The chapter two days ago, was a thank you to the readers for Christmas.

This is the regular chapter. Enjoy!

Book I - Chapter 12: Mana pool

Gerand leaned back into his chair with his eyes closed and rubbed his temple. The revelations Aran gave him in the past month were a lot to bear, even in his wildest dreams. He sat up, opened his drawer, and took out a small wooden, black box. He slid the top open and pulled out three carvings; a sword, a crown, and a scroll, each the size of his palm. He set them neatly in front of him and stared deeply at them. He reached for the glass of whiskey on his right, took a sip, and slowly enjoyed the burn down the back of his throat. He set the glass down and sighed.

These were mementos from his childhood, each representing him and his brothers of the Valen generation; ones he kept to remind him of his brothers and their dreams. He had unwillingly inherited the title of Lord of Wales from his father by virtue of seniority, over his two brothers, who he believed to have greater talents than himself. Their father’s decision not outweighing the brotherly bonds, both younger brothers left Wales without Gerand’s knowledge, pursuing different paths. Had they left later, Gerand would have done the same.

Gerand picked the crown up and smiled. The crown represented Brandt Valen Steele, the second brother, who was a talented commander, was one of the five supreme generals in Iridis, serving directly under the royal family. He had dreamt of reforming the guard and soldier system of Lapilla, increasing its potential and efficiency. Brandt would have been an inspiring lord.

The youngest brother, Tomas Valen Steele, was the scroll. He was the most intelligent of the three and a gifted magician, reaching the sixth circle at the young age of thirty-three. A profound philosopher, he had voiced the flaws of a serf society and emphasized a rule that was fair and humane to the commoners. Tomas was recruited by the Mage’s Society and had risen swiftly through the ranks, but had went missing in an expedition, exactly sixteen years ago, and was never heard from again. Tomas would have been a progressive ruler.

Gerand took another sip of the whiskey, without savoring the taste this time.

The three brothers often shared their dreams and ideas of ruling Lapilla, conversations Gerand took to heart. With the weight of three dreams and disappointment from his father’s choice ingrained deep in him, Gerand had ruled by merit, a rare practice in this world. And such was the principle he would select the next Lord of Lapilla.

While he was in great health, Gerand knew the fleeting existence that was life, and constantly weighed in on the inheritance of the lordship. Niall and Luca were equally strong candidates, forcing Gerand to consider all their qualities, including their children.

Aran had shifted the balance heavily in Luca’s favor. The same Aran who was a mu. Staring intently at the scroll, Gerand couldn’t help but wonder, ‘What would you have done, little brother?’

His concentration was disturbed by a knock at the door. Gerand cleared his head, “Yes?”

“My lord. You requested to be informed when Madam Celeste returned and have her see you. She arrived minutes ago and is on her way over,” a rough voice sounded behind the door.

“Good. You may leave,” responded Gerand, eager to find out what his capable daughter-in-law might have discovered over the past three weeks.

A few minutes later, there was another knock at the door.

“Come in,” said Gerand, as he finished his drink.

“Grandfather,” said Aran respectfully. Celeste greeted, in kind, “Father.”

“Welcome back, Celeste. Aran. I take it that your trip was worthwhile?” responded Gerand with a tired smile on his face. Aran’s eyes drifted towards the intricate sculptures on the desk, arranged neatly in a row.

Celeste nodded, and Gerand motioned for her and Aran to take a seat, “Should I send for Luca?”

“Yes,” she responded. She turned to Aran, “No. I’ll speak with him later. Aran, you should go back to your room and get some rest. It has been a long day.”

Aran nodded and left, “Goodnight mother. Goodnight grandfather.”

Gerand left briefly and returned with Luca. Celeste proceeded to recount her findings to father and son, who nodded solemnly. She took out the mana magnets as she got close to the end. As they saw the Grandmaster Ernes’s notes, Gerand and Luca’s eyes widened, and their shocked expressions were soon replaced with smiles.

***

Celeste sat cross-legged in the center of a meditation room in the estate, with her eyes closed. Four mana stones were arranged in a square around her, one on each corner. Mana flowed inwards between the mana magnets as thin, snake-like threads gathering into four large streams towards Celeste. The mana then circulated around Celeste, as if the mana magnets formed an impenetrable boundary.

After an hour, Celeste opened her eyes and her mouth curved upwards into a smile. Her meditation efficiency had increased at least threefold with these mana magnets. These were truly treasures for a mage, which would allow the most mediocre of mages to easily reach the fifth or sixth circles. She calmed her emotions and gathered the mana magnets.

She went to the library, took out Ernes’s notes on the mana magnets, and studied them in greater depth, formulating the most optimal way to use and distribute these precious stones to maximize the gains for the family.

***

A week later, Gerand gathered the adults after dinner, with the purpose of discussing the use of the mana magnets. He showed everyone the mana magnets, explained the capabilities of the mana magnets, and briefly described the ways to use it. Following that, he proposed to split the eight stones into four sets.

Four of the stones will be common use, for general cultivation of anyone in the family. It will be shared on a rotation basis, should everyone be interested. Priority would be given to the younger generations, and everyone agreed to this use.

One stone each will be given to each of the three brother’s nuclear families, fashioned into an artifact of their choice. While its efficacy was less compared to when four magnets were combined, with the right combination of metals and inscriptions, the magnets would still be able to boost mana accumulation rate or increase the efficiency of other tools.

Lastly, one stone will be given to Aran, and he was to do with it whatever he wished. To this, Niall raised a simple question, “Why?”

Gerand nodded, and explained how the mana magnets were discovered. Other than Luca and Celeste, everyone else shook their heads in amazement.

Gerand continued, “What does everyone think?”

“That’s fair,” responded a smiling Ed. Everyone nodded in agreement.

“Good,” said Gerand as he took out a stack of papers, copies of Ernes’s notes, “These notes detail the uses for them, and you can each decide what you want to do with your magnet. Let me know your choice and I’ll have them fashioned into the an artifact.”

He handed out the notes and a mana magnet to each family.

Rana sucked in a deep breath, and said what was on everyone’s minds, “Unless I probed it, I could’ve never tell that it was anything more than a polished obsidian.”

“Before everyone leaves, there’s another matter than we are here to discuss today,” started Gerand with a solemn note, “It is imperative that we keep this within the family. Celeste, why don’t you tell them?”

Celeste proceeded to tell everyone about Aran’s unique predicament. When she finished, she threw out the question, “Any ideas?”

Everyone’s mouths were dry, without an idea of what to make of the situation Celeste presented. Except Rana, who spoke slowly but confidently, “It’s possible. He will be fine. But you should have him coalesce his mana pool sooner rather than later.”

A look of shock registered on Luca and Celeste’s face, rapidly replaced with beaming smiles. Gerand smiled and stroked his beard. Everyone looked at Rana thoughtfully.

Luca said, “How?”

Rana paused for a while, displaying a complicated look on her face. Ed, seeing her hesitation, put his arms around her shoulder, “Is it about Jhor? You don’t have to if…”

“No, dear. It’s okay. It just brought back some bittersweet memories,” Rana cut in, “In my family, one of our most trusted servants, Jhor, was from Rhodeus. His… upbringing and circumstances were a little different. He was born a free person in one of the tribes residing in the Rhodean Range. They had little contact with the outside world, and met outsiders only to trade.”

“His tribe practices what he called the spirit arts, which was primarily a body strengthening technique. The ability to do so manifested in a small fraction of his tribe members, and Jhor was one of the few with this gift. The initiation was a painful process that involved channeling spirit energy at one’s chest.”

Jura gasped, “That’s…”

Rana smiled painfully, “Yes. He had a mana pool, except they called it a spirit sphere. Surprisingly, like us, children were tested at seven year’s of age. And, while rare, attributeless children with the potential to be a spirit warrior existed. Their spirits were most volatile, and were given priority to form their spirit sphere because the longer they waited to form their spirit sphere, the more dangerous it was.”

“You’re certain?” asked Luca, faint hope in his voice.

Rana nodded. “Jhor was one of them. Of that I’m certain. He was unable to cast spells, but he had a mana pool…” her voice trailed off. Ed patted Rana’s shoulder’s, “That’s enough.”

A single tear flowed down Celeste’s cheeks as she held Rana’s hands tightly, “Thank you…”

***

Two months later, a familiar face showed up at the Steele estate. Arturo Cain arrived in Wales, traveling with a merchant group. The Steele family greeted his arrival with excitement, especially Luca and Celeste. Besides being close friends, Arturo was well versed in the study of arcane inscriptions and runes. He could help Aran coalesce a mana pool and was the only person who could do so that they trusted with this secret.

Arturo entered the household with thoughtful look. He had received Luca’s letter a little more than a month ago, summarizing the magical conundrum of his youngest son. After rereading it, he had burnt the letter and confided in his wife, who immediately berated him for even hesitating. Arturo left the next day.

“Arturo,” said Luca, relieved to see his friend as he went in for a hug.

“Is it true?” said Arturo as they broke the hug. Luca nodded, “Why don’t we discuss this as I show you to your room?”

Luca slowly recounted, in detail, Aran’s progress until they reached the room.

“500?!” asked a shocked Arturo, after being filled in with the details. Luca nodded solemnly. Arturo shook his head, “How… How is this even possible?”

Luca shrugged, “You could test him again with your mana compass, but he shattered a grade four, lesser lodestone.”

Arturo gulped, “But he’s a mu?” Luca nodded. Arturo crinkled his forehead, “That doesn’t make sense. He shouldn’t even have affinity towards mana for that. It’s unheard of, for someone to only have affinity to pure mana and not the more pliable and stable attributed mana?”

Luca shook his head bitterly, “I… don’t know. As does Celeste.”

Arturo asked, after a short pause, “And you’re certain this is safe? That this is what you want?”

“No, we’re not sure it’s safe. The way we see it, there is harm in doing nothing either. So, yes. We will do this,” said a hesitant Luca.

Arturo smiled. He slapped Luca on the upper back and roared, “It’ll be fine. You are in the presence of one of the best inscriptionists in the world. Heck, those old fogeys are not here. The best inscriptionist.”

Luca smiled at his friend’s attempt to ease his mind.

***

The next morning, Arturo met Aran during breakfast. He had told Luca that he would do his own assessment, and if Aran was not up for it, either physically and mentally, that he would withdraw. Luca agreed; another opinion was much welcomed.

“Magister Cain!” greeted Aran cheerfully, “It’s good to see you again.”

“You can just call me Uncle Arturo,” smiled Arturo, “Do you know why I’m here?”

Aran shook his head, even though he had a good idea. Arturo looked at Luca, who nodded.

“I’m here to help you coalesce your mana pool,” said Arturo, staring intently at Aran. The latter feigned shock, followed by a beaming smile and asked with wide eyes, “Really?!”

“Yes,” said Arturo, sitting down beside Aran. They talked over breakfast, with Arturo probing Aran’s temperament and maturity; gauging how the young boy would treat magic. The latter caught on quickly, and expertly painted himself as a curious yet responsible child. Arturo was pleasantly surprised.

Luca, Celeste, Aran, and Arturo went to one of the meditation rooms in the estate after breakfast. Arturo took out a mana compass and aura gem, and set them on the ground. Arturo sat on the floor and motioned for Aran to do the same while pushing the mana compass forward. Aran obliged and held the mana lodestone on the mana compass. The lodestone slowly brightened and the machine tolled. 531. Even with forewarning, Arturo stared at the screen incredulously. Luca’s lips curved up into a mischievous grin, “We did tell you.”

Arturo chuckled and stored the mana compass. He pushed the aura gem towards Aran and watched in anticipation. Aran sighed, put his hand onto the gem, and channeled his mana. An explosion of colorless bubbles propagated in the gem, with more intensity than before. Arturo gasped and motioned for Aran to stop, “I’ve never seen such a powerful reaction before, let alone from a mu.”

Looking at Celeste and Luca, Arturo asked once more, with finality, “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” they said in unison. Arturo nodded, “Well, I’ll begin drawing the magic circle. It should be an hour or so. You can come back then.”

“Can I watch?” asked Aran, energetically. Celeste shook her head, “Come on now. Don’t bother Uncle Arturo. Let him work.”

“Please?” he asked again, appealing to Arturo. The latter laughed, “It’s okay. He can stay. I’ll see you guys soon?”

Luca chortled in defeat, nodded, and left with Celeste. Arturo took out a back from his spatial ring and set it on the ground.

“Can you tell me what you’re doing?” asked Aran, putting his hands behind his back and leaning forward, peering into the bag.

“Of course,” replied Arturo with a grin on his face. He took out a small pouch, a large brush, with a head the size of Aran’s hands, and an inkwell with silver-colored ink for the brush.

“Silverthorn resin?” asked Aran quizzically. Arturo raised an eyebrow, and smiled, “No. They look the alike and have similar mana conducing properties. But, silverthorn works better on paper. This is argentroot dye, which works on all surfaces.”

“Now, I’ll start drawing the outline of the magic circle using the argentroot dye, and I’ll have to focus. I’ll stop when I’ve finished a portion and tell you about it,” said Arturo as he dipped the brush into the inkwell. Aran looked intently.

***

A little more than an hour later, a complete magic circle was drawn on the floor of the meditation room, and Arturo sprinkled powder from the small pouch he took out earlier onto the circle and he chanted a quick spell. The circle flashed briefly and the silver color intensified.

“It’s ready. Go get your parents,” said Arturo. Aran nodded, and left. A few minutes later, he returned with Celeste and Luca in tow. Arturo gestured for the family to come closer, “Celeste, I’ll need you help to stabilize the mana field.”

“Before we begin, I have a request,” voiced Aran. The three adults looked intently at him, as he continued, “I would like to coalesce my mana pool on my own.”

Arturo wrinkled his brows, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t need you to help focus the mana. I’d like to do that on my own,” said Aran with conviction. Arturo looked at Luca, who shook his head – he was equally lost.

“Do you know how difficult it is?” asked Arturo sternly. Aran nodded, “Yes. But I know I can do it. Trust me. If you don’t believe it, here, I’ll show you. Hold my hand and use your mana sense.”

Aran held his right hand out towards Arturo, with the palms facing upward. Arturo obliged and put his left hand on Aran’s, and probed it with his mana sense. Aran manipulated the mana to slowly swirl on his right hand in a slow, but constant rhythm. A look of surprise flashed on Arturo’s face. Aran smiled, and forcefully reversed the flow, with it now spinning counterclockwise in the same exact rhythm.

“That is some control – that would match a mid-stage initiate!” exclaimed Arturo. He closed his eyes, deep in thought. “Fine. You can do it yourself. But we will be monitoring you closely, especially your Gate.” With that, Arturo motioned for Aran to sit down on the magic circle. Arturo sat behind Aran, and Celeste in the front. Luca stood on the side, clenching his fists.

“Gather,” said Arturo calmly, and the magic circle activated. Mana started accumulating above the circle, forming a misty dome of dense mana. Aran smiled, ‘This was the right decision. The mana now at least five-fold as concentrated as when I’m cultivating alone!’

“You may begin.”

Clearing his mind, Aran began the qi-realm formation process again. He first focused on the middle dantian. Instead of only rotating the spheres individually, he pictured a path swirling from the outmost sphere inwards towards the nucleus of the spheres, passing by every point in the lattices like stringing a thread through a series of perfectly positioned beads. Very quickly, the sphere turned into a steady whirlpool and started drawing in mana from around his body. This whirlpool was extremely stable, having been pictured using the perfect blueprint.

Arturo gulped. ‘This boy is a natural. That’s as perfect a sphere as any I’ve formed!’

Aran urged the mana in his body to circulate and started a similar revolution in the bottom sphere. The bottom sphere turned faster, increasing the compression and decreasing in size. He made a conscious effort to restrain his arcane sense from reaching outside his body to grab mana, to prevent the bracelet from activating. Yet, mana rushed into his body greedily, like air gushing into a vacuum chamber, transforming the lower sphere into a second whirlpool.

‘The intensity increased?’ Celeste shuddered.

The circulating mana once again travelled through his veins, repeating the burning and healing cycle of reforging his body. It was no less painful and Aran once again endured it. The mana around Aran grew restless and the misty dome deformed in an attempt to draw in more mana from the surroundings. Inside Aran, the whirlpool in the middle dantian transformed into a controlled maelstrom, a process quickly followed by the bottom one. Aran slowly released his attention on the bottom maelstrom and discovered that the maelstrom maintained itself, continuing to greedily draw in mana.

‘Should I stop it?’ questioned Arturo, his face pale from the spectacle in front of him, ‘It’s raging… but it seems stable. I’ll make preparations just in case.’

Aran focused all his attention to the raging yet contained maelstrom at his chest. He drew in a deep breath and increased the centrifugal speed of the maelstrom. The speed rapidly increased and it imploded, inwards and through the physical boundaries. At the same time, residual mana shot upwards towards his head, where the upper dantian formed into a steady maelstrom of mana, half the size of the other dantians. Aran’s body tensed at the unexpected intense pain.

His arcane sense followed the flow of mana as it travelled through a psychedelic tunnel made of a flickering, multicolored membrane. It rushed forward quickly and stopped in front of a white rippling barrier. The barrier slowly opened like parting a water curtain. The mana rushed through this opening and formed a small enclave, surrounded by the same rippling barrier separating it from what appeared like liquid outside. Periodically, a red or black light would flash through different locations of the barrier like sparkling wisps playfully hiding in the bottom of a lake.

Mana rapidly flowed through the opening and started expanding the enclosure. After a few minutes, the expansion stopped and the mana settled as a colorless mist in this enclave. The mist pulsed like a heartbeat, expanding, then contracting; pushing the membrane back and forth as it is doing this. Aran, realizing that this was his soul-realm, willed the mana to start rotating. The mist churned into a spiraling mana cloud and the barrier trembled and diffused into the mana cloud. On one end of the spiral, some of the liquid from merging into the mist, and on the other, some of the mist condensing into the liquid. Mana flowed continuously through the tunnel, between this realm and the physical realm.

Zooming outwards with his arcane sense, Aran felt a strange sensation. His sense peeled and expanded outwards, like coming outside of a flat piece paper into the three-dimensional world. The bridge was a small sphere that collapsed upon itself, with energy flowing freely through it. Reorienting himself, he zoomed further out.

Aran looked back onto his soul and saw a huge spherical mass of energy that felt ethereal. It was a bizarre sight. The sphere behaved like an ocean in the form of an orb, quietly twirling with an occasional wave that splashed around. Its surface was a bright white, the white of sunlight, and shimmered like the surface of water. The same flash of red and black occasionally peeked out and disappeared as fleetingly as it appeared. Atop the surface of this water-like sphere, was a thin layer of flame that burned cold, with tongues flickering upwards. The flame was a darker shade of white, the color of the first layer of snow on a winter morning.

Aran pondered about the size of his mana pool. Having no reference, it was impossible to gauge it. Not being one to dwell on impossible questions, he drank in the sight and willed his senses to travel back to the physical realm.

Aran opened his eyes, a rare look of satisfaction on his face.

“Success.”

***

In the void at a corner of the universe, a being stirred. It had felt a tiny, insignificant, but strangely familiar feeling. It had felt countless awakenings, and this one was seemingly ordinary, in both size and quality. But yet, it resonated with something in the being. A memory.

‘Brother? Impossible.’

Too weak, it thought. Too ephemeral. Still, it did not take any chances. Having lived for eons, it had seen the impossible become possible. It conjured a sentry and without another thought of this disturbance, returned to its pensive slumber.