Life Giver

As the sun started to set Casmir moved about energetically in the training hall, testing his now found strength.

Casmir's Qi energy now felt heavier than before but not in a way that restricted his movements. It felt as if his body would be harder to displace and yet this didn't effect any of his movements negatively.

Casmir's strength and speed while using Qi energy had increased by over 15% and this would only grow as Casmir solidified his cultivation.

It should be noted however that Casmir's physical strength remained the same.

Unless he used special cultivation resources or progressed passed specific barriers, a cultivation breakthrough would rarely increase ones physical strength, for human's at least.

Elena sat nearby watching Casmir, she simply smiled as she saw Casmir's excited and fulfilled expression. Occasionally Casmir would stumble or even fall over as he adapted himself to his new found strength.

When Elena saw Casmir fall over, like a child learning to walk, she couldn't help but giggle happily and wonder about her own future and their children.

Ever since Casmir had told her of his gifts, Elena would often daydream about what her future would be like and how she could prepare herself. Often times this would cause her worry but sometimes it would excite and invigorate her because she didn't want to wait for this dream to become reality.

"Ok, Casmir... Lets stop now, otherwise you'll need another bath." Elena said as she watched Casmir hopelessly fall over one more time.

Casmir awkwardly coughed as he realised how childish he was being and walked over to Elena.

".. Ahem, yes. Let's go back inside, have you already had something to eat? It's a bit late but I'm hungry." Casmir explained as he helped Elena up.

Elena happily nodded saying, "I could have a snack, you're cooking though.."

Casmir nodded happily, he was full of energy and wouldn't allow Elena to cook for him after she had stayed with him during his breakthrough.

The couple headed inside for a short meal and as time passed into the night, they retired to Casmir bedroom.

Unless they decided against it for some reason, Casmir and Elena would often sleep in the same bed because they enjoyed each other's warmth and neither of them were rough sleeper or would disturb each others sleep.

They laid in bed together talking about things until Elena suddenly brought up a certain topic, one that she had been thinking about recently.

"Casmir... Umm, w-when does your vital energy replenish itself again..."Elena asked shyly.

Casmir's Vital energy was created by the Life Giver Orb and was what granted Rose's pregnancy, Elena and Casmir both believed that he could only i.m.p.r.e.g.n.a.t.e someone with this energy. However this energy required time to be regenerated, roughly 3 months according to the Life Giver Orb.

Casmir looked at Elena oddly as he tried to guess her thoughts, he answered her truthfully however, not fearing her reaction because they had already confirmed their feelings about having a child together.

"Well, I spent the night with Rose on the 20th of October and it's the 11th of November now. It takes 3 months for my Vital energy to Recharge... according to the Life Essence skill in the Life Giver Orb..." Casmir explained as he tried to figure out the answer.

"It's been 22 days since then so I suppose I'll regenerate some more Vital energy in about 9-10 weeks... Why are you asking?"

Casmir saw Elena frown as he spoke, so in the dimly lit bedroom Casmir sat up and tried to reassure her, afraid that she was nervous and worried about their lack of time.

"Hey, it's ok. We've got plenty of time, if you want to wait longer just tell me, we'll decide together." Casmir said in a comforting tone as he gently placed his hand on Elena's face.

Elena was confused by Casmir's reaction until she realised Casmir had misunderstood her expression.

"Hehehe.. Casmir you dummy.. I want a child, that wont change.. it's just.. I want it sooner.." She said with a shy smile.

Casmir was genuinely shocked by her words saying, "Oh.. Wow.. I'm lucky to have you Elena.. but I'm sorry I don't know how to speed it up."

Elena dismissed his apology immediately, "Don't apologise, it's ok. Their are a lot of people out their who could only dream of having such an opportunity as mine."

Elena happily snuggled closer to Casmir as they talked more about the Life Giver Orb, Casmir had nothing to hide from her and having Elena to talk to helped him to understand the Life Giver Orb from a fresh perspective.

They often talked about Casmir's most used ability, the Life Body Cycle, because it could be used on other people. They didn't know it's complete effects yet however so Casmir was worried about using it on other people for a longer period of time, he decided that only once he had completed and fully understood the Life Body Cycle would he train others with it.

Furthermore other people could only train their body with the Life Body Cycle by maintaining contact with Casmir's Qi, so while Casmir is at Grade 1 people need to maintain physical contact with him to train the skill.

Elena sighed as they finished their conversation, "Our future is so weird.. I honestly can't wait.."

Casmir agreed with her but a part of him saw an opportunity to tease and flirt with Elena, he didn't feel the need to supress such an urge.

"I know.. I can't wait to spend it with you, Elena..." He said as he held Elena's body against his own.

Elena's heart thumped loudly as she looked at Casmir's loving face, although it sounded so silly, she couldn't help but press her face against Casmir's c.h.e.s.t shyly.

This long embrace sent the couple into a deep rest, deep enough to satisfy Casmir's exhausted mind and body, reenergizing him for tomorrows training.

=======

The sun had already risen for the new day and the various students were making their way towards the training field, ready for the morning briefing.

Casmir had arrived early and was laying peacefully on the grassy field still half asleep, he wore a thick waterproof coat because it was quite cold, allowing him to ignore the morning dew that would otherwise soak his clothing.

He was waiting for Zaya but also day-dreaming about his future, he naively dreamed of flying across the open skies as a Grade 5 cultivator, crushing boulders the size of hills as a Grade 7 Qi warrior and searching the vast exotic landscapes of this world for the most interesting creatures as a Qi scholar.

This world truly felt like his own garden of Eden.

However his dream was suddenly interrupted by a familiar, yet unexpected voice.

"Casmir? What are you doing? Haha, didn't you get enough sleep last night?" A deep male voice called out to him.

Casmir opened his eye's to see a tall man with short black hair and bronze skin standing next to him.

"Ah, Balon!" Casmir said as he quickly got up off the floor.

This tall man was Casmir's school friend whom he had met previously, Balon was also in the Qi studies class but Casmir had been preoccupied by his new ability to cultivate and hadn't look for him to practice with.

"Good to see you! I haven't had a chance to find you over the past week, I was too preoccupied with my cultivation. How everything?" Casmir asked slightly excitedly, he didn't have many people to talk to regarding cultivation so he welcomed one more.

Balon smiled as he heard Casmir, he hadn't been able to make any good friends yet at the university because he had focused on his cultivation. Balon was an introverted person by nature but one wouldn't think so by looking at him, he always kept a small smile on his face to please the people around him.

Quite simply he didn't want to bother anyone with his own problems, however this intern led to his own isolation and mismanagement of his social skills.

"I'm good thanks, I've just been cultivating and training my Qi flow. I've been trying to make some friends here but.. well, there are too many people to keep track of." Balon replied.

Casmir agreed with Balon, after all there was over a thousand people in this class. Casmir had only spoken to a few people and Zaya was his only actual friend here at the moment.

"Do you want to cultivate with me later Balon? I'm doing some combat training with a friend of mine, Zaya, because we're taking on Instructor Redfire ferocious beast test." Casmir asked, he believed one more person to train with would only benefit them.

Balon was surprised that Casmir was so quick to offer to train together but this was exactly what Balon wanted, a couple of friends to cultivate with.

"S-Sure!.. Ahem.. I mean of course, I need some training partners... but I wont be doing much combat training, I want to train my Qi flow further. At the moment I'm at 4% Qi flow and I want to get that down to 2% by the end of this week, so that I can beat Instructor Redfire's Qi flow test." Balon explained slightly excitedly.

Casmir nodded "Oh that's fine, you can join in with me and Zaya if you feel like it. Otherwise you can just train your Qi flow from the side lines, i need to do practice my qi flow as well after all."

Balon was perfectly fine with this and they began to speak at length about there training.

Balon was surprised to hear that Casmir was already Grade 1, advancement 1 and that his Qi flow was nearly as good as his, stable at 6%. Casmir explained that he had some talent in Qi energy control after Balon questioned him about it.

As they talked more students arrived at the training field and sure enough, Zaya appeared before them as well.

Zaya was quite excited to practice with Casmir again today, however she did act quite coldly to Balon. This was her natural behaviour towards people she didn't know, Casmir couldn't help but nudge her and tell her to be a bit friendlier, unfortunately all he received was a sharp kick to the back of his leg.

Zaya was clearly uninterested in being friendly to Balon right now, she didn't trust him, all Casmir could do was build up their friendship over time.

However somewhat conveniently, shortly later when Instructor Redfire made his morning briefing he addressed this very issue as an important element of cultivation.

In his usual overbearing voice, Instructor Redfire shouted out to the crowd of students.

"To cultivate is to pursue strength in all its forms!"

"Some train their bodies, others train their minds, some even attempt to train their souls or their will. All of these paths are those that cultivators should walk down."

"One of the most neglected yet fundamental paths, is cooperation." Redfire said with a short pause, many of the students didn't understand exactly what Instructor Redfire meant by this.

"A single cultivator would never be able to cultivate on his own, he relies on the foundation of training and resources created by the generations of people and cultivators before him. Without them he is nothing, only together when cultivators and ordinary people form nations or countries can we truly pursue cultivation."

"Their will be times in every persons life when they need help, they may not realise it but only with guidance and a greater perspective can they break through their barriers. Whether that be a matter of cultivation, war, illness or loss, only together can with strengthen ourselves to pass through these tests."

"Those of you who have been paired together to take on a ferocious beast have already made the first step. You must befriend those people around you, learn from them, cultivate with them, so that when the time comes.."

At this point during Instructor Redfire's speech, a cold black-haired lady, Instructor Do'Shan, stepped forward standing beside Instructor Redfire.

They both looked at each other, Instructor Redfire's red aura started to expand as it was infused with Qi energy, Instructor Do'Shan's black aura similarly expanded.

Strangely enough their aura's started to swirl around each other and meld together, a dark blood-red coloured aura appeared around the two instructors and expanded to four times it's original size.

As their energies combined the two Instructor turned back to the crowd of students and shouted together.

"..YOU MAY OVERCOME THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES..."

The blood red aura suddenly expanded across the students, it meant them no harm and simply passed them by but the students were fully aware that this aura was far more powerful than anything either instructor could create on their own.

As the students admired the instructors performance, Instructor Do'Shan gave Instructor Redfire a playful smile as she stepped back.

Instructor Redfire was distracted by it for a moment, before he spoke.

"..Ahem.. that was an example of cultivators matching their affinities and wills together, it can multiply their strengths and abilities. To be able to achieve this you must train together, trust each other and understand one another's abilities perfectly."

"I hope you all can understand the foundation of such abilities, cooperation. Look to your left or right, those people around you hold the key to such abilities." Instructor Redfire said in a much softer and more meaningful tone, it was clear to the students that he placed importance on this.

Many of the students in the crowded field turned to one another, their eyes shining with intrigue, anticipation and a strange sense of longing for each other.

This sense of longing was one formed for the pursuit of strength and cultivation as if those beside them could change their future.

Standing in a far off section of the crowd, Casmir and Zaya looked at each other with similarly shining eyes.