Lucius Blackthorn POV
Spring was in full swing, the snow was melting from the distant mountains, and all of nature was beginning to wake up. The trees were beginning to blossom, and the birds were beginning to fly across the sky again.
Now I was walking around the mansion in fairly thick clothing. Why was I walking around instead of reading books or watching training sessions as usual? Well, I was constantly looking for a place to awaken my mana core.
Yes, I was already very close to it, but I began to have doubts because of the early awakening.
On the one hand, the sooner I start, the more strength I will have before the horror that is bound to happen begins. On the other hand, there is too much attention from this lousy family. My father and the elders obviously know about the Lances and how they become white core mages.
Yes, they are talented, but they also awaken at the age of twelve, maybe a little earlier, but what if a one-year-old child awakens?
Doesn't that mean that with his talent, he could achieve the white core without becoming the royal family's chain dog, and instead lead the Blackthorn family?
In the end, I decided to wake up as soon as possible. I couldn't stand still.
Standing still was scarier for me than the possibility of becoming the family dog or enduring hellish training because of what they wanted to do to me. All of this could be fixed. I could become so strong that the family would cease to matter and prepare myself for moral torture, but if I delayed my awakening, it would be disastrous for a guy who had no experience in fighting or politics and no experience in managing mana or other energies. I would have to learn all of this from scratch.
I'll just assume that my father and the elders will have similar thoughts and that they will hide my awakening from all prying eyes.
Since I am already finishing the formation of the mana core, I don't have much time left to find a suitable place where it won't cause too much damage and will be relatively close to where my father is now. While forming the core, I realized that [Reincarnated Soul (8)] has an extremely high connection to mana because even before the core awakened, I gained a new talent.
[Mana Connection (1)]
This put a kind of psychological pressure on me because I knew that despite my lack of real experience in forming a mana core, the explosion it would cause in the environment would be very powerful. I thought so because I remembered reading in a novel that the force of the explosion is proportional to a person's talent.
It was foolish even for me to verify this, because thanks to my talentl, I remembered everything perfectly. But to calm my chaotic thoughts, I looked again in the family library, reread the basic and proven books on mana theory, and confirmed the information I had:
A Beginner's Guide to Privileged Mages
First, mana exists in the atmosphere. I remembered this; it was important information.
And although control over mana is mainly passed on through genes, there were many cases when the children of magicians were unable to sense the mana around them. The latest census shows that approximately one in a hundred children can sense mana, but this can only be verified when the mana core is fully formed, that is, in late childhood and early adolescence. It is known that magic awakens in the body when the core is fully formed. This leads to the formation of a translucent barrier around the awakening individual, which disappears after a few minutes
Seeing the ratio, I remembered that Dicathen's greatest weakness in the war against Alacrya was its numbers; Alacrya had many more mage, except for the Scythe and Retainer, as well as those who belonged to the High bloods; the rest were not so powerful but numerous
There was also a concept of how to use mana, and this could be done in two ways. The most common and widely used are strengthening the body through the use of mana (Augmentors) and releasing it into the surrounding world (Conjurers). Augmentors are the most common type of warriors who collect mana and direct it along their bodies, strengthening them for attack. Conjurers can use mana to cast spells that affect an area or a specific target.
I hoped to awaken as an Augmentor simply because I wanted to learn how to fight in close combat, and as Kordri said, our bodies are our best weapons.
Disadvantages and limitations
Although Augmentors possess incredible strength, defense, and agility, their weakness lies in their limited range of action, which was terrible.
"It was like that from the beginning, but once I reach the yellow core level, this disadvantage will gradually disappear, and a strong body with good reactions has always been an advantage," I thought.
Moreover, the author of the book I am currently reading said that Conjurers possess incomprehensible power and can change the battlefield to suit their conditions. Conjurers are usually more valuable and powerful, and most families hope that their children will be Conjurers.
"What nonsense! In a one-on-one battle, they would be equal; the only difference would be in their individual qualities and talents. Although what did I expect from a book in my family, where Conjurers are elevated to gods?" I thought, shaking my head slightly in dissatisfaction and continuing to read.
However, even such powers have limitations. Unlike other mages who use most of the mana from their core, Conjurers must draw mana from the environment in addition to their own reserves in order to cast spells. While both types of mages, or mana manipulators, are scientifically classified by their mana core as Augmenters and Conjurers, they also have their own different ways of assessing their abilities.
The skill or talent of an Augmenter is measured by the strength of the mana channels in their body, which determines the speed and efficiency with which their mana moves from their mana core to different parts of their body. On the other hand, the strength and talent of a Conjurers is measured by the relative power of their mana vein, which indicates the speed and efficiency with which they absorb mana from the outside world to create spells.
This part remained the same as I remembered it.
Mages (mana manipulators) usually fall into these two categories, because trying to master both types is incredibly difficult and inefficient. Most people are born with a large difference between their mana channels or mana veins. Augmenters do not need strong mana veins because they mainly use the mana of their core, while Conjurers do not really need strong mana channels because they do not rely on the mana in their bodies. It was also recommended to train by focusing only on one thing, the one you originally awakened to, and only then, when you have become relatively stronger, can you begin training in the mana channels or mana veins opposite to you.
The existence of several rare deviants has been mentioned. The two most well-known types of deviants are elemental deviants and emitters. Although some of them have not yet been discovered, the most sought-after are emitters, better known as healers. Healers have the rare ability to apply their unique restorative mana directly to others, healing wounds and injuries. There were also seers, but this was somehow related to elven ancestry and was not seen in humans or dwarves.
This was nonsense; emitters, seers and other deviants were descendants of the djinn, they carried their diluted blood and, accordingly, the diluted love of the aether for them, which led to such interesting abilities.
Now the phenomenon called "backlash" that occurs in both types of practitioners was explained. In Augmenters, this occurs due to the depletion of the mana core, causing severe physical pain, the intensity of which depends on the degree of damage to the mana core. For Conjurers, the backlash occurs due to the mana core overflowing. This happens due to excessive use of spells that exceed the practitioner's capabilities or due to the use of a spell that is too powerful for their mana core.
But then it got interesting, because this wasn't in TBATE, and it seemed to be the feature that the person who brought me here was talking about.
Although I have already described many advantages of awakening as a mage, there is one more thing I haven't mentioned, which is how mages evolve.
Yes, the real evolution of becoming a mage is that you become closer to mana, and I believe this becomes the trigger. As soon as teenagers awaken their mana core, their bodies are renewed, their blood is purified, their skin and hair improve, and their overall health improves. They also become more beautiful and, as they say, live longer, although this is not as pronounced as the above.
Rustle.
This explains why all knights-mages and high-ranking officials look so beautiful: those who were originally beautiful became dazzling, and those who were ugly became average upon reaching the yellow core. Yes, the yellow core was something like a certain level at which mana already had a fairly strong effect on the body.
Rustle.
There was also an interesting story that allowed me to roughly estimate the size of the current world.
They say that a hundred years ago, a certain Rutger from the Valte family crossed the entire continent on a Skitter from Mayburn to Asyphin in two years.
That's a long time. The average speed of a Skitter is about 30 km/h, and even with all the obstacles, it was too long, which made me think about the size of this continent, and honestly, it must be huge. More than 100 million km², which is practically all the land on Earth on one continent, which, frankly, is amazing and also leads to problems, since a map cannot convey everything.
Therefore, we have several maps, one of which is quite abstract, dividing people, elves, dwarves, and Beast Glades, and also showing major cities and ports. Other maps were more detailed but had a limited radius.
Oh, right, the Blackthorn family has its lands in the northeast, near Darv, in a rather rocky area.
Then, closing the book, I sighed quietly and decided to wake up in the next couple of days.
The next day
Third-person view
Soft sunlight streamed through the window, casting shadows on the pensive face of a one-year-old child. He sat on a sofa that exuded wealth and aristocracy, slightly lost in thought, his cute little face wrinkled.
After a while, the boy's features relaxed, restoring his cute appearance. Slowly closing the book, he got up and headed for the training ground, lost in thought.
"Ah, Sir Krantz," the raised voice of a random maid brought Lucius out of his reverie and made him raise his head to look at the newcomer. The maid stood at a 90-degree angle, and for good reason, for standing before them was his older brother, Kranz.
"Lucius, are you going to look at those knights again? Stop it, it's beneath our dignity." A voice too arrogant for a seven-year-old boy rang out in the large white corridor. The arrogance seemed to manifest itself physically as soon as he opened his mouth.
Krantz was Joshua's first son. He was of average height for his age, with short black hair, a handsome child's face, dark eyes, and an arrogance that shone through in every conversation.
He considered himself the heir to the Blackthorn house, which Lucius found questionable, as his father looked disappointed every time he looked at Kranz. But he was Joshua's first son, and his mother was the official wife, which put his status above many on the estate.
Making his face as sweet as possible, Lucius spread his arms.
"But magic is so cool. You wanted to become a mage yourself, didn't you, big brother? Maybe you'll come with me and see?" It was difficult for him to say such things because he didn't want to spend time with anyone in the family. But he had to play the role he had chosen for himself.
"Why would I want to look at those sweaty commoners?" Kranz's arrogant and categorical voice rang out again. Shaking his head slightly with a condescending smile, he continued, "Well, little brother, I'm going to go do more important things because in just a couple of years, I'll wake up a mage, and you..." He looked at him mockingly. "You can go look at the sweaty commoners."
Before Lucius could respond, Kranz's footsteps echoed through the room, which once again became eerily quiet.
"Ha, how annoying he is," Lucius sighed quietly, straightened up, and slowly walked toward his goal.
Fifteen minutes later, the sounds of boots rubbing against stone and the sounds of battle could be heard. He returned to his usual place, sat down, and began to watch everyone at once.
Why was he doing this?
He was an ordinary child who had never practiced martial arts and would not be able to start training for at least another two years, but his [Perfect Memory (13)] gave him too many advantages.
Just like now, all the knights' movements, the movements of their arms, legs, and torsos, were perfectly preserved in his memory for later review and analysis.
KRRR
The sound of metal striking metal caught Lucius's attention.
Brian, a clean-shaven man of about twenty-five, spun the spear in his right hand and stepped forward sharply, closing the distance and swinging the spear with momentum to deliver a powerful blow to the red-haired swordsman's right side.
"Damn, Brian, you're as impatient as ever," he said, patting the spot where he had been struck. "Your strike isn't very accurate because you lean too heavily on your left leg, and also..." Finally pulling his sword from its sheath and blunting it with mana, he stood in a fighting stance and continued, "You have very poor control over your body. How many times do I have to tell you this?"
As he spoke, his feet moved firmly and confidently, as if glued to the ground, and his body bent like Hades Serpent, which seemed impossible given his size.
Bam!
A powerful blow that would have knocked Brian's head off if he hadn't raised his spear knocked him off his feet.
"I'm trying, Master Yulken, but it's so difficult," he said hoarsely, getting up and waving his arms. "All these complicated foot movements get mixed up in my head and I just forget."
"Learn," Yulken said simply, smoothing his hair. "These are the basics that you, as a spearman, must know. Although your mana core is already light orange, your spear skills remain at the most basic level."
Hmph.
Brian snorted loudly and stood up again.
Sighing slightly, Lucius shifted his gaze to the more technical fighters and continued to watch them, swaying slightly on his short legs.
As always, after sitting for a couple of hours, Lucius decided to wrap things up because, even though he had seen many new things, he no longer felt the same "wow effect" as in the first fight.
He just wanted to take a break from his endless stream of not-so-good thoughts, and he found his respite in two things: reading books and watching fights. Coincidentally, his talent [Perfect Memory (13)] helped him in both areas, so he even earned a couple of [Achievements].
Mentally summoning the system, Lucius shifted his gaze to the reddish panel.
[Name: Lucius Blackthorn]
[Race: Human]
[Achievements: ]
[Ordinary]
[Path of Mana]
[Path of Weapons]
[Path of the Body]
[Path of Wisdom]
[Path of Emotions]
[Target Talents:]
[******** (15)]
[Eternal Blessings (15)]
[Perfect Memory (13)]
[Half Otherworldly (8)]
[Reincarnated Soul (8)]
[Mana Connection (1)]
And although his [Achievements] were at the [Ordinary] level, it was more because he had seen little. But even so, his [Achievements] helped greatly. [Path of Emotions] helped him control his emotions, and [Path of Wisdom] slightly increased the speed and number of thoughts and ideas that were already enhanced thanks to [Perfect Memory (13)]. [Path of Weapons] emerged from several paths: the paths of the sword, spear, bow, mace, and several other weapons, merging into one path. [Path of the Body] came from observing fighters who fought with their fists and feet.
And honestly, even [Ordinary] level [Achievements] were a blessing, because after receiving them, the picture seemed to become a little clearer, and he began to see some mistakes in the warriors or logical errors where he had not noticed them before.
The next day
Lucius Blackthorn POV
Closing another book, I decided to check how much time was left before awakening and decided that I could wake up right now. So, sighing quietly from the emotions that overwhelmed me, I got up and headed for the open space by my father's window, where he was now sitting sorting through documents. There were no trees there, and after the mana core awakened, nothing could fall on me. In addition, the radius of action was about 30 meters, and caution never hurts, and I didn't want to die some stupid death during awakening and be crushed to death by a fallen tree.
Sitting down on a meadow full of flowers, I slowly closed my eyes.
"Alfred, could you go get a pillow and some berries?" I calmly asked the knight who, on the orders of the head of the family, had become practically my shadow.
"But..." As always, he hesitated and wanted to say something, but I interrupted him. "Nothing will happen. We are on the Blackthorn family's property, and besides, the head's office is literally a two-minute walk away."
These words had the desired effect on him.
Bowing slightly, he said, "Yes, young master, I will be right there." Turning on his heel, he began to walk away from me.
Inhale. Exhale.
Realizing that there was no one nearby whom I could accidentally kill with my awakening, I caught my breath and immersed myself in my thoughts. Literally a few seconds later, a shiver ran through my body. I finally gathered all my mana in my solar plexus and was just busy compacting the mana core when the explosion occurred.
Boom!
Added new target talent [Mana (1)]
Added new target talent [Mana Control (2)]
Target talent [Mana Connection (1)] updated (1) -> (2)
Target talent [Reincarnated Soul (8)] updated (8) -> (9)
Target talents related to mana react to [Reincarnated Soul (9)]
Target talents related to mana are forcibly increased by one level
Target talent [Mana (1)] updated (1) -> (2)
Target talent [Mana Control (2)] updated (2) -> (3)
Target talent [Mana Connection (2)] updated (2) -> (3)
I heard a loud explosion and the sounds of notifications from the system ringing in my ears, but I ignored everything and tried to feel the changes I was sensing in my body.
Whereas before I had felt small fluctuations of mana around me when they were quite intense, now I felt its constant movement, however insignificant it might be. I also felt that the mana was almost friendly to me.
But that wasn't the most important thing. My whole body felt as if I had been chained for 10 years and now I had taken them off. In real time, I felt my body begin to renew and improve itself, trying to adapt to the mana. It was the effect I had read about in books.
Feeling that I had descended, I opened my eyes and looked around.
Damn it! What happened here?
Where I had been standing, there was now a crater about 40 centimeters deep and 15 meters in radius, turning everything around it into a lifeless wasteland. It looked like a bomb had fallen right on me.
Two loud voices distracted me from examining the damage I had caused.
Third-person view
"Lucius!" Lucius' father Joshua was the first to approach. His eyes seemed to burn as he examined the child and the clearing turned upside down by his awakening. "Such a powerful awakening so early," his burning, ambitious eyes stared at Lucius, his whole body shook, and a smirk distorted his eternally stoic face.
"Young sir!" Alfred ran up later and began to look around anxiously. His voice seemed to bring Joshua out of his reverie.
"Alfred," his voice became commanding and cold again, forcing the poor knight to immediately stand at attention.
"Head of the house! I, I, I had a normal day today and nothing happ!"
Slash
Before he could finish, an icy spear pierced the knight's chest.
With a quiet sound, fresh red blood gushed out.
The boy quickly turned around, his eyes widening and his pupils shrinking to the size of pins.
He saw that his father was standing next to Alfred, his hand slowly tracing the bloody spear made of ice.
"Of course nothing happened today," Joshua's face became a cold mask of indifference again as he rubbed his bloody fingers.
And although the boy knew that this knight had not been loyal to him for six months, he talked to him every day, asked him for favors, and asked about the world outside the house. They may have had little in common, but Lucius had become emotionally attached to him, no matter how much he didn't want to.
The boy opened his mouth and wanted to scream. But he didn't make a sound.
Slowly the boy raised his trembling hand and wiped the blood from his cheek with his thumb.
From that day on, he became very quiet.
As soon as he finished speaking, servants and knights from all over the house rushed to see what had happened, for the roar of the explosion could be heard from anywhere in Blackthorn House.
Joshua immediately lifted Lucius with one hand and conjured an icy spear with the other, which spun dramatically and plunged into the ground nearby at tremendous speed, causing another powerful shock wave.
"Why are you all gathered here?" His silver eyes scanned the crowd, causing everyone to shudder simultaneously. "I was just showing my son some spells," he said simply.
"You can go, nothing is happening here." His cold gaze swept over the crowd, which began to disperse quickly, realizing that this was not an enemy attack.
Lucius Blackthorn's point of view
It hurts.
It hurt a lot. I didn't expect to see death so soon, but I forced myself to swallow any emotions. Although I wasn't close to Alfred, we talked a lot, and now he's gone.
That idiot knight who tried to brainwash me is gone.
"It's a miracle," my father said, looking at me and then at the clearing. He stroked my head as if polishing a newly won gold cup. "And most likely, you won't even have to wait to understand how to control mana, because your behavior over the past year already speaks to your intelligence. And you will definitely be able to become..." His voice trailed off as he came to his senses. His hungry eyes stared straight at me without blinking, and I could see the gears turning in his head.
It seems that very soon I won't even be able to breathe, but judging by his reaction, he will hide the fact that I have awakened the core, at least that is comforting.
"But first," he grimaced slightly at my intense gaze, "let's do something about your eyes. Why wasn't this done when you were born?"
The next day
Before my eyes lay a pleasant fabric, something like an artifact. The fabric covered my forehead and eyes. This artifact would look like a sleep mask if It wasn't made of some kind of black fabric and wasn't covered in gold runes that allowed me to see even a little better than without it.
"It was a 'gift' from my father. It seems he also liked my eyes," I thought dryly.
Now I was sitting in my father's richly decorated room. The room was huge, probably more than 500 square meters, and it was filled with decorations, alcohol, magic wands made from different types of magical trees, and hundreds of minerals formed from mana. Some minerals were transparent and sparkled in the sun, while others were so dark that they absorbed light. Another looked as if it were fire trapped in stone. There were also hundreds of other expensive and rare materials.
"I'll have to read up on them. It would be foolish not to know about the minerals and resources I could invest in [Eternal Blessings (15)] heh heh heh. Just thinking about it makes me want to take everything out of this office." I laughed to myself but tried to keep a straight face as my father sat calmly in front of me, slumped in a red chair, tapping his finger rhythmically.
A moment later, he glanced at me with a slightly disappointed look, but immediately hid it.
"Although you woke up as an augmentor, which is certainly a great loss, but..." His lips parted slightly, as if he were searching for the right words. "Your talent is very strong, even if we don't take into account how early you awakened and the power of your awakening." He slowly stood up and walked majestically towards me, then crouched down to be at the same level as me. His hand, covered in mana, gently rested on my chest. "Immediately after awakening, your core was either purified or was originally dark red and not just black as it should be."
I understood the reason for what had happened. The talent [Mana (2)] reflects not only the amount but also the purity of my mana, just like [Reincarnated Soul (9)].
"So," removing his hand from my core, "seeing how developed your mana channels are, I will personally train you in the basics as an augmenter. Since your body is still very young, we will start with basic exercises to strengthen it, which will take some time." Shaking his head slightly, as if dispelling some doubts or thoughts, he clicked his tongue and continued
"For two years, you will follow the training plan that I will draw up, and I will also make sure not to damage your core, because such an early awakening has not yet been recorded, even among elves." At the mention of elves, his face showed clear contempt. "We will refuse elixirs. I will allocate you a certain amount of mana cores that you will have to absorb."
"You know what a beast core is, right?" His appraising gaze met mine. I nodded in response, and he raised an eyebrow questioningly, demanding an explanation.
"Beast cores have endless uses. They can be used as elixirs by slowly grinding the beast core and mixing it with red sand, which can be found everywhere in the Beast Glades. It is also advisable to use the blood of the beast from which the core was made to create the elixir. You can also create artifacts for various needs, from those that heat food to those that can save your life in a critical moment. But the most important thing for a mage is the ability to absorb mana directly from the beast's core, which significantly reduces time and helps in its development," I said in one breath, exhaling heavily at the end.
"Ho," his face showed obvious satisfaction, "it seems that the servants' stories about your rapid growth and love of books were not lies." He nodded slightly in approval, turned around, and walked over to the table.
A moment later, he was holding a mana core and a glass with what I understood to be juice and a straw. "Where did the straw come from?" I asked absentmindedly.
"I'll tell you how to absorb mana directly from the cores. Once you understand, you'll be able to do it yourself," he said in a mentoring tone, handing me the juice and pointing to the straw. He continued, "I'll simplify the task for you and explain it as clearly as possible. Extracting mana from a core is very similar to drinking through a straw. First, try this juice and remember the effect of sucking liquid through the straw into your body."
I did as he said. The juice tasted like a mixture of strawberries and mangoes, but that wasn't what I should be focusing on right now.
Absorption
Absorption
Absorption
A strange idea came to my mind, a whirlpool.
"Do you understand?" he asked calmly. I nodded. "Then you'd better sit down."
Sitting on the floor with my legs crossed in the lotus position, I watched as he slowly placed the core in my hand and walked away, clearly eager to see how many attempts it would take for a child who was not yet two years old to understand the process of absorbing mana into his body.
Slowly, I tried to direct my mana to this beast core. His mana flowed into my core almost immediately, only twitching at first due to my inexperience. After a while, the mana core in my hand slowly crumbled into small fragments that dissolved into space with a gust of wind. I slowly opened my eyes and met my father's calm gaze as he sipped his tea.
My question had not yet left my lips when the answer came.
"11 minutes and 37 seconds. That's how long it took you to absorb the mana of a Class E beast. I'm impressed," he clapped his hands and lowered his voice so that I couldn't hear half of what he was saying. "Perhaps you should assign yourself a Class D core, or better yet, a Class B core with all the elements. Maybe that will somehow influence the kinship of a genius like you?"
He rose from his chair and walked to a specific part of the room where he bent down and retrieved four cores of four different colors. "This is the core of a fire frog," he said, pointing to the red core. The next core was the color of the ocean. "This is the core of a water lizard." The next one was the color of the earth. "This is the core of the three-eyed earth ferret." "And this," he pointed to the last core, slightly transparent and green, "is the core of the crystal mantis."
"You will need to absorb these four cores within a month," he gave me the task. "Let's go, I'll take this to your room," he said, and the box in which he placed the cores slowly disappeared into his spatial ring.
That same evening
"He-he-he," I laughed quietly as I looked at the inventory in the system. A deep sense of pleasure boiled up inside me as I watched the passage of time and already imagined how in 23 hours the number of cores would increase and then, in a few days, I would receive 20 class B cores of four different elements every day, and I would have 20 water element cores, 20 earth element cores, 20 fire element cores, and 20 wind element cores. 80 class B cores every day without any effort, heh heh heh.
[Eternal Blessings] (effect: infinite doubling of everything every 24 hours)
(23:47)
[Box with 4 cores of 4 elements]
[Three-Eyed Earth Ferret Core, Class B]
[Water Lizard Core, Class B]
[Fire Frog Core, Class B]
[Crystal Mantis Core, Class B]
After admiring this beauty, I decided to start learning a very useful skill called [mana rotation]. At first, I realized that I was unlikely to succeed, but I could spend twenty minutes on it before going to bed. Getting out of bed, I began to absorb mana from the atmosphere into my core while trying to move my fingers and sometimes my whole arm. To be honest, it was extremely difficult, but I simply had to master this skill. Practice in this matter meant the ability to fight skillfully while maintaining a constant internal flow of mana.
The only advice Sylvia gave Arthur was that, according to her, an outstanding mage must be able to divide his mind into several segments in order to process information at an effective speed. I tried to follow her advice, and to be honest, it was as difficult as writing an essay and solving math problems at the same time. After struggling for half an hour, I came to the conclusion that it would take me about two weeks to master this, but it might take more than a year for it to become automatic. [Perfect Memory (13)] and [Path of Wisdom] helped a lot with this.
"How wonderful," I slowly closed my eyes with a silly smile and fell asleep.
The next day was instructive. In the morning, I went to my father's office, and he gave me about 30 books on the manipulation of mana history and aristocratic manners.
Then we went to the training ground where he showed me basic exercises such as running, squats, push-ups, twists, and sit-ups, and stretched my whole body for a very long time. Although it only lasted an hour, it seemed like an eternity to my child's body, but in my first life I was a village child, so I was used to harder work, and the looming threat of war greatly increased my motivation. After finishing this hellish session, I fell asleep and, after sleeping for four hours, got up to start practicing [mana rotation] while no one was watching.
At night, I looked into my inventory and saw two identical elegant dark wood boxes with the same contents. I mentally pulled one out, and obeying my thoughts, a purple ripple appeared in space, and the box was already in my hands. Opening the box, I smiled broadly as I looked at the four cores. Glancing at my inventory, I saw one box that I had left for better times, because in a few days, one box would turn into ten, and ten into twenty, every 24 hours.
Before I knew it, two years had passed and I was about to turn three, which meant that my first birthday was coming soon. For more than twenty months, my father had given me a small wooden sword for training. When I told him I wanted to become a swordsman, he also gave me an instructor, and I began training to learn the basics of augmentation.
Perhaps it was due to the peculiarities of a child's body, but the core grew slower than I expected. It turned dark orange with cracks that would probably burst in the next couple of days.
I also mastered [mana rotation] perfectly, but since I tried to hone it every day during the most difficult moments, such as running until exhaustion while swinging a sword or working with my legs. I learned to multitask by practicing [mana rotation] while strengthening myself with mana and conducting training sparring sessions where I had to watch both my body movements and try to anticipate the movements of my mentor, who mercilessly beat me with his sword.
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Thank you for reading. This chapter is almost six thousand words long. Please point out any errors in the text and give me some power stones. Good luck.