It was time to form a mana core for Lucian. Since a mana core is an integral part of every mage’s existence, tremendous effort was put in so that everything happens without any issues. Cecilia had decided to form Lucian’s core after getting his status. The reason being that some Soul-Quirk required additional preparation if you wanted to unlock it's full potential. Since Lucian didn’t have such Soul-Quirk, she could form his core the normal way.

“Since you haven’t formed a core yet, the required materials and concentration will be less than if you were to strengthen your core later. We will be using the Horned Wolf’s core and the Acid Bull’s core for the ritual. We have two hours now. How about we have a tour around the city?”

“Yeah!”

Having listened to Cecilia’s explanation, Lucian was given a tour of the city by his teacher. He had seen the various shops and stalls that sold things as plain as cups to ones that sold gear for adventurers. One of his favourite types of shops was the antique shop. While most of their items were old with a rich history behind them, you could occasionally find artifacts in the form of equipment such as necklaces, rings, and gloves. Some of the artifacts were odd, with Lucian seeing one that looked like a coffee mug. Since they were visiting the posh area of the city, there were many shops made for the tastes of the wealthy such as cafes, confectionery shops and boutiques. The people walking in the area had a different feeling from the common folk who lived in the outer area of the city, ranging from the way they walked to the way they talked.

It was time for Lucian to return to the estate with Cecilia and start the ritual. On the way back, Cecilia remembered that she had to buy something for her job and instructed Lucian to return to the estate without her. As he was walking, a boy collided with Lucian from behind, followed by the loud thuds of books dropping.

“O-Ouch! Sorry about that.” Said the boy as he picked up the books that he had dropped. Lucian took note of the boy as he sensed mana from him. The boy had dishevelled brown hair, and his clothes were full of wrinkles and folds. Yet the quality of the boy’s clothes was better than what Lucian wore.

Is he the son of a wealthy family, thought Lucian as he helped the boy pick up the books he dropped.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Sorry, I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

“It’s okay. That’s a lot of books you’re carrying. What are they for?”

“Ah! It’s for the mage classes that I’m going to take. I’m really exci-”

The boy stopped speaking abruptly and had a fearful expression on his face.

“A-a, n-nevermind. I’ll be taking my leave.” Said the boy as he was about to run as fast as possible.

“You’re training to be a mage too? Wow! Same here!” said Lucian, after which the boy stopped dead in his tracks.

“You’re an apprentice too?”

“I’ve been training for a couple of months now.”

“Woah, well, that makes it easy then.”

The boy leaned in to whisper. “Father told me not to tell what the contents of the books were since I might get mugged. But I forgot about it since I was so excited. It’s been my dream to become a mage.”

“I understand. I was pretty excited too when I first started.”

“How long has it been since you started? What’s it like?”

“It’s been a few months, and it’s fun learning about how magic works, but the training is way too rigorous. My teacher trains me way too much. I feel like I’m going to drop dead any day now.”

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“Really, what’s your teacher’s name.”

“It’s Cecilia Vespera.”

The boy nods as if to show that he has memorised the name.

“Ah, speaking of names, I haven’t introduced myself. My name is Keith. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

“I’m Lucian. Same here.”

“I guess this is where we part ways? Are you going to take the examination for Mage’s academy next year?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“We’ll meet again there.”

Lucian and Keith bade each other farewell, and they went their way. After Lucian reached the estate, he found Cecilia waiting for him there. Gathering the materials required for the ritual, Cecilia and Lucian went to the training room that was the basement of the estate. The room was huge and spanned thirty metres in length and breadth. Lucian had been using this room for his training since he came to the city.

“I’m going to make a runic circle for the ritual here.”

“What’s a runic circle?”

“Ah, I didn’t teach you that yet, did I? A runic circle makes the spell you want to cast better, whether in strength or utility. However, it takes time, so casting a spell without runic circles makes it manifest faster but less powerful. The spell I’m casting is called ‘Mana Convergence’, a Tier-3 spell. As its name implies, it converges mana to one point in space, which we will need since a core needs much mana to materialise for the first time.”

Lucian listened to Cecilia’s lecture as she put the cores of the Acid Bull and Horned Wolf in the centre of the runic circle.

“Now, sit in the centre of the circle and circulate your mana.”

As Lucian sat on the ground and circulated his mana, Cecilia concentrated as she led the surplus of mana gathered by the spell into Lucian’s body. After a few minutes had passed, Cecilia levitated the two magic cores, which then broke down into light and seeped into Lucian’s body. The two demon cores would then take the shape of a new indistinct core inside Lucian’s body. The process took another half an hour, in which Lucian circulated his mana with utmost discipline, and Cecilia focused on gathering the mana into the new core, the end of which led to the formation of a new core.

Lucian had felt the change almost immediately. His body was brimming with energy and felt light as a feather. He closed his eyes to sense the mana inside him, to which he found a ball of pure condensed mana in the centre of his torso. All the pathways in his body through which mana circulated went through the core and, as such, strengthened the paths as well.

“And we are done. Congratulations. Now you can finally be called a mage, unofficially.”

“Then all that’s left is for me to be recognised as a mage by the Academy?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Lucian then went deep into his thoughts, which Cecilia had noticed.

“Something on your mind?”

“I was just thinking how did our ancestors form cores. This whole process looks like it requires a mage who already has a core.”

“Good question. You need a large amount of mana to gather in order to form a core. In the old days, when the knowledge of cores was not known, the strength of a group was determined by how many mages they had. As time passed by, with more research being done on magical beasts, they tried to make the first core in history with the help of dozens of mages channelling their strength into one mage, as well as gathering the materials for the ritual. So now, in our time, the group with the highest core stage is the most powerful.”

“Oh, I understand now. A mage with a core can act as a replacement for dozens of mages in terms of the amount of mana.”

“That’s right. Now then. Since you have a reservoir of mana now, I’ll teach you your first Tier-2 spell, Flight. It will save time when we have to make round trips from hunting to the city.”

“Wait, is that all for Tier-1 spells? I thought there would be more.”

“No, there’s a lot more spells in that category. I just taught you the bare minimum. You can learn whichever tiered spell you want at your time in the academy, whether it be spells for knowledge or strength, provided you have learnt at least one spell from the tier you want to learn.”

“Then how will I progress to the next Tier of spells?”

“You’ll have an examination that will test your prowess. The Academy invigilators tell you the criteria when you apply for the examination. If the rules haven’t changed from my time in the academy, then you have to learn ten Tier-2 spells to pass the examination.”

“I feel like I’m rushing through the process of being a mage.”

“Nonsense. I learned all this before my first year at the academy. You’ll be fine. Just follow my teachings carefully.”

“I see. Let’s start with the training, then.” Said Lucian, who still felt that he was passing through the Tiers way too quickly. He had heard that mages spend a significant portion of their time studying and honing their skills but experienced the opposite learning under Cecilia.

Cecilia nodded as she started to teach Lucian his first Tier-2 spell, Flight. The experience was the same as when he learned his first Tier-1 spell. The learning period was longer as the category of the spell was one higher. It started with image training, with Cecilia carrying Lucian as she used Flight to get the feeling of being in the air. Lucian also had to submerge himself in the deep parts of the river as it was the closest feeling to flying. All of this was done by only slightly changing his routine. By now, his daily routine included six hours of magic training, including mana circulation and spell training, two hours of intense physical activity, and four hours of listening to Cecilia’s lectures on mage life, history, society and etiquettes.

Lucian did his daily training diligently for a month, which increased his reservoir of mana exponentially. Now, the only way to increase his mana reservoir was to upgrade his core state, which was a task that would take years to achieve. He also trained for the Tier-2 spell along with his daily routine, and at the end of the month, he had finally cast Flight, although stability was an area he had to train a lot since the first thing he did after he had cast the spell was to crash into the wall face first. With more training, Lucian could finally go on his hunt for magical beasts, yet he did not forget his first fight with a magical beast.

I really hope I don’t have problems from now on, like that time when I fought the Horned Wolf, thought Lucian, worried whether it was the Horned Wolf of that time that was unbelievably durable or something was wrong with him.