The finals had concluded and Matthew was ready to head home. However, he wouldn't get his wish right away as it was time for the prize ceremony. Third place received a medal and two days in a meditation chamber. These chambers allowed someone to advance rapidly since they enhanced the strength of a mana core and the absorption rate of mana would be increased due to the concentration of mana. Second place received a medal, four days in a meditation chamber, and personal training from the head instructor. This was rather good since the head instructor was at the peak of the mage level and could give many pointers. Matthew received the first place medal, a week in the meditation chamber, personal training from the head instructor, and a manual of his choosing. If he had known this he would have waited to buy the gravity manual. At least he could aquire more advance mana techniques that would allow him to rapidly increase his strength and make him more ver
Matthew decided to start his training anew with refining again. Since it was the weekend, he would be able to do this and take on a few missions to restore his funds that he had spent. He didn't want to work on mana skills just yet seeing as his core was still stabilizing. Starting from scratch, he focused his own mana to his marrow. His mana was now entirely converted with the gravity affinity, making it feel heavy inside his bones. His mana spread out and joined the mana already present causing it to be converted as well. He felt virtually no pain this time as his marrow was already quite tough and resistant to pain. He went a full hour before he had depleted the mana in his core. He could already feel the difference as he felt that he was slightly sluggish due to the increased weight of his marrow. Now that he was finished, he made sure to gather and convert some more mana. The difference was however that his mana value had increased since
A ways away from the town, in a desolate part of the wilderness that featured no life, something stirred. It was a large humanoid creature with random pieces of armor attached to it. This creature was once human that had died and become one of the monsters that it once sought to destroy. The undead were not that uncommon in the world since the vast number of humans that hadn't been able to adapt to mana had died. Some became unholy creatures of the dark even to include vampires. Generally speaking, vampires and the werefolk were much more rare than the standard undead and usually want to live in peace versus seeking out humans to devour. This particular undead was on the move and was headed in a particular direction. It was a peak pawn grade existence that was only a step away from the knight grade. If it advanced, it would become an unstoppable force of nature for most. Soon, it would reach its destination and wreak havoc. * * * Matthew stood
Matthew was drawing large currents of mana into his core to saturate it to the point of there not being anymore space inside it. It didn't take him long due to the amount of mana that he already had stored. If someone looked inside his core at the moment, what they would find was a swirling mass of purple mana that looked vaguely like a small hurricane. The next step he had to take was to push the walls of his mana core to the point that it expanded to the normal grade. This was the hardest part as his reinforced core was very sturdy and might develop cracks if he expanded it too fast. Cracking his core at this point would take him days to fix even with his enhanced recovery and the amount of mana he would have to use to do so would equal the amount he needed to expand his core by several fold. It took him a little over a full day in the training room to reach the threshold of the normal grade core. All he need was a small push with a little more mana that he had to
The fourth day in the training room came as Matthew continued to focus his mana to the center of the spiral in his mana core. By this time, the spiral was half the size it was originally, and mana it was made of was thick and slow moving. He had begun to sweat from the intense struggle he was having by forcing his mana to condense. Slowly, his mana was condensing to become like thick clouds instead of thin and wispy like fog. This was the prerequisite to ignite his spark, as the mana had to be dense enough to sustain it long enough to stay lit. Once the spark came into existence, it would have to be continuously supplied with mana so that it wouldn't go out. It wasn't until the level of mage that it would stay lit without a constant supply of mana. If the spark went out, he would have to start over from scratch.Slowly, the spiral began to stagnate its movement under its own weight. For a long moment, nothing happened. Just when it seeme
*Ding**System updating*Matthew Hart Level - 2 Titles - InitiateConstitution - Stone body Skills - Mana sense (minor), Mana gathering (major), Enhanced memory, Enhanced sight, Mana Control (minor), Minor regeneration (experienced), Roar Health - 260 Mana - 80 -> 100Strength - 18 Endurance - 19 Agility - 14 Intelligence - 12 -> 14Wisdom - 8 Mana core - Normal core Matthew could hear the system notifications, but was too busy focusing on the tiny spark in the middle of his mana core. The spark's light did not waver from dim to bright like was usually described in books. It held a constant soft glow like a star in the night sky. The next thing that happened was that he began to notice small tendrils of mana that were spreading outward from his mana core to the rest of his body. He realized fairly quickly that they were spreading out to incorpor
In the year 2062, mana came to earth. The introduction of this new type of energy brought the world to the brink of destruction. Almost two thirds of the population couldn't cope and died from an illness that we now call mana bane. After the vast majority of humans died, the flora and fauna began to change. It was an initially slow process, but the longer these creatures were exposed to mana the more they began to change. Plant life flourished and forests seemed to regrow over night. Meanwhile, animals became stronger, faster, and smarter due to the increasing changes that the planet was experiencing. Humans fared far worse during this time. Those that survived the initial arrival of mana would find themselves basically helpless when it came to surviving without the help of technology. Mana had done much more than simply wipe out the vast majority of humans. It had also destroyed basically all forms of communication and transport as well. Nations fell overnight and
'Well, turns out that my day is going to be shit.' Is what Matthew thought as he was being chased by his friend turned bully. "You can't run forever you rat." James said. 'Why can't this be a good day. We are going to be late for the ceremony for fuck sake.' Was all Matthew could think as he gasped for air. Trying desperately to reach the school gates where he would finally be safe. Unfortunately, that was when the second bully made his appearance, tripping Matthew before he could reach the gate that was about 100 feet way. The second bully was the real mastermind of all this. Kirk was a larger kid that stood almost six feet tall with broad shoulders and was well muscled due to good genetics. Kirk's family owned the business that James' parents worked at and had befriended James some time ago. At some point, Matthew had been accused of stealing from the store and getting James' father demoted since he had defended him. This lead to Kirk convincing Jam