Chapter 34: Chapter 34

Leo 

Alea’s cabin, Black Forest, Germany 

The woman continued, unperturbed by Leo’s antics, ”When drawing breath in and out, also imagine how the same energy is drawn from inside you. Let me show what visualization I found helps best.” The woman created a picture in the air beside her, roughly showing a torso as it would be drawn in the middle age anatomy books, depicting the various organs. She proceeded and added a tint of blue sheen over them. Then she moved the blue light from all around the body to a spot around the navel.

Heidi stared at the figure in surprise and said, “That is such expertise in the mastery of air, fire, and water. To manipulate the heat just about right to show that level of detail. And with no chant whatsoever. Remarkable.”

Leo smiled, not breaking eye contact with the figure, and said, “Yes, indeed. It looks magical.”

“Now, that is it for the theory. Remember, this process can take you many hours. If done right, you will be out of it for a while. So remember to drink plenty of water. Eat enough before your attempt. And have something on hand before you come to. Good luck!” the figure finished and winked out above the crystal in Leo’s palm.

“Hmm… So not all that different from what I did in the study back at your mansion. Guess we will not need this thing then,” Leo said, pointing to the set-up mana-gathering array. 

“I guess so,” Heidi agreed. “Though I would not remove it just yet. Seb spent many hours this morning arranging the tiles fully and correctly. He would be mad if we told him all his time was spent in vain.”

“Agreed. Alright, second breakfast first, and then let's try?” Leo asked and got up from where he was sitting, joined by Heidi. 

“Yes,” she commented. “Though let me cook something to have on hand when you come out of it, as she said. Go to the well and fetch some water in the meantime, alright?”

“Sure,” Leo responded and went to get the water. On his way, he thought how bizarre it was that he was sitting in some forest, in the middle of nowhere, watching a crystal ball. Out of which, a woman explained how he would work with mana. Things he had read only in some fantasy novels. 

“Well, life is full of surprises,” he said to himself and put the bucket down the well and remembered how he had done this chore hundreds of times while growing up back on his grandfather’s farm. Time seemed a lot simpler for him then. Just the endless cycle of day and night and hours awake to put them to good use, doing simple, mindless chores his grandfather made him do. 

With a bucket full of water in hand, he returned to the cabin and put it on the kitchen floor. Then he asked Heidi, “What are you cooking for me?”

“Nothing much, just some leftovers Seb had. I guess we do not want them to come back as you are eager to begin as soon as possible?” she asked.

“True, I do not feel comfortable that the bracelet will hold the rate at which the mana accumulates. I am surprised that it survived for so long. I want to try to create the core as soon as possible. From the lesson, it did not sound like it was so complicated,” Leo answered. 

“But it is,” Heidi said. “I guess because the grimoire was created for young children, Alea does not go into detail about the dangers of core forming.”

“What dangers?” Leo asked. 

“I did not tell you this as well, but only two in ten children undergoing our standardized core awakening process - survive it. And then it is a fifty-fifty chance for those two to form a core. That is one of the reasons why there are not so many mages in the world, besides the cost and the mana scarcity,” she said, packing up Leo’s second serving of breakfast. 

Looking at his plate, Leo said, “Then what you are implying is that the uncontrolled approach explained should have even worse odds?”

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“Exactly,” she confirmed while sitting next to Leo. “Though it is not like you have much choice, do you?”

“Indeed,” Leo said and forced the food down, suddenly anxious at the development, not explained in the lesson. Though, he did understand why Alea did not mention it. Because children are scared when faced with the hard truths of life, many would choose not to try to form a core at all. Even if it meant death by the end of the day. He thought it was better to try and fail rather than not try at all. 

Manning up, Leo finished downing the impromptu breakfast and got up, “Let's go. Better start while the morning is still fresh.”

“Agreed,” Heidi said and got up together with Leo. Both of them walked back outside to the garden. Leo looked around for a good spot mentioned in the crystal and found that a large oak tree decorated the garden at the very back. The tree looked at least three hundred years old, its branches hanging low, with a slight crevice he could fit in if he sat down. 

“This looks like a good spot as any around here,” he said, sitting down in the crevice and getting ready to form the core. “Watch over me?”

“For what?” Heidi asked, surprised. 

“I do not know. Wolves or bears? God knows what lives in this forest,” Leo replied and closed his eyes, impatient to start. 

“Sure… Do your thing then,” Heidi said and sat down next to him, looking up to the sky and seeing that it was still early morning and the weather looked fine. 

Leo obliged and concentrated on his breathing. The same way he did back the manor. He moved his mind’s eye inwards and tried to clear his head of stray thoughts that were plaguing his mind after the events of the past few days. 

Soon he found himself in utter darkness. He did not feel, hear or smell anything, though he was sure that he still was breathing just fine on the outside. Trusting that Heidi looked after his sitting form, Leo looked around and noticed that the darkness was covered in specks of green lights mixed in with white-blue ones. 

Remembering the lesson he heard, he understood that he likely viewed his inner self as self-depiction of the place where mana was gathering around him. Remembering the cultivation novels he had read, Leo flexed his visualization. He tried to imagine the thumb-sized mana core he managed to half-form for it to appear before him.

In what seemed like a minute, in a place where time had no meaning, Leo saw that a pea-shaped something, the size of a thumb, appeared before him. It had a muted green color, almost sickly looking, like autumn grass, right before winter started setting in. 

As he had nobody to consult in this imaginary world of his, Leo proceeded to imagine how the specks around him would float up to the pea and be absorbed. For a while, nothing happened. Leo did not feel any changes around him as the specks continued to float around.

Next, instead of imagining a movement where everything would be done simultaneously,  he tried to imagine a single speck. He flexed his will around the nearest one and willed it to float toward the pea. The speck obliged, floated up to it, and then inside, seemingly integrating with the pea. 

Feeling that the speck he focused on vanished, Leo moved to the one and repeated this tens of times. Feeling that he had gained more control, Leo proceeded to try and control two specks simultaneously, repeating the same motions. 

This dragged on and on as Leo increased the number of specks he could intently grab and float toward the pea until he moved a small cloud of them. The pea, meanwhile, had grown to the size of a fist and was gaining more and more color, going from muted to mint green to dark saturated green. 

Seeing that the number of specks around him had declined to just a few, Leo flexed his intent and willed the last of them to condense in the core before him, feeling that the final step had arrived. The moment last specks of mana touched the core they caused the form before him to tremble and release a wave of light, somehow blinding his imaginary eyes. 

The next thing he knew, Leo opened his eyes to the dark garden where he sat down with Heidi. Catching a glimpse, he saw that it was night outside. Then, he passed out in the wooden crevice. 

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