Chapter 11: Oliver

"So this is the person you have selected, Master?" John asked, as he walked into the room.

​​The 14-year-old shy girl with black hair grew up in poverty, which has affected her self-esteem and confidence. She often keeps to herself and feels uncomfortable in social situations. Despite her shyness, she is intelligent and has a natural curiosity about the world around her. She enjoys reading books and learning new things, which serves as a form of escape from the challenges she faces at home. Her black hair is often unkempt, reflecting her lack of access to personal care products. Though her circumstances are difficult, she remains hopeful for a better future and works hard to improve her situation.

"Her name is Elene, and she was the first one to volunteer." Yurikel explained.

John then walked over to Yurikel, and whispered into his teachers ears," Wouldn't this be a problem, we have to etch the Rune at the centre of her chest."

"Not for her at least, she has given consent already, so long as we are careful, everything should be fine."

John nodded and asked the shy girl who was just watching them.

"I am assuming you know that you will be in stasis for 3 weeks?" John asked, to which a childlike voice responded," I know. I also know after that I will become a person who can think like a mage and be as fast as a warrior."

"Good, now, we will have to numb your chest so you don't feel the pain. Don't worry we won't do anything stupid. After drawing the rune, I will leave with the master, making sure this room has enough mana to keep you alive."

Elene simply nodded, as Yurikel signalled her to take off her shirt as the operation has started.

First, Yurikel made sure to give Elene a potion to numb her sensitivity to pain specifically in her chest region.

The reason he did not give one for the entire body is because this was supposed to mimic how John's operation would go, John himself would have to allow his hands to keep moving as he had to draw the runes.

After that, John placed the pen onto a piece of paper, and started to draw the awakening rune onto her.

He drew it on her chest, and had to be extremely concentrated so as to not accidentally kill her with excess amounts of mana seeping into her body, or accidentally place too little mana so the rune doesn't work.

After the drawing of the outer layer of the rune, Elene showed slight signs of discomfort, which made Yurikel begin questioning her.

"Where does it hurt specifically?" He asked.

"It's not that I am hurt, I just feel a prickly sensation all around my body, like ants crawling on my skin." She replied, as John ignored their conversation and continued to draw the runes. The operation couldn't stop at any point so he was in a sound isolation system, not being able to hear their conversation.

Eventually, John was able to finish drawing the entire rune, but the only pain Elene felt was the prickly sensation.

Following that, she fell into a stasis, where Ambient mana would enter her body through the runes, and the runes would then change her body and enhance her mind allowing her to become a Mage and warrior.

As they left the room, Yurikel explained to John," I believe that there will be a downside for this. Balance over specialisation. Becoming strong in both mind and body, however not being able to compare to mages minds. This might be a good thing, since now warriors above the 3rd rank don't exist. When you become a 4th rank, you will have a stronger body than mages which you can use to your advantage."

John agreed, as he went back to his Rune research. He had a few more ideas to change the rune sizes by slight amounts, seeing if that would affect the changes in the body.

…

Over the next week, John and Yurikel performed 6 more Rune operations, each with different locations or sizes of the runes.

One of them had the rune be written onto the back of their neck.

Another one had it written on their stomach.

Then, the next 3 had the same runes drawn but about 1/10 of the sizes, since John had sufficient control of the mana to reduce the sizes.

For the last person, They decided to push their experiments to the limit.

They realised that by drawing smaller runes, the discomfort experienced by the participant would increase.

However, the smaller rune seemed to transfer the mana more quickly into their bodies, according to Yurikels spirit senses.

However while the mana moved in more quickly, it also impacted the amount of pain they had felt and the pain they would feel.

If their bodies didn't forcefully advance due to the rune, it wouldn't be able to take the amount of mana moving in it in a fast manner.

The gist of their observations were that:

For people with a larger Rune drawn, the mana would slowly move into their body, and let it adapt over a longer period of time. Their bodies would contain larger amounts of mana then people in their ranks.

For people with smaller runes drawn, the mana would be more violent as it moved into their body, causing them to feel more discomfort as their body is forced to be adapted more quickly. The positives of this was that they would be able to chant spells more easily and transfer mana more quickly. The obvious downsides was that they would have lesser mana control and it would take time for them to control their bodies. They would be stronger than people with larger runes drawn, however they would have less control.

While these differences wouldn't really be shown in the lesser ranks, as they ranked up, if they followed the same operation, they would surely accidentally destroy buildings by not being able to control their strength.

As for the location of the runes, it was just hypothesis at this point, but Yurikel strongly believed that by having the rune on the neck, it would cause the mana to flow to the brain before the body, effectively making the person a lesser mage. Someone who is a mage, however cannot think as quickly, someone who was a mage with a slightly stronger body.

For the ones with the runes on their chest, they would be balanced.

For the ones with the runes on their stomach, they would be stronger, then have a faster mind.

For the last person, who had all of the 3 locations of the runes, they were not sure. Would it be balanced? Or would one rune be better than the other?

…

(2 Weeks later)

The 14-year-old male child in question had striking red hair, which stood out against his fair complexion. He was of average height and build for his age, with a lanky frame that suggested a growth spurt was imminent. His features were sharp and angular, giving him a somewhat mischievous appearance.

Despite his youthful appearance, the boy possessed a curious and adventurous spirit that made him eager to explore new realms of experience. When presented with the opportunity to take part in a magical experiment, he eagerly accepted, his eyes shining with excitement at the prospect of what lay ahead.

As the rune was drawn on him, the boy's expression remained stoic, but there was a glimmer of awe in his eyes as he felt the magic course through him. He was filled with a sense of wonder and possibility, eager to explore the mysteries of the world around him and unlock the secrets of the universe.

His name was Oliver, and he was the last to take the experiment, but the first to wake up.

"Wow, Mr Yurikel you were right, Magic is amazing!" He shouted, as he got out of his sleep, and immediately started to hop up, easily jumping 5 metres in the air.

"JOHN!" He shouted in pure happiness, as he hugged John and was extremely thankful.

John had a bittersweet smile as he saw Oliver. To him, it was a bit weird that Oliver forgot about all the pain he had gone through. During the operation, Oliver was told to explain the feeling he was going through, and he explained that he felt like he was being gut punched during multiple times of the operation as the mana moved into his body.

If not for Yurikel keeping him completely still with his spirit sense, the operation would have been a failure.

Slowly, the remaining 6 also woke up, the last being Elene.

When she woke up, she was slightly shy as she did not expect to see others in the room with her.

"Now that you all are awake, I want you to punch the wall over here." Yurikel said, tapping a wall with his hands.

Oliver didn't need a reason to try out his new power, he instantly jumped towards the wall, and punched it with all his might.

Looking at the punch, Yurikel was impressed," The same power as an Initial Soldier stage expert. I am impressed, it seems like his operation is the way to go, John. The waves of mana his mind is giving off also tells me he has the same mind capacity as an initial Adept."

"Wowwwwww, that was amazing wasn't it?" Oliver spoke out loud in a cheery tone.

(AN: What should the next question be guys?)