Chapter 29:Bad News

14 May...

Eleven days since the beginning of the Academy session, Lucas had grinded himself as much as he could.

His stamina which was at a normal human being level before had now broken to an early 1-Star and there was also a subtle rise in his strength but his mana was still the same.

At first, he wondered if this was due to a lack of mana breathing technique but later he learned that training to limit until exhaustion in a way is also effective in cultivating mana.

Despite his sincere endeavors, there was no change in the quantity of mana; rather, when he attempted to circulate mana he felt a stinging sensation amid circulation. This was not evident in the beginning and surfaced at a later stage when he trained to his limit.

Lucas tried to look for Harris however the situation had not been optimum till now. And finally, he got an appointment today.

Standing before Lucas, Harris took a moment to evaluate Lucas.

"You look fitter since the spar," Harris said, putting a sincere expression on his fiery face.

"I just followed your advice. That's all."Lucas replied plainly.

"So, what do you want my help with?"Harris leaned forward observing Lucas.

"I wanted you to guide me in swordsmanship but it seems I have another troublesome matter to deal with which might require your immediate guidance."

"And what that might be," Harris answered curiously, raising his brows.

Seeing Lucas's darkened expression, he thought the matter might be serious.

Lucas explained to Harris about his magic capacity and the problem with mana channeling.

"Okay, sit down cross-legged."

Lucas followed Harris's instructions and sat down cross-legged.

Harris sat before him and held his wrist.

"If you had some problem, you will feel a bit of pain due to the invasion of foreign mana so don't resist. Let my mana flow within you."

Lucas nodded and closed his eyes.

A reddish aura encased Harris and it slowly materialized around Lucas.

The reddish aura progressed and enveloped Lucas.

Beads of perspiration formed over his head and Lucas sweated profusely.

The uncomfortable feeling surfaced again though it was not painful this time.

Lucas's breathing became erratic and his body heated up and his eyebrow flickered while his expression turned awry.

Harris slowly opened his eyes and the strange glow surrounding them disappeared.

"Lucas, I have bad news."

Lucas frowned and his heart skipped a beat.

"Do I have some kind of disease? Am I going to die early?"

Lucas stared at Harris seriously and waited for the confirmation of his death warrant.

His mind already started to run at full speed searching for any divine medicine he might have read in the novel.

Harris's brows furrowed for a moment and then he chuckled.

"It's not that serious, however, if it was noticed later, you might have been crippled and lost your powers."

Lucas gasped heavily and thought that it was the right choice to ask Harris to help.

"First let me give you a brief."

"Humans have 12 meridians in which there are many acupoints which are also known as mana points. For one to awaken, one needs to train his body and loosen the acupoint points which are connected through the mana vessels. Mana would slowly gather and store here and the flow of mana in a cyclic process through these points is known as mana channeling."

'Wow...What a precise definition.'Lucas muttered inwardly trying to digest what Mr Harris said.

"We start by unlocking acupoints for mana storage one by one. The meridians can be considered a type of blood vessel through which mana flows and it widens as our realm increases."

"Why does it sound so complex? And why have I not heard all of this?"Lucas asked confusedly.

Harris smiled and started to explain.

"Unlocking acupoints to become an awakener is a daunting task and proves to be impossible for many and it is precisely here where bloodline came to play part."

"Most of the diamond bloodline people are born with unlocked acupoints and you just need to join the meridian and strengthen your body to awaken. The lower the bloodline grade, the less open acupoints you are born with."

"However even a bronze-grade bloodline is born with three fifths of his acupoints unlocked. Now, you know why the lower bloodline takes time to awaken. Those who don't have bloodline grades have it worse as they have to unlock all the points manually and by the time they are awakened, they have already exhausted their potential and time. That's why some are older than you in the class."

Lucas nodded trying to process the new information. Such significant information and there was no mention of it.

Did the author forget about this?

"People don't focus on these causes as long as you train you will awaken if you have a bloodline grade. There are no tricks or shortcuts in it. Just train and use a mana breathing technique. People with strong family backgrounds might explain their children however most of this is not known by the public. You can read about this from the library."

Harris after a brief explanation stared at Lucas's widened eyes and spoke" And your case in between two."

"What did that mean?"Lucas asked with a surprised expression.

"Your acupoints have not been unlocked fully and instead of mana being stored in the acupoints, the mana seems to store around the periphery."

"Why?"

Lucas asked with a pale expression.

"Do I have some problem with mana acupoints?"

"Your case is quite weird and this is the first time I have seen something like this. I can come to one conjecture."

"You have been awakened forcefully....."

"Ahhhh!"Lucas exclaimed in horror and got up from his seat.

Cause he knew that forced awakening is mostly done with some forbidden methods and on top of that if this is leaked, he would be in trouble.

His heart palpated wondering if his mother and father are evil,and pretending to be nice and if he is just an experiment for them.

Even Sir Harris may turn into his foe.

It was truly a precarious scenario and the best-case scenario was to run.

'Is the original owner some kind of experimental product?'

"Lucas doesn't scream. Seeing your expression, I assume you are misunderstanding something."

"You have been awakened forcefully but it's not done via forbidden methods or illegal means. If there was any nefarious substance within you, I could have sensed it when I channelized my mana inside you."Harris tried to calm Lucas and asked him to sit.

Lucas wiped the beads of sweat. However, he did not drop his guard, rather he was already vigilant about Harris.

Most people who behave kindly have a rotten inside.

"I can discern that you have consumed some kind of potion to awaken, which is very very rare though it's possible to find if you use huge manpower. And to consume it one needs to take some precautions which haven't been taken properly."

"And I promise, I will not look into this matter as it's a personal matter.It's your money, your choice.," Harris spoke with a sincere expression.

"The potion has not been digested fully and is still within the system so you need to digest it and at the same, you need to be treated so heed what I say."

"From now on, don't push yourself until you are exhausted. Limit your strength training and focus more on cardio and meditation. Every two days, I will circulate my mana inside you and try to unclog your acupoints. It just needs some external push and the mana around the acupoints would be stored in it and then you could feel mana clearly which till now you haven't and I am sure you can't even guess or sense other ranks."

Lucas nodded agreeing to Harris's words externally however his mind was still preoccupied with another thought.

What if he was born with a without bloodline and instead of awakening potions, he was given bloodline-grade potions which raised his bloodline grade but were unable to unlock his acupoints?

Lucas knew about one thing very well.Potions that can awaken are very rare and once taken make you awakened with 100% efficiency. On the other hand, bloodline upgrade potion upgrades your bloodline but doesn't awaken you fully.

The proof is Frederick consuming a bloodline upgrade portion made of the sap of World Tree given to him by the Elf King in the future and his bloodline became Diamond.

Just how much of his assumptions are true only his parents can tell because he had no memory of taking any potions.