"That didn't take long; I thought you would need more time to think." Merlin said.
"Did you forget who I was in my previous life, I am a businessman and I know when a good deal is presented before me." I bragged to merlin.
"At least you have a right mindset and believe me in this world of magic whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can achieve." Merlin said and showed me the skill to form multiple core centers inside my body.
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[Shop]
[Skills]
[Core center formation secret art]
[Rank: Immortal (upgradable)]
[Description: A secret core formation art created after studying and merging countless ancient core center formation techniques, which force out the maximum number of core center one mortal can possess depending on his talent.]
[Cost: 900,000 Fate point]
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"This skill will upgrade when your physique upgrade to Rank 1 Mithril physique and you may be able to form few more core center if your upgraded physique allows you to." His words contained some truth but that will happen in the far future, we still have a long way to go.
Upon paying the cost of 900,000 fate point I heard a ding voice and a flood of information entered my brain. Within few seconds I found new information inside my brain, which was not there before.
"Merlin, if I had you in my previous life on earth, life would have been much easier." I said thinking about those tedious years spent studying in one corner of my room.
"You should go through the information in your brain first, just follow the instruction and you will see the result soon." Merlin said and I focused on the instruction copied in my brain.
The first thing I have to do is learn to feel mana in my surrounding, and in order to do that I have to sit or lie down and focus my mind on an unknown energy surrounding us all just like air.
I decided to do the only thing I could and laid on the floor my face facing the dark ceiling of the cave we were in and then I closed my eyes.
As I recalled the information in my brain nothing happened for few minutes and I felt sleepy but merlin's voice brought me back to reality and insisted me to focus.
After 15 minutes I heard a swisssss sound coming from deep within my consciousness and soon I heard the system's ding sound and I don't know how but I was able to see the system windows even with my eyes closed.
As I read the notification a smirk appeared on the corner of my lips which was washed away by an intense pain I felt coming from my heart.
"Augggg! Khaufff! mmmeeerrlllli… …. …"
"I may have lost ... come back …. ... kill you all ahh khhau blurp (I may have lost today but I will come back and kill you all)." Some threats left my mouth but I was not the one who said that and I realized I was not in control of my own body.
I tried to understand what was happening around me, just few seconds ago I was inside the cave with merlin in a body of 2 days old child and when I felt mana for the first time I felt intense pain coming from my chest and I lost consciousness but when I opened my eyes again I was surrounded by 6 figures.
Four of them were shrouded in darkness and two of them were clearly visible. The first figure nearest to me was not human but a white dragon while the 2nd humanoid figure was holding a bright white sword in his hands.
Once again I felt a sharp pain coming from my chest and when I looked at my body I understood the reason. A black sword was piercing my heart radiating black aura decaying my body slowly.
I tried to move my hands and remove the sword from my heart but my body didn't obey my command.
After staring few seconds at 6 figures my head turned left on its own, there I saw the body of a women lying breathless and slowly dissolving leaving golden particles behind.
I tried to reach out to her while tears threatened to fell from my eyes but my consciousness was pulled back from the body of that unknown person.
"Eric… Eric…" I heard the muffled voice of merlin and slowly opened my eyes.
"How do you feel?" Merlin asked me.
"The pain is gone and I can feel and absorb mana much better now, how long was I unconscious?" I asked.
"16 hours and congratulation for mastering the first stage of [Core center formation secret art]." Merlin said.
"how?" I asked bewildered because I thought it would take few weeks before I can master the 1st stage of [Core center formation secret art], which was mana sense and absorption.
"I don't know what happened but for the past 16 hours you were absorbing mana from surrounding like an endless black hole and I didn't even know where it was being used, do you know something?" Merlin asked me.
"It would be better if you read my memory." I said and showed him the pieces of memories I have seen when I was unconscious.
"I am sure now that you are the reincarnation of some ancient god and the memory you saw earlier was triggered because you sensed mana for the first time and many such incidents may happen in the future." Merlin said.
"Do you know something that I don't after reading my memories?" I asked.
"The six entities you saw in your memories are all celestial beings and I recognize the two of them whose face you saw." Merlin said.
I pressed 'Yes' because I was no longer the bagger host and the information was connected to my origin.
"The white dragon you saw in your memories is dragon god who resides in the land of dragons and he is also the most powerful celestial being acknowledge by not only other celestial beings but also demon gods." As merlin finished speaking, his words peeked my attention and I wondered what link do I have with such entity.
"The second humanoid god you saw is sword god, nobody knows how strong he is because no one has seen him fight and whosever fought him didn't survive to tell the tale but one thing everyone knows is that he own a pair of black and white sword and the black sword which you saw in your memories it was his sword." So the sword god killed me in my previous life.
"Do you know anything about that woman in my memory?" I asked because I couldn't see her face in my memories but I had some kind of deep bond with her.
"No, I couldn't see her face either." Merlin's words disappointed me.
"Is there any other way I can recover my memories faster?" I asked.
"…" Merlin didn't say anything which meant he know a way but don't want to say it.
"It is fine." I said, I was not in a hurry to know the full truth now and I already had my plate full of worries, so I couldn't care less about my past troubles.
I have made the strongest gods my enemies unknowingly it was enough trauma for today.
"Let's set aside this memories issue for now and focus on learning the core center techniques." I said out loud and started doing the next step of core center formation art which is accumulation of mana inside my body and formation of core center.
2 days later
"Should I try one more time?" I asked merlin, in the past 2 days I have been able to learn different ways to utilize mana and successfully formed the 2 core center within a single day but whenever I tried to form the 3rd core center I would receive a backlash but finally after 21 failures I was able to form my 3rd core center which was half the size of other 2 core centers.
The core center can be formed anywhere in the body at the discretion of host and I had selected the location of my 1st core center near my heart, the 2nd core center was few centimeter below my abdomen and the last core center I had formed was inside my brain because merlin had suggested me to do so.
"Looking at the 3rd core center I think this is your limit, so you should stop for now, you will get more opportunities in future to form more core center." Merlin said and I agreed with his words.
I was satisfied with my progress in the past 2 days because I was able to learn many things and walking was one of them. Strengthening my body with mana I was able to stand and walk on my own.
"What now merlin, do you think I am ready to merge with beast core and complete my transformation physique?" I asked merlin.