just in case so i reduce my speed to a quickly paced walk, not even chatting with Nox. It only takes a few hours before I see my first monster on a ridge above the path, an armored mountain goat. They are usually very peaceful unless attacked so I just keep my eye on it as I slowly pass and it does the same while grazing. Then a herd of steel unicorns in a valley off the left side of the path, every few hours I would see at least one monster but they seem to be staying away from the path due to the herbs. It doesn't take long for the sun to start dipping over the horizon and I'm forced to camp on the path. I decided against sleeping tonight and just cultivate, although by now ive gotten pretty good at rotating my mana and can rotate my mana without fear of deviation. Ive gotten so used to it i started to think Nox lied to me about the dragons cultivation method so i decide to speed up my mana then Nox who is on watch duty looks over to me and shouts
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
“You fool!”
I dont realize why at first but then i realized the moment my mana started heading back to the center it started speeding up and i couldnt stop it, it was like the mana path is designed to increase the speed and pressure until finally it hit my core and I lurched forward spitting out blood.
“What the…”
I felt weak and my entire body was sore, especially my mana paths. It almost reminded me of when Nox opened my mana paths.
“You absolute fool! You're lucky you only had the idea to barely speed it up otherwise you would have exploded on the spot! I already told you that you need to wait until your body reaches the spirit level, and you tried it at rank one mortal realm!”
Nox was angry at me for hours before calming down and it took me the rest of the night to mostly heal from the collision of mana so I essentially just wasted half a night of cultivation. Sighing, I get up and continue along the path to Oldenwald, by now I'm halfway past the mountains and just on the other side is my destination.
The city of Oldenwald is much larger than Arbourne, its known as the city of monsters because the monsters of the Agnolog mountain range near the city like to storm the city every dozen or so years when the food gets scarce yet they are always held at bay. Because of this the Duke offers their city much more support as they are a large part of his power and the lord of the city is an earl unlike Arbourne which is ruled over by a mere barony.
