Chapter 11: Aether core.

It was the second day of Levi's aether training, he could barely sleep the previous night as he couldn't hold back his eagerness. He woke up extremely earlier and rushed his breakfast before excusing himself and leaving the mansion for the woods. It was good to note that he wore the very same outfit from the other day.

Thanks to Grim, he easily found his spot and proceeded to sit in a lotus position as he awaited instructions from his teacher.

'today, we pick up from where we left off. Remember what I told you yesterday right?' Grim asked.

'yeah'. Levi replied with a nod.

'good. Start by sensing the aether, then try to absorb it into you. You need to learn to harness aether, before you can even think of creating an aether core'. Grim said.

Levi closed his eyes and got to work. It took him only a few minutes to sense the aether and he discovered that the particles hadn't moved from their position. It was quite intruiging and so he asked.

'hey, is it normal for aether to not move?'. He asked.

'yes it is. The reason why is written in the grimoire, but for the sake of time, I'll personally explain it to you'. Grim said.

'once ambient mana begins to undergo purification, it becomes aether and aether has a habit of remaining in its original spot untill it is fully purified to it's purest form, purple coloured aether. After which, it transforms into one of the aspects'. Grim explained and Levi nodded knowingly.

'ambient aether can only become one of the Aspects when it reaches its purest form, but inner aether can manipulate it either way.' Grim added.

"Phoooo". Levi blew out to prepare himself before he started to absorb the aether.

He concentrated and called out to the aether.

'i need to keep my emotions in check. No need to get frustrated, I can do this'. Levi said to himself. He concentrated hard, calling out to the snobby aether particles which seemed to ignore him, beads of seat started to drop from his face and a small migraine appeared.

It was expected as he was using up a lot of mental power. Levi entered a deep trance like state, all of his focus was directed to one thing and that was to absorb the aether. He had completely zoned any and all things out, even Grim, saliva dropped from his mouth and he could now feel every second that ticked away on his skin.

After what seemed like several hours of meditation, a single aether particle moved. Slowly, but steadily it was advancing towards Levi's skin. It reached the surface of his skin and inserted itself through his skin pores, immediately this happened Levi felt a sharp pain.

It was as if someone had pierced his veins with a sharp needle. It was excruciating.

"Argh!" Levi couldn't help but shout, the pain forced him out of his total focus state.

He groaned in pain for a few seconds more before the pain reduced to a bearable level.

"Ugh..... Grim. I know you said it would be painful, but this is a bit.... isn't there any other way I can do this without the mind numbing pain?" Levi asked in concern for his wellbeing.

'unfortunately. You cannot painlessly absorb aether without an aether structure and the first step of that is creating an aether core'. Grim replied.

"What! So you're saying that ALL shadow mages went through this much pain at first?!" Levi asked again, still a bit shocked.

'No. Back then, there was a special device that was created to assist young mages in forming their aether cores. But unfortunately, such technology doesn't exist in this era so you'll have to do it the old fashioned way'. Grim replied, again.

At Grim's reply, Levi just sighed.

"Sigh...looks like there's no other way, huh". Levi said then used both hands to slap his cheeks.

*Slap*

"I got this. It's just a little bit of pain, I got my ass kicked everyday back on earth, I can handle this much torment". He said to himself.

He assumed the proper sitting position, crossing his legs and closing his eyes to focus. This time though, the aether responded relatively quickly after just ten minutes of meditation.

The aether permeated his body, and the intense pain followed suit. Levi wanted to scream out again, but he clenched his teeth and squeezed his fist so hard that blood started to drop.

The pain only grew worse overtime as more and more aether found it's way inside his body. Levi's eyes rolled back as blood started to drop from his nose and mouth, his entire body was shivering and his concentration had long since shattered, but for some reason the aether wouldn't stop flooding into him.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargggh!!" Levi screamed in agony, chasing away quite a few birds and other smaller creatures. He fell to the floor and rolled around wildly while holding onto his head.

The aether flooding ended but Levi was still in deep pain, it took almost half an hour for him to regain a small semblance of himself, but even then he heaved and huffed like no man's business.

"Huff...huff! Pant..huff..". He breathed heavily and even puked a few times, before he fully regained himself.

'a-are you alright...' Grim asked, a bit of concern laced in his voice. Levi responded to this with a few dry coughs.

*Cough* *Cough*

'it seems that was a bit...too much'. Grim said.

"Cough...No shit, Sherlock!" Levi replied, sarcasm oozing from his tone.

'well, all's well that ends well'. Grim said and telepathically shrugged. Levi was a bit ticked off by this but decided to give it a rest, for now at least. He had just finished a hellish experience and wanted to heck the fruits of his progress.

'concentrate within yourself to see how much aether you have gathered'. Grim instructed.

Levi closed his eyes and did just that. He noticed several particles of aether moving around within him, erratically, like gas atoms. He noticed the numerous particles hovering around his mana core.

'so....what next?' Levi asked.

'i hope you are ready for a bit more pain since things are about to get real. To create an aether core, you will need to destroy your mana core'.

'destroy it? How?'

'yes. By forcing aether into it. Normally, the destruction of a mana core was tantamount to one's death, but since you are among the chosen few who can utilize aether, you can survive it. You need to slowly force all the existing aether into your mana core, causing it to shatter. The aether will then override the mana cores structure giving birth to your very own aether core'.

Levi listened quietly to Grim's words. He pondered it even after Grim ended his explanation, there was no need to rush this, and Levi knew that.

"Phoooo". Levi took a quick breath.

He started by slowly forcing the aether into his mana core, as per Grim's instructions. The aether slowly permeated through Levi's mana core.

At first, he could barely feel any pain, but as the mana core begun to crack, a sudden pain flared up.

It was like somebody was squezzing his lungs and he was having trouble breathing. His eyes turned bloodshot as he held his neck and wanted to stop the process, but was quickly reprimanded by Grim.

'no don't! If you stop now, the aether will disperse and your mana core will shatter for naught!'

At the mention of these words, Levi pulled himself back together to focus on the process.

'no way in hell am I wasting all that effort!' Levi internally screamed. Even though it was excruciating, he wasn't about to let pain screw him over. He was finally given an opportunity, and as someone who didn't receive many opportunities in both of his lives, he knew the value and because of that his will stayed strong.

"Haaaaaaa!!" He shouted as he stuffed more and more aether into his mana core. The core itself was already about forty percent broken.

'it is working. Push the aether more forcefully now!' Grim instructed.

Levi complied, pushing the aether into his core all the while doubling the force. The pain doubled in response.

He could feel his muscles tearing apart from the inside, his veins bulged out threatening to burst open, his bones shook violently as if they were about to shatter into pieces and blood dripped from his nose, mouth and even ears. His entire being was in tremendous pain.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargggh". He screamed at the top of his voice. The pain was excruciating and all his organs felt like they were being suffocated. The pain rushed Levi's brain, overloading it with information from his nervous system, but Levi somehow managed to hold on. His eyes were completely rolled back and he was already in a half unconscious state as the cracks on his mana core grew. His chest was hot.

'eighty percent! It's at eighty percent! Hold on just a bit more!' Grim encouraged.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!!!" Levi kept on shouting while tightly gripping his chest, the source of all this pain.

'Eighty five...'

'ninety one...'

'nintey four...'

'ninty eight...'

Levi could hear Grim's countdown, but before grim could say hundred, he blacked out. The pain had finally won him over.

A/N:

Again, I want to say thank you to my very loyal supporter; Halis_Eren_Balaban.Thank you soo much man, you're continued support means the world to me!!