Looking into a mirror, a boy admired his visage. His hair had been cut recently, to match his father's, and the yellow tips of his hair wove itself nicely into his ensemble. He was about 1 meter tall, and his face was still a little chubby. The boy was cute, but you could tell that he would be handsome. Through the fat of his cheeks, it was possible to make out his facial structure. His body was slim, but it had a small amount of definition. The physical exercise he was doing was clearly working.
'I'm growing well, I think. What do you think, Fallen Star?' He thought.
- If you keep this up, you'll do great. Remember, no gym-like exercise. Your father should know, but until about 10, the body isn't developed enough to use weights. Make sure you correct him if he tries anything. - Fallen Star told Grey about his workouts.
'Will do.' Grey was tired of hearing this, but Fallen Star's constant reminders made sure that he only worked out himself, with no external aid.
Grey was now 5, and he had been doing training with his father for the past 2 years. It was hellish at the beginning, for his father had had many years of training others. The tailor made plan was a few hours long, and there was only one break. Grey was used to the hours long training, but the one break part was what made it hell. He was also focusing more on mana training, although he still kept it a secret. He only knew how to channel mana, after all.
Not only that, but the method of putting a tiny amount of mana into the eyes worked, so Grey had been practising Mana Breathing as his normal breathing. He had not perfected breathing that way constantly, but he had increased his mana recovery rate to the point that he could now do it 24/7 forever.
After Grey's statement, his mother made him do several comprehensive tests, and after passing them all with perfect scores, she fainted. Lucas couldn't believe it when he saw the scores, and had a small party inside his mind. He had to help Samantha believe it, first.
Again, Samantha couldn't help herself from worrying. But, after a few words from Lucas and Grey, saying that it was okay because he was homeschooled and could simply hide it, she seemed to calm down.
However, she then demanded that Grey take an IQ test. Grey scored an easy 187, and surprisingly, Samantha didn't get shocked. As a matter of fact, it seemed she had finally accepted what she had been told, for she muttered, "As expected of my genes."
Lucas couldn't help but chuckle at the remark, leading to him getting beaten. Grey had learned better, for this was not the first time it had happened, so he maintained a poker face.
---
It was finally time for Grey to start learning mana control. He passed the tests with flying colours, something that seemed to happen on a daily basis now, and Lucas couldn't help but be wowed.
He moved onto the theoretical aspect of mana, expecting Grey to do great. Of course, he did, but when Lucas asked if he had learned any [Spells], he received a resounding 'no'. It was to be expected, of course, but he thought that his son may have found a way to get some.
Grey and Lucas stood next to each other in the garden, when Lucas suddenly pointed a machine at Grey. He stood still, not scared that the machine would hurt him. "What is that, Dad?"
With a smile, proud that he had something his son didn't know about, Lucas explained, "This is a mana tester. I'm shocked you didn't know. This will tell us your attributes and your capacity for mana. Not only that, but it will tell us your efficiency."
"We already know that your main attribute is Light, based on your hair, so the other should be Dark. However, you, my son, don't seem to follow common sense, so we'll double-check. You need to channel your mana, okay?"
Grey complied with the instructions, channelling his mana through his body. Lucas aimed the pointer of the machine at Grey's heart, and then pressed the button. It scanned in silence for a few seconds, before beeping twice.
Lucas looked at the screen, before looking at Grey, and then back at the screen. He repeated the motion several times, before he mumbled, "Impossible!"
Grey moved to the screen, aware of the attributes and efficiency it would show. Fallen Star assured him that the only attributes read would be Light and Poison. His efficiency had recently hit 23.2% as well, but he was unaware of his capacity.
Fallen Star had told him the average capacity of someone who had just awakened their mana core without training. It was a solid 14 mana. His partner also seemed adamant on not telling him his capacity, reasoning that it would be funny to see Grey's reaction.
The value read:
//
-Attributes: Light, Poison
-Efficiency: 23.2%
-Capacity: 2,950
//
This meant that Grey's mana was a whopping 29.5 for regular people. It was almost as difficult to raise mana as it was to raise capacity. Grey now understood why his father had frozen. He had far too much mana for his age. The 100x boost was really unfair.
Grey had to snap his fingers twice to get Lucas' attention.
"Dad, are you okay?" He asked.
"Huh, yeah uh, I think I'm fine." Was the response. "Grey, how do you have so much mana? And how do you have such an efficiency?"
Grey replied with a simple, "I don't know."
"Well, you truly are a mystery, son, aren't you?" Lucas quickly moved on, knowing that dwelling on the mysteries of this boy was not a good idea for one's mental health. He started to tell Grey about Spells.
"So, a Spell is an incantation spoken in High elven that shapes your mana and releases it. The process is unknown, but that is the basics." He gave Grey a sheet, "This is the base Spell for the Light element. You will have to study High Elven to make Spells for your Poison attribute, sadly. I will help... don't worry, my High Elven is pretty good, after all."
Grey stared at the words on the sheet that read 'LuxFlore' and spoke them, yet nothing happened.
"You have to channel mana, and straighten out one of your arms." Lucas began to correct him, acting like a real teacher.
Grey fixed his stance, and said, "Lux Flore."
A few seconds passed, yet no change happened. The mana was flowing, his arm was in position, and his pronunciation was on point, surprising Lucas, yet the Spell didn't work.
'Fallen Star, why is it not working?' He inquired.
- Hmm, this is fascinating Grey, it seems the Mana Body is incompatible with Spells. An unintended side effect, for sure, but not the focus. - It replied.
- It seems I'll have to teach you of [Manipulation] early. First things first, ask Lucas what the Spell does. -
"Dad, what does the spell do?" Lucas, who had been stood still, woke from his stupor at the sound of the question.
"It makes a flower out of light and then shoots a ball of light from it. I don't know why it's so fancy… but." He told Grey what it did and went back to thinking. He needed to figure out why the Spell failed.
- Okay, now you know the effect, all you have to do is envision the mana moving in a way that will shape the effect. -
- It seems that Manipulation isn't possible for humans, because the body isn't a Mana Body. The mana can only travel through preset pathways, the channels, so to speak. You don't have that, of course, because your entire body has been turned into the core. - Fallen Star told him what to do, before fading into the background, presumably trying to find the reason Spells didn't work for Grey.
Grey did as instructed, imagining the flow of mana, shaping it into a flower of light, and then shooting an orb from it. He said the incantation so that his father would be tricked, and then began.
Suddenly, a shining light bloomed from Grey's hand, forming a flower. The bud was closed, when suddenly it opened wide, releasing a ball of light from its petals.
Lucas watched on in shock, 'Why did the Spell work now?' He thought. On the outside, he simply said, "Good job, Grey. It took you a couple tries, but you did it. I'm proud."
"Thank you, Dad." Grey smiled, happy to receive his father's praise.
"If you practice the Spell, it will get stronger. Since you know the basics, I'm going to rest. You've shocked me too much today. Do this for a couple of hours, then come inside for dinner."
---
Grey stood in the garden, confused. He had practised the Spell with his Manipulation for the past 3 hours, and had got much better at it. Happy with his progress, Grey moved on to other Manipulations, yet he found himself unable to do any.
- Maybe it is a matter of practice. Perhaps, only the first Spell works as a Manipulation immediately. As far as I'm aware, Manipulation requires a clear mental image, understanding of mana and how it moves, and the mana needed to cast it. You fit the bill, so it's very strange.- Fallen Star laid out It's limited comprehension of Manipulation.
- On another note, I've figured out why Spells don't work. The mana follows the correct channels to achieve the desired effect, but since your 'channels' are non-existent, as you just move mana through the body, the Spell can't move the mana for you. Think of it like a maze where every path leads to an exit and that exit leads somewhere else. The mana moves through certain paths to reach the different exits, and then combines to create the result. You, however, are a wide open field, and you have to build the pathways... only, they disappear after a certain duration. -
Grey was impressed at Fallen Star's deduction skills. In just 3 hours, It had figured out why Grey could not use Spells. Yet at the same time, he was even more perplexed. He had all the jigsaw pieces, yet the puzzle refused to come together.
'Maybe I need to understand the parameters of what I want to achieve. If I don't know all the details of the effect I want to create, it won't work?' Grey began to spitball, and on his first idea, Fallen Star had a reaction.
- That's it! How could I forget? Yes! You need a complete understanding of all the principles involved to create the effect, and the aftermath of said effect. It's the reason Manipulation is so hard...I did tell you that Manipulation was hard, right? - Fallen Star exclaimed.
'I think you did, but, if that's the case, I'm going to struggle. Light is a very difficult topic, after all. Maybe I should start with Poison.' Grey realised. 'Let's get to work.'