Planting Seeds

The following day, Damon worked on his mana thread. One thing about the mana threads that was quite useful was that once one was formed, it didn't require any additional mana to maintain. Unless he decided to lengthen it, channel mana through it or make it tangible, it could be maintained almost indefinitely.

There was a slight mental strain in controlling the thread, and he tired himself out when doing so for extended periods of time, but if he created a thread and just let it lay dormant, the strain was negligible.

Thus, he created a thread, making it as long as he could, using up almost all of his mana. As his mana slowly recovered through the day, he used it lengthened the thread further. Like this, he was able to create a mana thread that held more mana than his mana pool could hold, doing so without alerting his mother.

In the early evening, William and Lucy came into Damon's room to report to his mother.

Lucy sat down heavily on a sofa in the room, sighing deeply.

Lady Ariel raised an eyebrow at her "I take it training today was tough?"

"The etiquette training is bad enough, but I just don't understand what history, mathematics and geography have to do with being a personal attendant." Said Lucy, looking aggrieved.

"Part of your role is being an advisor to the young master, you really should take your lessons more seriously." Said William with his usual nonchalant look.

"William is right Lucy. A good attendant can provide a unique perspective on a wide range of issues." Said Lady Ariel.

Damon nodded to himself in his cot. One of the key roles an attendant had besides being a personal servant was the ability to be candid with harsh truths without fear of being fired or suppressed. It was an important job and thus personal attendants had to be well learned.

Lucy positioned herself so she was laying down on the sofa with her arms folded at her chest. "I still think that its not safe to learn so much in such a short time. I heard that mana veins can explode if they get too full. What if my head explains if it gets too full?" She complained.

"There's no need to worry about your head getting full. I'm willing to bet there's plenty of space in there." William spoke in an off-handed manner whilst gazing out of the window.

"You!" Lucy growled, sitting up. She looked ready to launch a barrage of insults at him.

He looked blankly at her, as if he hadn't said anything warranting a reaction. "Me?"

"Alright children, lets calm down. Remember, the two of you will be working together in future." Said Lady Ariel.

Whilst the three were engaged in conversation, Damon willed the mana thread out of his cot, stretching it over until it was touching William. He then activated True-Sight, channeling it through the thread.

The thread dissipated, with all the mana particles that formed it gathering at the point where it touched William.

Whoosh!

A status window popped up in front of Damon, He had been successful!

Setting aside his excitement, Damon first looked at the information window.

Name: William

Race: Human

Age: 9

Height/Weight: 5ft 6 inch / 54.6 kg

Level/Class/Sub-Class: Level 0 / -- / --

Title: Royal Bodyguard

Being a commoner, William did not have a surname. Damon could see that he was tall for his age, but already 5 ft 6 inch as a ten-year-old was surprising. Once he confirmed his basic information, Damon turned his attention to William's stats.

Stamina: E (Low)

Speed: F (High)

Strength: E (Mid)

Durability: E (High)

Agility: F (High)

Mana: F (High)

Aura: --

Remaining Stat Points: 0

Innate Abilities: Blessing of Kalanor (Lesser)

Class Abilities: --

Sub Class Abilities: --

Miscellaneous: Aristian Imperial Swordsmanship (D)

Remaining Ability Points: 0

Damon couldn't help but be impressed. To be selected as an imperial bodyguard, William would have had to go through strenuous testing, and it was expected for his stats to be greater than those of a normal child his age.

Normal children would hover at F(Low) – F(Mid) for most stats and a child with stats at F(High) before awakening was considered talented. Someone with even a single stat at E was considered a genius. With three stats at E, especially with one E (Mid) and another at E (High), William was a great genius with a guaranteed future.

Bearing in mind that William would have been evaluated with a reveal stone, it was likely that his stats had not been this high at his selection. A reveal stone was an item that could only be created by Level 6 Arch Priests or higher. They would reveal the age, level and stats of the individual holding the stone. Typically, they had a level cap on what they could reveal. A stone created by a Level 6 priest was the lowest kind and could at most reveal the stats of those Level 2 or lower.

On-top of the physical tests, a reveal stone would have been a part of William's selection. William's stats had most likely risen in the few moths between his initial selection, short listing, and assignment to Damon. There was no way Damon's stepmother would have let such a talent go otherwise.

More importantly, however, was the fact that William had an innate ability. Reveal stones could only show age, level and stats. As William had not awakened yet, it was likely that even he was unaware of his ability.

Kalanor was the God of War. Whilst the gods did not personally interfere in the mortal plane, they would sometimes select those who showed either notable talent or who were interesting to them because of their personality and actions. Those selected would receive a blessing from the god.

True-Sight was able to see through blessings, but blessings were one of the few innate abilities that did not show up on one's regular status window. As they were given at a whim, they were sometimes taken back at a whim as well. Most people with a blessing would have no idea that they had one unless they visited a temple of the god who had blessed them.

Based on the Blessings that Damon had seen in his previous life, he knew that they were ranked at Lesser, Standard and Greater. An individual who kept a Gods interest could have the level of their blessing increased. This had happened to Arias, the Priest in his party during his previous life.

William's prowess in his previous life now made a lot of sense to Damon, as did his rapid improvement between the selection and now. He had probably gained the blessing shortly after the selection. Whilst each blessing was different, they often gave the blessed individual a boost in the progress of stats and abilities aligned to God who blessed them. Being a God of war, Kalanor's blessing would naturally align to improving Williams physical stats and any abilities relating to warfare.

The only real downside was William's mana, which was at F(High). It would be converted to Aura at William's awakening, but there was a marked difference to awakening with Aura or mana at F as compared to E.

Neither Aura nor mana could be increased with ability points – they had to be slowly cultivated. However, when one awakened, the baptism of energy would generally raise their Aura or mana. If one was below F, most of the energy would be used to cross the threshold form F to E. If one was at E, they could rise directly to E(High) or maybe even cross in D(Low). This gave a great head start!

Damon lay in his cot, thinking the issue through. There really wasn't much that he could do to improve William's mana pool before the awakening ceremony.

"Ah!" He thought to himself.

Having failed to awaken in his previous life, Damon had done extensive research on ways to resolve his issue, and whilst it hadn't helped him, it had given him a good understanding of the awakening process.

The amount of energy one would take in during their awakening depended on two things – how much mana they had, and how robust their mana veins were. The more mana they had, the more it responded to the baptism energy. Likewise, the more robust their mana veins were, the more of the energy they could withstand.

It was impossible for him to increase William's mana, but he had an idea as to how he could toughen his mana veins. The only problem was that he would need William in close proximity for an extended period of time.

Laying in his cot again, it didn't take Damon very long to come up with a solution.

Much later in the evening, after Damon had been fed, washed and changed, his mother walked him into the room, ready to put him to bed.

"Alright Damon, say goodnight to Lucy and William." His mother said.

"Goodnight Damon" said Lucy, smiling at him.

Damon smiled back at her, which made her squeal with joy. "He smiled at me aunt Ariel!"

"It would be cruel to blank-face you considering what I'm about to do." Damon thought.

"Goodnight young master" said William, bowing down.

"Abubububu!" Exhaled Damon, reaching both hands out to William.

The smile on Lucy's face evaporated and even his mother seemed surprised.

"Erm, this…?" William's usual calm face gave way to a surprised expression.

"Abububu!" Exclaimed Damon, firmer this time.

"Does he want me to carry him, my Lady?" Asked William, confused.

Damon's mother tried to hand him over to William, but he grabbed onto her, refusing to budge.

"I'm not sure what he wants dear, but it doesn't seem like that's the case" said Ariel with a bemused look on her face.

"I ... er?" confused, William started backing out of the room.

"Abbubububu!" shrieked Damon.

Like this, they spent the next few minutes, with Damon crying whenever William attempted to leave the room.

"I think he wants you to stay dear." Said Damon's mother.

"Lucy, please let Alan know to prepare a bed for William here."

Lucy nodded robotically, an oddly defeated look on her face. "Yes, my Lady" she said, almost sobbing before leaving the room.

"Looks like I'm going to have to be nice to her for the next few days." Thought Damon.

Meticulous as ever, Alan arranged for William's bedding, and the matter was settled.

Finally! Thought Damon. It had taken his dignity, but at least he could put his plan into action. He lay in his cot, circulating his mana as he waited for William to fall asleep.