Neses
The sound of the wood was soft, it was a tone I wanted to convey, so as not to worry the boy's parents. The door creaked, maybe the hinges needed a bit of oil. Anxiety rose when I thought about how to explain a child's situation to his parents.
The consequences of a traumatic attack and his premature awakening put his life at a terrifying risk. His life as a mage will not be normal.
Natur opens the door but doesn't take his hand off the handle. He hesitates a bit before letting us in. Maybe the fear of knowing the aftermath of what happened has paralyzed him. And if he's like this, imagine his wife.
Perhaps guilt is also eating him up inside. He is the head of the guard of this village. Letting a monster like that pass doesn't just affect the villagers, but also his family. And look—it already has.
I placed my hand on Ryo's shoulder. He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, hesitating about what to do and silently begging me to do something.
— You should go to your room and rest, Ryo. — said his father, almost stuttering.
— Okay. — the boy replied weakly. He looked at me one last time and left.
I clenched my free hand until my knuckles turned white. Just as guilt may be eating him up, it is eating me up too.
I am the official magical guardian of the village. I am responsible for sensory security and mana tracking. I am the last protection of the native tribe in the village forest. How could I have let this happen? A magical beast passing through my protective barrier?
My mind bursts with doubts, possibilities, and mysteries behind this incident.
I move closer to the living room as thoughts spin in my head.
Nataly is sitting on the sofa, waiting for us. Waiting for me. Natur approached and sat beside her. She is crying, tears flowing like waterfalls down her cheeks. I could see her concern and despair in her eyes.
— I'm sorry for crying, Neses. — he said, his voice stuttering with each word. — I couldn't hold it in. Ever since you told us about what happened, I haven't been able to stop worrying.
I cleared my throat and stepped forward.
— If you allow me to explain things better for a clearer understanding of the details. — Natur gave me a short nod.
My mother looked at Neses and then at my father. They exchanged a quick look of concern. They sat on the larger sofa and Neses on the one closest.
— I'll be direct about everything. Your son was attacked by a monster near the forest, behind the field. I found him close to being finished off. — my eyes serious. — His luck was that he stopped near the environmental protection zone. Near the native tribe here.
I paused so they could process it. It's a lot, too many details to explain. Saying everything at once might be too heavy to understand.
— However, he suffered a severe injury that could not be instantly healed, despite my efforts. — I paused again. — And from that injury he awakened his mana core, which was shattered.
— What?! — the father shouted, too surprised to contain himself. — Explain that better, I couldn't understand it clearly.
I sighed. I already expected that. — Well, the core was awakened due to the trauma and pressure endured. His body couldn't handle the weight of the new organ and rejected it, the injuries pushed the newly formed core to the limit. And the result of that is the core being shattered into pieces in the boy's solar plexus.
I detailed everything so they could understand. Even so, it was heavy information.
— If I hadn't found him and performed surgery on him, he would already be dead. — I said mechanically.
— No, we know you did everything you could. But what about the fragments, did you remove them? — Nataly asked, trembling, perhaps even hoping for some good outcome.
— Right. Uh… actually, he will still be able to use magic and control mana. And of course, without sequelae.
Their eyes lit up when I said there would be no aftereffects. Maybe they felt a bit relieved that he could still use magic.
— During the surgery, I noticed an interesting and bizarre phenomenon. — their eyes stopped shining for a moment. — The core fragments fused with his blood vessels. His new mana core is his heart.
They looked at each other and then at me, searching for an answer.
— What does that mean, then? — both asked in unison.
— Two things. — I indicated with my fingers and raised hand. — If he doesn't reach a certain level, he could die in a few years. And this might end up triggering something worse and incurable. Something, for example, like total paralysis of the body's muscles. He would become a human vegetable.
I made a dramatic pause before saying the last thing.
— His heart is the source of mana storage. If he stores more mana than he can handle, he will die. And his heart will now start changing color.
— And what do we do to reverse Ryo's situation? — the father asked. — How much will it cost?
— Mm-hmm, actually I won't charge anything. — I said in a very cheerful tone. — I'll do it for free. But if you give me permission to use him as an experiment, I can study him to try to help his development. To be even more direct, I want him as my disciple and experiment. So, what do you say?
The parents looked at each other for a few moments. In the end, they accepted my offer. And the training would begin the following week, so he could rest enough.
I guess they didn't have much choice. The only way to help him was if I helped him, since I am the only mage with real experience in this village.
— There's just one thing, I didn't tell him about his shattered core. So as not to discourage him. I hope you understand, and don't tell him either.
Both nodded, agreeing to keep it a secret.
* * *
Ryoumi
I was completely shattered, that wild monster crushed me. Well, if you stop to think about it, I could have died if it weren't for Grandma Neses saving me at the exact moment.
I must say that a trauma was etched deep inside me. My courage, which I barely had, vanished in a breath that was more like a groan of pain.
What anguish.
Since what happened to me, and the rescue Grandma Neses carried out, saving my fragile life, two weeks have passed—filled with pure physical and mental training before starting the magical one.
My brother takes me every day to Grandma's house. And just as she told me, I began cultivating my mana core, always after physical training. Because of her age, she might not show it, but she is impressively skilled in the proficient use of mana.
I was able to see her mana aura when she stopped suppressing it. It's gigantic.
— You must always suppress your mana when you're not in battle. Even the weakest aura is strong enough to make an ordinary person faint. — she told me.
With her aura released, she gathered mana in her hand, brought it to my chest, and fused mana into me. I could feel it—I could feel mana.
— With this, I think you can feel mana and refine it in your core. You must grab it and pull it. — she said, making gestures to make it easier to understand. — But before starting magic training, sit down, I'll explain about the core.
She raised her hand and, using mana, created an image of a black sphere.
— This is the first stage of the core. More specifically, the core is divided into 8 phases of eight different colors. Starting with black, followed by gray, brown, orange, red, yellow, blue, and finally the white stage. — she explained using mana to illustrate. — And besides the color phases, there are four stages within each color: initial, intermediate, advanced, and peak.
She then added that the peak stage is nothing more than the stage of maximum experience accumulation for advancement. And to advance, some kind of new or extreme life experience is necessary.
With each lightening of the core, the core, the body, and the power increase. At my age, mana grows with every second and every day.
I still have the books she gave me. I read them whenever I can in my free time.
Damian, who has been bringing me, ends up using it as an excuse, like, "I'm taking him to study," drops me off at Grandma Neses's house, and goes off to play with his friends or hang out with Ellen.
I keep doing what Grandma said, grabbing and pulling mana into the core. The core gets clearer depending on the stage.
I'm already in the black phase, intermediate stage. The fastest stage to overcome is the black one. When winter passes, I'll already be in the gray phase.
Even mages acclaimed as geniuses take years to awaken their core and a few more months to advance stages.
Since my awakening was sudden and early, it's normal that sometimes my heart hurts.
* * *
Time flowed quickly, winter passed, and I'm getting closer to entering school. My core is already in the gray phase, intermediate stage. Now there's one more phase needed for my life to no longer be in danger for a long time, at least until I'm old enough to enter the magic academy. So I have to train more.
Nothing very important happened during that time, I just kept my usual unchanging routine. My core advances slowly, my family remains well, Grandma Neses too. Our quiet life in the town stayed as always.
— Ryo, I have a new training routine for you. — Grandma Neses said while I was meditating. She took a paper from her pocket and handed it to me. — Here's the exercise list.
I took the paper and read the content. My new training routine has nothing to do with what I thought it would be. My new training doesn't have any intention of teaching me magic, but rather how to build a muscular body.
— A physical training routine? — I looked at her in disbelief. — This has nothing to do with magic?
— Uh-huh. That's right.
— 50 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 squats, run 5 kilometers a day? — she looked at me mockingly.
— Can't handle it? — she laughed. — This isn't even the basics. If you want to be stronger and not die early, you'd better start now.
— Are you serious?
I folded the paper and put it in the pocket of my shorts. I walked to the library door and left, heading home. It's the place I prefer to train.
Even though I walked a bit, by the time I got home it was already lunchtime, and it smelled delicious.
I went to my room first, before eating. I put the training paper on my bed and went to the kitchen.
After lunch, I slept for two hours, then went to follow the training routine Neses gave me.
I did the first three exercises very quickly; the run took a bit longer. I ran all over the village. I passed by several places, and although it takes a long time, it's very relaxing. My mind goes blank.
There are two days left before school starts again. Honestly, I'm anxious and pretty excited to see how it'll be and to study.
* * *
One day before school starts.
— Grandma, where do you go every weekend? — I asked her as she was about to leave the house.
— Well, I go to my duties. Before you ask, I'm going to visit a tribe of natives near where you were attacked.
— Really? — I said, curious.
— Really.
— Take me? — I asked out of curiosity.
— I'll take you next time, I promise.
— You promised, huh!
— Yes, yes. Now go train, boy.
With my mana core, the one thing I won't have is a normal life. Grandma Neses always reminds me to be careful.
Honestly, I don't have any interest in school except for math, history, geography, reading, and writing. The rest isn't necessary for me.
First day of school.
I went to school, and they gave me the school schedule. The subject for each period. In total, we stay five hours at school. And there are five periods per day with five different subjects.
On the first day of class, it's just a kind of roll call to decide who would be placed in which grade. Clearly, I'm in the first year.
It's on the second day that things really begin. I was eager to start learning something already. This is frustrating.
Well, since it was quick at school and I already know my class and grade, I went with my brother and his friends to play soccer.
The afternoon passed quickly. We sweated enough to fill a lake. We got home at night.
— Oh, you're back already? Go take a quick shower, I have something to tell you. — Mom said, already sending us to the bathroom.
We showered quickly; it's not something that takes long.
Mom led us to the living room and sat us on the couch. Dad was next to her.
— You can come in! — she shouted.
A woman around the same age as Mom and Dad walked toward us. Her blonde hair swayed as she walked.
A girl, about my age it seemed, accompanied the woman. Pink hair down to the end of her back. She looked at me with her crimson eyes.
She stood beside the woman.
My mother pointed at the women in front of us as if they were about to put on a show. — Boys, they are friends of mine. They'll be living with us for a while. Of course, they'll help around the house, so treat them well.
They bowed their heads and introduced themselves. The woman spoke first. — I am Nyana. And this is my daughter. It's a pleasure to meet you.
I felt a faint glance toward me.
— I am Seray. Nice to meet you!