Matthew sat on his bed and began to read through the book as he found light in the bleak darkness that his life had become. With new found hope he began to read. The first chapter of the book required the user to train their perception to the greater grade. The grades of skills were: minor, experienced, major, and greater.
Reaching experienced grade would be doable over the three days he had before going back to school, but major and greater would take longer. As such, he began that night working on his perception. The minor mastery allowed someone to sense the mana that touched them. They would then have to gradually push their sense past their body and reach out to about the two foot mark.
It took several hours for Matthew to be able to sense the mana that touched his skin and in the air that he breathed into his lungs. This was already good progress as it would normally take days for most people to be able to sense and gather mana. The mental exhaustion that he suffered however meant he couldn't progress any more. He laid down and immediately fell asleep.
Waking up bright and early, he began to exercise the same method he used last night. This time it was slightly easier to sense mana. This was mostly attributed to his intelligence stat. The intelligence stat allowed one to better use and sense mana. Doing these exercises would also slowly increase his intelligence stat thus making everything easier in an ever repeating cycle.
After exhausting himself, he went downstairs to eat then out to do physical exercises. The book stated that he would also work on his body since it would be required later. He started with basic exercises and then went for a jog around the property. He then repeated the mental exercises until he was tired.
He had until Tuesday to continue this regimen since school would resume then. Then he would have to revise it to continue. On the second full day of training, Matthew finally reached the limit of minor mastery. He kept pushing against the barrier, gradually expanding he range of his perception.
*Ding* *System updating*
Matthew Hart
Level - 1
Titles - None
Skills - Mana perception (experienced)
Health - 100
Strength - 3
Endurance - 4
Agility - 3
Intelligence - 4 -> 5
Wisdom - 4
Mana core - Tiny cracked core (Broken)
Matthew had made the first step to fixing his core. Not only had he advanced the grade of his skill, he had also gained a stat point in intelligence. This would make the whole process easier since he would be able to feel mana much better. Little did he know that there would be a compounding effect when it came to this training. His mind would be strengthened and this would speed up his training.
The increase in intelligence made him feel refreshed which meant he could continue training. This time around he was able to easily feel the mana touching his skin without even focusing on it. He gradually began to expand his senses again and was able to reach reach two and a half feet with some effort that left him totally exhausted. He then did some more basic physical exercises and called it a day to eat and sleep.
"He looks very determined to see this through." His mother said.
"Good, that is exactly what he will need to be to complete this training." His father said with a worried look on his face.
Today was the last day that Matthew would have to improve before going back to school. Going through the constant cycle of exhausting his mental strength had made it so that he got exhausted less. To reach the major grade for his mana perception he would have expand is senses past the six foot mark. He had already reach the five foot mark meaning that it wouldn't take much more to push through. His base stats had improved slightly thanks to all of the training he had been doing. He was determined to reach the major mastery today so he got up early as he had been and began training right away. Even without expanding his senses now he could sense mana at two feet away. Gradually pushing out from there, he reached five feet and began to push outward. Step by step he slowly advanced until he hit the wall that was the six foot mark. This was the closest he had come so far to reaching the major grade. This step was a little different though in that he had to solidify
The initial steps of body refinement were quite simple. First, draw mana into the body using the gathering technique. Then force the mana into the bones and circulate it throughout the skeletal system to essentially wash the marrow and rid it of impurities. With that said, Matthew gave it a try. He first drew in mana and then began to force it into his bones. This step is where the pain started as it felt like he was scraping his bones with a knife. Nonetheless, he carried on, pushing the mana further. Slowly, the mana began to seep into his marrow and then he began to circulate it. One round of circulation was all he was able to stand before he passed out. He woke up about an hour later feeling like he had run a marathon and was sore all over. He could barely move and had to struggle to simply sit up. Stretching his body, he managed to make his way to the bathroom and took a long hot bath to relieve his soreness. With that done he called it a day since it was al
Making his way to school, Matthew made sure to be on the lookout for his bullies. He didn't want to have a run in with them while he was still slightly sore from his first refinement session. It seemed that he had worried for nothing though, as he made it to school and class without incident. Putting his things away and making his way to class F-8. This was the class he had been assigned due to his current status. There only about six other students in the class with him. The first thing that greeted him when he walked through the door was a few stares that held a look of pity. 'If only they knew that I'll be able to surpass them all if this regimen of mine succeeds.' Was what he thought quickly finding a seat. "Good morning class. I'll be your teacher." Said a rather robust looking gentleman as he walked in. He was positively ripped and his clothes seemed to barely be able to contain his hulking form. He was easily six and a half feet tall, bronze colored
School had ended so Matthew hurried home so that he could complete the experienced grade and break through in to the major grade. Grabbing a quick bite to eat on his way to his room he finished his food and quickly got to work. It only took roughly five minutes before he was able to reach the six foot mark and had the position completely solidified. One second he was holding at the six foot mark, and the next he was already at the seven foot mark.*Ding* *System updated*Matthew HartLevel - 1Titles - noneSkills - Mana perception (major), Mana gathering (minor)Health - 110Mana - 1Strength - 4Endurance - 5Agility - 4Intelligence - 6 -> 7Wisdom - 4Mana core - Tiny cracked core (broken) He had finally done it. He had reached the major grade. Having gained a stat point in intelligence made him feel refreshed so he could keep pushing toward the greater grade. Now that he had passed into the major grade, his senses could passively feel the mana up to seven fe
Matthew spent the rest of night trying to learn the enhanced memory skill. He could feel that he was on the cusp of making it work unfortunately he had to sleep since he was mentally exhausted. Waking up before the sun, he continued his routine. His perception was still increasing gradually. His gain so far today was reaching the fifteen foot mark for expanding his mana perception and reaching a nine foot passive sense. Doing his morning routine of physical exercise showed that his body was still slowly adapting to the training as he was able to run just a little further today in the same amount of time. Today's walk to school saw the return of his bullies Kirk and James. They had been placed in class F-1 since their satus' were slightly advanced for their age. Matthew altered his route to avoid them and made it to class without incident. The class featured the same soulless looks from his classmates and his hulking teacher Mr. Falls. "Today we will b
Matthew hurried home from school to try his new idea. If it worked, it could multiply his progress many folds over. Heading straight up to his room, he began as usual with his perception training. He was finally able to push his perception to the peak of the major grade and had solidified it up to twelve feet now. This kind of breakneck progress was astounding even among someone hailed as a genius. Having finished his perception training, he moved on to body refinement where he began to pull mana through his pores and into his bones. He first tired to concentrate on one spot and tried to create a clump of mana to circulate through his marrow. He quickly found that a clump of mana would be impossible, but the fact that he was able to concentrate the mana was already a start. 'This can work just not in this way,' he thought to himself as he tried to figure a way around it. He decided to give up on that idea for the moment and proceeded with the technique as norm
"Today will be self study. If you have questions about your skills or techniques, today is the day that I will devote to helping you with them. This was great news to Matthew as he was going to push to complete the enhanced memory skill. He quickly got to work on concentrating mana on the needle point sized sphere he had already created. About and hour in he got an update from his system that startled him and broke his concentration.*Ding* *System Updated**Mana gathering (minor) -> Mana gathering (experienced)* This would be a great help to him since he was actively trying to gather mana. He was surprised that he was able to raise the grade of this skill without being able to gather mana into his core. He smiled as he started to gather mana again that quickly changed the flow of mana around him. The other students couldn't help but notice this change as they all looked in his direction with determined expressions on their faces. 'It appears that he i
On his walk home, Matthew had sensed that Kirk and James had been following him. He had wanted to avoid the confrontation with them if he could help it, but it seemed that this time it would be impossible. Thankfully for him, his stats had improved to the point that he didn't believe they would be able to beat him this time. He had purposely lead them down a dead end alley so that they could have the privacy to hash this out. "It seems that you have no where else to hide from us cripple." Kirk said Matthew frowned at that, considering that he had no intention to stay a cripple. He planned to make Kirk regret making that statement. So instead of arguing about it, he took a fighting stance. Kirk and James both immediately made their move seeing that Matthew was ready to fight. The first to reach him was Kirk since his larger size and better stats made him faster than James. Kirk threw a punch that only connected with Matthew's out stretched hand. Matthew then p