It had been a few weeks since the Dungeon expedition, and Aldrich had been practising his mana techniques daily to aim for his second Mana star.
His control over the flow of mana was perfect, even better than the strongest warriors and mages in the continent, but his body was not strong enough to hold such large amounts of mana.
"System, is there a way to create bigger stars? "Aldrich knew that bigger stars would increase the regeneration rate and the total capacity of mana he could store.
[Creating bigger stars will obstruct the flow of mana near your heart]
"Hmm, that's true, and other shapes don't have that much stability to store the raw mana. Is there no other way than to rely on artefacts" Aldrich sighed.
[ Do they need to be near the heart? ]
"That should be enough of a hint", Lyra grinned.
Aldrich pondered what the system said momentarily before planning to test his hypothesis.
He closed his eyes as he focused on his mana star, slowly increasing the mana that could be stored inside his star.
"Kugh", Aldrich groaned. It felt like someone was scraping his heart with a knife, but he was motivated by the fact that the size of the mana star was slowly increasing. Aldrich increased the flow of mana as if sculpting his mana star, increasing its size bit by bit.
Hours passed, as a sweaty figure of Aldrich was lying on the floor, gasping for breath.
"I did it, haha" Aldrich clenched his chest as a mana star twice the size of the previous one was now revolving around his heart.
He got up, checking the changes in his body, "The mana capacity increased by more than two times, but now I cannot create more stars around my heart" Aldrich had met people in his past life who were known to achieve such feats. Still, these were often Shaken off as rumours due to the lack of evidence and the warriors not keen on revealing their secrets.
"There are lots of positions within the body where I can create the stars, but I hope their effect can match the ones near the heart"; Aldrich had no choice but to try.
He clenched his fist, deciding it would be better to create a mana star as far from the heart as it might lead to his death If it exploded mid-process.
He sat down again, focusing all his mana near his wrists.
"It's tougher than near.. the heart. KUGH", Aldrich coughed a mouthful of blood, as he felt as if someone was cutting his entire arm off.
"Not strong enough", Aldrich decided on creating a normal-sized star first, as his hand was not used to search large amounts of mana.
He got up before drinking a glassful of water and sat down to attempt the star again. He summoned Noct and Lumi,
"You two focus your mana on my hand", Aldrich said as the two little cubs started to cutely lick his hand.
Aldrich could already feel better from Lumi's licks, while Noct provided his hand with some mana, soothing his pain.
Aldrich began the process again as he focused on his wrist, concentrating the blob of raw mana to create the shape of a star.
"UGH, just.. a little.. more!" Aldrich roared as a massive wave of mana suddenly erupted from his body, as the newly formed star started greedily absorbing all the mana in Aldrich's body.
Boom.
[Host has created Second Mana Star]
"haha," Aldrich lay down next to Noct and Lumi as he waved his hand, sensing the changes.
"the mana is flowing in my arm way easier than before. I need to create the third star quickly, or else there will be an imbalance of power." Aldrich rested, knowing he soon had to leave for his future plans.
Meanwhile, in the basement of a house near the Drakewind Family, several cloaked figures could be seen surrounding a ritual circle.
"My reports tell me that Erik's son has reached First Mana star and recently conquered the Ogre Dungeon alone. Now he has gained Nationwide fame with his feats in the Entrance exam.", one of the men spoke.
"Tch, if only Erik didn't use the inheritance stone. Aldrich has gained too much fame. What is the plan now?" another one spoke.
One of the cloaked figures removed their hood, revealing a handsome face and white hair. The man was the brother of the current family head, Kyle Drakewind.
"For long, the other families have tried to oppress us. They believe that we can be discarded now that Dragons and other races do not pose a threat to humans",
"They believe that our family can be toyed with, but we must show them the true strength of the Drakewind family",
Kyle stood in the middle of the circle, stretching his hands out.
"With the help of Demons, we are in contact with, we shall break the seal set by our Ancestor, reviving and releasing the other races onto our planet."
"So that these filthy people realise what the true strength of our family is",
Just then, another Elder from the family spoke up, "But how will we do it? The seal needs the blood of the Direct Descendant of the Founder, Erik is too strong to be killed, and Aldrich is gaining too much attention to kill him off."
"I have a plan", Kyle coldly said before disappearing into the shadows.