After hearing such a thing, Igneel no longer had the energy to continue their training, so he stopped there for the day.
On the next day...
"Father I think I've got it"
"Got what?"
"The way to link my dantian to my soul so that the mana is sent there instead"
"Oh, is that so, good for...."
"You what!"
"Should I try it, it's only theoretical at this moment.... though it seems quite feasible"
"No no wait son, are you sure you can do it... Technically it should still be impossible for you".
Although Igneel had used the excuse of not wanting to "divide attention" for when he didn't tell Max about spiritual energy. The truth was that he was afraid that his son's soul might be negatively impacted by the spiritual energy after the incident five years ago. He also felt that this time even his overly amazing son wouldn't be able to do it.
"Father, you said it yourself, my mana isn't allowing us to hold back, and I don't think I can control it anytime soon"
"Meaning that there's a chance we might be too late and I'll explode and die, so why not do all that we can now". Max replied to his father with a serious look on his face which was unbecoming of his age.
"Fine, I guess what you're saying makes sense, but as soon as I sense anything wrong, I'm going to stop you and it will be the end of such an idea"
"Oh and to link the two you must create a path using spiritual energy that connects them"
Seeing how resolute Max looked, Igneel could only begrudgingly agree.
"Thank you for trusting me father, I won't let you down". With that statement, Max closed his eyes.
The familiar scene of his dantian appeared again. This time though his soul in his forehead was also perceived.
What Max didn't tell Igneel was that he has always been aware of his soul. This might be because of his experience when he travelled from another world....no that was definitely the reason.
He had even come up with a theory of what was happening to this dantian after hearing the explanation on spiritual energy the previous day.
His conjecture was that maybe his time in the void had strengthened his soul to the required level. And after sensing this, his dantian started actively taking in mana to send to his soul, but since there was no link between them, the dantian was overloaded.
As for why the dantian didn't need his conscious decision in the process. He assumed that it still operated on instinct since it hadn't been tempered with yet. Like how a baby's mouth will suck in milk when the stomach is hungry with no clear thoughts from the mind.
So it can be said, his soul was the root cause of the problem, which makes sense since the problem only started when he occupied the body. Meaning that as long as he creates a link between them, the situation should be fixed.
{With this theory, I at least have an idea of what's going on with me, and unlike with my unruly dantian, I can control my soul just fine}
With that thought, Max envisioned an ethereal link made of spiritual energy (which he apparently had been aware of already, albeit didn't know what it was) extending from his soul to his dantian.
Just as the link was about to reach his dantian, it was met with a blockade.
"Father, can you create a whole in the seal please". Without opening his eyes Max requested and without saying anything Igneel fulfilled the request.
With a path open, the link continued to extend until it reached the dantian. With the link established, his dantian seemed to go crazy, the suction force tripled, mana started goind up to his soul.
As soon as it reached it, Max felt such a pleasurable feeling that he almost moaned. It felt like getting some water to drink after going for a week in a desert without any.
"Father it's working, but I feel like the process should be smoother...can you maybe release the the seal?"
"What?, but..."
"Please father, trust me for a little longer". Still with his eyes closed, feeling the man enter his soul, Max requested again.
The reason was because, despite the torrent of mana that was entering his soul, it felt like it wasn't enough, not even a drop when he wanted an ocean.
"Sigh... fine, I hope you know what you're doing Max". With that statement from Igneel, the seal around Max's dantian completely shattered and disappeared.
And soon after dark clouds flashing silver covered the sky above them. The beasts of the forest cowered away trying to seek cover as the clouds extended to cover a quarter of the sky above the Great Beast Forest. Considering that the forest was as big as seven kingdoms, a quarter was a rather large piece of land.
Some of Igneel's subordinates wanted to go to the source of the phenomena but Igneel then released his aura as a way to tell them to stay away.
As the mountain was at the edge of the forest, some of the clouds covered a little of the human kingdom closest to it.
.....
Back at the scene of the crime....
A large and visible whirlpool of mana had formed above Max. He seemed like a bottomless pit that kept on taking more and more mana nonstop.
It was then Igneel noticed some changes on Max's body. Max's was born with a completely human body to the surprise of both his parents, no visible dragon feature could be seen on him. If Igneel had a little less trust in his wife he would have likely suspected some foul play.
But now his question had been answered, It seemed his lack of mana was the reason why his dragon features weren't visible.
The Max now in front of him, was radiating an aura that can only be described as dragon's might. On his forehead two long dragon horns with silver tips and two shorter horns grew behind the longer ones. His ears turned pointy. Silver lightning sparking all over his body. The contrast to his light brown skin can only be described as being... freakin cool looking.
The transformation stopped there, but Igneel had the feeling that in the future it will continue and he will start to look more and more dragonic.
"My son... Grace, I'm sorry". Tears streamed down his cheeks.
Although Igneel tried to not doubt his wife's fidelity, he still couldn't shake the feeling everytime he looked at Max who looked completely human. So with this transformation and the aura from Max which was almost the same as his, his doubts were cleared and he felt bad for his lack of complete trust. At the same time he was glad that he hadn't done anything rush or he would have regretted it one day.
Just as Igneel was lost in his thoughts, the whirlpool around Max despited and the clouds slowly faded.
{Well this is odd, I can feel that my soul isn't anywhere close to be filled with mana yet, why did my dantian stop... Tsk, useless thing, when I wanted it to stop it didn't, now that I want it continue it won't}
"Father, why did my dantian stop taking in mana?, I thought it was broken like that?, I feel like I only got a little dam when I have space for an ocean". Max looked at Igneel with confusion visible in his eyes.
"I'll tell you everything but first....do something about your aura do you want to flatten your mother along with the everyone on the mountain?!"