May heaven have mercy

As the Mistress left the room, Serena finally spoke up. "How did you know about Tesla? He lived 300 years ago. I never told you about him, and as far as I know that is the first book you have ever read. He is most certainly not in that book."

I shrugged. "I know a lot of things." She would not believe me even if I told her. Instead I asked a question that had been bothering me since yesterday. "Why is our level 0?"

She seemed discontent with my answer, but still responded to my question. "You must have noticed the "Apprentice" in front of your class. As long as you have that it is impossible to gain levels. But there is a upside to it. While your stats will not increase while you're an Apprentice, unless you complete a quest or defeat a dungeon that is, You do have a higher rate of learning skills and abilities."

I nodded. "So basically we are students until we graduate. When is that?"

"For most of us it is when we graduate the accademy. It is from there that we gain our classes and knowledge. Upon graduation we are considered full fledged adventurers and officially gain our classes. For you... I Don't know. I do not even know how you managed to gain a class."

I knew the answer, though I had no intention of telling her. I had a master, an individual teacher, who was teaching me personally to become a sword master. As I was thinking this a new thought entered my head.

"Do you have any warriors here who use their claws to fight? I need some instruction in that regard."

She appeared in deep thought for a moment. "We do have several natural weapon users on the estate, but we would need to talk to my mother to get permission to have them train you. But why would you need to? Aren't you training to be a swordmaster."

When she spoke I summoned my claws. Their extreme black appearance seemed to dull the colorful room, causing the light of the room to appearing much dimmer.

"This is a treasure I found in the dungeon, and also how I obtained my class. When training with my Master the sword shifted to this form. Though they are claws, the base form of the weapon is still a sword. All sword related abilities still work with the weapons, and I would assume claw based abilities would as well."

I paused, looking off into the distance for a moment as I collected my thoughts. "I am not really looking for abilities. What I need is proficiency. When I train with master I am completely restrained. I can only act out of instinct. I really have no training."

I sighed as I admitted this fact to myself. I had gotten this far, which is not far at all, only be sheer dumb luck. I had relied on Serena to escape from the dungeon, and even now I was relying on her. I had no real stength of my own.

I clenched my fist as I thought of this. I need to get stronger. I need to train more.

"You have a skill I am interested in.. Would it be possible for you to teach me?"

Serena looked at me for a moment before shaking her head. "The majority of my skills cannot be taught. At least the good ones. Weapon proficiency can only be gained from becoming familiar with weapons, which is something you will eventually gain. Mana strike is a class ability of arcane warriors."

I nodded. "I did not want to learn that anyways. I am interested in the mana circulation ability. Master has recently drained my mana, and I hate to admit it, but my body feels sluggish, and my mind cloudy."

She nodded as she looked at me. "Mana circulation is an ability that all classes can learn, and is actually rather simple. The only preresiquite is that you must have formed a core. Have you formed a core.. no never mind, to become an apprentice of a class you must have."

Her face became stern as she looked at me. "You will need to get into a comfortable position. When you feel satisfied You need to clear your mind, focusing only on your core."

I listened to her words, as I slowly closed off the rest of the world. The process was actually rather simple as I was already familiar with meditation. I soon found myself in my mental world. I could faintly hear Serena talking, but the words were faint, and I could not truly grasp what she was saying.

My focus was completly on the sword core. The feeling was strange. The core was like an organ in my body, like a my liver or heart. Much like my heart I could feel the core pulsating. It tried to absorb the mana from around it, but I could feel as if something was blocking the way. As if there was a barrier blocking out the abundance of mana in the atmosphere.

My focus shifted from the core to the translucent blue barrier around it. There was an abundance of energy that sought to reach my core, but the barrier blocked it all. My core was desperately pulsating, attempting to absorb the mana that surrounded it.

I watched as a small hole appeared for a brief moment in the barrier, and a single strand of mana seemed to flow inside. The mana seemed strange, it was in a helix design, it reminded me of the strands of DNA I had heard about in school all those years ago.

I watched as my core absorbed the single strand of mana, and I could feel my depleted mana slightly regenerate. The process was amazing, But I could only wonder why the barrier existed. Why would a person's core block out something that was so obviously beneficial.

I stared at the barrier in wonder, and my instincts began to take over. The barrier would need to disappear. This must be a hurdle that all of man kind needed to cross. My blades appeared in my hand as my conciousness floated to the edge of the translucent barrier.

I raked my claws against the barrier, but I could feel the barrier strike back at me. The damage was minimal, much less than what master inflicted on me.

Blood began to spurt from my mouth as I continued to strike the barrier, I Ignored the pain my body was feeling, and was completly immersed in the sensation of the rapidly beating core behind me.

Outside my mind, my body was convulsing. Serena crouched over my body with a look of fear as blood began to pool underneath me. She cried out in fear, and when a servant rushed into the room she called for the servant to fetch her mother.

The passing moments seemed like an eternity for Serena as she waited for her mother to appear. She did not know what was happening. No one who had tried to learn this ability had any sort of issue. Tears of frustration began to pour out of her eyes, as she could only desperately watch the situation. She had no means of helping him.

In her mind she could feel an extreme amount of pain coming from the boy in front of her. The pain was much higher than anything she had experienced, even being roasted alive by those goblins. But she did not feel fear from him. She only felt a strong sense of determination.

Moments later her mother appeared in the room. With one glance she immediately knew what was happening. "You taught him Mana Circulation." It was not a question, merely a statement of facts.

She nodded. "I did, everyone can learn it, it should not have been an issue."

Her mother scoffed. "Every human can learn it. But he is not a human, no matter how intelligent he is, or how attractive his features are. He is a monster. There is a reason You had to learn the ability while still in human form."

The tears ran down her face much faster after hearing this. "Will he die?"

Her mother shook her head. "I do not know... but if he succeeds.. may heaven have mercy on his enemies."