It had been about a fortnight since Kenan had acquired his magic tome. For the entire duration of that time, he hadn’t even touched it. His nerves rose too high for him even to think about starting magic. He had this feeling, it was hard to describe. Excitement? No. Fear? Yes, but not exactly. It is this yearning to do something but the consternation of failing it.

Doco and Ava had initially set about pressuring the young boy to start his studies. Tyris had recommended that they don’t. Because if they did, it will only hamper him in the future. He knew the feeling his son was going through, he went through it himself. In Tyris’s head, the easy part was knowing what magic you were doing, the hard part was starting it.

Yet, even though he had his spikes of agitation. He also had another feeling. One he was quite familiar with. An itching that only grew. It’s when you put off a task that you will inevitably have to do. A sense of anxiety when you are trying to relax, yet in the back of your mind, the itch continues to crawl it’s way up your brain.

One day, in the middle of the night, the feeling had overpowered the fear and apparently the need for sleep. As Kenan tossed and turned, he tried to push off the eventuality to the next day, or week, or whenever. Yet his subconscious yelled and screamed at him. Telling him that he needed to do something, and soon.

A few more minutes passed as he battled with himself. Eventually his subconscious had won the war. He shot up, disturbing Dion from his rest. Using his natural night vision, he eventually fumbled around and found a match, and lit his lamp. Then he got out from his bed and laid prone, perpendicular to it. Then using feel he searched under his bed. After a few bones from Dion he found that red flame tone. He began to pick it up, however, Dion had other thoughts as he jumped onto the book. Impeding further movement.

“Dion Move.” Kenan set to lightly shove the tiny beast off. However, the Fox met the hand with a bite. Not enough force to break skin, but enough to sting. Kenan winced and waved his hand to rid of the pain. “Oh what do you want, beast?” He whispered. Kenan had been accustomed to these bites. He got them when one of two things were about. First, the fox wanted something, or he was trying to tell his master a message.

Dion then swiftly pushed the book back under the darkness of the bed, then he too disappeared into the unlit area. After a few seconds of rumbling sounds, the fox finally came back out with the old tan book in his mouth. Then placed it in front of Kenan. “You only want me to read it because you picked it out.” Dion growled in response. “Fine.” He picked up the book and began to read.

Soon, despite his agitation against Dion, he was lost inside the book. It was interesting in what it was trying to teach. Using mana to increase the physical body. It was heard of, but it was very rare for a person to do. Mainly because you would have to split the already tiny amount of mana you get with the dantian to the body. However, this book claimed differently about the practicality of doing so.

In total there were 15 different “gates.” Places where mana can be absorbed from. The forehead, neck, chest, upper stomach and lower, shoulders, elbows, hands, knees, and feet. All of them lead to the dantian. However, not all gates were open. You could force them to unblock them with effort, but that was beside the point.

That he knew, everyone knew. Even the piglin children of the stupidest minions knew that. What he didn’t know was that the dantian has micro holes and fractures. This allowed mana to seep in the body. This was natural, and a good thing. Because, even if you couldn’t use mana, you would still have some in your body. Everything that breathed, needed mana to live.

Apparently there was another way to induce the body with power, so that you could close up all fractions and just use the mana in the dantian for spells. They were acupuncture points. All that needs to be done is to poke a hole at a certain point. Then, after so many points, your body would be saturated with mana and become stronger in effect.

This book began to explain the process of starting it. Putting emphasis on how much it would suck, yet also be extremely beneficial in the future. First you need to poke a hole through one point. Just one. Then use mana to smooth the dantian. Someone attempting to do this needed to be sure. Because once the fractures were fixed, it was permanent.

After that, until 18 years old you could not open any other points. The reasoning for this was to see the most optimal effect. Your body had to get used to living on the least amount of mana as possible. Also to build muscles that were mana deprived. After eventually reintroducing it.

Sun had already risen, Kenan did not notice.

He had tossed the idea of this in his head. In the long run he would see major effects. All that was needed now was some sweat, pain, and a little hard work. Kenan, the son of Tyris, conqueror of pigs, and friend of the foxes, was not afraid of any of those.

“I just need a needle.” Then Dion had roused up and started to stretch. He nipped at his side. In his teeth was a porcupine needle. “Oh that's...” Now that he was thinking about it, Dion did try to hunt one not too long ago. “Convenient” Kenan said, he then eyed Dion. That fox was smart, too smart.

He switched from looking at the pictures and his own arm. After he checked, and rechecked, he carefully punctured a point in his left arm. Immediately he felt the effect. While fatigue was starting to get to him, the sudden introduction of extra mana in his system gave him some more energy.

The next step was fixing the fractures. He closed his eyes and focused on his inner self. Something he was doing for the very first time. While it took him a minute, he found his dantian. He noted that all of the gates were blocked except one, the forehead. That didn’t arouse his curiosity. What did cause some hesitation, was that the gates weren’t just clogged, but the entire channel. That was something he would look into another time.

Turning his attention back towards his dantian. A spherical shape that was currently brimming with mana. It slowly culminated to that amount over thirteen years. To him, mana seemed like this blue gaseous form that sparkled brightly. He coaxed his mana to wash against the sides. Clearing the microbreaks. He stopped only when he was absolutely positive his dantian was completely smooth.

He opened his eyes. Exhaustion hit like a brick. His eyes came back closed as he passed out.