Miss Silver's class
Aster follows Miss Silver out of the room and the school.
"Hey, Miss Silver! What level are you?" He asked. He was extremely curious since Miss Silver always had an aura of pressure around her. Aster wanted to know how strong you have to be to have that kind of aura or maybe it was a skill?
"What skills do you have? What are your traits? What are your attributes? What are you-"
Silver stopped walking and looked in Aster's direction. At that moment Aster felt pressure weighing down on his heart. Her eyes seemed to say 'Shut up' and Aster complied but that did nothing to diminish his enthusiasm.
He followed Silver and walked on the streets he walked on a thousand times before but it felt different. He looked at the passengers nearby and thought 'These people will have no idea what's going to happen.' Then he realized a huge problem
"What are you going to tell the population? They are not going to just stay quiet and comply when the convergence happens. I know the people there are far stronger than people on Earth but we are not gonna use violence, are we?" He asked, with a hint of fear in his voice because he was asking a question when Silver said 'shut up'.
"You don't have to worry about that. You know the president, Arco Lionsfield, yes? He's awakened and has a skill called [Pack control]. It allows him to influence a group of people as long as he is in charge of it. The other presidents have similar skills or items that achieve similar effects. There won't be any mass panic"
Aster felt simultaneously relieved and terrified at the same time. after listening to Miss Silver. The thought of people from other world managing his entire life seemed scary even though they meant no harm.
They walked for a few minutes and then took a taxi. No words were spoken for the rest of the journey. After 2 hours of traffic, they arrived at an apartment. The apartment had 13 floors and was quite big.
"This is where you will be staying for a week," Miss Silver said.
"Wait, what about my parents?"
"We told them you are on an excursion so it's fine, just go in"
Silver entered a password on the entrance and the door opened and they went in, after ten steps or so, another metal door and another passcode, then 2 more after that.
Aster couldn't help but notice that each time they went through a door, the walls and the ceilings became more and more enhanced with metals. Once they went past the 4th door, Aster saw something that he could never forget.
There was a huge 12-meter tall, 3-meter wide monolith. The monolith had glowing cyan runes inscribed on it and had a bunch of cables protruding from its foundation and those cables were connected to 30, 2 meter tall and 3 meter wide, white rocks with 3 teenagers touching it with both of their hands each. Everyone seemed to be concentrating hard.
"This is the barrier monolith. You supply your mana into it until it's fully charged, then you can consider your mission complete. Depending on how much mana you contribute, you will get bonus rewards. We have about a week remaining so do your best until then." Silver explained and continued "I have to report to the higher-ups so I will be leaving, look out for Amanda, she will teach you" before leaving.
'Amanda huh' Aster thought and looked at about 100 people
'Searching for her will be fun'
"Hello! Are you new? I think I saw Miss Silver just now." A girl suddenly said behind him.
"Gah! Yes, I'm new. Do you know Amanda? Miss Silver said she would help me."
The girl had bright red hair and green eyes. She was quite small, around 140 cm. She seemed to be around middle school.
"Oh, my name is Amanda, what's yours?"
"Aster", 'Thank god she came to me on her own, I'm not too keen on interrogating a hundred people to find a girl I don't even know.'
"Alright then Aster, follow me. I will show you your spot."
Aster followed Amanda to the furthest stone from the monolith. The stone currently had 2 people occupying it so there was one spot left and Aster took that spot.
"A new person! Hi, I'm Sunny" and young girl greeted him at the stone. She had blonde hair and brown eyes. She seemed to be around 11 years old.
"And I'm Jacob" the other person, a young boy about 13 years old. He had brown hair, brown eyes, and freckles on his face.
"Hello, Jacob and Sunny, I'm Aster and I guess I would be occupying this stone with you for the next week." Aster greeted them back. "So how do I channel my mana into that stone?"
"It's simple, just touch the stone with your hands and imagine the heat in your body leaving you and going to the rock" Amanda replied back.
He followed her instruction and touched the stone with his hands. the stone felt awfully hot but it didn't burn him at all.
"Since this is your first time, sit down and channel about 50% of your mana." Jacob said.
Aster listened, sat down and closed his eyes, letting [Mana sense] do it's thing. The stone was shining brightly, way more than the crystal he absorbed, he could also faintly see that the cables were containing a stream of mana, from the stone to the direction of the monolith.
[Mana sense]'s range was very limited so he could not actually see the monolith but he guessed he might blind himself if he looked at it with his skill.
After taking a minute to admire the dense cluster of mana that is the transmitter rock, he finally tried to send some mana into it. It was weird, to say the least. he concentrated with all of his might to try and expel the mana from his body but it didn't work and he guessed it might never will.
He focused his mana sense into himself and saw glowing blue orb inside his chest. It was not as bright as the crystal or the rock, but it was emitting some light. He soon realized that the core, presumably his soul, was pulsating and it was in sync with his heartbeat so he tried to use it.
He first tried to establish a connection between his soul and the rock. So with every pulse, he tried to guide very small amount of mana through his chest, shoulder, elbow, forearm, wrist, palm and exit through the index finger. A speck of mana was separated from his soul, traveled a bit through his upper arm but disappeared.
Because Aster was so focused, he didn't realize the 3 kids were staring at him. Their pupils gained a faint blue hue around it which signaled that they were using [Mana vision], a more sophisticated version of mana sense in return for it's versatility as it requires sight to be used.
The kids were watching Aster channel his mana, as it was a mission given to them to observe any newcomers. Unbeknownst to them, Aster was reaching a breakthrough.
It was Aster's 26th attempt at creating a pathway for his mana to directly travel to the stone, it had already went past the wrist and was approaching the base of the index finger. 'Come on, just a little more.' But alas the mana had disappeared.
Thankfully he didn't lose mana when that occurred, he thought it was being re absorbed by his body so he didn't lose any of it. Knowing that he was close, he used a bit more mana at the next attempt. Higher the amount of mana, the more it persists without being absorbed but it requires more control.
Aster sent double then triple and kept increasing the amount of mana until he succeeded. A tiny spark of mana has been successfully transmitted to the stone. Then he heard a 'ding'
[Mana: 229/230]
[A new skill has been acquired]
[Mana control Lv 1]
[Progress:0/100]
<<Description: You can control very small amount of mana in your mana sense zone>>
[Mana sense has leveled up]
[Mana sense Lv 3]
With his control over mana becoming more sophisticated and his mana perception improving, he quickly established a pathways from his soul to the stone through all 5 of his finger. Then he did the same with his left arm. Now he was transmitting 10 points of mana every pulse.
[Mana:210/230]
[Mana:200/230]
[Mana:190/230]
***
[Mana: 10/230]
[Mana: 0/230]
[Mana reserve has been depleted]
Aster fell down and couldn't get back up.
'Mana exhaustion is not a funny thing. My thoughts are sluggish and my head feels like it's about to burst. It's hard to concentrate'
"Are you good Aster?" A voice was heard.
Although with difficulty, he moved his head a bit and saw 3 people.
"Oh hello, were you watching me this whole time?" He asked
"Uhh yes, we were observing you but you actually did it without asking for help! Is this what Miss Silver meant when she said 'Mana affinity'?"
"Heh, Mana affinity huh" he weakly muttered.
"You got anything to help with this headache? It feels like I am dying even though my hp says otherwise"
"Well, you have to just wait until it naturally replenishes or learn something called [Mana recovery meditation]. I can actually teach it to you but I don't think you can learn it" Says Amanda as she stares at Aster's half dead expression.
"Just teach me, anything to get rid of this headache"
"Well if you say so" Amanda replied, then took a deep breath.
"Alright so you know you have awakened right? Your soul that has been dormant until now has awakened due to the mana you obtain by absorbing a crystal and the system gets activated but the changes don't stop there. When your soul gets awakened, it starts naturally producing mana and it doesn't stop even when your mana is full.
The excess mana is then spread evenly throughout your body and your cells absorb those. When that happens, your physical attributes improve a bit. Once sufficient amount of time has passed and the cells have adapted to your mana, they start producing their own mana. [Mana recovery meditation] focuses on harvesting mana your cells have produced. It is miniscule but it stacks up."
Aster understood it to an extend but he felt something was off 'Once sufficient amount of time has passed?'
"Do you see where the problem is? You just came here so you awakened yesterday morning in the earliest. That's not enough time."
"Can't I just learn how to gather mana from my cells now? The pain's killing me"
"Alright fine, close your eyes and use [Mana sense] on yourself. Bear in mind that if the level is not high enough, you won't be able to sense it."
"Nah, it's fine. It just leveled up a ton just now"
[Mana sense Lv 6]
[Progress:27/100]
<<Description: You can sense mana well even though it's a bit foggy. Works in 6 meter radius>>
Aster could see his soul now and it was empty like a glass container, just like the first time he seen it. He diverted his attention from it and focused on his right index finger. He thought it would be better to focus in a smaller spot to maximize the sensitivity of the skill and that finger should have more mana.
And his guess was right. He could feel something even though it wasn't enough to be seen.
"I can sense it" He reported.
"Alright good, now try to attract some to your soul. It would absorb it immediately when it gets close."
[Mana control Lv 3]
'This is where the real challenge begins.'
Aster tried to move the excess mana in his finger to his soul and it was... painfully slow. He then tried to gather the mana in the pathway he created then guide it towards his core. It was slow a progress. Thanks to his [Sloth] trait, his mana has already been considerably replenished but he was still trying to absorb the excess mana.
Only after an hour, did he succeed.
[Mana has been recovered by +3 points.]
[Mana:133/230]
[Your mana has been permanently increased by 1 point]
[A new technique has been learnt]
[A new section has been created in the status window]
[Name: Aster Gaelcius]
[Level: 1] [Exp:0/100]
[Race: Human(Earthling)]
[Personal traits]:[Earthling(inactive)], [Gaia], [Sloth]
[Hp:70/70] [Energy:50/50] [Mana:143/240]
[Attributes]
[Strength:6]
[Agility:6]
[Endurance:5]
[ Vitality:7]
[Mana:24](Mana regeneration: 5(base) mp/min)
[Intelligence:2]
[Dexterity:4]
[Art]:[Mana recovery meditation(Beginner)2/100%]
<<Description: The technique to gather mana from the body. Can recover 50% equivalent of base mana regeneration, per minute.>>
[Passive skills]:[Mana sense Lv 6], [Mana control Lv 3]
"Hahaha, I did it. And it registered on my status page too."
"Well good for you"
"Is there anything else?"
"Not really, you just need to practice what you know. By the way, how much mana do you have?" Jacob asked. He was curious since Aster took lot longer than the rest of them when he was supplying the monolith.
"Oh, I have 24 points in Mana so 240. Pretty good right?"
"That's a lot. I guess that's what having an affinity towards Mana is like." Jacob said with a hint of envy in his voice.
"Anyways with him around, we might finish a day or two earlier than expected which is good. I should notify Miss Silver when she arrives" Amanda stated.
Aster smiled as thought about his [Sloth] trait which doubles his mana regeneration when resting.
"Actually, It might be earlier than you think"
***
Three days later, Miss Silver's class finally finished fueling their monolith.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Billurigan
Billurigan My longest chapter yet. Add this novel to your library if you want to be notified when it's updated, I don't have a schedule yet but I will upload at least one chapter a day and an extra when I can.
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