With the fresh carcass leaking blood onto the forest floor, Elias quickly sorted the boar into a monster loot folder.

This time, Elias had lost two of his Broadhead-tipped bolts. “I might have to order more when I get back,” he muttered, glancing at his watch and noticing it was almost 9:30 PM.

Stepping away from the river, Elias called out to Rusty. “Is there a safe spot nearby to teleport home?”

“Just up the hill, there’s a perfect place,” chirped the little bird.

With care, Elias made his way up the slope and soon found the ideal location to teleport back home.

After quickly jotting down his location in his notebook, he activated the teleportation. “Blip!”

In an instant, Elias was back in his garage, standing exactly where he had left.

He cast a quick glance around the room before checking his watch—it read 9:45 PM. Pulling his phone from storage, he waited a moment for it to connect, and then noted the time: 5:48 PM. Hmm, Elias might not have been the brightest bulb in the box, but with a little mental math, he calculated a time difference of about four hours. It had struck him the other day that his time in the sanctuary felt unusually skewed upon his return.

Relieved, Elias realized that his home was also his point of departure, meaning he could come and go freely without raising any eyebrows. As he stepped out of the garage and into his house, he noticed his friend soaring into the garden.

Armed with the knowledge that time moved faster in that other world, he decided to adjust his plans—this would allow him to spend more time there without his friends noticing his absence. After kicking off his boots and brewing a strong cup of tea, Elias settled down to reflect on his most recent jump back to Aethoria. He had trekked about 12 kilometers; the terrain in the valley was manageable, and he had discovered numerous animal trails to explore.

With the temperature pleasantly warm, he reminded himself to stay hydrated. The landscape resembled a northern European or North American forest, characterized by towering trees with a dense canopy, yet spaced just enough to let the underbrush thrive.

Elias had dispatched five goblins and one boar. Choosing to postpone the cleanup of the bodies, he summoned a gleaming gold nugget and several Mana cores. He set the nugget in a dish on the table and began to scrutinize the Mana cores when Rusy swooped into the room, landing gracefully on the table.

“What do Mana cores actually do?” Elias inquired.

“They’re crucial for creating items, tools, accessories, and weapons,” Rusy responded. “You can think of them as the battery for a flashlight or the fuel cell for a car. They can also be crushed and mixed with ores, inks, and potions to enhance those components. Additionally, Mana cores of High quality or above can imbue weapons with elemental affinities if they are inserted during the crafting process.”

“Affinities?” Elias asked, recognizing the term from his past experiences with RPG games. He asked for clarification to deepen his understanding.

“Affinities arise when a specific type of Magicule binds to a Mana core,” Rusy clarified. “Some individuals have a primary affinity, such as Earth, Wind, Water, or Fire. Others may possess combination affinities, like Wind + Water, which produces Lightning, or Earth + Fire, which creates Lava. There are also those who receive conceptual affinities, such as Time and Space.”

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As Elias pondered this, he began to question his own Mana core. “Do I have an affinity?” he asked Rusy.

“I doubt it for now,” Rusy responded. “In Aethoria, children are immersed in Magicules from the moment they’re conceived, and their Mana cores grow in tandem with them. You, however, have only been in contact with Magicules for a few hours. The Mana you’re accessing comes from the blessing of your left eye and the Ring on your hand. You hold a fragment of a divinity’s heart, which grants you the ability to wield magic.”

“What affinity does my blessing grant me?” Elias asked, his curiosity piqued.

“Dagda, honoured as the father of all and a master of numerous arts, indicates that the affinities bestowed by your blessing are anything but ordinary. They possess a divine essence, encompassing a wide array of powers that are not easily harnessed by mere mortals like us.”

“However, if I were to identify some affinities you might access with practice, Earth and Water resonate strongly within your blessing. Dagda is well-known for his connection to Fertility, a harmonious blend of Earth and Water often referred to as nature magic. While Sound and Light may not be as prominent in your blessing, they are still present, intricately linked to your gifts of sight. As for conceptual affinities, Dagda is associated with Balance and Time,” Rusty explained.

“Wow, so if I utilize my blessing and my gift, my magic can connect to those aspects of his divine affinities? But if I draw from my own core, could it eventually align with a different element?” Elias asked.

“Yes, in time you’ll be able to access your own core. However, it’s important to realize that it will take several weeks there in Aethoria for you to gather enough mana in your core to perform even the most basic spells. The flames you created with Dagda’s influence originated from your blessing. With practice, you will eventually be able to use your own core to achieve the same.”

“So how can I enhance the growth of my own mana core? I assume there are ways to accelerate its development,” Elias remarked, aware that every form of growth can be improved.

“Yes!” Rusty chirped, hopping onto the table and pecking at one of the Mana Cores. “If you absorb some mana from these cores to fill your own, you can cast magic that drains your core and then recharge it afterwards. Over time, this process will help expand and strengthen your core. Before long, it will become powerful enough to be truly beneficial.”

Sounds like a basic training routine, I will need to get more cores, how long will I be able to use their cores?” Elias asked, was encouraged by the thought of getting stronger.

“Those Mana cores will last for weeks, your core is currently minuscule. So if you spend a few hours a day practicing with good growth your core will easily expand. These Mana cores have no affinity, On Aethoria they are nothing more than a mana storage device.” Rusty hopped on the table and explained this to Elias. “They also make tasty treats”

“I can't let you eat them, I need to get more” Elias laughed realising the little bird wanted to eat them.

“How can I get more, will I be able to find a good supply if I’m going to train my core?”

Tilting his head to the side, the little bird chirped at Elias, “You’ll have six more cores in your storage. Every creature has a mana core, so those goblins will each have one, and that boar will have a particularly good one.”

Nodding his head, Elias finished his tea and decided to take a shower and change his clothes. He felt a bit tired, but with all the new information, he wanted to train before heading to bed.

After a refreshing shower and changing into some comfortable clothes, Elias settled onto his sofa in the front room. He lifted a potted plant from a side table, scooped out a handful of dirt, and formed a small mound on the coffee table in front of him.

“So if I hold this mana core and move the dirt around the table, I can expand my core,” Elias said, ready to begin his training.

“Keep moving the dirt until you can’t anymore, absorb the mana as I instructed, and then move the dirt again. Your mana capacity is that of a newborn, so you won’t be able to move much, but the repetition will be beneficial for you,” Rusty replied.

With that, Elias concentrated on the mound of dirt and commanded it in his mind to “Move.” A small crumb-sized piece of soil rolled down the mound and came to rest on the table. Aware that his mana tank was empty, he held the grape-sized core in his hand and focused on absorbing a tiny amount of the mana stored within. Once more, Elias directed his attention to that crumb-sized piece of dirt and managed to move it just a little further.

This marked the beginning of Elias’s mana core training.