Chapter 12: The Effects of Cultivating
Grim woke up, his body felt heavy, and his head was pounding. The room was dimly lit, Grim coultell if it was early morning or late evening.
"What the fuck happened?" he thought, memories of last night slowly coming back.
[You reached 100% capacity on your mana heart,] the voice replied promptly. [Then you lost consciousness due to exhaustion.]
The events of his last cultivation session rushed back—the final push to 100%, the strange chime, and then...
"Restarting my mana heart? What the hell did you mean by that?" Grim demanded mentally as he struggled to sit up. His limbs felt like they were made of lead.
[Ah, yes. When you reached 100% capacity, it became clear that you possess a unique ability,] the voice explained, sounding almost excited. [You can restart your mana heart at 0%, but with two significant advantages: your cultivation speed will be faster with each restart, and the total capacity your mana heart can hold will increase.]
Grim froze in the act of pushing himself upright. "Reset... to zero? Why the fuck would I want to do that after all the work to reach 100%?"
[Consider it like rebuilding a house on a stronger foundation. The first house took years to build. The second might take months. The third, weeks. Each iteration becomes faster to construct and stronger overall.]
"So I'd lose all my progress temporarily, but then advance even faster and end up with a better result?" Grim clarified, his mind racing with implications.
[Precisely. Most cultivators can only expand capacity by forming additional mana hearts. You can improve the quality of a single heart through repeated cycles of completion and restart.]
A smile slowly spread across Grim's face as he grasped what this meant. "Holy shit. This must be the gift the god mentioned, not the light affinity."