Gift

Ingrid opened her eyes in disbelief as she took a step back.

'How is this possible?!'

After Ash's last spell, a spell she wasn't familiar with, Ingrid knew that he would be out of mana supply for at least five minutes. A ridiculous ordeal since it shouldn't be possible for a High Rank magi to cast that sort of spell in the first place, nor it should be possible to recover one's full mana supply in that short amount of time.

'But well, he is Ash', is what she thought and stopped giving it importance at that moment.

After being acquainted to a monster never seen before in the history of Olax, and most likely Iris as a whole, it is normal to get numbed to certain things.

But this, this was simply unreasonable.

'Hunters can't manipulate mana. '

This is a fact as known as:

'No magi can use "Essence".'

Essence, just like Mana was a type of energy that was present in the world.

While Mana was the ruler of all energies and the primordial condition for the creation of life, Essence was the inner energy all living beings produced as a consequence of their soul's will.

An energy that is dormant in all living beings and that can only be awakened under two conditions.

First, hellish training.

Training and exercising your body to the very limits of what is humanly possible.

Humans specially had it hard as they were not characterized by having 'the toughest bodies' from all the other races.

Did this mean that the other races had it any easier?

Hell no.

Since their bodies would be tougher than a human's the work required multiplied.

Physical Talent was definite for this reason.

A beast man with a PT of 3 would have the same advantage than a human with the same talent, but the work they required to obtain the same result would be higher, a consequence of their physic.

Imagine two individuals.

One of them is tall and strong while the other is short and skinny.

For them to get tired exactly at the same time the amount of work they have to do would have to be extremely different.

The tall man would have to exert hundreds of kg and numerous lifting repetitions in order to give his best and fall in exhaustion, while the weak guy might faint after running half a mile.

Talent worked like that, the tougher your body, the higher the work needed, the weakest the body, the lighter the work would be.

For this same reason Ashia had the lowest hunter population in Olax.

(A/N: Olax is the name of the continent all this Kingdoms and the Empire are in. The other continent will come to the picture later on.)

Second, not having a mana core.

If an individual circulated mana in their body, then their Essence would stay dormant.

They were two energies that were not compatible for some unknown reason.

Because of this, the majority of hunters began their training at the age of ten, after making sure that they were not destined for magic.

Only certain people who wished to be hunters rather than magis would start to train before this age.

If you managed to awaken essence before the age of ten even if you had the strongest linage of nobility flowing in your blood you would still be unable to form a core, since the essence in your body would prevent you from doing so.

Only maniacs would do something like this. Maniacs like Leonidas Darkmane, who became a level 1 hunter (F Rank) at the young age of seven.

'These conditions are absolutely essential so, why the hell is Ash manifesting Essence?!'

Ingrid took a deep breath and organized her thoughts; this little monster would be the death of her.

"Mind to explain?" Ingrid said in a chilly tone as she regained her battle stance.

She knew that Ash was going all out to test his limits. Regardless of how crazy this unprecedented event was, as his Master she would have to respect his wishes and continue with the spar.

But she needed to know.

Ash, maintaining a similar stance to Ingrid's own, smiled wryly as he knew it was his fault for not telling her.

"I don't know exactly how it happened myself Master, but I'll try my best…"

Then, for the first time since the spar started,

"But for now, let's continue~"

*Booom!*

Ash went to the offensive.

Not by casting a fireball, not by throwing a rain of ice at her, not even by casting a spell.

He ran the distance between themselves at such a high speed that anyone under the A Rank would be unable to follow, something that surprised Ingrid since, so far, she kept her power output at B Rank, and she was easily overpowering him.

Her hammer attack being the only exception, as it was around A rank.

*BOOOOOOM!*

Just like this punch that came her way.

A punch so strong that, except for Ingrid's hammer attack and his previously overcharged [Thunder's Wrath], the other attacks from the two of them would pale in comparison.

"You Monster."

Contrary to what one would expect a beautiful smile adorned Ingrid's face as she said this. Pride was evident in her voice.

Pride that her disciple, her dear friend, and now future husband, was such a boundless existence.

A human who reached D rank at the age of 12, a High Rank magi who was able to conjure a spell that even an Expert Rank magi or a Level 5 hunter would die from.

A human who was now making history as the first ever to control Essence while having a mana core.

"I guess this is my loss…"

Once the debris from the explosion of power his punch created dissipated, Ash collapsed in Ingrid's arms with his eyes closed, visibly exhausted after giving his everything in that punch.

"Mmph, as if you could beat me in the first place."

Ingrid pouted cutely as she held an unconscious Ash.

'To think I had to defend from that punch with a sixth-grade construction ice shield.'

Ingrid thought as she looked down at the shield of ice she had created, with a punch shaped dent that went a few centimetres deep.

'A monster indeed.'

...

"Since when did it become normal for the principal of the most prestigious academy of magic, to sneak out and leave her work to someone else?"

Maxwell felt an incoming headache when thinking of all the complaints that would reach his desk from the Kingdoms' nobility in the next few days.

"So, what!? You expect me to work when my cute niece's child was finally found alive and kicking? Fuck that!"

In front of Maxwell's desk, sitting in an extravagant chair just like his, Maria threw curses to the air as she crossed her arms under her generous bosom.

"Can you act your age for once. You are not a little girl anymore."

He was too old to deal with this woman.

"What!? Speak for yourself old man! I'm a young girl until the day I die!"

Looking at her Maxwell couldn't help but agree in silence.

'Well, she does looks like one.'

Maria looked exactly like a young woman would, despite her age.

With a stature of 160 cm, in a tight blue dress that highlighted her curves that were not scandalous but enough to accentuate her beauty, she looked indeed like a beautiful petite girl in her early twenties.

Her black hair was short, barely reaching her shoulders. A hair cut that was popular in young girls these days.

With these features, in addition to her lovely child-like face that resembled that of an angel, it would have been enough to fool anyone into believing she was no older than twenty.

But as they say, the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Blue.

Not a dark blue, not a sky blue. It went beyond that.

It felt as if all the different blues were mixed in a heterogenous way such that you could distinguish them all depending on how you looked at her.

A reminiscent of a sea of unimaginable depth in which you would sink infinitely were you to look at her for too long.

Few beings in Iris would dare to look at those eyes for more than a second, as that is all it would take for most magis, were they not high in the ranks, to lose themselves.

Those eyes in combination to the natural pressure that she exerted in others was enough to contradict her looks.

"And why are you walking around without your glasses? You know that's dangerous."

His reprimanding words entered one of Marias's ears and left through the other.

" So, where is my niece~?"

'This woman.'

Seeing as he was ignored, he decided to play along.

"I believe she is in her room. A visitor came earlier, that disciple of yours."

"Oh~ That brat knew and decided to come instead of telling her master. That's a young girl in love for ya!"

'Says the one that has never been with a man before.'

Maxwell shook his head and stood from his seat.

"You know your way around. Just go to her already."

"Hehe~ See you at dinner then, old man!"

Just like that she vanished from where she was sitting.

"Sigh, I never invited her though."

Maxwell said as he picked up a golden pin with the shape of a sun that was on his table, before it vanished inside his spatial ring.

'She could've given me this thing later though. Is she showing interest in that kid before even meeting him?'

Thinking about it brought bad memories to Ashia's ruler.

'I pray for you, my grandson; may the lord have mercy on you.'

He made a quite prayer in the name of his heir, he might need it.

...

After a few minutes of rest and a healing spell from an S Rank entity Ash felt as well as new.

As soon as he woke up, he told Ingrid a story about how he discovered his ability to use Essence when fighting a fire monkey. An E Rank Magical Beast that was hard for him to face when he was an F Rank newbie back in the days.

Once he ran out of mana, unable to connect a spell on the agile beast, something inside of him awaken and he beat the shit out of the monkey with his bare hands.

Ingrid could tell he wasn't lying, despite not having her lying detection artifact with her at the moment she knew him well enough to tell when he was making something up.

So, she decided to leave it there and they both left the half-destroyed training room.

Now, in the immensity that was his washroom, Ash submerged in his giant tub, if you could even call it that, until his head was the only visible part of his body.

"Ingrid is such a bore~ She could've joined me; is not like I'm going to jump at her or anything like that."

[That's literally what you did last time though.]

"…"

[ Cat got your tongue?]

"That's my phrase you thief!"

[Meh, don't care.]

'Aren't you behaving a little weird lately?'

[ Whatever you mean Master.]

'Tch, and here I was thinking of giving you anything that you asked for as a gift for being a good girl.'

[Fuh?]

'Well, no matter, I will just forget about it then~?'

[ W-wait Master d-don't be like that!]

With a sly smile that could put the vilest demon to shame Ash teasingly asked,

'Mmh~? What's that now?'

[I-I'm sorry Master I w-will behave. S-so can I have my present?]

'Oh~ I wonder if I should? Should I?'

[ Yes!]

'Hehe good girl. But you have to promise to speak your mind if something bothers you more often. I can't have you going all tsundere on me.'

[Tsunde-What?]

' Forget about it, just don't hide your feelings from me, ok?'

[Mmh ok Master. A-as for my gift?]

"Hahaha~"

Ash burst into laughing at his servant's question. She could be quite cute when she wanted to.

'Surely my love, tell me what you want.'

Eve shuddered at the way her Master called her. A blush impossible to hide covered her entire face.

Sadly, no one was there to see it.

[A-anything?]

'As long as I can do it sure. Anything.'

[T-then…]

After a small pause that felt like an eternity to Eve,

[Can I unlock the full connection!?]

She threw the bomb.

'?'

A bomb that would change many things.