My mind unravelled the information I had just read and began digesting it. It became evident to me that this world, whilst containing light comparisons to my old world, rather exhibited abnormal differences.

In my old world, much like this one, there was a fuelling source of power that allowed us to perform inhuman movements and claim power much greater than one within normal human limits. It was called Vi. However, unlike this world, Vi wasn't siphoned from the atmosphere and our bodies alone could never store this source of power to perform these feats. Instead, Vi was harvested from a mysterious place in my world as a raw material. That Vi would then be then merged into armour crafted by a master craftsman through an arduous and energy-consuming process, which would be tailored exactly to an individual to bond with them specifically. This piece of engineering became a fighters soul and allowed our bodies to harvest and manipulate the power of Vi.

In this world, the source of power, or rather the essence of life and the world itself is called mana. It holds certain similarities to Vi in the sense that it enhanced our bodies, but mana permeated everything in the environment no matter whether dead, alive, human, animal or object.

And instead of using armour to manipulate this force, mana required just the human body and a rune to siphon and restore a persons mana levels from the atmosphere.

See, the four races of this world, Eldoria, at some point evolved to be able to manipulate magical contents like magic beasts through the use of runes.

I quickly gathered that the "tattoo" on my shoulder going down to the start of my bicep, the "tattoo" on Mary's thigh spreading to her backside and my Mother's "tattoo" flourishing on her neck from her chest were all in actuality, runes.

Runes are inscribed on a person's body upon birth and later grant the ability to become a mage and perform spells. The rune initially serves as a bridge between a person and mana. The rune then allows you to sense ambient mana and once the first layer of mana is established in the rune, the rune becomes your source of power, similarly acting like a battery. It stores and purifies mana within your body and allows you to exert mana throughout your body as well as physically into the world in the form of spells that influence the environment. The rune upon initialisation and forming your first layer of mana is called a Sigil, the first of the four stages.

Taken aback by what I continued to process, I jumped down from the chair, leaving the book open on the table. I then slowly began to pace back and forth, my hands crossed behind my back as I hummed to myself with my eyes cast downwards.

"I suppose the first step is initialising my rune and activating it," I contemplated aloud as I scratched my chin.

"From what I read, most children of the human race awaken around the ages of ten to twelve, whilst the elves and dwarves awakened at earlier ages such as five to seven. But all still pale in comparison to those of the Dragon race, who naturally awaken upon birth. What I would give to be a Dragon kin right now." I snickered at the cards dealt to me, but I quickly dismissed my pessimistic view. Even if I were to awaken at the normal time, I still at least have the comfort of being a noble. I have no real reason to complain.

All I require is patience and effort.

I gradually came to a halt amid my nonsensical rambling and returned to the seat and opened the book again.

"Let's continue."

*flip*

"The four stages of runes," the chapter read. "There are four integral stages to a person's rune. The first stage of a rune upon initialisation is the Sigil. The Sigil is the weakest of the stages and is usually a small runic mark with a simple pattern. It doesn't store or boast a large pool of mana for the user to draw on from and the mana is still impure resulting in spells being weaker."

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

*flip*

"The second stage of a rune is called the Crest and the Crest evolves from the Sigil upon the formation of the 2nd layer of mana. The rune grows larger and becomes more complex in design, as well as being capable of holding more pure mana. The following stages of a rune, the Regalia and Insignia, are expansions of what the transition between the Sigil and Crest involves. Both stages involve the constant purification and creation of mana to the 3rd and finally 4th layer, but there is a single fundamental difference between the transition from a Crest into a Regalia."

*flip*

"This transitional period between the Crest and the Regalia to prepare the body for the amount of pure mana being stored is known as the "Consolidation" stage. The Consolidation stage involves the evolution of the person's body to hold the amount of pure mana necessary and this is done by converting all the mana of the Crest stage and infusing it directly into the muscles and bones to strengthen the body."

As I finished reading I took an elongated and deep breath as I looked out the window. There were many stark contrasts to mana compared to Vi.

I continued to flip through the book and finally found the chapter I was looking for.

Basics of Mana and Awakening

"Mana lives inside of us, but predominantly exists in the atmosphere and the world. To form your first layer you must rely on the ambient mana to fuel your progress. The difficulty of sensing mana to begin to draw and piece the first layer of your rune completely varies. From person to person, some may just find it easier to sense and bond with mana and piece their layer together much faster. It's not something that can be taught. The best tip anyone can receive to help them awaken is to rely on your instincts and submerge yourself in the process of forgery, because once your blade takes shape, the final image becomes clearer."

I pondered over the text for a while and let the words sink in. "Instinct, huh? That's completely opposite to Vi. It was all about techniques when it came to drawing Vi around the armour and it came so naturally to me as well. However, for someone like me, this transition shouldn't be unfeasable. Let's give it a shot now."

I hopped off the chair I stood on and sat down on the navy blue carpet, assuming a cross-legged position. I closed my eyes and began taking deep breaths in, and elongated breaths out.

I focused my mind inwardly, first trying to sense my dormant rune which I perceived akin to a dry well. I could imagine only tiny fragments of mana hovering around the emptiness, faint and elusive. I then turned away from my body and into my surroundings. My senses extended through the world as I searched for the loose ends I knew existed. Like a blinded diver in the ocean, my mind reached out, grasping for anything tangible.

Only the isolated silence rolled drummed like a slow drum beating away in the distance. But then, a surge, like a beacon erupting into the sky, alerted me before promptly vanishing.

It's there!

I sensed it, even if it was for a brief moment. I began tempering my mind as I further extended my presence into the ambience.

"C'mon. Imagine it like Vi."

As I reminded myself of Vi, I felt the weightless, yet incomparably robust armour cling skin-tight to my body. I then tried to feel Vi coursing through the armour in a haggard breath that ran rampant like a wild beast. Its iron tusks curled upward as its snout blew out smoke. Its infernal body reared itself pridefully as the figure of flames flickered in my mind.

The mana's wild presence slowly began responding to me as I continued to imagine my methods of taming Vi through my armour. Similarly, they were like beasts I needed to control.

A resurgence of that same beacon began flaring as it blinded my closed eyes. I felt the vividly shining tethers of its ringing ambience cling to the tips of my fingers as I opened my body to its influence. Now joining the thought of my rune and the mana, I began rounding up the floating tethers as compact shards in my rune, the pieces in the first layer assembling.

I did it!

I slowly released my tightly clamped eyelids and breathed a sigh of relief as I could still feel the mana rubbing against me. Its presence was faint and feeble, but it would be enough. I could work with this.

Wiping the sweat off my forehead with my shirt, I flew backwards on my back and lay on the floor. As my eyes rolled around the room, revelling in my achievement, my eyes coincidentally landed on the ticking clock.

My face turned pale as my body shot up. "Oh no! Mary's probably finished cooking! If I don't turn up, she is going to pound me into mince meat for ditching her!"

Without returning the book I was reading to its original spot, I sprinted out of the library and headed for the kitchen.

It seemed that arriving at Mary's side before she realised I'd disappeared, would be the far greater achievement between accurately sensing mana and beginning to form and purify my first layer.