Chapter 9: - Mana Veins and Combat Art
(Aiden's POV)
Mana core ranks basically dictated how likely you were to become strong in this world. The higher the mana core you awakened to, the more likely it was for you to get stronger much faster than others.
For example, an individual with a mana core awakening of B was most likely to reach S rank within six to seven years, while someone who awakened with a mana core rank of D would struggle to reach S within eleven to twelve years. Some could even rank up faster provided they were given a lot of resources as this was usually the case with noble families.
The Belmont Family in the past would have enough resources to ensure their younger ones were given the best possible resources to maximize their talent but that was not the case during Aiden's time.
Their family, although still quite rich by a normal person's standards, could not afford the amount of money that was needed to consistently buy expensive resources for their children as compared to other noble houses in recent times. This limited Aiden's growth quite a bit but despite this, Aiden became an S ranker in five and a half years. I told you he was a genius.
"That will not be the case for me as I'm planning to shorten that timing by a year" I muttered to myself as I sat down in a cross-legged meditative position while placing my hands on my knees.
What I was about to do was something that had already been tried before in the past but was said to be impossible then.
Emphasis on the then. People had tried to store mana into the channels of their body, specifically the veins but it never seemed to work, which led to the creation of mana cores.
The mana cores that were formed were situated in the space just below the lungs and above the diaphragm. Its shape resembled that of an atom, with rings entwining and encircling a small round orb.
The higher the number of rings, the stronger your mana core was. To put it into context, D ranks only had an orb without any rings surrounding it. C rank cores had an orb and a ring circling it while B rank cores had two rings circling it and so on.
The power from the mana cores were then spread throughout the body when it was needed, which enabled people to perform various feats, but the kind of magic they awakened to were usually different from others, although people still had similar ones every now and then.
With the advent of mana cores whose creation was instantaneous and easy to make, people quickly forgot about creation of mana in the veins as everyone began to believe that mana cores were extremely efficient. Unknown to them, the reason why mana could not be stored in the veins was due to mana not fully adapting to earth and its residents when it first entered the atmosphere.
One of the reasons Amael had an almost unlimited pool of magic as Flynn had explained to me back then was as a result of him creating mana veins again even after everyone gave up on it.
The process itself was simple enough but it took quite a long time to completely establish it as opposed to the creation of a mana core which was almost instantaneous, taking as much as one to two years to circulate it all over your body.
"But the gains are absolutely worth it" I said to myself as I began to pull the mana from the surrounding air into my body while making sure to slowly release the mana into my body channels, almost like I was trickling it into my veins and bloodstream.
I had a mental image of what I was doing so it made things easier as I continued doing this for over three hours before finally stopping.
Concentrating for a long time without being distracted was a very had thing to do but I knew I had to do it if I wanted to have any chance of creating the mana vein.
After about three hours of continuously drawing mana from the air and passing it through my body's circulatory system, I slowly got up from the spot I sat in and went to take a shower as I was drenched in sweat from the mana vein training I did before going to bed.
'Flynn and I will start sparring tomorrow. Better get as much rest as possible' I thought to myself as I lay down on the bed before succumbing to sleep.
***
(Flynn's POV)
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+++ Kamui Art +++
A combat art made together by a few talented martialists. It focuses on impacting the most amount of damage in a short period of time by focusing on speed rather than power. When this art has been mastered to a certain degree, the user of this combat art will be able to inflict several dangerous injuries to their opponents within a ridiculously short span of time.
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I stared at the combat art I had bought today while reading its details using the appraisal ring along with the other items. I had already used the other scrolls before I focused on this one.
The skill arts I purchased immediately made its way into my brain as soon as I touched it and resided there like it was something I already knew. I had a painful headache as I used two skill arts in quick successions but after resting for a while, the pain subsided.
"It still stings like hell though" I said to myself while frowning.
"We also had to make various short stops along the way at many shops in the city for me to get my hands on this"
As I stared at the scroll book in front of me while wearing the appraisal ring on my hand, I began to remember where I'd first seen this art. It had just been a sprite art then when I played the game but now, I was staring at it in my hands.
To most people it might seem like an art that wasn't too special but it was. The rarity of it being hard to find was as a result of the years it had been unused and as a result, no one really sold it.
This combat art was the one some soldiers used during the great battle millenniums ago when the war between the humans and the demons happened as explained from the game's lore.
It focused on practicality and making quick decisions and reactions to whatever danger you faced while using your own speed to your advantage. It's one of those arts that got lost to time because there were no big names using it but it was just as powerful all the same, hence the rarity and its difficulty to find.
"I'll use it well" I said while offering my prayers to the dead soldiers whose names I didn't know.
After placing my hand on the center of the scroll, a surge of information instantly began to flood my head again as I grimaced in pain due to the strong migraine it was giving me. I let out a pained moan as my head got continuously swarmed with information about the Kamui art.
After the flood of information stopped, I lay down on the ground for about fifteen minutes just trying to get myself together.
'I should've known combat arts would be different from skill arts' I thought to myself.
That was a miscalculation on my part to use the combat art not long after using the skill arts.
I staggered a bit as I stood up from the ground before I went to gulp down water from a huge bottle I'd originally placed on my desk because I somewhat anticipated that I'd need it after using all those scrolls.
Realizing that I'd finally calmed down, I began to sit in a meditative position as I focused on creating my own mana veins. I'd already re-informed Aiden about the process so I'm sure he'd already started using it.
'I need to get stronger way faster than Aiden if I ever want to catch up' I thought to myself as I continued practicing.
Normally I should have stopped at the three-hour mark but I kept pushing myself till I reached the four-hour mark.
I was completely drenched in sweat when I was done and I couldn't even move, especially considering how I was sprawled on the ground, which indicated that I had really overexerted myself.
Whilst lying down unable to move even a limb, I began to wonder why the world never knew of mana vein circulation or why no one else ever tried it after Amael did.
'Did he never tell or inform the world about it? There's probably a reason for that...' I mused to myself.
Speaking of Amael, I have this unexplained feeling that he has something to do with I and Aiden's reincarnation but it really is just a speculation on my part with no evidence or proof.
-Sigh
"But how? And why?" I asked myself as I slowly got up from where I was lying down.
I could now move but I was still extremely tired from all the stress I put myself through so I dragged myself into the bathroom and took a long shower to calm myself.
After getting out of the shower, I changed into my night clothes and slumped on the bed.
'This really is comfy and so much better' I thought as I remembered the small mattress I used to sleep on back in our small apartment. It felt more like a mat than a mattress honestly.
As I thought about I and Aiden's previous lives, I slowly drifted into slumber until I was fast asleep.