Quintessence of Arcana

Mana Vein Awakens

“Master, are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Erald sat down cross-leggedly as Shea supported him from behind. After that, she pressed both of her palms gently on Erald's back as she slowly injected her spiritual energy inside his body.

“Master, do you feel it?” Shea asked gently.

“Yes.”

“Then, I will start to distribute my energy throughout your magical pathways...”

Feeling the sensation, Erald swiftly closed his eyes, and steeled his heart. He cleared his mind, as he entered into a state of deep meditation. He remained in this state all the way until all of the energy injected by Shea had been distributed around the pathways inside his body.

Along with the circulation of energy surging inside his body, Erald began to feel a slight amount of pressure as his mana veins gradually reopened, precisely in the state of awakening. Later on, the amount of energy he felt reached higher and higher, releasing more pressure that he couldn't continue to sit straight.

“Master, just bear with it...”

As the process continued, the amount of pressure Erald felt intensified by several folds that he begun to feel waves of stabbing pain within his mind. Despite this, he gritted his teeth and persevered on.

“Pain is but a passing thought, you need to relax yourself, the pain will subside as you awaken.” Shea reprimanded him.

Sounds of energy increasing rang out as the tyrannical Mana surged chaotically inside Erald's body. Shea knew that this was the most critical junction—that only after Erald succeeded, could he be considered to have finished reopening his magical pathways.

The extraordinary pain was incomparably tough to bear, but what was even more horrifying was that Erald still needed to split his mind to focus on completing the two tasks; both the condensation of his Mana Core, and the reawakened of his entire mana veins and energy channel’s structure throughout his body.

Despite this, Erald's heart is filled with determination. As the tyrannical energy slowly subsided, every node of his mana veins interconnected and assumed a form similar to a circuit system. At the same time, the energy circulating inside his body condensed to a single spot, which took shape similar to a small sphere.

After Erald successfully reopened his mana veins and established a Mana Core, he spat out a mouthful of fresh blood, before fainting into unconsciousness.

At the moment Erald fainted, a graceful figure was astonished as she supported Erald's body from behind, preventing him from falling directly unto the ground.

“What a strong and dense magical energy... To think that Master's innate talent is extraordinary.” Shea said with a lovely smile.

.........................

Erald regained his consciousness sometime later as he move slightly. But instead of opening his eyes—he ended up burying his face to a soft, and plump thing beneath his head. This is the first time he felt this cozy sensation ever since he awakened from his deep slumber back at the village. He couldn't help but be delighted in this blissful moment.

Already felt relieved, Erald eventually opened his eyes sometime later. With an already clear vision, a beautiful figure came into his focus.

“This is....”

Realizing the situation he was in, Erald immediately jump out from his position with a slight blush on his face. He was clearly embarrassed. He didn't know that all this time, he was enjoying his moments on the lap of a woman. Not just any regular woman but a gorgeous one at that.

“U-uhm, sorry about that... It looks like I went overboard..” Erald apologized while scratching his head.

The gorgeous woman couldn't help but chuckle seeing Erald's embarrassed expression. “Master, you don't need to worry yourself about it. Since you're enjoying yourself earlier, I didn't disturbed you,” she said with a slight smile.

Erald stared dazedly as he admired the beauty in front of him. Both her temperament and looks are truly top-notched. Who's man in the world didn't want this kind of woman? Thinking that he will spend his life being accompanied by a beauty, he couldn't help but stray in thought.

“Master? You okay?”

Hearing that soothing voice that seemed to penetrate into the deepest corners of a man's heart, Erald quickly broke off from his reverie and slightly coughed. He said sternly, “by the way Shea, did I succeed in opening my mana veins?”

“Yes master. In fact, your innate talent in magic is truly extraordinary. If you started to cultivate right now, it may not be too long before you advanced to the Origin stage!” Shea exclaimed.

Erald was startled by Shea's appraisal of him. “Is that so? Then what is my current level?”

“Since you've just established your Mana Core, you're currently in the elementary phase, half-step away into the Origin stage...”

“Then, how long will I reached the Origin stage?”

“Well, if provided with enough resources, you will certainly advanced in just a span of a day, given your talent..”

“Then can I finally learn magic?” Erald excitedly ask.

Shea shook his head. “Not yet master. You need to learn how to control and channel your mana first before you proceed to that. Remember, to be an effective magic practitioner, one must have a solid foundation.”

Shea then stood up, as she lifted the Grimoire into the air with a wave of her hand.

“Master, if you dont mind, I can be your magic instructor. We can start your training anytime you wanted...”

“If that's the case, we can start right now...” Erald stood up, as he surveyed his

surroundings. “Let's find a safe place first.”

After a moment of strolling around the area, Erald and Shea ended up returning to the spot near the waterfall where the former first stumbled inside this unknown ice dungeon. Shea strongly suggested this area foremost as it was not only safe, but it is also filled with a multitude of glowing blue crystals. According to her, this odd-glowing crystals are rich in mana, which is very essential to Erald's progression in magic cultivation. It also explained why these crystals are glowing and able to produce heat.

“Shea, how can I use these crystals to help me in advancing to the next stage?”

“Well, you need to absorb and refine the rich mana contained in these crystals until your Mana Core expanded to the point of breaking through. In this way, your mana capacity and strength will increase which also indicates that you successfully advanced to the next stage. This process is called 'Mana Gathering'.” Shea earnestly explained. “However, the speed of this process is different to each and every magic practitioner... It is because of the Cultivation techniques they practice.”

“Cultivation technique?”

“Yes. But some of these techniques are risky and some are beyond the scope of the standard way. Speaking of that, the magic cultivation technique that you will learn later belongs to that category...”

Erald was intrigued. “What is the name of this technique?”

“It is called the 'Heaven-Devouring' cultivation technique. This method is only exclusive to the chosen owners of this Grimoire, the Shades of Perpetual Darkness.” Shea said while tapping the Grimoire.

“Can this method help me advanced to each stages quickly?”

“Yes. But it is full of risk and conditions...” Shea shook her head. “This technique is also quite tricky. Once you've started to practice this method, you can never use any other techniques for the rest of your life, unlike those standard ones. Furthermore, the risks and conditions of cultivating this method gets more difficult the higher the level you achieved in practicing this technique.”

Erald couldn't help but ask, “then what are these 'risks' and 'conditions'?”

“I don't know exactly. But you will definitely know this later on. From my knowledge, every practitioner that practices this technique had different 'risks' and 'conditions' depending on each individual's talent.” Shea replied. “But rest assured, once you've mastered this technique, your strength will definitely soar to new heights in terms of magical prowess. For now, just focused in learning to control your mana first.”

Erald nodded his head.

The two of them then sat cross-legged, facing each other. Shea took a long look at Erald before explaining. “Slowly release the mana from your core through your mana veins. Let the mana seep out into your body, and let your muscles and bones absorb it. This will take time and effort, but as you progress, your body will eventually get used to mana.” Shea instructed. “There isn’t much that I can help you with during the first part of your training, other than making sure your mana is distributed evenly throughout your body.”

.........................

Five days had already passed since Erald started his training, though he spend most of it in meditation. He did not eat nor sleep, and yet, they are no signs of his vitality and stamina weakening. Instead it grew stronger.

“Until now, you’ve been purifying your mana core and manipulating your mana using your mana channels. While this method is sufficient and is already acceptable for an average magic practitioner, it is still far from what 'Mana manipulation' really is.” Shea gently explained.

“What do you mean?” Erald couldn't help but ask.

“Don’t worry, you’ll know soon enough. Initially, in Mana manipulation, you can channel mana from your core directly into your body, but you can also channel mana to external objects and integrate it with them. This is called 'Assimilation'.”

Shea then proceeded by picking up a centimeter-long stick from the ground. With a simple touch, the stick started to emit a greenish energy—which is the result of transferring mana into the stick. Shea then swung the stick from her hand as though she was swinging a sword. Later on, she slashed it to a large rock nearby with one hand.

Swoosh!

The large rock was cut cleanly in half. Erald was dumbfounded from the sight.

Shea then withdraw the mana from the stick and threw it to the half-piece of the rock that was cleanly cut.

Crack!

The stick quickly broke as soon as it landed on the surface of the rock. The hardness and sharpness that the stick showed earlier was gone.

“By mastering 'Assimilation', you can reinforced the properties of certain objects such as a stick. Also by using this technique, you can also lift objects out of reach...”

Shea raised her hand and pointed it to a piece of rock on the ground. At the moment, the rock also emitted a greenish light—the same as the stick earlier. Later on, with a wave of her hand, the rock was levitated from the ground as though some supernatural force lifted it.

“So this is what 'Mana manipulation' really is...” Erald couldn't help but be astonished by this technique.

“Yes master. Mastering this technique usually requires a long period of time. Usually, a normal person would need to practice for a month before they are able to draw mana from their cores and channel it into their veins. But master in your case, you only accomplished it in the span of five days!”

Even though Erald already heard Shea praised him for his extraordinary talent, he still couldn't help but be astonished by the speed of his progress. Even he himself was completely amazed by it.

“Once you've mastered Assimilation, you are considered to have completed the first step of Mana Manipulation.” Shea added.

“What? So it is only the first step?”

“Yes. The second step is called 'Sublimation', which allows you to stabilize the flow of your magical energy by constantly regulating it through precision and control. This step requires great concentration, and a slight mishap can cause your mana to go chaotic. Mastering this step gives you the skill to conceal your aura, your breathing, movement and even your heartbeat. Furthermore, you can also use it to pressure your enemies.”

Seeing Erald earnestly paying attention, Shea continued.

“The third and also the final step of Mana manipulation is called 'Acquisition', which is the hardest one to master out of the three. It allows the magic practitioner to directly access the external mana around the surroundings instead of drawing mana from the body. This step gave magic practitioners a huge advantage since they don't need to use nor exhaust their innate mana, which is very risky once depleted.”

After Shea mentioned all of the steps regarding Mana manipulation, she proceeded to demonstrate each of it in front of Erald. On the other hand, the latter didn't missed out Shea's graceful movements while performing each steps.

“Master, my time is about to arrive hence, you must memorize all of the techniques I imparted unto you. I won't be able to accompany you in the following days. You need to practice by yourself and keep my words in mind. Practice Mana manipulation for an hour and then try to utilize it in different scenarios,” Shea instructed.

Erald was a shocked from Shea's statement. He didn't quite understand what she was saying. Based from her expression and words, it seemed that she is about to die. Thinking to that point, he couldn't help but ask, “what do you mean by 'my time is about to arrive'? Are you really leaving this world for good?”

Seeing Erald's solemn look, Shea couldn't help but chuckle as she responded, “what are you talking about master? I am just entering into the state of hibernation for a while. Staying in this materialized form for several days exhausted a lot of my spiritual energy that's why I need to recuperate. In fact, I was already drawing spiritual energy around this place for a while now.”

Erald let out a sigh of relief after hearing Shea's clarification. “If that's the case then I will practice earnestly. By the time you recovered, I already mastered all the techniques you imparted and that's a guarantee.”

“Then I will leave it in your hands, master.” Shea responded with a smile.