Mana Breathing and Circulation

Grima the book is lying on the ground opened as Arthur sits cross-legged in front of it. There is a special method that magician uses to improve their magic. It is called Mana Breathing and Circulation.

Mana Breathing means to breathe in the mana from the environment toward the mana core and Mana Circulation is the specific pattern on how one circulates their mana inside the mana core. The accuracy test that Arthur took is one of such method of circulation.

However, that test is harmless but it doesn't benefit anyone also because Mana Breathing and Mana Circulation go together to form what they call a magic cultivation technique. The general idea is to take in as much mana a magician can take in one breath, the inhale part, and then he circulates it completely inside the mana core based on a given pattern of the technique. Then, they can now release the breath they are holding.

Such techniques provide significant help in the purification ability of the mana core. The greater the purity, the stronger a magician is. One can think of it as the density of the mana. This purity is also the scale for the rank of the magician.

For instance, if a string is represented as the mana flow, a Magic Apprentice's mana flow can have a light color. The string will be like a colored water. However, an advancement in rank will make it different. The color will be more intense and it will no longer be see through like water.

In determining the stages of a rank, this is determined by little pop that one can hear from the mana. The color will have subtle changes and the strength has significantly increased. There will be five little sound or 'pops' before the big splash.

The big splash represents the advancement in rank. A magician will feel light-headed when he experiences a progression to his rank. However, these 'pops' and 'splashes' get intense as the rank become higher and higher.

Though, Arthur has skipped the Magic Apprentice completely when he has improved his talent. The system seems to be shocked to at first when he notices that the quality of his mana has changed without the Mana Cultivation Technique.

Now, Arthur flips the book seriously and looks at the symbols and instructions carefully. This is Mana Breathing and Circulation or Mana Cultivation Technique. He will need to use this to continue his advancement in magic. However, Arthur scratches his head as it is difficult to understand.

As he flips the book back and forth, he raises his hand and mutters the word 'ah' before he closes his eyes.

Arthur has begin to try the Mana Cultivation Technique from the future. It is called Whirlpool Technique. He has understood partly the concept behind it but it is difficult to execute. Most techniques tell the magicians to take in the mana and then circulate.

The Whirlpool Technique is different as this asks the magician to simultaneously breathe in mana and circulate it in a simple motion. There is another absurd teaching inside the technique. It asks to take in while they are taking out the mana.

Arthur sits cross-legged and drains his mana core to ready it for the technique. They say to gently take in the mana and circulate in a spiral motion as shown in the diagram in the book. Then it says to choose the bottom end of the spiral as the place to drain and take out the mana.

Crack.

The mana flows out intensely even without Arthur leading it out. He hurriedly takes in more mana in a spiral motion. Sweat forms on Arthur's forehead as he struggles to keep up with how fast it is being drained.

Pop.

After hearing the first pop, Arthur already stops from taking in as he leans his back on the ground. That is a really intense technique and he doesn't know if he will ever master it. However, only half an hour and he has reached the second stage of Full-Fledged. A difficult yet powerful technique.

Arthur rests for an hour before continuing to train the technique. Now, he has lasted for about forty five minutes before being outdone by the turbulent outflow of his mana. This time, he hasn't advanced a stage.

Arthur tries once more after an hour of rest and he has succeeded to maintain it for an hour.

Pop.

There is another advancement in stage for Arthur. He has now reached third stage of Full-Fledged. If magicians know about this technique, they will fight for this technique. Some take months and even years to achieve a breakthrough in stage. Arthur has advanced two stages in just around four hours of cultivation.

"I think this technique has fully drained my mental strength. This is my limit for today." Arthur jumps toward his bed as he takes a sleep. He needs to rest his mind.

"Arthur." A voice calls to him. It seems to be coming from a woman.

"Arthur!" The sound has higher pitch now.

Arthur finds himself in a forest and he constantly hears his name being called. It is a voice familiar to him but it feels like he hasn't heard of it for a long time.

"Mother?" Arthur finds himself confused as he knows his mother has died when he was ten years old.

"Arthur." A manly voice that is extremely familiar to Arthur can also be heard in that dark forest.

"Father?" After hearing the voice of his father, he runs toward the forest, looking for any trace of him.

Arthur sees his father standing alone as he faces a magical beast. His father draws out his sword and clashes between the sword and the claws of the beast can be heard throughout the forest.

Arthur stares at his father's face closely. Is he smiling? He walks toward his father and it doesn't seem like his father can see him.

A few scratches have penetrated his father's armor when suddenly the magical beast has tried to run away from him. His father has not bother to follow but a few minutes later, a robed man has appeared a few meters away from him.

The robed man with a mask on raises his hand and points his index finger to the back of Arthur's father. A high purity mana has gathered to his fingertip as he fires it toward King Harry.

"Father!" Arthur tries to call to him but his father cannot hear him.

Arthur opens his eyes as his bed is drenched from his sweat. He realizes that everything he saw was just a dream or is it?

Arthur stands up from his bed as he realizes that it is bad to drain his mental strength completely. However, he is thankful to that dream for reminding him of how he needs to avenge his father.