Chapter 7: Second meridian

The long-awaited day has arrived. Rohan stood up as usual, and after eating what his butler had prepared for him, he walked to the courtyard to train with the soldiers. Like each of the previous days, he continued with a duel against the captain to train his swordsmanship and sharpen his reflexes.

After that, he learned how to use his skill properly. It was a skill that was going to be used in the middle of a fight, so he needed to get used to it as much as possible. Using it once a day already severely limited the workout, so he had decided that he would use it every morning.

Anyway, he only had to wait about ten hours before his mana was full again.

His day did not change particularly, after training he spent his free time between meals, reading and relaxing quietly.

After that night fell, he sat cross-legged in the meditation position. A book was placed at his sides, open on a drawing of a man with 5 lines running through the body. These lines were connected to a core in the middle of this one.

This book was describing the method to open a meridian. Although he already knew it by heart, he didn't want to make a mistake as the way he opened the first was an exception.

The idea to use the moment when the core was created, to gather the mana through his right arm in a way to facilitate the opening of the first meridian was written in this text. But that was exactly what it was, a simple helper to ease the task, he didn't think at this time that he would be able to open it all at once.

But this time would be different, the task would be much longer, as most warriors needed several years. Even though he was confident, he had reread this text during the day to be sure he was not missing anything.

He closed his eyes, and he focused on the inside of his body. More precisely where its core was placed. It was a transparent pearl, glowing slightly, with a white cloud floating inside. It was his mana. A link was attached to this core and went to the end of his right arm. It was his first meridian.

He had already decided earlier to form his second meridian towards his right leg. So he started without waiting any longer.

He gathered the mana cloud and tried to control each particle to move them where he wanted. He had noticed it during his promotion to a warrior, but he had a disconcerting ease in controlling it. He could move his mana as he wished without much difficulty.

Yet he knew that his brother had needed quite a while before he could control it just a little, and in the end he didn't succeed. Rohan deduced that this facility was explained by the high value of his Spirit.

Commander Lin had told him something about it. He hadn't fully listened at the time, but he remembered the creepy face this commander had made when he saw the value of his Spirit.

He put those thoughts in the back of his head, and focused back again on the task. The aim was to concentrate his mana as much as possible and send it in one direction to create a tunnel and consolidate it with mana.

So there were two parts. He first had to dig by sending his mana under high pressure towards the wall of his core and, while resisting the pain, make sure to maintain the beginning of the meridian by hardening the mana.

So he began, he gathered his mana and compacted it into a ball, as concentrated as possible. When he felt he could no longer compact his mana, he sent it with all his might towards the wall of his core, where the meridian will be attached. All of his inside shook from the shock, and the mana began to dig through.

Cold sweat ran down his back. The pain was definitely less severe than when he created his core, but as it was him who controlled it directly, it was quite psychologically tough.

As a tiny hole was created, he infused his mana, and as the mana entered the inside of his body, he used the corrosion to create a passage. As the path lengthened to his right leg, his mana was constantly being drained into the creation of the meridian.

It wasn't long before his 10 mana were fully used. This ending his session, he observed the results.

In the center of his body stood a transparent pearl, the glow observed previously was now almost nonexistent. The mana cloud inside the pearl had also disappeared. A link, attached to the wall, went to his right arm, it was his first meridian.

Another link, attached to the wall in the same way, was directed to his right leg. But it stopped a short distance away, as it will take a lot more sessions to be able to fully open this meridian.

With this experience, he thought he understood how he had managed to open his first meridian in one day. With his superior mana control, he had absorbed far more mana than necessary with the help of the red stone that Edwin had pulled out, making sure that one session was enough.

He examined the end of the meridian that he had just built, with the length that he had just traveled, he judged that he only needed a hundred days to fully open his meridian. It was definitely quick.

Rohan wanted to know how long this session took, so he looked at the candle that was on the table not far away. He judged that a little over an hour had passed. With a little more practice, he should even be able to shorten the necessary time.

As he rose from his position, it occurred to him that he had just slightly increased the mana capacity he could withstand, even if the amount was tiny, maybe the Essence Stone will be able to detect it?

Without waiting any longer, he took out the famous black rectangular stone, and put his thumb in the place that was made for it. Data appeared:

Race: human

Age: 13 years old

Constitution: 1.68

Mana: 0 / 10.08

Spirit: 11

Not only had his constitution increased by 0.03, but his mana had also increased by 0.08! His increase of 0.01 to his constitution was probably due to the fact that he used mana to use the strengthened blow skill.

He had indeed read that the mana used, merging with the body, would make it slightly stronger. An increase of 0.08 to his mana was certainly not very interesting on its own, but having accurate data was always a plus.

When it would reached a total mana capacity of 20, its second meridian will then be fully formed. If he increased each day by 0.08, then he would need 125 days of meditations. It was much more precise than what he had predicted beforehand.

125 days to become a rank 2 Beginner Warrior without any resources, potions or outside help whatsoever. If he took the training out of his warrior skill and decided to meditate twice a day, he could even divide that number of days by 2. If he wasn't a genius, then no one in the whole world would be one!

Rohan shook his head to chase away the fantasies and thought about what he was going to do. After creating another meridian, his body would be even more resilient, undoubtedly resulting in less successful meditations in the future.

But even taking this fact into account, he knew that if he continued like this with just one session per day, he would definitely be a rank 3 Beginner Warrior during the next 2 years, if not a rank 4 Beginner Warrior. Indeed, he would participate in the war, so the stronger he was, the better. But there was a limit to that.

If he was too strong, he would have to fight against the strongest of the enemies' side. According to him it was better to know how to use his skills perfectly rather than rushing his rise in rank to be unable to fight in the end. That way, he will not die a miserable death.

So he decided to continue like this, with one session per day, and without the use of potions. He was going to save the mana potions for use in combat, it would be much more useful. And for the other two potions, he will use them to form the fifth meridian, towards the skull, which was the most difficult of all, and also the most dangerous.

The days that followed were all the same, setting up his routine. By dawn he was training physically and getting used to his skill. The rest of the day he didn't do anything special, he read quietly and rushed his butler Jonas to buy more books, or get some from the main estate.

In the evening, after the meal, he spent less than an hour in meditation, then went to bed. The next day he did it again.

During this time, he didn't really go out of the location, except for training with a horse, but his family would come by from time to time.

His father was way too busy with the war preparation, so he didn't have time to move around, but Luke did come in every now and then to see Rohan.

Since Rohan's only practice time was early morning and late evening, his brother saw him only sprawled out in a chair all day long, a book in his hands, and his favorite juice on a table.

It wasn't even worth talking about his mother, according to Rohan, she had probably forgotten about his existence. Not that he was interested, as he had more or less forgotten her as well.

So, time passed at a disconcerting speed, and suddenly, a little less than a hundred days had passed.

Today would be the day when Rohan, after being the fastest in the kingdom, or even the whole empire, to have become a rank 1 Beginner Warrior, would become the fastest to become a rank 2 Beginner Warrior.