Van woke up in his bed the next morning. A tired-looking Lorenzo was sitting by, his eyes looked like he hadn’t slept for a while. Upon noticing Van’s stirring, he quickly got up and drew near.

“How are you feeling?” Lorenzo asked gently to his bedridden pupil.

“What happened?” Van asked, a little foggy-headed.

“You overdrew on your mana, so much so that your new mana core cracked in the process. It will take a few days for it to heal…” Lorenzo said guiltily.

As memories of what happened flooded back, Van got up a little, only for him to notice something sleeping on his chest.

A black cat with blue eyes was using his body as some sort of pillow. It purred in deep contentment as it slept. To its side was Lyn, also sleeping.

“...Azra?” The cat woke up to the name, it sleepily stretched its body and nuzzled its head to Van’s chin with a happy purr.

Van enjoyed the affection. Her fur was soft and silky. And Azra seemed content to give him all her love. After a while, a thought crossed his mind. “Where is everyone?”

“It's the middle of the afternoon, they all left for their chores and training,” Lorenzo replied.

Van nodded in understanding. “Why are you here then?”

“I wanted to apologize for putting you through all of that… I’m sorry.” Lorenzo said, eyes downcast.

“No need.” Van replied. “I’m sure you had a good reason as to why you pushed me to do all that. Not to mention, you probably got an earful from mom and dad… moms and dad?” he continued, wondering what was the right way to say- “from my parents.” Van corrected himself.

Lorenzo gave a small painful smile at that. “You have no idea…”

Van shrugged. “Then it's fine. Though I would like to know the reason why at least. If that's fine with you.”

Lorenzo sighed. “I was just being greedy… or perhaps I was using you to fulfill my fantasies.” He then took a deep breath, held it, then let it go. “Can I ask you how many mana units you currently hold in your natural mana pool?”

Van’s brow furrowed in thought. “129 I think.”

“Mines 422, of course, not including my mana cores mana pool,” Lorenzo replied.

“Impressive,” Van said, genuinely.

Lorenzo shook his head. “It used to be nine…”

This surprised Van and he couldn’t help but ask. “How?”

“Van… most common people… most people in general… They have around two to three units of mana in their natural mana pool. I was lucky enough to have nine units of mana. Thought that was still not enough for most simple cantrips. I had to work hard and spend literally every coin I had ever earned when I was young, to get where I am now. Do you know how much mana it takes to cast a simple fireball spell?” Lorenzo asked.

Van shook his head, he only knew a few cantrips and those only cost him about ten to twenty units of mana. He hadn’t learned any real spells yet.

“A simple fireball spell costs over fifty units of mana… and that's for a small one. A decent-sized fireball costs around eighty to a hundred.” Lorenzo said.

Van’s eyes widened at that.

Lorenzo seeing the shocked expression on Van nodded to it. “Think about it, really think about it. You are essentially creating something from nothing. Of course, that's going to take a lot more energy than a simple light cantrip would. Especially if you want it to do any meaningful damage.”

“That's why people would be envious of you Van. you have not only an abnormally large natural mana pool for your age, one without even cultivating it. But an extremely high mana affinity, which allows you to cut down on the cost of spells while their effectiveness increases. I trained for decades to have a mana pool my size, you haven't even started training yet…” Lorenzo almost seemed to lament the unfairness of it all.

“So when I was finally able to train you… I got excited… through you, I could do so many things…” Lorenzo sighed, bending down and placing a hand on his brow. “I was so stupid… I risked your wellbeing because I thought I could finally do all those things I always wished I could. I thought everything would be fine because I was there… What a fool I was...”

He then slowly looked up again, to look Van in the eye. “I just want to say again. I’m sorry…”

Van was silent for a moment. It never occurred to him that the always confident Lorenzo, who always seemed to have a spell for everything. Had such insecurities. Looking at him now, Van could truly see the age that showed on Lorenzo’s face. “I had no idea how hard it was for people to become mages or even use simple cantrips. No wonder there are women out there who are desperate to catch themselves an incubus.” he thought.

“It’s fine… thought I would like to know how long it will take for my core to heal,” Van asked.

“Like I said, it should only take a few days. Two to three days most likely.” Lorenzo helpfully replied.

“And when I recover. I want you to help train me.” Van said with a smile.

Lore was touched by Van’s forgiveness.

“Besides, I got a very cute friend out of this,” Van said, now giving a gentle smile to the cat that cutely meowed back.

“You are very lucky. With this, your power has grown ever greater.” Lorenzo added. “By the time I have finished training you, you will be comparable to some great mages I know, maybe even some high mages,” Lorenzo said

“That sounds nice.” Van said, “but I think I want to rest for a bit more.” He looked sleepily at nothing and slowly layed back down again.

Lorenzo nodded in understanding. “Rest well Van.” and he got up left, quietly closing the door behind him.

Slowly Van closed his eyes and rested his head. He felt like he should be a little angrier at Lore for everything, but couldn’t really bring himself to. He understood where he was coming from, and as far as Van was concerned, he got something out of it that was of great worth in Azra. not to mention he got a day off… he thought that last part with a smile.

Van closed his eyes, and drifted off to sleep.

---

A few days Later Van was back on his feet and studying with Lorenzo. Learning everything he could about how to create proper spells and magical formulas. Lorenzo wasn’t lying about the cost it took to cast a simple fireball spell, and Van found himself drained after two shots of those.

But most of the time was actually spent out in the lawn, legs crossed, eyes closed, in a meditative state. As he tried to grab a hold over the ambient mana and aether in the air and feed it to his mana core.

“Very good Van, keep it up! Remember, make sure to sift through all that waste energy and only draw in the mana and aether, purify them, and then concentrate and compress them. Then slowly feed them into your core.” Lorenzo said gently, not wanting to accidentally ruin Van’s concentration.

Van did so to the best of his ability. Trying to draw in the threads and motes of energy that seemed to float around him. After many hours Van was finished, mostly because he was mentally exhausted.

Lorenzo was proud of his pupil’s dedication. “Not bad for your first time. There is also something else you can do to help speed up your mana core's progress. You can also use your own natural mana pool to help you cultivate faster. Just inject it into your mana core and that's it. It's a lot easier too. Though it does leave you without any means of being able to cast spells, using your natural mana pool. So don’t do so in the wild or anywhere you feel you are in danger because you will then be forced to rely on whatever mana pool your core has.”

This actually brought up a question that Van wanted to ask. But first, he did as Lorenzo said and injected his natural mana into his core. It was far more than what he got from his hours of meditating, but that probably had some to do with his lack of experience. After that was done, he asked Lorenzo his question.

“By the way, you said that I can’t use my mana cores mana pool to cultivate, why is that?” Van asked.

Lorenzo thought about that carefully before answering. “Well this is mostly theory but… it is believed that your natural mana pool and the mana pool of your core… has a frequency or something to that effect. A special… uniqueness… not to mention, you can only really cultivate your mana core if it's already full. You're essentially trying to push it through its limit and refine and grow it. It wouldn’t make sense if what little your mana core has could do that all on its own without help. Right?”

Van thought about it and he had to agree that it made some sense. Which brought him to his second question. “You said that you had to spend almost every coin you made as a child to make it as far as you have. What did you mean by that?”

“Well… for the rich, and those in power, there are methods to help them rise through the ranks of their mana cores. Those methods are of course taxing people a few units of mana a year, buying potions or herbs, or buying them from stores or directly from the people themselves.” Lorenzo said.

This actually confused Van a little. “Wait… is mana… like money?”

Lorenzo chuckled. “Yes, you could say that. In some places, you can trade mana for money or mana for goods and services. After all, it isn’t just for people who want to become mages or stronger, but for people who want to power their homes. Lighting up the night with lamps. Using it to use industrial tools. Even powering security systems. What did you think mana orbs were made for?”

Van was somewhat shocked to hear that. To him, mana orbs were just things that his parents stored in their basement. He never really gave it much thought as to how they were filled. “How does all this work?”

“Well… mana orbs have a special switch where if you turn them on, they will suck on the nearest mana source until full, or you can simply pour your mana into them. They can then be turned off and used to power a number of things. Such as buildings or even airships, depending on the amount of mana they have. They can also be used to help mages cultivate faster. Growing their cores at a faster rate.” Lorenzo said.

“Of course there is a limit to how much this will help. The higher your core’s rank is, the more and more mana it takes. Soon it could take millions of units of mana just to rise through one rank. Then tens of millions. After a while, it just becomes too expensive even for the wealthiest of individuals. Especially if you do not have a high affinity for mana. Affinity for mana even affects the rate and purity of the mana you absorb. So no matter how rich you are, it doesn’t really matter to someone with more talent or determination and most importantly, affinity. Thought for some it's still worth it, the higher the rank up, the more mana your core holds.” Lorenzo said.

Van let that all sink it. The enormity of the role mana played in the everyday lives of the people of this world finally making an impact on him. After a while, he had to ask one more question. “What do mana cores, like the ones we used in the ritual to help me make my mana core, used for? And where did they come from.”

“Those mana cores are mostly from beasts in the wilds. Though in some cases they are also from people. As for what they are used for… it should be obvious no? They are used to help power items and equipment.” Lorenzo said.

“But then what is to stop someone from just buying or hunting hundreds of mana cores to help them cultivate faster?” Van asked.

“Ah… that…” Lorenzo gave it some thought. “Well… mana cores are the only thing that can slowly regain their lost mana. Making them invaluable. They are used in enchanting to help create tools that can power themselves without the need for a mage or someone to have a high natural mana pool. And I can see why you would think that someone can just get hundreds of mana cores to just help them cultivate. But remember we are talking millions or tens of millions of units need to rank up once. And unlike mana orbs that can be made to hold a lot of mana, cores can only hold whatever their rank will allow. A rank one mana core can only hold about ten to twenty units of mana. For someone needing millions of units, they would need hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands! Of mana cores, depending on their rank, and it could still take years or decades. That's expensive and hard to find that many, and hard to hunt if you could even find a monster around that rank to make it worth it. Not to mention the tens of thousands or more of people with the same idea.” Lorenzo said.

“On top of that, the fact that all those mana cores would probably be useful for the making of airships or factories or other mana intensive things. This means that it would be very difficult for you to get your hands on that many, or any of high rank. Including the fact… that some mages crush mana cores to help them form their own mana cores. And crushed mana cores produce a one-time amount of extremely pure mana that's more fulfilling than regular mana. And! The crushed core can be used in potions, items, tools and so much more. Meaning that, the amount of new cores going on the market, can barely meet with the demand of those who are crushing them to get that one-time boost alongside the rare materials for alchemy and more that crushed mana cores give.” Lorenzo added.

“Of course…” Lorenzo began to think. “You could also buy a weak rank one core and grow it to make it produce more mana. But that's really no different than just plain cultivating. What's more is, any core that’s not yours, like the core that you made that's tied to you and is a part of you, you can’t even use. Buying a core and expecting to use that for the casting of spells… will not work unless you can enchant it to do so and act like a magical item. In which case it might be better to just buy magical weapons from a store than to buy the core. On top of the fact, that using cores and orbs to help cultivate faster is actually less effective than cultivating. Remember, your core is attuned to you, meaning cores and mana stored in orbs are also attuned to other mages. Trying to use them is less effective than actually cultivating, almost like, for every hundred units of mana you drain from a core or orb, you only get one unit of mana added towards your own cultivation. Which is why people prefer crushing them in the first place.” he finished.

“Does that answer your questions?” Lorenzo asked.

Van nodded, amazed by the impact that one little thing had on an entire civilization that ran on magic. He knew he was just told that cultivating from mana cores and orbs was not as effective. But he had to ask anyway since it seemed to him at least that early on it would still be useful for a young mage. “Why don’t We use mana orbs to help me rise through the ranks?”

“The fundamentals and the basics are very important for any up and coming new mage. You can’t just rely on handouts and the buying of mana. You should be able to learn how to cultivate properly. Because even if you had a mana orb in your hands right now, you still wouldn’t be able to quickly absorb the mana within without prior experience.” Lorenzo said.

“Now, I think that's enough questions. Break times over. Back straight and remember to feel the flow of mana.” Lorenzo then began another one of his lectures on how to properly feel and manipulate the mana around him. “This is also a good way of learning how to properly manipulate mana for spells and more. So don’t go slacking on me.”

Van closed his eyes and began to meditate once more. Doing his best to follow his teacher's instructions and not get them wrong. Absentmindedly he wondered what next week will bring when the tutor his parents called for finally came.