"Time to find an inn to sleep in tonight."
I saw that it was night, and the two moons in the sky had taken over the land.
Therefore, I went to find an inn.
I'll have to go find an inn if I don't want to sleep on the side of the road tonight.
It is quite difficult to find lodging in a remote city like the city of Ryam. But I finally managed to find one inn before I actually fell asleep on the side of the road automatically.
Warm Inn.
That's the name of the inn. The name was written on a wooden board hanging in front of the inn's entrance.
I almost mistakenly thought this place was an ordinary house. Luckily there was a signboard with the inn's name at the front door.
The entire building was made of wood, which only had one floor. This place is specifically for staying, without the usual bar in an inn.
Entering the humble inn, I met the innkeeper.
"Customer?"
"Yes."
Does he think I'm a thief? When he saw me, he suddenly picked up the small ax hanging on the wall. He took a stance as if he was ready to attack me.
So, as soon as he confirmed that I wasn't a thief, he immediately lowered the small ax in his hand.
"How long do you want to stay?"
"One night."
"It costs 20 copper coins."
The price is quite cheap. Very different from the average price of accommodation in big cities.
I took a coin from the pocket that Baron Warwick had given me.
I paid with the coins Baron Warwick gave to the innkeeper.
After receiving the money, he gave me change and threw a room key at me. After that, he escorted me to the room that was meant for me. After finishing, the innkeeper left to do his own thing.
I arrived at a room that was addressed to me. There is only one bed in the room. I went inside and locked the rickety bedroom door.
I didn't rush to slide onto the bed and go to sleep. I still have to confirm a few things.
First, I turned on a candle. Then I sat on the bed, I intended to analyze the status window and a few other things.
"Open Status!"
[Status Window:
Name: Mesties Warwick
Title: Poor Noble, Regressor, Transmigrator, ?, ?
Stats:
(Strength: D) (Speed: D) (Endurance: D) (Agility: F) (Reflex: F) (Mana Core: -) (Active Mana: -)
Skills:
Strengthening, Hear of Everything, Poison Resistance, Swordsmanship, Memorize, Inventory, Amplification.
Stigma:
The Stigma of Darkness.]
Just like the World System said when I fought the Giant Bear earlier. The title, which wasn't in my status window before, has now appeared.
I started to analyze some of the titles that I have.
The titles Regressor, Transmigrator, and Poor Noble are titles I can understand, but I don't understand why there are two question marks there.
I knew that the World System would not answer my curiosity. So, I prefer to ignore it. I better focus on the next point.
Without realizing it, my skills have increased a lot.
Despite all that, I touched on Skill Amplification and Stigma of Darkness to see their respective descriptions.
[Name: Amplification Skill.
Description: Able to increase the power of the items you give Mana.
Limited to non-magic items.]
[Name: The Stigma of Darkness.
Description: Stigma granted to the Goddess of Darkness chosen one.
Amount of Mana stored: 50.
Mana storage limit: 500.]
[Name: Inventory Skill.
Description: Able to store items according to Mana used when using Skills. The bigger the stuff put in, the bigger the Mana spent. Likewise, when you want to remove an item, when your Mana is not enough, the item will not be able to be ejected.]
I want to use Inventory skills first.
'Then, is the amount of Mana accumulated in Stigma of Darkness enough to activate the Inventory skill? I'd better give it a try.'
But, how do I use the Inventory skill?
As far as I know, the way to activate the Inventory skill is different from the way I activate the skills I had before. If my previous skills used internal Mana moves to activate them, Skill Inventory should use external Mana moves. And in order to utilize Mana externally it required a spell.
"Inventory."
I just tried the Inventory Skill.
But I didn't think that it would work.
Suddenly, a spell I never knew before appeared in my mind.
After I cast the spell, a magic circle suddenly appeared in front of me. Then, a black hole came out of empty air.
[You have successfully used the Skill Inventory.]
When I put my hand into the black hole, I felt that there was a big room inside.
Then, I tossed the Communication Crystal Ball and the bag filled with money into the Inventory. After devouring it all, the black hole simply vanished.
I saw that the amount of Mana stored in the Stigma of Darkness had decreased. Therefore, I immediately prepared to meditate.
In general, there were two ways to increase the Mana stored in the Mana Core.
The first method is natural Mana replenishment, where the amount of Mana in a person's body will be filled automatically but takes a long time.
The second method is meditation.
If replenishing Mana naturally would only increase the Mana in the Mana Core, then practicing the meditation method would be able to increase the upper limit of the Mana Core's capacity.
That's what I want to do.
'What meditation technique should I choose?'
Meditation techniques are also commonly referred to as cultivation techniques. The difference was, cultivation techniques were methods to increase the upper limit of Mana Core storage, not just to replenish the Mana within the Mana Core.
Meanwhile, meditation is only one form of cultivation.
To meditate, first, I have to position myself in the lotus position.
Closing my eyes, I started to concentrate on being able to sense the Mana in the air. After I sensed it, I started to slowly absorb all the Mana in the air into the Stigma of Darkness.
Generally, people would gather Mana into their Mana Core. But since I don't have Mana Core, I gather Mana into the Stigma of Darkness.
I do breath control according to the cultivation technique I use.
Indeed, I learned this cultivation skill in my previous life, however, at that time, I couldn't apply what I learned because I didn't have a Mana Core.
Thus, this was my first try, where I put into practice the cultivation skills I learned.
The first cultivation technique I tried to use was a technique called Bright Sunlight Cultivation. This is a cultivation technique belonging to the Arkie noble family, which I learned from the novel Demon Lord and Hero of Light.
If I managed to use this cultivation technique, I would be on the same starting line as Jullian.
At least, that's what I imagined.
[Since you don't have a Mana Core, the skill you used failed.]
Unfortunately, my expectations were too high that the World System managed to slap me and awaken my consciousness back to reality.
Yes. I failed when trying to drain Mana into the Stigma of Darkness using the cultivation technique I was trying to use.
To be sure, I tried once again using some other cultivation technique.
Spring Water Cultivation.
Earth Radiance Cultivation.
....
[Since you don't have a Mana Core, the skill you used failed.]
By now, it was clear that I had failed in that cultivation technique.
The techniques I was trying to use just now were cultivation techniques belonging to the big noble families, where they were a big secret to them.
However, that only applies for now. Later, when the world was engulfed in war and chaos was everywhere, those techniques would no longer be a secret. They were forced to spread it so that humans do not perish.
And, the one who forced the great noble families to spread the secrets of their cultivation techniques was Jullian, which he did so that he could gain greater power with the support of the humans.
Because of that, I was also able to know the secret cultivation techniques of the great noble families.
However, I didn't give up trying some other cultivation techniques. In the end, one of the cultivation techniques I had learned worked.
[Congratulations! You have learned the Meditation technique.]
[You have acquired the Origin Cultivation skill.]
Origin Cultivation, that was the name the World System gave it.
I remember, back then, I was forced to learn this skill by Cornelia, the person I thought of as a teacher.
In fact, at that time I already knew many cultivation skills. And it was clear that even if I studied them, I still couldn't apply those cultivation techniques.
However, Cornelia still forced me to learn the cultivation skills she taught me.
I didn't expect that the cultivation technique she forced me to learn would be the only technique I could use.
I smiled unintentionally as a result of remembering those days. But I immediately changed my facial expression.
'I will find you and repay all the kindness you have given me!'
That was the determination I formed in the depths of my heart. To repay Cornelia's kindness, I need sufficient preparation and strength.
Closing my eyes, I continued my delayed meditation.
One thing that I need to do before I actually leave Ryam City is to attack the Black Box Organization's headquarters.
But before that, I have to fully replenish the Mana in the Stigma of Darkness.