Chapter 6 - The Inn's Basement

It was almost noon when Rayne reached the Sleeping Roses inn. He immediately looked for Max to inform him of his successful registration in the adventurer guild. He also wanted to thank him once more for providing him with his letter of recommendation.

'At this time, he should be in the backyard training.' he thought, circle around the inn, directly going to the inn's backyard. But Max was not there.

He went to look at the reception to see if he was manning the counter, but it was Layla who's in there.

"Hi Layla. Where's your pops?" he asked Layla, who appears to be writing something.

"I don't know." she answered, while putting away her notebook.

Rayne caught a glimpse of what seems like sketches of some sweets. 'Knowing her, she must be drawing to get out of her boredom.' he thought to himself.

"Why are you looking for him? Is it important?"

"Not really."

"Then accompany me in the meantime. It will be lunch soon anyway. You'll meet him them." Layla suggested.

As family, they always make it a habit to eat together.

"Okay." Rayne agreed and also entered the counter and sat next to Layla.

It was at this time that Layla noticed that Rayne was wearing some kind of necklace. "What's that?" she inquired.

Rayne looked at the direction of what Layla was pointing at.

"Oh this." Rayne answered, showing the thing in question. "This is my adventurers tag. I just registered today."

"Good for you. With that, you can earn more money to buy me sweets."

"You're always sweets this, sweets that. Is sweets the only thing in that brain of yours?" Rayne reprimanded her.

Layla laugh after hearing what Rayne had said.

Rayne seeing her friend like this, he could only smile at her.

They continued to chat happily while manning counter for while more until Lily came to fetch them for lunch.

Rayne had noticed that there were more dished that usual. He was then informed that it was their way to congratulate him and celebrate with him for being a adventurer, though it was mainly thanks to Max's letter of recommendation. They had quite a feast.

It was also at this time that Rayne inform them of his plans now that he's a adventurer. He proposed to pay his rent and food properly, but it was immediately declined. Ultimately, he will still be living with them in exchange for helping them from time to time when he's not in adventurers quest. He was touched by their warmth and generosity.

After their celebration feast, Max guided him in to a large room in the inn basement. This is the first time Rayne had been to this place.

The room was about the size of the inn. It was well-lit and had high ceiling. In one corner the wall, swords of different type and size were hang in display, as if they were decoration. There are also big racks where all sort of equipment can be found. From leather armor to chainmail to full plate armor. You can also find arm guards, combat shoes, capes, etc..

Rayne was so mesmerized by it that he forgot about Max. All sort of thing running through his mind. He became drown to his own world.

Max tapped him on the shoulder which brought him back from his own world.

"Let's talk about something very important." Max said in a serious tone, seating the floor. He urged Rayne to be seated as well.

Max began to lecture him for hours on every relevant knowledge he know of about mana.

Rayne became all ear upon hearing this, taking in all this newfound knowledge.

Mana existed in Fantasia and it can be found anywhere. It was a form of energy that all life-forms have. Even some inanimate object contained mana. It had many uses depending on the users race, talent and skills.

The ones that can freely use and utilize mana are called mage. The output when a mage uses mana is called magic.

For the human race, they would need an object that serves as a catalyst for the mana to take whatever shape or form it was intended to. For example, using a sword as a catalyst, one can strengthen the sword's properties like increasing its durability or sharpness when being injected with mana. Effect also differs depending on the user and the catalyst being used.

Also, humans may have mana innate to them, but not just anyone can freely use it. This is because human's were race born with innate mana in dormant state. Aside from those who were born geniuses, blessed by mana, who were able to self-awaken their dormant manas on their own on-or-before they reach 16, there were only 3 methods of mana awakening known to humans.

The easiest and safest way is through ingestion of mana rich food. This will have to be done for a long period of time. Depending on the amount of food, and the food's mana content and quality, also taking in the person's talent, mana-awakening is possible. But this is a very, very expensive method and is mostly practice by wealthy people.

Another method was to consume specialize treasures that can awaken one's dormant mana. This was the only surefire method of mana-awakening. Aside from it immeasurable price tag, these treasures are very rare and far in-between. One would be extremely lucky to be able stumble upon such kind of treasures. Also, consuming it comes with a risk. Depending on the treasure, the consumer could even die after consumption.

And lastly, the most commonly method used was to forcibly awakening the dormant mana by means of hostile mana injection. In other words, attacking the person with dormant. This will put pressure to the inflicted person's body's defense mechanism to forcefully adapt and defend against the hostile mana. It has a very painful process of awakening so one would need a well trained body and strong will. But it has to be done with precision and careful calculations. Otherwise, death will be the only outcome.

Rayne had chills when he heard of the most common way of mana-awakening. "Wait! Can't one just try to inject mana directly to another without inflicting damage?" he immediately inquired, wiping the sweat in his forehead.

A bitter smile appear in Max's face seeing Rayne's reaction. He could only shook his head as he answered, "To my current knowledge, there are two states of mana. Positive state which has support and healing properties, and negative state which has hostile properties. Unless, one uses mana with hostile properties when injected, which will always be painful, mana awakening is not possible."

After knowing the existence of magic, Rayne started to dream of being able to use it. But a barrier was suddenly erected, separating him from awakening his possibly dormant to become a mage.