Once more, Lowen was face to face with Roland in the Chief Hall, the room was quiet and still. Lowen had a hateful expression, while Roland had a face that was filled with excitement.

After the explosion, many men had rushed over to Nia's place looking for the cause but even if Lowen told them the truth none of them would understand it, so, in the end, he just told them it was a magic spell that came from the amulet. This was partly true, but just like Lowen thought, some of them still didn't understand, so Lowen simply pushed it all onto Roland. Telling the villagers that the Chief would tell them when the time was right and with that, Lowen walked off, headed to the Chief Hall. 

As Lowen reached the Chief, the Chief was already in Lowen's face. Seeing the amulet, he snatched it from Lowen's hand and began to smile at his most treasured amulet, stroking it gently. Making sure every inch of it was left untarnished and damaged, he began to fill with rage. He had felt the amulet's power just before he heard an explosion. This had caused his mind to fill with panic. If his amulet was damaged or destroyed in any way then there was no more hope for his magic core's recovery. Seeing his amulet unharmed, he was still pissed though, he had just given this to Lowen only a few hours ago and there was already an accident. He was just about to yell at Lowen when he noticed the overwhelming amount of energy contained within his amulet. Roland's eyes suddenly went wide in amazement, the anger in his mind evaporating in an instant. 

(This, this, how? This amount of energy, there's so much.) 

Roland looked back and forth between Lowen and his amulet, he was completely befuddled. 

(My amulet absorbed this much energy, how can this boy have this much energy? Shouldn't this be impossible for someone his age? and he should be mentally exhausted as well. My amulet not only absorbs energy, but it's also quite taxing on the mind. It would make most people have a splitting headache but the boy seems in perfect condition, besides those marks on his body, hmm.) 

It was at this moment that Roland noticed big red marks on Lowen's skin, they appeared to be bruises that were starting to form. 

"Boy, what happened, did someone hurt you?" 

Lowen's face was twisted in anger. He pointed at Roland and with his childish voice he yelled out. 

"Of course someone hurt me, it was you, you and your stupid amulet. I thought you said I have a Mage Physique but when I moved my magic into this amulet, it immediately caused an explosion. You said you wanted my help yet this amulet releases an explosion right in front of me. You have some serious explaining to do, don't you think?" 

Roland was utterly confused. 

(My amulet caused an explosion, how? Its never done anything like that in all the years I've owned it. Just what in the world actually happened.) 

"If you think I'm gonna help you again after this..." 

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait, this doesn't make any sense. I don't understand, you say my amulet did that. This has never happened before ever, let's not discuss helping or not helping for now. Just tell me what happened, from the beginning." 

Lowen's expression didn't change much as he thought. 

(How could you not understand your own amulet, it's so precious to you, you've had to have examined it at least a hundred times by now.) 

Lowen wasn't buying it, for Roland to have this item for more than 2 decades and not understand it Lowen didn't believe it but for Roland to have this amulet for more than 2 decades and have his life depending on it. If it was Lowen in the same life depending situation as Roland, he would have studied this amulet every single day until he squeezed every secret he could out of it. Not only that, he would try to find others like this one or maybe even try to figure out how to make another one but even better. Lowen found it hard to trust anything coming from Roland at this point, he looked at Roland with displeasure and started from the beginning, of course, leaving out the matter about his ki. 

As Roland heard Lowen's recount of what happened, he was still left confused. 

"Lowen, I didn't lie to you, the grey crystal I tested you with can't lie either. Only someone with a huge concentration of energy in their blood can have a mage body physique, I'm sure of it, but if what you say is true, then there must be something I'm missing, some anomaly." 

Roland's eyes scanned Lowen's body, as his eyes looked over Lowen from head to toe he noticed something familiar, something too familiar. Noticing it, he nearly startled himself to death trying to get his words out. 

"You, you have a Mage core!!"

Looking at a small spot between Lowen's stomach and chest Roland noticed there was a small pebble sized bit of energy flowing around. It had clearly not been there before when Roland had sent Lowen on his way with the amulet but now, only a few hours later, Lowen had come back with a Mage core filled to the brim with energy from the earth. None of this made any sense. Out of all the mysterious things Roland had seen in his many years of traveling the Qiyuan continent, this was the first time he had ever truly been left with no words. 

(This boy's body, what is this?) 

Lowen though was left with more than his fair share of questions. He looked at Roland baffled. 

"What the hell are you talking about? You said I have a mage physique, now you say I have a mage core, which is it? If I didn't know any better I'd say your reputation as a wise old Mage is slipping." 

Roland was now irritated, how could he have missed this young boys mage core but not only that, Lowen came off in a mocking tone which irritated Roland even further. 

"Bah, boy, what do you know? Whether I'm wise or not you'll see; Now come over here, I have something to show you." 

Lowen looked at Roland suspiciously before he carefully walked over and Roland looked at Lowen's cautious attitude with amusement before he pulled a grey crystal from his robe. It was the same one he had used earlier to test whether or not Lowen had a mage body. Lowen saw this and rolled his eyes, what could another grey crystal prove at this point. Roland set the grey crystal on the table and once more reached into his robe, this time pulling out another crystal, this one, however, was dark blue in color and the size was no bigger than a finger. After placing the crystals side by side, Roland pointed to the blue crystal and asked. 

"Do you know what this crystal is?" 

Lowen shook his head no and Roland continued. 

"This crystal is called Neixin, it does not appear naturally in this world, instead, its made by a special craftsman. The value of this Neixin crystal could allow a poor villager to live a life of luxury for the rest of their lives if they so choose. This magic crystal is similar in some ways to this grey crystal; You see, this grey crystal can detect a dense concentration of magic by coming into direct contact with it, hence when it touches your blood it glows bright white but since a Mage core doesn't have a physical form, this grey crystal can never touch it directly. This Neixin crystal, however, can detect the presence of a Mage core, allowing it to discover whether one can become a mage or not. I did not use it before because I did not sense a mage core in you but now I do. So to prevent any more mistakes or misunderstandings on my part, I've brought out this costly crystal.'' 

Picking up the crystal, Roland placed it a few inches below his solar plexus. As he did, the Neixin crystal began to glow blue and the light formed the shape of a small circle and then another and another as well as one more. There were now a total of 4 circles; However, while 2 were fully formed, the other 2 were broken in many pieces.

After a while, Roland removed the Neixin crystal from below his solar plexus and the crystal began to dim before returning to its normal state. Roland handed the Neixin crystal to Lowen and gestured for him to do what he did. Lowen took the blue crystal in his hand and flipped it over a few times studying it closely with his eye before he too placed it in that same spot just below his chest. As he did, the same thing started to occur. The Neixin crystal began to glow with blue light and a small circle began to form in front of Lowen, however, instead of 4 circles forming only one incomplete circle barely managed to take shape but a circle that doesn't connect with itself is no full circle. As Lowen looked on at this scene a theory started to form in his head. As he pulled the Neixin crystal away from himself its blue glow once more began to fade and after a few more seconds its light completely dissipated. 

After the crystals blue light went out, the two stood there and stared at each other for a moment, their thoughts, only they knew. Roland pulled out a small dagger and passed it to Lowen. 

"A bit of blood if you please." 

(Oh, so he actually asked this time, how very kind of him, tsk.) 

Lowen already knew what he wanted to do, taking the dagger he drew a bit of blood from the tip of his finger and handed the blade back to Roland. With a few drops, he dripped his blood on the Neixin crystal and the two both waited for a moment. Seeing no reaction the two nodded at each other expecting such a result. The Neixin crystal could not be activated with blood, the two both knew that but decided to try anyway just in case. Lowen had a theory spinning in his mind but to be sure, he had to test the blue crystal with a bit of blood.

Now it was back to the simple grey crystal. Lowen took his finger and held it over the grey crystal giving it a small squeeze. As a few drops of blood fell onto the grey crystal, the crystal immediately drank those drops up, absorbing them in a flash. Just like earlier in the day, the crystal began to buzz like a bee before it glowed a bright white and after just a few seconds it shattered into a small pile of dust. The two once more looked at each other. Lowen again picked up the blue Neixien crystal and held it to himself and once more confirmed a small incomplete circle floating in front of him. Roland's gaze was locked onto Lowen, confusion and interest were mixed in with his voice. 

"How, this can't be! You're either born with a Mage core or you're born with a Mage body physique. You can't have both, you just can't. Boy, why does your body make no logical sense?" 

Lowen's thoughts raced about in his mind. There was something he needed to confirm before the pieces to this puzzle could fit. 

"Hmm, that's what I want to know. Maybe you overlooked something who can say for certain but there's something that's bugging me. You say the grey crystal proves I have a mage body physique but how exactly?" 

Roland pondered for a second before he shook his head. 

"Hmmm, well it doesn't exactly prove that you have a mage body but its the only thing that makes sense. In order for the grey crystal to activate, it needs a high concentration of magic to come in contact with it. For someone with a mage body, that high concentration of energy comes directly from the blood. For a mage that concentration is something that is formless, therefore the grey crystal can't be activated by it. 

Roland kept thinking but something just wasn't clicking for him. 

"At this point what could I have overlooked. If you did not have a mage body physique, then your body would not be so improved and your intelligence would not be so high that I could converse with you as though you were an adult but at the same time, the Neixin crystal was made from a master craftsman, it can't be wrong either. I'm missing something, some vital piece of information, the connecting tissue but just what is it exactly?" 

Lowen, on the other hand, had his own thoughts. 

(Going by what Roland says, the grey crystal doesn't exactly prove that I have a mage body physique. It only proves that I have a high concentration of energy in my blood and for me that energy is my ki. Before I came to this world, this body was frail and weak. Only after I took it over and I started using ki did this bodies strength grow. Could that mean that when this body was born it had a mage core and not a mage body and only when I practiced my ki technique, only then did energy start to flow in this body? As for Roland's reasoning of my intelligence being connected with a mage body, well that can be thrown out the window as well. I simply have all my knowledge from my previous world and life, so of course, I can speak to him as though we are equals. The only thing I don't quite understand is why did I only notice this thing called a mage core after I practiced the absorption technique. With my senses I should have noticed this other energy sitting inside me.) 

Lowen peered over at Roland with a new question in mind. 

"Roland, when did you first discover that you had a mage core or rather when did you first sense yours?" 

Roland stood still for a moment and pondered while rubbing his chin in thought, after about a minute he finally answered. 

"Hmm, I suppose it was the first time after I connected with my fire element. I concentrated with the best of my ability and repeated my mantra several times over in my heart. After that it seemed like I heard someone say something, then my mind went blank, only after I awoke did I notice it." 

Roland seemed to stare off into space thinking of many different memories but Lowen was shocked. 

(He heard a voice too.)