Haah.
Haah.
Sweat poured down my forehead, and my clothes were drenched.
I had trained my mana control for at least a few hours and had already begun to see some results. But was in return left completely exhausted.
I had pushed myself too hard.
The training itself wasn't difficult. It was the same process I had been doing for nearly a year already. But the pain that accompanied it was intense.
My already strong mana control had helped me adapt quickly to the new mana, and the process itself felt simple enough.
At the same time, however, it was slow.
Too slow for me.
Expanding my mana lines section by section so that they could hold the thicker, denser mana would take a long time.
So I did what I always did.
I choose pain over comfort.
And pushed myself further. Instead of expanding one mana line at a time, I forced mana into multiple pathways simultaneously.
My mana control was precise enough to handle it. But the pain that rose exponentially with each additional line was brutal. Clenching my jaw and forcing my way through the training had produced results that outweighed the pain.
I had expanded my mana lines enough that I could enhance my body again.
They hadn't fully adapted to my new mana yet. It was only a small change. But it was enough for mana to pass through without them collapsing.
I still couldn't fully enhance my body the way I had before.
I couldn't use all of my mana. But even the small amount I could now use and channel through my body rivaled the level of strength I had before advancing.
Fully adapting to the denser mana would take much longer. But what I had achieved was enough.
Enough to fight again.
Enough to survive.
And that was what mattered. Without mana, I would be an easy opponent for the other teens and could only helplessly defend their mana-enhanced strikes.
That was a risk I couldn't take.
It was also the reason I had pushed myself so hard.
My senses, however, were still a problem.
I couldn't enhance them yet.
Well—
Technically, I could. But if I did, they would become too sharp, and I would quickly get a headache and feel dizzy.
I wiped the sweat off my forehead and decided to stop the training for now.
Resting was as important as training.
I could work more on my control later in the cell. Placing my hands on the ground, I prepared to push myself up.
When—
"Hey, 29."
Someone spoke.
My hands stopped, and I shifted my head toward the voice.
There, standing a few paces away, was the teen who had dueled with me yesterday.
Number 125.
He looked down at me as I sat on the ground.
"Have you already adapted to the new mana?" he asked.
My eyes widened at his question, and I asked back.
"How did you know?"
His lips curved into a small smile as he pointed toward the arena.
"I saw you focusing on your training earlier, and watched for a bit."
Silence settled again as he just stood there.
After a few breaths, I broke the silence and asked the question that had been on my mind since yesterday.
"Why did you ask for a duel?"
He smiled again before crouching down and sitting on the ground opposite me.
"You know, I've watched you for some time already."
He then waved his hand awkwardly.
"Not in a strange way, mind you, but you just resemble someone from my hometown, and I just felt like asking for a spar. There was no special reason."
He chuckled after finishing and rubbed the back of his head.
Silence settled again as we just looked at each other.
It was strange.
He was strange.
His appearance and behaviour.
This was also the first time I had spoken this much with another teen, or that someone spoke to me since…
Alissa.
The memory of her flashed through my mind. It took a moment before I forced it away and focused on the teen in front of me again.
There was no reason to continue this conversation any longer.
We didn't know if we would survive the next day.
He could die.
I could die.
Just gone.
Wasting precious time on useless conversations rather than training didn't sit right with me. And becoming friendly with someone only to face them in the next fight wasn't something I wanted to experience.
I didn't need a friend.
I just needed to survive until tomorrow.
Training.
Winning the next fight.
Living another day.
That was all that mattered here.
Deciding it was time to end the conversation, I prepared to stand up.
Then I felt something strange.
125's mana.
I hadn't noticed it earlier because I hadn't been focusing on it. But as I moved, I felt a faint ripple from him.
My hands halted as I lowered myself again, and I asked.
"You're also in the Third Stage?"
125 nodded with a small smile.
"Yes. I advanced a few months ago. Adapting to the denser mana was quite the hassle."
He chuckled softly before I interrupted him with my next question.
"Yesterday, you said something about True Awakening. Do you know a lot about the Path of Mana?"
His eyes met mine.
"Not everything," he replied. "But as it seems, more than you."
I had originally wanted to end the conversation quickly so I could rest and then restart my training. But there was something more important than that.
Information.
I barely knew anything about the Path of Mana beyond the first two stages. And the teen in front of me might be able to fill that gap.
So I asked.
"Can you explain the Path of Mana to me?"
125 nodded and adjusted his legs in the sand to sit more comfortably.
"You should already know the first two stages," he began.
"Dormant and Flowing. Simply explained, Dormant is the state where your core is inactive, and Flowing is when your core awakens and allows you to use mana to enhance your body."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"But Condensed—the Third Stage—is where everything changes."
"Condensed is where your core truly awakens. That's why reaching this stage is called True Awakening."
"You passively gather mana through breathing. Once enough mana accumulates, your core will be filled completely. At that moment, the liquid core inside your heart expands and refines itself until it begins to solidify."
He clasped his hands together, then slowly moved them apart.
"There isn't enough space in your heart for the growing core, so the two will fuse together and form a solid vessel that acts as both your heart and your core."
"This refinement of your core will also change your mana itself. It becomes denser, or thicker, however you want to call it. You'll be able to create much stronger attacks with it, but you'll also have to adapt your Mana Pathways to it."
I interrupted him before he could continue.
"What are Mana Pathways?"
He looked at me, surprised, before chuckling and answering.
"Okay, I guess you didn't know everything about the early stages. Mana Pathways are created through repeated mana usage. They're like roads running through your body and connect everything. Mana flows through them every time you enhance your body."
I nodded at his explanation, and he continued.
"Your pathways aren't wide enough to handle the new, denser mana immediately. That's why you have to expand them before you can properly use mana again after reaching the Condensed Stage. Once your Mana Pathways adapt and reinforce themselves to handle the denser mana, they can't be changed anymore. They become permanent."
Then he raised one hand and clenched it into a fist, mana flowed through it.
"The last change that happens when you reach the Third Stage," he said. "And one of the other reasons why it's called True Awakening."
A red, luminous film surrounded his fist.
"The reveal of your Affinity."
I opened my mouth to ask another question, but he waved his hand before I could and chuckled again.
"I know, I'll explain it."
Holding up his glowing fist, he continued.
"The red light you see is my mana. Once you reach the Third Stage, your mana changes in color and becomes visible, making you able to see it with your eyes. Yours is red too, but that doesn't mean everyone's mana is red."
Lowering his hand, he continued.
"There are six Affinities people are born with, and each one has its own color."
"Flame is red."
"Water is blue."
"Stone is grey."
"Wind is white."
"Light is yellow."
"Darkness is black."
Chuckling, he raised one finger.
"And before you ask—every person is born with only one affinity. It's impossible to change it."
He placed his hands on the ground, standing up while dusting the sand from his clothes.
"That's everything I know about the Third Stage. In short—Your core fuses with your heart. Your mana becomes denser. Your Pathways become permanent. And your Affinity reveals itself."
He picked up the sword he had stabbed into the ground.
"Yours is Flame."
Turning and walking away, he added over his shoulder.
"I need to finish my training."
"See you tomorrow, 29."