Despite the seriousness of Rana's cautionary warning, Jon continued chatting happily with Avahni and Wilheim around their campfire, going to bed after the lutin offered to take the next watch. While Jon's gaze lingered on the selection of Mana Cores available from his task reward, the eighteen-year-old fell asleep while browsing through the list of hundreds, if not thousands of different Mana Cores.

Over the past few weeks, Jon had gotten used to getting up the moment light crept over the horizon, letting out a loud yawn as he stripped down to his underwear and took a dive into the near freezing waters beside his camp.

It was a routine that Jon was finding beyond pleasant, especially with his increased affinity to ice natured spiritual energy. While he was unable to prove it without a thermometer, Jon suspected that his decreased heart rate was not the only symptom of his Seir-Glacial Heart and Murmur-Glacial Marrow.

He believed that these two mutations reduced the internal temperature of his body by at least a few degrees. While Jon still felt fine when exposed to an open campfire, he felt even more at ease when embraced by a naturally cold environment.

The human continued swimming up and down the length of the river, moving muscles that he would not use otherwise.

Jon would continue swimming for the better part of an hour, occasionally glancing at the System Introduction timer before exiting the river and drying himself off. Avahni and Wilheim gave the human strange and curious looks when he first started doing it, but now barely gave him a glance whenever he returned from his morning swim.

"Salutations Avahni… Wilheim," Jon gave the lutin and floresiensis a smile, dragging his towel across his body, wiping away any lingering traces of water across his form. His tone was friendly, causing Avahni to respond with an equal amount of glee in her voice.

"Morning Jon," the green-haired woman giggled, using the less formal method of conversation, causing Jon's cheeks to flush pink and to scratch the back of his head, repeating the word back to her.

"Morning," Wilheim replied, the hazelnut skinned man still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. The short humanoid was not a morning person, something that Jon and Avahni had found out the hard way, seeing Wilheim sleep to almost midday more than once.

The three humanoids and their fat ginseng companion unwrapped the leaves that they had buried the night before, reheating bones over their softly burning campfire. Jon inadvertently sent Avahni a glance but refrained from using [Eyes Through The Looking Glass] on her.

Even if Rana warned him about the "strangeness" of the lutin woman, the Earthen Treasury Womb neglected to mention what specifically was strange about Avahni. Rana insisted that Jon stay on his toes around her, not alluding to anything further.

'Either she does not know what is "strange" about her, which I highly doubt or that she cannot say without informing me of something that could harm my future achievements. Meaning that it either relates to the method of obtaining Title Fragments, or the nature of what a "Source" is," Jon thought to himself, chewing softly on a piece of meat in his hands.

He was leaning towards the latter if he was being completely honest.

If that was the case, then the "Source" of an individual can influence what abilities certain fragments will manifest. Whatever Avahni's "Source" was increased the likelihood of her obtaining abilities with the Summon Trait.

'Although, the only method I know of observing my Source is to integrate another Mana Core. That strange mental space that I was taken to after integrating my Wood Mana Core and Ice Mana Core,' Jon hummed softly, glancing towards the list of available Mana Cores in the corner of his vision.

Flicking through dozens of different Mana Cores, including both a Dragon Mana Core and a Lightning Mana Core, Jon's gaze lingered on the Incarnation Mana Core and Immortal Mana Core before he continued scrolling downwards through the available options.

Dream Mana Core.

Sun Mana Core.

Lunar Mana Core.

Even a Solar Mana Core, which confused Jon considering that there was little to no difference, even conceptually between "Sun" and "Solar". Jon suspected that the former might be more literal than the latter, perhaps even capable of manifesting "suns" containing an immense amount of spiritual energy.

Passing over the Space Mana Core and Sin Mana Core, Jon eventually found the Mana Core he was looking for. The young human narrowed his brows for a moment, before steeling his heart, his ignoring the other possibilities presented for him.

If Jon said that he was not stirred over the infinite possibilities within him, he would be lying. There were an incredible number of choices and decisions available to him right now, an amount far too large to count.

However, if Jon said that he would be distracted over an infinite number of possibilities, he would laugh, glancing towards his status page.

Mortal Title Fragment "Pathstrider".

Jon had taken the first step on his Path. While the destination was distant and somewhat obscured, everything else became meaningless as he continued striding down towards his journey's end.

Wilheim and Avahni seemed bewildered, as Jon extended his palm out, manifesting a silver-metallic Mana Core within his hands. The almost gunmetal grey spherical gemstone glistened under the morning sunlight, before a familiar looking notification appeared directly in front of Jon.

If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Spear" Mana Core discovered.

Would you like to integrate this "Spear" Mana Core?

Y/N

Giving his two companions a small smile, Jon accepted the notification, his vision turning black as his figure crumpled backwards, falling onto the cold, damp sands behind him.

Break

Wilheim thought that he was having quite a good morning all things considered.

The breakfast that he shared between Avahni, Jon and himself could have been warmed for several minutes longer amongst the charcoal, but he had gotten quite used to "camping", a concept that seemed quite unique to humans given Avahni's similar lack of understanding.

Jon was as brutish and blunt as the instrument he once wielded. Not that it was a bad thing, considering that the human responded to the teachings and lessons that Avahni had given the pair of them, perhaps merely a result of his upbringing.

After bringing that verdant coloured spear back with him the previous day, Wilheim thought that it was as if adding wings to a hyrcanian, the largest carnivorous land-based predator native to Concordia. The amount of force Jon could produce with just a single thrust of his spear, combined with the potent enhancement of Spells or specific Abilities would allow the human to pierce through even metal-reinforced ceramics.

With his size and musculature, Wilheim thought that the average human must have a physical strength, speed and endurance greater than perhaps even the strongest of the floresiensis.

'Quite a fearsome race, although perhaps not quite as advanced as the lutin or floresiensis', Wilheim thought to himself.

Wilheim often thanked the luck of his ancestors that Jon and Avahni were the more hospitable of their respective cultures. While Avahni was beautiful and cheerful, as if a goddess had descended upon the mortal world, Jon was quite utilitarian, valuing the strength of the group over the individual strength of its people.

It was why Wilheim seemed fascinated with the consistent training and exercise that the human performed daily. While he could not be entirely sure without a thorough examination of a human cadaver, given the human races physical similarity to the floresiensis, Jon's physique seemed quite well-maintained, with little traces of body fat or excess muscle definition across his form.

While Jon had repeatedly told Avahni and himself that he desired the walk the road of a scholar, and obtain a higher level of education, Wilheim did not believe a word that the human was saying.

While he did not think Jon was lying, he thought that if the human was exceptional enough to become a participant in the System Introduction, it would be a waste for him to become a more learned individual.

With his utilitarian approach, Wilheim thought that Jon would have understood this, and performed the duty which society deemed was most suitable for him, rather than his own wishes and goals for himself.

Giving away almost a dozen different fragments, even if the majority of their conceptual weights were average at best, was something that Wilheim thought impossible if he was back on Concordia.

His own upbringing rejecting the notion of giving something away without asking for his own pound of flesh in return. Jon had given him a handful of fragments, including the Fragment Of Brumal and Fragment Of Strength, which he had almost integrated immediately.

His two abilities giving the floresiensis a level of flexibility that he did not possess before.

[Fragment Of Brumal] [Mountain Art; Winterous Land Of Ice And Snow] [Mountain, Brumal, Spell, Debuff)

Effect (Mortal): Chant, placing your hand on a surface. While this surface as the point of casting, manifest a swirling torrent of icy wind and freezing snow around oneself. Those struck with [Mountain Art; Winterous Land Of Ice And Snow] shall be inflicted with an instance of [Enfeebling Cold].

The radius and rotation speed of the Spell is determined through the amount of spiritual energy poured into it.

[Enfeebling Cold]: Reduces physical agility and dexterity.

[Fragment Of Strength] [Strength Of Thou Impenetrable Soul] (Castle, Strength, Spell, Enhancement, Buff)

Effect (Mortal): Chant, then bless a willing target with the unyielding and unbreaking strength of a castle. This effect will linger for a short duration after the Spell has concluded.

Temporarily increases physical strength and durability. Temporarily increases resistances towards curse-related damages, debuffs, and afflictions. Temporarily increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the Strength Trait.

These two abilities were born from the fragments that Jon had given him. Without them, and his [Mountain Art: Weight Of The Frozen Peaks], Wilheim would have no method of defending himself if he was attacked again.

Not to mention the Fragment Of Marrow which he had obtained as his share of the rewards from slaying the hound-faced bear. Wilheim thought that despite his interest in more offensive Spells and abilities, [Ours Is The Blood Which Courses Through The Mountain].

[Fragment Of Marrow] [Ours Is The Blood That Courses Through The Mountain] (Mountain, Marrow, Mutation, Ability, Enhancement)

Effect (Mortal): Transform the mortal nature of ones' marrow into Malphas-Mountain Marrow. The Malphas-Mountain Marrow is a pseudo-spiritual organ capable of producing mountainous-brown blood containing within it a potent mountain natured spiritual energy.

Dramatically increases all physical capabilities. Moderately increases resistances towards physical strikes and blows. Moderately increases the effectiveness of all abilities with the Mountain Trait. Slightly decreases aging speed.

This passive mutation ability granted Wilheim an extraordinary increase to all his physical capabilities. Just from a rough estimate, the floresiensis assumed that the increase was roughly fifty percent of his original strength.

If it was not for the fact that Jon managed to defeat the hound-faced bear, albeit with his support, Wilheim never would have been able to obtain such a powerful fragment.

He owed quite a bit to the strange human named Jon. Said human was currently muttering things in his own language, while staring intently at his status page.

Wilheim bit into another chunk of meat, a small smile marring his young-looking face.

'I wonder if he has some sort of task reward available to be claimed. The Fragment Of Wall that I obtained was from defeating an enemy whose tier exceeded my own, so perhaps Jon managed to defeat someone at the Fifth Initiation?' Wilheim thought to himself.

The floresiensis barely had any time to react before the human in question manifested a silver-metallic Mana Core within his hands.

The skewer in his hands dropping to the floor, as Wilheim watched Jon give him and Avahni and annoyingly pleasant grin, accepting the integration notification and promptly passing out.

Wilheim could only slowly turn his head towards the beautiful green haired woman beside him, who could do nothing but giggle, nudging the fat ginseng sitting at her feet. Roland, or Ru Luan Di as Jon called it, suppressed the urge to roll its non-existent eyes, absorbing the traces of sunlight and spiritual energy around itself.

Wilheim sighed before brushing his meal on the hem of Jon's pants, before biting into it with an intense amount of gusto behind it.

'I cannot be left behind! Today, I shall obtain my third Mana Core!' The hazelnut skinned humanoid thought to himself, munching down the food in his hands with a ferocity and intensity similar to those peasant floresiensis he had seen in his youth.

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