Carl decided to spend the first day in his new life at home, devising an action plan and getting familiar with the world of Eldora. He reflected on the fragments of memory he had witnessed and the possibilities that this new body and reality offered him.
As Carl contemplated his options, darkness gradually enveloped the village. The young man lay on his simple bed, looking at the stone ceiling. However, before he could fall asleep, a sharp sound startled him: loud knocks on his door. He quickly got up, alert and curious.
Upon opening the door, he found a messenger from the city, panting and visibly tired. The messenger handed Carl a message from the lord of the city of Mucrea. With a trembling voice, he explained that the lord was recruiting soldiers to defend the kingdom against a growing threat from bandits and wild creatures infesting the neighboring lands.
A spark of determination ignited in Carl's eyes. He realized that this was the perfect opportunity to achieve his goal of becoming a powerful warrior and eventually reaching the top of this new world. Carl thanked the messenger, closed the door, and began plotting his plan.
The next morning, as the sun began to illuminate the village, Carl observed the arrival of a traveling merchant. He approached the merchant, who displayed a variety of goods on a cart. From food to books, the merchant didn't pay much attention to Carl due to his poor appearance.
While browsing the merchant's wares, Carl noticed an old book that was labeled "Basic Mana" and became interested. The merchant soon noticed and spoke eagerly, "1 gold coin, dear customer. This book is the basic knowledge every warrior needs to learn. If you want to become a great warrior, you need to start with this," continued the merchant.
Suspicious of the authenticity of the manual, Carl decided to buy it anyway. He knew that any knowledge about mana accumulation could be useful on his path to becoming a respected warrior.
He bought some pieces of dried meat and returned home to study the manual. Upon examining it, Carl quickly realized that it was a fake. However, with the knowledge he had gained on Earth and his intelligence, he understood the fundamentals of mana accumulation in the body. He realized that practice, discipline, and concentration were essential to harnessing this energy to its fullest potential.
Carl decided to try the Wim Hof breathing technique, a practice from Earth that increased oxygen levels in the blood and cleared the mind, aiding in concentration. He dug a hole in the floor of his room, fetched some buckets of water from the village well, and poured them into the hole until the water reached his knees. Then he began to perform the breathing technique. The icy sensation of the cold water dissipated as he delved deeper into the practice.
After 5 minutes of practice, his mind was completely clear, immersed in darkness. Suddenly, in the midst of this darkness, a luminous point emitting a faint blue light appeared: mana. Carl grew excited, and soon after, a multitude of small luminous points appeared like a swarm of fireflies. After reading the fake manual, he knew that warriors in this world gathered these points of light in a single location in their bodies.
Determined to master this technique, Carl realized that these points of light had a mutual attraction, like a magnet. He decided to use the high concentration of mana in his blood, a result of the breathing technique, to attract and direct the points of light where he desired to store them.
Following the logic that it was better to capitalize on existing tendencies, he allowed the circulating mana in his blood to attract and merge with the points of light, thus shortening the time required to transport them.
With his new information and renewed determination, Carl practiced throughout the entire day and finally succeeded in directing a
mana point to the desired location.
"According to that book, now I need to use this small piece of mana to create a vessel. I have to imagine that I'm expanding this small piece to become a container," Carl thought.
According to the book, the larger the container, the stronger the warrior. Carl didn't take long; he imagined that the bright mana was molten glass and that he was shaping it. The result was a transparent container like an aquarium, and inside it was a drop of blue liquid, which was the already refined mana ready for use.
From that point on, Carl only needed to refine the mana and accumulate it in his container. According to the book, warriors improved their container as they became proficient in refining mana. The purer the mana, the stronger and larger the container they could make, containing more pure mana in greater quantities.
When Carl opened his eyes, he realized that it was already darkening once again. He had spent the entire day inside that hole with dirty water in his room. Contemplating the last rays of sunlight entering through the window, he noticed that his vision had improved slightly due to his recent evolution.
Not only his vision, but as he emerged from the hole, he realized that his body was stronger and more agile as well. His room was a mess of dirt and mud after his experiment, but it had been worth it. According to the book, Carl was already at the first level of an awakened warrior, something that only the most talented nobles in this world could achieve.
In the book, only three levels of awakened warriors were mentioned: the first level called "Core Creation," the second level called "Core Refinement," and the third level called "Core Enhancement." At his current level, Carl could easily defeat ten adult men, even without any conditioning, using the power of his core.
After pondering what to do, Carl remembered the message from the city lord and decided that he would enlist for the battle. By rising through the ranks on the battlefield, he would gain the necessary privileges to achieve his goals.
So, he gathered all his savings and his old wood-cutting axe and prepared to travel to the city of Mucrea the next day.