Luck smiled in satisfaction as he sat in his backyard. He had tested several of his new skills, and he had to say, he was impressed.
These skills, if used properly, would be a great boon to his arsenal and make him several times more deadly.
He stood up, ending his short rest as he planned to finish familiarizing himself with the remaining spells.
What was left now were the manipulation skills, Gravity, and Void manipulation.
(Guess I'll start with Gravity first.) Luck said internally as he began to channel his mana through his body while attracting the ambient mana in the surroundings.
Increasing the speed of his circulation, Luck managed to separate the gravity attribute mana from the rest of the amalgamated energies, drawing it towards his body as he slowly filled his mana core with it.
Luck smiled slightly. The whole process was surprisingly smoother than he thought, primarily because he had developed an affinity for the element.
The smile disappeared almost immediately. (Here comes the hard part.)
He began to use his gravity mana to cast Gravity Center, giving him control over the gravitational field in a two-meter radius.
It was slowly working as he felt his surroundings getting lighter, causing his hair to slightly float upwards.
It was going well until...
*Boom*
The mana exploded violently on his face, sending him skidding a few meters back.
(Again.)
And that's what he did. He continued again and again until his mana had reached a quarter of what it was full.
(There must be something I can do.) Luck said as he wiped the trails of blood from his mouth. Something was missing from the entire process. If he could find it, then everything would finally come together.
His gaze turned listless as he sifted through the information in his head. He needed this to work.
It was not like he couldn't use his spells without the manipulation. It was just that their potency was marginally reduced without it.
Seconds turned into minutes until an entire hour passed by. It was at that moment that Luck's eyes finally gained a hint of life.
(I've got it.) Luck thought as he began to circulate his mana once more.
As his mana began to conduct the spell, he swirled the mana in his core, causing particles of different colours to separate from it.
He immediately expelled it from his body as he cast Gravity Center in full instead of performing it slowly.
Luck grinned slowly as the effects of his spell came out in full.
It worked.
The reason why it failed the other times was that it was reacting to the ambient mana contained in the energy used to power it.
Although Luck had separated the gravity attribute from the remaining, it seemed that the remains of the regular mana were still integrated with it.
He needed to purify it, or the spell would go wayward when trying to use mana that wasn't meant for the spell.
Even right now, it wasn't 100% complete or even 80% pure, for that matter. It was still enough to use Gravity Manipulation alongside the spell.
Luck took a mental note to purify his mana during his free time to see if it would affect the spell's potency.
Luck was about to continue onto his last skill when a thought suddenly entered his head.
He hadn't absorbed the Shadow Lynx's core. His shadow suddenly wriggled as it moved towards his.
'It left as it came, leaving behind a small colourless stone that was the size of a slightly bigger-than-average tennis ball.
(I think I'll add this to my Physique.) Luck said on a whim, as it was his only progression bar that he hadn't filled up once.
*Ding*
[+50 physique points!]
[Congratulations! You have learnt the skill Stealth(R)]
Luck grinned at the last message. He had every right to do so, though. It wasn't every day that awakeners acquired skills from a beast. It was only a 30% chance of success after all.
(I mean, who doesn't want free skills?) Luck mused to himself.
He put the thought at the back of his head as he decided to start on Void Manipulation.
That was until he felt a sudden surge of energy coming from inside, making him rush in to see what was happening.
Luck found his brother in a lotus position. He seemed to be in deep meditation, allowing Luck to sense that the spike in mana came from him.
(He's already started to absorb his beast cores.)
Luck didn't want to disturb, so he quietly began to make his way upstairs to call it a day.
If not, his parents' arrival at that time, he might have been upstairs snoring by then.
Luck heard the click of the door opening and turned his head, just in time for him to see Dan and Vera walk in.
"Welcome back." Luck greeted with a flat tone. Though he was happy to see them, he really didn't have the energy to show excitement.
Vera glanced at Luke. Seeing that he was currently in Do-not-disturb mode, she faced Luck again, as she smiled warmly.
"We heard that you two were the stars of the Monster extermination." She said with more than a hint of pride. "You managed to hold off a B-ranker till when the guards came in.
We have to say we're impressed."
Luck shrugged in response. "We had to show them that we were the chief's sons, which basically means we had to give such an impression."
Dan grinned at Luck. "You're right, and since you two managed to acquire that level of fame for the family, we're willing to grant anything you wish to ask us now."
Luck stared at his parents as he processed his father's words. Even though the favor of saints was equally beneficial as it was rare, Luck really had only one thing on his mind.
"We wish to go to Lysarrieth Academy."
.