He exhaled slowly, blocking out any distractions that might disrupt his focus.

Noticing this, Amelia gave further instructions. "Now control the flow of your breathing and direct the energy to different parts of your body."

With each breath, Zach visualized it coursing through his veins like a stream of energy flowing through his blood.

Seconds turned into minutes, and Zach's connection with the energy grew stronger. Now, he could sense the presence of the energy in the air and even a minute movement of the energy in the wind as well.

The energy flowed into his body and into a tiny core in his abdomen.

Although small, he could feel it held a huge potential that was yet to be discovered.

Zach sunk deeper into his meditation and began to feel tiny electrical sparks throughout his body, causing a tingling sensation at the base of his spine.

The sensation slowly ascended, as though awakening dormant chambers of energy within him.

Zach visualized this sensation as a glowing ball of light within his core, growing brighter and brighter with each passing second until a shining green light glowed in his core and a sudden prompt appeared in his mind.

[Congratulations, you have successfully awakened your mana core.]

Seeing this, a smile spread on Zach's face.

Meanwhile, Amelia was equally impressed.

Unlike Zach, it took most people at least six hours to unlock their mana core. However, it hadn't even been half an hour yet, and Zach had successfully awakened his mana core.

'I guess he is really a genius,' Amelia smiled internally to herself while acknowledging the fact that Zach was worthy of being her apprentice.

She needed an apprentice who would help increase her popularity in society but at the same time not hold her back, and she seemed to have found the perfect candidate.

However, she needed to confirm one more thing before accepting Zach as her apprentice.

Leaving that for later, Amelia decided to focus on something else when an extraordinary event occurred and her eyes instantly drifted towards Zach's direction.

Zach inhaled and exhaled slowly in a gesture that was similar to the arcane precision of mana control, and this made Amelia's eyes widen in surprise.

She watched in wonder as Zach drew the very essence of mana that coursed through the world around them.

And with a focused mind, Zach directed the gathered mana towards his outstretched palms. The green glowing energy rippled and morphed before coalescing and spiraling across his arms like a serpent of pulsating power.

The green threads of mana weaved through the atmosphere to form intricate shapes, twirling around his body until they blended harmoniously around him.

'Impressive,' Amelia thought to herself.

'This is amazing. He can control mana as well.'

Never once had she witnessed someone understand the intricate concept of mana control right after their mana core awakening.

The moment she acknowledged how impressive her future apprentice was, Zach saw another system notification in his mind.

[Congratulations! You've learned a new skill.]

[New Skill: Mana control.]

A smile appeared on his face as he knew he couldn't have achieved this without his prior knowledge of the novel and how mana worked in this world.

He then slowly opened his eyes to see Amelia who couldn't conceal the excited look on her face.

"Impressive, you've not only awakened your mana core but also grasped the concept of mana control."

Zach nodded in response.

"And it seems you have a strong affinity with healing magic." Amelia said.

Her words were made clear by the color of the mana flowing around him before they completely dissipated away.

Green-colored mana was specifically associated with mages with a strong affinity for healing magic just like Zach's mother and Aunt, which is why Zach inherited his mother's elemental affinity.

As for Jade, the color of mana that flowed around her was always white, which was why she had a strong affinity for wind magic.

There were other magical affinities as well which were sourced from the goddesses of this world but that was a story for another time.

However, while it wasn't surprising to see individuals with at least two magical affinities, it was rare to see anyone having more than two magical affinities.

"Now, with that out of the way, let's focus on the real reason you're here," Amelia announced and Zach nodded in understanding as he listened to Amelia's question.

"Why did you apply to work under three of the best artists along with the art guild as well? I'm certain you have a particular goal because the videos and paintings you submitted to the top three artists were different from the one you submitted to the guild."

In short, Zach had submitted different videos to all three top artists and a separate video to the art guild as well.

However, this wasn't the weirdest thing he did. The most bizarre thing Zach did was that the video he submitted to Amelia in his application form contained a n.u.d.e portrait of her. Amelia was shocked at first, but she became impressed and was in awe of how he was able to paint her while depicting her body beautifully in a state of undress.

In the painting, Amelia could see how Zach focused on the form, expression and aesthetic qualities while making it.

And surprisingly, it expressed how she felt before taking a look at his paintings.

In the end, this made her conclude that Zach might have actually been an introverted pervert who was also an obsessed fan of hers while she had been a hero. 

Although she changed her mind after seeing him in person, she still had a bit of doubt lingering in her mind. So, she wanted to confirm a thing or two for herself before making her final decision.

Hence, why she wanted to know his objective behind submitting different paintings to the top three artists.

"So, do you mind telling me why you submitted different paintings?" she asked.

"The paintings and videos I submitted were different because I thought each of them would specially interest every one of you."