Enjoy!

Mu

Book I

Chapter 6: Compromise

Aran rotated the spheres in the chest and discovered that it behaved similarly to the bottom one, just a little less efficiently. With his current competency of controlling mana, he was able to activate the middle and bottom spheres simultaneously. Mana started circulating in his body and the passive diffusion rate of the mana increased.

*Knock knock*

‘I can’t practice here. They have been observant.’

Quickly suppressing the revolution, he relaxed himself from the lotus position. He walked over silently to his table where his mana lamp was illuminating a thick book titled “Compendium of medicinal plants in the continent of Ares” and sat down.

“Come in,” he said as he traced a paragraph with his index finger. The door creaked open inwardly and Celeste walked in. Aran looked up briefly and addressed her before poring over the book again.

“I thought I felt a strange sensation from the room. Is everything okay?” she asked as she walked over to Aran.

“The mana lamp was acting up and I realized the mana stone was loose. I tightened it and it works fine now,” he responded, looking at her again.

“Good. Well, it’s getting late son. Go to sleep soon,” she said as she pecked him on the cheek and headed towards the door.

“Mother,” Aran said, reaching his hand out.

“Yes, son?” responded Celeste, turning around.

“Can I go train in the outer forests early tomorrow morning? I’d like to start hunting on my own for small game,” he asked in a pleasant voice.

Celeste furrowed her brows, “I don’t think it’s safe. You’re far too young.”

“It’ll only be in the outer forest. I’ve hunted there with Huntmistress Ada. She had been suggesting that I should hunt solo and I’m excited to!” he exclaimed, with a sparkle in his eyes. Ada had approved of, and had declared to his parents, Aran’s capabilities as a fighter and an archer. Ada believed that the best way for Aran to grow is by hunting and tracking on his own.

Aran added, his grey pupils flitting to the side, feigning envy, “After all, Owen had already done so, and I can match him in our spars!”

Celeste pursed her lips, ‘He’s never seemed so eager before. I’ll just have someone tail him, just to be safe.’ She gave in and cautioned, “Fine. Make sure to only stay in the outer forests.”

“Thank you, mother. Good night,” Aran said as Celeste waved, stepped out, and closed the door behind her.

Aran turned off the lamp and went to bed. He spent an hour plotting a plan of action before he drifted off to sleep.

***

The next morning, Aran woke up before dawn, beating his mother’s timing expectations. He put on his set of lightweight leather armor. He deconstructed the mana lamp, something he learned from Armand, separating the bulb from the energy providing mana stone and pulled out the magical circuit. The bulb lit up when he tied the components together. Satisfied with his makeshift torch, he separated the components and put the stones in different compartments of his armor. He set off to the kitchen where several maids were preparing for the estate’s breakfast.

“Young… Young master Aran!” a sweet-faced maid exclaimed when she saw Aran.

“Can you pack me some breakfast? I plan to go for a morning hunt in the forest,” he asked politely. She nodded her head and quickly wrapped a loaf of fresh bread, a chunk of cheese, and some berries into a small cloth package before handing it to Aran.

“Thank you!” Aran remarked as he left the kitchen, heading for the armory. All the maids looked at the door, shrugged, and continued their work.

Aran walked resolutely into the armory and nodded his head slightly at the two guards before entering it. He addressed the burly arms-master Fel Gahagan, who was leaned far back in his chair, “Arms-master Fel, can I get a short-bow, some arrows, and a hunting dagger?”

Fel blinked a few times and looked at Aran with sleepy eyes. He cracked his neck, pushed himself to sit up straight and spoke with a deep voice, “Young master Aran. May I ask why you would need those things?”

“I’m going for an early morning hunt. I will just be in the outer forest, just at the foot of the mountain.”

“Does Madam Celeste or Sir Luca know?”

“They do. Plus, Huntmistress Ada has been suggesting that I go hunt for small game, and mornings are the only convenient time for me.” At the mention of Ada’s name, Fel’s eyes became focused. He had known Ada since she was young, the daughter of his good friend Tarral Grey. She had been headstrong and adventurous since she was a girl, and as an adult had the penchant to be hard on her students. It was also well known in the estate that Aran had a packed schedule.

He further deliberated Aran’s safety. Mount Ashanti was near Wales, with a lush forest growing around it. As the forest spread away from the mountain, it became less dense. Constant human activity, mostly hunter-gatherers, around the outer regions of the forest had ensured that the outer forest remained relatively safe, with any ferocious beasts quickly subjugated. Therefore, many young teenagers frequented the area to hunt and train, sometimes with little to no supervision.

Fel nodded, “Fine.” His voice carried a tone of sympathy to the young Aran. Fel, familiar with Aran’s weapon preferences from his daily training, promptly got up. He collected the weapons and handed them over to Aran. Aran counted a dozen arrows. Fel pulled out a leather-bound book and started writing in it as Aran wore the quiver on his right waist and slung the bow over his shoulder. He tied the dagger and its sheath on his left waist.

Fel took out a cyan-colored sphere, the size of quail’s egg, and placed it atop a piece of cloth on the table in front of Aran, “Here’s a flash charge. Use it if you run into a ferocious beast.”

Aran nodded and wrapped the flash charge in the piece of cloth. It was a tool made by alchemists that emits a blinding flash of light when crushed. When caught unawares, the blinding could last up to tens of minutes, with vision recovering very slowly. An essential tool during explorations, it was used to escape but with caution as it might attract the attention of unwanted guests.

“You may use all the arrows. Return the bow. Keep the dagger,” he said as he closed the book and waved Aran out.

“Thanks!”

***

The sun had risen before Aran found a clearing in the middle of the forest after circling a quarter of the way around the foot of the mountain away from the village. It was above a small hill and hidden from plain sight. Ever vigilant, he had scoured the nearby areas for any signs of animal activity and found none. He had used the mana torch while looking for a suitable area to train in and made a mental map of the way here. In the future, he would be able to find his way with little to no help from the torch even before the first light of dawn.

‘I have to make my way back soon, but I’ll be able to get here before sunrise tomorrow.’

It would take him half an hour on foot to get here on foot, giving him about two hours to cultivate before he had to start heading back. He ate his breakfast and stayed in the area for another fifteen minutes, making final observations before leaving. With the light of day, he noticed a rabbit’s warren on the way back and was able to shoot one to corroborate his story.

On his way back the same day, Aran had engaged Justin Behran, a young guard stationed at the main entrance of the estate and was delighted to find out that he was the son of a hunter. After peppering him with questions about the animals and beasts around Wales, Aran realized that while he was proficient in tracking and hunting, he knew little about the animals in this world and much less about processing them. He had requested, much to the satisfaction of his teachers, to reduce his time in classes; shortening it to two classes a day in rotation. Between Justin and Ada, Aran had learned much about the anatomy and behaviors of the animals around Wales.

Under the guise of tracking and hunting, Aran was able to continue his cultivation unimpeded in the mornings. Multiple times, he would realize a tail sent by his parents. No one tails the assassin in Aran, and he quickly lost them. He had even threw a few days away, leading his pursuers into a wild goose chase, while he merely explored and mentally mapped the outer forest. He would also bring some game back every few days; enough to show he was trying to hunt, but not so much to show that he had mastered it.

Though he was unable to sense the mana around him, Aran realized that the mana cultivated at dawn was denser and purer than other times of the day when he absorbed it. With these conditions, even though his cultivation rate was slower, it was only about half the speed of him cultivating using the Primordial God’s Foundations. Aran rapidly made up the mana he lost during his last attempt to form his qi-realm.

Six months later he felt the familiar feeling of yang saturation. Aran had resolved to form his qi-realm, or mana pool, barring the ever vigilant mana dispersing bracelet. While he was able to cultivate, he realized the stifling effects of the bracelet and not knowing how the bracelet would affect his attempt with drawing in a large amount of mana, he had to proceed with caution. His most direct option was to have it removed. For that, he decided to put on his most innocent face possible to appeal to his parents and capitalize on the fact that he is a child, but not so much that they would brand him immature. It was a fine line, but one that he had walked most his previous life.

During dinner that evening, Aran casually brought it up, “Instructor Jacob mentioned that I’m strong enough to compete with a youth and had me spar with a young soldier today. It was tough, but I beat him in the end.”

Luca, seemingly unimpressed, simply looked at Aran lazily and said, “Are you sure he wasn’t a recruit?”

“No, he already have his own set of equipment,” responded Aran. He added after a short pause, “Although the only thing I had to do was get three hits in. He was allowed to retaliate though!”

Luca’s lips curved up, “Well, that’s good. I expect nothing less of you.”

Aran continued, beamingly, “Instructor Jacob will start having me spar with the off-duty soldiers for my training since he said my physical condition is comparable to some of the younger soldiers.” He continued eating indifferently, grabbing a piece of chicken from the center of the table, while letting the sentence sink in.

“How about your other classes?” asked Celeste.

“They’re fun and have been proceeding well, especially with math. I’ve been hunting with more success. I brought home a two squirrels yesterday and started learning how to skin and process them under Huntmistress Ada’s guidance. Teacher Mihail taught me about the customs of Hassius. Do you know that they don’t have lords? They have a different way of governing their country.

“Also, I learned about how the continent of Ares came to be from Teacher Erika. I knew that Ares was a young continent but the history behind its formation and land division was fascinating. And lastly, with Teacher George, we started advanced lessons on the application of mathematics to basic arcane theory. He began with demonstrations using calculations for mana capacity and how it related to the body,” Aran responded excitedly.

He noticed Celeste exchange a glance with Luca and felt something amiss. ‘They know?’

Both adults set their utensils down and Luca motioned Aran to do the same. Aran groaned inwardly, ‘They know!’

“We were wondering when you’d bring this up,” Celeste said with a smirk on her face.

“More on how, actually,” corrected Luca with the same smug smile, “We know it has been six months, and you have been behaving well. We had sent experienced trackers to tail you on multiple occasions and they have noticed nothing strange. Though, you do have the tendency to sometimes lose them. Keeping up with your progress from your lessons, we know very well where you are physically and academically. Jacob had actually secretly tested your ability to hold mana, and he gave you a passing score, with his only concern being your age.” Luca looked at Celeste, who nodded and continued the narrative.

“It is unheard of, but not inconceivable for a mage to start training around your age. After all, the limiting factor is the body, not age. We will lift the restriction, but not until after the winter. It is a few more months, after of which we will formally test you and decide what to do from then. We are your parents, not tyrants who want to stifle your development. We do want the best for you, and it’d be great to have a mage in the family who breaks the age record. It’ll be a great case study!” Celeste said with a hint of fanaticism in her eyes.

Aran sighed, an action unbecoming of a child his age, and nodded. There was a little delay, but nothing too long. It was a better result than he expected, especially since they had understood his motives earlier and could easily be turned away by it. He accepted this compromise and had just realized Celeste’s last words, “Case study?”

Celeste smiled.

***

In the following weeks, the feeling of yang saturation in Aran’s body was constant; and while it was unpleasant at first, it was something he had gotten used to and learned to regulate it. Even so, he was concerned about the effect of continued cultivation past the point of saturation and had slowed down his progress of cultivating mana. He only did so every other day, but did notice that continued cultivation at this point allowed the mana to transform more than just his flesh and bones; it also started strengthening his soft organs and sharpening his senses.

Beyond this, he continued training his mana in a different direction; control. He began slowly and methodically incorporating mana into his movements during physical training based on the instructions he could remember from the Primordial God’s Foundations. His training in mana consisted of achieving fine manipulation of it within his body, learning the most efficient way of moving it around. Increasing the mana density in parts of his body allowed him to achieve superhuman capabilities, such as leaping over the estate walls, which were two storeys high, when they were concentrated on his leg muscles. Additionally, there were methods to conceal one’s qi, or arcane, presence which would serve to shield one’s cultivation base and avoid detection from the prying eyes of other cultivators. While the latter may be unnecessary with the mana dispersing bracelet, Aran knew that he would require it after it was removed. He deemed these the utmost priority and set about to patiently learn them.

Winter had come and gone before Aran had reached an advanced level of proficiency with most of his training. He was able to perform extremely precise movements and his physical condition was comparable to himself as the assassin before he found the tome and dagger. Other than the physical limitations of height and weight, Aran would be able to perform most of the complex movements he knew from his previous life. He could increase his strength and speed output by at least one-fold at will, and could do more with less frequency of success. By then, the flow of mana had also stabilized, with his body hardened and used to yang saturation. Aran had also reached a basic level of proficiency in arcane concealment and was be able to manipulate mana without causing any disturbance, avoiding detection of his cultivation unless actively examined.

Not long after, the Steele estate swung into full action in preparation for a huge ceremony. It was not until then that it dawned upon Aran why Luca and Celeste wanted him to wait until after winter to have the bracelet removed. He smiled. The day he would be rid of the suffocating mana dispersing bracelet was rapidly approaching. If he played his cards right, he might even gain more than just that.