Chapter 46 - Dorian’s awakening

  Time passed quickly for Adam after the test confirmed that his body had a strong aptitude for magic. He was still unsure about the soul's role in the use of mana, but he was already thinking up ways to further investigate the topic.

  But that would have to wait since his host's sister, Ellio, was constantly bombarding him with questions.

  “How do you do it, Dorian? You didn’t cheat, did you?”

  “Of course not, I just felt the feeling of the power going through my body and tried to push it in the right direction. I’m just as shocked as you are. Besides, you did great yourself.”

  “I know I was brilliant, but your test was so weird, the black orb never measured the hunter's talent in such an irregular fashion before. It has always grown brighter in a smooth fashion until the talent had reached its limit.” She was looking at him suspiciously in their new dorm room.

  Being siblings, Ellio had insisted they shared a room, but he knew that she just wanted to extract some sort of secret to his success during the test.

  “You just need to feel the power when it enters your body and try to force it to your will, like controlling your heartbeats.” She looked at him with a calculating expression before relenting.

  Fine then, but don’t think I’ll forgive you for stealing my spotlight today. I swear that tomorrow, I’ll awaken as the greatest fire mage Malder city has ever seen. Then I’ll go kick some Niorbo ass and become a senior hunter. You can become your dream warrior hunter, although you might need to put on some weight before you can face Niorbos by yourself.

  She said in a teasing tone.

  “Actually, I think being a mage is a better. I prefer fighting from a distance rather than up close and personnel.” He replied without thinking.

  She grew more serious as she looked him in the eyes

  “No, you always wanted to be a warrior, why would you suddenly want to be a mage now? You always said you wanted to be like the warrior Ballak.”

  Adam looked at her in confusion for a second before his mind caught up. He hadn’t looked through Dorian's childhood memories so he didn’t know what games or stories he liked. He winced at having to lie to this person who he felt a strong familial bond with, yet he didn’t have a choice.

  “I decided that I would actually like… Hunter powers, rather than becoming a super strong warrior.” He tried to explain without calling mana magic since these people didn’t call it that.

  The day passed rather uneventfully for the new hunter candidates as they nervously waited for awakening day to come. Many had used the training facilities outside in the various yards for training to pass the time. Adam decided to go exploring the local cuisine as he explored the cafeteria building. His sister was sticking to his side more than usual after his stunt with the test orb as the two got their first meal in Malder.

  The food wasn’t necessarily bad but was definitely bland. He didn’t need to pay for it since it was part of the hunter school resources, so at least he wouldn’t have to start working for cash. He was scared he might have to go back to working at construction sites again since he only arrived in Malder city with his sister and the clothes on his back.

  He nevertheless enjoyed simply walking around and seeing other people going about their business. It was something he had missed when stuck on that alien planet and being here reminded him of how incredibly weird his journey had been. He didn’t complain about the food as much as his sister, since it was the first real meal he had eaten since that old microwaved pizza he ate on his last day on Earth.

  He continued to chat with Ellio for the rest of the day, mainly about her hopes and fears for the upcoming awakening, and Adam used this to probe for more information.

  According to what Ellio knew, the awakening ceremony took place every three months and was presided over by the right-hand man of the city Lord. He was supposedly in the Grand Master rank and therefore was tremendously powerful. Since the city lord rarely stopped fighting at the front, the Grand Master was usually the main authority in the city.

  Supposedly, the people of this world ranked power levels a little differently. They seemed to really enjoy the word hunter and added it to all their ranks. He was already considered a hunter, albeit only a hunter candidate.

  If the awakening goes well tomorrow, he would develop his ‘Hunters’ Heart’ and become a Junior hunter. At which point he would be able to go fight the Niorbo after some basic training.

  After several years, some people are able to advance to senior hunters, but even middle-aged hunters can still remain at the junior stage. Their guide during the candidate test was apparently a junior hunter himself since most of them didn’t have the power to fight the Niorbo head on.

  He had experienced the power of the various mana core stages but didn’t have a good way to measure the changes they brought to him. Back then he was able to punch, move, and think at much faster speeds than ordinary people, yet everything around him was already abnormal so there was no way to compare. Here, however, most people weren’t hunters so they didn’t possess magic.

  That brought him to one more question, what about the system? His sister had not mentioned it, and they had clearly made up the names of the various stages by themselves. Does that mean that the system doesn't exist here? He didn’t know why but he assumed that the system would appear everywhere where magic was present. Perhaps people simply didn’t talk about it or considered it a trade secret?

  Either way, night had come and he made his way to his new dorm room. He would hopefully find out the answers to his questions tomorrow.

  Ellio was sharing a room with him, considering he was only thirteen, and that did make him feel very uncomfortable. He knew that this was the norm for siblings here, yet since he wasn’t actually Dorian, he felt like a massive creep. Pushing the thought aside, he drifted to sleep on a soft bed for the first time since Earth.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Many things might have happened to him since then, but a warm, cosy bed truly was a gift from heaven after a long and tortuous journey, through alien worlds and even resulting in him dying a few times. Truly, it was a nice break. But like most things that happened to Adam recently, it was simply the calm before the storm.

  The next day came and Adam enjoyed his breakfast in the cafeteria before going out to the training yards. He hadn’t used any of them yesterday but decided to try lifting some weights. He was in a rather weak body and his muscles were small, yet his strength was noticeably greater than when he was a young teenager himself. At least, he believed so. Despite his smaller frame, his muscle strength allowed him to lift several pounds and perform two dozen push-ups with relative ease.

  It made him ponder the fundamental differences between his own human world and this one. Apparently, Niobo had invaded their territories for centuries, yet most humans have no magic. He wondered if magic still had some underlying effect on a population despite it not being enough to naturally form mana cores.

  If the small level of mana brought over by the Niorbo is enough to increase his body's capabilities like this, then would living in a mana-rich environment allow him to breeze through the various early stages of cultivation simply by breathing? It was something to think about, after all, if he reincarnated again, it would be a good idea to look for such an environment.

  He didn’t push himself too much and simply got used to his body's new strength and its limits. He wanted to get accustomed to moving around as a teenager once more since he felt himself moving awkwardly at times. Getting more comfortable in his new body would likely also be beneficial with the upcoming ceremony.

  Dorian’s sister came to get him in the courtyard when mid-afternoon came. She told him that they needed to gather at the large tower across from the hunter candidate quarters. Their entire group of fourteen young boys and girls made their way together in a small group, headed by the middle-aged guide from yesterday.

  Minutes later, a small crowd of people of all sorts had gathered around the wooden platform that led into the tower. It was tall, but its ground floor was also a wide open space like a tennis court. The large floor was furnished with a matted red material and the walls were made of thick wood. The group was shown inside and a few people lined the walls of the room with passive looks.

  “Welcome hunter candidates, today is the day you have been waiting for. I am Grand Master Keroul and I will be overseeing your awakenings today.” Said an older man who was sitting at the back of the room.

  Two staircases could be seen on either side of the large room as the group was led inside and instructed to sit. Ellio looked as pale as a ghost as the old man talked. Both she and Adam had sat down cross-legged on the soft red mat.

  “Some of you might be aware, but awakening requires several things. Firstly, you need the help of an experienced alchemist to extract the power from the Niorbo and form it into an awakening pill. Second, you need to swallow at least three of these pills to form your hunter’s heart.”

  The group looked equal parts delighted at finally being here and also completely petrified.

  “It is true that this process might fail or can even cause the candidate severe harm, but if you are able to push through, you will leave this room a junior hunter.”

  “Many of you have great talent and have the potential of becoming powerful hunters, some of you are even truly outstanding…” He said, while looking in the direction of Adam and Ellio. He heard his sister take in a sharp breath but didn’t feel too surprised. It wasn’t too surprising that he and his sister’s unusual test results were relayed to the Grand master.

  “Now let the awakening commence…” At his words, several people descended from the staircases in the middle of the room and each carried leather pouches on wooden trays.

  The group was each given a pouch, and inside was three red balls that resembled marbles.

  “Do not worry, it is very rare that candidates that pass the first test fail the awakening. Simply swallow one of the pills and let its energy envelope your body. Each pill will gradually give you the power you need to form your hunter’s heart. These pills are crafted from the remains of powerful slain Niorbos and their essence extracted and remolded for you. Take them one at a time when you feel the effect of the previous pill reduces. If you take them too fast, you are likely to injure yourselves and potentially die, so take your time. It isn’t rare for this process to take up to an hour.”

  All the young teens nervously reached into the pouch and grabbed one of the three pills. Adam did the same and swallowed the small red ball. Immediately, it reminded him of the sensation he felt when he used to swallow mana cores back when he was a black core.

  The energies flooded his body and travelled to encompass his entire body. But something stood out to him, unlike the pure mana he felt back on the alien world, this one felt different. It felt like it was mixed with dirt, unlock the pure mana he would absorb from the mana cores.

  Most of the teens had gone still as their bodies adjusted to the energies invading their beings. It's like a sloshing flood of energy that raced around their bodies and they all tensed as it struggled to settle down. Waiting for the energy flood to settle was all they could do as they sat in unmoving silence.

  Adam wasn’t as new to magic as his fellow candidates, as he sensed the flowing energy. It was definitely fundamentally different from the standard mana he was used to. This wasn’t to do with an unsanitary pill either, but rather the actual mana circulating in his being. It was heavier and darker than standard mana and resisted as he tried to force it to obey his will.

  This may have been the body of a young boy full of dreams and hopes two days ago, but today, it was Adams. He was the new owner of this form, and anything within his new body belongs to Adam. As a result of his concentrated effort over the energies, he was able to calm them down a lot faster than any of the other candidates.

  His eyes were shut in concentration as he focused on controlling the energies like he had done back when he had a core. He had formed his mana core spontaneously, so creating it again was no easy task. Yet the energies had calmed a lot faster than normal and his body was ready to up the ante. He reached for the second pill, but the bearded Grand master was standing right in front of him when he opened his eyes to grab it.

  Adam almost jumped back in shock as the old man’s surprised face met his. He didn’t say a word and Adam didn’t know what to say so he opted to simply ignore the old man and push his body's mana saturation up a notch. He grabbed the second pill and swallowed it, the energies were a lot easier to control with the second pill as he had gotten the knack of it now.

  He felt the second pill seep into his body and radiate power across every muscle of his body. It seeped into his bones and flesh until the pill was dissolved. Adam was going to grab the last pill when he noticed something odd. He couldn’t actually see anything of course but rather felt a slight warm pull into the center of his body.

  His chest was beginning to feel like a tinywhirlpooll that sought to attract all the mana in his body. He scrunched his brows as he investigated the feeling. It wasn’t painfull but rather felt like someone was trying to suck up the mana in his body using the world smallest vacuum cleaner.

  He capitalized on the discovery and tried to exert his will over the mana in his body. It wasn’t easy since this wasn’t his own mana but he had enough experience now that he was able to nudge the energy towards the center. It operated like a mana black hole, as each piece of mana it devoured made its pull stronger.

  Before long, the pull towards his lower chest had grown so large that even the mana in his extremities were pulled towards it. Before he knew it, the miniature black hole was beginning to reveal a clump of mana that seemed to pull in all the mana of his body. He quickly downed the third pill in the blink of an eye without even looking to see if the grand master was stilltherer or not.

  The explosive amount of mana contained in the pill erupted in his body but was pulled towards his core before having time to rampage around first. But the amount of mana in the pill was too great compared to the pull so some of it was sucked towards his core but wasn’t pulled into it.

  A sudden pain struck Adam in his chest as the pill dissolved and released all its volatile energy. The forming core’s suction was trying its best but it wasn’t strong enough to capture the fast-moving mana. Adam tried not to panic at the sudden pain and instead repeated what he did before and focused on manually calming the torrent of energy being released from the pill.

  It took at least a few minutes before the energies were fully under control and the core was now a lot bigger than before and still attracting the remnant mana. It was now a lot clearer to Adam as he could sense its presence inside him. Several minutes later, and Adam’s core had grabbed all the mana it could possibly find and jammed it into a brand new core.

  Surprisingly, the mana itself wasn’t the only thing that seemed different as the core wasn’t the usual black, but had a mucky dark reddish brown color to it. It looked like a mix of Coca-Cola and orange juice that had crystalized into a small marble in his chest.

  Adam opened his eyes for the first time in a while and noticed yet another difference to his previous mana core.

  This one didn’t come with a status window hovering in front of him… Only the wide-eyed face of an old bearded man still staring at him.

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