Terem decided to train his magic in a place where he could relax and be near water at the same time. Coincidentally, the perfect place existed right outside of the town's border, a waterfall.
However, the closest waterfall was a popular swimming hole for children and adults alike due to its proximity and grandeur. Terem had been there once, and the most memorable part about it was the perpetual rainbow that shimmered in the haze created when the waterfall crashed down in the bubbling pool below. Plants and pillowy mosses covered every inch of rock around, making the area a perfect day trip location.
But, Terem wasn't heading towards this waterfall. He was heading further away to a pool about 10 miles from the village's edge. Also, the waterfall was relatively small, creating a perfect one-man pool which happened to be an ideal place for meditation.
Terem decided to run most of the way to the pool, warming up his mana circuit for his first day of magic training.
Once there, he stripped and gingerly dipped his whole body into the shallow pool. The waterfall beat down on his feet, creating a numb soothing sensation that relaxed Terem's whole body.
Closing his eyes to the beautiful scenery, Terem activated his mana sense. The world turned to a monochromatic black and white before his very eyes. Every living thing was outlined by tendrils of mana that gave away their presence. However, one color shone through the dead scenery like a sun. A pulsing maroon bead that lit the whole world. This was Terem's core.
Quietly, Terem observed his new heart, watching delicate threads of mana flow from it into the mana circuit and then into the environment beyond. All the mana was white.
After an hour of soaking, Terem began to shepherd his mana through the circuit, heating his body against the icy cold winter waterfall. Now that he thought about it, Terem was surprised that it hadn't turned to ice yet.
He shook his head, clearing the distracting thought from his head. His mind refocused on the mana flow and developed core. He silently deliberated on what he should do to start his first magic practice session.
After some thought, he first tried to expel some mana while picturing the small wisp of water that Tom had summoned when they first met. The mana eagerly moved towards Terem's pointer finger and gathered underneath his nail. Extending his pointer finger towards the air, he willed for the mana to leave his body and coalesce as the wisp he was imagining.
The mana bundled together into an even tighter sphere before permeating through what Terem thought to be his skin and entering the air.
However, everything fell apart here, literally. The sphere of compacted mana quickly dispersed after leaving the domain of Terem's mana circuit, joining the millions of threads that wove the mana web all around him. The atmosphere welcomed the donation as its own and the mana was lost within milliseconds.
Apparently, it wasn't his mana anymore; it was the world's mana. Terem only took note of this before trying again. The result, however, remained the same without any altercation. Once again, Terem's mana was dispersed into the matrix of mana in the air.
Again and again, Terem attempted to form the mana into a wisp that spits out a fountain of water. It didn't even need to be that much; even a suspended water droplet would suffice. But still, after an hour of trials, nothing had changed.
So, Terem concluded that casting magic wasn't as easy as Tom made it out to be.
Slowly but surely, Terem's mana began to deplete faster than his breathing and core could passively refill it. Terem could only reopen his eyes and return the next day once his mana circuit was properly refilled. Terem's eyes fluttered open. However, instead of a glaring dusk skyline like he expected to see, Terem's vision was greeted by a star-speckled sky with the two striking red and green moons floating above the cliffs like pocked marbles.
He stood up in the cold water, finally letting out a shiver since his dry mana circuit had stopped acting as an inbuilt AC unit. Throwing on his clothes, he headed back to the village to catch a full night's worth of rest.
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Days later, Terem ran back to the pool to resume his experiments. This time, he had finally resolved to abandon the idea of manifesting mana outside of his body and instead focused on what Tom told him to focus on, adapting his core into another body part.
So, to accomplish this, he had to understand what his core could do, along with the best way to control it. This was easier said than done. Terem, however, knew how to go about moving his core. Since he had created it, it was only logical that he understood it. And with that, Terem dove back into the pool, eager to twist his experiment in a new direction.
Activating his mana sense, Terem focused on the almost pulsing red sphere located in the center of his chest. Without touching it, he could feel the vast amount of energy it contained. It was a vessel filled to the brim with power, ready to be emptied and refilled.
And that's how it clicked. Terem finally understood the purpose of the mana core. It wasn't a control center like he had previously imagined. It wouldn't literally make his mana his own, no. The mana core was the storage vessel and factory of his body. It produced mana and distributed it through his body while the mana circuit operated and controlled the mana flow entirely.
The revelation was almost shocking to Terem. All the evidence had been right in front of him, and he still missed it. He wanted to slap himself. But now, he knew what direction to take his experiments in.
Tenderly, he pushed his consciousness into the mana core, allowing the energy within to overwhelm his senses. It was powerful. Very powerful. And somehow, very different.
Oddly enough, it didn't feel like the normal mana that could be found everywhere within the environment. Although heavily condensed, the energy still felt... weird. Alien even. But, it was familiar in an inexplicable way.
So, like any logical human being, Terem tried to force the mana into his mana circuit. Unsurprisingly, it resisted his efforts. The pool of energy remained stagnant within its home, not budging an inch or even wavering. But still, Terem pulled and tugged and pried until his mental state was too exhausted to continue any further. That was the end of day six.
Terem was met with the same amount of success for the next week as he attempted to extract the core's mana through various methods. Some of the ideas he had were borderline insane, but he tried them anyway, hoping against hope that one just might succeed. Every day, the mana that passively gathered within his circuit depleted and he turned in for the night, wishing that the next day would bring success. And yet, the core's mana never budged aside from leaking out from the mana core in a steady trickle.
It took another week for Terem to find some semblance of success.
That day, he was meditating in the pool underneath the waterfall. Although he now knew that being in proximity with water wouldn't help him understand water magic at all, the gentle thrum of the waterfall did help Terem fall into a meditative state.
At this time, Terem was prodding his mana core, trying to figure out why excess mana leaked out of it. In his mind, he imagined that little pores in the core expanded once the pressure began to push upon the core's wall, allowing excess tendrils of mana to leak out. So, all Terem would have to do is consciously control these pores into expanding, letting out regulated bursts of mana into his body. With this mana, he would be able to capture some of his passive mana in a capsule and transport it outside his body, finally casting his first magic spell.
It was a genius plan; although, it wasn't right.
Terem mentally commanded his core to expand the pores that lined its surface. However, what actually happened was completely different.
Either his control over his core wasn't very strong, or his mental control did the wrong thing, but the result remained as clear as daylight. The core seemingly activated and pushed mana out of the pores with the intensity of a manga artist on top of their deadline; however, this had an unintended consequence. For some reason, the excess mana fought with the mana already infesting Terem's mana circuit and began to expel it from Terem's body without replacing it. Instead, it only compacted into a denser, faster, and angrier snake-like tendril.
The rogue snake ravaged Terem's body as the concentrated mana pushed out the world energy like it was a fifth-grade bully hustling the school nerd. However, the concentrated mana didn't bother to fill in the empty spots. To Terem, he felt like he was suffocating. Sure, he had depleted his mana circuit many times before, but never this fast. He imagined that his body was withering once again as he gasped, only to be greeted with a mouthful of water instead of air.
Too late, he realized that his body had slumped below the water's surface, and he was actually drowning while being ravaged by mana. His eyes shot open and he scrambled up the bank, hacking up soggy air from his lungs.
Soon, his body had run out of mana and only the concentrated mana from his core remained to prowl through the empty mana circuit like an outlaw in the Wild West.
Breathing shakily, Terem brought himself to look at his mana circuit once more. With every breath, he saw mana enter his body, only to be beaten away by the rogue energy.
That was when Terem finally passed out due to the strain put upon his body.