Nicholas took a moment to sit down on the ground with the others, picking up a stick from the ground as he continued his explanation. The forest surrounding them provided a serene backdrop to their conversation. "Now, you may ask, what does a core actually do?" Nicholas began, using the stick to draw a crude diagram of a human body in the dirt. "Well, that is a good question. Quite simply, we warriors use the mana present in our cores to strengthen our bodies beyond their natural limits. And for those who have gone beyond a certain proficiency with their techniques and understanding of mana, they can use the mana in the form of aura. You will learn more about this later, but for now, this is all you need to know about aura."
Pointing at the drawing of the human body, Nicholas continued, "Now, there are various places where people form their cores, depending on what they use it for. Berserkers generally form their cores in their abdomen, as it provides the greatest physical buff. Scholars form their cores in their brains, as it enhances their thinking capacities. And knights generally form their cores in their hearts, as it provides the most balanced enhancement."
Nicholas paused for a moment to face John and the rest, before continuing, "Going a bit off-topic here, but as you may or may not be aware, mana in our body flows through what our imperial scholars call circuits. Those outside the empire refer to it in various different terms, like vessels or meridians, but the terminology is of little relevance to us. These circuits aren't present in our bodies from birth, and only form slowly as we grow older and form a core. This is also why the process of creating a core for the first time is far more painful than going up a stage."
"Getting back on topic," Nicholas said, clearing his throat, "one very important thing I have yet to mention is the risk. The larger the core you try to form, the riskier it gets, for two reasons. Firstly, the more mana you start with, the larger the chance of a mishap and you blowing up. Secondly, the larger the core you form, the harder it is for you to go up each stage, with the chance of you going 'boom' growing only exponentially."
After he was done speaking, Nicholas clapped his hands and looked at the others. "Now that I have explained all of that, how about I give you a practical demonstration of how strong an average person is at each stage?"
"You forgot to explain about the stages." John raised his hand, interrupting Nicholas. Nicholas looked at him blankly for a moment before awkwardly laughing and apologizing. "Right, my apologies," he said. "Let me explain the stages of a core." Nicholas took a deep breath and continued, his voice carrying a hint of excitement.
"The stages are divided based on the purity of the core," he began, "The less unnecessary stuff in your core, the lighter the color of the core gets. For almost everyone, their cores start with a pitch black color and slowly grow lighter as they manage to weed out impurities."
Nicholas gestured with his hands, towards the initials of the colors he had written on the ground. "The stages are rather simple to remember. After black, the colors go from deeper to lighter colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, and then finally white. However, reaching the white stage is extremely rare. In fact, you can count the number of people who have reached that stage on one hand."
Once Nicholas was done explaining, he rose from the ground and walked up to a young oak tree, gesturing for Hans to join him. "Hans, come here," he said, beckoning him to stand by his side.
Confused, Hans hesitated, but Nicholas shouted impatiently, "Quickly! We don't have all night."
Reluctantly, Hans got up and hurried to Nicholas. "Okay, now take a proper stance and punch this tree as hard as you can. Don't hold back," Nicholas instructed, stepping back and pointing at the oak tree he had been standing next to.
Hans stared blankly at Nicholas, finding the request absurd. "Umm, why?"
"Do as you're told and don't ask too many questions. Now, chop chop," Nicholas said, flicking his finger on Hans' head.
With a sigh, Hans shook his hands, did a few jumps to loosen up, and assumed a stance with both fists close to his face. "Hah!" He then unleashed a swift punch that landed on the rough bark of the tree, causing little to no damage.
*Phak!*
"Ouch, fuck, shit!" Hans cursed, holding his fist in pain.
Nicholas examined the damage on the tree with a somewhat surprised expression. "Hmm, that was a pretty decent punch. I would say about 500 Newtons of force or simply 50 kilos of force," he said.
After giving Hans a moment to compose himself, Nicholas continued, "Now, imagine if you had a newly formed core…" Nicholas paused, and in a swift motion, his fist flew straight to the center of the tree.
*Bam!*
The sound of his fist hitting the tree reverberated, and a decent-sized crater formed where his fist landed. "You could do this. My punch just now was about 5000 Newtons or 500 kilos of force. And with every stage upgrade, the amount of strength buff will only grow exponentially," Nicholas explained, wiping off the pulp and tree crumbs from his knuckles.
"As I was saying before, this isn't all there is to cores, and my explanation right now may not be the best. But we still have three months for you three to learn from me. So, any questions?" Nicholas asked, a mischievous smile on his face.
Seeing that no one raised their hand, Nicholas continued, "Okay, great. Now let's move on to physical training."
Nicholas then proceeded to help John, Hans, and Friedrich with basic physical training for the next hour. Afterward, John separated from the group and started his training in basic swordsmanship.
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After several hours of intense training, it was already midnight, and the four of them were exhausted. Hans collapsed onto the ground, screaming, "Aghhhhhh, I'm dyyyiiiinnnnnggggggggg!"
John approached Nicholas, saying, "It's getting late now. We should go sleep… we have to visit the baron too, and after that, we still have a long journey ahead of us."
Nicholas took a moment to think before replying, "Right, let's go back to camp. Friedrich, drag him back to your tent once you're done resting."
"Yes, sir," Friedrich said as he got up from the ground and gave a short salute.
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In one of the two small tents that the group had set up, John and Nicholas could be seen talking into a communication crystal.
"I think the original plan won't work… we might have to make changes," Dante's voice came through the crystal with a hint of exhaustion.
Nodding at the Grand Duke's words, John spoke, "I was about to talk to you about the same thing… but let's discuss more on this tomorrow. We have a few things to deal with. I'll report to you properly once things are sorted, but yeah, scrap the original idea and focus on consolidating your own military. Forget about everything else." By the time he finished speaking, John had an angry expression on his face, which leaked into the tone of his voice.
"Oye, old man, what happened there?" Dante asked, his voice laced with confusion.
Shaking his head, Nicholas spoke, "As the kid said, we'll give you a comprehensive report tomorrow, but just know things here aren't as good as we imagined. In fact, they're way worse than we ever thought they would be."