22. Mana Core [2]:- Second Aspect.

In a remarkable display of mastery, Orion moved his fingers slightly, mirroring that of a mage with prior experience manipulating mana.

Then, tendrils of mana began to form at his fingertips, with thin lines of mana coiling around his hands and feet.

The tendrils continued to grow and spread throughout his limbs like vines twisting around his body.

The magical energies were like rainbows of different colors, indicating his affinity towards all elements.

They rippled and morphed before blending harmoniously with his body.

'Impressive,' Hilda uttered in her thoughts and the elders watching from a distance had a similar impression and thought as Hilda's.

"Are you guys seeing this?" one of the elders asked with a surprised look on his face, still trying to comprehend how it was remotely possible for an elf to do what Orion had just done.

"Yes, we are."

"I'm not dreaming right now, am I?"

"Nope, this isn't a dream," A female elder replied.

"Did the prince really just awaken his mana core?"

"Yes."

"But it hasn't even been an hour yet!!!'

'Indeed.'

"Not only has the prince awoken a mana core within half an hour, but he can now easily manipulate mana as well."

If anyone else had told them what had just occurred, the elders would have never believed it, but now that they had witnessed it themselves, they were very impressed by what they saw.

"This is simply amazing."

"Prince Galdur is truly amazing."

"He's certainly going to be a genius."

"I think he already is," One of the female elders among them giggled to herself.

Meanwhile, standing a few feet in front of the elders were Elena and Evelyn, and they were equally as surprised as them, but while Elena was focused on not missing anything that was occurring with her nephew, She suddenly noticed Evelyn's eyes staring in her direction with a smile on her face.

"What's wrong?" Elena asked with a puzzled look on her face.

"Everyone is calling my baby a genius," Evelyn's smile widened even more.

"Yes, they are."

"Guess who's the mother of that genius?" Evelyn said proudly with her chest puffed out.

"An annoying big sister."

"Hehe.... That's true," Evelyn giggled to herself as she recalled how she always teased her sister before she had Orion.

Elena rolled her eyes with a smile on her face before returning her gaze to Orion.

======

Now that Orion had understood the concept behind mana control, a new dark facet within his mana core began to glow slowly until it was as bright as the first facet while the remaining facets remained dark.

The moment the new facet became as bright as the first one, a new prompt suddenly appeared within Orion's mind.

[Congratulations to the host, you have successfully awakened the second aspect of your mana core 'Spiritual energy'.]

The pure mana which were around his body suddenly began to glow brighter than ever before and the magic circle underneath his feet became brighter as well.

Orion's mana instantly dispersed, and then he focused his attention on the spiritual energies oozing out of the magic circle.

He continued to absorb the spiritual energy into his mana core, allowing it to glow brighter and brighter by the second.

The magic circle was connected to the spirit realm, so it was expected for Orion to sense the spiritual energies oozing out of the magic circle since he had awakened his second aspect.

Now, all that remained for him was to maintain the state of his two aspects.

Orion continued to absorb mana from his right hand while his left hand continued to absorb spiritual energy.

The two energies continued to twirl around him for a few minutes, allowing his body to absorb the spiritual energies into his mana veins.

This allowed Orion's bones and muscles to become even stronger than when he had initially awakened the first aspect of his mana core.

His mana veins continued to absorb the spiritual energies until they adapted to it, making it easier for both mana and spiritual energy to flow within his mana vein.

[Success!! Congratulations to the host, your body has reached a stable state, allowing you to easily manipulate both mana and spiritual energy.]

[As a high elf, the host's physical and mental development now matches that of a normal forest elf.]

'Yes!!!' Orion exclaimed internally as he read the words displayed on the screen.

He was pleased to see that he had achieved one of his main objectives but he still wasn't done yet.

Orion focused his mind even more as he continued to fuel his second aspect with spiritual energy so that his mana core would resonate with the spirits he was planning on forming a contract with.

To form a contract with a spirit guardian from the spirit realm, Orion would have to resonate his mana core with the mana core of such a spirit.

Once that was done, the spirit guardian would automatically be summoned into the mortal realm through the magic circle.

The magic circle underneath him served as a direct portal between the mortal and spirit realms.

Orion could feel a weird connection with the magic circle underneath him.

It felt like his consciousness was drifting into the spirit realm in search of a spirit guardian but he couldn't see anything around him.

Everything was pitch black. But while Orion's consciousness continued to drift through the endless void of the spirit realm, he suddenly saw a huge pair of eyes looking at him.

Just by looking at the eyes, Orion could feel the immense magical energies and spiritual energies flowing within the spirit and before he knew it, his consciousness was forcibly pulled back to the mortal realm.

A huge gust of wind blew into the sacred grove once again, filling the entire grove with dust. However, Evelyn, Elena, and the elders were still able to see through the dust.

However, everyone gasped in surprise when they noticed the huge spirit Orion had summoned from the spirit realm.

The dust slowly settled down and Orion cleared the dust particles in his eyes, but when he opened his eyes to see more clearly, the first thing he saw was Hilda bowing down in front of him as though she was bowing in front of a divine being.

He lifted his gaze to look behind Hilda, but his eyes widened in surprise when he noticed all the elders bowing in his direction as well.