With Zaroth's interest piqued and no longer having any problem with concentration, he read further.
'First, one would be mistaken to separate the body, mind, and mana core. These are the three essential components that enable you to reach a state where you can perform at your peak at will. To achieve this, you must master all three.
In this book, we will focus primarily on the body and touch briefly on the mind. The mana core, being unique to every individual, requires a personal approach to strengthening your connection to it.'
"Hey, Zaroth…" Luna said, leaning back in her chair.
"…What?" he replied, shifting his gaze from the book.
"I'm bored."
"So?" He raised an eyebrow. "What do you want me to do about it?"
"Summon Silverfang. I want to play with him. Plus, it'll give you a chance to train your mana core a bit too."
With a sigh, Zaroth did as she asked. Silverfang materialized and immediately went to Luna.
"Oh! Look at you! Who's a good boy? Who's a good boy?" Luna said as she stroked his silver fur.
'This guy acts more like a dog than a wolf most of the time,' Zaroth thought, returning his attention to the book.
Maintaining focus became more challenging as he sustained his two summons, but he saw it as an excellent opportunity to strengthen his mana core.
'The key to achieving that state is absolute focus. When I say focus, I mean complete and perfect concentration—forgetting your past, your surroundings, and everything except your goal.
In that state, you don't control your body consciously. It becomes an extension of your soul, acting on instinct without wasting precious time on thought.'
After about an hour, Zaroth felt he had absorbed enough information. He closed the book and leaned his back against the wall.
"Focus…" he muttered. "I need to focus on something."
"Luna," he turned his head toward her, "give me an idea of what I can focus on."
She stopped rubbing Silverfang's belly for a moment and looked at him thoughtfully. "Hmm… Probably your mana core? You picked up a book on spells, right? Just go ahead and read that."
"But isn't it a bad idea to mix books? They teach vastly different content."
"Not necessarily. Maybe you'll be able to combine the knowledge in a unique way."
"Huh, that actually makes sense…" he muttered as he picked up Magic Spells Explained for Dummies.
Opening the book, he flipped to the first page and began reading.
'Magic! Everyone wants to use magic, but some have a harder time than others—especially those in the knight category. This book will explain things in the simplest terms so you can finally learn it.
First, to even think about using magic spells, you need to strengthen your mana core. Some say this is an individual process, but I, the author, disagree.
Strengthening your mana core is straightforward. There are three aspects, output, regeneration, and capacity. To improve each, you simply need to use it more often.
Now, onto the next part.'
"Wait, that's it?" Zaroth muttered in irritation. "How is this explained for dummies? They basically skipped the most important part—how to actually use it!"
Hearing him complain, Luna grinned and teased, "Maybe explanations for dummies are still too hard for you?"
With a sigh, he returned to the book.
'Once you learn a spell, you'll ask yourself how to increase its strength.'
"Again, they skip the important part! How the hell do you learn a spell in the first place?!"
'It's simple, you use the mana core as your central source of power and try to connect it to the small sparks of energy dispersed throughout your body. The more sparks you connect to your core, the stronger your spells will become.
If we use the beast-ranking system, it would look something like this,'
Mundane - 100 sparks
Lesser - 500 sparks
Uncommon - 5,000 sparks
Rare - 25,000 sparks
Epic - 800,000 sparks
Legendary - No record
Mythic - No record
Zaroth closed the book, irritated. "This book is a scam," he grumbled as he stood and sat on the table next to Luna.
"So? How did it go?" she asked, sipping water from her cup.
"Bad. I think the book was a scam," he muttered.
"Don't be so certain," she replied immediately.
He raised an eyebrow. "Why?"
"Mages are weird people, and everyone perceives things in a different way. You can try to improve your mana core using the information in the book as a stepping stone to build your base on."
"So how do I do that?"
"I'm a dragon. How should I know? You said you needed to focus on something, so try meditation, I guess? I've heard mages often use it."
Seeing no harm in trying, Zaroth sat on the ground, closed his eyes, and crossed his legs. Taking a deep breath, he focused.
He found himself in an empty space, with the only exception being a big green orb in the midst of nothingness, shining like a sun.
'Is that supposed to be my core?' he wondered. 'So the book said I have to connect it to something? But I don't feel anything.'
He focused on his body, but aside from the mana core, there wasn't anything else.
His heart began to ache.
'Again… I must have reached my limit. I'll have to desummon Silverfang,' he thought.
He was about to do so when he felt something.
His mana core was becoming unstable, likely due to the pressure of supporting his two summons, but something in the midst of nothingness shined for a second.
'Huh? What is that?' he wondered. Too curious to let it go, he concentrated on it. There was a spark glowing weakly. The more his mana core became exhausted and its light dimmed, the more Zaroth noticed the spark of light shining in him.
'So I'm supposed to connect this to the core?'
He tried to connect them, and it somehow worked. It was as if his body was responding to his mind.
The spark of light connected to his mana core with a line of strange glowing energy.
For a moment, it felt like the little spark of light was consuming mana from his mana core.
"Zaroth!" Hearing the panicked voice of Luna, he opened his eyes.
"Desummon Silverfang now!"
Without questioning her, he did as she suggested and immediately collapsed on his back, clutching his chest.
"What happened?" he asked through gritted teeth.
"You kept him summoned for hours! Your mana core was about to crack!"
'No, I just meditated for a few minutes…' Zaroth thought, glancing toward the window to see that night had long arrived.
"How long have I been meditating?" Despite the pain, he managed to ask.
"About four hours," Luna said, standing up and walking toward him with the intention to comfort him.
"Did you learn something?" she asked.
"Yeah." He smiled weakly. "I figured out how magic works."