Supreme Magus

Chapter 3435 Three Steps (Part 2)

On the third day, the blue light in the darkness took but a few minutes to appear.

'I knew it!'Aran gloated in triumph. 'Awakening here I come!"

He focused on the light, willing for it to come to him.

After snack time arrived and the light was no closer than when it had first appeared, Aran decided to change approach.

'If it doesn't come to me, I'll go to it.' He thought.

Aran sent his willpower to the blue light but when he touched it, the blue light disappeared and he found himself with his eyes open and staring at Salaark's chair.

"Is everything alright?" She asked.

It was the first time Aran broke his focus on his own and for no reason.

"I think so." He closed his eyes and resumed his practice.

The blue light appeared again but it was always at the same distance. Aran tried making contact with it using each element, then with all possible combinations of two different elements.

When even that failed it was already lunchtime and the blue light hadn't moved a millimeter.

On the fourth day, Aran tried all possible combinations of three different elements, then four, five, then came snack time, then all six elements at once. When even that failed, Aran tried using more mana, then less, then to circle around the blue light and strike at its back.

Lunchtime arrived and Aran had made no progress since the previous day,

"Why the long face?" Raaz asked as his son ate the food like they had a blood feud.

"I have done nothing but work, cat, and sleep for four days. Aran grumbled. "I've missed all my play time and I have nothing to show for it."

"Whatever you are doing, you can always take a break." Raaz suggested. "No one is forcing you and maybe you can find a different approach once you look at the problem with a fresh set of eyes."

Aran grunted in acknowledgment but said nothing.

On the fifth day, he threw a tantrum rather than practicing.

He retraced his steps from the start, doing everything faster and better but achieving the same results. By lunchtime, he had learned nothing new and was fuming.

On the sixth day, after a good night's sleep, he had calmed down.

'Maybe I'm on the right path but I stepped out of it without noticing. Maybe I'm simply not done with the second step. Let's keep ignoring the blue light and see if the burning

sensation increases.'

Aran followed his plan and, much to his dismay, the burning in his abdomen stayed the same. Much to his surprise, however, the blue light grew stronger.

The distance was the same but by snack time the blue light had doubled its original size. After eating, Aran tried to connect with it but after a single failure he ignored the blue light again.

By lunchtime, the blue light had grown stronger again, enough to faintly illuminate the darkness surrounding him.

"Someone is in a good mood." Raaz ruffled Aran's hair.

The boy ate with a huge smile on his face, taking his time tasting the various dishes. Even the vegetable ones.

"Yep." He nodded. "I finally made progress again."

"Happy to hear it buddy, but I miss you." Raaz said. "Can't you make some time for your old man?"

"Really?" Aran almost choked on his food as his father nodded in reply.

"Me too." Onyx lowered her cat ears, whimpering,

"Same." Leria admitted. "The lessons are not half as interesting without competition.

Also, we haven't played in a week. Garrik, Lilia, and Leran are worried for you."

"I'm sorry. I'll spend tomorrow with you guys." Aran replied.

After an intense day of fishing with Raaz and playing with his friends, Aran went to bed grumbling.

'How am I supposed to make progress if I have to waste so much time with the people I love? It's- Wait, what?" Aran's train of thought derailed when he realized what he was thinking. 'Am I going insane? Is this a fit of the Manohar?"

He turned around, looking at Onyx's hybrid form snuggling and purring at him.

"Thank you for today, Aran. I had a lot of fun." She said with a sleepy voice.

"Please, don't say that, Onyx," Aran swallowed hard, feeling like a massive jerk. "I should thank you for always taking care of me."

"You're welcome." She nuzzled him and fell asleep.

"This settles it. I'm a jerk." He sighed.

***

On the eighth day, the light kept growing and Aran stopped trying to make contact. He focused on his exercises and ignored the blue light. By lunchtime, the black space around him had turned pale blue.

On the ninth day, it became of a light blue, and on the tenth bright blue.

The eleventh day marked the completion of the second step. The blue light had turned into a blazing flame as intense as a sun. It hadn't moved a single millimeter from its original position but Aran didn't care.

A second, much smaller and fainter blue light had formed inside of him.

'I'm an idiot! I wasted so much time trying to control the light while all I had to do was bask in it. If I'm right, the blue light is the external world energy. My training allows me to perceive it but no one can control it.

I've gotten used to sense it and now I can also sense my mana! I bet this blue light inside of me right where my tummy hurts is what Big Bro calls the mana core.'

Aran relentlessly trained but when snack time and then lunchtime came, he had made

no visible progress.

'Okay, if nothing changes until snack time, it means I've completed the second step and need to look for the third.' Aran thought at the start of his twelfth day of training. Alas, he was right. To make matters worse, he had no idea how to move forward. He tried all the exercises Lith had taught him, pondered the river and water metaphor, and kept his mana moving but no flow formed and no change took place in his Mindspace.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Truth be told, Aran had reached the same step as Lith back when he was a newborn and had drawn in the world energy but their conditions couldn't have been more different. Back then, Lith's core was nigh-empty and the world energy was flooding it with its power. On top of that, the body of a healthy newborn had almost no impurities simply because they had no time to form.

All it had taken Lith was to sense the world energy, his own mana, and a small push had done the rest.

As for Aran, his mana core was full and his body filled with impurities. After the blunder with Tista, Lith removed only the bare minimum of impurities to keep Aran healthy and ensure a perfect body development.

By lunchtime, Aran had made no progress. He rested the following day and kept trying and failing until the fifteenth day.

"Tomorrow Mom and my big brothers will return. Please, gods, make me succeed. I want to surprise them.' He prayed before starting his practice.