The Place Where Everything Begins

The thing Jeremy was trying to do was to manually control his mana whirlpool to attract and absorb mana particles from the outside world.

Typically, his three mana whirlpools would operate and absorb the mana independently without having Jeremy exert any force into controlling them at all.

However, Jeremy decided to try his luck with this manually-control method this time, for it might work somehow.

'My mana can't remain at 85% like this. That's why this method is the only hope for me to recover my mana without having to rely on that death-magnetism title.'

Jeremy shook his head slightly after thinking about his rank-10 title, which came along with a unique talent, Mage of Origin, that was able to help him convert the quality of mana to his liking.

Still, as great as its name and rank suggested, if Jeremy decided to equip the title now, it was akin to willingly requesting for a death sentence.

Right now, if anyone was inside Jeremy's upper dantian, which was actually impossible, and if it was somehow possible, then they would see the rotating whirlpool currently spotted some changes.

Concurrently, the giant whirlpool was changing bit by bit from its edge, extending all the way to its center.

For its changes, it spun quicker, was the first change...

Its center also started extending downward, was the second change...

Bit by bit, the whirlpool started becoming similar to a giant vortex with a heavy spinning long tail, stretching downwards in the direction of the dark space's edge.

Not long after, the vortex's tail-end touched the dantian's border, as if it was trying to force through a transparent layer there, which should be something akin to the dantian's protective layer.

But even after some time passed, it was to no avail...

For it seemed like the protective layer at the dantian's border was made of something rigid and solid, causing the vortex to be unable to break through at all.

However, to break through the protective layer of the dantian?

That was never Jeremy's intention in the first place; he would never do something stupid like that.

If he ever dared to try it for real, Jeremy might become a cripple in the next seconds...

Then what was Jeremy trying to do?

Currently, Jeremy was using the mana vortex's tail end to make a connection with the protective layer at the dantian's border.

As for the purpose...

He was trying to make a more intimate connection between his mana whirlpool and the outside world's atmosphere.

That was the only way...

It was also very challenging to do something like that.

No, it was actually impossible without a person entering a 'realm' first. But luckily enough, Jeremy had already achieved the realm of Mindful Body.

Anyone would know how hard it was to control things manually inside one's own dantian, as they could see it from Jeremy's shaking body which was swaying like a leaf facing gusting wind right now...

Even with the Mindful Body Realm to control that vortex, Jeremy still felt like he was going to implode from within soon, for he to dare play with his own dantian, which was considered a forbidden area by most people...

However, it was still a relief that Jeremy only had to maintain this status quo for no more than 3 minutes. Otherwise, if he had to carry it out any longer than that, he might really die from the backlash of his dantian's implosion.

Around two minutes later, the connection between the vortex, protective layer, and outside world was finally established.

*Click*

Suddenly, something clicked within Jeremy's dantian...

'Done...'

Following that thought, Jeremy exited from the realm and then maintained his stage 10 meditation to connect his mind, body, and technique altogether, causing him capable of roughly observing and maintaining the status quo within his upper dantian.

Well, if he quit his meditation now, the vortex would just revert back into its original shape, whirlpool, and all his hard words would have gone to waste.

So, there was a need for Jeremy to maintain the meditating state to control his dantian's activities.

Just like that, Jeremy was carefully observing the current situation within his upper dantian...

One minute passed...

Two minutes passed...

Three minutes passed...

Still...

'What the hell. Why the mana particles are still not being attracted into my dantian?'

Even after some minutes had passed, Jeremy still found no change with the status quo.

As a result, he still couldn't find a way out of his current predicaments at all.

Jeremy was still observing his upper dantian but with a newfound resigning thought in mind, 'Do I really have to conserve my mana till the end? If so, most of my plans must be modified... I also cannot kill those impos... thi... What!? Some mana particles are being pulled inside!'

Jeremy's thoughts were interrupted mid-way as he finally saw some good results after a long wait.

'Ahh... Come inside me. Come inside more, please. More more...'

[A/N: Sorry for the misleading. Btw, I'm innocent.]

Particle after particle of mana was being guided and absorbed into Jeremy's mana vortex slowly.

Those mana particles came inside Jeremy's upper dantian via the vortex's tail end connected with the outside world's atmosphere. Then they would be guided till they reached approximately the vortex's mid-body before finally being propelled and dispersed into the dark space around the vortex.

Just like that, the 'inferior' mana particles came inside Jeremy's upper dantian.

The process never stopped; it continued like this for two more hours.

Until...

...

Two hours later...

*Huff* *Huff*

The heavy breathing sounds of a man sitting isolated at a chamber's corner resounding out...

Jeremy was feeling spent and exhausted both physically and mentally, while he thought to himself,

'I still don't understand why most mages call this method a meditation instead of cultivation in ancient times. In fact, meditation should be a thing capable of making a practitioner feel relaxed and refreshed. Meanwhile, cultivation should be a thing that makes people tired from their arduous and long road of polishing their power.'

'If I feel worn out every time I do meditation, I will never get used to it, no matter what.

In Jeremy's past life, he had done thorough researches about a controversy between 'cultivation' and 'meditation', as he had been quite skeptical about those two terms.

Even after doing some researches in his boring times, he still couldn't find a definitive answer for that controversy...

According to his various documental researches, Jeremy only discovered that 'there was no real answer for that disputation'.

Nevertheless, there were still many books that said such things such as, a path of magic was discovered later than a path of qi, aura, and other paths. As a result, the mages of old times wanted to be distinct from others, so they called the way to cultivate themselves, mages, as 'meditation' instead of 'cultivation'.

While in some books stated that meditation indeed helped calm the mind and relax the body if meditated in the lower stages. As for the name 'meditation', it was clear that it's originated from its lower stages. However, with the higher levels in meditation stages, the strenuous being put on a practitioner's body would also increase.

Nonetheless, another statement in some ancient books stated that when a practitioner achieved the highest level of cultivation of the magical pathway, that said 'cultivation' would become 'meditation' by itself, as the practitioner could meditate forever without feeling any stress put on their body.

The statement simply meant that if a person reached the highest level of meditation, that person could meditate forever without feeling tired physically and mentally. Thus, the ancient mages called it meditation instead of cultivation.

However...

All those researches and assumptions were nothing but bullshit for Jeremy, the former great sage of the human race and universe.

Even for him as a former great sage who had achieved something beyond stage 10 and reached a realm called 'beyond technique' itself, he still couldn't find a clue about the reason behind the origin of the word, 'meditation'.

That's why Jeremy had discarded his researches about the controversy between cultivation and meditation a long time ago.

'Or I do get it the wrong way all along. Maybe it is just really a way to give themselves some uniquenesses in the way of cultivation for the mages of old times? After all, since ancient time, every mage is as prideful as a heavenly god themself.'

Shaking his head slightly to discard those unnecessary thoughts from his head, Jeremy started observing his upper dantian instead.

*Sigh*

Jeremy's sigh suddenly rang out within the chamber's corner, and then he thought,

'Those mana particles don't willingly blend together as I've thought...'

...

[A/N: Please read important notes below.]