At the center of the training ground, Karl was sitting cross legged, his clothes fluttering due to strong gusts of wind.
Jay was standing in front of him, continuously chanting something.
The wind soon started getting hotter and after a few seconds converted into a wave of fire.
The fire, like the wind, circled around the sitting figure of Karl.
After a few minutes, the fire started getting cooler and darker as it compressed and turned into huge rocks which again kept circling around Karl.
Another few minutes and the rocks started getting darker and moist as they soon started breaking and water spilling from them changing the revolving rocks into a water cyclone.
The cyclone soon disappeared and broke the cycle which had been repeating itself for the past few hours.
Karl opened his eyes as everything returned to normal but squinted them the next second feeling the sunlight.
'I fucking controlled the elements! It was fucking better than aura both in control and in amount!' Karl thought excitedly as he looked at Jay.
"Are we done?" Karl asked.
"Yes." Jay spoke in a surprised voice.
"Do I now have a mana ring?" Karl asked as he tried to sense something in his body.
Jay laughed at Karl's words as he continued.
"No kid. But now you have formed mana." Jay smirked.
Karl tilted his head at Jay's words.
"How you tried to control the elements I was creating, try doing that." Jay advised.
Karl did as he was told and understood what Jay had meant.
He now could feel another type of energy, different then both aura and ether.
'Is this mana?' Karl wondered even though he knew the answer.
"Now you just need to control the mana and form a ring around your heart which also acts as an aura core." Jay spoke breaking Karl out of his thoughts.
"How big?" Karl asked.
"Size does not matter. What matters is what is on the inside." Jay spoke in a saintly tone which just made Karl stare at him as if he was pathetic.
"I mean density. Density is what matters." Jay spoke after clearing his throat.
"Forming a ring is all on you Karl. With your control, forming a strong ring will be an easy task so do not get nervous and just do your best." Jay continued.
Karl nodded as he sat on the ground cross legged and started to manipulate the mana he had and tried to form it into a ring.
Karl slowly sensed all the mana he had and started to compress it as much as he could.
'This is a lot!' Karl thought as he sensed whole of his body filled with mana like energy.
***
The sky now was red as the sun was close to the horizon.
Karl still sat in the same posture he had been for the past five hours.
Jay just sat behind him with his eyes shut, his hand on Karl's back sensing all the movement of mana.
'He really is a genius.' Jay mused for the umpteenth time.
'It is the same as aura. The amount he has is something even a genius would need months for. He made a perfect aura core even though he had just learned to form aura just hours before and now with mana he has already compressed the mana to its limit for the first ring. Now he just needs to... give up.'
Jay sighed as he looked at Karl trying to make a thicker and more compressed ring.
'He has been doing this useless thing for an hour now. Guess its time I stepped in, I need to get money from senior after all.' Jay thought as he finally spoke.
"Karl there is a limit to mana a certain ring can have. Just form it. It is not possible to compress it more." Jay spoke making Karl stop his actions and turn towards him with a shocked expression.
"Is that why it was not working?" Karl asked, awestruck.
Jay just gave a smile.
Karl stayed stunned for a few seconds before his face grimaced.
"Why did you not tell me this earlier!!" Karl shouted in anger.
"I thought you would understand it yourself mister genius." Jay mocked.
"And I thought a teacher would do the single job he had, to tell me what to do!" Karl was quick with the reply.
"Ok ok. I told you now. Just do it and we can get this done with."
Jay spoke as he patted Karl's back making him growl in anger.
Karl exhaled deeply as he closed his eyes again and started to control a part of the mana he had compressed.
He slowly manipulated it and made it rotate around his core but that made him grimace.
Karl slowed the speed of the ring's rotation as he felt his pain decrease.
"Is it not supposed to rotate?" Karl asked Jay as what was happening was not what he had learned from the novel.
"It will rotate when you use it. To make the core you just try to get it stable so that mana easily enters and leaves the ring without disturbing the ring." Jay explained.
Karl did as Jay had said as he stopped the movement of the mana and slowly made it into a perfect ring. Injecting more mana made the ring shake so Karl did not do so any further and just resumed the flow of mana he had forcibly stopped.
As the mana continued to move, the ring shook as Karl used all his focus to keep the ring steady.
After half an hour, the ring finally stood still even after Karl did not touch it.
Just holding the ring still formed a path for mana to flow along and through it settling it sturdily in place.
Karl stared with awe at the now formed aura core and mana ring settled alongside each other giving him new powers.
"Congrats! You have now become an arhat and the youngest ever!" Jay praised breaking Karl from his awe.
Karl smiled heartily at Jay's words as he thanked him for the teaching.
Karl and Jay talked for a bit before Karl went back to his room and jumped into the soft bed.
'So much I have accomplished in a single day!' Karl exclaimed as he retraced the events of the day, while controlling both aura and mana, feeling the aura core and the mana ring.
'This much was not in the novel. Why is that though-' Karl stopped his thoughts as his mind went to that question.
'Why is that? Why did the novel not cover such things? Wait who was the author of the novel again? I do not remember it but more importantly, why am I thinking such basic facts just now!?'
Karl jolted and sat straight, feeling uncanny about his lack of thinking.
"I can not simply forget such basic things. This is definitely not something to ignore." Karl blurted out aloud as he felt his head heating up.
'Fuck, I need a bath.' Karl thought as he quickly ran to the bathroom, undressing and throwing his clothes on the floor.
Karl sighed as he sat in the bath tub filled with cold water.
'Ok lets go along what happened calmly. I was a programmer and app developer before I committed suicide. After my death, I found myself as Karl, the main villain of my favorite novel but!
How am I in the world of the novel!? Why did I just ignore such a important fact and took it with only a pinch of surprise!?
I am inside a novel? Is this world even real or is this my imagination!?
Wait why can I think of such things now when I did not think of this for the past three years!?'
Karl dipped his head inside the water just keeping his nose out to breath as he kept thinking of the most plausible reasons.
'Ok, so either I was cursed or it was because of forming an aura core or a mana ring or probably both. Just forgetting questioning such thing is something not even a stupid person would do.
Wait, I am still thinking bullshit! What about being cursed or forming whatever! Is this even real!
Am I really inside a novel!? Am I a NPC? No no, I can think the same or rather my IQ must have become higher! And the same is true for my parents and everyone I have met. No one I have met felt like a machine.
Then is this my imagination? But this is too real to be one. And even though lots of surprising things happen, this is not unrealistic like a dream.
Then was my previous life my imagination? I even do not remember anyone's name or voice from my previous life!
But if that was imagination and this is real then how could I imagine such things as a new born!?
Fuck how could I just go over such things!?
Wait if I remember correctly I ignored these questions when my mother hugged me. Is it something to do with that? Did she hypnotize me? Nah she would not do such a thing or rather why would she ever do such a thing!?'
Karl, laid in the cold water, thinking of everything and anything as the stars shined in the night sky beautifully.