Building A Foundation

Although the information was already in Toms head it still took him a few days to understand even the beginnings of the teachings Caxon had left him. Caxon wasn't able to tell Tom everything and he said that learning was part of being a mage and if he was given everything it would kill him later.

Tom knew the first thing he had to do was form a core. Caxon had made it clear that the most important part of the process was to keep the mana pure and to do that you must control it at all times and not let it wonder around your body, or else it would pick up impurities from your body as it traveled. However, he didn't describe exactly how to form a core, once again saying Tom must discover it on his own.

Tom closed his eyes and tried to sense any mana nearby, in only 10 minutes he could feel it in the air around him. Instead of pulling in the mana that touched him and letting it wonder to his core once it was in his body, Tom actively brought it from near and far moving it though his body as he started forming a ball of mana near the center of his body.

Although this process was harder and more time consuming now it would help infinitely in the future.

Tom spent nearly 2 hours forming his hollow core. As he had no point of reference, he didn't know how his control was compared to others but he didn't care, he knew it was the best he could do and that was all that mattered to him.

In the weeks that followed, Tom did not have nearly as much luck as Lanis. No magical river appeared in front of him for water to drink. Tom had to use a rock to make a hole in a tree and let water slowly drip into his mouth.

He did not find a kobold spear within a day or have rabbits constantly appear in front of him. He mostly gave himself energy from mana even though this wasn't a permanent solution and would cause him problems if he did it constantly.

Tom barely slept, barley eat and barely drank. He had a feeling that getting more strength was the only way to survive in this world. Caxon had left many warnings about the brutality of the world and Tom planned on taking it very seriously.

When Tom felt that not eating would become a problem, he closed his eyes as he tried to sense the mana around him. This allowed him to hunt and not rely on luck. Soon he felt something moving in the forest. He ran to it finding a dear. As someone who had already reached rank 3 hollow core he caught up to the dear and killed it instantly.

Tom used Caxon's techniques to form necromantic power out of his mana and moved it to his eyes. This allowed him to see the dear's soul that was about to drift away. While he could have captured it, he knew that every soul he captured would burden his own soul and depending on what he was trying to make a connection to. he wouldn't be able to hold the soul at all. Since the deer did not have a powerful combat ability, capturing his soul would be a waste.

After watching the deer's soul vanish, Tom realized he had a problem, he had no idea how to make a fire. He tried to think of any ideas before he decided he would just try to solve everything with mana since that was all he had at the moment. Tom activated his mana control as he packed his mana into the meat before pushing it all out hoping that would somehow filter the meat and somehow make it safe. Although Tom didn't like the idea it was his only option, he sighed as he ate the raw meat.

This continued as Tom worked to get stronger and was constantly improving in the basics. He used mana sense constantly until it became almost second nature. He practiced turning mana to necromantic power faster and faster. He also spent time improving his mana core.

His first difficulties came when he tried to learn elemental control. To achieve this, Tom would have to first understand how mana naturally forms in this element before learning to control it and finally learning to create the element from his own mana. However, from Caxon's description of mana control he knew this was an important step for any mage so he faced it head on and never wavered.

He held his hand in a rushing river as he comprehended water essence. A/N (I will use element and essence interchangeably but they are the same) He climbed a tall tree to feel the wind on his face as he comprehended the essence of air. He molded dirt with his hands as he comprehended earth essence. Once again Tom cursed that he didn't have the same super power of the people who reincarnate in web novels that magically knew how to make fire for no apparent reason. While he wanted to be mad at Caxon for not showing him, he realized the difficulties of making a fire was probably something Caxon hadn't thought about in a long time so he forgave him.

Tom stood by a river and he suddenly opened his eyes.

"Water" Tom raised his hand as he controlled the water to rise out of the river before splashing back down.

"Earth" Tom quickly made another movement as he made a small step appear out of the ground.

"Fire" Although Tom was sad about not having this ability and it slightly ruining his awesome moment, he still did a super badass ninja kick before moving on.

"Air" Tom punched forward as a slight breeze was created that rustled some leaves a few feet away.

Tom smiled as sweat dripped from his face. Although it seemed super easy this was the very highlight of his abilities and it took a lot of mana and he was only able to finish it after advancing to level 4 of hollow core stage. He laid on the ground proud of himself and laughing at his own stupid joke.

"At least you think I am super cool right you guys?" Tom asked as he saw a large silver wolf with a cute blue slime sitting on its head come over and lick his face as he howled and the slime started bouncing up and down. If Lanis saw this wolf he would recognize it as the alpha he had been looking for.

"Yeah, yeah." Tom chuckled but he was glad his reanimations had their own personalities as it kept him from being lonely. Silver the wolf, took up almost all of his soul strength to maintain their bond however he was a strong pet to have around. While the slime named blob took up almost no strength and still but was annoying for others to deal with and even if he was destroyed, which he had been, Tom just had to resummon him. Although his was not the best option since he barely had enough mana to resummon both pets once he could do it as often as needed.

"I guess it is time to go find a town. Maybe I can learn how to make a fire."

Tom stood and unsummoned his companions to avoid attention as he walked towards a road he had seen a few days before, unknowingly moving towards a village called Small Star.