Aura & Mana

'That must mean "He is so young yet looks so handsome!". Ok. Now I understand pretty much everything they say.' Karl nodded his tiny head which triggered gasps and moans from the young maids around him.

"Aw~ Young Master is so cute~"

"Right!"

"Hey you two! Maybe young master wants to sleep so do not make noise!" Helda reprimanded the two younger maids as she entered the room.

'No I am not feeling sleepy but you will never know.' Karl mentally sighed as he closed his eyes falling deep in thought rethinking everything, trying to find a solution to his current dilemma.

'It took me 3 weeks after I had planned, to learn arhius completely. 1 week more than the plan, but on the bright side I can now, easily and precisely, control the ether inside my body and sense it till 1 meter outside of my body! 

And that is the cause of the problem I am facing.

I have hit kind of a bottleneck and since then I have been living inside a dark tunnel with no light in sight, at least that is the case mentally.

To further my growth I will have to form either a mana ring or an aura core. A mana ring converts ether into an energy known as mana while aura core converts ether into another energy, called aura.

I can make a perfect mana ring right now but to form a perfect aura core, I will need to have better control over my body's muscles. 

But If I make a mana ring, my family or someone will sense it. There is no way with my shit luck that I will last a week before being found.

Though that is not a problem as that will just make them think that I am a unprecedented genius. Being the future head of Hearth family, it won't harm me and will instead only act to my benefit.

So I should make a mana ring? No!

If I form a ring now, it will hinder my growth and plans for future as I want to form both a mana ring and an aura core.

Even if I try to make the core soon, I will have to wait till I can exercise and grow my muscles to a certain extent which can only happen when I turn 3 years old.

And I was born just three weeks ago!

By that time, if I keep forming mana rings, I will need to take help of strong elixirs to form an aura core.

Even if my family is rich, how will I, at 3 years of age, go and ask them for elixirs! How will I even explain to them how I came to know about elixirs!?

Why need elixirs? What is the problem in forming an aura core later on?

Because to form both an aura core and a mana ring, the amount of aura and mana in the body needs to be in kind of an equilibrium.

That is the problem with people who form both a mana ring and an aura core. They have to keep their mana and aura in balance all their life!

Failing to do so will spark a blast in the body. Best case scenario, they survive, incapable of using either of the energies for the rest of their life.

The more mana and aura one has, the more intense the blast, which will make one surviving it impossible!

And that reminds me that even if I somehow get the elixir, I will feel a lot of pain with a sudden surge of aura entering my body repelling the mana inside. That pain is supposed to be so high that it is used as a well known torture technique in Arhaven.

That is the current predicament I am facing. If I don't form a mana ring then what do I do for the next three years! I got nothing else to do as I can not even move or speak right now even though I know the language.

If I form a mana ring, I will have to, most likely, give up on the aura core and thus give up on becoming an arhat.

Those who only possess mana rings are called mages and those who only possess aura cores are called aryas while people who have both mana rings and aura cores are called arhats.

Commoners generally choose their path depending on whether they have a natural strong physical body or better mental capabilities. Their thinking is that if one is born with a weaker body he has no potential as an arya and vice-versa which is not necessarily true.

How intelligent or muscular one is during childhood doesn't tell that person's mental and physical potential.

Nobles, whereas, go through a potential testing that is akin to a ceremony at the the age of 3 where, with the help of some artifacts, their physical and mental potential is checked and then, their path for life is decided.

They are then accordingly helped with the processes of forming a ring or a core under the guidance of stronger mages or aryas.

Mental potential refers to one's thinking and learning speed and memorizing capability.

Physical potential refers to one's physique and genetics.

Both mental potential and physical potential can be increased though not by a lot.

Those who have equal mental and physical potential are very rare and the process of forming both mana ring and aura core is so risky that it generally requires the presence of at least both a 3-ringed mage and an arya with at least one yellow core or greater.

Aryas can form multiple aura cores, starting from a red core and can upgrade it till a violet colored one.

Color tells the rank of a core which goes like - Red>Orange>Yellow>Green>Cyan>Blue>Violet.

Cores can be formed in different areas of the body, when one gains a certain amount of physical control over that body part. 

Physical control can be gained or increased just by exercising the said body part.

Precise aura control along with physical control is needed for making an aura core and upgrading it.

While ether control, which can be increased with practice, is needed to convert ether into aura.

The speed of increasing one's ether control, though, depends on one's ether sensitivity, also known as talent as it is something that is decided at birth.

My body has high ether sensitivity. I could sense ether around my lungs in seconds, while even most of the geniuses will need at least an hour before being able to sense it.

Ether sensitivity of Karl was one of the best even in the novel, second only to Isurt.

Mages also need ether control to form mana and need mana control and mental control, which refers to ability to focus, to form rings.

Of course, a not-so-intelligent person can still try to be a mage or vice-versa but their success will be lowered according to their corresponding potential.

It is so because mages need to put in mental hard work while the aryas need to put in physical hard work to get stronger, thus needing the mental and physical potential respectively.

While talent and physical or mental potential are important to understand one's potential in life, the future can change depending on the foundations one has built in his life.

For a mage to build a strong foundation he or she will have to form thick and dense rings, while aryas' foundation lie in the size and density of the cores they create.

Once a core or a ring is formed, it is nigh impossible to change its density or size/thickness.

If foundations are weak then they will hinder the growth after a certain point.

For example - If the ring one has formed is too shallow in mana density, the difficulty of forming the next rings will keep increasing exponentially and so even if one has talent, one might not be able to use it to the fullest with a weak foundation.

Same thing happens with aryas and arhats.

But while talent decides a person's future potential and a strong foundation is needed to reach that potential, it will all be for naught if they die before reaching their potential.

Fighting techniques and spells are what lets them fight and survive.

Mages need hard work, mental potential and mental control to learn and master a spell.

Aryas, similarly, need physical potential and physical control along with hard work to learn and master a fighting technique.

Though different spells and fighting techniques require different amount of hard work, potential and control.

In a fight among aryas and mages, difference in mastery of fighting techniques and spells and the amount of them learned is what decides the winner.

But this only holds true if the mage and arya have the same tier.

Tiers are a simple way to refer to one's range of power level. Both a 1-ringed mage and a red-cored arya are considered to be tier one and have pretty much same power.

Arhats are also ranked by tiers. A tier one arhat will have both a mana ring and a red aura core which makes a peak arhat stronger than a peak mage or peak arya of the same tier, but they are still weaker than any mage or arya of a higher tier.

For a mage, the number of rings decides the tier, while for an arya, the color-rank of the highest core decides the tier. 

But aryas can also form more cores so isn't that broken?

No. An arya having 4 cores is like a mage being able to cast certain type of spells four times faster. It can simply be achieved with ample hard work.

Forming lots of cores would be a waste of time for someone who has talent and potential and is capable of upgrading his main core to a higher rank.

Similarly, talented mages form more rings instead of putting in time to increase the casting speed of their spells.

Forming more cores or increasing casting speed are generally done with the purpose of defeating an opponent of the same tier. For an opponent of a higher tier such things will get simply overpowered.

That is pretty much all I know about aryas and mages, which doesn't really help with my case.

Karl and Isurt in the novel were both arhats but I am sure they also did not face the problem of boredom and incapability to move for two whole years.

Arhats may sound cooler as they have both an aura core and a mana ring but it is not better. Balancing rings and cores takes more effort and time compared to the process of forming them.

While an arya and a mage focus on increasing their aura or mana, arhat has to increase both while keeping them in balance.

So if an arhat starts at the same time with an arya and a mage with equal talent and potential, he will keep lagging behind until the gap becomes so wide that it becomes impossible to cover.

Even noble families don't put too much value on training arhats as with the same amount of resources it is needed to nurture one arhat, they can nurture three mages and aryas and it will be faster and without the risk of them suddenly blowing up by themselves, putting all the resources and time invested to total waste.

Strong arhats are more of a status showing thing for nobles so each noble family nurtures one or two but that is it.

That is why becoming an arhat means slow growth and a risky life.

But Karl and Isurt were different.

With their high talent, mental potential and physical potential, their growth was faster than others, even though they were arhats.'

Karl thought summarizing all the basic information he had learned from the novel, trying to find a solution to his current predicament when suddenly he felt two hands grabbing and lifting him.

Karl found the one the hands belonged to as he opened his eyes.

"Ooh what is my sweet baby thinking?" Martha said as she took Karl out of the crib, in her arms.

'Granny? I would love to pass time with you but I am doing something important. I need to find a solution or passing time will be the only thing I will do for the next two years.' Karl thought as he closed his eyes again.

"Ooh are you sleepy? You can sleep in my arms, I won't mind it." Martha said with a gentle smile as she looked at Karl closing his eyes even after seeing her.

"I was bored so I thought I thought of taking a walk with my cutie pie." Martha said as she walked out of the room into the corridor.

'For fuck's sake, granny! Don't cringe me as I am thinking something important.' Karl grimaced as he heard his granny's words.

Seeing his expression made Martha chuckle.

"You look just like your grandfather when someone tries to butter him up." Martha continued with a chuckle as she kept walking in the corridor, earning bows from everyone who sees her.

'Oh? He also hates buttering? We got some similarities there but that will not make me forget the blatant cold shoulder he gave me. He acted cold towards me so it will be justified if I give him the cold shoulder when I grow up.' Karl nodded as he thought.

Martha misunderstood Karl's nod as his interest at the mention of his grandfather.

"You like your grandfather? He is a very good person even though he might not look like it. He is just a little bit heart broken due to... the events he went through." Martha said, her expression turning sad.

'Did I ask? I don't give a fuck. I tried bonding with him and he ignored me, matter closed. If he is broken it is his problem and I don't think he will be more broken than I was in my last life. Being broken-' Karl stopped thinking as he remembered something.

'How the fuck could I forget such a important part!' Karl exclaimed in his mind as he finally saw light at the end of the dark tunnel that his mind was in. He had finally thought of a solution to his problem!

Karl started laughing, knowing the importance of the thing he had just remembered.

Martha did not understand what Karl was laughing for, but his laugh made her lose her expression of sadness as she continued walking, smiling gently.