Chapter 41
Tracy was moving gently around the huge Manor.
She had just finished cleaning and wanted to check everywhere one last time to make sure no spot was missed.
As she looked around the large, beautiful rooms, everything seemed completely clean.
Tracy walked over and opened the back doors of the Manor.
Outside, her young daughter, Mia, was happily playing.
Mia was running across the grass, holding her favorite doll and talking to it as she ran.
Tracy sat down right at the doorway, watching her daughter play.
Her eyes also went to a figure training further away.
He wasn't too far, but not right next to them either.
It was a bright morning, but Tracy could see a misty, smoky heat rising from him, like he was boiling with intense heat on the inside.
This figure was Lucas.
He had a very strong, muscular body that looked almost perfect—not too thin, but not overly large either.
It was the best kind of shape.
To make his training even harder, he was wearing heavy weights.
He had thick weights strapped to his hands and legs, and a heavy vest covered his entire upper body.
He was making his own training tougher by adding all this extra weight.
Every single punch and kick he threw was so powerful it actually made the air around him shake.
Lucas had been training like this, pushing his body to the limit, for the past three days.
For Tracy, the time passed slowly because of the boring work of cleaning the very large Manor.
Even though cleaning was actually super easy for her, thanks to her spells and abilities, she still liked to complain about it sometimes.
Everything else in her life was wonderful.
She could travel to the nearby City whenever she wanted, buy anything she wished, and return home without any problems.
This was because Lucas's home was located in a large, open field.
This area used to be full of homes belonging to his Clan members.
Now, only he and his own mother are left.
Because of this, Lucas owned a huge piece of land that stretched for miles.
It was all within 300 kilometers of the City, but his land looked and felt like a deep forest.
That is why there was green nature covering everything in sight.
The powerful Royal faction, which ruled the area, did not dare to use or enter this land.
They had signed a magic contract long ago, promising not to interfere with the private business of the great Clans.
This meant the Royal Faction, or anyone else, could not set foot on Lucas's land unless he personally gave them permission.
Lucas paused his intense workout.
He took a long, deep breath and slowly began to remove all the heavy weights strapped to his body.
Even in this short period of time, his body had grown slightly stronger.
The year was coming to an end very soon, and a new one was about to begin.
Lucas had a strong feeling that the coming year would bring with it terrible things and great dangers.
Only two months were left until the New Year.
Lucas planned to spend every moment of that time working hard: experimenting with magic, training his body and mind, and getting ready for the important BlackOps competition that was scheduled for the next year.
After finishing his physical training, Lucas decided to rest his body.
He sat down on the ground in the lotus position, which is a cross-legged sitting style.
Lucas began to absorb Mana, from the air all around him.
He first let this Mana flow gently around the outside of his body.
Then, he slowly guided it inside.
He made the Mana circulate through his muscles, his tissues, his bones, and even his mind.
Every single part of his being was filled with this energy.
He was doing this intense work because he needed to open his Third Pathway and greatly increase the amount of Mana his body could hold.
At this very important moment, Lucas very slightly and carefully broke apart his Mana core—the source of his power.
He immediately rebuilt it, making sure it was made up of Mana that was much stronger, purer, and much larger than before.
As he finished rebuilding it, the quality of his Mana core became much better.
The Mana inside it was also richer and more powerful.
His core had now grown to reach the Silver Stage of power.
With the huge amount of new Mana he now had, he focused all his attention on cultivating his Pathway.
Lucas sat there, completely still, for almost an entire day.
His heart began to beat at an incredibly fast and inhuman rate.
His muscles became extremely tense.
He sat for hours with no sign of the work ending.
Finally, the sun had already set, and a loud noise suddenly echoed.
Boom!
A loud, deafening sound shook the air.
The Mana around Lucas suddenly changed wildly before everything became perfectly calm again.
Lucas looked very tired and pale, just as he had on the previous times he did this.
Opening a new Pathway was a way of breaking through his body's natural limits.
Building up his Mana core only makes the Mana stronger, but it does not increase his physical power.
However, it does allow a person to reach their absolute Physical Limit.
As Lucas knew, everyone has a different Physical Limit.
Some people are born with the First Pathway.
Others with the Second Pathway.
Only the people who belong to the most, like the Moon Class and Saint Class, are born with the Third Pathway already open.
There are only a few rare beings, maybe ones Lucas could count on a single hand, who have opened a Pathway beyond the third one.
These included the Leader of the Abyssal Moon group, the forgotten old Elder of the Lotus Clan, the powerful Great Sage, and maybe the Tribe hidden in a secret dimension.
Lucas knew that he would soon be counted as one of those incredibly powerful beings.
He knew that the Great Sage had already opened the 6th or 7th Pathway.
The process of opening a Pathway needed Lucas's full and complete focus.
A single mistake could mean instant death.
This was different from those powerful beings who were born with the Pathways open or who had achieved them through special magic rituals.
Lucas was breaking his limits one by one, using no rituals and having not been born this way.
This meant his chances of dying increased the higher he climbed in power.
Lucas finally went to rest for the night.
The next morning, he woke up and went straight to his hidden Lab, which was deep underground in the forest.
Inside the lab, right next to the glass tube where his mother floated peacefully in blue liquid, there was a second, empty tube.
This tube was waiting for him.
Lucas carefully set up and connected all the necessary lab equipment.
Once everything was ready, he stepped into the empty tube, just as he had done before.
He knew exactly how much pain was coming.
Although it would be a little less terrible than the pain he had felt when he first awakened his special Mana Eyes, it would still be awful.
And it was impossible to ever get used to this kind of pain.
Maybe if he did it every single day, but that would actually hurt his body more than it would help him grow stronger.
Sighing, Lucas fastened the breathing device over his mouth. A thick, green liquid slowly began to rise from his feet, filling the tube.
Soon, the tube was completely full.
Lucas immediately felt tiny, sharp needles pricking him from every direction. He also felt a slight pressure inside his body.
This was only the calm quiet before the real storm of pain began.
A sudden, sharp shock gripped him.
The green fluid began to soak into his skin and seep straight into his bloodstream.
And that was the exact moment the real, extreme agony started.
The constant pricking feeling became completely unbearable.
It was like thousands of needles were stabbing into his bones, his cells, his veins, and right into his mind.
His eyes burned fiercely, his skin felt like it was being ripped off, and every single part of his body screamed in pure torment.
'Why am I putting myself through this?' Lucas asked himself in the middle of the pain. But he knew the reason.
He looked at the tube holding his mother right beside him.
His will to protect her and become stronger shone brightly inside him as he let out a silent, agonized scream.