Awakening

Marcus woke up to the chirping of the birds outside the window, rubbing his eyes and yawning. 

'It is time.' he got up from the bed and headed to take a cold shower. The prickling sensation of frosty water droplets jolted his mind fully awake. 

'It feels nice.' yesterday, he and Professor Maroon spent an entire night discussing various things. Maroon told about his adventures, a brighter side of them...he also explained what it felt like to be a mage and what kind of power they wielded. 

Mages generally had enhanced physiques, the quality depending on the: effort, resources, element and control of mana. Marcus might even have the strongest starter physique among all of his classmates since he had chosen an Earth Elemental Seed, thirty seven at that. 

It wasn't an unheard practice to absorb multiple Elemental Seeds of the same element, but only those who had the best foundation possible could afford to do so. If not, the body might explode from the sheer volume of that said element. 

Of course, Marcus wasn't being overconfident here. He knew exactly where his limits lay and he would act accordingly. Moreover, he had the help of a Third Rank mage. This tremendously boosted his chances of being able to absorb two Earth Elemental Seeds.

But one might wonder: wouldn't it be a waste of the remaining Earth Elemental Seeds? Actually no, he was well aware of the sheer price outside the academy even for a single Earth Elemental Seed. 

Due to the fact that his father had invested a hefty sum into the academy and for the academy having the ability to acquire them at ten times cheaper, he was allowed to walk away with over three dozen of them. 

Marcus wasn't going to sell them for even a dozen times the actual market price since counterfeit items were pretty common.

Thus, he ensured a steady supply for his future elemental enhancement. Unfortunately, he didn't have the method of integrating Elemental Seeds after the awakening and probably there was no such thing on the open market. 

He exited the bathroom fresh and ready for the day as he donned a simple dark blue shirt, tucked the sleeves till his elbows and put on brown pants with black boots.

'Haaa...to think I would already be dressing up like an adventurer.' Marcus laughed at the prospect of being kicked out of the family and having to wear the same clothes for months on end.

'I guess that's where everything starts at.' he exited the room and went downstairs, to the basement level of the house.

There, Professor Maroon was already waiting for him with a white magical circle shining on the ground. 

"Oh, you are just in time." Maroon said as he put down the book he was reading.

Marcus looked at the simplest of mana gathering arrays. This was perhaps the safest and cheapest way that common people could awaken. Without its aid, Marcus would need to spend months meditating just to achieve the same results. 

'Setting up this array probably costs several mana coins.' he concluded, as even the most basic mana gathering array would cost a lifetime fortune for a commoner family.

The currencies of the Solaris Kingdom worked as follows:

One hundred copper coins for one silver coin.

One hundred silver coins for one gold coin.

One hundred gold coins for one mana coin.

Mana coins were mined by the Unshakable Earth Faction in the form of raw mana crystals and then refined into mana coins by the Everlasting Crafting Faction. Then, they would be handed over to the Golden Sky Faction which would register the mana coins within the Solaris Grand Array and brand them with the crest of the royal family. 

At last, they would be handed over to the royal family to manage. They made sure that no one had this industry under their thumb, as the loss of total control over the mana crystal industry would signify the end of the reign of the current dynasty. 

Marcus calmly stepped on the array as he sat in a lotus position in the middle of it. He started to meditate and regulate his breathing rate. Taking as many deep breaths as possible and exhaling even stronger.

His blood started to pump wildly fast as he could feel his lungs constricting and expanding. Visible steam came out of his nose as he held his mouth closed.

He stayed in this state for about ten minutes before Professor Maroon approached him with a shining, dark brown crystal in his hands. 

Marcus took it from his hands and swallowed it without hesitation. An uncomfortable feeling of a foreign object entering his body prickled his mind, but it quickly disappeared as a sense of bloating made his stomach churn in pain. 

He kept performing the breathing technique as he pushed his lungs to the limits. Pain accompanied each breath and exhale, yet he didn't even grimace, as this was the most vital point.

The crystal had long since dissolved, yet dark brown streams of energy started to concentrate in the are above his belly button and below the solar plexus.

The energy formed a tiny, almost microscopic sphere, as it wasn't even a millimeter in volume. Yet, it was enough to send his body into a frenzy of pain and suffering. 

"Marcus! Brace yourself!" Professor Maroon stepped into the array as he shoved another dark brown crystal into his mouth. He then stepped behind him and placed his hands on Marcus' back. 

This crystal also dissolved the moment it entered the stomach, yet this time the effect was even more violent. 

Marcus could feel the pain quadrupling as he almost made the mistake of interrupting the breathing technique. 

He gritted his teeth and pushed forward. 

He couldn't fail! He wouldn't!

The dark brown spherical blob of energy quadrupled in size, but Professor Maroon forcefully compressed it into its previous size.

The process went on for several hours as wild energies threatened to rip Marcus into shreds. Yet with the help of Maroon, everything seemed to be under control.

Until it wasn't 

"P-Professor!" Marcus called while still having to concentrate on the breathing technique. 

"Third!" he said, trying to squeeze out every ounce of strength.

Professor Maroon became wide-eyed. This child couldn't possibly want to die, right? The Third Earth Elemental Seed was a death sentence for countless rising stars since the dawn of magic.

Yet, someone whom he considered to be his son was asking something like this? Maroon fell into deep thought. He understood Marcus' personality the best, he was a person who wanted to maximize every opportunity possible, even if it might threaten his life. 

Professor Maroon just wanted to ignore the request and aid him until the awakening was complete, but he knew that this decision might create a rift between them. This was irrational, but he felt like he had to do so, for someone he cherished as family. 

He waved a hand as a dark brownish glow coated the small chest, as it opened and brought out an Earth Elemental Seed.

It floated right into his hands as he fed it to Marcus with a heavy heart. 

'I hope I will not lose someone again...' a wave of emotional pain hit him like a truck as he concentrated on helping Marcus digest the crystal.

It took a bit longer for the crystal to dissolve, as even the array started to flicker out of existence. The phenomenon extended outside the basement as the entire house started to shake. A large amount of mana whirled around it, forming a cyclone with its eye being a mortal young man.

Fortunately, no one was present in this little teaching staff's village and even if they noticed the phenomena, they would assume that Maroon was just experimenting with something crazy once again.

Meanwhile, Marcus was experiencing the most agonizing pain imaginable as the uncontrolled energies were tearing him apart. 

Yet, he couldn't spare energy to scream or veil, as the only thing he concentrated on was keeping himself sane and continuing the breathing technique.

Even Professor Maroon was getting all sweaty. He was doing his best to control the flow of mana inside Marcus, but it was getting harder with each second.

Marcus' blood vessels wiggled around all across his body like snakes, as if he had been abusing anabolic steroids for decades.

Professor Maroon was even worse off, as he was the one controlling the flow of mana since Marcus had lost it long ago.

Blood leaked from his eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Some of his veins even ruptured under the tremendous strain and started to pool under his skin.

The torture for both of them lasted for over a day as the phenomenon gradually calmed down and the house stopped shaking.