The first few pages described mana, and its practitioners.

'The ability to manipulate mana is highly genetic. Unless one has at least one direct ancestor who was able to manipulate mana, it was very unlikely that they would gain the ability.

'Though there are recorded cases where people without a background of mana manipulators, were able to form a mana core.

'According to famous academic Olivier Blackwood, the inherent ability to manipulate mana is a mutation that is recessively passed on from generation to generation. But it can also show up in any person, which is why even those without ancestors who were able to, might gain the ability.

'But nothing is confirmed yet, until further research is done this remains a mere theory, although a widely acclaimed one.'

On the next few pages were more theories on the phenomenon, but Elric wasn't very interested in them. He had already awakened, of what use could they be for him?

He skimmed through the pages until he came across a deep dive into the awakening process and mana core.

'The mana core, that allows mages to manipulate mana, is formed naturally. The process, even with elixirs, beast cores, and other methods to absorb mana cannot be fastened.

'If one is meant to obtain the ability to manipulate mana, immediately on the day they are born, their infant body starts absorbing mana particles. How fast or many they absorb at a time, is genetic and often hints towards talent.

'Which is why it is a common believe, that the earlier one awakens the greater their ability to absorb and store mana is after the awakening. Though this has been debunked multiple times.

'Most humans awake in their late pre-teen to early teen years, elves and dwarves generally awaken earlier.

'But this doesn't mean talent can't be measured. Instead of paying attention to how early one awakes, you should pay attention to the awakening itself.

'An Augmenters awakening is announced by a shockwave that origins from the forming of their mana core. A Conjurers when they start floating.

'For an Augmenter, the stronger the shockwave the higher their inherent mana capacity. For a Conjurer it's if not only they but also objects around them start floating.

'High mana capacities can be equated to more potential, as it dictates how many spells one can cast.'

This was interesting to Elric, because with this information he could roughly make out his own situation. By the fact that his instructor didn't know whether he was an Augmenter or Conjurer, he made out that his awakening wasn't necessarily very impressive.

He believed that if his awakening was something special new would've traveled far. After all noble families liked to flaunt what they had.

But that played to his favor, he wasn't very keen on being an outstanding prodigy that stood at the center of attention.

With a satisfied smile Elric flipped to the next page, which was the start of the next chapter.

'There are many ways to utilize magic, but the two most common ones are Conjuring and Augmenting.

'Conjurers are experts at long range combat. They channel their mana to cast spells either directly to their target or to affect their surroundings. For example an experienced earth mage Conjurer, instead of throwing a stone at their enemy, might disrupt their enemies balance with an earthquake right under their feet.

'This ability is given to them by their more developed mana veins, only with them can they influence ambient mana enough to cast such spells. They also absorb mana faster than Augmenters.

'But a Conjurers abilities also come with downsides. For one, their spells need ambient mana to be effective, if an unexperienced Conjurer gets caught in a surprise attack it's likely that because of the shock they aren't able to do so.

'Secondly, unlike Augmenters, Conjurers lack the ability to freely -at will- distribute mana throughout their body which means they have to rely on external barriers for protection. The bodies of Conjurers at the early mana core stages aren't too different from that of regular people.'

Elric's brows rose slightly, this indicated that once his mana core advances the differences between Augmenters and Conjurers might lessen. Meaning he could fight with the sword!

'Augmenters on the other hand have more developed mana channels, which allow them to freely distribute mana throughout their entire mana. They often use their mana to strengthen their bodies, giving them superhuman strength, durability, speed, and agility and also to imbue their weapons in mana.

'Augmenters excell at close combat, but lack the ability to enter long range combat.

'Because of their not very developed mana veins, they almost completely lack the ability to influence ambient mana. And they take longer to replenish their core with mana. Their spells also rely completely on the mana from their mana cores, and once they run out it's over for them.'

The next couple pages were filled with more details on how Conjurers and Augmenter utilize mana, how they fight, and how they circulate mana through their bodies, though Elric decided to skip that, he was more interested in mana cores.

'The mana core functions like an additional organ, that spreads mana through the entire body to strengthen the other organs.

'The more the mana core advances, the stronger the effect it has on the users body.

'The process of advancing the stages of the mana core is relatively simple. One just has to meditate and gather mana into their core. There it will be purified, the purified mana will be used to form an additional layer around the core.

'This process has three stages, the first is when the additional layer has been first formed. The layer is dark in color and has some cracks, that stage is referred to 'dark' and the number of stage one is at.

'For example, a person who has just formed the first layer around their core would refer to themself as 'dark second'.

'In the next stage the cracks in the layer will be slowly mended but it still remains dark in color. To use the example of earlier a mage at that stage would refer to themself as 'solid second'

'During the last stage, the layer brightens, adapting the same color of the mana core. That stage is called 'bright.'

'Mana cores can have up to nine additional layers, but only rarely does one ever reach that.'