The wailing of the siren was interrupted by an announcement coming from the same source and could be heard throughout the city.
"All residents should seek shelter immediately. This is not a drill. I repeat this is not a drill. A beast wave has been spotted moving toward Saung. All residents should seek shelter immediately. Remain in your shelter until the 'all clear' is sounded."
Damion was at a loss for what to do. If he was at school, he was sure all the students would be rushed into whatever shelter the school had, but here he was on the edge of a shopping plaza looking at the wall that was there to stop beast waves.
As Damion was wondering if he should try and make his way back to the school, a woman stepped out from a store and took Damion by the shoulders.
"Did you get separated from your parents kid?" the woman asked.
Damion decided not to answer and simply allowed the terror he was feeling to show on his face. After he did not reply, the woman picked him up and brought him inside her store. She sat Damion down on a cushioned stool and then hit a button on the wall behind the counter. Immediately, the front windows of the store went dark as a security door slid down across the store front.
"Don't worry little man. We'll be perfectly safe here. The city guards will repel the beast wave and in a few hours you'll be back with your parents."
The thought of facing his parents worried Damion more than the beast wave. He had a hard time believing his rotten luck. Not only did he get accosted by someone, but the day he decided to skip school was also the day of a beast wave that only happens once every few dozen years.
As Damion was sitting in silence, trying to think up a lie to tell his parents, the shop owner had left and returned with a tray of food. She gently set the tray next to Damion and he eyed the beverage choices and sandwiches she had brought.
Seeing Damion's hesitation, the shop owner chuckled. "It's okay. Go ahead and take however much you want. My name is Anne."
"Damion."
After offering up his name in return, Damion took a sandwich and began eating. There was no sense in being hungry while waiting for his parents to punish him and food in his mouth gave him an excuse to avoid small talk.
"Such a well-behaved little boy," Anne smiled as she praised Damion. "I'm going to go alert the police that you are here. That way they can let your parents know that they can stop their worrying."
Damion took a big bite of his sandwich to avoid saying anything as Anne left for the store's backroom. His parents probably did not even know he was missing yet. Most likely, once the lockdown was lifted, his mother would rush to his school to check on him. At that point she would start worrying. Damion just had to figure out how to get back to the school before his mother arrived.
After several minutes of not coming up with a solution, Damion decided to check on the system. Today was the first day he had used Mana Absorption since the day he was born. The use of the spell had not caused him any pain, but he wanted to see if there were any changes.
'Status.'
[Magic System]
[Full System unlock in 12:246:9:55:50]
[System Level: 1]
[User: Damion Wells]
[Age: 6]
[Magic Talent: Locked]
[Magic Affinity: Locked]
[Mana: 40/40]
[Magic Power: Locked]
[Mana Recovery: Locked]
[Strength: 18]
[Dexterity: 30]
[Vitality: 85]
[Intelligence: 125]
[Experience: 100/1,000]
[Store Credits: 1]
'Interesting,' Damion thought as he saw some of his stats had increased, most noticeably was the increase to his mana capacity. 'System, how does one increase the amount of mana they have?'
{There are a multitude of methods to increase an individual's mana capacity. Including but not limited to, Natural growth. Artifacts that when equipped allow for additional mana capacity. Medicines that permanently increase mana capacity. Meditation techniques and endowment techniques.}
Damion knew he had not acquired an artifact and he also had not taken any medication to explain his increased mana. For six years he had not managed to increase his mana capacity, so he doubted it was natural growth. Mana Absorption was not a meditation technique and he had no idea what endowment techniques were.
'System, explain meditation and endowment techniques.'
This time instead of the system speaking to him, it displayed a text for the definition of each type of technique.
[Meditation techniques are techniques individuals make use of to feel ambient mana around them and gather extra mana into their body. By flooding their body with mana they are able to forcibly increase the size of their magic core.]
[Endowment techniques are techniques employed to pass mana from one person to another. A person with superior mana control can forcefully inject mana into another person's magic core to increase their mana capacity.]
The explanations left Damion somewhat baffled. Mana Absorption was almost like a hybrid of the two. It was almost like a reverse endowment technique. He did not give mana to another, but took it and in the process, it seemed the excess mana was able to enlarge his magic core.
'System. Does the Mana Absorption spell increase my mana capacity like an endowment technique?'
{Mana Absorption can have the side effect of mildly increasing an individual's magic core size if the person recklessly absorbs more mana than their body can handle. This is most common in individuals with small mana capacity due to the ease of reaching excess mana saturation of their core and body.}
Now Damion was beginning to understand what happened. By absorbing mana that pushed his magic core to the limit, it would forcibly increase the size of his magic core. As he had already learned, this was a dangerous path to take to increase his mana capacity. Too much mana had already damaged his mana pathways and there was the possibility that it could also kill him.
'System. How does natural growth work to increase mana capacity?'
{Natural growth affects mana capacity in two ways. One: as a person's body matures, it will slowly expand the size of their magic core naturally. Two: by repeated exposure to magic and use of magic a person's core will slowly expand.}
'So, if I use magic a lot, I will naturally gain a larger and larger magic core?'
{To an extent. Once the size threshold for a magic core to a person's body is reached, expansion of the core is no longer possible. When this happens the outer portion of the core is strengthened to allow for greater mana density.}
The system's answers gave Damion a good understanding of how to grow as a mage. Mana capacity was one of the essential things a mage needed. If a mage could only cast a few spells, they were not very useful for long fights.
Now all Damion had to do was to figure out the best way to increase his magic core safely. Sure, Mana Absorption worked, but it was dangerous and as the system indicated, it eventually would be less practical to use because of the amount of mana he would need to reach the critical threshold.
On top of those factors Damion had not fully recovered from using Mana Absorption as a baby, his mana pathways were still damaged and he was afraid that if he used the spell too often it would negatively affect his recovery.