Chapter 14: 14- Awakening

Ba-bump!

Ba-bump!

BA-BUMP!

Rowan could hear his heart beating louder and faster every moment. Then he realized it wasn’t his heart beating faster, it was just his hearing becoming better. Not only that, his own breathing could be heard as if had just run a marathon when all he did was just sat there for the last few minutes. 

 Both his hearing and vision had become clearer and sharper. Rowan could see all the trees in the Forest of Death and count the leaves on each one which were at least a distance of 50 feet away. When he looked down, every dirt particle on the fields became more distinct. He could also see all the bugs in the dirt too.

Not only did his hearing and vision improve, he could feel his other senses distinctly changing too. His nose felt like it would explode from the new variety of smells that reached it. His cloth felt heavy and rough even when it normally felt light and soft. 

It was as if all senses had been chained this whole time and only now it was released. HIs mind felt like it would be overwhelmed any moment and force him to collapse. However as the new sensations was about to overwhelm his mind, he heard a voice.

“Rowan, can you hear me? Blink if you can.”

Grandpa Rodan’s voice brought Rowan back to reality and Rowan forced himself to blink. Even this small act took effort on the boys' part. An action that normally could be thoughtlessly done felt as if his eyelids was cover with sand and his eyes were being scraped as his eyelids moved.

“Good, now this part is important. Everything you’re feeling is the sense of your body waking up and adapting to mana. Those aren’t important. Focus on the way the mana is flowing through your body. Concentrate and grasp that feeling. If you don't, you may lose this feeling forever. Your current self is only temporary.”

Those words shocked Rowan and he immediately began to focus inward. It took some effort to filter all the new information that his senses gave him, but he managed to locate the mana that was still circulating through his body.

As he was filtering, Rowan felt what his grandpa was talking about. All the senses that had peaked had slowly begun to return back to normal, albeit very slowly. If his Grandpa had not mentioned it, Rowan would have been caught completely unaware when his senses returned to normal. He began to focus on the cause of all these changes just as his grandpa instructed.

Mana.

The foreign energy felt like an elusive fish in his body. Every time he tried to grab hold of it, it slipped out of his grasp. It felt like he was trying to hold on to water. He was able to follow the mana’s path as it cycled through his body.

Maybe that would be knowledge that would be helpful later on? Was that why his grandpa told him to focus on it?

As Rowan concentrated on the mana, he also realized that it was dissipating as it cycled through. With it, the improved sense also slowly began returning back to normal. It didn’t take long for all the mana to completely disappear since his grandpa had inserted a minimal amount into his body.

The fact that his senses returned to normal was actually a relief. All the sensory information that suddenly flooded his mind almost caused him to collapse as a defense mechanism. It was as if he grew several new limbs out of nowhere and had no idea how to control them. It was true that the return back to normal almost disoriented him as much as the improved senses had, but at least it was something he was accustomed to.

“Back to normal? How did it feel?” his grandpa asked.

“It felt amazing! I felt like everything became better!” rowan excitedly answered.

“Good! The more perceptive you are during the process, the better. That means your body can adapt to mana well. That's a good quality to have, especially among mages.”

“Why is that good for mages?”

“Think about it. What do mages rely on for spells? Mana. For warriors mana sensitivity is not as important as long as they can control it for themselves. Mages need to accumulate a large amount of mana for spells. The more mana they have to use, the better it is for them. Speaking of mages and warriors, let me give you a quick summary of the classifications. You know how they are classified but not the reason why right?”

Rowan thought about what he knew about classes. Since he interacted with knights quite often, he knew most of them were classified as intermediate warriors. You can estimate a person's strength just by looking at them, but he never knew the reason how the classification came about. 

“Right…then here we go. Novice, intermediate, and master. Novice are what we call the stage you are currently in, people who have just awaken to mana; but have no control over it. Intermediate is when you have some control over it. Master is when a person can fully control their mana and physically manifest it.”

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“What about grandmaster, grandpa?”

“Haha, that a bit too early for you to be worrying about. All i can say is that it takes a certain epiphany to become a Grandmaster.”

“Epiphany?” Rowan tilted his head. That was a word beyond his vocabulary.

“Maybe enlightenment might be a better word. Or just think of it as suddenly getting a whole new realization in life. Anyways don’t worry about becoming a grandmaster too much. That still a long way off. Few people can reach that stage.”

Rowan nodded his head to show understanding.

“Mind you warriors and mages have a bit of difference in classification. A mage can be considered a master once they can use wide attack spells. However that's a big difference in being considered a master than just casting a powerful spell. If you get the chance, ask a mage about their classification since they would know how to explain better. I’m consider a warrior for the most part, so I can give only give a general description about mages. Anyways, are you feeling better now?”

“Yes!”

“You want to see something cool?” Grandpa Rodan asked with childish glee.

“Yes!” Rowan answered back with the same childish excitement.

“Watch this!” Grandpa Rodan immediately jumped high into the sky. Raising his plow in an overhead fashion, he faced one of the fields that they had planned to work on. Even though his senses had returned to normal, a bit of it stayed changed. Thanks to his improved senses, Rowan felt a large amount of mana gathering into the farm tool. With a seriousness that Rowan rarely seen, Grandpa Rodan swung his plow down with all his might/

With one slash, all of the mana contained in the plow was released.

One slash became two and two became four. Four slashed divided itself once again and did not stop until there was sixteen slashes flying down. Rowan could not explain the sight that happened before him, but before he knew it, the slashes had hit the unmanned field with a bang. Dirt flew everywhere that young Rowan had to cover his eyes. Once all the dust settled, Rowan looked at the results of Grandpa Rodan swing.

The ten year old gasped in admiration and in surprise.

A perfectly straight plowed field.

“Amazing right? A master can perform tricks like this, but it's much harder for them.” Grandpa Rodan lightly landed on the ground with a grin on his face.

“You could not have done this earlier?” Aaron wandered over after seeing the commotion.

“I could have, but I find working on the fields is good training for the body. The  better trained the body, the better it handles mana. That’s why you boys currently need the most. Speaking of, let's get this field to normal for tomorrow so you boys can work on it tomorrow.”

“What do you me-”

With one lazy slash, the perfectly tilled field became a devastated mess. Grandpa Rodan had not controlled his strength this time as the field became completely uneven.

“WWHHHYY?” Aaron screamed, thinking he had finally been released from the manual work of at least one field.

“Like i said its good training for you boys. Don't want to ruin it for you now would we? Remember today’s feeling and keep trying to grasp it Rowan. One day you can perform similar or better tricks like this.”

 

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