Torrin looked at the bowl sitting atop his plate with a look of apprehension.
'Broth and bread? I was preparing to devour a delicious feast with unlimited options at my engagement ceremony, but no, I just had to die... Now I'm faced with broth and bread? This is too much...' Torrin's spirit fell as he looked at his "dinner".
Old lady Thalia bowed her head, with eyes closed, saying with great reverence, "Thank the gods above for this feast, may it nourish us so that we may be successful in carrying out the trials laid before us."
'Thank the gods for this feast, eh?' Torrin's eyes narrowed as he examined the meal with intense scrutiny. He didn't know who these gods were, but he prayed for a bit better fare for the next feast.
The other children, Martha, Tim and Tom, all had their heads bowed--peaking through lashes-- as Thalia went through the prayer. Torrin stared at them in shock, seeing the greedy faces they were making as they looked at the "feast" before them.
Once the prayer was finished, they all began to sip loudly from the bowl of broth, savoring the lingering taste as the liquid slid down to their stomach.
Dinner consisted of pork bone broth, a hunk of bread, and two small nibbles worth of cheese. Torrin was surprised to see Thalia only eating as much as the children.
"Thank you for this meal," Torrin intoned with the rest of the kids once they'd finished the meager fare. Everyone put their wooden bowls and plates in the sink and gathered around the table on their cushions once more for the nightly lessons.
'No wonder Little Lark is barely more than skin and bones, unable to swim a couple feet to the shore,' Torrin admonished in his mind as his stomach grumbled unhappily. He was unsure where this petulant attitude was coming from, but it helped him to avoid thinking about his tragedy.
"Alright, everyone, we've got a few subjects to go through tonight before free time, so let's get started," Thalia said with a wide smile on her face, obviously relishing in the unhappy faces around their circle, "We'll continue our lessons on the History of Lisson Kingdom."
In her hands, Thalia held a book labeled 'History of Lisson'; it was a book with only a few pages, bound in wood.
She began reading to the children about the history of the Kingdom--now Queendom-- of Lisson. About 300 years ago, King Herrold Lisson was chosen lead a campaign into the Beast Lands. At the time, Herrold was only ranked as a Duke of the then Ferron Kingdom. King Albon Ferron wanted to claim all the lands within 500 miles of his capital, and sent Herold out as his general, to lead the charge.
Herrold was only a yellow core mage at the time but, he led the army well, clearing out swathes of land, 10 mile chunks at a time. He led his army to kill all of the "mana" beasts within the territory, leaving soldiers to make outposts along the way.
These outposts slowly grew into villages, and some into towns and cities that are well known today.
Herrold returned to the capital to report the good news of his campaign to the king. However, the king was deathly ill and not long for this life. As his last decree, with no worthy heirs as he never had children of his own, he declared that Herrold would ascend to take the throne.
The lands were named the Lisson Kingdom, and leadership has followed his genetic lineage since then, up to the current Queen Wyma Lisson.
'There's no possible way it went down like that, right? History is written by the winner... Old Herrold must have pulled one over on the kingdom... Deathly ill my ass. It sounds highly suspicious at the very least.' Torrin thought after hearing the tale.
"So, does anyone have questions?" Thalia asked with a slight smile playing on her lips as her gaze swept over the four kids circled around her. Tim's--or maybe it was Tom's-- hand shot up excitedly, a huge grin on their face.
"Can you tell us about the battles that happened?!" The twin asked excitedly, squirming on his cushion.
"Once you go to the Academy, you will learn about the battles more in-depth," Thalia's mouth twitched downward for only a moment as she replied smoothly, but Torrin saw the slight slip in her cheery facade. He was unsure if the slip was caused by the thought of the battles or the Academy.
A small discussion followed as the kids tried to wrap their minds around 300 year old history. Torrin stayed silent and noticed Thalia eyeing him warily.
'Ah shit, I need to act more like Little Lark or else old lady Thalia is gonna get suspicious of me.' Torrin thought, trying to decide if he cared.
"Mother Thalia, I was wondering about the Academy! When would we be able to go there?" Thalia's gaze softened as she answered Torrin's question, informing the children that anyone who had awoken their core by the age of 14 was allowed into the Academy. Anyone who had not awoken their cores could look to become apprentices of trades in their village, or attend a Trade School which would teach the basics of different crafts, though this option was expensive and unlikely to be taken by anyone from Velin.
Thalia went through all the books she had available to teach, 'History of Lisson', 'Introduction to Mathematics', and 'Reading and Writing Practice', before finally arriving at the topic Torrin--and the others-- had been waiting for, 'Basics of Mana'.
"Okay, now pay attention everyone. This will be the most important information that I can impart to you! We've spoken about mana before, but I was finally able to procure a book that will help you begin to practice," Thalia reminded before returning her attention to the book, 'Basics of Mana', before she read aloud.
As Thalia began to read, Torrin's eyes opened wide, his ears perked up, and his posture straightened. This was the kind of information he was desperate for in this new world.
"The mana core is located in the center of the chest, just beside where the heart is located. Meditation is key to unlocking the mana core, as only meditation can bring a person to a state of being that is able to understand mana and the inner workings of your body..." She trailed off, eyes scanning the kids to be sure they were paying attention, "Entering the meditative state, a person must open themselves up to the world, allowing mana to seep into their very being through their mana veins. As the mana begins to gather in the center of the body, it will slowly gather around the inert core.
"Once enough mana has gathered, one must use their mana to push against the wall of the inert core, forming a crack in its surface that will allow mana to enter into it. This process is slightly painful, as it is essentially harming a part of your body, but this is necessary in order to make any use of the inert core."
As Thalia continued her explanation, Torrin's eyes remained fixed on her. He didn't know if he'd blinked in minutes, the other kids' gazes just as rapt.
'This is a little different than forming a vessel for vital essence... Seems like people are already born with some sort of mold to base their mana core from...' he mused as Thalia continued her explanation.
"Once a crack has formed, a person must gather the mana inside the cracked inert core, using the shell as an outline for forming the mana core. Once a sufficient amount of mana has been gathered, the shell will begin to crack apart completely. The mana you have gathered will be used to absorb the remains of the inert core, before condensing it into a new and active core."
As Thalia finished her intro, her gaze slowly crossed over each of them. She took in the wide-eyed expressions on each face. She closed the book with a look of contentment and advised each of them to sit cross-legged on their cushion while "clearing the mind".
Torrin immediately took her advise, crossing his legs and emptying his mind of everything. As he finally had time to stop and think, he was quickly overwhelmed with everything that had happened and was currently happening to him.
As he pushed away thoughts of death and reincarnation, Little Lark dying, his new appearance, and this new world he'd entered, he finally found himself in an endless darkness once more. Though it was troubling to get there, he now relished in the relative peace. With his eyes closed, he saw faint shimmers of light floating around.
Torrin assumed this was just his mind making random patterns and images as he tried to calm himself, but as the lights continued to float around, he soon realized this must be mana. Following the instructions he'd been given, he brought his focus inside of himself. He breathed slowly, feeling the air enter and exit his lungs in a soothing rhythm, his heart beat slowing down as he focused.
He let his consciousness roam his body slowly as he continued his rhythmic breathing. In the center of his abdomen he finally came upon his inert core. It was a small, black lump of a thing, like a small ball. The ball was surrounded by a small, empty cavern with tiny pathways trailing off to the rest of his body, and he assumed that must be his mana veins.
Once he'd found the core, he followed the mana veins through his system--he noticed some motes of mana in his system already, few and far between. He eventually returned his focus outside of himself. He searched once again for the motes of light floating all around him as he continued breathing, now focused intently on absorbing mana for the first time.
As he did with collecting vital essence, he slowly extended his mind outwards toward the lights, creating a pseudo-tendril with pure willpower. The lights seemed to latch onto the tendril he'd sent out, and he slowly pulled them towards himself. He felt mana enter his being on purpose for the first time and gasped, nearly losing control of his tendril. It felt as if he'd just drank the most refreshing glass of water, or had the most successful day of sword training.
It was a feeling of completeness in his soul, the bliss of finding a missing piece of yourself. He led the small motes of mana through his body--through his mana veins--to the black ball. The motes gravitated towards his inert core. Once they reached the core, the mana floated around it, like debris just outside the atmosphere of a planet he once saw through a telescope in his old world. The thought nearly made him lose control of his meditative state as thoughts of Perria tried invading his mind.
He reached out for more and more mana, his tendril shooting out and returning like the tongue of a frog, creating an entire meteor shower worth of debris. In actuality, it was only twenty tiny motes of mana at most, but it was progress. The mana slowly rotated around the core as he coaxed it round and round, trying not to allow it to float back outside his body. Once there was sufficient momentum, the mana continued its circuit around the core and he didn't have to babysit it any longer.
'This doesn't seem too hard with my experience of absorbing vital essence.' Torrin thought with great relief, seeing the flow of mana continue around his core. Another flickering thought of his old world was quickly shut out.
He continued the practice until he felt a light nudge on his arm. He left his mana flowing as he opened his eyes to the astonished look on everyone's faces.
'What did I do now?' He thought, noticing sweat dripping down into his eyes, he wiped it away on his scratchy sleeve, hoping that was the reason for the strange looks he was receiving.
"Little Rin, were you able to sense the mana?" Thalia asked with a smile on her face that didn't quite reach her eyes.
'See the mana?! I already gulped down as much as I could get my little tendrils on!' Torrin thought to himself with amusement, showing an outward expression of disappointment. Something in Thalia's gaze told him revealing this might not be the best idea.
"I thought I saw it, but the more I looked, the less focused I became..." Torrin trailed off with feigned disappointment, a frown marring his face as he shrugged--lying straight to her face.
"That's okay, Rin, you will all keep trying! Today we only spent one hour meditating, so it's no surprise no one was successful. Starting tomorrow we'll do at least two hours daily to make sure you kids are ready!" Thalia stated with confidence. Thalia cheered on the kids, making sure they weren't too hard on themselves.
'She really seems like a nice old lady, but I can't help but think something is weird about the looks she keeps giving me,' Torrin mused after hearing her pep talk and being dismissed for the night.
As the others ran outside to play in front of the house, Thalia led him to one of the side rooms inside--a storeroom for food and supplies for the orphanage-- and advised him to sleep in there for the night, so he wouldn't be disturbed by the others as he rested.
Once he was alone in the dimly lit storeroom, Torrin took the opportunity to think over everything that had happened since coming to the world and decided to continue practicing his mana gathering.
'I was quite successful cultivating vital essence in my previous life, so I should hopefully have some type of talent for mana...' Torrin thought hopefully, a hint of desperation to his thoughts that he ignored.
Deep into the night, Torrin left his meditative state and could hear light snores coming through the curtain door from the main room where everyone but Thalia slept. His mind was fatigued by the strenuous exercise of controlling mana. He had, however, made substantial progress with gathering mana, and believed within the next couple of days he'd be able to crack open his core to begin his journey of becoming a mage.
'Then what will I do? Is there a way to get back to my own world? Do I even want to with assassins running around murdering noblemen and princesses?' Torrin found it hard to reconcile himself to a plan, so he decided to just take it one day at a time for now, with a focus on gathering mana and getting used to his new body. Tears welled in the corner of his eyes and he shook his head as if it could rid him of the torrent of emotions that pressed in on every part of his mind if he allowed himself a single moment of thought.
As Torrin lay down to sleep, mind whirling with thoughts of his past and future, a hooded figure--darker than the moonless night-- crouched on the roof of the bakery in Velin. The figure's eyes never left the door of the orphanage across the way.