Drake stood in front of a three story building that looked like it was a weird fusion of a castle, library, and a mage tower from stories all in one. Right above the entrance, written in what looked to him like normal script, was the image of the mage association.
As Drake entered the building the first thing that he saw was an old man that was sitting behind a desk sleeping with a book resting on his face. On the desk were the words reception sitting right next to a weird symbol, though to Drake it looked like the word bell.
As he neared the desk Drake cleared his throat, some what quietly at first, when he failed to wake up the older gentleman he loudly coughed and said "Excuse me sir."
This woke the man up as he fell from his chair and the spine of the book smacked him right on the nose as he exclaimed "Huh?" with a flustered look on his face that reminded Drake of a startled rabbit right before it runs away.
As the older man got back onto his feet and looked at Drake with a glowering look on his face as he glared at the him, he exclaims with frustration "Don't you know not to scream at an old man when he's taking a nap boy?!"
Drake sheepishly scratched the back of his head as he replied "I did try to wake you up quietly at first sir, though that didn't work and I had to cough and speak some what loudly to wake you up. I sincerely apologize for waking you up in such a crude manner sir." as he finished his apology Drake suddenly bows with both hands clamped firmly to the sides of his legs.
The old man, still glowering, frustratedly says to him "can't you see the bell here? You were supposed to wake me up with this boy."
As Drake straightened to stand normally after bowing he asked with confusion etched on his face "How was I supposed to use that to wake you up?"
The old man seeing the confusion written on his face sighs with the last bit of his frustration and says "You just had to infuse some of your mana into it and it would have produced a chiming tone that would have gently roused me from my slumber.
"Have you been living under a rock your whole life or something?" the old man asked with a hint of exasperation in his voice and a look of giving up on his face.
"My village was destroyed when I was eight and I have was being trained by a monk for the last ten years. So in a way you can say I have been living under a metaphorical rock my whole life sir." Drake replied to the old man unaware of the rhetorical nature of his final question.
The old man looks at him with pity as he asks Drake "Sorry. What can I help you with today boy?"
"I would like to awaken my mana and hear whatever knowledge would be useful for me to know." Drake replied and after a couple of seconds added "I am completely ignorant about mana and my master isn't very knowledgeable on it either."
The old man nods his head and hands a paper to Drake and says "Please fill out this form with your information. Depending on whether you wish to pursue a path as a mage or not will change how the mana will interact differently with your body as we perform your awakening."
Drake nodded his head and quickly filled out the paper he was giving and handed it back to the old man. The old man looked over his form, and as he did one of his eyebrows cocked upward as he remarked "Huh. Your going to be follow the path of a martial artist. In that case there are two paths we can take to awaken your mana.
"The first is to awaken your mana while mainly focusing on strengthening your body. This leaves very little left to go into you mana core that will be formed. This path gives you a massive boost to your abilities as a martial artist, but it leaves little to no room for growth latter on.
"The second method will focus on awakening your man while maintaining an even flow between your body and mana core. You will not receive as much of a boost to you immediate combat strength, but it will have far more room for growth and potential latter down the path. Which would you like to do?" Asked the old man after his explanation.
"I don't know. What is the difference in combat between the two?"
"The difference is that first option will limit you to pure physical attacks, which is not very useful out there in the world. Especially against extremely strong enemies. The second will allow you to use basic magic like physical strengthening and even enveloping your body in an element like fire or earth. To give an example if you fight a dragon you will die very quickly if you chose the first path, but with the second path and a very well thought out plan and an excellent party full of team mates extremely skilled you would stand a chance to kill the dragon and become a dragon-slayer."
After hearing that explanation, especially the example given at the end, Drake had made his choice and informed the old man "I would like to go with the second path of awakening sir."
The old man nodded his head and said "Follow me. I will explain a few things to take note of while we go grab a few copies of books that will be very helpful to you after the awakening."
Drake nodded his head and followed the old man as he got up from the desk and started to follow him deeper into the building.