Mana Core

"Wake up Kayden time to go."

I slowly opened my eyes to the sight of my father carrying me out of my bed and into the kitchen.

He didn't even wait for me to wake up and he was already inside the bathroom.

"Honey, there you go again. Why do you act so stupid?"

"You should've waited until he woke up on his own."

John stared at Anne blankly before slamming the bathroom door in her face.

"John! You better open this door before I break it down."

John opened a cabinet in the bathroom that had all the toothbrushes and started brushing my teeth.

"Kayden you see how your mother is. She wanted you to stay asleep when it's time to go to the city."

John said while patting my back softly. "When it's time to go to the city you need to wake up early so you get there before everyone else."

I had no idea what he was talking about but I didn't care since I was thinking about the city.

It was something you didn't find back then since it was mostly dry sand and small villages everywhere.

Besides kingdoms, there was nothing that came close to a city. I heard tales of a city that was so far away to the west that when you saw it you would forever be mesmerized by its scenery.

I never believed the tale since plenty of people tried searching for this so-called city but never found it no matter how far west they went but now that I had the opportunity to see one I was excited for the first time in so long.

"Alright all done now time to get dressed then we'll leave."

John opened the door to the face of an enraged Anne staring at him with eyes full of bloodlust.

He lightly chuckled before she punched him in the face.

…

I was in the room with Anne as she was dressing me for the trip to the city. John on the other hand was outside with a face full of bandages and bruises prepping the equipment for the trip.

She opened a wardrobe full of baby clothes."Since today is very hot, you'll wear a pair of shorts and sandals."

She grabbed black shorts and a red shirt from the wardrobe and the brown sandals from the closet.

"Now you look nice."

Tidying me up a little she opened the door to the room and headed towards the doors to the outside.

This was going to be the first time I left the house in this life but I wanted to see all the changes that happened while I was dead or whatever happened to my body.

I'll have to investigate it in the future but for now, I'll enjoy what's in front of me. Opening the door to the outside I quickly squinted as the sun hit my eyes.

After a few seconds I looked around in awe instead of the usual sandy floor it was filled with grass that moved around after the breeze brushed off it and the emptiness that accompanied the sandy floors was no longer as trees and bushes covered it up.

It was refreshing, now you had something to admire when you walked outside. I looked around more and saw the farm my family talked about.

It had crops, animals, a barn, sheds, and clothes drying from a rack it was well organized with an area to walk between the crops and a section for certain animals like the cows and pigs in their own locked away area and the hens and roosters together.

I glanced towards John who was putting the eggs, milk, vegetables, and fruits on top of a food stand.

"Honey, when your done shout my name so we can go."

John only nodded his head without talking which surprised me at first but after the beating he took, it made sense.

Anne walked towards a nearby tree with shade and placed me under it while sitting beside me.

I looked up and saw Anne staring at John with loving eyes without paying much attention to me.

So using this opportunity I started building my mana core. I used a technique I created a while back and even though I already had a mana core the moment I was on earth I found out that using this technique you can absorb mana more thoroughly than the normal technique which was to meditate for hours.

The technique I used also required meditation only if you weren't used to using it but when you mastered it you'd be able to move freely and gather mana.

I tried just absorbing mana towards me but nothing was happening. I couldn't tell if I had forgotten how to do it since it's been such a long time.

So I did it using meditation. I closed my eyes and started focusing on everything around me.

What made this technique better than the normal was you absorbed more mana than normal.

It's believed that mana is only in your body so by meditating you focus on your mind and body and search for anything that shined brightly within the darkness.

Those were called mana particles. They fueled the mana core but in my technique instead of focusing only on the mind and body, you allow yourself to focus on your surroundings which was very difficult since any loud noise would make you lose focus.

I waited a few seconds and over 100 mana particles shined brightly around me. I slowly focused my mind on each of the mana particles and brought them towards me.

The reason people awakened at 7 was your body over those years naturally absorbed mana without you knowing so when you awakened it would stop absorbing all on its own and that's why you'd resort to meditating.

After gathering half of the mana I was trying to gather the rest but a shout made me lose focus making all those beautiful white lights slowly disappear.

"Anne I'm ready."

"Kayden time to go."

Anne picked me up and walked towards John in the distance he was pushing the food stand which had wheels on the front.

We started walking away from the house and farm and slowly entered the mini forest.

…

We were 30 minutes in and I was sweating bullets from the heat. This was what made mana core useful since you can protect your body from the sun's heat but without it, I couldn't do anything but endure it.

"Awe, I'm so sorry Kayden, I forgot I could protect you from the sun's heat."

Anne said with a sad expression before a nice and soothing feeling engulfed my body. It was mana.

You could use mana on other people and objects which was very convenient. After covering me with her mana I was now feeling so much better compared to before.

…

"We're here."

John halted in front of the huge entrance with a sign that said 'City Of Endel'.

My jaws dropped at the scenes I was witnessing.

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Sorry, this chapter was kinda an info dump. I just wanted to get it out the way and now that it is out we can begin writing the story from the first arc.