[Edward's POV]
"Why did you build this place like this, so weird?" Nana asked Edward.
The expression on his face made it clear that he had no idea what his guardian was talking about.
"This is your Mental Helm, you can shape this place however you want, just by imagining how you want it to be," Nana explained.
Before he could say anything, the girl kept talking.
"Try to turn this into a pleasant place. I'll be spending most of my time here," she added.
Nana was becoming more and more like his sister, as her new personality took shape.
That only made his first impression of the girl even stranger. He had to make an effort to get that kind of thought out of his head.
But now he needed to think of something to turn his Mental Helm into the perfect place.
Nana's intervention reminded him of a scene he had lived with his sister, not long ago.
On his graduation day, when he was awarded the Academic Merit Order and became the only cadet in his class to be promoted directly to the rank of Captain, he received a house in the military condominium.
When he and his sister were walking through the neighborhood, getting to know the place they were going to move into, they passed in front of one of the prettiest, largest, and best-located houses in the condo.
His sister made a joke at that moment.
"Is this the house they're going to give you to live in? I guess it'll do!" she said ironically.
The house where they had spent their entire childhood was probably smaller than even the pool house of that mansion.
"That's the mansion reserved for the General Commander of the Mechanized Cavalry," Edward replied.
"So all you have to do is get promoted until you become the General Commander, and we'll be able to use that pool whenever we want?" his sister asked, continuing the joke.
Edward felt more fulfilled than ever. Not because he had graduated, been awarded, or promoted.
After so many years of suffering, they finally had the privilege of smiling again.
That memory made him face the reality that he had died in that world.
His sister was a strong woman, she didn't depend on him and would probably be fine, but he couldn't help but worry about her.
"Did something happen?" Nana asked, bringing Edward back to the present.
I know exactly what this place should be like.
He didn't know exactly how it all worked, but he closed his eyes and started to imagine.
Suddenly, the scenery began to change. The mirror of water reflecting the infinite aurora borealis vanished to make room for green fields and forests.
Mountains appeared in the distance, forming complex patterns on the horizon.
A large lake with crystal-clear water formed a few meters from where Edward and Nana stood.
The night lit by the golden aurora borealis gave way to a pleasant summer morning.
A beautiful house took shape in front of the lake, the same mansion he and his sister had dreamed of, materializing a few meters from the water.
"I would have preferred the coast over the countryside, but I guess it'll do," Nana commented after Edward finished transforming the Mental Helm.
He just smiled. Nana was really there to fill the void his sister's absence had left.
"Shall we go in?" Edward said, inviting Nana into his new home.
He had never entered that mansion, so all he did was imagine the interior of a modern and cozy house, the kind he had only seen on social media posts from celebrities.
"Perfect. It's going to be very comfortable to live here. But later we'll need to make some changes," Nana said.
"Changes?" Edward asked.
"The Mental Helm will become one of your training sites, so some adjustments will be necessary. But we can leave that for later," Nana replied.
"Speaking of training, do you want to start right away?" Edward asked.
Nana nodded and pointed to a spot in the spacious room for them to sit comfortably on the floor.
"The first step for you to be able to produce magic will be to awaken your Mana Core," Nana began explaining.
"What exactly is a Mana Core?" Edward asked.
"It's an organ that all magical creatures develop," Nana began the explanation.
"Does it serve to store mana?" Edward asked.
"Yes, but not only that. The core is also where you refine and apply properties to the mana," Nana added.
"Does it have a physical manifestation?" Edward asked again.
He could tell that Nana didn't like being interrupted during her explanations, but that was just how Edward behaved with all his teachers. He couldn't help it.
"Yes, it manifests physically in your body, in the form of a crystal."
As Nana spoke, a slightly rounded crystal appeared in the air.
"In each magical being, it grows in specific places. In the case of humans, it grows in the abdomen, between your intestines and the musculature of your back."
When she said that, a translucent version of Edward formed around the crystal to point out where it would be located.
"Can we start, then? What do I have to do to awaken my Mana Core?" Edward was eager to begin manipulating magical energy.
"You need to return to the material plane, but it's best to wait until you're alone," Nana replied.
Before he could interrupt again, she continued:
"When you awaken your Mana Core, it will release a pulse of energy, and people nearby will be able to sense it." She continued explaining.
"Among humans, the most common is for the Mana Core to awaken between five and six years old. Some awaken at four, but there are no records of someone awakening it as a newborn."
Edward couldn't resist. He took advantage of the pause she made to breathe and commented:
"So I'd be considered a freak if someone noticed. It's important that I awaken my core now, can't we wait?"
Nana was clearly annoyed by the interruption.
"You need to do this now. In the future, it will be very difficult," she said, pausing to give him an intense look.
That look said: Do you dare to keep interrupting me? When he finally remained silent, she continued.
"You already have a fully formed mind, and that is causing your body to accumulate much more Ether than the other energies."
At that moment, the translucent version of Edward floating in the air began to absorb energy from the surroundings.
The energies had the same colors as before: blue, red, and green.
The amount of blue energy—or Ether—being absorbed was much greater than the others.
"If your core develops naturally in this scenario, it will be extremely difficult for you to use Chakra and Qi in the future."
Edward made an effort to stay quiet, as his teacher was clearly tired of being interrupted.
"We need to interfere with the formation process of your core to keep it balanced, or your brother's prediction will come true," Nana added.
What? What prediction, what brother? Edward was about to ask, but then he remembered his brother saying:
"With an Athletic Constitution B+, he'll have trouble reaching the full potential of his Mana Pool."
Nana noticed Edward remembered, so she continued the explanation.
"You will need to control the flow of energies entering your core to make its constitution more balanced."
Nana made a transparent funnel appear near the core of the translucent Edward, and then forced the blue energy to pass through the funnel, making room for the other two energies to enter the core.
"To do that, you need to create a mental image of the process and then use that image to guide your instincts, and your body will respond naturally."
Edward began to recreate the image of the energies being absorbed and the funnel forcing the passage of a specific type to control the flow.
"But first, you need to learn to sense the presence of the energies. For that, we need to go back to the material plane."
Nana said that and suddenly everything went black.
Edward woke up lying on Eliza's shoulder. She was trying to make his baby body burp, gently patting his back.
Edward tried to speed up the process, but he still had no control over his body. So he had to endure that ridiculous situation for a few more moments.
[Let's take advantage and start right now. Try to focus on sensing the energies around you.] Nana's voice echoed in his mind.
Edward began to concentrate. That wasn't exactly an easy task. Eliza kept patting his back and swaying from side to side to make him burp.
Edward couldn't imagine how that helped exactly, but there wasn't much he could do.
He forced himself to concentrate but couldn't feel anything—not for a few minutes, at least.
Then suddenly he began to notice something. Something warm and pleasant connected him to his adoptive mother.
The sensation was like being bathed in the first rays of morning sun. Instinctively, he knew that was Chakra.
He made an effort to visualize that sensation as a flow of red energy. Then he could finally see clearly.
His emotional connection with Eliza formed a bridge connecting her heart to his. That bridge absorbed Chakra at an absurd speed.
This Chakra was then channeled to his heart and spread through his body via his circulatory system.
[Great, you've already sensed the Chakra network. Now try to feel the others.]
While Chakra was connected to the heart, Ether was connected to the brain, and Qi to the muscles.
So Edward focused on his brain.
Now that he knew what to look for, it wasn't hard to find. He began to feel his mind absorbing something from the atmosphere.
Unlike the cozy warmth, now it was like a refreshing breeze. He focused on that breeze and began to imagine it as a flow of blue energy.
Suddenly, he began to see his mind absorbing blue energy from the surroundings and it being circulated through his body via his nervous system.
That flow was visibly more intense than the other. He could see how his body absorbed much more Ether than Chakra.
[Perfect, now you just need to feel your Qi flow,] Nana commented.
But no matter how hard he tried, nothing happened. He focused on his muscles, but that baby body had very little muscle mass, which probably made his body absorb much less of that kind of energy.
Sensing his Qi flow would be a much harder task than the other two types.