Two months later
I used this time to increase my mana capacity. I never once left the top of the carriage. Instead I had erected several barriers around me and cut off my connection to the outside world. I used my Sage Nirvana Technique and my mana had reached a whole new level. I could cover the whole of the country of Linchestin with my mana and still have more than enough to spare. I exited my meditative state and enjoyed the breeze of the cool night air. However, my enjoyment was cut by a voice I dislike. Maria spoke.
"Are you hungry Isaac?"
"No"
"But you haven't eaten for a long while now."
"I said no so stop asking. It's annoying."
Ashley stepped in.
"Aren't you being a bit too harsh Isaac? Tone it down a bit."
"Okay"
I then asked the driver to stop the carriage and got off of it. Maria popped her head out.
"What are you doing?
I grabbed my backpack and closed the carriage door.
"I'll meet you guys at the academy."
Without allowing them a chance to speak or protest, I vanished.
"With my speed, I'll be there in a few minutes"
I flew and passed through a few villages. I was soon reach the gate of the Imperial Academy. I landed about a kilometre away and erased my presence completely. I ran the rest of the way and jumped over the walls. If I flew, I would've been detected by the guards. I went around the building and stood on one of the four pillars surrounding the academy.
"Let's see. If I use detection magic, I would most likely alert the guards or even the principal, even if it's my enhanced version. I guess it's time to see whether my hypothesis will work. I hope I don't burst my eye."
I started directing a steady stream of mana into my right eye to enhance it's capabilities. Soon I could expand the spectrum range my eye could observe but it was painful absorbing all that information at once.
"Let me try tweaking my mana frequency a bit."
I worked at it bit by bit and soon I could only see infrared like I wanted. I then enhanced the flow of mana in the specific frequency pattern I created so that I can see more detailed colours in infrared. In order to adapt, my blue iris turned red and my pupils now looked like a three petal lotus. I figured out that as I increase the amount of mana in my eye, I would gain another petal respectively. I had eight petals in my eye and I could see the heat signatures of everything clearly, even the grass had a heat signature. Also for the human body, I could see specific temperatures. Even the temperature of the muscles as they moved could be observed. I also noticed that those with higher temperatures have higher mana fluctuations.
"This is amazing. I never even began to think that mana has temperature also. However it's not reliable enough. Temperature is subject to many variables."
Soon my eye started to hurt since I was channelling a lot of mana into it and my veins were still delicate. I regressed it back to normal.
"Let me try another experiment with my left eye. This time, I want to be able to purely see mana."
I had a few concepts I had thought about since mana isn't something you can see but feel. I also noticed through my research that those who claim they're able to see mana usually have pale eyes or some special type of pupil. With that concept in my mind, I shut off all my senses and attempted to feel the mana with my eye. My pupil gradually grew more grey and eventually a very pale white. What I was once able to percieve as light vanished. Everything appeared in shades of black.
"I guess my brain is registering areas it can't properly see as black and grey. However, I can clearly see the mana veins of a person and their core. This is a pretty neat abili-"
I felt a presence approaching me very fast.
"I only have a few split seconds before it finds me."
I quickly used a new skill I had once thought of which was Instinct Teleportation. It wasn't necessarily teleportation but more of handing over control to my body and letting it go to the nearest safe place I registered in my head. This cut the hassle of my body having to send messages between my brain and muscles and would just purely move on instinct. The benefits were it activated much much faster than teleportation and I had much faster acceleration while the disadvantages were I'd lose my consciousness for a while. The last thing I saw as I activated Instinct Teleportation was a hand reaching out to grab me as my body moved on its own and I became unconscious. I soon woke up inside the carriage. My head was on Maria's lap. As I looked up, I saw her concerned face as she was stroking my cheek. Her eyes brightened when she saw I was awake.
"You're okay!!!"
There was genuine happiness in her heart. I could not detect any facade or malice from her. I suddenly felt guilty.
"Why are you treating me so well despite how I've been treating you? Just why?!?!?!"
"Because I know you genuinely care about me. It's not because of hate or malice but because you're concerned I'd be taken advantage of."
I was lost for words as I basked in that warm feeling I missed since I was a kid. Maria used hold me like this when I was still experimenting with my mana and other magic. I also taught her a few things back then.
"Why are you crying Isaac?"
I hadn't noticed that a tear had come out of my eye. I dug my head into her stomach and wrapped my arms around her waist.
"Just shut up and let me sleep."
At that moment, Ashley chose to make a remark while smiling.
"Did thee Isaac Drake just feel embarrassed?"
I wasted no time in kicking her. She was sent flying through the carriage door. Maria and I also made up that night.
3 days later
We arrived at the academy. I had told them of what had happened here when I first arrived. Maria was worried about me while Ashley laughed at me. We exited the carriage and entered the reception room. We were greeted by a student about the same age as us. He had golden hair and blue eyes like me and he was the student council president.
"Good afternoon. We're happy to welcome you here at the Imperial Academy. My name is Markus Vivel. Lady Raika Gazel will be the teacher for young master Isaac and young mistress Ashley.
Besides him was an older woman who looked like she was in her early 30s. I couldn't stop looking at her as I found her figure to be quite stunning. Her beautiful short purple hair, her lovely pale skin and a well endowed body made me completely unaware of the world around me as I focused on her. I unconsciously spoke.
"Older women are indeed the best."
All of them instantly looked at me. Lady Raika was in a mixture of rage and embarrassment. Maria and Ashley looked at me with contempt while Markus tried to remedy the situation.
...
We had to seperate from Maria and she was hesitant in being away from me as she followed Markus to the fifth year's class. Lady Raika guided us to her class where she taught the first years.
"Here we are. You may introduce yourselves."
Ashley stepped forward. All attention was on her as she introduced herself.
"My name is Ashley Steelwater. I hope you'll take care of me.
She recieved a round of applause as the boys fawned over her. It was my turn so I stepped up. I looked at them for a while and then spoke.
"My name is Isaac. Thank you."
The class was silent as I immediately went for the vacant corner seat by the window. One of the boys thought it would be funny to extend their foot out in order to trip me. I wasted no time in stepping on it, effectively breaking it in the process. He cried out and I continued walking. I took my seat and smiled as I saw his face filled with tears. He was soon being healed by another female student specialising in healing magic.
"Tch the technique and the usage of mana is highly inefficient."
The whole class looked at me with contempt. I stood up and made my way over to her. I grabbed his foot.
"Look. This is how it's done."
I showed her my revised version of healing magic but not the complete one. I left that part for myself. Her eyes beamed with happiness as she said her thanks. Before she got up, I grabbed her.
"Don't go yet. I want to see how much you've improved."
"But there's no one injured at the moment."
"Here's one."
I proceeded to break the boy's foot again. Almost everyone gasped. Ashley giggled.
"There he goes again."
I restrained him with my telekinesis when he screamed as I sealed his mouth shut and held him still. I told her to heal him. She was hesitant and I grabbed her hand.
"In a battle, you will face many situations where your allies are injured. You'll be short on time and you'll have to be wary of magic attacks and projectiles like arrows everytime. I just broke his leg in front of you. If that makes you shake, then you're not ready to be deployed in battle. In fact forget the battlefield, you aren't even suitable for a hospital."
The class was silent as they realised the truth in my words. Lady Raika didn't interfere at all with my impromptu teaching session. I healed the boy's legs and stood up.
"Once you have the guts and resolve, come find me for another session."
I went and took my seat at the corner and slept.