The seasons changed as the bright spring fell upon Maradona, the blistering summer heat came, followed by the gloomy fall. Winter once again befell the land and 1 year had passed.
Daron had already told Traitorous that he needed the old man to inject mana into his body for him to be able to learn it faster.
According to Sirious, explanations from the old man had stopped having any effect on his understanding of mana, and there were only two ways left. One was to read books on the past experiences of different mage apprentices finally sensing mana. This method would take at least 10 years for him to complete, which was actually the normal amount of time taken for a human with enough talent to sense mana.
The other method, which not many people could use was to have a Rank 1 mage inject mana into them for them to be able to feel that mana. However, this was incredibly dangerous for a single reason which stopped most people from using it. Mana, was inherently radioactive. Which meant that even just sensing it causes one's body to be continuously eroded by the mana. Naturally, there were ways to slow that down including 'Body constitution positions'. However, one could not have more than a single potion every week, which still ended up making the bodies of all mages below Rank 4 incredibly week.
That was the price one had to pay for mana. You had to give up your body in order to learn mana. That was why, many knights who had some talent in mana, and had tried to follow both, were stuck at a stalemate between absorbing a little bit of mana, and then using their Internal energy to heal the mana, which basically doubled their training time, making it impossible for them to achieve much of anything as a mage or as a knight. Furthermore, both the knights' 'herbs' and the mages' 'potions' had their limits on consumption due to the effects on the body, which further limited those people since the after effects of both of these were overlapping, meaning that one could only have one of these drugs every now and then, forcing them to choose between Internal Energy and Mana. The worst was the fact that Mana eroded not only their bodies, but also the Internal Energy within them.
However, Daron had Sirious with him. She could, using the main system, expel the left-overs from the herbs and possible even the potions. Furthermore, according to Sirious, there was a 94% chance for the submitted Internal Energy to heal the damages done to his body through a session of mana injection within 2 hours!
With this kind of assurance, why would he not wish to comprehend mana faster and advance to a beginner apprentice!
"Tch. Brat, you are ruining your body with your greed."
"Old man. Just trust me. Also, once I become a beginner apprentice, I will be temporarily stopping work here so that I can set up my business in the capital."
"Why would you want to set up a business. And what is with this confidence. I think you forgot when I told you that only 1 out of 1,000,000 people have the talent to become a beginner apprentice and walk the path of mages, and from those, only 1 out of 1000 people with the talent get the opportunity to try and become a beginner apprentice. And even from that number, only 1 out of 100 people who get the opportunity actually successfully become a beginner apprentice. Essentially, a person have a 1 in a hundred billion chance to become a beginner mage. You have mediocre talent, which means that your upper limit is at least a Rank 2 mage, however, that does not mean you will reach that upper limit. Based on your talent and the fact that I, the great Traitorous am helping you, you still have a 0.01 % chance to become a beginner apprentice."
"Hehe, old man. Don't worry. I will definitely become a beginner apprentice. As for the business, I need money. Let me tell you that all I need is more 'herbs' to advance my Internal Energy without needing to spend too much time on Internal Energy. This way, I can fully focus on Mana and Mages, while my Internal energy grows along with it with minimal effort and maximum money."
Traitorous looked at Daron for a long time before face-palming and sighing before speaking.
"Remember I told you about the currency that mages use? Magic crystals?"
"Yes. Why?"
"You fool! Magic crystals are incredibly valuable to apprentices. A magic stone is a higher-level currency that the ones used by the mortal kingdoms like Pierre. There is no fixed value, but as long as you want something, magic stones can get you anything in the mortal world!"
"… How do I get magic stones then? I also need to repay you."
"Hmph. Good thing you did not forget. As for how do you get them? I will tell you once you become a beginner apprentice. For now, Let's get that mana injection session of yours over and done with. Let's see if your body can survive this!"
As the old man said this, he waved his hand and press his flat palm into Daron's head, injecting a small amount of mana into his body, which immediately cause that part of the skin to begin to lose colour and turn white.
However, Daron had already entered his subconscious, waiting for Sirious to comprehend what mana was.
[Understanding of Man has reached 42%]
…
[Understanding of Man has reached 68%]
[Understanding of Man has reached 69%]
…
[Understanding of Man has reached 89%]
…
[Understanding of Man has reached 99%]
…
[Understanding of Man has reached 100%]
[Constructing data on mana]
[Constructing mental Image of mana]
As soon as that was completed, Daron suddenly noticed that there was a tiny thread of pure white energy that was trying to enter the darkness that was his subconscious.