Myth Of A Dragon - 16 Mana Core II

Zeke lightly shook his head.

Charles seems to have expected this result.

“It’s alright to fail in your first try, son. I know you’re still too young for this, but with that concentration of yours, perhaps you could see the mana particles in a month.” Charles smiled. Even though his son failed, he discovered that his son is good at focusing since he could last in that state for a long time.

“By the way, how long do you think you spent concentrating?”

Zeke was confused. Wasn’t it just a few minutes since he started?

“If you think you’ve been there for a few minutes, then I’m sorry to disappoint you. You’re in there for almost half an hour now. Do you understand? The concept of time isn’t present when you try to absorb mana. It might seem like a few hours, but it may already be days or even weeks in the real world!”

Zeke nodded faintly, albeit very shocked inwardly. He thought he was there just for a few minutes, but it turned out false. He shuddered at the thought of other people spending hours inside of that.

“Of course, excessively absorbing mana will take a toll on your mental strength. You must know that you are using the strength of your mind and will to rope the mana particles in. Too much consumption of your mental strength is bad as unlike physical exhaustion, mental exhaustion is much harder to recover from. It can make a person go crazy, and it might even cause death if a person pushed his mind to the limits! I’m saying this to you for your own safety. I once knew a person who tried to overdo his mind. The result is… unpleasant. Son, make sure not to exceed half an hour over there! Exceeding it might damage your brain and it will just cause you inconvenience in the long run. Still, if only we could limitlessly absorb the mana, we could maybe transcend our limits. *Sigh*”

Zeke agreed. Although he didn’t feel exhaustion, he knew he got a bit tired after that. It was hard for him to explain, but his body didn’t feel it, only his mind did.

“Remember, only half an hour tops. You’re still too young, your mind can only handle that long. Alright, you can try for a few more times before we end today’s session.”

Zeke tried again, but everytime he’s trying to rope in the white mana, he always lost his focus. He concluded that his mind always gets impatient thus resulting to him losing his focus on the mana particle. After a few more tries, Zeke decided to reflect for a bit first before trying it again. He opened his eyes and saw his father sitting in front him, presumably absorbing mana too. Zeke also noticed that the sun is already up. It seems his few tries took more or less 4 hours.

“Are you finished, son?” Charles suddenly opened his eyes and asked.

Zeke only nodded lightly.

“Good, keep it up and maybe you’ll see the particles in a month. I’m proud of you, son!”

“Oh, I forgot to tell you about this. This way of forming the mana core is pretty much the standard of the three continents. Humans, Demons, us Dragons, and even the lesser beings form mana core by absorbing the mana in their surroundings. It’s the general concept but the actual ways are a bit different. What we’re doing is heavily similar to how humans form their mana core. As for our own method, I’m afraid you can’t start with it at your current state.”

Zeke felt a bit displeased. It seems the way dragons form their core is different from humans, snd Zeke’s current form isn’t suitable for it. He wondered how dragons and demons form theirs.

Zeke’s schedule only consisted of training and reading. After meditating, Charles would bring Zeke to the study room and let him pick a book to read. This will then go on for hours until Catherine fetches him for dinner.

A week passed.

Zeke could now barely absorb a mana particle. He noticed that the mana particle he absorbed laid dormant on his abdomen. He theorized that the mana core would be formed in the abdomen, since that’s where the mana particles stays. If there are enough amounts of mana particles gathered there, the mana core might be formed.

Besides meditating, Zeke also read books from their study room. He read anything about mana and theories related to it. He still haven’t started reading the books he had in his system since his parents might be weirded out if they see their son reading a foreign book that’s clearly not from their study room. He decided to wait for a few more months and ask his father about getting a separate room for him. Since they’re going to live in a new place starting next month, he decided to wait for a bit and see the situation there before making his move. Of course, whenever he’s alone in his crib, he pulls out a book from the shop and when he sensed his parents are going to check him, he stores it in his inventory. Apparently, he can store items in his invisible inventory with just a thought. It’s kind of like spatial rings he read back on Earth where the items are stored in another pocket dimension, except he didn’t know where his items go, as it only just disappears after he thought to store it.

A few more weeks later, Zeke woke up and saw his father packing up things. He then guessed that today’s the day they will be transferred to their new residence.

As he expected, they really are going this time. His parents rented a caravan with several adventurers to guard them throughout the journey. Although his parents were strong enough, they decided to take adventurers with them. Zeke and even Catherine were baffled by Charles’ decisin.

“Orders from the elders.” Charles could only offer this as the reason.

Throughout the way, his parents only stayed with Zeke inside the carriage. They were very vigilant throughout the day, and when the group sleeps at night, one of them will stay along with some adventurers to keep watch. Zeke felt his parents were too paranoid.

As they were passing through a forest, a dagger suddenly flashed and pierced through one of the guards in the neck. The guard who got hit had his head severed from his body due to the sheer impact of the throw. Seeing the headless body of their ally, the adventurers panicked, and one even screamed. Charles and Catherine heard the scream outside and knew something’s going on. Charles stood and warned Catherine and Zeke not to go out until it’s clear.

Outside, Charles went out and saw the body. He immediately knew the strength of their attackers. Although they weren’t a match for him, it’d be hard if the attackers number 5 or more. He concluded that he could only handle 5 of them at once, and if there’s more, he was sure the adventurers would all die. He didn’t hesitate and blew a whistle that mysteriously didn’t produce any sound.

“HAHAHAHAHA how laughable. Is this the extent of your guards, your MAJESTY?” The voice contained mockery on the last word.

“Your majesty?”

The adventurers were puzzled. All they knew was that a rich person hired them with a huge sum of money just to escort him to a nearby city. They didn’t know why their attacker called their client ‘your majesty’

“Oh? You bunch of randoms don’t know? HAHAHAHA no worries, there’s no need for you to know. Men, kill every single one of them!”

As soon as the voice finished, several black clothed people from the nearby bushes lunged at the adventurers. Caught off-guard, the adventurer nearest to the bushes got his neck sliced. He didn’t even know what killed him as the attack was too fast for him to guard against.

Seeing this, the remaining thirty or so adventurers went on full vigilance. They didn’t know the strength of their enemy, but they knew that if they didn’t exert their all here, they could end up like their 2 allies, lifeless and sprawled on the ground.