Proofread by Dark Pride
***
Knowing it wouldn't work, Nadine turned off the formation, "The first test has finished, Sir. How did it feel?"
Trying to remember the sensation that he felt, Adam said, "When the formation was turned on, I felt something try to activate, but it didn't do anything. It was like a river that was blocked by a dam."
"Then congratulations, at least you don't have magic dysfunction. If it were magic dysfunction, your body wouldn't have reacted at all while you were in the formation."
"But, there is a problem right?" Adam felt like she still had more to say.
Nadine smiled, "I want to tell you, if you just want to study management, history, economics, politics, military tactics, or literacy in this academy. you have already qualified, but if you want to awaken your power, it will be painful."
Adam was surprised, "Could you elaborate Professor?"
"Besides you, I have already met three other people who have this condition. What's incredible is that all of them have upgradable mana lakes and in theory, have the ability to grow stronger. Your mana lake is at least equivalent to a level 2 mage's, which is incredible. I believe every person who has this special condition has such an advantage.
Oh, by the way, I named this condition 'innate physique'. Innate physique is a body which perfectly contains mana inside. I hypothesized, if a person who had an innate physique could awaken successfully, he would have the best human body, because every cell, body tissue, membrane, organ, bone, and ounce of blood would integrate perfectly with mana.
Unfortunately, the three people that I found couldn't awaken. They gave up in the middle of the awakening process. You see, This process is very painful, far more than you think, and I can't guarantee the result is according to what I said, even if the process is successful. Do you still want to try it?"
'Say yes!' Eve said
'Are you sure? We can't be sure that what she said is true.'
'Come on! I know you want to try it too. Don't be a chicken.'
'I'm the one who has to deal with the pain, not you,' Adam didn't like to be provoked.
'What if the pain could be reduced by 50%. Are you still afraid?'
Adam sighed, "Okay, let's do it!"
Nadine looked at him doubtfully, "Are you sure?"
"Of course."
"Okay, let me prepare something first. You wait here," Nadine then exited the room hurriedly, as if afraid Adam would change his mind.
After making sure Nadine wasn't nearby, Pete and Cleon walked over to Adam.
"Are you sure, Sir? I heard Professor Nadine was really desperate about her project. I don't think she told you everything she knows," Pete said worriedly.
Adam looked at them confidently, "It's alright, I have some tricks to reduce the pain. Thanks for worrying."
They wondered where Adam's confidence came from, but they could only look at each other and sigh.
Ten minutes later, Nadine walked in with two people, a middle-aged woman who wore a white robe and a man who wore a black robe. Nadine then introduced them, "Let me introduce them to you. He is Sir Torres Alkali, the head of magic faculty and she is Professor Sofia, a senior healer of the academy hospital."
After hearing that, Adam, Cleon, and Pete bowed to them. Adam said, "It's an honor to meet with you Sir Torres and madam Sofia."
They smiled and nodded. Torres said, "We came to make sure the awakening process runs well and is safe. So, Sir Adam, you can go all out and entrust your safety to us."
"Then I can feel at ease. Thank you."
"Okay, let me tell you how this will work. When you said, something in your chest reacted for a moment when the formation was running, it means your natural mana generator, your 'invheart'—which stands for invisible heart— is okay and should function normally.
I hypothesize the reason it doesn't always work is because the mana in your body is already full, so it has to stop generating mana, otherwise it would endanger your safety.
This is the difference between the innate physique that you have and a normal physique. If I had to make an analogy, a normal physique is like kettle which is used to boil some water. When the water is boiled, it produces steam which will exit through a hole in the neck of the kettle. So what will happen if the hole is closed?"
"The pressure will blow up the kettle? "Cleon answered unconsciously.
Nadine smiled and nodded to Cleon, "Exactly, it can also happen to the innate physique. If the invheart doesn't stop generating the mana when the mana has already filled the body, the mana will harm the body. So the invheart stops when the mana has completely filled the body as a defense mechanism of the body.
That's why the mana detector didn't see any activity from the invheart. Mana leaks out of normal physiques, so the invheart is constantly replenishing their mana reserves, but that isn't the case for the innate physique."
Then, Nadine took out a grain-sized pill and showed it to everyone, "This pill contains a very small amount of antimana material. Antimana material is a product which will absorb mana in the environment around it until it is neutralized completely, so it is a very reactive material. Only military projects which have already been approved by the kingdom can use it, so everyone here has to sign a magic contract to prevent this information from being leaked. Please sign the magic contracts before we continue."
Torres took out six scrolls and gave them to everyone. Adam, Cleon, and Pete were nervous at first, under the gazes of three Academy higher-ups, they could only sign it.
'There is no way back,' Adam complained.
'What are you afraid of? This magic contact will seal the information about this event from unwanted people. Only the six of us and kingdom higher-ups will know of this event. It will indirectly help us keep our secret if anything unexpected happens,'
'That makes sense.'
After everyone signed the magic contracts, Torres took all of them and burned them. Instantly, Adam felt a little dizzy. Adam felt like something was imprinted in his mind.
After that, Nadine gave Adam three pills," Each pill usually works for about three minutes. It means, you have nine minutes to awaken. If you take any more than that, it will be dangerous, and it might inflict permanent damage on your body. Do you understand?"
"Yes, let's do it now," Adam gritted his teeth.
"Okay, please move to the center of the formation."
After Adam walked to the center of the formation, she said, "Remember! consume a pill after the formation is activated. We begin in three seconds, three... two... one... Now!"
The formation was activated like before. Adam felt something in his chest react, this time he immediately consumed the pill he got from Nadine.
One second
Two seconds
For the first six seconds, he didn't feel anything. Then in the seventh second, an incredible pain occurred inside of his stomach, he felt something like a knife cut, dice, and tear at his insides. Every organ felt like it was being torn apart. His eyes went white and he wanted to scream, but he didn't have any power to do so. He could only lay on the floor, curled up in a ball. His tears started to flow. Then a sudden sharp pain from his brain made him faint, but a second later a greater pain from his bones washed through him, which felt like he was being crushed, waking him up.
It didn't take 30 seconds for him to want to give up, then he heard Eve's voice, 'Sorry for being late.'
The pain that he felt gradually subsided, it was still painful but compared before, it was more bearable.
'W-What t-took you s-so longgg?' Adam complained weakly.
'Don't talk! Save your energy and focus your attention on your chest, I think the key to your awakening is in your chest. I will give you some minutes. Oh, God... It is painful.'
Adam didn't know how, but Eve could take some of the pain that he felt. not wasting any more time, he focused his attention on his chest. He felt something beating furiously in his chest, it was not his heart, maybe it was his invheart. Every time it beat, a small amount of energy came from it, but this energy would be absorbed by the thing in his stomach quickly.
He had a gut feeling that if he was able to find out more, he would awaken, so he tried to feel every beat of his invheart despite the pain that he felt.
So in the next two and half minutes, he tried to familiarize himself with it, tried to control it, and manipulated the mana it had produced, but all of his efforts were in vain.
When the effect of the pill subsided and was finally gone, mana started to fill his body again. When he felt his mana was restored, the sensation of his invheart gradually faded away, so he took another pill and swallowed it.
***