CHAPTER 21

CHAPTER 21

The mana core was an organ that living beings developed over time, after coming into contact with this particular energy, which was mana.

This organ was the means by which mages absorbed, filtered, and stored mana, to then use it.

Over time, more and more studies have been conducted on it, and after a few millennia, all sorts of techniques, spells, and objects to use it have developed.

At this moment, Reily's core finally woke up, and began to absorb the mana that the sphere provided him.

DING!

[Congratulations, host, you have awakened your mana core]

Reily, feeling this, got his confirmation.

the crystal sphere reacted to Reily's core, causing the golden vortex inside it to spin faster.

The old man, who was patiently on the sidelines watching, seeing the crystal sphere's reaction, smiled understanding what had happened, and said:

"Congratulations boy, you are now officially awakened."

Reily, who already knew this from the system, smiled and said:

"Thank you. Now what do I have to do to see if I have any affinity with the elements?" he asked curiously.

He was eager to know if he would have an element or not.

Technically he shouldn't develop any element, but being him, a special case, he wondered if there would be an exception for him.

The old man, seeing the glimmer of hope in the boy's eyes, said:

"To see if you have an affinity with any element, you have to channel the mana into your body, into the crystal sphere."

Reily wasn't sure how to do it, as he had never used mana before.

"but how do I control the mana to make it flow out of my body?" he asked

The old man replied calmly:

"It's simple, you just have to think of moving it out of your core, and let it out through your hand."

Reily didn't ask anything else, and tried to follow the old man's suggestion.

Immediately, he felt the mana inside him moving, and flowing down his arm towards his hand.

The crystal sphere absorbed the mana.

Reily waited a moment, then waited another, and then another.

After 30 seconds, seeing no reaction in the sphere, he turned to the old man.

The old man understood what the boy wanted to ask, and simply said to him:

"It seems that you don't have any affinity with the elements. Too bad, but it's not the end of the world."

He said, approaching the table near the window.

"Now that you are awakened, you can still become strong even without an affinity, so don't get discouraged."

For the old man, this was his daily bread. He was used to seeing young people who once awakened their mana core, failed to gain an affinity with the elements.

Infact, most of the people who had awakened did not possess any affinity, so he was used to it.

Reily, hearing this, nodded.

He didn't expect anything else, but he still wanted to give it a try, hoping in the slightest chance that he was wrong, but it wasn't.

In the end, Reily accepted things as they were and left, thanking the old man.

Now that he had finished the awakening process, all that was left was to get his guild card at the reception.

'While I'm at it, I'll also take some rank F missions.'

***

The guild posted missions on a board next to the stairs leading to the first floor. It was placed there so that adventurers could easily see it.

On it, missions were regularly removed and new ones posted.

For each mission, the respective information was given, as well as the requirements, and the reward, not to mention the grade of the mission.

To accept a mission, you had to go to the reception, and inform them, and register it on the guild card.

The missions that each person could accept varied depending on their grade. If you were grade E, you could accept grade E or grade F missions.

To accept a grade D mission, you had to form a team of at least 3 people of grade E.

Reily knew this, so he didn't waste much time choosing one for himself.

He sifted through the various papers on the board until he found one that seemed suitable for him.

He took the sheet, and looked at it.

The sheet was a bit yellowed, and above it listed a list of information listed in order, with an image of a rabbit in the bottom right.

----------------------------

[MISSION GRADE]: F

[Hunting mission]

DESCRIPTION: In the east side of the outskirts of the forest of spirits, the population of horned rabbits is becoming too large.

Help the guild to control their population, by hunting them.

REQUIREMENTS FOR COMPLETION: deliver the horn of the killed rabbit.

REWARDS: 1 copper coin per rabbit killed.

----------------------------

The reward wasn't very high, but if you considered that the guild only wanted the horn as proof for completing the mission, then you could sell the rest for more profit.

Reily had decided to take this mission because he wanted to start with something simple. Having hunted these creatures a few times already, he knew how to hunt them efficiently.

And with his awakened mana core, it was time for him to start earning a lot of EXP to level up.

Now that his first goal, which was to join the adventurer's guild, and earn enough to awaken himself, had been completed, it was time to prepare for the next step, which was to accumulate enough money, and leave for the capital.

At first, he wanted to build a reputation, earn enough, and live a luxurious life. but after meeting Clarisse, he had changed his plans a bit.

There were a couple of future events narrated in the novel, which he had ignored because they were not directly related to him.

He knew he couldn't do much to prevent those events from happening, so he had decided to stay away from them as much as possible.

One of these was the catastrophe that would hit the academy, 3 years from now.

That event would deal a heavy blow to the magic academy, leaving it weakened, and allowing some dark forces to take advantage of it.

One of the people who would benefit from this event was the person who had orchestrated Clarisse's death.

Reily didn't want the mage girl to meet the same fate as the one in the novel, and to change that future, he knew he had to intervene.

In other words, he had to join the magic academy too.

As much as he wanted to experience school life again, to do all the things he couldn't do in his past life, he had decided not to do it.

This was because the academy was the main stage of the first volume of the novel.

It was the place where many events that were related to the hero's team would happen, so he wanted to stay as far away from the academy as possible.

Reily was just under 2 years away from reaching the age to enroll in the academy, so he had decided to prepare as best he could in that period of time, so as to be able to face those events.