It had been a week since I awakened my mana. I was currently trying to get used to it, thinking it would be an easy task but it wasn't. I had to practice non stop whenever I had free time for 7 consecutive days until I nearly ran out of mana.
To be able to use mana, the most important part was to sense it. It might sound vague and ridiculous but trust me, it did sound like that. Mana was like a continuous flow of air moving throughout the entire body, this was the reason why my strength, speed, and many other things have risen. All the mana that flew through the body was through the core, also known as the heart.
Basically, it was similar to the blood circulating in the human body. The core, which seemed to have merged with my heart, could be understood as the source of mana or it was used to stockpile mana.
Generally it would default to providing a small amount of mana and let it circulate in the body to enhance the human physique. To be able to enhance a body part or weapon, we must take more mana from the core and transfer it to a body part or weapon.
This was insanely tough, it took me 6 days to master taking more mana from the core and moving it to the desired place in the body. For example, now I have successfully moved mana to my left hand, causing a deep red aura to clearly appear.
Once mana had successfully congregated on my hand, it remained to appear on my hand until it was depleted. Furthermore, the core would not be able to recover the mana during the enhancement phase. So I tried to think of a way to optimize it and this was the result: After performing a strengthened attack, the mana was consumed a little, and I would immediately return it back to the core to recover a little mana and then strengthen another body part and just repeat until I ran out of mana.
It was complicated when I put it in action because it required meticulousness and extremely fast speed. Although I didn't recover much mana each time, I could at least perform the strengthening action for a longer time than usual.
'Guess I will try releasing a large amount of mana in my body to push my ability to the limit. However, the speed at which I consume mana will be faster.'
I concentrated and slowly extracted mana, sending it throughout my body. At about 20% of my mana, I felt my body become much stronger, but in return, it was a bit uncomfortable. I kept continuing at 40%.
'Wow! My body is full of power, it feels like I can do everything, but..."
I canceled the body strengthening straight away and started breathing heavily. Although using 40% of my mana to strengthen my entire body could make me much stronger, it also made my body feel like it was about to explode.
'Therefore, should I stop at 30% for now?'
'Okay, next is to see how long I can maintain it.'
I took 30% of the mana from my core and circulated it throughout my body. 1 minute. 2 minutes passed.
"Bang!" The door opened. There, my father was wearing a anxious expression.
"Are you okay, Lucian?!"
***
"Lucian is a special child!" That's what the people in town often said.
The reason was easy to understand, although he was only 2 years old, he was different from other children his age. While 2 years old children were still crying, fussing, and being naughty, Lucian was not like that.
He barely cried and was not indecent at all. People said that this child was too mature for his age. Sometimes, they also said that he had psychological problems.
"Whatever the reason, I still love Lucian like I always do, I just want him to grow up healthy and cheerful like he did at home."
"Lucian is such a cute kid! It must be because of my genes!" Aether smirked but then realized that praising himself was indeed embarrassing.
"Today is another peaceful day." He smiled serenely as he immersed himself in the chirping of birds and inhaled the aroma of his wife's cooking.
"There's nothing happier than this."
Aether stood up, sheathed his sword, ending a tiring day of training like any other.
He ran into the bathroom, took a shower, and went to Lucian's room so he could play with his son. He didn't realize that he had started to reduce his training time so he could have more time with Lucian.
While walking step by step to Lucian's room, he felt a surge of mana coming from the room even though the mana's level was still quite low.
He rushed towards the room and the door swung open. He was worried that Lucian was in trouble.
He was stunned for a moment after witnessing his own son, Lucian, a little boy who was only 2 and a half years old, was emitting a deep red mana all over his body.
"Haha….." Aether laughed in surprise.
"You are truly a special child, Lucian!"
***
"You are truly a special child, Lucian!"
I was dazed, immediately canceling the mana release and facing my father who was looking at me in shock.
I didn't know what to say and how to react. It was unusual for a 2 and a half year old child to awaken mana. What if they were afraid of me and discriminated against me?
All kinds of bad scenarios kept going on in my mind as my father walked closer.
While I was still lost in thought, my father picked me up with a bright smile. That was enough to bring my mind back to reality.
"Seraphine, look at this! Lucian was able to awaken his mana at the age of 2!" My father, Aether, exclaimed in excitement.
"He's a genius, a special child! Let's celebrate today!"
"Really!" My mother quickly appeared at the door of the room after hearing my father's shout.
"Yes it is! Can you show her again, Lucian?" My father smiled brightly.
Without hesitation, I released 5% of his mana inside my entire body.
"Woah! He really did it!" My mother exclaimed in surprise but then lost interest after 10 seconds.
"Anyways, the food is almost ready, you two, get ready."
"Aren't you surprised? He had done something that no other child has ever done."
"I don't really care to be honest. Even if he's special or a genius, he's still my son. I just want him to have a normal childhood."
"Well, you're right." My father scratched his head.
'Phew, luckily they still treat me normally.' I breathed a sigh of relief in my heart.
Just like that, the incident of the first child in history to awaken mana at the age of 2 ended there.
"Do you want to practice mana with papa tomorrow?" My father suddenly turned to ask me.
And I nodded vigorously.