37 Loving the Process
Mana points. Mana pathways. And mana circuits.
Eren needed to put his body through an intensive workout to stimulate these meta organs present within his body.
The rankers’ bodies featured these aspects that made them who they were– not mortals. These components didn’t have a physical foundation. They existed between the boundaries of touchable and untouchable realities.
And yet, these were the most critical aspects for a ranker. Without their existence and development, a non-ranker would not be able to enter the official rank or progress further than being a Meta.
A ranker’s body contained small deposits of mana at specific intervals. These points had accumulated mana that only moved or expended when the ranker willingly or subconsciously made use of magic through spells. These were called mana points.
The mana pathways connected mana points in various ways. These mana pathways created a web of mana veins that allowed accumulated mana in mana points to move or get dispelled in a certain way.
The mana circuits were a select group of mana points and mana pathways that could be considered as a whole for certain spell execution situations. Spells are written with instructions on how to activate the rankers’ mana circuits, enabling the spell to have the desired effect.
All the mana circuits were connected to the mana core that was located under the ranker’s navel. And by that definition, every mana point and mana pathway was connected with the mana core which was used as a primary energy source by most rankers.
A spell would take into account mana points, mana pathways, and mana circuits as a whole under the control of the ranker. It would tell the ranker which mana pathway and mana point one needs to control to execute a certain spell. The description of this combination in depth was known as spell book or spell scroll.
The rankers needed to study the spell, practice activating the mana circuits in their bodies as per the spell’s requirements, and memorize the process to remember it fully.
Once they had practiced the spell enough, they could also tweak it to suit their desired output or needs. This could be done when the ranker had made the spell completely theirs.
A non-ranker had mana points and mana pathways. But they did not have functional mana circuits because the web of mana points and mana pathways in their bodies wasn’t dense enough. Plus, they were missing the power source to make use of this intricate system- the mana core. Therefore, they couldn’t cast any spells.
Non-rankers’ mana points and mana pathways could be stimulated through an intensive workout. This stimulation could enhance the density of mana in mana points and expand the mana veins until the creation of the mana core is completed.
Eren was wearing a skin-hugging, runic bodysuit while lifting weights. He was channeling his mana inside his body while doing these exercises. The runes on his gym wear would flicker with faint lights whenever he channeled his mana.
The space in which he has also had a relatively higher concentration of mana, thanks to the array laid on the ground. As an added effect, the mana-quartz-powered array had also tweaked the gravitational force within the isolated environment, making it difficult for Eren to complete his sets.
But that was the whole point of this workout anyway.
“26… 27… 28… 29… 30!
Fuuuuuuck!”
Eren cursed after he placed the runic barbell onto its raised stand and crashed on the bench nearby. He was doing deadlifts with more than 600 pounds of weight. He barely reached 30 reps in the sets of 5 reps each before his legs started wobbling. And his hands started shaking.
Eren controlled the shaking of his hands. He had mixed his training and had already done his arms workout. He knew that he had sucked in his first day compared to the standards set by Miranda. But then he shook his head and took a long breath before pondering over his situation. His start. And where he wanted to go.
‘A 140-pound scrawny body lifting the weight of 600 pounds while under the effect of 1.8xG is already something way beyond mortal levels. This mana thing is freaking unbelievable. And this is when I’m not even qualified to call myself an official ranker.’
Eren wiped the sweat off his forehead and arms as he thought. He glanced around to find that he was the only one there. He felt a bit relieved by that loneliness.
Nobody was there to see his struggles. Reece wanted to wait but he had forced her to leave. Because he wanted to sweat it out with the peace of mind that the quietness and loneliness had brought to him.
Even while struggling to catch his breath, he couldn’t help but smile. As if he was enjoying the process of rebuilding himself. He was loving the process that he had started with this workout.
‘This… this is only the start.
This poor guy didn’t do shit. And now I have to go through this ordeal by myself.
Never mind. I’ll… I’ll fokin make it work.’
To do more exercise than he used to do, Eren self-hyped himself. Then he kept his right hand over his left chest and felt his increased-than-usual heartbeat.
‘Seek and ye shall find.’
He spoke to himself as if self-hypnotizing himself into doing something he was running away from with every fiber of his being. The experience of death had opened his eyes to so many obvious truths of life. One of them was the fact that nothing worth having ever came easy in life. Not to most of them, at least.
Eren had been working out for more than 45 minutes by this point. And he did it while keeping the intensity of the workout relatively higher. He started doing chin-ups while wearing a weight belt that could be adjusted to change its weight as per the user’s needs, thanks to the runic inscription etched onto it. Every piece of equipment in the gym was etched with these runes.
Eren’s muscles were sore and exhausted. As sweat dripped from his head as if they whispered in his ears that enough work had been done. That this much was enough. And his uneven breaths were making it physically difficult to say his thoughts out loud.
Eren’s skin, which normally appeared pale, was red all over at this point. It felt like he had an allergic reaction to something. This was partially due to the enhanced gravity effect his body was subjected to. And part of it was his own doing.
Eren knew that putting his new body through so many intensive workouts all of a sudden would incapacitate him the next day. But that’s when he didn’t take any mana-rich supplements.
He was depending on his newfound wealth to support his body to face the repercussions his sudden workout regime change would bring. Eren didn’t care about how much he was spending at this point even though he was frugal by nature.
Eren spent another 30 minutes in the workout facility meant for non-rankers before deciding to call it quits. He was barely able to walk by the time he got out of the guild building.