3 First Steps

Waking up in the morning Sagar got out the bed carefully as to not wake his mother. He then went to the kitchen to get some breakfast ready which he decided would be some potatoes and a small amount of meat they had. When he finished he ate some himself and put some aside for his mom to eat when she gets up.

Sagar then went outside as he was finally going to start his training but he needed to decide what sort of path he was going to take. Usually on Mellem you would have to choose between being a mage who can cast magic or a warrior who used their internal energy to strengthen themselves. Becoming a mage involves forming a core inside their body made from the mana in their surroundings. A warrior just stimulates the energy already present in their bodies and circulates the energy to every inch of it.

While it's not impossible to have both internal energy and mana present in your body it's rarity is beyond imagination. According to what he has read the number of people that had both energies in their bodies do not exceed four and that's taking into account how long history has been recorded while also including what other signs of their presence has been found predating history.

Mind you it's not from a lack of thought or trying from others on Mellem it's the fact that mana and internal energy conflict with each way too much. Having both inside our body can lead to disastrous consequences, if you get lucky you'll be a vegetable for the rest of your life but in most cases you just end up dying from the combustion of the two energies inside yourself.

Sagar was stumped on how to even start honestly the four people who were able to use both energies were considered wondrous anomalies and he doubted he could easily replicate what they achieved. After pondering for two hours he had some ideas formed but was unsure if they would work or would end up with him exploding.

Sagar decided to seek help from the system since it was probably the only one who could help him out with this problem. He could ask his mother but he doubted she would let him attempt to do something so dangerous and she would probably be as lost as him if she tried to figure out a solution.

'System do you think any of the ideas I have would work or would they end up killing me?', Sagar asked with anxiousness filling his mind. Depending on the answer it would shape his future and how far he would be able to take himself.

As usual the system responded quickly [Any of Users ideas would work]

Hearing this Sagar was a bit shocked, they would all work? While he did use some thought to think of them he wouldn't think all of them would be fine or the fact that it seemed a little easy to use both energies, he asked, 'But why would they work'

[User is mistaken to think his internal energy is the same as everyone else's around him], the system then stopped talking as if that's all it needed to say to convey it's meaning.

Thinking about what the system said Sagar looked back on what he learned from his mother's books and he did recall something that was briefly mentioned. It talked of how some people's internal energy was unique and had certain properties to it this allowed them to have and edge over their peers and perform different feats of power. Sagar then questioned again, 'Is it related to the property of my internal energy.'

The system then replied, [Correct. Since you are connected with the system your internal energy developed some unique properties that stems from your life energy. This allows it to easily meld with mana as it becomes more flexible and is one with the user since it's tied to his life energy. The mana doesn't see it as an opponent to fight your body over rather it would want to fuse with it but that is not something I advise you to do as of now.]

'Wait my life energy mixed with my internal energy?', Sagar thought a little too deeply on what the system said and while it sounded good Sagar was a bit skeptical as that would mean the two would intertwined so wouldn't that mean when he used up all his internal energy he would essentially die.

[No your internal energy only developed the properties of your life energy but is not connected to your actual well being. It allows you to use the physical skills you learn that require life energy but with your internal energy instead. If you run out of internal energy but you want to use a physical skill you could use your life energy instead. There are other uses but that is for User to find out, of course if you have a question I'll answer to the best of my capabilities.], the system then went silent after that.

With this newly acquired information Sagar thought he wouldn't need to use the ideas he thought of before as while they would work they would lead to him having weaker magic and physical abilities compared to those who just use one. Since they wouldn't conflict he could simply use both the normal way but even then he still didn't know what sort of outcome that would lead to even with the system's assurance.

'Well it's not like it's going to kill me to try so let's just start already.', finishing his thought Sagar thought to start on his internal energy first, all he needed to do was find parts of internal energy scattered throughout his body congregate it and then circulate it through his veins to every part of his body. Even knowing that it was still difficult to not only find all of his internal energy, but move it together in the center of his body. After an hour he would of continued with what he was doing but then he heard his mother calling out to him.

"Sagar! Are you outside?", Beatrice then wheeled herself outside and noticed her son sitting down and he looked to be meditating. When she started to get close to him is when Sagar opened his eyes and looked at his mother.

Being a part of a mercenary group and especially being married to Garris, Beatrice knew what her child was doing. She cast her eyes on him, gave him a little smug look as if she just found out one his secrets and told him, "Sagar, since when were you practicing to become a warrior? Why were you hiding it from mommy, did you think I was going to angry or something? Also don't you think you're a little too young you should be playing and enjoying yourself, maybe I shouldn't have taught you to read yet...", without letting him get a chance to respond to her Beatrice continued with her little rant.

When it looked like he could say something Sagar told her, "Don't worry Mom it's not like I don't enjoy myself already, but I know that I need some form of strength not only to support myself but to support you and Dad. Also may I add that I was not keeping this a secret from you I had just started today."

Looking at her son's little determined face Beatrice couldn't help but smile at how cute he looked and she put out her hands indicating for her beloved child to come closer to her. Sagar did so and was pulled into his mother's embrace when she began to give him a strong hug, at least as strong as she could of with her current strength. She then started giving him a bunch of little kisses all over his face and was now just smothering the boy with love.

Sagar didn't mind it too much as he knew it made his mother happy and she would eventually let go of him. Whenever she did so she said to him, "Well I actually didn't think you would be interested in those sorts of books as soon as this, maybe I should have hid them.", thinking for a moment she just sighed in resignation. "It's too late for that though all I ask is for you to not stress yourself out or put yourself in any danger okay?", she then looked at her most precious thing in the world with eyes full of love.

To this all Sagar could do was give her a nod in acceptance, unfortunately he wouldn't be able to keep this promise in full but his mother didn't have to know that.

"Well maybe if when you're a bit older you can join a school whenever some come to the village for new students, they always have a tuition fee associated with them but me and your father will accommodate that for you.", she then patted Sagar's head and was going to go back into the house on her own but Sagar insisted to take her in himself.

After settling her he went back outside and continued with the circulation of his internal energy. He of course took breaks every now and then mainly help his mother with things she needed or to eat. Like that the day ended and while he wasn't able to circulate his internal energy he was able to center it within himself he just needed one more step and he would be able to finish and move onto his mana core.