The cold winds of winter had arrived; the greenery had wilted and the land was filled with snow.
At the courtyard of the mansion Leo and his mother were staying.
A fourteen-year-old boy was seen meditating. His fingers were clasped together, and his hands rested on his lap in a relaxed manner.. He wasn't affected by the cold at all. This boy was Leo, who was trying to condense his mana core after numerous failures.
As soon as operated the first level of the "Red Lotus Scripture", his mana pathways started absorbing the surrounding mana that came in contact with his body, and tried to congeal them into a mana core, in his abdomen.
This was how people cultivated to form their Red mana core, they absorbed mana from their surroundings into their body through their mana pathways, they then circulated their mana core cultivation technique, and turned the absorbed mana into a semi solid red core in their abdomen, which serves as their own source of energy to use magic. Mages and Mage warriors strength increases as the stage of their mana core increases.
Leo also followed this principle, but his body kept redirecting all the energy he was absorbing, from his abdomen into his heart, slowly turning his heart into a mana core like organ for an unknown energy which kept increasing minisculely, each second in his heart. He noticed this phenomenon one year ago, after he lost the fight against Burton.
Usually, it takes about a year for a Rank 1 affinity possessor to form their mana cores, and the time required reduces with increased in the affinity talent. But Leo had been at this stage for the past seven years due to his strange constitution.
As Leo continued meditating while still trying to forcefully condense his mana core, a burning sensation rapidly spread from his heart throughout his body. His face was warped in pain. He was feeling a stinging pain in his chest.
As the stinging pain in his chest intensified, Leo's breathing became erratic. Even so, he ignored the pain and continued trying to form his mana core using the "Red Lotus Scripture", the mana cultivation scripture of the Crimson family. As the pain intensified, Leo forcefully stopped his meditation and opened his now bloodshot eyes, as he breathed out roughly.
The moment a direct descendants and inner members of the family come of the age of 8 years, they were imparted with the first level of the Crimson's family 'Red Lotus Scripture' directly into their mind by the Patriarch of the family himself. This was done to avoid the technique from being spread out to others outside the family.
"It's impossible for the descendants to impart the technique to other people's as it was protected by a formation made by Elijah himself which was planted along with the scripture."
Anyone that tried to impart the scripture to others will momentarily forget the content of the scripture until they erase the thought of imparting it to others from their minds.
The United continent was a realm where the strong were respected and recognized based on the stage of their mana core. Leo was already fifteen years old, and yet, he still had not condensed mana core.
With resolve, Leo closed his eyes once again. He continued trying to condense his core as if his life depended on it.
"Argh," Leo cried out in pain despite his high pain tolerance, before finally losing consciousness.
"Young master!" On seeing Leo lose consciousness, Anise quickly ran to him and carried him back into his room as this was not the first time it had happened.
Few hours later, Leo opened his eyes, he found himself lying in a familiar room with clean and tidy interior with two bookshelves placed at the corner.
It was his room where he had stayed up for most of his life and this discovery made him feel helpless.
"I failed again, he sighed."
For eight years, Leo has been trying to condense his mana core using the methods described in the "Red Lotus Scripture" but there had been no progress at all.
He always failed despite all his attempts with no pain, but this change one year ago, as he would often experience an excruciating pain which made him lose consciousness, whenever he tried to forcefully condense it.
After half an hour later, Leo finally regained his composure. He stared out the window of his room.
"One year ago, so that's when it started,' Eugene thought, his face scrunched in contemplation as he settled into deep thought. Though he often failed and lost consciousness, Leo noticed that after each attempt, his strength increases by a miniscule amount.
"Maybe I'm not really meant to condense a mana core." He pondered as he reflected on the emotions he now occasionally felt when people talked bad about him in his presence. He felt murderous intents, rage and hatred towards them which he was forcibly able to repress by focusing on the good people in his life.
Thump! Thump! Thump!
Leo narrowed his eyes as he felt his heart palpitate strongly for three times, before continuing with it normal heart beat rate.
His brow wrinkled slightly and he carefully felt his throbbing heart. He can feel the change that occured in his heart, one year ago, was on the verge of being completed.
Moreover, Leo discovered that his vision became even better and he became even more sensitive to his surroundings.
Tap! Tap! Tap! He can hear a woman footsteps heading towards his room. The footsteps apparently transferred from a long distance away yet, he could hear everything clearly. Not only that, his body had increased his passive absorption of his surrounding mana. He clenched his fist, he could feel his whole body brimming with strength.
"It seems I currently possessed the bodily strength of a bright orange core mage warrior." Commented Leo as he noticed his strength that had stagnanted at the light orange since the last six months increased.
As Leo was monitoring the changes in his body, the door of his room was opened.
A beautiful woman entered the room.
"You are awake," she asked.
When he heard that voice, it promptly broke Leo train of thought. The person who spoke was his mother, Clara who was grinning while staring intently at Leo's face.
"I'm sorry mom, Leo apologized with his head facing down."
"I've told you several times, don't force yourself to condense your mana core," she said angrily before hugging his body. I believe you would eventually form it when it is time."
"Don't worry your mother, I don't want to lose you. I don't think it is a problem of your talent, but that of your special constitution.
"During the past 14 years, Clara had accumulated countless precious medicinal herbs for Leo, to try and help him improve his mana affinity and help him condense his mana core, but it was all for nought, as Leo situation was a strange occurrence that have never been experienced once before in the whole world."
"You are suited to the path of mana warrior instead of a mage. It's is just that you did not possess a mana core. I am sure most in your generation are not your match, strength wise except only a few."
"On the continent, mages focused more on directly using their magic to attack and less on using mana to refine their body while mana warriors focused more on using mana to refine their bodies and enhance their weapons strength, and less on directly casting spells."
Leo looked at the bracelet beside his bed, which he had stopped using, after he was conscious enough to control his strength at the age of ten. It was a kind of suppressor type magical item refined for him by his grandfather.
When Leo was two years old, his mother noticed that he possessed the strength of dim red core stage mage warrior when his punch broke down one of the trees planted in the mansion.
She inspected Leo's body but was unable to discover the source of his strength. Panicking, Clara left the estate with Leo without informing Augustus. Dhe went to her clan to meet her father, Keith.
Keith Alina is the patriarch and founder of the Alina family. He is a light mage with both healing and offensive capabilities.
"Father!"
"What is wrong, my angel?" Keith asked excitedly as was happy to see both of them. He cherished his daughter and grandson very much.
Clara quickly explained what she experienced to him.
"Put him down."
"Grandpa!" Little Leo ran to hug Keith.
"Hahaha!" My grandson had become a big boy.
As Keith was hugging Leo's body, he casted a spell.
"Light formation: Ray of Light."
His mana poured into Leo's body.
"What an abnormal constitution; even without cultivating, it just automatically absorbs and stores mana on its own."
"What's wrong father?" asked worriedly Clara.
"I did not find anything wrong with him. It seems Leo was born with a special constitution, but I can't determine whether the constitution relates to a special physique, as he didn't possess any features the possessor of special physique has. But I noticed that his body is passively absorbing and storing mana without possessing a core which is deemed impossible without a mana core.
"Based on the result of my spell analysis, Leo currently has the same strength as a Dim red rank mana warrior."
"I hope he is not in danger?" Said the panicking Clara.
"I've neither seen nor heard anything about it, so it's hard to be sure but for now, he is far away from danger but I still can't identified whether he possessed any physique. I will have to carry out more tests."
"I will craft a suppressor bracelet for him to help him control his strength so he won't accidentally hurt himself and others."
Back to the present.
Looking at Leo's tender face, Clara let out a sigh as she asked him a question, "Will you participate in tomorrow's family competition?'
"Yes mom! Replied Leo excitedly as he was always a fan of fighting.
On hearing his answer, Clara told him to rest and not to try to forcefully condense his mana core again before leaving Leo alone in his excitement for tomorrow's event.