One Last System

Pathfinder opened up the smaller bag before swinging his hand and pouring its content out in the air. 

He did it in the way I would if I were to attempt spraying the content all over the place. Something I could do while throwing money into a crowd of peasants. 

Yet, contrary to what I expected, the stuff that poured out of the pathfinder's bag instantly arranged itself into a strange formation, only to fall down to the ground in a very specific order. 

"Go inside," the man ordered with a small smirk on his face. Just a single look at his expression allowed me to understand that something would happen if I followed his words.

After my experiences at the sect, I wasn't going to trust anyone lightly. But given the difference of power between that guy and me… Him being courteous enough to ask me something was just a facade. If he wanted me to do anything, he was more than powerful enough to force me into doing it. 

I swallowed a mouthful of saliva and took a step forward, slowly inching closer towards the array set up by the stones from the man's bag. 

Step by step, I got closer to the formation. And then, I finally found myself in its middle. 

BOOM!

I felt as if a wave of mana slammed right into me, doing its utmost to pour into every last pore of my body. 

It was just like I felt back when we crossed the barrier… but on a far greater scale. 

"Sit down and cultivate," pathfinder said in a tone not allowing any disobedience. 

My knees gave up as I plummeted down to the ground. Using my last drop of free will, I crossed my legs to make my position a bit more comfortable. 

Breathe in, and breathe out. It was that simple. 

Due to the varying concentration of energy within my body and in the formation, mana wildly rushed towards me, aiming to even out the difference. 

"Make sure to guide it through your core," pathfinder advised.

'Who would've thought that my first lesson would come from a complete stranger,' I thought with scorn, the face of Vaner appearing in my imagination for a moment. 

Even though he called himself my teacher and accepted me as his direct disciple, Vaner didn't offer me a single pointer or a word of advice. 

I pushed those thoughts outside of my mind, closing my mind and focusing on the process of cultivation. 

Breathe in, breathe out. Guide the mana pouring into my body towards the black hole of my core, only to see it nourish my body once the core itself appeared to flood over. 

'Right,' I suddenly realized, 'I never checked my system since that time at the sect!'

For a moment, the thought of checking my system entered my head. It lingered in my head for a second. 

Before such thought could get reinforced, prompting me to actually check it out, I realized just how stupid that idea was. 

Right when the massive amounts of mana were pouring into my system, I had to focus my entire attention on organizing it so that it would reinforce my body instead of going against it. 

Trying to check the system out in that time would be akin to shooting myself in the foot.

"Okay, that will be enough," pathfinder said, reaching out and forcibly pulling me out of the formation. 

"HUH?!" I moaned in surprise, mixing with sadness. "Why? I want more!" I shouted out automatically, reaching out with my hands towards the formation. 

After a few moments, when I calmed down, I realized how I actually acted. 

My cheeks turned red. "Sorry," I uttered softly, lowering my eyes, unable to look at the man's face. 

"Don't mind it," pathfinder laughed out. "Everyone reacts like that when they first enter the formation," he said, messing up with the burning coals of the fireplace using some kind of random stick. 

This alone told me just how much time I spent within that formation. After all, pathfinder not only managed to set up a fire, get it started, but it even managed to almost burn through all of its fuel!

"That was…" I muttered, unable to put my feelings into words. 

"It makes all your former efforts seem like a waste of time, doesn't it?" Pathfinder bantered with a small chuckle. 

"That's right," I agreed, still shocked and slightly overwhelmed by the insane effects of this simple formation. 

But thinking about it clearly, it was only given. If I understood correctly, this formation only pulled the mana from outside of it and condensed it inside. That alone should be, to a degree, possible even back in the sect, or rather – back on the other side of the barrier. 

The greatest difference didn't come from the array itself but from how this part of the world was far richer in the mana itself!

"Anyway, I will let you use this formation whenever we stop to take a break," pathfinder said, still chuckling at my reaction. "Just make sure to get some rest outside of cultivating all the time. While you need to get as prepared for the job as possible, cultivation won't replace sleep!" 

I felt the urge to ask him about my job for a moment. I was supposed to be a contractor… but what did it mean? What would be my tasks? Why would I need to prepare as much as I could for it?

But rather than asking those questions, there was one more thing that I had to check as soon as possible. Exactly the same thing that I wanted to check back in the array but was too scared of losing my focus. 

'Looking how I didn't even notice the passing of time, I guess this was the best option back then,' I thought, stepping away from the array. 

I then laid down on the ground, leaving the tent to my guide. 

"I will be going to sleep, then," I said, seemingly following pathfinder's advice. 

"Rest well," he muttered, turning his amused face back to the embers flying out of the fireplace. 

But I wasn't going to sleep yet. Just like an unruly kid hiding his phone underneath his pillow to avoid his parents' scrutiny, I whispered to myself, 'status.'

"WHAT THE FUCK?!" My voice oozed out of my lips completely on its own.