Chapter Six

Ever since Henry went batshit crazy on me, he has started locking his door to keep me out. He shouldn't feel bad about it. I mean, I knew the risk, just didn't think it would happen though.

I tried for the last two months, but I finally gave up. Knocking on someone's door and getting no response will make anyone give up. But other than that, another thing which was occupying my mind was Henry's raw strength throughout the entire fight, or rather throughout the entire beating. 'God, my back still hurts just thinking about it.' Henry didn't use mana until the very end.

I had two theories about his gorilla-like strength. The first theory was that as the mana core levels up, so does your strength and dexterity, or the second theory was that Henry's cells were filled with mana, which was why he was able to have such explosive strength. But how does someone make their cells store mana? I was sitting in our living room/bedroom, you get the gist.

With my notebook of thoughts (I named it when I was eight), I've been trying to write ways in which I can absorb mana into my cells, but it's hard. Like, the first obstacle is the technique itself. As far as I know, there's no technique in existence that can make someone absorb and store mana in their cells.

"So I have to figure out the technique myself. If it was that easy, I would have already made my own technique to form my mana core," I said, my hands clutching fistfuls of my hair. Not to mention, there are like a trillion cells in the human body.

"Ray, could you put away your book for a moment and maybe turn around?" I heard my mother say from behind me.

Wait, shouldn't she be at work right now? She didn't leave already? Damn, just how lost in my thoughts was I? I turned around and I saw Mom standing just a few feet away from me with cake in her hands. The cake was at least five hundred grams, and on top of it were thirteen lit candles that were plunged into the cake.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Raiden, happy birthday to you," Mom kept singing as she walked over to me.

"It's my birthday, but isn't it four months from now?" I asked.

"It's today. All that 'falling' you've been doing has damaged your brain," Mom said. I used to say that I fell every time I got home with bruises. I should have stopped using that excuse after the third time, but hey, if it ain't broken, don't fix it.

"Yeah, it must have," I said, scratching my head as a weird nervous chuckle came out of me.

"Well, make a wish."

I blew out the candles and made my wish. My wish was to be able to make my mother's life easier, and the best way for me to do that was to be able to make it big and absorb all I can.

"Wait, make it big and absorb all I can. Yes, that's it. Love you, Mom," I said as I kissed my Mom on the cheek and ran out of the house.

"Love you too."

I went back to the spot where I formed the mana core. I can't believe it's been months since that day. Man, does time fly. Now, on the epiphany I had. The problem was that I was trying to absorb mana in my cells, but my body can absorb it. But storing it is what's the problem.

So I should make my mana core bigger in size. I sat down cross-legged and focused on absorbing mana till my core was filled to the brim. But I didn't stop there. I continued absorbing and focused myself on shutting my core.

The idea was that as more mana got in, the excess mana would stretch my core. And like any body type stretching, it came with a great deal of pain. But like before, the outcome far outweighs the means. My sternum burned, my nose and mouth bled. Who would have thought that my birthday would end up like this?

In four hours, my mana core was thrice the size it was. Anymore than this, and it would have burst, turning me into a bomb, theoretically. I absorbed mana like before, and it took longer to fill after it was filled. I started circulating mana through my body, trying my best to maintain it in my body.

My cells were slowly filling with mana. The mana was cleansing my cells, removing the impurities like before. For the rest of the day, I only managed to store mana in 1/8000 of my body.

"So this is where you've been hiding," I heard a voice that I really pissed off. Mike.

I opened my eyes and saw him with his two friends. Sam had reinforced his body with mana, but with my own perception of mana, I could tell that he was at gray, so Mike was carrying a wide piece of wood, and Alvin was wearing what I could only assume to be brass knuckles.

"Hey guys, it's been months since the mana enhancement shit. Can't you guys find it in your heart to forgive me?" I asked, but I already knew the answer.

In a second, mana was filling my legs and arms. I stood up and dashed at Mike. I could see his muscles twitch, and I could see his grip harden on the wood. It was as if Mike was moving in slow motion. So is this how Henry saw my attacks?

I kicked Mike in his feet as hard as I could, knocking him off. I didn't waste any time. I was already close to Alvin, my palm on his face. I slammed it down, and his fall and Mike's fall synchronized. I then moved my foot back, making it land right between Mike's eyes, which made him pass out.

"How did you do that?" a shaky Sam asked.

"Oh, I have a mana core. The reason you aren't passed out is purely intentional. So now put them up. I wanna fight a core user who's at my level."

I waited for him to raise his fists with his fists in the air. I rushed at him with a right hook. He blocked his face, but little did he know that the hook was a feint. As my fist approached his face, I opened up my fist and grabbed him by his collar and pulled his face to my raised knee. His face connected with my knee, and he stumbled backwards.

I ran up to him, used his knee as a stepping stone to his neck. I wrapped my legs around his neck and I squeezed as hard as I could. Then I stretched down and threw him away with my feet. I was in a strange handstand position, but I did a kip up and I was back on my feet.

Sam was now over-pumping his muscles with mana, but his mana circulation was mediocre. Extremely mediocre. He rushed at me and threw a jab with his right hand. I blocked with my forearm and I counterattacked with a punch of my own right in his ribs.

He threw a wild left hook. I quickly moved my head back as I kicked his shin, throwing the punch off. He kept throwing his punches, but I would either dodge or block, or dodge then counter-attack, or block then counter-attack. His core was depleted, his stamina was low, and he was now sweating buckets of sweat. Also, his nose, mouth, and the lower part of his right eye socket were bleeding.

I decided that it was time to end his misery. I grabbed his tiredly thrown right hook, twisted it, while my other hand found its way to the back of his neck. I pulled him down as I landed yet another knee on his face and his sternum. I pushed him back so that I'd have enough space to hit him with the one-two-three combinations that Henry made me practice. The one-two-three combinations involved three jabs thrown in a short amount of time.

I would say I'm not proud of it, but I'd be lying. I landed like four one-two-three combinations before Sam passed out. I stopped circulating mana since my opponents were all lying unconscious around me. Who said this wasn't my best birthday?

I went to a river and cleaned my knuckles of the blood before I headed back home, where my mother and I spent the rest of the day eating the cake she baked as we talked and laughed. After the whooping I gave to Mike and his friends, well, mostly Sam, there was this newfound respect that I never ever experienced.

They would clear away from me; they would lower their heads when I passed them. I was beginning to see why the nobles loved this reaction—it was addictive. But other than that, my days were just plain old training and increasing the storage of mana in my cells.