Chapter 18：Trial of The Holy Crown (1/2)
”The first thing you need to learn about mana replenishing is how to breathe. Breathing is your gateway to the world around you. With each breath, you get enough oxygen from the surrounding air to live. Why not mana?” Master Ronin took the chance to demonstrate. He took a deep breath and Arthur could feel a pressure being created. Master Ronin then exhaled and blue air was released from his mouth.
”The color you see is due to mana. The key is to keep that mana inside, condense it, and assimilate it into being yours. Mana is attracted to more mana. That means with your current mana, you could attract lesser amounts of mana with your breath. At the start, it could be negligible. However, as you go further down the path, you could replenish your mana in a matter of seconds. Remember that just breathing is not enough, you need to use your mana to attract the mana outside your body.” Master Ronin concluded his lesson and left Arthur to do his training.
Left alone, Arthur began practicing the mana replenishing technique. As he tried to get the mana inside his body, he failed on the first try. The second, then the third. After ten times, he decided to think about Master Ronin's words one more time. As he remembered Master Ronin's last words, he started rotating his mana inside his body. He wanted to create an attraction force for the mana outside his body.
[Lesser-Mana Breathing Skill has been acquired. Current level: F (0%)]
The message his legacy showed proved he was on the right path. He didn't care if it was a lesser technique as long as it proved useful for him. He kept practicing until he got a better hang of it.
After the lesson ended, Arthur went home after a long day. He went to Master Ronin's house straight after school so he was exhausted by now. After he got into the house, he saw his family eating dinner.
”Welcome back, how was the academy?” His mother, Sarah, asked.
”It was fine. I joined a club and it was fun.” Arthur began to tell his day while keeping the fighting out. As the three started eating and talking, Arthur enjoyed a warm atmosphere for the first time in a while. Their mother finished and went on her night shift. Only Oren and Arthur remained and the latter proceeded to ask.
”Why didn't you call me today?”
”Oh, he didn't show up today. I don't know why. Brother, be careful, he's a lot stronger than most students.”
”Don't worry, I'm not planning on overdoing it.”
As the two talked a bit more, each went to their room to sleep. Arthur practiced the Mana replenishing a bit more before heading to sleep.
***
The sun was high in the sky as their day at the academy just ended. Arthur decided to skip his club as he had more pressing issues to solve. That was money, plus getting stronger. He wore his leather armor and took his sword before setting out toward Furlair dungeon. As he was familiar with the dungeon now, he planned on hunting other monsters since he wouldn't be able to absorb the fur monsters anymore. Although it was called Furlair, it had several other monsters although they made the smaller population of the dungeon. However, he would have to go deeper in to find them. He wasn't too worried though, as he would first hunt a fur monster to use its core for a permanent agility rune.
After he got into the dungeon, Arthur showed his ID and got inside. He then started looking around for a tunnel that was less populated. He then saw one with only a group starting to head inside. As he looked at the group, he felt a sense of familiarity. They all wore black robes that were adorned with silver engravings. Some of them held swords others were unarmed, but all of them wore hoods covering their face. The group went inside and Arthur instinctively followed behind them. As he entered the tunnel after them, they were gone.