“To get Mana Fighter, you need to have: [Novice Sword Mastery], [Intermediary Mana Control], [Channel Mana], [Mana Infusion], and [Fighter’s Heart]. Their level doesn’t matter. As long as you have them, you’ll get the class. Now, we’ll start with the two easiest to learn, [Intermediary Mana Control] and [Novice Sword Mastery].

Hambara reached into his pocket, taking out the item every mage I saw had—a cube the size of a fist with intricate metal workings and beautiful filigree on the outside; the inside had a spherical green crystal that was releasing Mana strings into the air.

“This here is an Arcane Cube. In simple terms, it helps Mana-impeded species—such as us—interact with and sense their Mana. Using it is simple. Just hold it in your hand, and try to focus on it. Mana training is slow, so for the first few days, maybe weeks, you won’t feel anything, but don’t give up, and you shall succeed.”

Hambara made Somani sit on the ground before he handed him the cube.

Through Somani’s senses, I could feel it was a bit warm to the touch, and using my own vision, I saw how the Mana strings that were floating aimlessly off it started getting absorbed into Somani’s palm as soon as he touched it.

“We’ll be doing this for an hour, then another hour for sword mastery. If you’re lucky, talented, and hard-working, we could achieve [Novice Sword Mastery] in half a year, and [Intermediary Mana Control] in a year. Now, I’ll be meditating, so don’t interrupt me until you feel something.”

Hambara lowered himself to the ground in front of us before sitting with his legs crossed. He closed his eyes and then started breathing steadily and in control.

“I-I feel a… tingling sensation?” Somani said, a heartbeat after Hambara settled down.

Hambara shot his eyes wide open.

“What?”

“I said that I’m getting a tingly feeling in my hand. It’s… It’s as if ants started walking on it.”

Hambara didn’t say anything for a long moment.

“… impossible. Kid, I knew that you were some kind of prodigy with your skill set, but this…”

So Somani has good Mana skills… perfect.

Somani smiled at the praise, but then his vision shifted back to the cube.

“It’s… now it feels more like worms digging into my hands.”

Even though I wasn’t an expert on human expressions, I could clearly see the shock in Hambara’s eyes as his mouth hung open.

Somani's snicker turned into a frown.

“The worms… they’re disappearing?”

Hambara regained his senses.

“Control them!”

Hambara shot up, startling Somani and almost making him drop the cube.

“Focus on them, kid. Imagine them entering your arm and reaching your heart. Do it, now!”

I could control the Mana strings and make them move into Somani’s heart, but I didn’t do it; the consequences could be undesirable. However, Somani seemed to be managing on his own.

The Mana strings moved drunkenly through Somani’s arm tissue. Sometimes, they lost their track, heading outside his body before dispersing into the atmosphere.

Somani was struggling, with beads of sweat gathering on his forehead, while Hambara didn’t say anything, although he looked tense.

Finally, after a gruelling minute, the strings reached Somani’s heart and… disappeared.

No… They got absorbed into Somani’s core, but… I thought humans hadn’t figured out Mana regeneration.

I zoomed in on Somani’s core, wanting to see what exactly was happening.

As the strings got close to his heart, a force field shoved them into Somani’s core that lay behind the heart. Upon reaching the core, the string joined another string belonging to the core, forming a string half the size of the original.

This process continued until a tenth of the Mana strings were converted, and the Mana crystal inside the cube turned grey.

“Argh, I shouldn’t have cheaped on the Mana crystal.”

Hambara took the cube from Somani, opened it by removing a square, then scooped the innate crystal with two fingers.

Although Somani looked tired, I knew that he could’ve pushed further.

Hambara pocketed the grey crystal before giving Somani the widest smile the man had ever put on since we met.

“This… kid, you could become the next Magus Primus!”

Hambara went on to explain to Somani the size of his achievement.

Apparently, there were three stages to unlocking [Intermediary Mana Control]. The first step was to sense the Mana strings, which usually took weeks. The second and hardest was to control the strings and direct them into one’s core until they converted some Mana in the core into controllable Mana. The third and easiest step was to control that Mana, draw it outside the core, and shape it.

Human mages couldn’t naturally control the Mana in their cores, so they used a Mana crystal to convert their Mana, but that made their Mana less dense, needed to be regenerated after every use, and expensive—Hambara had explained.

“Converting the entirety of your core isn’t necessary, so I won’t be getting you another Mana crystal. Now, you should feel it. It wants to burst out, to do something, draw it!”

Somani did as he was told. The kid really was a prodigy, easily drawing the Mana from his core before shaping it into…

Unbelievable.

The kid made the Mana into a ball, expanded it, then started drawing human features on it—features that belonged to me, the kid’s Grandpa.

‘This is you, Grandpa. I haven’t forgotten your face and never will.’

‘I—‘

Would you like to acquire the skill [Intermediary Mana Control]?

“Yes!”

The skill’s instincts entered my brain and Somani’s at the same time. I felt… it was inferior to [Mana Manipulation] in every way.

And the kid still managed to beat my Mana shaping skills with an inferior skill.

“That was a beautiful creation, kid. Did you get it?”

“Ya! I got it, Uncle. I got it!”

Somani ran up to Hambara and hugged him; the man returned it before pinching Somani’s cheeks for some reason.

“Kid, this is the fastest acquisition of this skill that I know off, so don’t go telling people about it.”

Somani… you’re really a valuable host. Maybe even the most valuable one I’ll ever get.

The training continued after that. Somani went to the barrel and got the wooden swords.

“[Novice Sword Mastery] might not seem as important to you as [Intermediary Mana Control], but you’d be wrong. In my opinion, sword mastery is better than the latter.”

Somani looked sceptical, and I too didn’t believe this notion, as the system had described Mana as the path of everything.

Although not the best path…

Hambara seemed to notice Somani’s scepticism as he smiled.

“Do you know Bacalora?”

“Isn’t he the emperor’s eldest son?”

“Yes. He has many titles: The Empire’s Executioner, The Immortal Sword Saint, and Heaven Splitter. Do you know how he got the last one title?”

“Through creating the Deep Ravin?”

Hambara’s lip twitched for some reason.

“Also, yes. Knowledgeable, I see. Let me tell you something you don’t know: Bacalora was actually one of the emperor’s weakest children, with almost no talent for magic, but through endless will, perseverance, and training, he managed to raise his sword mastery skill to [Dominus Sword mastery], making him one step away from the zenith, from tier 7.”

Somani stared at Hambara with sparkles in his eyes, while I felt it too, desire. The desire to grow as strong as Bacalora, to protect my All.

“So, never underestimate a swordsman, kid. Their weapon might be the most primal and least complex, but that is a strength, not a weakness.”

***

Somani got beaten, but this time, instead of falling 300 times, he fell 400 times. Hambara had said that the difficulty had to be increased, as getting [Novice Sword Mastery] was hard; he also added that I could heal.

“Somani, dear! What happened to you?!” Laressa practically threw herself at her child. She scanned him up close, then started crying.

“M-Mister, I-I knew he deserved it, but~sniff`~he’s just a kid. I promi—“

“Mom!” Somani shouted, taking his mother and Hambara by surprise.

“I want this! It’s… It’s the only way to protect you. I’m already way behind my peers, and to reach them, I have to train harder.”

Laressa was shocked at her son’s outburst. She looked at Hambara, who nodded.

“Don’t worry, Laressa. Your… I have a healing skill. By tomorrow, he’ll look as if nothing had happened to him. Trust me.”

Laressa staired at Hambara before standing up. She wiped her tears with her new robe’s sleeves and got back to cleaning the house.

Somani tried to help his mother, but his sore muscles impeded him, so he spent his time playing with his Mana, forming it into shapes I couldn’t hope to reprecate.

Hambara went to his room, but unlike always, he didn’t read his book. He sat with his legs crossed and started… moving Mana through his body?

What is he doing?

I observed Hambara, but couldn’t figure out why he was moving Mana through his body, although I noticed that the Mana seemed to be moving in a specific pattern.

Lunch was another yoghurt with beef stew; Hambara seemed to like this dish. After having their fill, the humans went to the public bathrooms to get rid of their excrement.

‘Somani, tell Hambara if you can get a shower.’

‘But, Grandpa. I hate showers,’ Somani whined.

‘Why do you hate showers? It’s fun!’ I tried to encourage the kid, and he agreed, reluctantly.

Thankfully, Hambara agreed, and we had a warm shower.

Ahhh, this is more like it. Get rid of those dead cells!

After coming out of the showers refreshed, the humans went to the store and bought some fruit. Hambara said they were good for building muscles, making Somani excited to get back and try them.

I had tried some fruits back in the jungle, but for some reason, the cat's body seemed to hate them, so I abstained from eating them and focused on meat. But as Somani tasted a red fruit called apples, I quickly changed my mind. Fruits… they were delicious, more so than meat.

***

A week quickly passed by, with Somani and his mother getting more comfortable in their new residence.

Laressa mostly handled the chores: scrubbing, cleaning, and buying groceries—Hambara gave her the money.

Hambara had bought Somani a new Mana crystal, which he had made grey by the end of the week. The boy was a real prodigy, raising his new skill’s level to four. Hambara had also got Somani fitted for leather armour, and bought him a sword, an iron-short one.

Somani’s mother was scared of the sword, at first, but she relaxed after Somani convinced her that it was for protection not aggression.

The roof training didn’t stop. Hambara always increased the difficulty, but with my healing, Somani managed to keep up, and by the end of the week, he was unrecognisable.

His hunched back was gone, replaced with a straight one. His face had more fat, and his muscles had started to show.

On the last day of the week, Hambara had made Somani wake at dusk and ordered him to run through the Straight Market, for endurance, he said.

I, too, didn’t slack off. I trained my skills during the night, while during the day I focused on how humans acted and tried to emulate them in my mind. I also paid attention to the sword mastery training, wanting to understand how to use one, too.

My skill level ups were:

Mana Manipulation has reached Lv. 9

Soul Manipulation has reached Lv. 6, 7

Manima Senses has reached Lv. 7

Unable to train biomancy, I focused on [Soul Manipulation]. I wanted to raise its level so that I was more prepared when I decided to split my soul. I was taking this extra precaution because of the system; it had said that lots of beings died trying to split their souls, and I wasn’t going to take that as a joke. Plus, I wanted to hopefully lessen the drawbacks and maybe the pain.

I’d say this was a successful week.

“Somani, are you ready?” Hambara asked Somani as they sat with their feet dangling off the rooftop.

“Ready? For what?”

Hambara lingered on the white walls in the distance for a moment before he turned to face Somani.

“I’ve managed to find us a nice quest… your first adventure.”