Zheng collected over a hundred magic orbs and stored them in his interspatial ring. He positioned five orbs before him on the ground. He took a deep breath as he rubbed his hands, preparing his mind for testing out his body's constitution stats.
The Dream Bison eyed him curiously. It asked him, 'What do you want to do?'
Zheng replied, "I want to check out my body constitution stats. It involves magic.
"And concentration."
The bovine said, 'I don't think it's a good idea to conduct it within the forest. This setting provides the best opportunity for these silly beasts to attack you. I promised your father that you would be safe; I don't want to fail to live up to my promise.'
Zheng activated his interspatial ring and stored away the five orbs. He said to the beast,
"We are off to the glade, right?"
'No, because that would still keep us in the forest. We have to leave the forest.'
Zheng followed the Dream Bison to leave the forest. Minutes later, they arrived at their point of arrival.
The Dream Bison said, 'You can now do whatever nonsense you wanted to do. I will watch over you.
'I forgot to add; do it quickly. Your father will soon come.'
The bovine turned its back on the prince and lay on the ground.
Zheng pulled out one magic orb from his ring. He wanted to first test his mana reserve capacity (intelligence stat). He held the orb in his cupped hands. He had a smile on his face, and his heart raced in excitement. His instincts strongly favoured that he would have a pink-rated intelligence score.
A painful realisation dawned on Zheng: he didn't know how to and couldn't move mana into the orb by mere will. His heart raced faster in anxiety. He was about to lose it, but he forced himself to maintain calm. He began to think.
Zheng thought, 'One thing is sure: I shouldn't expect that I will have a pink glow.
'No, I can't be ranked faint red. I'm the son of a dragon and a potential dragon tamer. This fact alone should put me in the zone of the blue glow.'
His mind became a bit calmer after the last thought.
The prince mused, 'I can use an activation spell to drive mana into the orb. But how am I sure that it is only my mana that is being moved into the orb? Won't surrounding mana also be moved?
'I have to be sure.'
Zheng took out the titleless book from the interspatial ring. The orb was left on the ground. Zheng didn't think to sit down and read. He continued from where he stopped.
"(Smiling smiley face.)"
The prince wondered what that was for a bit before he moved on.
"I feel that maybe one of you reading a copy of this book may not know how to move mana into objects. I have a solution for you. Use this activation spell to drive mana into the orb."
Zheng sighed in relief. He almost went crazy, not knowing what to do.
"VAH-VAH-TO! This is the spell to use. It doesn't translate to anything. When you say it, make your intentions clear. You could point your hand to the orb if you feel or know that your will is weak."
Zheng quickly sat down with his legs folded. He kept the book on his left side, on the ground. Zheng held the orb in his cupped hands and focused his gaze on it.
'Don't mess it up, Zheng.' He encouraged himself.
Zheng yelled, "Vah-vah-to!"
Instantly, a thin, azure mist materialised from his forearms and sank into the orb with great speed. When this happened, Zheng felt energy leave his body but didn't understand the way it left and the form in which it left his body (thw form of mana). Although energy left him, he didn't feel weak. This was because he was still carrying an overload of mana from the hyena incident at the glade.
Zheng became shattered. He didn't hide it. He was extremely upset because the glow his mana created was a faint red glow.
With tears, the young heir lamented, "So this is why I couldn't tame the dragon. So, it has always been my fault. I was weak all along. I'm no dragon after all. I'm a mere lizard who made his way into the nest of dragons."
'I have never seen a dragon call himself a mere lizard when it is clear that he can breathe fire.' A familiar voice spoke in Zheng's head.
Zheng turned to the Dream Bison. The bovine was now on its feet, staring at the prince.
The Dream Bison continued, 'You are ranked in the faint red glow, and so what? It doesn't say anything. It doesn't say that you are weak. The only interpretation is that this is the beginning of a fantastical journey of growing from weak to strong.'
Zheng was shocked that the beast knew what the orb's glow was. Before he could ask the bovine how it knew, the Dream Bison said,
'I knew a bunch of people before I met your father. These people know about the mana reserve capacity rank. By the way, how do you think I got to this island? You think your father flew me here?
'Silly prince.' The bovine chuckled.
Zheng said, "I have a feeling that you know what rank my father is."
'He is pink-ranked. 110 mana points, to be precise.'
"How do you exactly know the mana points?"
'He told me. He said that the orb revealed it to him the third day he used it. But the other people I knew saw theirs on their first try. This was after seeing the glow.'
Zheng sighed. His zeal to check the other stats was wrecked. The bovine's words didn't fix anything.
The Dream Bison saw that Zheng wasn't making any moves. Its instincts told it that Zheng had other things he wanted to do. It had to find a way to motivate Zheng.
Earlier, when Zheng and the Dream Bison were on their way out of the forest, the bovine had concluded to give the young heir respect because he deserved it. This was after it considered the calm way Zheng conducted himself when it was trying to anger him and how he defeated the Redback-hyena.