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Name: Lucas Harren
Race: Human
Age: 11
Gender: Male
Magic tier: 1
Strength: 9/81
Dexterity: 11/94
Speed: 12/80
Endurance: 10/82
Will: 73/100
Mana: 12/100
Magic: 5/100
Talent:
Eyes of Observation
Curse:
Chains of Worthless
Skill:
...….
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It had been a month since Lucas returned from the magic tower. During this time, he trained vigorously every day, pushing himself to exhaustion. As a result, his physical attributes had improved, although the progress wasn't significant. Lucas realized that the improvement in his physical attributes was also affected by his age. Being still a child, his attributes wouldn't reach the level that adults had.
His Will attribute showed the most significant increase since it already had high attributes, likely due to his daily pushing himself to the limit and constantly battling the temptation to give up. By persevering and refusing to yield, his Will attribute continued to grow.
His Mana attribute increased as he diligently meditated and actively utilized his mana. As for his Magic attribute, it experienced sluggish growth as he was unable to directly practice magic.
His skill set expanded due to the books he had read, yet many remained at a basic level since he acquired them solely in theory, lacking practical application.
There was also progress in the search for the remaining stones of Poldansius' bracer. By utilizing the Earth stone as a tool to estimate distance, he and his parents finally pinpointed the locations of the rest of the stones. The Light stone had the most obvious location: the capital. However, due to the capital's vast size, they couldn't simply search without drawing attention to themselves. However, Lucas intended to visit the capital later, to precisely pinpoint its location. He hoped that the Light stone was not in the possession of royalty or influential families, as obtaining the stone from them would likely reveal their intentions.
As for the other stones, they were suspected to be either in cities or towns or buried in the ground, all of which he planned to visit later as well.
In his research progress, Lucas made several notes on what he needed to improve. The latest enhancement to the mana refinement spell involved increasing the quantity of mana it could process while maintaining stability and also prolonging its duration.
Truthfully, to gain acceptance into the academy, he only needed to make minor adjustments to the spell—nothing substantial—and he would be accepted regardless. However, if he could demonstrate the ability to surpass expectations, then the academy would hold him in even higher regard, and they would overlook his inability to directly wield magic.
So Lucas made several points for the spell's improvement. Firstly, the glaring issue with the mana refinement spell was its inefficiency. While it could absorb external mana, it did so at a slow rate to avoid the risk of the spell exploding. He needed to address this problem. Solving this alone would secure acceptance to the academy and earn respect from the mages at the magic tower. However, Lucas knew that achieving acceptance wasn't sufficient; he aimed to exceed expectations.
Secondly, another issue with the spell was its slow mana refinement despite its straightforward command, which stemmed from the same problem as the first one— the risk of explosion.
Thirdly, the container for the refined mana was imperfect, resulting in significant loss and a short duration for the spell. However, Lucas had already made improvements in this area, so he wouldn't prioritize it further.
Fourth, with each process, a significant amount of mana resulted in only five refined mana outputs from every 100 mana inputs, with the rest wasted. So, if he could increase this ratio from 5 to 50 or even to 10 only, then he would deserve a big applause.
To begin with, Lucas envisioned the mana refinement process in the form of a cube, with two additional cubes nested inside, creating three layers of cubes. The first cube would serve as both a container for the mana and a means to standardize its frequency. According to the research he had read, raw mana possessed a chaotic frequency, making it volatile and difficult to control. Therefore, he aimed to harmonize their frequencies or neutralize them as much as possible. Within the first layer of cubes, five sides would absorb raw mana, while the remaining side would serve as an exhaust, releasing raw mana with extreme frequency and waste from the refinement process.
In the second cube, the refining process would take place. Here, mana with the same frequencies would be easier to process because the reduced variance in frequency would decrease the likelihood of explosions. The raw mana would undergo rigorous processing to transform it into refined mana that was usable and significantly less volatile. While raw mana with the same frequencies had a reduced likelihood of exploding due to their decreased volatility, they still required constant control. In contrast, refined mana wouldn't necessitate such ongoing control anymore, as the volatile factors had been completely subdued during the refinement process. One side of the second cube would be connected to the exhaust part of the first cube. Lastly, the third cube would serve as the storage unit for the refined mana.
This simplified process outlined by Lucas lacked detailed specifications regarding the operations within the first and second cubes. He could just fill out the details later since they would be the most challenging aspect of the project. Questions loomed about; which formulas to employ for absorbing raw mana? What formula to make raw mana had the same frequency? What formula to refine the mana? Lucas foresaw the need to develop numerous formulas and endure countless trials and errors in the future.
"Haa…." Lucas sighed heavily as he leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples in response to the headache creeping over him. The research indeed caused him headaches on a daily basis.
"I don't think children should study or think this hard," he mumbled. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was the only eleven-year-old kid engaged in such advanced research, especially without extensive knowledge of magic.
"I swear, once this is over, I will play around as much as I want." While becoming the greatest mage was his goal, that didn't mean he would spend his whole time focusing on that. He knew he would be crazy to do so.
"Now... what to do? The improved mana refinement spell is estimated to finish within two months at most, and I still have three months less before the academy." With luck on his side, he had three months or less to devote himself fully to training, accumulating enough mana to create the artificial magic core.
Poldansius theorized that the magic core formed through the crystallization of mana, similar to a mana stone, but significantly denser, more complex, and possessing sentience. He explained that creating a magic core required an immense quantity of mana, which in turn necessitated a vast mana refinement spell diagram capable of continuously supplying him with mana. A dangerous attempt since any mistake could result in a gruesome death. Fortunately, Lucas had refrained from informing his parents about this unless he wanted them to forbid him from attempting it.
"But that is not all." Gathering a vast amount of mana and condensing it wasn't enough to create an artificial magic core. Let's just say it was far more complex than simply integrating magic formulas into the mana refinement spell.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door.
"Come in." The door opened real fast, and he saw his little sister bolted toward him.
"Lucy! Stop studying, and let's play!" Ah, how he hated the nickname that she gave to him. It sounded like a girl's nickname, and he didn't like it at all.
"Stop calling me that," Lucas hissed, irritation evident in his voice.
"I will if you decide to play with me!" she demanded childishly.
"Ugh, fine," Lucas agreed begrudgingly. Despite his reluctance, he acknowledged that playing with Liliya was necessary to relax his mind after all the hard work his brain had to go through.
"Yay! Come, Lucy! We're going to play kingdoms!"
"Stop calling me that! And why do we have to play kingdoms!" he protested while following Liliya out of his room. Unfortunately for him, Liliya ran really fast and didn't even deign to answer his question. With a resigned sigh, Lucas trailed after her, heading toward the area where Liliya typically played kingdoms. He couldn't help but reflect on the unexpected nature of Liliya's interests. Kingdoms was a game often associated with boys pretending to be kings and lords, yet Liliya seemed to be an exception to this norm.