Similar to humans, there were also drastic differences between children and adult magical beings.
But unlike humans, who took physiological, anatomical, cognitive, social, and emotional aspects into consideration when determining maturity, magical beings were mainly concerned about one thing: core formation.
Fundamentally similar in nature but different in manifestation, a core was what separated humans from magical beings. It allows the gathering, regulation, and transformation of mana.
Humans do not have magical cores; therefore, they cannot harness mana through their bodies alone. Magical beings, on the other hand, are born with a predisposition to form their mana cores.
Still, it was only a predisposition. And just like most organs, the core would still need time to develop.
But the same predisposition was what elevated the dragon kind above all others. For dragons, the magical core was the heart itself. It had beaten with their mana, as natural as a pulse or breath.
