TRT Chapter 2: Sturm Hill Hall (Patreon)

I looked out the window as the carriage traveled along the road towards House Sturm’s Icefall estate. As far as I know, the place didn’t actually have a name. Everyone at home just called it the Icefall estate.

The weather outside was dull and dreary. A gray blanket of clouds coated the sky, making it difficult to tell what time it was. I believed it was mid-morning. A thin layer of mist covered the ground and there was a bit of a chill in the air even though it was the beginning of summer. Tall trees occupied both sides of the road, creating a thick canopy that almost blotted out the sun. Only the area above the road was clear.

Gloom Mist Forest. An appropriate name.

After my conversation with my parents, my father had summoned me to his study the next day and told me that he had decided to send me north to the Icefall estate after all, though he had a few conditions. While I kept up a somber expression on my face, I celebrated on the inside. This was exactly what I had wanted.

Things moved fast after that. Servants packed all of my things, including several books I wanted to bring with me for reference, though I kept things light to ease the burden of travel. I left Sturm Manor two days later with a small retinue in tow. Another group had been sent on ahead to check out the Icefall estate and to ensure it was suitable for habitation.

My family saw me off. Mother and Roland cried at my departure, while Father and Kaylee remained stone faced.

The Icefall estate wasn’t abandoned by any means, but my parents had worried about me. It both touched me, and made me feel even more guilty. They continued to look out for me, even after I had fucked things up for everyone.

The month-long journey itself was boring and uneventful, though it gave my body time to recover. We traveled from the heart of the Solarian Empire, with its fertile fields and wide open plains, to the rocky hills and dark forests of the Icefall Region. Icefall City sat at the foot of the Icefall Mountains, with the Icefall River running right through the city. The Gloom Mist Forest flanked the city on one side, while rocky hills flanked it on the other. The Icefall estate was located within Gloom Mist Forest, a few miles west of Icefall City.

The estate was a small manor that my family pretended was a hunting lodge. My Great-Grand Uncle Coleman was an avid hunter, and had liked to come to the Icefall Region when it was hunting season. He had good reason to. Gloom Mist Forest was home to all sorts of dangerous creatures. There were regular animals of course, but there were also magical beasts deep within the forest.

These magical beasts were one of the reasons why people had settled in this region in the first place. Hunting magic beasts was a dangerous but profitable occupation. Not only were their body parts valuable, both for alchemy and the creation of magical items, but magical beasts also contained mana cores. As their name suggested, mana cores contained pure and concentrated mana. Wizards could consume these mana cores to speed up their progress in magic.

It was similar to how cultivators on Spirit Earth hunted spirit beasts for their body parts and their beast cores.

Magic really was just another form of cultivation.

The magic beasts within Gloom Mist Forest weren’t that powerful, and were therefore less profitable to hunt, which was why not too many people had moved here. Still, enough had come for an entire city to be built. The region also had a thriving timber industry, if I remembered right.

There were rumors that even more dangerous beasts lived within the Icefall Mountains, but few who ventured there ever returned. Even wizards of the Third and Fourth Circles avoided it. I might take a look myself, when I became powerful enough, but that was a decision for a later date.

“It’s a bit dreary, but this place has a certain charm,” I said, turning to the only other occupant within the carriage. “Wouldn’t you agree, Leroy?”

Things hadn’t gone entirely to plan for me. One of the conditions my father set for me was that I needed to take one of House Sturm’s retainers along for my protection. In other words, my family had saddled me with a babysitter. While I didn’t blame them for this, it would make things a bit tricky for me. I wanted to keep my cultivation hidden until I had something worth showing to my parents.

Either I would have to be more careful than I had planned, or I needed to get my babysitter on my side.

The retainer in question was a large, muscular man named Leroy Odell. He had tanned skin, short brown hair, and dark brown eyes. His clean shaven face was rough, and covered with small scars. One ran from the left corner of his mouth to halfway down his neck. He wore leather armor that strained to cover his large frame. His sword sat on the seat next to him.

Most wizards neglected their bodies, and unlike with spiritual cultivation and body cultivation, magical cultivation did nothing for one’s physical constitution. While wizards wielded great power, they were as fragile and squishy as any regular human. They could use magic to make up for this weakness, but it didn’t change the fact that their bodies were weak.

As such, wizards that could afford to do so made up for this weakness by hiring warriors like Leroy to protect them. Some of these warriors were also wizards, using their magic to supplement their martial prowess. The Houses employed small armies of such retainers. Leroy was a First Circle wizard with an affinity for internal Earth Magic. That meant he specialized in spells that strengthened and reinforced his body, which synergized well with his skills as a warrior.

Using his magic like this put him at the same level as a body cultivator, though one at the lowest level, and for only as long as he maintained those spells.

Hmm, was it possible to combine internal Earth Magic with body cultivation? Now that was a terrifying thought.

“It does, young master,” Leroy said, agreeing with my earlier statement. “I have heard there are several magic beasts within Gloom Mist Forest. It will be a good place to train and keep my skills sharp.”

“While you babysit a spoiled cripple?” I asked with a smile.

Leroy took a moment before answering, a placid expression on his face.

“I didn’t say that.”

“No, but it crossed your mind.” I looked back out the window. “I won’t throw a fit if that’s what you’re worried about. You can’t have been happy about this assignment, accompanying me to this forsaken region.”

Leroy had been a part of my father’s personal guard, before my father assigned him to watch over me. It would be difficult to earn his respect and loyalty, but I remained confident. It wasn’t like I was planning to betray my family. Quite the opposite in fact. I just needed him to keep quiet for a while.

“I serve House Sturm in whatever capacity is required of me,” Leroy said. “My personal thoughts do not matter in that regard.”

“How loyal,” I said, without a trace of irony. “I know my father will reward you for that loyalty. If he doesn’t, I will.”

From the corner of my eyes, I caught the skeptical look that flashed across his face. The man had good control of his expressions, but he had nothing on my father.

I meant what I said, however. While Leroy had poor magical aptitude, capping at the First Circle, it remained to be seen whether that translated to poor talent in cultivation. If nothing else, I had a feeling that he would make for a superb body cultivator. With my knowledge, it would be child’s play to come up with a body cultivation technique that would suit him.

We spent the rest of the carriage ride in silence. Less than an hour later, we arrived at the Icefall estate. Contrary to my family’s fears, and my own if I was being honest, the place was in excellent condition. There was the main building, a two story manor built in the last century’s style, as well as a few auxiliary buildings.

The estate occupied a plot of land that had been cleared of trees and surrounded by a low stone wall topped by a wrought iron fence. The wall looked well built and sturdy. It was more than enough to handle the occasional animal or magic beast attack. I doubted it would do much against anything more than that. Still, it wasn’t meant to.

From my research, I knew that the estate maintained a small vegetable garden as well as some animals to handle most of its needs. Thanks to the wonders of magic, we could get our water from the nearby Icefall River. Anything the estate couldn’t produce could be bought from Icefall City.

All in all, it was a cozy place. I looked forward to spending time here.

The carriage stopped in front of the main entrance. Leroy exited first, since he was my bodyguard, before signaling me to follow him. When I stepped out, a row of servants greeted me. It was clear to see which ones had lived here for a while, and which ones had arrived from Sturm Manor. The latter had newer clothing. Despite the clear difference, there didn’t seem to be any tension between the two groups.

I had worried about that. Sometimes servants care more about the minute differences in status than nobles did.

As soon as I made an appearance, everyone bowed to me from the waist. After they rose, two of the older servants stepped forward, a man and a woman. The housekeeper and the groundskeeper, I guessed from the way they dressed. They were both middle-aged, with graying hair and wrinkling faces. Despite that, they both wore cheerful expressions.

“Welcome to Sturm Mist Hall, young master Gabriel,” the woman said in a kind voice. “We are honored by your visit.”

Wait, this place had a name? And it was Sturm Mist Hall? Whose idea was that? Ugh, nevermind. I didn’t care.

“My name is Mrs. Morrish,” the woman continued. “I am the housekeeper of Sturm Mist Hall.” She gestured to the man. “This is my husband, Mr. Morrish. He is the groundskeeper here.”

So my guess was right.

Mr. Morrish nodded, but remained quiet.

“Thank you for coming out to greet me,” I said.

Everyone stared at me. I wasn’t surprised. In this world, and Spirit Earth, a noble never thanked a servant. Most of the time, the nobility treated their servants like furniture; to be used when needed but otherwise ignored.

Ever since I recovered my memories, I decided to not give a shit about any of that. As someone who had been born as a middle class American in one of my previous lives, this sort of bullshit held much less weight with me.

“Oh no,” Mrs. Morrish said, her cheeks pink with delight. “We are the thankful ones here. You are the first member of House Sturm to reside at Sturm Mist Hall ever since Master Coleman passed away. Will you take up hunting as well, like he did?”

“We’ll see,” I said with a smile.

Though I figured we had two different ideas of hunting. She likely thought I would go after mundane animals, since I was no longer a wizard. Nope. Once I recovered enough of my power, I intended to hunt magic beasts to boost my cultivation.

“Oh, but forgive my manners, young master Gabriel,” Mrs. Morrish said. “You must be exhausted from your journey. I’ll have someone guide you to the master bedroom, so you can rest, while the servants bring your luggage in.”

“I would like that.”

Mrs. Morrish had one of the younger servants guide me to the master bedroom. Like the exterior, the interior of Sturm Mist Hall was in surprisingly good condition. It was a bit bare, which made sense since no one from House Sturm had lived here since Great Grand Uncle Coleman died.

Despite that, the family maintained the estate, even with our dwindling wealth. Part of it was because land always retained value. Part of it was because the place was self sufficient for the most part, and it didn’t cost us that much to keep up the place. And part of it was because we might need it in the future, should we ever lose Sturm Manor.

After the servant led me to the master bedroom, which was about the same size as my room back at Sturm Manor but more barren, Leroy checked it out before declaring that it was safe. Useless, since I already searched it with my divine sense, but there was no point in complaining. He was just doing his job, and throwing a fit now would make it more difficult to work with him in the future.

“Ensure that I am not disturbed until dinner,” I said to Leroy.

He nodded, before I closed the door. For the first time since I started on this journey, I was truly alone. On the way up here, Leroy or one of the servants had always accompanied me. On my family’s orders no doubt. Now that we had arrived, they probably felt it was safe to leave me alone, at least inside the manor.

***

After taking a few moments to decompress, I shucked off most of my clothing until I only wore a pair of trousers. It was time to get to work. I had a lot to do, and there was no time like the present.

I checked my surroundings one more time, to ensure I was alone, before I grabbed a cushion from the bed, set it on the floor, and sat on it.

To begin my cultivation, I had two main goals. First, I needed to repair my mana veins to the point where I draw in mana and form a dantian. This was a bit tricky, since magical cultivation differed from spiritual cultivation in one key aspect.

Instead of forming a dantian, wizards used mana to strengthen and reinforce their mana veins, eventually turning them into the First Circle of magic. In order to form the Second Circle, and the subsequent ones, wizards actually created new mana veins and layered them on top of the old ones, weaving them together. It was like taking two pieces of rope, and twining them in order to create something stronger than the sum of its parts. These new mana veins didn’t differ much from the old ones, except for their artificial nature.

Wizards did this using mana formulas, which were essentially cultivation techniques. The one my family practiced, the Storm Dragon Mana Formula, was one of the best mana formulas in the world. Our family had perfected and refined it over the millennia. It was how we maintained our power, despite our weakening blood.

The number Circles corresponded to the nine large realms of cultivation, which was the limit for the mortal realm. The immortal realm had its own levels of cultivation. With each new Circle, or realm, the wizard would become more and more powerful.

Honestly, this amazed the cultivator part of me. No one from Spirit Earth had come up with a way to work with mana veins like this. Sure, cultivators had come up with ways to strengthen and widen meridians, but not to the same degree that wizards had. Probably because they hadn’t needed to.

Since the Circles of magic were essentially layers of mana veins strengthening and reinforcing each other, this gave wizards excellent control over mana, far more than what the cultivators from Spirit Earth could achieve. However, without a dantian, they couldn’t hold all that much mana within them, at least in comparison. They could still hold a lot, but not as much as a cultivator. Instead, wizards had to rely on drawing in the ambient mana within the environment in order to cast their spells.

I wouldn’t have to worry about that, since I planned on doing both magical cultivation and spiritual cultivation, as well as body cultivation. It would take longer to do all three, instead of focusing on just one, but the rewards were well worth it.

However, the Circles of magic would make it more difficult for me to repair my mana veins, since my First and Second Circles had been intertwined. I intended to fix both, but it was going to be tedious to sort the two out as I repaired my original mana veins, since they were the ones I needed to begin drawing in and manipulating mana.

Still, it was better than not being able to repair my mana veins at all. The only reason I was able to do so in the first place was because I had divine sense and divine energy. Divine sense my soul’s ability to perceive the world around me, and it expanded far beyond the five mundane senses. Divine energy was the energy produced by my soul. It was also almost impossible for outsiders to detect me using it, unless one also had an equally powerful divine sense. Using both allowed me to manipulate and affect the world around me with the power of my soul alone.

In my current state, I could only affect my own being. Later on, as I grew more powerful, that would change. However, for now, I was limited. First, I would use my divine energy to repair my mana veins.

Divine energy was also used to power divine abilities, but it was too early to worry about those just yet.

Since I had the soul of an Immortal, both my divine sense and divine energy were quite powerful. However, I needed to be careful. My body’s ability to handle the power of my soul was lacking. There was only so much I could channel at a time. That was why I had needed to wait until my body healed all the way before I began repairing my mana veins. Otherwise, I might have caused significant damage to myself. Even now, that was still a risk.

The more powerful I grew, the lesser the risk. Eventually, it would stop being a concern altogether.

My second goal was to begin cultivating my body. Unlike with spirit cultivation, I didn’t need my mana veins to start body cultivation. Instead, I could begin right away using my divine energy.

Back on Spirit Earth, there were several kinds of body cultivation. However, they fell under four broad categories. The first was spirit energy body cultivation. In short, the body cultivator used mana to refine and perfect their physical form. This often went hand in hand with spirit cultivation, so most people did both. Most focused on spirit cultivation more than body cultivation, but they didn’t neglect either of them.

This was the form of body cultivation I had practiced as Immortal Celestial Thunder.

The second category was celestial body cultivation. Instead of mana, the body cultivator drew in the energy from one or more celestial bodies in order to refine and perfect their bodies; stars, sun, and planets. I wasn’t talking about the baser physical stars, suns, and planets either. I was talking about the true celestial bodies that existed beyond time and space. True Sun, True Moon, and so on. The physical celestial bodies were only pale imitations, representations that existed in every world.

This form of cultivation was much difficult, but yielded greater rewards. Body cultivators who used a celestial body cultivation technique were more powerful in general, and were quite terrifying to face in battle if I was being honest.

The downside of this type of cultivation was that it was less versatile. A body cultivator could only take in energy from one celestial body, or two that complemented each other. The True Sun and the True Moon, for example. The body cultivator also took one the spiritual and symbolic aspects of their chosen celestial body. For example, a True Moon cultivator would eventually form a body of pure Yin, becoming more feminine. A man who did this would actually become a woman.

These first two forms of body cultivation could be supplemented with pills, body tempering baths, and tattoos designed to draw in certain kinds of mana.

The third category of body cultivation was bloodline cultivation. If a person had a special bloodline, they could refine and perfect this special blood to take on the physique of their bloodline. Those with demon blood would get a demonic physique, those with spirit beast ancestry would become more like their spirit beast ancestor, etc. Eventually, they would more or less become whatever bloodline they had.

This was often paired with one of the other forms of body cultivation, which produced interesting results. A True Sun cultivator with demon blood would become a sun demon.

The limit for this kind of body cultivation was that one needed to be born with a special bloodline, or acquire it somehow. It was also less versatile and more restrictive than even celestial body cultivation.

The fourth category of body cultivation was more theoretical than anything: divine body cultivation. In this, the cultivator used their divine energy to refine and perfect their body. I had never heard of anyone doing it before, but it was technically possible. The benefit of this, over the other forms of body cultivation, was that the cultivator’s body would become a perfect vessel for their soul. Their body would also be able to use divine abilities more effectively.

However, one needed to reach a certain level of cultivation first. By the time a cultivator had enough divine energy to do this, they usually didn’t need to. At that point, they often already had their own body cultivation technique. If they wanted to give it a try, they would have to start all over again, and most weren’t willing to do that. The gains weren’t worth the hassle.

I was in a unique position since I had the divine energy of an Immortal, but the body of a mortal. That meant that I could refine my body into the perfect vessel for my Immortal soul, which was why I was going with this method, as well as the bloodline one. I would use my divine energy to refine and perfect my body, as well as strengthen the storm dragon blood running through my veins.

Before I regained my memories, when I first heard about House Sturm’s founder, I remained skeptical. I thought that the legend of our founder being the son of a dragon was just that, a legend. I thought our family made it up in order to make ourselves seem more impressive, more special. Sure, we had produced several powerful wizards, but so had the other Great Houses. That was why they were the Great Houses.

I had been wrong.

While I recovered from the duel with the Otherworlder, I had examined my body with my divine sense. During this examination, I found traces of the storm dragon blood running through my veins. They were faint, but they were there.

It was going to be difficult to cultivate these faint remnants of dragon’s blood, but the reward would be well worth it, especially when combined with divine body cultivation. After all, storm dragons ruled the skies.

Divine Storm Dragon Gabriel. Now that had a nice ring to it.

One step at a time, however. First I needed to repair my mana veins, or at least get started. I estimated that it would take me at least a month, maybe longer, to repair my original mana veins. I could do it fast if I didn’t focus on body cultivation as well, but I wanted to begin both right away. At least with body cultivation, I would see results almost immediately.

Too bad I couldn’t use my divine energy for spiritual cultivation. Well, I could in theory. The problem was, I would only be able to cultivate with my divine energy if I did that. That wasn’t a handicap I wanted to deal with.

At the moment, I was as weak as any other mortal. My weak mortal body limited how much divine energy I could use, after all. The sooner I changed that, the better.

***

I closed my eyes and focused my divine sense on my mana veins. When I saw them, I let out a whistle in my mind. They were a mess. It looked like someone had taken a long piece of crystal and slammed it against the ground, shattering it into countless pieces.

The Otherworlder had done a number on me. To be fair, I kinda deserved it. While I had tried to hide it, I had used that duel as an excuse to kill her out of jealousy and resentment. Like I said, I had been a raging dick before I regained my memories.

The Otherworlder must have sensed my killing intent, and she responded accordingly. If she had killed me, I wouldn’t have blamed her. I mean, I was glad she hadn’t, but I wouldn’t have been angry if she had.

Well, Lord Gabriel would have been angry. Brandon would have rather died than hurt the Otherworlder. Immortal Celestial Thunder wouldn’t have cared. I died twice already. Dying a third time wasn’t that big of a deal.

No, that was a lie. If I died again, I would lose my memories once more and I didn’t want that. After all, who knows how long it would take for an opportunity like this to come by again? It was better to live and take advantage of it while I could.

Besides, maybe I could see the Otherworlder again…No. It was better to leave her alone. She didn’t need an old ghost like me haunting her.

Focus, Gabriel. You have a job to do.

Using my divine energy, I grabbed pieces of my shattered mana veins and began to put them back together again. It was delicate work that required all of my focus. It was like putting together a puzzle with thousands of pieces. At least I already knew what the end result would look like.

Little by little, my original mana veins began to take form again. A part of me, the part that had been Gabriel, relaxed. I began to believe I could really do this. That same part had doubted my memories and abilities. I could have been delusional, for all I knew. However, seeing the proof before my eyes eased the tension and worry within me. I could do this. I would become a wizard and a cultivator again.

Wizard cultivator? Cultivating wizard? Eh, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that I would regain what I had lost, and then some.

Still, it wasn’t easy. By the time dinner came around, sweat beaded my forehead and I had a throbbing headache. Using my divine energy wasn’t the issue here. No. It was holding back so I didn’t accidentally cause more damage. That was the real problem. It was like trying to use metal tongs, the kind with thick rubber tips, to do work that required a pair of metal tweezers. I managed, but fucking hell was it difficult.

Dinner was a solitary affair. I ate in the large and spacious dining room alone. Servants were forbidden from eating with their masters. While I thought it was ridiculous, there was no way I could change the servants’ minds on that. Just asking them to join me for dinner would scandalize them.

Even Leroy, who was a minor noble himself, ate somewhere else. Perhaps I could convince him to join me later on, after we got to know each other better. It all depended on how much of a stickler for the rules he was. While I had been aware of him, back when I was just Lord Gabriel, he had been beneath my notice.

At least eating alone meant that I didn’t have to field awkward questions.

After dinner, I went to the bathroom. Both to wash up before bed, and to begin cultivating my body. Lumina’s level of technology was primitive compared to Earth’s. It roughly corresponded with late medieval Europe or the early Renaissance. Previous Otherworlders tried to “fix” this, but these attempts always ended in failure. From what I understood, technology beyond a certain point just didn’t work in Lumina.

I wasn’t sure why. Wonky physics?

However, thanks to magic, the standard of living wasn’t that much lower than on Earth’s. Spells, enchanted items, and magic circles replaced many of the conveniences I had taken for granted back on Earth. Refrigerators, central heating, communication, and most important of all, indoor plumbing.

Thank god for that. Almost dying was bad enough, even if it did allow me to regain my memories. Shitting in an outhouse on top of that was just cruel.

I had my own private bathroom within my rooms. It was similar to the ones on Earth. There was a metal bathtub, a stone sink, a stone toilet, and a cabinet for cleaning products.

I stripped off all of my clothing, sat in the metal tub, and began meditating. While the metal tub was uncomfortable, I could easily ignore it. Using my divine sense, I found the traces of dragon’s blood in my veins. Mana, or spirit energy, could take on different qualities and aspects depending on a number of factors. There was fire mana, earth mana, sword mana, etc. This gave them different feels, different “flavors”, so to speak. The mana within my dragon’s blood tasted like the raging storm; wind and water and lightning.

After I found the dragon’s blood, I directed my divine energy through it, using it as a sort of filter to “flavor” my divine energy, turning it into storm dragon divine energy. Doing this also had the added benefit of strengthening said dragon’s blood. After this, I circulated the storm dragon divine energy throughout my body, refining and perfecting my physical form.

Some body cultivators refined their bodies one part at a time. I preferred doing it all at once. That way, there would be no imbalance.

My body began to heat up as I refined it, and I felt impurities oozing out of my pores. That was one thing I never liked about body cultivation. While spirit cultivation also produced impurities, this stopped after reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, the second stage of cultivation.

For body cultivation, that wasn’t the case. Perfecting and purifying one’s body required expelling impurities from it at all stages, turning one’s body into a vessel fit for an Immortal. Body cultivation also produced more impurities when compared to spirit cultivation.

It was worth it. With each cycle I felt my body becoming stronger, becoming better, becoming more. While the changes were minute, I also felt my physique becoming more dragon-like. It would take a long, long time before I actually became a dragon, but with each cycle I came closer and closer to that goal.

After about an hour, I stopped. My head throbbed in pain, and my body ached all over. It was like going through growing pains again, but everywhere all at once. Like with repairing my mana veins, there was only so much my body could handle at once.

The black ooze that was my impurities didn’t help. It covered my entire body, and smelled foul, like the inside of a septic tank. It also felt greasy and clung to my skin. Once I could use mana again, I knew several cleaning spells and cleaning techniques that could deal with the black ooze. In the meantime, I had to clean it off the old fashion way.

I filled the bathtub with water, and washed off the black sludge. I had to empty out the tub three times before I was satisfied with the results.

Once I was clean, I headed off to my rooms and collapsed into my bed. Despite the pain I felt, and my lingering headache, I had a smile on my face.

I had finally taken the first step on my path to immortality. I had finally begun to restore what I had lost. I had finally began to move forward again.

Not bad for my first day at Sturm Mist Hall. With these thoughts in mind, I fell asleep. That night, I dreamed of flying through the sky, the storm following in my wake.