Luke took the first pill. Swallowing hard, Luke felt the small sphere pass through his throat.
Then, he closed his eyes, concentrating on extracting the energy from the pill.
This process took a few minutes. In the end, he felt a certain amount of mana spread through his body.
Luke repeated the same process with the other pills, and as a result, the amount of mana in his body increased.
'There's something wrong.'
Harvestz felt uncomfortable, he knew something was wrong. Before absorbing the pills, his mana wad concentrated in one place, in his core.
Now, after absorbing the pills, he felt that the mana wad scattered, in disarray.
'I need help.'
Luke got up, picked up the elixir from the floor, and left the room.
He had to quicken his steps, the sun was almost setting, and it was likely that his possible help was on its way home.
Knowing this, Luke made his way across the academy campus as quickly as possible.
Upon reaching the main building, he had to climb a series of stairs, the office of the director, the person he intended to ask for help, is on the top floor of the building.
After climbing the last step, Luke put his hands on his knees.
'I urgently need to start the exercises my grandfather gave me.'
This simple run tired Luke, making his breathing more difficult.
Even the weakest of soldiers can run that distance and not get tired. Unlike Luke, they are physically fit.
Catching his breath, Luke started walking again.
Stopping in front of the principal's door, Luke was about to knock. However, to his surprise, the door opened.
"You may come in." Said a voice from inside the room.
Following the instructions, Luke entered the room. After going through the door, it closed on its own.
'Incredible.'
Luke wad impressed. The door was opened and closed by mana manipulation. And this is only possible for powerful mages.
Using mana to move something is different from telekinesis
"Look what we have here."
Luke glanced at the woman sitting behind the desk, the last time he saw her was during the entrance ceremony for the new students.
Her name is Margaret, she is a commoner who was chosen as one of the heroes, the mage of light. The God mark on your left hand is proof.
Margaret, along with the other heroes, fought in the last war. She was one of two survivors.
When she returned victorious, she was offered a peerage, but to everyone's surprise, she declined.
Ten years ago, the post of director of the imperial academy became available. This position was offered to her, and she ended up accepting it.
Many admire and respect her. Among them is Luke, this admiration and respect led him to seek her help.
"How can I help you?"
"I think I did something wrong."
"Sit down and explain."
Following Margaret's instructions, Luke pulled out one of the chairs facing the table and sat down.
"I bought some pills to increase my magic power, and I think I did something wrong. Ms. Margaret, can you help me?"
"Mr. Harvest, why didn't you ask one of the teachers for help?"
"Don't call me sir, I feel old. Please call me Luke."
The term lord or lady is used to refer to someone with respect, regardless of age.
"Are you, Luke, saying I'm old?"
Margaret is 45 years old, she would not be considered old by society.
"I wouldn't say old, old is my grandfather. You would be experienced."
"Hahaha, you're good with words."
'Charming.'
Luke thought as he saw the smile on the woman's face. Margaret has red hair and a ponytail, a pointy nose, a full mouth and a wart on the corner of her lips.
Personally, Luke doesn't think she's pretty, but she has an indescribable charm.
"Jokes aside. Can you answer my question?"
"I wanted the best help. Also, I don't think the teachers would take my request for help seriously."
"House Harvestz tramp. I think it's understandable that they don't take him seriously."
Luke had heard several nicknames, but this was the first time he'd heard the term bum addressed to him.
"Tramp?"
"You know. The one who doesn't do his chores or who lives carefree, who doesn't like to work. A bum."
That word perfectly defines Luke's past.
"Hmm... I see. Well, I've decided to change. So, I want your help. I need to make up for the time I wasted acting like a bum."
Margaret looked at the dark haired boy in front of her, Luke's determined eyes indicating he was telling the truth.
"Um, fine. Take off your shirt and sit on the floor, I'll see what's wrong with you."
Once again, Luke followed Margaret's orders. Taking off his shirt, he sat cross-legged on the floor and waited.
Margaret got up and walked towards Luke. As she approached, she sat behind him.
"What do you think is wrong?"
"My magic power, this is a mess."
"Ok I'll check."
She said and placed her hand on Luke's back, then she injected her own magic power into Luke's body.
She immediately understood what was wrong.
"The magic energy you absorbed from the pill this is scattered all over the place. You need to move it to your mana core."
That Luke already knew, he didn't know was how to move the absorbed energy to the core. Extracting mana from the core is easy, hard is the other way around.
"And how I do it?"
"I'll help you. Try to memorize how I'm going to move the mana in your body, if you memorize this process you won't have any problems in the future."
"OK."
Margaret again placed her hand on Luke's back. Then, she moved all the mana to the core.
"You got it?"
"I think so. Does it work with elixir too?"
"Yes."
"I brought one. Can I try to soak it up here?"
"Feel free."
Margaret said, getting up, leaving Luke seated and heading back to the table.
Luke took the bottle of elixir from his pocket, wasting no time, drank. The main component of the elixir is basilisk blood.
Upon being ingested, Luke's entire body shuddered at the terrible taste.
Margaret laughed at this scene.
After swallowing the liquid, Luke closed his eyes and concentrated on extracting the elixir's magical power.
Like the pills, he felt the mana extracted from the elixir spread through his body.
This time, he used the knowledge that Margaret passed on to him.
Luke understood that the body, is made up of multiple channels that allow mana to move.
Knowing this, he used these channels to absorb the mana scattered throughout the body and then directed it to the center.
He moved the mana in the opposite direction. When casting a spell, mana comes out of the core. Now, it was being moved in the opposite direction and being injected into the core.
This process took about five seconds to complete.
"I think I understand."
"What?"
"Can you check if I did it right?"
Approaching Luke, Margaret placed her hand on his back. Her eyes widened, the boy in front of her was telling the truth.
When he said he had made it, Margaret thought he was joking. But now, feeling it personally, she saw that the only magical power present in Luke was at his core.
'This boy did something incredible.'
He managed to absorb the power of an elixir perfectly on the first try. Normal people need to be instructed many times to learn.
Even Margaret herself had not done such a thing.
"Did I do it right?"
She snapped out of shock when she heard Luke's voice.
"Yes."
After a few seconds.
"Can you take your hand off me?"
Margaret's hand was cold, so Luke asked.
"Oh, sorry."
Margaret apologized in embarrassment.
"I have a crystal to measure magic power. Do you want to use it?"
"Yes."
Luke pulled on his shirt as he stood up. Margaret took the crystal and approached it.
"Put your hand on the crystal."
Following the instructions, he placed his hand on top of the crystal. Suddenly, a faint light appeared over him.
'F-Rank Final Phase.'
It was the words that appeared in the crystal. The classifications are divided into initial, medium and final state.
"A little more and you'll rise through the ranks."
"Yes."
To go from rank F to E, it is not necessary to increase magic power much. After all, they are the two lowest levels.
The higher the rank, the more magic power is needed to ascend.
After measuring its power, Luke said.
"Ms. Margaret, it's getting late. I need to get back to the dorm."
"You're right. By the way, don't call me ma'am, I feel old."
Margaret said the same thing Luke had said before.
"I see. I'll call you Margaret, how about that?"
"Better."
"Thanks for your help Margaret, I'm very grateful to you. Until next time."
"Up until."
After Luke left the room, Margaret sat down.
Before, the idea of making Luke her disciple had crossed her mind.
However, she already has Rebecca Roseir, the new light mage.
"I'll keep an eye on you, Luke."