Isfrid sat alone on the floor in his room. He was determined to figure out which path he would walk, whether it be as a mage or as an augmentor.
He sat in the lotus position, eyes closed, and recalled what he read in the library. 'For augmentors, they should try to move the mana around their body.
And for mages, they should try to gather the mana from the world into their cores. He decided to try to move the mana around his body first.
He began to sense the mana in his body, and that was when he was met with a familiar feeling.
After discovering the existence of magic, he had been practicing by creating ice cubes in his room.
The process was simple; he would focus the mana in his body into his fingers and then project it outward.
This familiar feeling confirmed that he not only has the aptitude for being an aura user, but that he had already begun progressing down this path.
He had already come to this conclusion while doing his research; however, he wanted to confirm it now.
After completing the test for augmentors, he decided to try pulling the mana inwards from the environment.
He first tried to sense the mana around him, which came to him naturally. He then attempted to pull the mana towards his abdomen.
The moment that thought touched his mind, he was met with an astonishing feeling. Every particle of mana he felt quickly began flowing towards him.
The mana poured into his abdomen from every direction so quickly that it startled him; yet something deep inside told him this was how it was meant to be.
It was as if he were filling a hollow space within himself - one he had never known existed until the moment it began to fill.
He had been gathering mana for an unknown amount of time until he felt something shift; the mana that he had been gathering formed a small sphere in his abdomen.
His breath hitched, and his eyes flew open at the thought that he had formed a mana core on his first time trying to gather mana.
But as he opened his eyes, he was met with an even bigger surprise: he was drenched in sweat, it was dark out, and the entire room was covered in a thin layer of ice.
He was initially surprised by the state of the room, which distracted him from realizing what he had just done. Regaining his composure, it dawned on him that he had just formed a mana core on his first attempt.
In his research, children would usually spend weeks trying to sense mana in the air, months learning to gather it, and around a year to form their mana core.
However, he had just done all three on his first try. He knew that with higher affinities, forming a core could affect one's surroundings - a slight change in a room's temperature, a gust of wind, and more.
However, according to his knowledge, freezing an entire room was unheard of. He wondered how strong his affinity was to create such a drastic change.
The realization that he had an immense aptitude for being a mage brought a small smile to his usually emotionless face.
Completing both tests was almost unheard of. He recalled a book that spoke about dragons, and how casting spells and using aura came as second nature to them.
He wondered if being a son of the clan of Vaelor was the reason for his aptitude for both. 'I wonder if my brothers and sisters were also capable of completing both tests?'
He cleared his head and brought his attention to the decision he had to make. He clearly had the skills for being both a mage and an augmentor.
However, he knew that people almost always chose one or the other for two reasons. One being that the process for refining aura and expanding cores was entirely different. Trying to pursue both usually meant not coming to a full understanding of either.
The other reason is time; spending time doing both would almost always result in never reaching a high level in either.
When you reach either the mythic core rank as a mage or the obsidian core rank as an augmentor, you essentially become immortal.
Each rank up extends your lifespan to a certain extent; however, pursuing both paths would inevitably lead to dying off before reaching the seventh rank in either.
The people who sit among the strongest in the world almost all have both the power of augmentors and mages.
But they achieved this differently - by mastering one path first, reaching the seventh rank, and only then beginning the other.
Isfrid pondered; however, he heard a whisper in the back of his mind. A whisper that told him he didn't have to choose, that he could pursue both.
It wasn't ego or overconfidence; it was an instinct - old, cold, and absolute. The same instinct that pushed him to pursue power in the first place.
Isfrid thought about it for another minute before exhaling a soft breath of resignation. He knew the amount of work he had would be multiplied by two; however, he knew to never go against his nature.
'Then it's decided, I will become both a mage and an augmentor,' he thought with an air of finality in his decision.
After concluding his path to strength, his thoughts drifted towards how he would train. For magic, he already knew he would pursue his elemental affinity for ice; however, as an augmentor, he needed to decide on both a weapon and a martial arts style.
With that thought in mind, he decided to visit the library the next day and make a decision.