MJ— 2

Title: Energy Core

Complying to 20th Century aesthetic, Razael's 'dorm' or in this context, his personal lodging, was a two-floor block-shaped house with sliding windows, and a tasteful garden maintained by the workers of the Academy. The structure was sturdy with a deep foundation and the woodwork for the doors and flooring was exceptional in the sense that they were quite resistant to damages.

"O.P. I'm back!" Razael called out as he got out of his jacket and hung it on the coat hanger near the entrance while a small owl let out a hoot and flapped its wings until it perched on Razael's shoulder.

This was an Ophius Persona— in short, O.P.

Like any owl, the unnamed O.P. continued to move his head and showed the prowess of his neck, Petting the grey-brown feathered owl's head, Razael moved towards the kitchen which looked unused at its best. Pouring himself a cup of water, Razael retreated into his room on the end of the house. To him, aside from the research lab he customized on the first floor, the rest of the space was quite useless and the same was true for most of the students.

Plain grey walls greeted Razael's eyes as he walked into the room and seeing the undecorated room, he pursed his lips.

"Well, I don't have to follow the polices to personalize a private quarter now," he snickered with satisfaction as he sat on the chair in front of his desk and extended his palm forward to allow O.P. to catwalk down his forearm and enter his cage placed on the table.

"I need to get a better O.P. now that I'll become an acolyte or I could find some materials to refine this guy..." thinking of the cost in terms of time and effort he would have to spend on the little guy to finally make the Ophius Persona sentient, Razael deflated and sighed deeply.

Thinking of the cost of materials, Razael recalled Lilia with an envious expression, "She really stepped her game up... I wish I had breasts... could have landed a rich fool myself, too."


His thoughts continued to drift across the unimportant topics of the day before he switched on the lights of the room and looked at the single 'poster' pasted on his room. it was a large paper that listed objectives out of which two items still remained unchecked.


-Unlock the first shackle.
-Graduate as an Acolyte.

Taking out a pen from his drawer, Razael cut off the second last objective and stared at the last item on the list with a focused expression.

"Right, time waits for no man," taking a deep breath, Raz took out of the only book he had put off reading till now. Unlike the thick storage of information, the current book was quite thin and the cover was flimsy in touch and felt quite cheap but to him, the book had the highest value presently.

'The Energy Core.'

The title of the book was simple but even a 'freak' like Raz felt a little intimidated by the book until today. After all, he had never unlocked his first shackle and felt that reading the contents would be akin to going further than the year's syllabus.

'There's no new book smell... way to tank my first study of energy cores...' Raz thought reluctantly as he powered through the lack of that particular scent and skimmed through the index.

-Origin of Energy Core
-Shackles and Life
-First Mage
-Preparation for Acolytes

'Only four chapters... low content...' Raz's mood fell another notch but the index had already attracted his attention and Raz really wanted to read the first written chapter on the first Mage in the existence of the planet— Krisis.

Without waiting any longer, Razael dove straight in and flipped open the first chapter printed on the book.

'Origin of Energy Core.'

'Since the dawn of life, men and beasts have lived based on the energy received from the nutritional meals that are derived from the prevailing, omnipresent, and primal source of life.'

'Countless researches have proven that our surroundings are soaked with a special composition termed Mana. Mana is present in all lifeforms in a form of a compressed core. Before Krisis, no human could ever locate the core of a lifeform but through inspiration, shackles of lifeforms were discovered and this led to the discovery of the energy cores present in every lifeform.'

The next few pages detailed various studies and topics of interest regarding energy cores but did not explain everything completely.

Next, Raz turned his attention to the next chapter.

'Shackles and Life.'

'It is proven that every single existence is imperfect in some form or manner and it is a lifeform's primal drive to overcome such imperfections and strive to grow better than their past self.'

'Such imperfections are loosely termed as shackles. A human is riddled with multiple imperfections but most of them can be largely grouped together into a total of nine shackles that affect one's source of life— the Energy Core.'

'The first and foremost shackle is termed— The Shackle of Ignorance.'

'Any person who is willing to strive for greatness must not remain ignorant of his/her energy core and only by unlocking one's perception towards the energy core can a being step on the path of mastering imperfections.'

'To unravel the first shackle, it is advised that the target must have great mental fortitude and deep understanding of the natural forces of the world.'

After completely reading through the second chapter, Raz took a deep breath.

'Perception towards my energy core, huh... so the unlocking orb does not jumpstart our energy core but mingles with a person's perception?' He thought for a few minutes and tried to compare it with various instances that the professors in charge of his studies mentioned the energy core.

Once his analysis was concluded, he turned to the next chapter, something he had been looking forward to.

'First Mage.'

'The first complete collection of mana and various magical technicalities were compiled by a young man named Krisis in his early twenties. The skin of beasts was his paper and the hunted blood was his ink. The first record can no longer be traced into history but it is an educated guess that the Legendary Mage Krisis lived longer than 100,000 years and was born more than 2 million years ago.'

'In the beginning, however, Krisis had no name. He was no-one. Only an ordinary hunter who once hunted an injured, mutated wyvern and tore its stomach to hide within its body, successfully avoiding a legendary earth devourer and finally having his perception changed forever due to the mystical abilities of the now-extinct wyverns' blood.'

'Returning to his cave, Krisis sat bloody and drenched. His vision felt terribly hot as he came down under the weather. His chest felt congested and he gasped for air. A wyvern is rumored to be Dragon's distant relative and their blood has medicinal yet poisonous capabilities and such a conflicting nature of the blood tore through Krisis' immune system and corrupted his body, finally shifting his perception and not long after, Krisis became the first to survive the bath of a wyvern's blood and also wield an energy core.'

"This is too shallow," Raz scowled as he completed the segment, "What properties are we talking about? How can blood, which is physical, affect something intangible as a person's perception?"

The more he read, the more annoyed he felt.

After tempering through the first few segments of the Legendary Mage's life, Raz finally turned to the most important topic in the book that would affect his course of action for the next six days.

'Preparation for Acolytes.'

'First, any aspiring acolyte with an Aptitude lower than D-Grade shall not be interviewed for the graduation and are advised to pack their belongings promptly. Following is the categorization of aptitudes.

A-Grade: 91-100 rpm.
B-Grade: 71-90 rpm.
C-Grade: 51-70 rpm.
D-Grade: 31-50 rpm.'

'Second, the eligible candidates must collect their letter of acknowledgment from their professors before appearing for the interview.'

'Third, as taught within the classroom, the eligible candidates must also successfully be able to bring your energy core outside your body.'

'Optional: Candidates who wish to apply for Junior Research Interns in the Academy during spring break must map out a feasible path of spell structure for their energy cores. Note that the successful interns will receive credits for resources based on this particular plan so discussion with professors is advised.'

"Well, time to order dinner," Raz closed the book and stretched against the chair before fishing out a cellphone from the drawer and calling the dorm services to deliver his food.