Chapter: 19, Mana Cultivation
Dain regained his consciousness and felt something smooth touching both of his hands. He then opened his eyes to see Hestia on his right side, holding his hand close to her face.
He was confused as to why she was here but then feeling something on his left hand, he looked that way.
There he saw Penelope and Azaria both having their hands over his. All of them were currently asleep, so Dain thought that he might be unconscious for about two to three hours. But… What should he do now?
He can directly wake them up but that would disturb their rest. Unknown to him, Dain has been unconscious for a whole six hours. And the girls stayed by his side the entire time in the same position, not even leaving to take a bath or to eat dinner.
It was dark outside and dinner time had already passed. Only Hestia went out once three hours ago to get food for all four of them, but she quickly came back and casted a spell to keep the food hot and quickly returned to the same position, holding Dain's hand.
Dain also saw the food on the table. Feeling that the food was still warm, he thought that they brought it just a while ago before he woke up. But in truth, the food was there for four full hours, constantly begging the spell casted on it to let it be cold.
When he was thinking that, he suddenly felt something releasing his hand. When he looked, he saw that Penelope was awake; her hands on her mouth as she looked away the second Dain looked at her. Her cheeks were red as tomatoes which somehow escaped Dain's perception.
{Wow! You can sense the food's warmth from a distance but can't see a girl blushing right beside you…. (Blindness lvl1000 without love!!!)} Anyway….
With Penelope, Azaria also woke up and seeing that Dain was looking at her, she quickly and reluctantly pulled her hands, trying to explain, "I-I… um… I didn'…
At that moment, Hestia also woke up. Seeing that Dain was awake, she smiled and said "You're awake. You must be hungry, let's eat together, shall we?"
With that, everyone began to eat. It was a bit awkward for everyone since they were eating together after a very long time. Dain was eating on the bed while the others sat beside the bed holding their trays on their lap while eating.
The girls felt utmost joy in their heart, wishing for this moment to never end but they hid their joy and acted normal. After finishing their meal, Dain suggested they leave and genuinely thanked them for their care.
They were reluctant to leave and a sudden knot hung in their heart seeing Dain being polite with them. They were not happy with it but still reluctantly left.
Outside, Duron was hiding in a place that was difficult to notice if someone didn't look closely. He had been sitting there for three whole hours. When he saw Hestia packing food and taking them away, he knew where she was going.
After he finished his meal, he went to his room but he couldn't stay calm, so he came here, in front of Dainsleif's room.
Then the door to Dain's room opened and the three girls walked out. They didn't notice Duron and walked the opposite way of where he was at. He saw Azaria's smiling face that was completely different from the fake, forced smile she had around others, even him. The smile she had when she was around Dainsleif was a completely genuine, straight from heart smile.
Duron's eyes burned with anger as his eyes reddened and the hatred in his heart intensified. He would definitely make Azaria his no-matter-what.
*
Inside his room, Dain looked at his clean body with a knowing look but still took a bath to freshen up.
After bath, he looked at his status window and was satisfied with the current '1' beside his mana stat.
Now he needs to find ways to increase his mana capacity. He remembered a mana nurturing technique that he created in his previous life. That was also a big source of strength for the human race against the demons.
That technique could be used by everyone, meaning anyone with the talent for learning external skills could increase their mana, unlike the mana cultivation techniques that required certain aptitudes to be effective.
Dain remembered the technique very well like it was carved into his memories since he used that technique almost every day.
He then sat in a lotus position and performed the all too familiar steps of the mana cultivation technique. He had named this technique the 'Natural Body Mana Technique' or 'NBM' Technique, which he called it for short.
Soon, his stiff movement at first became fluid and smooth. Slowly, the previous Lymph Vein in his body that has turned into the current Mana Veins circulated the Mana in the motion of the NBM technique.
And soon, the speed of the circulation became a bit fast, not breaking the motion. With the mana circulating, Dain began to draw the surrounding mana inside his body and add them among the flow of mana.
The added mana soon became familiar with the others and merged completely, becoming Dain's mana.
As the mana circulation continued his mana veins began to expand a tiny bit that wouldn't be noticed if nobody looked closely.
Slowly, the mana stone that is called a 'Mana Core' also got a bit bigger, emitting mana a bit stronger than before. With the continuous practice of the NBM technique, the mana inside Dain's body increased a little.
After about two hours, it was already midnight. Dain knew he could skip tomorrow's training since he had just awakened his mana, so he didn't care to stop and sleep early.
After another hour of continuous practice, a mechanical voice rang in his ears as a satisfied smile appeared in his lips.
[Mana increased by 3]
To be Continued…