When William finally slept, Damon got to work.

The theory behind what he would do was simple. Similar to a muscle, mana veins could be strengthened over time as they were used and stimulated. Likewise, small tears and damage done to mana veins would heal, with the veins becoming more robust as a result.

There was obviously a limit to this. Too much damage in a short period of time would result in mana veins scarring as they healed, they would be robust, but lose flexibility and malleability, both of which were important properties of functional mana veins. Worse, it was possible for them to be damaged beyond repair, or to repair with blockages and permanent holes, making them useless.

If Damon could use his mana threads to cause small tears in William's mana veins, and then kick start their healing by channeling some mana into the tears, it was possible for William's veins to become tougher in the short period of time between now and his awakening.

Further to that, William's body would absorb more mana to compensate for the mana used in the healing process. There was a small chance that this could force his mana level to increase from F(High) to E(Low).

Whilst it was simple in theory, it was something that most scholars would dismiss as impossible. In the first place, it was exceedingly difficult to assess and interfere with the mana veins of someone else.

For some unknown reason, even the most powerful of experts found It hard to penetrate some else's body and map out their mana veins. It was confirmed that mana veins where physically there – both extensive studies on live humans and dissections on cadavers had been conducted.

A quirk of them though, was that they behaved much like mana itself. Whilst someone was alive, their mana veins were in a semi-intangible state. They existed physically, it was possible for them to expand, constrict, tear, heal and grow. And yet, they had the properties of energy –they could not be physically touched, moved around or interfered with. Experts thus concluded that it was only when someone died that their mana veins would fully crystallize into a permanent solid form.

Damon, however, had True - Sight and exceptional mana sensitivity, giving him the ability to be able to view William's mana veins. Whether or not he would be able to interact with them was yet to be seen, but his mana threads seemed to have the same semi-intangible property that mana veins had.

It made him wonder if the secret to mana veins being formed had the same roots as that of his mana threads.

"Perhaps if mana particles are arranged in a certain way, they form stable structures that have properties different to normal clouds of mana" Mused Damon.

Setting aside his thoughts, he focused on forming a single, long mana thread. When the thread was formed, he turned his attention to William, and activated True - Sight, this time focusing on Williams body.

His vision blurred for a second, and, now able to see mana, his view of the room changed. Layered on top of his regular vision, a world of colors bloomed. The room was heavy with glowing clouds of technicolor hues.

He ignored them and concentrated on William, causing the clouds to dissipate from his view. Layered on William's body was a complex network of tubes that were a dull grey in color. There were small partitions between the tubes where they would have connected, and small spheres lay in those junctions. This was William's mana vein network.

Bringing forth his Mana thread, Damon willed it towards a vein at the tip of Williams finger and penetrated it. It took a bit of effort, as if he had to strain against a small barrier, before the thread penetrated the tube.

Success!

Like that, Damon spent the next few hours making small pricks throughout William's mana veins. Once he was done, he channeled his mana through the threads, depositing mana throughout William's mana vein network.

The sun was rising by the time Damon's work was complete, and he was sweating profusely. The whole process had caused significant mental strain to Damon, but he had succeeded. It did not take long for him to fall asleep.

Damon woke to extreme hunger the following morning, waking much later than normal, he found that his mother was already in the room, sitting in her usual chair by the window.

"Aguu!" Swallowing his pride, he called out to her in hunger.

Stolen novel; please report.

The rest of the day was uneventful. He played in the room until the late evening, when Lucy and William returned from their training.

Lucy was much more muted than usual, she bowed to Lady Ariel and retired to the sofa, where she lay down.

William, however, looked terrible. He was much paler than normal, and his eyes were sunken in.

Damon felt a bit guilty – William was not the type to go easy on training or make excuses whilst training. As his mana veins were healing, his stamina would have been severely affected, and so it was normal for him to be exhausted.

"You look terrible William, how are you feeling?" Asked Damon's mother.

William tried to bow but stumbled slightly. "I'm feeling fine my Lady" he said.

Damon's mother frowned.

"This won't do" she said.

"Lucy, be a dear and watch Damon for me. As for you William, follow me to the apothecary."

Despite Williams protests, Damon's mother dragged him away.

"This is for the best" Thought Damon. His mother would be able to get William a tonic to recover his stamina – all in all it would allow him to recover faster.

Looking curiously as Lucy, Damon raised his hands "Abububu!"

Her visage lit up at his request to be carried by her, and she rushed over, picking up Damon and hugging him.

With his mother not in the room, Damon used True-Sight directly on Lucy, not minding the surge of mana it took as Lucy was unlikely to notice it.

Name: Lucia Marlow

Race: Human

Age: 9

Height/Weight: 4ft 5 inch / 29 kg

Level/Class/Sub-Class: Level 0 / -- / --

Title: Royal Attendant

This was little surprising to Damon. He knew that Lucy hailed from his mother's family, but for her to have the surname Marlow meant that she was a blood relative of the main clan. Being a merchant family who had only recently become nobles, they had no side or cadet branches with the same name. If she was a member of the main family, why was her standing so low? It should have been almost impossible for her to have been dismissed as she was in his previous life.

Dismissing his thoughts, Damon focused on her stats.

Stamina: F (Mid)

Speed: F (Mid)

Strength: F (Mid)

Durability: F (High)

Agility: F (Mid)

Mana: E (High)

Aura: --

Remaining Stat Points: 0

Innate Abilities: Earth Attribute Affinity (S)

Class Abilities: --

Sub Class Abilities: --

Miscellaneous: --

Remaining Ability Points: 0

"This doesn't make sense." Thought Damon.

Just going by her stats, Lucy was going to become a powerhouse of a mage in future. Her physical stats were what one would expect from a normal child, though her Durability was surprisingly high. Her mana, however, at E(High) was something unprecedented, it guaranteed that she would blossom into a powerful mage.

Not to mention that she had an innate ability, and it was attribute related at that. Having S class earth attribute affinity meant that she would progress in levels faster, as her body was attuned to absorbing earth attribute mana particles. More than that, it meant that any spells or techniques related to the earth attribute would be much easier for her to learn and master as compared to an average person. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that she was 'loved' by earthen mana.

What didn't make sense was the circumstances surrounding her. Why would her family allow her to become his attendant if they knew of her talent? She should have been raised as the next matriarch if not a powerful cornerstone of the family.

Furthermore, why had there not been more fanfare surrounding her after her awakening. Even if by some impossibility, her family had not assessed her with a reveal stone, her stats would have been made known to them after she awakened. How had she ended up staying as an attendant only to be dismissed?

What had even happened to her after her dismissal?

Damon looked at Lucy and activated the mana vision aspect of True - sight.

"Wha-?" He thought to himself.

Lucy's mana veins were strange. They had an intense earthen brown glow, but something about them was off. Her veins were full of concentrated earth attribute mana, but the mana was not flowing. It was as if her veins had been stuffed full – more so than should have been naturally possible, and they were stuck.

Worse was the mana wells – the connecting points of the veins, were swollen, seemingly on the verge of bursting.

If Lucy undertook her awakening like this, one of two things would happen. Either her mana veins would completely burst, and she would become crippled. Or they would partially rupture. Under the light of baptism, they would heal during the awakening, but the level of damage would cause them to become very rigid, essentially preventing any future development.

Damon was not sure which had happened in his previous life, but either outcome was terrible. Luckily for Lucy, he was here.

Forming a mana thread, he snaked it carefully towards a connecting point at her collar bone, where several mana veins were linked. He carefully inserted his mana thread. There was great push back, but he felt the successful puncture. He did not remove the mana thread, however, but kept it where it was, as it served to plug the hold It had made.

Slowly, he eased it out, keeping the thread near the prick so he could control the outflow of mana. Slowly and surely, the mana leaked from the mana well at the pinprick.

Noticing the success, he continued, selecting key mana wells connected to several veins and pricking them.

A few minutes later, Lucy's veins had deflated to their normal size.

Damon started laughing, causing Lucy to giggle at him in delight. What had happened with Lucy's veins was unnatural, but that was a problem for later.

The important thing here was that as long as he worked on William's veins for the next month and a half, he was guaranteed to have two powerhouses as his attendants in future.