13

Id was concentrating on wielding his wooden sword, regardless of whether Andrew was watching him or not. Andrew thought Id had come to him because this clever boy wanted to learn his sword skills. Id must have been impressed by his capability to penetrate the black panther’s chest with a single stab. What Andrew didn’t know was that this poor little boy was nothing but desperate to distract himself from the memories of his late mother, thus working hard everyday, putting in his full effort into everything he did.

Andrew had no intention of teaching Id swordsmanship. First of all, he was so absorbed in opening a manna hall in his chest that he did not want to distract himself with anything else. Besides, he had spent almost all of his life learning and practicing top-class swordsmanship. And his family had paid a large sum of money to invite prominent swordsmanship teachers from all over the Empire since he was five years old. He was unwilling to teach such sword skills to a mountain village boy who suddenly arrived on his doorstep one day. Even while he had helped his men train their swordsmanship when he had been the Knight Commander of the Red Lion Order, he had not taught them his own swordsmanship. When many young Knights from high-class noble families had requested to learn his skills, promising sufficient payment, he had been reluctant to teach them his sword techniques.

Andrew and Id’s cohabitation continued in peace without any problem. Contrary to Andrew’s misconception, Id showed little interest in learning swordsmanship. He was just subconsciously swinging the wooden sword to dispel miscellaneous thoughts. He never asked Andrew to teach him sword skills.

Andrew could spend more time than before on his manna training, swordsmanship training and meditation since Id did almost all of the housework. Except for hunting evil beasts for fur and skin or mountain animals for food, he solely concentrated on finding out how to reinforce and sustain his Aura Blade by manna force longer. Despite his efforts over the past decade, Andrew had yet to achieve any significant results. But considering the future of the Marquis family, he could not give up his mission.

At first, Andrew did not show Id his manna training on the magic diagram. But as time went by, his trust in Id grew, so he asked Id to stand beside him during his manna training. He wanted Id to warn him, should a sudden disturbance be caused by wild beasts or villagers due to his vulnerability during his manna training meditation.

So, Id started standing beside Andrew’s magic diagram during his training which lasted a couple of hours. Id was instructed to stand still the whole two hours as Andrew asked him not to disturb him. The boy could not understand what the old man was doing standing on a strange picture. He just breathed deeply and slowly, keeping his eyes closed.

Having gotten bored, Id started to mimic Andrew. He also breathed deeply and slowly for a long time, and his lower abdomen expanded and contracted following his breathing. Id was practicing abdominal breathing as children usually did. On the other hand, Andrew was taking thoracic breaths as adults typically did. His shoulders and chest swelled and shrunk as he inhaled and exhaled.

With Id’s breathing, the abundant manna of Mother Nature was sucked into his body and expelled repeatedly. Andrew did not notice that Id was imitating him since Id tended to finish his manna breathing before he did.

Initially, Id just imitated Andrew, but gradually he immersed himself in manna breathing. While breathing manna deep into the lower abdomen, he felt familiar energy traversing all the way down to his lower abdomen and back out repeatedly. Though it was his first time feeling this energy inside his body, Id felt a certain intimacy with the energy. Although unaware, he had been interacting with this energy for a long time, from a very early age. Id did not know the energy was called manna, but he immediately recognised that this same energy guided his senses to recognize other people's malice during his time at court. This energy also enabled him to maintain an advantage in his wooden sword battles with the older children, allowing him to predict their movements and intentions.

Id was standing right next to the magic circle, where the density of manna was much higher than other places because he stood in the middle of the invisible corridor of manna being collected into the magic diagram. Still, manna there was not as dense as in the middle of the magic circle. As he concentrated on breathing, Id felt something warm and gentle moving in and out of his lower abdomen.

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Id relaxed, feeling the familiar energy enter his body. Closing his eyes, he quietly contemplated the movement of the energy. If it were Andrew, he would try to trap the manna in his body by any means. But Id has not done anything to affect the energy’s movement since he regarded the energy as a welcome old friend he met again after a long time.

As Id did not try to control the energy deliberately, manna came in and out of his body without any qualms. Although at first, it caressed Id’s abdomen like a breeze, it soon began to build up in the body little by little. The amount of manna that started piling up in the lower abdomen was insignificant, but Id immediately noticed it.

‘Amazing. How can something like this build up in my body?’

Encouraged by the phenomenon in his body, Id focused even more on his breathing technique. As time went by, the amount of manna piled up in his lower abdomen increased, and Id felt the manna circulate his torso along a specific complicated passage.

Andrew did not notice until a year after that Id had begun to build up manna. Id, who had become ten years old, was fully focused on circulating manna inside his body. He was having fun increasing the amount of manna by manna circulation. It was truly amazing that the warm and gentle mass that came through breathing grew over time. Id constantly circulated manna whenever he was free. Breathing manna elsewhere has proven to be less fruitful than doing it next to the magic circle. But for Id, the amount of manna piling up in his lower abdomen was irrelevant. He just enjoyed the whole procedure of contemplation and meditation, circulating manna without any miscellaneous thoughts.

On the ninth day after Id’s tenth birthday, the young boy started manna circulation next to the magic circle right after Andrew had begun the process himself, standing in the middle of the magic diagram as usual. Suddenly, however, an area five centimeters below the navel heated up, and Id felt acute pain. He crouched with his forehead and knees pressed to the ground, holding his lower abdomen with his hands. The manna mass located in Id’s lower abdomen with the size of an adult fist was being contracted drastically. Astonished, Id shut his mouth up with a hand to not disturb Andrew. Id endured the pain with all his might, but the pain grew bigger and bigger. First, it felt like a fireball in his stomach, and then later, it felt like a fire column was burning from the lower abdomen to the mouth.

As the boy struggled on the ground with tightly clenched hands, Andrew stopped his meditation and shouted.

“I said, don’t disturb me…… What…?”

Andrew’s eyes widened. Confused, he approached Id.

“What’s going on?”

Id was not able to answer him. Andrew watched Id suffer, with a stiff look on his face. Id’s pain did not last very long, and he could soon feel the heavy aura in his lower abdomen. The warm energy accumulated through breathing condensed into the size of a walnut and settled beneath the navel. Id attempted to stand up, feeling Andrew’s bewildered gaze. Before he could feel any wonder about the lump of concentrated manna settled in his body, Andrew asked in a trembling voice.

“What happened?”

Id apologized before explaining the situation.

“I am sorry. I did not make a scene on purpose.”

“I asked you what happened.”

Even though he was frightened by Andrew’s unrelenting attitude, Id clearly explained the situation.

“Standing still for two hours without doing anything while you were training, all kinds of thoughts came to mind. So I tried to imitate you.”

“Imitate me?”

“Yes, I imitated your breathing training.”

“When did you start imitating me?”

“From the very first day, I started standing here. During your second training session in the evening, I couldn’t stand it anymore because I thought of mom when I stayed still.”

Andrew’s expression got worse and worse.

“When did you feel the manna?”

“What is manna?”

After Andrew’s explanation, Id realized that the energy built up in his body was called manna.

“On the very first day… I felt the manna come into my body and go out repeatedly. Though it was my first time feeling manna inside my body, I have been feeling it surrounding me in the air since I was four years old as far as I can remember.”

Andrew’s face was filled with astonishment when he heard Id’s explanation. Id’s manna affinity seemed unimaginable.

“When did manna start to accumulate in your body?”

“A few days after I started breathing it in. At the first stage, it piled up just little by little.”

“In your heart?”

Id widened his eyes.

“No, not in my heart.”

He pointed with his finger at the place about five centimeters beneath his navel.

“It built up here.”