Chapter-11

After he had reached home, he started to cultivate to make his mana core stronger. Both mana core and martial bone had their own ranks and the talent grades as well. The better the talent, the more potential that he would be able to be very strong in the future. The talent grading for mana cores were green, blue, silver, gold, white. What he had was his martial bone which was gold and his mana core which was silver, one grade lower than his martial bone.

These were the five grades of mana core. The same was for the martial bone as well with the same grading. There were attainments and realms within cultivation as well which were Copper, Iron, Silver, Gold and Black Gold.

These were the attainments which one could reach with the martial bone. Within each attainment, there were ten realms. They were Initial rank or Rank 1 to Rank 10 or Peak rank.

The initial rank and peak rank could also be called as rank 1 and rank 10 which people usually used. The attainments for mana core cultivation was the same. Mana core cultivation was seen as cultivation whereas martial bone cultivation was seen as Body cultivation or body refining. [Name: Theron Silvercrest

Cultivation: Copper Attainment-2nd Realm

Body Refining: Copper Attainment-5th Realm

Mana Core Talent: White

Martial Bone Talent: Gold

Element: Hellfire] 

He had reached the 5th realm at least for his body refining. How did it went from 1 to 5? The only explanation he could think of was that after his mana core had gotten better and the purple corruption had been eradicated. His foundation being strong because of constant training and his martial bone being released from a suppressed state made it explode in ranks a bit. But even so, he was miles apart from reaching those who were in S class.

But he would get there, he had confidence. He also felt that he would be able to reach 6th realm for body refining very soon. To start on his magic journey, he would need to start with elemental manipulation

[Quest: Elemental Training]

[Description: Basic elemental control training]

[Requirements:

Maintain a shape for 10 minutes using hellfire x 3

Create three fires and maintain all of them for 15 minutes without fluctuation]

He received a quest on it as well so it much like two birds with one stone.

He started to use his mana to draw his element, hellfire. He had never heard of this, though there were variants to a fire type. The flame in his hand had a unique golden hue.

He manipulated his element and started to make shapes with it. Crafting precise shapes with the hellfire proved challenging, as he needed to sustain them for the specified durations. Despite the difficulty, Theron persevered.

With a triumphant smile, Theron was able to finish it though soaked with sweat and was sweating profusely. He also noticed that his mana core seemed to be able to store more mana than an average person as he was able to do all of the training in one sitting with a fair bit of rest though it could also be contributed to the his mana regeneration which seems to be boosted because of his particularity of having his mana bone inside his mana core.

[Quest Completed]

[Rewards: AP x 300, Skill: Insight, Rift key x 3, Return key x 3]

__ __ __

(The next day)

As the weekend arrived, Theron found himself in the library, surrounded by the subtle buzz of curious whispers from the girls who seemed to have taken notice of him.

"Who is this handsome boy?" 

"Why haven't I noticed him before"

"I have to tell my bestie about this" 

The girls who came to return books which they borrowed during the duration of the exam and more came because of his appearance. In the evening, he finally finished dealing with them and managed to get some peace and quiet. He sighed in relief till he saw there was another one coming but he was surprised as this was the girl from the blacksmith which he had gone just the day before. She wore a white blouse that perfectly complemented her radiant, white hair. Paired with the white blouse, a knee-length black skirt was chosen. She looked very beautiful as a fairy. She came towards his desk and asked

"Umm, are you the librarian?"

"Yes, we have met before right at your shop" 

"If you like to return the book, you can give it to me and your name so that I can check the catalog"

"I haven't introduced myself yet"

 "I am Theron Silvercrest" 

"What about yours" 

"My name is Aria" 

"It's a really nice name"

Her speech was really dry but Theron knew it was just because of how she grew up and they had a brief talk before saying goodbye.

Her name is Aria, she is one of the heroines as well. The reason why he had gone to their shop before was not only to meet her but it was also that her grandfather was one of the best blacksmiths in the world.

[Aria Regalheart]

[Favorability: 3.9%]

[Emotion: Curiosity, Grateful, Thankful]

He also wondered how her favorability was relatively high well at least higher than Seraphina and Elysia but he accepted it. He could think of a few reason why so but he didn't dwell too much on it.

 __ __ __

(Perspective of Aria) 

Aria returned the book related to minerals as her grandpa was going to start teaching her blacksmithing though not very soon.

The desire to learn the craft had persisted, despite initial reluctance from her grandfather, who believed blacksmithing wasn't a pursuit suited for a girl. After persistent requests, he had finally accepted, starting her off with a book on minerals and their properties.

There was not too many customers but the day before, she saw a very handsome young man who looked about the same age as her. She was surprised for a moment before asking him what his purpose was.

He wanted a commission. All was fine till he brought out an ore which she was not familiar with. She wanted to know what this ore was. Her grandpa was surprised as well. After the person had left, she asked her grandpa what the ore was and he said it was a very rare ore but he didn't tell her what ore it was which left her pouting.

She was very grateful for this commission as she could see her grandfather being interested and excited more than usual about a craft and it made her happy as well. She could also see a new craft as well and gaining valuable insights from it as she attentively observed her grandfather crafting this weapon.

She was interested in this ore as well as the person who had brought it. She checked the info which he had put in and saw his name.

"Theron Silvercrest"

She had come to the library today to give back the book which she had borrowed. She had just finished it yesterday. She came to the library and saw that the person at the desk was not the person whom she had borrowed the book from. Instead it was the person from before.

"Theron Silvercrest"

She murmured while looking at him from afar. She approached him, though communication skills were not her strong suit. She was glad that he didn't mind her somewhat awkward attempts at communicating.