Loren City

Mana is everywhere and it can take other forms like death mana, fire mana as such. It could be also called qi, magic power, in short it was supernatural power source that magus using to form their magic, strengthening their bodies or their equipment. As humans had a limit to store mana, so they chosen to qualitative change way of mana. All sort of techniques born for this need. There was no wrong way to go but just different techniques. This was Leon learned about current Aroan world magic from the memories that he absorbed.

But even with that general outline for the techniques was same; mana gathering came first, after that the crucial turning point for anyone who wanted to become magus, opening the mana pool. If someone couldn't open the mana pool, their only road left was to tempering body with mana. Thus some of the magus considered the body tempering as unorthodox way. After passing these stages someone could be considered as a real magus. But body tempering techniques was in hands of magus who wanted to have loyal retainers so the techniques hidden from the rest of the people.

None them mattered for Leon while he was in the middle of death mana zone. His priority was to leave the Blackwood forest and find a place to quietly mediate.

…

West of the Blackwood forest, Loren Empire's capital Loren City. It was a bustling city with life. There was so much people going in and out of the city. Outside of the gates a single young man in his late teens looking at the line in front of him with impatience and he was tapping on the ground with tip of his feet. His brown bed-hair and sleepy eyes a little bit eye catching in middle of noon. After leaving the forest, Leon thought much about building school but after talking with traders on the road he changed his idea. He learned that even he had the capital to do it, without any fame, he wouldn't able pull some students to his academy. With this strategy discarded, he thought maybe he could try his new strategy in the capital.

Under the glaring sun, the line advanced bit by bit and Leon finally faced the gatekeepers.

"The entrance fee one silver, what is your purpose of your visit?"

"Business." and Leon gave a silver coin to the guard. The guard took it and put on the table on his front and said

"Business is it? You also came for the four of order, there is so much of your kind to dreaming about being a noble."

"At least I gotta try."

Saying this Leon entered the capital. The four of order the guard said was four main elements which was for from chaos and gave birth to earth to live on water to drink air to breath and fire to life itself. Aroan world was filled with chaotic energy and only if someone would use the four of order in a chaotic land, the land would be habitable. And Loren empire have found a four of order so they wanted to sell someone who at least have money to claim a landmass from the chaos. They was also offering a nobility rank whoever gets it from the auction. For them, they would gain a noble and a new land besides they wouldn't had to move their military to gain this landmass.

For Leon it was more bothersome from establishing an academy, for one he needed to find capable personnel, soldiers and he needed to establish a city. During his stay in the capital he would be very busy besides attending the auction. Thinking these he walked on streets and look for inn to stay. He quickly found an inn and got in his room, Leon besides making his way to the capital, he was also mediating and today he had a feeling that he would pass through the benchmark of a magus.

Leon's body was already in its limits of first stage of titan body tempering because of his absorption of the titan corpse. But his mana cultivation didn't even could be called magus. He wanted to his body and mana cultivation to go side by side thus he stopped the body tempering for a while until his mana cultivation catches up.

The Titan Body Tempering made up five stages, and these were; Elemental Stage, Yin-Yang Stage, Life & Death Stage, Soul Unification Stage and finally Space-Time Stage. These weren't the names of the stages but Leon named such. To begin with titan body tempering was instinctual and didn't need any names at least not in the instinctual inheritance. His newly created mana cultivation method also composed ruffly these stages. He needed to open his mana pool and create four elemental seeds in his mana pool and nurture them with his mana and elemental materials. Bit by bit cumulation of quantity would transform qualitative change. This was the main idea behind his mana cultivation method.

Throwing back of his head of these stray thoughts, Leon sat on his bed and closed his eyes. With his rhythmic breathing he slowly concentrated and felt the mana inside of his body. Because of his body tempering his body was already in monstrous level even without mana solely on his body he could fight with real magus, right now he wanted to became an official magus. Also his body tempering made him find whereabouts of his mana pool easier. This was the stage made most apprentices stopped advance to the ranks of the magus.

After finding his mana pool, Leon started to lead all of mana towards his mana pool, it didn't take much time to open his mana pool without any resistance. When his mana pool opened all of mana in his body rushed to the mana pool like a stream flowed to the lower place. Leon didn't waste much time and was about try condensing the elemental seed in mana pool but, what happened later made him dumbstruck. Without his interference, the four seed condensed in the mana pool.

Leon open his eyes, and usual sleepy eyes was looking like normal, that was how he was shocked, but soon shocked expression changed to delight.

"I didn't need to do anything, I am able to understand why titans didn't do much research about other powers somehow."

After his delight passed he took his spatial bag and took out the poison pearl. Looking at the gray pearl, he bit his finger and smeared on it and made his mana pass through it. The poison pearl instantly started levitate in front of him, Leon opened his mouth and the pearl entered in his mouth. Leon closed his eyes and looked at his mana pool and saw the poison pearl in there inhaling and exhaling his mana. He also noticed that the mana the poison pearl exhaled was more pure. Leon thought maybe this was a support function of the pearl.