**Gaia World, Year 1412**
**Alabama Mountain, Nikola Village**
Ron stands in the backyard of the old wooden house, gazing at the two graves.Those graves belong to his parents.
Today, he turns 15, an adult by the kingdom's law. Thanks to mana, people mature at this age. From today, he's eligible to work, go on adventures, and explore dungeons as an Adventurer.
But this day is bittersweet—it marks two years since he became an orphan.
Since childhood, exploring the world has been his dream, inspired by his mother's stories. His parents were thrilled by his curiosity. But good days don't last forever. Two years ago, a beast attacked, and his parents gave their lives to save the village. They killed the beast, but were mortally wounded and died a month later from mana poisoning. Because of their sacrifice, the village is peaceful today, and the villagers love and care for him.
He stands there for half an hour, a mix of emotions swirling within him. It's hard to tell if he is happy or sad. Finally, he sighs and enters the house.
Calling it a house might be generous; it's clear that it hasn't been repaired in a long time. Someone tried to fix it with an inexperienced hand.
The outside may be rough, but inside it holds everything necessary for a small family, two bedrooms and a cozy living space. He heads to freshen up. As he stands in front of the mirror, he sees his white hair and ruby red eyes staring back at him. These eyes make him stand out and it's not wrong to call him a handsome young man.
"Today I should be able to open up mana node."
I sit on the bed in a meditative position. Today, I will open my mana circuit and mana node. My mother already taught me the breathing technique of her family. It's called Blue Pearl. It is a Void Rank technique. When I heard that, I was dumbfounded. You have to know that breathing techniques are divided into Initial Rank (1-4), Mid Rank (5-7), Superior Rank (8-9), Void, Semi-Divine, Divine, Semi-Immortal, and Immortal.
Though Semi-Immortal and Immortal are myths because you have to kill beasts of that rank. To broaden your knowledge, the Emperor is only Semi-Divine Rank. If there is any ancestor, he may be a Divine Rank Mage or Knight. So, you can imagine the value of this technique. When I asked about it, my parents told me their epic love story (ha, cliché). My maternal Grandpa is a Duke, who is a Void Rank Mage, and my mother is the Duke's only daughter. The King wanted to engage her to the Crown Prince and then... well, you can guess. My parents ran away. That's why they didn't want to go back to the capital for the antidote or priest because the King would not let them go, especially the Crown Prince, who became a laughingstock.
At present...
I started to breathe according to the technique. Mana from the environment started to pour into my lungs. I breath the air as instruction ,as a result my mana circuit began to become clearer, purifying the blockages in my mana nodes. This is a very slow and dangerous process.
Though for me it's an easy process because of the high-ranking breathing technique. However, discomfort is still there. After a long time, my mana circuit became visible. It was time to make a mana node in my heart.
In the future, the mana circle will rotate around the node. It's very important for future mana circulation and density of mana.
According to the instructions, I started to circulate the mana in my heart and began to compress it at a specific point. Time passed by and the pressure began to increase around my heart, but I knew this was a time for endurance. The more I endured the pain, the more I would develop in the future and the breakthrough would be easier. Time passed and I endured until my heart started to bleed. Seeing this I stopped. I knew this was my limit, my body couldn't endure more than this.
The discomfort decreased at an alarming rate. The node started to rotate, and blue mana appeared around my heart. Now the normal process is to make a circle There will be nine stars around the circle. After the circle is formed, we can call them 1 Star Knight or Mage.
The difference between Knight and Mage is mainly combat power. Knights are good at close combat, while Mages specialize in ranged attacks. They both practice different attack methods. Though there are other professions like Alchemist, Explorer, and Adventurer. Also there are Rare professions like Magic Swordsman, Magic Spearman, and Magic Bowman, but these types of professions are rare because nobody wants to lag behind others and it takes time to practice magic and Knight training. You also need a vast amount of mana accomplish this.
After that, I started to stimulate the mana that is located around my heart. After an unknown amount of time, a illusory circle formed around my heart, and pure mana started producing from my mana node. It didn't take much time to stop the bleeding and heal the injury due to mana. I can feel I am gaining strength.
One hour later, I opened my eyes and sighed in relief. I was panicking because of the internal bleeding. I stand up and look outside.
'' It's already nighttime.''
I eat something left over and went to sleep. It was a tiring day.
I woke up at noon due to my fatigue. First, I took a bath. I left the house towards the market because there isn't any food in the house.
This is a not-so-big village. it is located in the western border of the kingdom. The population is around 1000. The market is mainly family business. Villagers sell their own vegetables and spirit animals. These beasts are domestic. But because of environmental mana, the flesh of the beasts is quite delicious and full of mana. Some villagers do go to the nearby town to buy the grain and sell it to the villagers.
Though is dangerous for common people there are bandits around the small village. beast will appear tome to time.
After 20 minutes of walking, I reached the market and started to hear the noise.
"A steel sword for 1 gold coin." "Come and buy the fresh potato; one basket for 5 silver.""1 Star breathing technique only for 1 gold."
People selling daily necessity and grain .
I didn't even look for them and went to the bakery shop.
"Uncle, give me 5 beef buns."
I gave the money to a 6-foot muscle man who has some biceps.
"Kiddo, how's the day going?"
"I am good, Uncle Zack," and gave him a sunny smile. He was the drinking buddy of my father in the village , before he used to be an adveturer.
Then his wife gave the packet. I talked with him for some time and left the market.
When I was coming back, I saw the Village head, who was waiting for me outside the house. After seeing him, I walked towards him hurriedly.
"Old man, why are you here with your health? You can inform me by someone."
He is like an elder to me. He looked after me for 2 years since my parents died. Otherwise, how can a 13-year-old boy live here in a house ?
He didn't say anything, just smiled at me and patted my shoulder.
"I want to talk with you. Lets head inside ."
"Yes "
I lead him towards my house.
Inside the house,
"Ron, yesterday you turned 15. Did you open your mana node?"
"Yes, my parents left a breathing technique. I already opened the mana node."
He just nods with satisfaction.
He knew that my parents weren't normal. I think everyone in the village knew about that because my parents killed the beast in the mountains. Though the mountain range is huge, they can hear the roar and the destruction of the beast.
"What are your plans for the future, Ron? You can do some work or in early stage become a porter for adventures."
"Old man, my father told me he has a friend in the city. He left me a letter with his mana seal on it. He told me to go there. His friend will help me to find a job."
Hearing this, he smiled happily for me. Then we talked for some time, mainly informing me about the procedure to create the mana star, though my mother already taught me everything. I listened to his advice carefully.
"When are you thinking of leaving? Tell me beforehand. I will tell Ishter to take you to the nearby town."
Then he left.
After that, I ate the meat buns happily. When it was night, I closed the door and window and went to my parents' room with a magic lamp that glowed at night. I went to the bedside table, put the lamp there, and came to the middle of the room and sat in front of a red tile that was almost the same in comparison to the other tiles. I pointed my finger towards it and input my little mana in a specific direction. Then a magic circle lit up on the tile, and a locker appeared under the tile. I took out the tile.