First Level

Rin entered his home, feeling dejected after leaving Uncle Ryu in his abode. He placed the few bronze coins Ryu had given him for making him laugh so hard on the table.

Sinking onto his bed, he felt exhausted, but as he reflected on the exciting day he had just had, his mood gradually calmed.

"slum rat..." Rin recalled the girl's words and shook his head.

He took the small white stone out of his pocket and decided to follow the instructions he had been given. Sitting cross-legged, he placed the stone in his hands.

After a few moments in this position, Rin began to stimulate the mana he could control with his low level, and gradually, the stone softened between his hands.

This process lasted for about ten minutes, and Rin began to feel his eyelids growing heavy, and his head becoming heavy. Extreme fatigue overwhelmed him, and he eventually fell asleep

***

A Nightingale the size of a finger, of immaculate white color, perched on a branch, watching a rabbit below. Then, it tapped its foot on a small twig it had previously positioned there, causing it to fall. In the air, the twig drew an arc and pierced the rabbit's ear, killing it instantly

***

Rin woke up and looked around suspiciously.

"So this is the inheritance... throwing twigs at people..." Rin was disgusted but obliged to continue. He took out a small book adorned with a sparrow on the cover.

He flipped through the first pages: "So let's see, to become a twig thrower, I must first quickly create a connection between the object and myself, and maintain this connection as long as possible."

He picked up a stone lying outside his hut and sat on his bed, trying to quickly establish a connection. But it took a minute and broke as soon as he thought of something else.

He repeated this process for two hours, exhausted. Finally, he stopped, staring at the stone with frustration.

"This stone is out to get me!" he thought, before throwing it violently against the wall.

Helpless and tired, he returned to reading the book, but without progress. Until a brilliant idea came to him, like a divine message.

"My stigmata!! I can probably visualize the connection better and understand how it works." He hurried to retrieve the mistreated stone.

"Mana Sense," Rin murmured in his mind. Suddenly, his eyes turned sky-blue, like precious gemstones.

At that moment, Rin saw everything as energy around him. Each silhouette appeared distinctly to him, and he instinctively knew the distance between him and each person on the street, at 15 meters. He even perceived the thickness, hardness, and even the slightest crack in the walls around them, although they had no real existence for him.

"First, the stone." Rin saw a void in his hand, a form of an empty stone, and gently tried to link his mana. He found that his mana enveloped the object, trying to penetrate it, but the process was slow.

He stopped, thought, tried several approaches, and finally found the solution. His mana first enveloped the outside of the stone, then passed through the small irregularities on all sides to finally establish a connection. This operation took up much of his day, and the sun had already set, but excited, he tried his first mana exercise while deactivating the energy-consuming Mana Sense.

"About 5 meters away, with a slight angle," Rin took the stone and aimed at a water bottle about 5 meters away. Instead of aiming straight, he tilted his aim slightly to the right and gently threw the stone. He then watched as the stone traced a non-natural arc to hit the bottle.

"Not bad, not bad. Now, more advanced tests," Rin exclaimed, motivated. He began trying all sorts of things to familiarize himself with his abilities, and this training session lasted until 11 p.m.

Rin, sitting on his bed, quite pleased with himself, declared: "According to the book, I have a basic mastery of the exercise. Once I can concentrate despite distractions to keep the target constantly in sight, and once I can establish a connection within a maximum of one second, I will be at the peak of my mastery."

Suddenly, Rin straightened up, his eyes wide open: "Keeping the target constantly in sight... If that's the highest level... If I can see the target even in the presence of obstacles, at night, or even with my eyes closed... What level of mastery does that correspond to?"

Rin jumped up and grabbed the stone to start establishing the connection, and his eyes turned sky-blue.

Closing his eyes, he threw the stone into the air and "looked" at the bottle. At that moment, the stone drew a beautiful arc to hit the target.

Wide-eyed, with a huge smile on his face, Rin exclaimed: "I understand now!"

In his vision, he saw old Yu returning home, probably busy closing her herb shop. But before he could deactivate this power, he saw the mummified body of the centenarian entering the shower, and a piercing scream echoed throughout the neighborhood:

"AHHHHHHHHH my eyes!!! Poke out my eyes, I beg you!!! What a crappy life!!!"