Three months had passed after Raizen started teaching his grandson about the Soul Arts.
At first, he only taught him how to strengthen his soul using the Soul Cultivation Method through visualization of the mysterious woman in the painting which he calls the Star Goddess.
However, after confirming that Vincent was steadily increasing his soul energy, he started to teach proper Soul Arts that could help his physical body in combat.
Raizen looked at his grandson with a satisfied smile on his face.
Currently, Vincent is attempting to shatter a large rock with his fist.
Bam!
Bam!
Bam!
After three consecutive punches, Vincent would stop to stabilize his Soul Aura. He would do this repeatedly until cracks started appearing on the large rock…
He may not be able to shatter it in a couple of punches but a hundred of them could.
Crack!
'One more!' Vincent shouted in his mind as soon as he saw that the rock is about to give in.
Bam!
After concentrating his Soul Energy on his fist, he finally shattered the rock into many pieces.
"Ah! That felt so much better!" Vincent couldn't help but celebrate after seeing the result of his hard work.
Apparently, he could do this as well with his Tier 1 Surging Palm Strike using his Mana.
Mana Gloves, Surging Palm Strike, Swift Wave, and Shrouded Steps. These are the four Tier 1 Techniques he learned when he started his training as a magician.
If he uses the palm strike, he can shatter a large rock by expending at least 14 to 20 units of Mana depending on its size.
However, this time, he just used his Soul Aura and boosted his physical strength to shatter it with his fist.
Vincent even started calling the Soul Aura as an Internal Force thanks to his discovery after an Appraisal he did to a drained Beast Core.
A few hours ago, Vincent asked his grandpa something about the Beast Cores.
"Grandpa, what do you do to a drained Beast Core? After I absorbed the mana inside, do I just throw it away?"
Raizen raised his brows after hearing the question.
"Well, you can do that… However, you can also use that to train your Soul Aura. Beast Cores has a mysterious special property after all."
"Oh? A special property?" Vincent was curious.
"Yes… Hold the drained core in one hand and try to use your Soul Aura…"
"Hmm? Alright."
Vincent did as he was told and circulated his Soul Aura after holding the drained Beast Core.
After that, the dull Core turned red!
"This… What happened?" Vincent squinted his eyes as he suddenly felt his Soul Aura remain inside the core.
This is very interesting so he immediately asked his grandpa to get an answer.
"Amazing, right? It could store your Soul Aura… However, you can't take back the Aura that was absorbed by the Core."
"Eh? Then what's it used for?" Vincent asked.
"Well, I only know a few things where it can be used. It's through Alchemy or training."
Vincent went silent as he didn't want to miss anything.
"For alchemy, I heard it can be used to create items that allow them to impersonate the owner of the Aura. That sounds like a lot of trouble so I haven't seen anyone do it. Anyway, you can use the drained core to train your Aura Control. Next time, try to circulate your Aura without them being absorbed by the core."
"Circulate my Aura without it getting absorbed?"
Vincent was speechless. He didn't even feel his Aura gets absorbed by the drained core. It was as if it happened instantly! How can he stop that when his Aura gets absorbed as soon as he tried to activate it!
Nevertheless, Vincent accepted the challenge only to fail after many tries.
In the end, he thought of Appraising the Beast Core. Previously, he was unable to Appraise it since it was considered an Enhancement Stone.
However, it should be different now that it contains Soul Aura instead of Mana.
[ Do you want to Appraise the item? ]
'Yes!'
Vincent answered and checked the notification that popped out.
Ding!
[ Appraisal has been successful. ]
[ You have discovered an Energy Stone. ]
[ Energy Stone ]
[ Quality: Unknown
Durability: 10/10
Internal Force: 2
Description: A stone containing a little bit of Internal Force that can be used as an Energy Source. The Internal Force contained can also attract a certain type of Magic Beasts.
Remarks: This item can not be enhanced. ]
This result of his Appraisal allowed him to understand that his soul aura is similar to the Internal Force of martial artists in his previous life.
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Suddenly, Vincent heard his grandpa violently coughing.
"Grandpa!"
He immediately went to his side and took a medicinal pill from a jar beside his grandpa. The pill was something that Thierry left to Raizen after hearing how he suffered internal injuries. It may not heal him completely but it could at least give him strength and alleviate some painful symptoms of the injury.
Raizen swallowed the medicine and gave a light smile to Vincent.
"Vincent… You did well in learning everything I taught you..."
"That's because you're a good teacher, Grandpa. You still have a lot of things to teach me. So you have to get better…" Vincent said with a cheeky smile on his face.
"You brat… You really don't want me to take a rest. Haa~ You're already strong. Just keep practicing your Mana Arts and Soul Arts." Raizen weakly said.
Vincent sighed as he saw his grandfather getting weaker and weaker.
"Vincent… I've been thinking all these years whether I should tell you another piece of information I've kept from you. I thought of telling you this once you're old enough but it seems I won't last that long."
Vincent knitted his brows.
'A secret? Right now?'
"I'm listening, grandpa." Vincent replied.
"Hmm… The truth is… after you were brought to me by your mother, she didn't just tell me that you have a low-grade talent as a Mana Practitioner. You also have an arranged marriage with the daughter of the Zemin Clan's current patriarch."