POV Julian Kingscrown
It's been a year since that day I saw those spooky scenes in my dream, vision or whatever that was, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it.
Why I thought that if I wanted to change something I had to do it myself and for that reason only one thought flooded my mind, it was to become strong and get allies as powerful as I could
I followed my training diligently and when I was three years old I crossed the barrier of solid Red, now I am in Light Red with cracks a step away from dark orange and the reason why it has gone slower than I thought is because of my experiments
I started to try each of the abilities I had in mind from the legacy and its current limits, the first was the extraction of mana in the atmosphere, this part was somewhat complicated, as it was similar to what conjurers do with their ranged spells and how they affected the mana in the environment, I'd say I can only do it about three times to perform long-range spells before suffering the backlash and the amount of mana I could draw wasn't unusually large, but it works as a trump card
I didn't risk trying to extract mana from cores of humanoid beings, because I didn't want them to know about my abilities, but that didn't leave the animals of the forest exempt, the dog I helped on the first day kept coming to me and I wasn't going to let the opportunity pass me by
Unfortunately, the bastard was very clever and wouldn't let me do it for free, I had to give him food in return, unfortunately Granny Rinia didn't give me any more food for the dog and I had to share it with him when I wanted to do experiments
I took advantage of those experiments to not only test the mana extraction in the environment, but also improve the mana cores and I realized two things, first to extract mana from the cores I needed to do it by contact with them from a distance is a big no and the second is that I can't help them raise the core level above the one I have
To explain it better, I made a scale to estimate the level of Mana Beasts compared to human cores, and even though I couldn't deal with beasts beyond C-class, putting together my memories of the novel I completed the scale
Beast Class-Human Core Color
E - Black - Dark Red
D - Dark Red - Solid
C - Solid Red - Light
B - Light Red - Dark Orange
A - Solid Orange - Dark Yellow
AA - Solid Yellow - Initial Silver
S - Medium Silver - High
SS - White
SSS - Integration Stage
Of course, this will also depend on several factors such as the type of pairing and what are the characteristics of each one; just remembering the novel we saw that Arthur managed to defeat the mutated S-class Elderwood Guardian alone and Alea had to suffer a bit with the AA-class Hades snake that was also mutated, plus she had several troops with her, so the pairing of both and the trump cards that are saved can influence the outcome, But on a general level it should be that way
The thing is, I can't power up a beast beyond C-class and that takes a considerable amount of time, as it initially requires me to extract mana from the atmosphere and purify it and then add it to the core of the dog called test subject number one Rex; but since the fire attribute mana generated by me, it's not pure enough to purify the core to higher levels, I can't overcome the C-class barrier
This is too arduous a process and takes several days to do, The only reason Cecilia seemed to be able to do it with the snap of her fingers was that she was already in the integration stage; But for me it would be a long road and when I finished this process it could take whole days
I ended up close to rebounding so I ended up losing days of purification of my own core
I also understood that while it is true that it is good to increase them and that it shortens their growth time, they also require some time to adapt. That time usually takes a few weeks when the nucleus is not unstable, but the wearer needs to get used to it
Initially with Rex we couldn't get past the original stage of his E-class race so I manipulated the elements of his core to try to force him to evolve or something like that when I tried I went into a state of hibernation where he lasted several days and didn't get up so I had to try to save him by manipulating his mana in the core again, But I couldn't go back on what I'd done
While I can increase the stages of the cores I can't lower them, only draw mana from them, when I was starting to mentally apologize to Rex for not being able to save him in some strange way, as if the heavens will hear my prayers, I felt a cold sensation in my lower back, like a liquid slowly flowing through my body, reaching my hands and finally moving on to Rex's body
Then it glowed in a scarlet color like the fire mana I introduced into its core, when I tried to check the sensation I had in my lower back, because I had already finished the process I found nothing; It's as if the connection I had had been severed, I was also very tired after the process and checking that nothing seemed wrong with myself I decided to let it go and try to verify it with another test subject
Rex didn't wake up immediately, but if after the next three days and during that course of time his body changed drastically, first his size doubled I'm sure now I'll have a hard time riding on top of him, his horns transformed became thicker separating into two sections and another growing in the middle of them on his head, Two more also came out on the sides of his jaw, they were not yet too prominent, but they gave the impression that you would be stabbed if you turned your back on him, his teeth began to protrude a little, his fur went from a grayish to a reddish one almost like a burning scarlet flame, they seemed to be growing some bones or plates as means of defense in a jet black tone he also grew a pair of eyes? Extras
I'm not quite sure what to call this process could still be called evolving?
When he woke up, he seemed fine, if we put aside that he was very hungry and there were elves who noticed that the number of beasts in the area decreased for some time, everything seemed normal
Another change is that his mane and tail rose as if they had a life of their own, looking like they were blown by the wind.
Finally, its fully upright size reached 100 cm, I reached about 60 cm, but that didn't bother me, it looked rough and I liked that
After that, as if all limitations had been overcome with time and my help; Rex reached the C rank, by then Granma Rinia looked differently at the Hellhound, that was the new name I gave to his unique breed and gave him some leftovers
When Virion saw him for the first time he almost fainted, he asked me what had happened and I told him I didn't know, evading his question; while Grandma Rinia gave me a look of disapproval, but no one could know how it came to be like this, starting with the fact that even I didn't know how to explain it properly
During the process I tried mana vision; when Rex hunted I followed him to find out what the mana movement looked like in hopes of learning the mana rotation before I met Silvia, but I noticed something that I didn't take into account and that was that by manipulating his core and influencing his element he created a kind of racial characteristic, Now I could set his legs on fire and light his snout, when I thought of telling him not to burn the forest I noticed that he was more aware of it than it, he used it to the minimum when necessary and turned it off after he finished, I finally managed to understand the limit of mana's vision is five minutes, The mana and stamina consumption is great, at least in my current, immature body
For mana builds the consumption was too high, it wasn't a joke the load it exerted on me, the first time I tried fifty percent of my mana was suddenly emptied and my core could barely withstand the pressure exerted on it; So to make it moderately usable I'd have to make small, throwable blades as a sort of secret move, something more than that put my core under a lot of pressure
Finally, being close to advancing to the orange stage, I practiced to be able to use the elements and the results were good, all the basic natures could be used
At first it was a bit difficult because I couldn't have a clear image in my mind of the element in question, but after focusing my thoughts, remembering its descriptions of my past life to relate them and be able to use them, that ended up in a very positive result
For the deviants it required much more effort and mana, so their progress was difficult, as well as arduous, at this time I could only project ice, lightning and some sound, but it was very weak, as for gravity I had the concept, but I could not project it, for the case of deviants of other races it seems that a specific proportion of the mana of each element was needed and I could not find it, I'd have to meet Alea and Aya if I wanted to be able to see their abilities firsthand
So another half a year went by and I already had four years in the dark yellow stage
In this half year I have become closer to Virion, he asked me to stay a few times in the castle so that he could better monitor my training, but I didn't stay too long yet, as I didn't want to leave Grandma Rinia alone for too long
Also the elves didn't look kindly on me mostly, Tessia, on the other hand, looked like a sore thumb at first, but after a few exchanges; we ended up getting closer, but I tried to keep my distance because I was worried he wouldn't get lost in the woods and Arthur would never come
In that course of time I managed to experiment, with another beast of voluntary mana cough!, after Rex hit it a little, I know it may seem cruel, but you have to make some small sacrifices to be able to grow my strength and better understand my abilities and I didn't intend to let them die just like that
Another thing I understood is that I can't manipulate the mana that resides inside the bodies completely, since one of the flying beast that Rex hit and decided to volunteer showed rejection when I included in its core a bit of mana different from the one it already had, in Rex's case he had a neutral composition and could increase one to force his evolution and he would just have to adapt, but that E-class Alicanto Ravez mana beast that Rex caught, had mixed elements of lightning and wind
When I tried to add water mana, the results weren't good, so as soon as she showed rejection, I stopped inducing that mana, instead, I started forcing wind mana, she ended up being called Ingram and also ended up in a state of suspended hibernation
But this time I didn't wait too long and on the second day of hibernating I asked Grandma Rinia to observe me, because I wanted to know exactly what she looked like, the process of evolution in her eyes, at first it was very difficult to get that feeling, Grandma Rinia was about to leave thinking that I had played a joke on her, But as soon as he felt the fluctuation in the air and I felt the cold sensation in my lower back, with that liquid again coursing through my body we both concentrated on the process
When we finished Grandma Rinia was very surprised, she said that it was a use of the Aether, that left me in shock for a few seconds, Grandma shook me off the shoulders asking if it was some kind of deviant emitter, but as far as I knew no, after talking to her and checking my back again nothing was found, I was just so tired, that was all you could see
Grandma Rinia was very worried, but I promised her, that I would not use it until she knew what it is, as the consequences it has, and that she would please not mention this to anyone
Because I had my guesses as to what it might be, though I wasn't sure, and until I found out it was better that no one knew
So, two weeks later, I set off to look for Silvia's location with the amulet that my grandmother gave me and the location I had in my mind, according to Dicathen's map, with the details of my past life, I really hoped that this amulet would help me find Silvia
A lot of people will wonder why give him so many abilities from the start, but I'll ask them what the hell they're going to do to fight against a continent of gods, if you don't have the minimum preparation
In the next chapters, clarifications of the powers of the prota will be given and more or less after the attack on the castle of the council much later the origin of the prota will be revealed.
Please leave your impressions and thank you very much for Reading
By the way, in the comments leave an image of what Rex looks like but imagine him more chibi