TBATE - The Second Son

Chapter 8: Forming

A year and a half have passed by, and I'm about two-thirds finished developing my mana core, who knew it would be so tedious. The amount of focus required is no joke, if not for me sitting in a calming meditative pose, I would have let my mana core naturally develop.

I presume the bright lights whenever I work on my mana core would be mana particles, but what about those dark purplish ones? They seem to emit something different from mana, something greater.

Cutting off my train of thought, I finished my session of developing my mana core in the afternoon.

I made my way to where my mother is, her belly has a slightly noticeable baby bump. It was a surprise to me, to be honest. I've only noticed that my mother was sometimes slightly having sickness. I only knew once the baby bump showed.

I'm thrilled about having a younger sibling. I would definitely watch its growth with great interest. Boy or girl, whoever harms my younger sibling would face tribulations.

"Mom", I said.

"Yes, sweetie?" Mother said in an affectionate tone.

"When will the baby come out?" I asked as I have no knowledge of knowing the size of baby bumps to weeks in pregnancy.

"The baby will be due a month after your fourth birthday. Be sure to be a good brother, you and your older brother to your younger sibling, alright?" She asked. Honestly, those things shouldn't be said anymore because I'll be spoiling the newest Leywin rotten. I would help it train to grow strong, teach critical thinking skills, and help grow into a wonderful person.

Enough about my thoughts, I should hurry up and train, bit by bit to improve my body. Maybe another reason why mana cores don't form until later is that our young and weak bodies won't be able to handle all the mana. Yeah right, that only ever happens in fiction where characters are seriously overpowered and it became a handicap. But I should strengthen my body, in case something goes wrong.

I went to the garden with the wooden sword in my hand, along with some water and snacks inside the picnic basket so I can just rest and continue.

I swung the wooden sword, imitating sword techniques from all the materials I've read and watched from my past life. I tried to practice the sword with both sides of my body, taking a rest here and there and napping before I move on to the next part of my training.

Re-awakening my muscles by stretching, I then copied the fighting styles from my old world, from the martial arts to fictional fighting techniques. I probably need to be adept in multiple styles to be able to handle anything that comes.

Speaking of fighting styles, there are styles that use different types of weapons and magic combinations. I should probably have some for different types in case other tactics won't work.

Since when did I ever work hard in my whole existence? Probably aside from tests, this is by far the only thing that comes close. Planning my future sure is fun, it's like I'm playing a game and trying to build my character.

As I finished training myself in hand-to-hand combat, I fell asleep in the garden. A guard then took me to my mother. I woke up around dinner, ate and slept like a log. Being a child sure has its pros and cons. You get to have lots of energy, yet the charging time takes too long. If only this world has an alarm. Should I make one? Haha.

The next day, I woke up at dawn and went to train in the garden. I took my morning run and stretched. As the sun rose, I trained with the sword, sharpening my moves, polishing it to the point my moves look smooth. If I were to develop my very own fighting style, I want it to be graceful to add more pressure to anyone thinking of messing with me.

As I finished practicing with the sword, I went inside, took a bath, and ate breakfast. Lilia said something about wanting to read books, coincidentally I needed a place to sleep and do some quick reading.

If not for me analyzing everything around me, I swear my intelligence would have deteriorated by now. Literature is so boring, the plot is too shallow, but interesting, since this type of story is unfamiliar to me. I should really spice up the literature here by adding some elements from my old world. It would also serve as a means to find others like me, but only when I'm strong enough.

As thinking more would be troublesome, I then covered my face with a book, placed my elbows on the desk, and slept. Sleeping in a library is really common, so it should be fine, right?

Months passed by, it would only be a month before my fourth birthday, and two months before my sibling was due to be born. I've grown more proficient in using the sword and fighting styles, be it weaponed or not. Effects of hard work huh.

My core seems to be really close to forming. I only need a little push. Controlling those white particles was much easier than those dark purplish ones. I guess they possess much greater quality than the white ones since they are only a handful, in contrast to the whiter particles.

I went to the training grounds where my father trains with the guards he handles. Since it was early in the morning I won't be taking up too much space just in case someone were to train this early.

At last, my long-awaited awakening, I guess if I fail here my body would either (1)explode, (2)slowly die out as mana poisons me, (3) be unable to use mana since my body is still a child's (4)be able to handle mana but have backlash by pains in my core, (5) or get away Scot-free free. I guess there are a lot more possibilities that I would not even consider thinking about. I should just focus on the last remaining particles.

There are four white particles while there's only one dark purplish particle. I moved the dark purplish particle with great effort and now I'm drowsy. It took me an hour of great focus just to get that one to move. Moving the rest was easy then...it happened. I've finished... Where am I?