The blizzard raged outside of the carriage's window, its frosty winds smashed into the walls and seeped inside.

The carriage wasn't alone, a few others rode behind and before it, full of guards, maids and people that wanted to come along. Inside the carriage were two people, Max and Adam who were of the highest ranking among the convoy.

"This fucking blizzard will break my eardrums!" Raged Max while trying to look out of the window without freezing his nose.

"It's not so bad. Think about those guys on horseback, they must be frozen solid. By the way, aren't you amazed by the roads? I just can't stop thinking about it. In the middle of a blizzard, and we are not lost, riding relatively fast, and we aren't jumping around... I may be in love with this road." Adam was mesmerised by the royal roads, which made travel smooth and somewhat safe. While Ferston also had paved roads in some places, being in a town, a person can't appreciate a well-done route, as all journeys end earlier then in half an hour.

"I don't get it, a road is a road, nothing more. What interests me thou, is the storm. Can such a thing be done by magic? What applications would it have?" That was the reason for Max' cold nose and bleeding forehead. He was too enthusiastic in admiring the destructive power of the snowstorm, so enthusiastic even, that he didn't notice a brach flying in his face.

"I think it's possible. If I advance a realm or two I may recreate it, though I will need to learn wind magic." Adam liked the idea, of being able to throw his opponent without harming them substantially or creating tornadoes that destroy everything in their wake. The wind was a nice element for him.

"Why don't you try? I would also, but unfortunately, I have no talent for it. By the way, you should try all elements you can, you never know what elements react to you."

"Yeah, I will, but only after we arrive, it isn't a good idea to try magic in a carriage." If he tried it, and something went wrong he could potentially destroy their mode of transportation, and it wouldn't be a nice thing.

"Well, when you do, tell me. I am eager to see if you succeed."

"How about you? Can you use anything else besides metal?" Asked Adam in return.

"I can use earth magic and some fire, but only earth and metal are usable in reality. The most I can do with fire mana is to light some twigs." Said Max with an annoyed expression.

"Sucks to be you I guess, wanna bet on whether I can use wind magic or not?" Asked Adam in return.

As the boy bickered, the wind blew, just like it did for last few hours.

The convoy left Ferston two days ago, and given the distance between the town and the Capital, at best it would take them another two to arrive at their destination, at worst another two would be needed.

So, what did Adam do with all that time, considering that he couldn't train or research his magic?

He was very busy, he had to do something he never imagined was a must for him. Create his absorption technique.

Why?

That's a stupid question.

It's obvious.

He just doesn't have one.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

And where was he supposed to start?

Of course, asking someone who knew something, at least more than him, it not that hard to do considering the complete lack of any knowledge in the field that Adam possessed.

Ending the neverending stream of riposts and sarcastic remarks, Adam finally asked.

"So, what did your father teach you about absorption techniques? you were supposed to tell me, and now is a pretty good time to do so."

"Okay... where to start form...

Ahh.. let's start form telling you about how are techniques supposed to work.

When mages reach the peak of their realm, which by the way is quite easy to feel, Dad told me it's like a surge of ecstasy filling the body to the brim, but it's supposed to be different for each person, so don't expect a specific thing. The iron rule about it is that you will know with certainty when you are ready to ascend." Explained Max, while staring out of the window.

"How about warriors? Is it like that for them too?" Questioned Adam, straying off the topic for a moment.

"Heck if I know! Ask me about the way of mages, not warriors, about those, I know only rumours." Replied Max aggressively.

"What rumours?" Adam didn't give in.

Max turned his head from the window, only to return it to the previous position after looking at Adam, and deciding it was not worth quarrelling with him.

"I heard they feel terribly exhausted, but also full, like with us." He answered.

"Nice, so we are better."

"Okay, next. The absorption technique should be actually called a ritual, it would describe it more accurately."

"Why?" Interrupted Adam.

"Stop cutting me off, let me finish, then will be time for questions." Stated Max, with an authoritative tone.

"As I said, it's more like a ritual, you only need the absorption technique at the peak of each realm, to ascend to the next. Every technique has a different set of things to do during ascension and will last a different amount of time. Some may last an hour, some a day, but that's not a thing by which you can measure if the technique is good or bad, though the faster ones are more liked, as they are less taxing on the user." Explained the noble.

"Now, during the first ascension, all mages form a core in their body. The place where they do it depends on the technique and the person, but when creating your own, try to avoid important organs. the core must act as an anchor of the soul to the body, and also as an energy storage. Without it, the difference between aspiring and beginner magicians would not exist.

Others, such as aura users and beasts also develop a core but compared to mages, they develop it much later. The beasts for example normally form it in the Intermediate realm. It also depends on the beast's bloodline, maybe if it were some legendary beast, such as a dragon, they could for the core faster. As for warriors, does vary but instead of bloodline, most possibly the main factor is talent. The earliest case I heard about was of our kingdom's High Commander, sir. Clemes Estron is rumoured to be the most talented swordsman in the history of the nation. He created his core in ascension to the elementary realm, just like mages do." Max must have been fascinated by the topic, as his mouth wouldn't close.

"Even beasts have cores? Can I see one?" Asked Adam.

"You can, there are many of them on sale in the capital, but I would recommend you to dig into a beast yourself, to see how it works."

"Wo, that's a good idea, I will think about it. By the way, why do we hurry so much? We left Ferston a week later than you had planned, what difference would one day make? " Asked Adam while looking out of the window, the blizzard started to end, as rays of sunlight pierced through a thick veil of flying snow.

"Our delay is exactly the reason, as we are already late, it would be best to hurry up. Besides, In about six days is a party at the king's castle, as this year many of the noble blood are starting their adult life, they want to meet and get to know each other. But that's not important for us, what is important is that my cousin will attend the party and we need to get him to know you."

"The crown prince? Wow, I didn't expect to see his majesty so soon." Answered astounded Adam.

"For you, it will be a fellow magician, so remember to speak to him by name, if not, he may think you think of him as not worthy of yours's respect as a magician, and thus called hum his royal title, not not the magic one."

That was something Adam had a hard time wrapping his head around, all his life, nobles seemed to be haughty young masters who would kill him if he looked at them wrongly, calling them by name surely wasn't on the list of things he thought he would do this year.

'I guess I shouldn't trust rumours, especially as a mage. It sure is wonderful how fast a perspective can change. One day you're just a hunter, not even a full-fledged one, and when you turn around the next day, mana flows through you unobstructed, and you make friends with the royal family.'