After the meeting ended, Sugar brought me to the training room.
She talked to me with her usual smile.
[Congratulations, you can finally start to build the Celestial core, you can only start now because you will need to manipulate the mana outside your body to absorb it unless you use Celestial crystals].
She continued in embarrassment.
[Since we can't use any Celestial crystals, we will proceed to absorb the mana around you,
first, sit down somewhere, second, absorb the mana around you and fuse it with your body, you must fill every cell of your body with mana, after doing so, you only need to compress the fused mana in a single point, repeat this step while always compressing the fused mana in the same point, after doing it for one hundred times, the Celestial core will build itself with the compressed infused mana, after the construction of the core is completed, it will absorb the mana around you and rebuild your body, more mana is around you, the faster (and painful) the process will be, easy right?]
"How much time should I need for every step?"
[That depends on the mana density around you and how much mana you can manipulate, you need to continue your training to improve your manipulation of the mana within the virtual world to speed up the creation of your Celestial core.
Well, now that you know how to do it, what about give it a try?]
"sure"
I answered while sitting down, after preparing myself, I injected the mana around me in my cells and… Pain… a lot of pain… It is extremely painful!
I stopped absorbing mana and shouted.
"AAH! What the heck is this?! Is this supposed to be normal?!"
[Ah, right… absorbing mana without Celestial crystals should be a little painful]
"This isn't 'a little', I feel like my body is burning!"
[Maybe because you are a human, the dodos usually don't suffer so much…
However, after you fill a cell with the mana it should stop to be painful… ]
I took a deep breath, gritted my teeth, and focused on injecting the mana on as few cells as possible at the same time.
It is still extremely painful, but since I focused on only a smaller area it is bearable.
after continuing injecting for a while, I completely filled some of them, after stopping the absorbing process the pain disappeared again, the filled cells didn't hurt at all.
"What will happen to mana within them if I don't control it?"
She answered with her usual smile after seeing that I am fine.
[Once a cell is completely filled, your job is done, unless the cell is destroyed, the mana will remain within it.
You are lucky, you know?
Since your body is small, it is faster for you to complete a step]
"So, I need to suffer so much for such an insignificant progress every time that I need to do a step, and in top of that, I will need to do 100 steps?"
[Well, if you continue like this, as time passes, it will become easier for you to bear the pain, besides, after all of this will end, any injuries that you take during a battle will be nothing compared to this]
I can't help but sigh and nod.
"I understand… I have 10 years, and 100 steps, I also need to train myself with mana manipulation…"
[Cheer up, you will become the first human to build a Celestial core and maybe your soul will heal during the process]
She looked at me with… Pity?
Seeing this expression made me feel even worse.
" OK, let's go with this torture, the sooner we start, the sooner we finish, right?"
[Exactly, this is the spirit!]
I took a deep breath and started to absorb the mana around me.
And that is how I started my training…
"AAH!! Wait, why don't we start with mana manipulation?"
[Hm… Okay]
Mana manipulation in the morning and torture in the afternoon, a night of good sleep, and repeat, day after day…
*****. *****
As time passed, the number of cells that I could fill at the same time also increase, not that the process was less painful, on the contrary, it was even worse, but as time passed I increased my focus under the pain, sometimes I needed to take a day off to not go insane, however, here I am, 1 month later with the first step completed.
[Congratulations! You've completed the first step!
Now, you only need to compress the mana fused with your body in a single point, choose wisely, change this place will become extremely difficult in the future]
I simply nodded and rested a few moments before starting.
Different from my expectations, it isn't painful at all.
I simply felt like doing a warm bath with the water flowing within my body, all the infused mana condensed at the center of my heart and… disappeared, without a trace, I can't feel the infused mana in my body anymore!
"What happened?! Where is the infused mana?!"
[keep calm, little brother, everything is within your body, it's only become undetectable, even if someone opened your heart, he wouldn't find it]
"Okay, if that is a success than what should I do now?"
[Repeat everything from the start, 1 down, 99 to go]
I feel like it's better to give up, why should I suffer so much for obtaining such a little improvement?
Sugar seems to be aware of my thoughts and talked to me.
[You completed one step in your first month, the next ones will be even faster!
Besides, you are also close to reach the tier 1 spells, what about this, now you focus on reaching tier 1, I am sure that after reaching it, your absorbing speed will increase a lot]
"Yeah, let's take a break from this torture"
[Hey, did you listen to what I said? ]
"Yes, it's better if I take a break from this torture, right?"
[Hm...yes, but that wasn't the important part!]
"Sure, sure… "
*****. *****
Two days later…
[Congratulations for reaching tier 1!]
"You know, maybe if we wait until I reach tier 5, before returning to the torture room (the training room) would be better… "
[No, for your own good, it's better if we start right away]
She said with a wise tone, which recently enjoys using.
Hearing that tone, I knew that there is no way to change her mind, so it's time to use my ultimate weapon…
"Hey, big sister~, what about watching a film with your little brother this afternoon?"
I told her with an 'innocent' smile.
[Hm, you know what, I think that you can continue your training tomorrow!]
'Success! At least I can enjoy a last peaceful afternoon before the pain…'