"Um did something happen?"

"Yes something happened! How did you get to the 1st level of mortal stage?"

"Eh. Wait I reached the first level? How can you tell?"

"Anyone with enough experience can tell by how much energy is in your body. It's like a chief who can tell perfectly when a steak is done."

"Not really sure why you brought food into this but it kind of makes sense. So the reason your astonished right now is that I reached the 1st level of the mortal stage but how long does it usually take to reach the 1st level?"

"For humans it can take anywhere between to 4-5 days for normal people but for those who are called prodigies it usually takes at least a couple hours. Now do you see why I'm shocked. You didn't even take half an hour!"

"Um could there be some reason for that? Could it have something to do with my body becoming younger?"

"It has to be! With your body having just come to this world you must not have any blockages or hidden injuries making it that much easier for you."

"These hidden injuries I can understand because it sounds like scars and things like that, but what are blockages?"

"Well it happens because of a person breathing in energy that doesn't suit them. This will make it harder to practice with those build ups. The mortal stage focuses on adapting the body to either Mana or Aura and this is done by getting rid of the blockages and making the energy flow through you like blood in the right places. Blockages are the bits of energy that take up those places and make it so that you can't move energy through those places well. You managed to open them with near to no effort at all."

"So the levels are how much of these pathways I've opened?"

"Yes."

"So it's a good thing that I can advance this quickly but are there any dangers."

"Yes you need to let your body rest so it can get used to the new pathways."

"It feels like letting your body rest after a work out or more accurate to my case after a big meal."

"True but before that how did you make that law phenomena happen?"

"Law phenomena? What's that?"

"It's what happens when a cultivator reaches a high level of understanding in the elements they have affinities with. When you were meditating earlier you were surrounded by phenomena corresponding to your elements. This usually only happens to those that have reached the 5th or 6th stage."

"If I released a phenomena that should only happen much later then why. Could the laws be responding to me because of what I know about them?"

"Do people in your world have a high understanding of laws?"

"Well, that's what it could be called here I guess but in general most people on Earth have at least a decent understanding of things like electricity and I know a bit more than most because I was just more interested in things like that. Do the laws respond more if you understand them?"

"They do but the laws are all really strange and hard to understand. They often take people years to understand even a single law to a good extent and even longer to use them effectively."

"Could what I learned really have such a good effect?"

"That's all that I can think of. Either way you should take a rest and I'll make a breakthrough in a little bit. After that I'll teach you some lighting spell and techniques. While i'm doing that you need to come up with what kind of weapon you'll use."

"Got it."

Liz returned to her side of the building and John decided to take a rest. He laid down on stone ground and simply thought of what he knew about weapons. John came from a family that often kept weapons at home, so he knew the basics of at least a few. When he was young he had learned archery from his dad but it had been years since he practiced and he had never learned how to use a knife to fight only to cook. John then thought of all the weapons he could think of; sword, spears, staffs, scythes. All good weapons but all also needing of training which John lacked the most of. With all this taken into account it would be best to choose a weapon that was simple to use but also effective so something like a hammer or mace. Blunt and with a decent reach for a melee weapon.

With this in mind he began to look at the blunt weapons in the rewards tab. There were not nearly as many hammers and maces and hammers as other weapons. The ratio was at least 4:1. Small hammers, forging hammers, and even a sonic squeak hammer, whatever that did, there were many types to choose from and after looking through them all he came down to four. Those four where and earthen mace that looked like a stone on a stick, a lightning hammer that looked copyright violating, a healing hammer that could heal those hit while also delivering twice the pain, and lastly a mace that could release a bright flash of light when needed.

John eliminated the earthen mace because it had a weight nearly twice his own and also the lightning hammer because he felt like he would just be tempting fate. After some thought he also gave up on the healing hammer that just felt a bit to cruel. Maybe it would be good to give it to someone who had to guard a place but non-leathley like a bouncer. In the end the best choice would be the Bright mace. Not just for it being the most suitable but also because out of them all it was the only one that didn't cost more than 20 points it only cost 10. Now after buying it his and Liz's balance came to 129 points. Weapons felt expansive.