Chapter 1: Rank 1 Warrior

In the middle of a castle was a courtyard reserved for the nobility of the Duchy of Barnes. It was morning, the sun had barely risen, and a fine mist enveloped this courtyard, giving a heavy ambiance to the dozens of children waiting there.

These children were sharing two things in common.

The first was their age, they were all 13 years old, no more, no less.

The second point in common was their status, each of them was sons or daughters of a noble loyal to the duchy. Although they were all members of the nobility and were treated as such from birth, no arrogance could be seen here.

Not a word could be heard, only silence prevailed. Suddenly, footsteps were heard, at an even pace, calm and composed.

Before these dozen children, a middle-aged man appeared. He walked slowly as if the children watching him with sparkling eyes didn't exist.

He stopped in the middle of the courtyard and turned to the future warriors. He looked at them one by one, to get an idea of ​​the average level of this group.

His gaze lingered lightly on a young boy. He had no particular physique, his long black hair was common in this empire and fell over his shoulders. His black tunic was also quite common around these wealthy children.

What made him stand out from the crowd though, was his composure. A calm so supernatural that you thought he would have the same expression if the world around him crumbled.

The instructor didn't have to think about who this boy was. He had the same expression as his father, so he guessed right away that it was Rohan, son of count Roland Sharkan.

This count was also one of the commanders of this duchy, as an Intermediate Warrior, and directly under his command in battles.

After observing all these children, he explained to them what was going to happen.

"You have all trained hard for this day, I can see it in your bodies. But this is only the beginning, you are not only the future of your families, but also of the kingdom."

His voice grew more serious at this point.

"You probably know what's going to happen in a few years. We need more warriors, and hopefully, you'll be one of them."

All of the children in front of the instructor were children of the most important nobles in the area, so they were well aware of what he was talking about. In a few years, a war would break out, a war not everyone wanted to see, but it was inevitable.

"What you are going to see from now on is a secret of the Duchy of Barnes, you are not allowed to tell anyone about it. In fact, you would do well to forget what is going to happen."

After he finished his sentence, pressure from his body suddenly crashed into the children in front of him. Their faces turned white and their eyes widened. Only an Advanced Warrior could use the Aura.

An Advanced Warrior was extremely powerful, but just as rare. In all of the Duchy of Barnes, there was only one: the right-hand man and brother of Dukes Chrisfold, Edwin Chrisfold.

Everyone present now knew who this middle-aged man was, and that was why they were here. To become mighty warriors. They could have tried to become a warrior at home, they all had their family method after all, but doing it here would increase their chance of success by a lot.

"Keep a cool head! Just because your chances have improved doesn't mean you should take it lightly! You have all day. By sunset, you all go back home, whether you are successful or not!"

The tension rose slightly. The future warriors knew it. The time to begin was approaching, and success only depends on them. They all sat cross-legged in a meditation position and waited for the moment to begin.

Edwin took an object out of his pocket. A crystal, unevenly shaped and the size of a fist, appeared. This crystal was blood red. As the crystal appeared, a wave of mana was emitted from it and engulfed the entire court in a mist of mana.

"You can start now, good luck!"

Rohan closed his eyes.

He had already learned how to train to form a warrior core, each family having a different method of doing it. Although these methods were diverse and varied, the basic idea remained the same.

The person preparing to become a warrior had to collect mana in his body and gather it at the diaphragm level so that it solidified, thus forming a core of pure mana. Since the mana collected in this way was very corrosive to the human body, it had to be trained beforehand to withstand this stress.

So Rohan began to gather mana around him. The stone that the instructor released greatly increased the mana and made it easier for the young boy.

The mana entered through all the pores of the skin and rushed into the body as if it was called by something. He tried somehow to manipulate each filament of mana to get it where he wanted it, but it was much more painful than what he was expecting.

Wherever the mana passed, the pain felt was practically intolerable. But it didn't have to stop, everything had to be done once, without a break, otherwise it would have to be restarted from the beginning, and then the body would risk permanent damage.

The mana flowed through his body like a torrent towards the center, except for the inside of his right arm. He tried to get the mana in his arm to follow the same path to make things easier later. This was the method described in the text his father had given him.

Once the mana gathered in the same place, he circulated it in one direction to create a ball. So, after some time, a transparent ball began to appear.

It was then that the pain was excruciating and almost made him lose concentration. After all, he was making an object appear inside his body, the pain could only be intense.

He cursed the gods as he gritted his teeth, and continued to control mana.

After a few moments of pain, a core was perfectly formed, a flawless transparent sphere, now standing within his body. But it was not over, he was now a pseudo warrior. To truly become a rank 1 Beginner Warrior, he had to open one of the five meridians.

Four of these meridians connect the core to the limbs while the fifth connects it to the skull. The latter was usually left at the end because it was the most complicated.

Normally, after forming its core, most pseudo warriors didn't have the choice but to stop here. But Rohan felt like he could give it a try.

Rohan decided to open the meridian connecting the core to the right arm, which was why he had focused on it previously. Indeed, opening a meridian means nothing more than throwing all the mana of the core and forcing the passage by creating a path. This path, solidified, is then called the meridian.

The pain was just as intense, but the task was not very complicated. Thanks to the red crystal providing a large supply of mana, Rohan had all the mana he needed at his disposal. He then gathered all the mana that was filling his body and sent it into his right arm.

However, he had made a little miscalculation. He didn't think there was so much mana at his disposal, as it rushed towards his right hand and completed the links in slightly more than an instant.

This is how he succeeds in creating a meridian, a thin transparent line connecting the core to the palm of the hand, radiating a faint glow. This meridian now allowed him to explode his mana towards his right arm to launch a faster and more powerful attack, simply called by the warriors strengthened blow.

As a rank 1 Beginner Warrior, his core connected with a single meridian allowed him to contain an amount of 10 mana. A reinforced blow will cost him exactly those 10 mana, so he can only use this skill once during a fight until he increases his rank.

After thinking about the effects of mana and his newfound ability, Rohan began to observe his body.

In addition to skills, the meridian and core, formed from pure mana, increase the strength that the body possesses. Thus, the higher rank a warrior has, the more powerful the body becomes and exceeds the limits of a normal body without mana.

After observing his body to know the state of it, Rohan indeed judged that he had become stronger, but to know exactly how much, he had to experience it.

He also noticed that the inside of his body was damaged by the passage of mana, as if the inside of his body was filled with little cracks. He will therefore have to wait until he recovers before opening another meridian, otherwise, things could be dangerous.

Unfortunately, the next time will not be so easy, the body will be strengthened and he will not have all that mana available. All of this mana was originally intended only to create one's mana core, very few people have managed to use the remaining mana in the body to create a meridian.

Thus, because he will only be able to use the limited mana coming from his core, the next meridians will need to be opened in several sessions of meditation.

Once the core mana has been used up, the surrounding mana will be absorbed from the meridians. Since he only has one at the moment, the mana absorption will be incredibly slow.

He might try to reabsorb the mana from every pore of his skin, but as his body gets tougher with the mana, using a second time this method would not actually give any results, and might even permanently damage his body.

At the moment, Rohan was only a rank 1 Beginner Warrior, and after connecting the other four meridians, he will be a rank 5 Beginner Warrior. After that, if he advances to the next rank, he will be a rank 6 Intermediate Warrior.

His family did not have the method to become an Advanced Warrior, therefore, Intermediate rank 10 was his limit for the time being.

After taking a look at his situation, Rohan opened his eyes and looked around.

The morning haze was gone, and only the mana one coming from the red stone remained. The sun was high in the sky, showing that time has passed much faster than he expected.

The other children were still meditating. He seemed to be the first to finish while the others, gritting their teeth, their fists, and letting out groans, were still not out of their pain.

Nearby was Edwin. Being the most powerful of the Duchy, he was the only one able to guard the Demonic Core, the red crystal sending waves of mana. Thus, he had to be present while making sure that none of these children were seriously injured.

He didn't care whether they succeeded or not, but they were still nobles, he would at least make sure no one dies.

Suddenly he felt one of them open his eyes. He frowned. It wasn't even noon, how could one of them already give up?