Free The Beginning After The End (Early Years Book 1) by TurtleMe Page B

went by quickly as Sylvia continued preparing the portal.

 
    In
a regretful tone, she says one day, “ The spell will take some time in order
for it to be completely safe.  I do not wish for you to land in a
destination you are not familiar with.  Even one inconsistency can lead to
you being transported a couple hundred meters off the ground.  Please be
patient; you will be able to see your loved ones soon .”

 
    I
nodded and said that as long as I know they’re alive, I am fine with waiting.
 It beats trying to climb back up the mountain.

 
    These
past couple of days, while I trained my mana core and chatted with Sylvia, I
noticed a few things.

 
    Sylvia
really made me think of the cliché, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.”
 Unlike her less than friendly appearance, she was kind, gentle, patient,
and warm.  She reminded me of mother, in the way that they both scolded me
while being tender when I did something wrong.  I was mentioning about how
the mage that I fought, as well as the other bandits, deserved worse deaths
than they had when she suddenly flicked my forehead!

 
    Even
though she was gentle, a flick of a finger from someone over 10 meters high was
nothing to make light of.  I rolled a little bit before angrily shouting,
“What was THAT for ?! ”

 
    Picking
me up and setting me on her armored knee, she said in a soft but pained tone.
 “ Art.  Perhaps you are not wrong in that those bandits did
deserve death.  Even I chose not to save that mage you fell with because
of the same reasons.  However, do not let your heart be clouded with
continuous thoughts of hatred and the sort.  Continue on proudly with your
life and gain the strength to protect your loved ones from harm.  Along
the way, you will come to face situations like before, maybe even worse, but don’t
let the grief and rage corrode your heart but move on and learn to better
yourself from those experiences so it won’t happen again. ”

 
    I
blinked, stunned at the fact that I was getting lectured on my morals from
someone that looked like the epitome of evil herself.  Strangely, it stuck
with me and I just nodded blankly.

 
    Another
thing I noticed was that her wound seemed to be getting bigger.  I found
it somewhat odd at first that she could still be alive with a gaping whole in
the side of her chest, but I got used to it until a couple days after I met
her, the wound seemed to be bleeding a lot more.  Sylvia tried to hide it
at first with her hand, but it was growing more and more obvious.

 
    Noticing
my concerned gaze towards the wound, Sylvia gave me a weak smile, saying “ Do
not worry little one, this wound festers from time to time .”

 
    One
day, while I was meditating and using various exercises to better control my
mana, Sylvia suddenly spoke, saying, “ Art.  Try absorbing mana while
you are making movements.  Ideally you should be able to absorb at least a
fraction of the mana you would during meditation while you are fighting.
 Although you would be spending mana faster than you can absorb mana, you
will be able to prolong the usage of your mana .”

 
    That’s
right! I totally forgot about testing that hypothesis.  I was so used to
having absorption of mana and the manipulation of mana as two separate things
that I didn’t stop to think about the possibilities in this new world.

 
    “Okay!
I’ll try!”

 
    “ Kuku,
humans have a very linear mindset in regards to mana and find it hard to
deviate from anything that already works.  Practice hard now though,
because you can only learn this skill while both your body and mana core are
immature.  Mana beasts learn to do this naturally, but because humans
awaken too late and in most cases, their bodies are not adept for this ability
when they first awaken.  Considering you are so young, there shouldn’t be
a problem if you practice .” Continues Sylvia with a proud puff from her
nose.

 
    I
have to admit it was