Chapter Three

I did get home but mom was already there she didn't whoop me on the count that my excuse was I was forming my mana core, the moment I told her and showed her, well I couldn't really show her my mana core I did the next best thing I ran mana through my arms till a smoky white light could be seen. I don't think I've ever seen mom smile and laugh like that, the sight of it was... amazing, Mom left after a few minutes she said she was going to the market to buy beef to celebrate, meat is expensive so mom going out of her way to buy it was a big deal.

Mom brought back about two kilos of beef, and it was a steak no bones, she cooked it three different ways, most of it into a stew, some she grilled and also she made some into a barbeque. I ate till I could feel myself sweating fats, mom and I spent most of the night talking about how I formed my mana core. When mom fell asleep I used that moment to inspect my core. I closed my eyes and focused on my mana core, an image of a small orange ball appeared in my mind, my mana core. It resembled an orange, the color itself made me elated, the book said that after the technique my mana core would be a dark grey color but since it was orange and not grey meant that I had surpassed the technique. Mana cores had levels to determine their purity.

It began with dark grey then when it was purified further it would turn grey then light grey then dark orange like mine then orange then light orange to dark red to red then light red to dark blue to light blue then on to the final stages which was silver then finally white. I didn't throw away the book like my notebook, this book was more important to me than anything in the world. I turned my head to my mom, who was deep asleep and I whispered under my breath, "thank you mom." before going to sleep myself.

The next morning mom was the one who made breakfast she left me chores like always before leaving, unlike last time I finished my chores before having my breakfast and as soon as I was done I locked our house and headed over to someone I had made a promise to. His house was a fifteen minute walk from our house I used those fifteen minutes to absorb mana in the atmosphere. With mana sight the world seemed strange, I could turn it off but being able to see mana was amazing so I kept it on since this morning last night I had it off

I finally reached his house and unlike most of the houses in Lizon, his was the only house that was made of concrete, the windows were made of glass, the roof was made of iron sheets and his door was made of steel. The walls were covered with white paint but due to time and neglect the white walls had turned into a brown color also some of his window panes were broken.

This here was crackpot Henry's house, he was a man whose hair looked like he was hit with lightning it was always standing and it was messy, his hair was black in color but due to his age he had a few white hair growing, he had a messy beard, light brown eyes and he had a medium build. Also he was always chugging the happy juice for as long as I've known him also the reason we call him crackpot is because he is. He has violent outbursts sometimes so most people avoid him but I didn't, sure he had his violent outbursts but he never hit me not even once.

Other than my father he is my second father figure, Henry was a general so he says and he says he fought during the great war, I believe this because his words match the history books. The great war was a battle between all the races in the world the cause of the war was unknown but the war itself took many lives elves, humans and dwarfs alike, I assume that most of the soldiers who survived the war ended up like Henry. But enough of that I walked to his doorstep and knocked the door three times.

"go away! Come back when am dead or never!" I heard someone shout from inside the house.

"Its me sunshine open up," I said with a smile.

"oh Raiden, its been awhile," He said as I heard him tumble on his way to the door probably breaking stuff along the way. The sound of things breaking got reduced the closer he got till it got silent. His doorknob twisted and the door swung open, there he was standing in his door way with his loosely fitting clothes and his wine bottle in his hand. He switched from rum to wine because of me, I told him that too much consumption of rum will destroy his liver, he promised he would stop but the next day he was drinking again, I was about to say something but he said.

"let me stop you there boy, I promised that I wouldn't drink rum anymore and this," he raised the bottle, " this is wine the healthy kind of rum." I've actually gave up on trying to make him sober.

"Raiden come in," he said as he made way for me as I got in I could see most of his furniture had broken, "so what brings you to my humble abode."

"I request your humble teaching," I said sarcastically.

"nope remember the deal no mana core no teaching," he said.

"about that," I released some of the mana I had accumulated and the way his jaw fell was priceless.

"When? How? wait which level are you at?" he finally asked.

"am at dark orange," I said proudly.

"since when?"

"Yesterday mom bought a mana core formation book,"

"Must have been some book,"

"Actually the book was third rate at best if I didn't tweak the technique then I'd be at dark grey."

"okay smartass a deal is a deal, starting today I'll be teaching you my mana circulation technique and fighting with mana," he said his voice carrying a tinge of pride.

He led me to the middle of his backyard he instructed me to sit cross-legged with my back facing him after a moment he sat behind me and placed both his palms on my back. "Now focus and try sending mana through your whole body."

I shut my eyes and did as I was told in a few seconds I felt him insert his own mana inside me, when his mana entered my body I realized the difference between a dark orange core and a silver core was the same as rock and a mountain. Trying to maintain his mana took a lot of will my mana channels were flooded it felt like someone was trying to force a river into a rain gutter. Henry started guiding the mana around my body from my head to the tip of my toes.

"focus on how the mana is circulating your body, memorize the path it takes and try to replicate it," he said.

He kept guiding it back and forth over and over until, I told him to stop. He did but his palms never left my back, I tried to replicate the method but as soon as I reached halfway the mana inside of me would disperse, I did this seven times each time it was better than the last until I finally did it. I was finally able to circulate mana around my body, my mana channels were now better refined, I could send mana through every part of my body without losing it to the atmosphere.

"well done kid, it took a while but you finally got there, now your mana is almost exhausted right?" he asked, I nodded my head at him and he let go of me and stood up, "fill your core up while I change."

As he went back into his house, I did as he said and I filled my core to the brim. Henry came out dressed in weird clothing, the clothes were grey in color and it was tight that it held his body. This must have been a tracksuit which mom says the Windsor girl uses during training, he took out two bracelets from his pockets and wore them. His eyes landed on me and he gestured with his finger for me to stand up.

"Now these bracelets has reduced my mana input so now my mana core input and output should be at light red if you are lucky or dark blue if you are not," he said, "so cadet Ragnar your first lesson in mana martial art is."

He pause and stared at me waiting for me to finish it but when I didn't he sighed and shook his head, "this lesson is going to be easy for you since you are used to running away from that little shit called Mike, the lesson is running away but instead of how you usually run, this time use my mana circulation technique understood?"

"yes sir!" I said with a salute, he waited for me to start circulating mana around my body, he got into a fighting stance and in a flash he disappeared from my sight. In that split second by instinct I managed to turn around and managed to raise my guard up against an incoming punch from him. As the punch connected with my forearm, the force of the punch was too great that it sent me flying away from him. I fell down and rolled on the ground three times.

I was expecting my arms to be broken but by luck they weren't, but my entire body was shaking because of that one punch.

"well smartass guess it only managed to restrict me to blue so it would be best to run and don't worry I'll still pull my punches," he said.

The fuck he means 'still pull' that punch was in no means pulled, like before he disappeared from my view and was now in front of me with a huge right hook aimed at my face.