"no…"Ventus hesitated,"It's too dangerous even if I dedicate all of my attention too it, you said it yourself that only a magus king will be able to safely execute techniques at his core,"

"What's that to say about me who is only at the apprentice rank?"

"Well, from what I've gathered according to your information, this is an isolated dimension that you won't have the chance of coming back so soon right? Do you really want to lose the chance of getting such a great weapon as my indestructible body that you can manipulate to do any attack your imagination and mana may allow with far greater strength than the usual minerals found on the common earth you have access to?" Ragnar tempted.

"I don't...but…"

"No buts kid! how do you expect to ever grow and achieve the power you saw in my memories without taking any risks? you think that any of those powerhouses didn't have their own fair share of trials and tribulations they had to face before achieving that sort of monumental power?"

"I know…"

"Then what exactly are you still afraid of?" Ragnar sighed gently, "To grow into a powerhouse you'll need resources, weapons and lots of training...but the most important thing that you must have is the heart kid!"

"Without the heart of a powerhouse you may grow and actually achieve their power, but you'll never be a match to any powerhouse you may encounter as you will forever remain lacking in comparison". The dragon explained.

"The heart of a powerhouse…" Ventus mumbled

Ventus took a deep breath and exhaled hard as his emotions raged in disorder. On one side stood the massive potential of the dragon's golden sand but with the price of possibly losing his ability to use mana whilst on the other side there was safety, but a massive impact on his mind, forever lacking the powerhouse's heart and resolve. After several moments he clenched his fist as his eyes glowed with a new resolve inside them.

"Oh what the heck! my father developed a whole policy on his own and became a grandmaster without resources or financial aid on his research, if I'm ever to honor his resolve and avenge my family's death, I can't possibly allow myself to retreat in the first difficulty!" He exclaimed.

"Very well dragon, let's make a bet on fate!" He grinned confidently.

"That's the spirit kid! I'll help you to the best of my ability, just worry about refining the mana and leave the rest to me." The dragon roared.

Ventus chose to sit in the midst of the formation's crater cross-legged and adjust his breathing before executing his refinement technique. At first, he just ran it on his meridians to get the feeling of the rotating mana circling through, after a few moments he stopped and focused on his core. Once again he found himself face-to-face with the condensed liquid energy that powered his technique and strengthened his body. His will permeated the liquid and struggling he attempted to move it and execute just a single revolution, but just like the first time, he encountered immense resistance from his core.

"This thing again!" Ventus grumbled with difficulty.

Whilst Ventus struggled to control the mana inside his core Ragnar had other tasks to work on. The golden core slowly released golden threads that connected to the bottom of Ventus's core and quickly established a connection between them, making a golden link that constantly drained mana. In instants, the mana level was dropping close to depletion, as he noticed this Ventus got desperate.

"I don't believe I can't do this!" Ventus roared.

Beads of cold sweat accumulated in his body as his muscles tensed up to an incredible level.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Come on….MOVE!"

As if listening to his command the mana finally obeyed and moved in accordance to the refinement technique. Outside, a massive whirlwind formed around Ventus's body whilst millions of wisps of mana dashed through the air and fused his body. The following rotations became easier as they happened and soon enough a whirlwind of mana was formed inside Ventus's core that constantly refined and condensed mana to replenish the non-stop drain of its resources. The dragon's roar echoed in Ventus's mind as he cheered.

"That's it kid! Leave the rest to me!"

Just below the region where Ventus's core was held shone a golden light that pulsated as mana was infused into it. The light at first was just a gentle glow, but as time flowed and mana filled the beast core the light gradually grew in brilliance to the point where it shined brightly with a golden radiance that resembled the light released by the fabled gates of heaven.

"Now, my body! return to me!" Ragnar roared in command.

A bright golden light illuminated the skies for an instant as the dragon's seal shone brightly below Ventus's body. The earth trembled as a thunderous sound rung out in the form of a shockwave that woke every beast in the reach of the blast and scared them to the depths of their souls making them flee or bury themselves deep into the earth to flee the monstrous presence that arose from the desert.

Radiant lights filled the sky whilst the air itself seemed to twist and converge at the draconic seal. The winds rotated at high speeds as the dragon's core emitted more and more aura by the second threatening to outshine the evening sun amidst the rapid winds that almost formed tornadoes. Suddenly everything stopped.

The light faded and the winds stopped, the trembling earth grew still and for an instant, the hearts of the myriad creatures hidden in the earth or fleeing towards other regions had hope that the apparent armageddon had ceased. That land seemed to have died as the silence took over, every beast or intelligent being held their breath as their hearts clenched in preparation for any possible following calamitous event whilst their instincts told them that if at that moment they moved they would be instantly annihilated.

The seal expanded rapidly below the meditating Ventus and as its core provided a seemingly endless amount of mana to it, it finally stopped its movements when it reached a thousand meters radius. Light burst out from the seal and once again disaster struck the land as once more the winds converge towards the seal and became a disastrous tornado that sucked in pulled towards it the sand surrounding the corona formation's remaining crater.

If one were to look at Ventus's body from the outside they would immediately that there were billions of golden threads shooting out from the golden core and constantly dragging the golden "sand" towards it, storing and the shooting out once more in a blinding speed that made those threads seem more like a blurred cloud composed of rapid moving golden sparks as they continuously repeated the cycle of collection.

"That's it kid!" Ragnar exclaimed cheerfully, "At the rate your refining mana we could even manage to store my body even faster than I thought!"

Ventus, on the other hand, could not spare any attention to the dragon's cheerful mood as his focus was entirely on his core and the immense speed that it gathered mana and was emptied over and over as if it had a hole on it. Whilst He endlessly urged his mana and executed the whirlwind revolution a mysterious feeling arose in his soul.

Time flowed and as it did Ventus felt his body become closer and closer to the wind element that spun around him. In the beginning, he could only feel its pressure, but as the hours flowed he started to perceive more intrinsic and hidden characteristics of the element. He perceived its speed, its weight, its formlessness and especially the fierceness it could achieve with the right conditions and applications.

WIth his senses shut out, focused on gathering the mana as his soul learned the mysteries of the wind Ventus did not perceive the flow of time, but the dragon that had spare energy did. By now they had already collected 60% of the desert's sand and the process only sped up to the point that the old dragon got worried. Ventus was refining mana faster than he could have ever imagined, and to make matters even more shocking, he somehow had managed to connect with the wind elemental mana and refine it instead of the neutral world mana.

The difference from the refinement of world mana to the elemental mana was the compatibility of the refinement technique. If a person used a fire refinement on the world mana they could only refine so much so fast, but if they used the fire refinement on the fire elemental mana, they could employ the technique to its maximum potential.

And in Ventus's case, that rule clearly applied and to great effect. Not only was Ventus refining far more mana than previously thought possible, due to the wind element's nature, he was also doing it at a ridiculous speed. At this point, the dragon was having a hard time draining the mana fast enough to prevent Ventus from exploding. He was about to warn the boy to slow down when he noticed that Ventus was experiencing an unexpected phenomenon.

"This kid is a monster!" He exclaimed, "He's having an enlightenment now!?"