Chapter: 88

“It’s a deal.” Jay smiled back as the adventurer guild door opened.

“Seems like my situation isn’t so hopeless after all” Trenly thought to himself as he smiled lightly.

A man entered the room, dressed in dark-blue robes trimmed with a green pattern. He has red hair and was very tall, Jay reckoned that he was over 2 meters tall – about 7 foot. He glanced at Jay as he closed the door behind him.

“Jay.” he nodded.

“Hi. Sir.” Jay became more formal as he was realising this was his trainer.

“I’m Viladore,” he shook jay’s hand “the voice in your head.” he smiled, a positive attitude could be heard just from his voice.

“Oh, I see” Jay almost chuckled as he tried to remain formal.

“Looks like I’ll be training you.” he said as he was handed some paper from Margie. He signed it and turned back to Jay. “Come on Jay. Let’s head to the training area.” he said with encouragement as he walked to a door next to reception.

“He sounds way more friendly when he uses his normal voice.” Jay thought.

“Yes sir.” Jay followed him into a door next to reception, which opened into another hallway that took them deeper into the building before exiting out the other side – it was a small private garden, the manacrafter’s private training area.

“Any questions before we get started?”

“Not yet, but I’ll probably have some once we begin.”

“Sure. Well first, sit in a cross-legged position. I’ll be analysing the ambient mana around you while I instruct you.”

Jay assumed a cross-legged position on a nearby rock in the garden as he began his private lessons.


Training started off as Jay expected – with the basics. Some of the phrases that he overheard earlier were beginning to make sense.

“Picture a veil, a spider web of the mana around us – grab it, twist it, spin it into twine, then twine into rope – and then pull the rope in, making it a part of yourself; un-twirl it as it enters your mind and body”… “Think about the boulders of the earth, standing against the rain and elements. Unmoving – the only thing to split the boulders are the tender roots, seeping into them from trees. Imagine you are the tree, make your bark, your shell, stronger. Become as solid as the rock and unrelenting as the tree.”

Jay tried as he was instructed, however he had found that using his own analogies worked better – he thought about his analogy of the whirlpool while channelling and pulling in the ambient mana into his mind.

Viladore raised an eyebrow seeing this. Jay seemed to have learnt quicker than any other pupil, while also seeming to be channelling a larger amount – Viladore not realising that Jay had previously listened to his teachings in secret.

“Very good.” Viladore said casually, trying not to inflate Jay’s ego “Next lesson.”

While trying the second lesson, Jay similarly had trouble until he came up with his own analogy.

“It seems like my own understanding creates a greater effect…” he thought as he continued forming his own analogy “The shell strengthens while the centre flows. An impenetrable bone protects the soft inner marrow.”

Again, Viladore was surprised at how fast Jay learnt.

“Seems like he’s a natural” he thought as he gazed at Jay’s unusually thick manashell forming around his mind – then it dissipated suddenly. Viladore understood he had achieved level 1.

Jay, receiving the notification, was distracted and lost his concentration..