"Another reason to save my dear mother…" César thought as he stroked his chin.
If I want to change my destiny, I must begin cultivating mana properly.
Across the entire continent, the only ones capable of doing so were the werewolves and the dark elves. The reason? They were not native to that land.
Originally, the lycanthropes and the dark elves came from the same place: the Sacred Continent. They arrived in Halvmen after being defeated and exiled by vampires and high elves, who deemed them too great a threat to be allowed to prosper.
From my mother's humanlike appearance, I can conclude that she is a lycanthrope.
My mother, being a lycanthrope and knowledgeable about mana, could help guide it for me… open my veins and, later on, form my core.
Then the real question arose.
What kind of core should I form? César narrowed his eyes, thoughtful.
At present, there were two cultivation methods in the world: the Mana Core and the Aura Core. The latter was used almost exclusively by commoners and people of low status, since its power could not compare to that of mana cultivation. Worse still, it offered no advantage in prolonging one's lifespan.
However, César knew something more.
Years before the start of the story, a new core had been developed: the perfect combination of mana and aura, known as the Aether Core.
César was not willing to settle for mediocrity. If he was going to walk this path, he would aim straight for the Aether Core.
Even so, he knew that would not be enough.
If he truly wanted to change his fate—to go from being a mere pawn to someone who controlled his own future—he had to go further, because the cultivation levels had been deliberately manipulated by the gods.
Although they favored humans, they were not willing to allow them to grow too strong or escape their control.
For that reason, even the human mana system had been sabotaged.
After countless years of effort, the current human system only comprised three ranks: Novice Mage, Apprentice Mage, and Advanced Mage.
Later on, a god would appear and help humans "break their limits," adding new ranks: Expert Mage, then Demi-God, and finally the so-called God Rank.
But what humans did not know was that this gift was, in reality, a trap.
Upon reaching the Demi-God rank, humans had to abandon ordinary mana and replace it with something called Divine Mana. To obtain it, the gods had to offer a portion of their own divine power for humans to absorb.
And at that precise moment, they fell into the trap.
From then on, they were placed directly under that god's control.
Only in the unlikely case that the god was benevolent would they grant what was known as an Artificial Divine Core, allowing the human to ascend to the rank of god. However, reality was cruel: that so-called god rank was nothing more than a False God, whose power was insignificant compared to that of a true god.
Among all of humanity—no, among all mortals—the only ones who truly managed to reach the authentic ranks of Demi-God and God were the three protagonists of this world.
If I want to be strong, I cannot rely on that system.
I should create my own cultivation method, César thought, his gaze sharp.
In the future, the protagonists would develop alternative systems for their women, who did not possess the same talent as them and whom they also wished to keep outside the gods' control.
In the novel, those systems were described with absolute precision, so in theory, it would not be difficult to practice them.