CH27 Progress I
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Three and a Half Years Later...
A handsome, silver-grey-haired youth sat cross-legged in meditation within a high-class mana cultivation chamber.
His eyes remained shut, his breathing deep and rhythmic, creating a visible swell of mana before his nostrils.
The vortex he generated caused the already dense ambient mana within the chamber to thicken until it became tangibleâ rainbow-coloured tendrils of energy flowed into his nose, while a steady stream of bluish-white mana exhaled from his mouth moments later.
He continued this cyclic process, repeating it over three hours.
When he finally stopped, his forehead glistened with sweat, and the back of his robes clung to his body, soaked through.
He opened his eyes, revealing pupils of brilliant ruby-red, with faint flecks of gold shimmering around the irises.
This youth was none other than Alex Fury.
Rising to his feet, Alex stretched his limbs, the long hours of cultivation leaving his body stiff but energised.
The passage of three and a half years had transformed his physique dramatically.
Now standing at roughly 190 centimetres, he boasted a lean yet powerfully built frame. Taut muscles rippled beneath his skin, lending him the appearance of a seasoned warrior rather than a scholar of the arcane.
He had allowed a full, neatly groomed beard to grow inâjust enough to add age and gravitas to his face, enhancing his aura of maturity.
Combined with his towering physique, Alex could easily be mistaken for someone in his late teens or early twenties, despite being only fourteen.
And it wasnât just his appearanceâhis demeanour carried the same maturity. Calm, composed, methodicalâfar from what one would expect from a boy his age.
But while his physical growth had been extraordinary, his mana cultivation progress told a different storyâat least on the surface.
Despite having become a full Mage over three years ago, Alex still remained at the Beginner Rank. Admittedly, he had reached its very peakâbut he had not advanced further.
To any outside observer, this would appear baffling. Given the enormous resources invested into himâespecially by Merlin, or more accurately, Uthvaazgolâhis current rank seemed almost insulting.
The Elder Dragon Heart alone, used in refining his body, should have ensured a meteoric rise in mana cultivation, at least up to the Elite Mage rank. And with his fused bloodline and perfect BodyâEnergyâSoul harmony, his natural talent had skyrocketed far beyond the realm of normal prodigies.
So why was he still a Beginner Mage?
Because he had been ordered to remain so.
Uthvaazgol had explicitly forbidden Alex from advancing past the Beginner Rankâuntil he fulfilled specific conditions.
To maximise the benefits of the Elder Dragon Heart, Uthvaazgol had given him several tasks that had to be completed before ascending to Intermediate Rank.
According to the Ancient Dragon, the Beginner Rank was when a Mageâs Mana Heart was at its most malleable. Trained and tempered correctly, a mage could develop two potent postnatal talents that would serve them for life:
Extreme Mana Capacity and Enhanced Elemental Affinity.
Through relentless mana circulation and expansion exercises, a mage could stretch their Mana Heart to its absolute limit during the Beginner stage. Once they advanced to Intermediate, the Mana Heartâs potential would become fixed.
Maxing it out now would permanently grant Extreme Mana Capacityâa trait that would dramatically increase their mana reserves across all future ranks.
Likewise, repeatedly refining oneâs Mana Heart with elemental mana would enhance the bodyâs, soulâs, and mana coreâs elemental affinity. This would lead to significantly improved spell power, reduced mana consumption, and faster casting speeds.
Even one of these traits could elevate a mage above their peers.
To possess both? That was the foundation of a future legend.
Part of the reason why Dragons were such overwhelming beingsâeven as individualsâwas because they either inherited or developed both of these legendary talents in the early course of their lives.
And since Alexâs body had been reconstructed using both the Dragon Blood and Dragon Heart of an Elder Dragon, Uthvaazgol saw no reason why Alex couldnât achieve the same.
But acquiring these two talents was anything but easyâor cheap.
Even a toddler could grasp the advantages of possessing Extreme Mana Capacity and Enhanced Elemental Affinity. And yet, very few mages ever attempted to obtain them.
Why?
Because forcibly expanding oneâs Mana Heart was a dangerous gamble.
A single misstep during the process could inflict serious damage to the heart.
In the best-case scenario, this meant a crippling injury that could render a mage unable to use mana for monthsâsometimes even years.
In the worst-case scenario?
Permanent loss of mana control.
Or worse... death.
Those grim outcomes werenât rare. In fact, nine out of ten attempts ended in failure or deathâwhich is why most mages wouldnât dream of attempting it.
It simply wasnât worth the risk.
The only reason Alex could attempt such madness was because the Elder Dragon Heart had fully merged with his own, reinforcing it far beyond the durability of a normal humanâs.
However, this blessing came with a brutal caveat:
His reinforced heart had even more room for expansion.
The Mana Heart Expansion method was akin to high-stakes strength training. And the stronger the muscle, the harder it was to push it to its limits.
In short, Alex had to work even harder, enduring more pain and strain than any ordinary mage just to keep progressing.
As for the Elemental Affinity Enhancement methodâwell, that was a soul-crushing grind in its own right.
The process involved repeatedly washing and tempering oneâs Mana Heart with raw Elemental Mana.
The quality of the mana determined the results.
Low concentrations birthed Low Affinity.
Higher concentrations birthed Greater Affinity.
To grow stronger, a mage had to progressively step up the concentration of Elemental Mana used.
After attaining Low Affinity, one would need to use stronger concentrations to keep advancing.
However, ambient manaâno matter how rich the environmentâcould only take someone so far. At best, it might support advancement to Mid Affinity. Beyond that required access to something far rarer:
Naturally occurring elemental zones orâmore practicallyâElemental Crystals.
These crystals, sorted by grade, contained dense elemental energy and could be used to force-feed affinity growth.
But there was a problem. A big one.
Not only were Elemental Crystals prohibitively expensive, their prices rose exponentially with each higher grade...
Worse still, they were dangerous.
Unlike neutral Mana Stones, which released gentle, relatively safe mana for absorption, Elemental Crystals were volatileâbrimming with raw, untamed elemental power.
Absorbing this unstable mana was like swallowing a storm.
It could easily damage mana channels...
And at worst, shatter the Mana Heart entirely.
Intentionally using Elemental Crystals to temper the Mana Heart was seen as madness.
Both in terms of cost and risk.
But then againâwhat was a Fury, if not a little mad?
Under Uthvaazgolâs watchful supervision, Alex dove headfirst into the calm insanity.
With reckless confidence, he refined his Mana Heart with Elemental Crystalsâfrequently, and without restraint.
At this point, thanks to his durable Spiritual Force, Alex could safely refine his Mana Heart using Elemental Mana with minimal issues.
The rainbow-coloured mana he inhaled through his nose was Elemental Manaâextracted from a set of different Elemental Mana Crystals embedded in the Mana Concentration Array of his Mana Cultivation Chamber.
The bluish-white mist he exhaled through his mouth?
That was the same Elemental Mana, stripped of its elemental nature by his refining process.
While Alex had the perfect combination of resources, techniques, and resilience to undertake this method, it didnât make the process easy.
He could only maintain the required peak concentration for the procedure for four hours per dayâat most.
Any longer, and his Spiritual Force would begin to degrade, making an already dangerous process, life-threatening.
This bottleneck significantly slowed down his progress.
Even after three years of relentless training and extravagant resource expenditure, Alex had yet to reach the maximum attainable Elemental Affinity.
And worseâhe was reaching the limits of what was possible with the available grade of Elemental Crystals.
Not even Uthvaazgol could afford to provide Peak-grade Elemental Crystalsâresources so rare that only Peak Legends and above could afford to use them.
---
Alex sighed as those thoughts drifted through his mind.
There was a reason why Merlin hadnât accepted any True Disciples since founding the DragonHold Enclave. The manâno, the dragonâhad impossibly high expectations.
Over the last three and a half years, Alex had to plan his daily schedule down to the second just to keep up with Merlinâs demanding curriculum.
Body Strengthening Magic.
Multi-Spell Casting.
Fusion Spell Theory.
Rune Studies.
Basic Alchemy.
Basic Forgesmithing.
Ancestral Marking Research.
Updating and upgrading Rune-Tech projects.
The list never ended.
He barely had time to sleep.
In fact, he had all but replaced sleep with meditation via the Astral Training Manual.
Heâd reached the very definition of a workaholicâone no modern salaryman from his past life could hope to match.
Shaking his head, Alex threw on a change of robes and left his dorm for a walkâto clear his thoughts before the next item on his ever-crushing schedule.
---
As he strolled through the Enclave towards the central tower, he took note of the subtle changes around him.
A delivery mage stood nearby, holding a palm-sized brick-like artefact to his ear.
"Hello, Mage Tom? This is Dick from the Task Hall.
"Iâm near your dorm and wanted to confirm if youâre available to receive your package."
"You are? Alright, Iâll be there in a couple of minutes."
The courier nodded and quickly disappeared into the dorm sector for low-ranked mages.
Not far away, Alex overheard another conversation.
"Harry, I swear Iâm not lying. We donât read from books anymoreâwe read âdigetaâ copies on a holographic projection circle!
"If youâve got the coin, you can even use a Telepathic Array to transfer the knowledge straight into your brain."
"Itâs a revolution, I tell you!"
Just ahead, another acolyte was laughing, chatting with their family back in a Barony on the other side of the empireâclearly using a Rune Phone.
A small, quiet smile curved across Alexâs lips.
These changes...
They had all started with him.
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