Pretty sure I misheard what Kris said but I didn't get to question him as Sergei gestured towards me.
"Why now?"
I raised an eyebrow at him, "What do you mean?"
"I mean… You did say that you will reveal your face sooner or later but it feels a little too sudden now, don't you think?"
"Well… I figured that something like what happened earlier might happen again so it's better to just let all of you know about this than to find out later anyway."
All of them looked at Ava, probably realising that she most likely had to take off my mask and saw my face while I was unconscious which most likely led to me revealing my face to them.
She offered no explanation and just stared in my direction, ignoring the gazes from everyone around her.
I cleared my throat to get everyone's attention again, "Ahem… This decision was made by myself without any coercion from anyone else if you must know. And to be honest, I had been planning to do a face reveal tonight anyway so this just pushes my plans forward a little."
"I see…"
"Anyway, I suppose it might come as a little disappointment to you guys but… Yeah, I just look like an average person. Someone who you probably won't look twice on the street."
All of them looked at each other and I guess they were trying to be polite about the fact that I looked average.
Ava was the first to speak up, "What are your plans now, young God?"
"In regards to the current rift or the fact that I just revealed my face?
"The rift of course, young God. I believe we are the only ones on this island so no one else will see your face. Although I do have to ask if Miss Olivia knows how you look as well?"
I nodded, "She does."
"As expected I suppose. So do we continue with the initial plan of exploring the rift?"
I checked the time on my smartphone to see that it was just barely past noon, "We might as well, I suppose. It's still early in the day anyway."
Jia Lian looked at me worriedly, "What… What happened to you earlier, Mortal God? Will it happen to you again?"
I scratched my cheek, "Ah… You read those cultivation stories right? I basically had what you know as a breakthrough earlier when I understood some concept behind the cultivation thing…"
Her eyes widened in recognition, "Oh! So that's what it was! I understand."
Leena then turned to her, "Earlier you mentioned something about dual cultivation as well. Was that what it was?"
In an instant, the girl's face turned red and she hid her face in her palms and shook her head, refusing to look the centaur in the eyes.
I cleared my throat, "Ahem… I suppose I can explain… Since this is related to me anyway…"
Everyone turned to pay attention to me again and I suddenly felt like I was a teacher standing in front of a classroom despite never occupying that position before.
I wasn't just saying that either but I legitimately had a sudden feeling like I had donned on robes and I was preparing to teach a bunch of students something.
"Young God?" Ava called out to me, her finger pointing towards something behind me.
I turned to look behind, seeing nothing but the door to my room.
I turned back to her and Jia Lian had pulled out her phone to take a picture of me before showing me what was on the screen.
Behind my head was a halo of light that was similar to those paintings of immortals that you might see in Chinese mythology.
Ermm… Ok… Why did this manifest itself? What is this supposed to be anyway?
"Is this another new ability, Mortal God? So cool," Kris chuckled.
I'm glad someone's finding this amusing I guess.
"Is it still there?" I asked, seeing that I couldn't look behind me as it's apparently stuck to the back of my head and will turn if I look behind as well.
All of them shook their heads.
Guess it only appeared for that short moment for some reason…
"Anyway… Where was I? Oh yes… I need to teach all of you about the cultivation genre first."
Once again, the feeling of being a teacher in front of a class washed over me and judging by the looks that my Guardians were giving me, I think I can safely assume that halo appeared again.
Hmm… It probably has something to do with me trying to explain something to them? At least that's what I think anyway.
Putting that aside for now, I just pushed thought to continue with my explanation.
"So… The idea of cultivation is that there's energy in everything that exists and cultivators are able to absorb the energy to refine it and basically transcend."
Ava tilted her head slightly, "Energy… Something like mana?"
I hesitated for a moment, "I… Can't say for sure… But I believe that while they have some similarities, they aren't exactly the same. We know it as Qi or maybe a more technical term might be calling it spiritual energy. If I am not wrong, you use mana to cast spells but your body doesn't exactly change when you use mana. On the other hand, a person's body does change with the Qi they absorb and use."
At this point, I was honestly just spitballing but somehow, the more I talked, the more I understood about what I was saying and the next piece of information just pops up in my mind.
I continued, "I guess one way to see it is that mana is used to impose a person's will to forcibly change reality like how you would summon a fireball. It's like a transaction where you sacrifice your mana to transform it externally into a ball of fire. You then need to use your mana to feed the fire in order to maintain its existence as long as it does not have another fuel source. So mana is like a battery used to fuel spells. Am I right?"
Ava thought about it for a moment before nodding, "That is generally how magic works, yes. I am surprised that you know about this, young God."
I didn't want to admit that I was basically just understanding it as I spoke but whatever…
"As for Qi… I would say that instead of materialising your will to change things, you bend the natural laws to work for you instead because of your will. If a cultivator wants to materialise a fireball, they basically impose their will upon the world to bring a ball of fire into existence."
Kris's tail flicked behind him curiously, "Isn't that basically the same thing? You would be using Qi to manifest the fire right?"
I shook my head, "No… Qi is what you use to strengthen your body, your mind, your soul, your existence. Then when you reach a certain level, you can use your will to impose changes upon the world itself to shape it to your liking. So if someone with a strong enough cultivation can just materialise a ball of fire just by their will alone."
I honestly never really thought about this before I started explaining it to them but it feels like the knowledge was just flowing into me as I tried to explain it.
Ava seemed to understand, which was unsurprising considering she was supposed to be the strongest mage of her people.
The elf tapped her cheek thoughtfully, "I see now… Basically with mana, you are able to use it to cast spells that are way beyond the capabilities of your body as long as you have the understanding and the mana to manifest it. But with Qi, you need to 'cultivate' yourself to be strong enough to overpower reality to manifest your will. I see why they are called cultivators then."
I nodded, "That is correct. So in a way, you could say that mages are able to gain access to powerful spells earlier but have to pay the price with their mana. On the other hand, cultivators would have to 'cultivate' themselves first before they can achieve the same results by absorbing Qi energy to refine their bodies."
Sergei eyed me, his face still hidden underneath that cloak, "Then what about this dual cultivation thing?"
Jia Lian had already averted her gaze and I sucked in a breath before I continued, "As I said… Everything has Qi energy in them and the normal way of absorbing them is to meditate and let the energy flow into you… For dual cultivation… It involves having two people sharing their excess energy with each other in order for both of them to absorb that energy. It is typically faster than just absorbing it from the air as living things naturally have denser Qi energy than what is in the air."
Leena frowned, "In that case, why don't you do it, Mortal God? I am willing to help you in this if I am allowed to do so."
"Be… Because it involves being intimate… More specifically, the two people would be having sex…"
The room went silent.
Yeah… I thought it would be awkward…