The mana absorption class was such a let down, he had high hopes that he would be able to ace it, but it looked like he was not that special.
Martin walked down his street, kicking the stones as he went by, and he realized that the street was not as busy as he expected it to be.
His house was the farthest distance where the road had come to an end as a huge tall wall was built. Over the wall, was the Kian's family mansion that stood tall, and magnificent. The houses on the street all belonged to the Kian's family except his and the house that stood opposite his.
Martin walked into his home, and shut the door. His head ached, and he wanted to rest.
He couldn't believe his bad luck, because he wasn't even able to absorb one single strand of mana. It felt like something was preventing the energy particles from entering his body.
He glanced at the dining room, or what looked like the dining room.
Martin had tried renovating the place, before he even began practicing cultivation. He had separated each room with a piece of clothing, or a board.
There was a huge plank that served as the door of the toilet, and behind a curtain was the kitchen of the house.
Martin didn't feel hungry, he only felt a deep sense of disappointment, as he thought about why he had failed.
Suddenly, Martin slapped himself, and stood up from the ground.
"You didn't come here to brood. You want to become stronger, and drive that old man out of his mansion. You also want to go home." Martin sorted himself with a little motivational speech.
He had no choice but to struggle more, the best reward never came from sleeping, but by the efforts of hard work, and determination.
Martin sat cross-legged and prepared to go through the mana absorption process again.
He had to first visualize the mana lines around him, he wasn't even sure if mana was present in his house, but he had to try.
The abundance of mana could probably be the reason that the old man wanted the house so much.
Martin had to find this out himself, so he started mana detection in his home.
He opened his meridian eyes and the picture of his environment appeared in his head. The mana lines appeared all around but they were slim, and looked weak.
Martin felt that if he tried to draw them into his meridians, the lines would simply break off without even giving him a chance.
If the mana quantity in here was so bad, then why did the family lord want to take control over this house so badly, there was something he knew about the house, and Martin promised himself that he would get to the bottom of it.
Martin narrowed his eyes, staring intensely at the thin line of mana flow in front of him. There was something off about it, the line moved with a forward momentum.
It was moving straight.
Usually, mana flow had no line of direction, so the movement of this flow was rather strange.
It meant it had to be coming from somewhere, and it was not even from nature.
"Fuck, there's something producing mana around here." Martin quickly stood up from the floor as he made that evaluation.
That was the only reasonable explanation. The mana flow moved in a way that seemed like it was coming out from a place, and Martin was going to find where it was coming from.
Martin needed to focus all his concentration in detecting the movement of the mana, a surge of pain passed through his head, but he had to give it more than his best.
The mana flow looked like it was coming from where he slept.
"How did I not sense this before?" Martin pulled back the long thin cloth that separated his room from the main room.
Martin stared intently as the movement of the mana flow, and realized that it was coming from under his broken bed.
There had to be something under that bed, he couldn't help but feel a slight sense of excitement as he thought of all the possibilities, and what he wondered what he would do if those one of his fantasized possibilities actually came to pass.
Martin raised up with one hand, then he bent on of his knees so he could take a closer look.
The energy particles were coming from under a piece of cloth, and curiosity took the best of him, leading him to pull of the clothes.
However, before Martin could take away the clothes, he heard a knock on his door.
"Who the heck would be visiting at this time?" Martin grumbled, frustration moving through his thought causing his concentration to be cut off, and a dull ache surfaced at the back of his head.
Martin had no choice, he had to see who was at his door, so he could send them away, and focus on his findings.
This source of mana could be the only way he would be able to pass the academic examination.
"Hold on. I'm on my way." Martin said as he moved closer to the door, opened it, and he realized that there was no one behind the door. It was just empty darkness.
Martin then made the biggest mistake of his life, so he decided to look at his feet, and he saw a basket.
At first, he was glad that someone had thought it nice to bring him fruits, so he picked up the basket.
However, he got a fright and almost dropped it when he heard the cooing sound of a baby child.
"You have to be messing with me." Martin desperately prayed for it all to be a joke, and whatever was inside that basket should somehow turn into a bunch of fruits just so he could become the happiest man on the planet.
However, his prayers were not answered as the baby reached out from the basket and pulled some strands of Martin's hair.
"Is anyone there? Please come, and take your baby from me. I am too young to father a child." Martin yelled in annoyance.
What human possessed such evil countenance?
You decided to leave a baby in front of a stranger's home, and used my own house?
Martin carried the child, and decided to see if he could find whoever had dropped such profanity at his doorstep, maybe it came to the wrong house.
This wasn't the stork's movie where you were able to deliver babies to wanting parents, and besides Martin was not a parent, neither did he want a bundle of stress and sleepless night.
He walked around the city, looking at every corner. The baby merely laughed as the wind that was generated by Martin's movement hist his face.
After searching for a while, Martin didn't find any trace, or any sign of a crying parent who had lost their child.
So, he went back home.
He placed the basket on the kitchen counter, and kept pacing around in his main room.
His life was about to turn into a massive disaster. If someone found him with a kid at his age, he could be arrested for kidnapping, or worse, child abuse.
He would be forced to live school, go into the life of a fugitive because of this child, and he would have to say bye-bye to his goal of returning back home.
"You worry too much." A voice said beside Martin, almost scaring the life out of him.
"What? Who said that?" Martin looked around.
He was the only one in the room, and a sudden realization came to me, along with the baby.
"Now, I'm running insane. A baby can not talk." He said as he rubbed his face trying to calm himself down.
"Normally, but I did." Martin heard the same soft voice again, he turned his head to look at the baby, and he realized that this little thing of his was no longer in the basket, but was sitting on top of the counter.
"Don't tell me you can talk?" Martin said, his voice was laced with disbelief.
He stared at the child for a moment, with a single thought in his head.
-If this kid actually says a word, I'm definitely going to sleep, and pretend that this was all some crazy dream. –
"Apparently, I am surprised myself. I just opened my mouth, and the words I thought of came out."
The baby said, ignoring the dazed look on Martin's face.
Martin let out a sad laughter, he wasn't going to be surprised anymore. He was not even from the world, so definitely, anything could happen.
"I can't believe I'm talking to a baby" Martin said in a dazed state, he strongly refused to deal with such problems, and he figured out that he would just continue what he was doing the next day.
"I do not enjoy the term, baby. I am a being of superior intelligence, and I…" The baby was about to say something when the man he was talking, started to walk away, and collapsed heavily on the bed.
After a few minutes, he heard some snoring, and he realized that this strange human had actually fallen asleep.
The baby sighed, and went to ponder over his true reason for placing himself at the doorstep of this house.