As the old man lead Drake further into the building he began explaining a few things to him.
"First things first we have to get you a few books that will prove to be very helpful for after your awakening. As a martial artist who chose the second path of awakening you can absorb mana from the world and in doing so you will strengthen your body as well as increasing the amount of mana at your disposal for spells or elemental manipulation. These books will give a detailed explanation and give you an illustration of how mana flows through the body, how to absorb mana, and how to store it into you mana core.
"Keep in mind that these will be a very basic method and you will have to find a better one or even try to create one later. Though I recommend that you do not try to make one as one wrong move and you could kill or cripple yourself.
"After we get the books we will grab a few complementary spells that you can find anywhere in the world for very cheap. We give them out to anyone who chooses the second path of awakening for warriors." The old man finished speaking as he opened a door that lead to a library and walked into it.
"Are there so few people that choose the second path of awakening that you just give out free complementary spells to those who do choose it?" Drake asked as the old man started to look through the bookshelves.
"Yes, very few will choose the second method of awakening. Probably about one in a million people will choose the second method." The old man replied as he found what he was looking for and started pulling books off of a couple of bookshelves in front of him.
"Why so few? I thought many would chose the second path since people can get much stronger than the first path you mentioned." Drake asked with a perplexed look on his face like he was asked to solve an incomprehensible problem.
"Many people will chose immediate strength since it will allow them to make more money as and adventurer or mercenary right away compared to waiting a couple years at least before they can start raking in thousands of gold per job. Ironically because so many choose the first option they end up taking even longer to earn that much money per job."
"I see. That does make sense." Drake said with a nod as a flash of blue fire flickered in the depths of his eyes unbeknownst to both himself and the old man. After his question was answered the old man had finished getting the books and the spells and led Drake to a chamber in the basement of the building.
As the old man opened the basement door he explained why they were underground. "Awakening mana in a person requires a lot of mana. So much mana that even a thousand Arch-Mages working together couldn't do it. For clarification there are only around just under a hundred arch-mages in the whole world. Instead the father of all magic created a method of awakening alongside one of his disciples who created runes used for enchantment of items. That method involves putting runes on an entire building to absorb and direct the ambient mana in the atmosphere into a room. Once the room is flooded with mana that takes the form of mist in the air it is then directed into the body of the person undergoing mana awakening." The old man said as he was walking down a corridor passing by many doors.
"At first this method was very crude and inefficient. It often led to the death of either the individual performing the awakening or the one going through the awakening. In the thousands of years we have refined this method to reduce the risks to be nearly nonexistent, as well as finding other methods of awakening for those who did not have an aptitude for pure magic.
"As every person is different from one another we can not completely eliminate the risks involved please sit on the mat in the center of the room and listen to my instructions very carefully."
Drake nodded his head and sat in a lotus position on the mat and looked at the old man with rapt attention and laser focus as he waited to hear the instructions.
"Your body could absorb mana fast or slow depending on how your body reacts to the mana when it takes the form of mist. The important thing to take note of is that it will be an hour before the mana becomes dense enough to take on the form of mist, in that time you need to read and understand the breathing method in the first book I gave you. You will feel a feeling of heat going through your skin when it is done right.
"When the mana takes on the form of mist you must bite down on this leather wrapped stick. It will prevent you from biting off your own tongue when you start to absorb the dense mana from the air. At that point it will feel like some one has poured molten metal throughout your body.
"If you have any questions ask them now. Cause once I go out of that door the process of gathering mana will begin" The old man said with a serious and solemn expression on his face.
Drake shook his head as he did not have any questions. Seeing this the old man walked out of the door and started the process.
As Drake watched the old man close the door he grabbed the first the book that was handed to him and started reading and practicing the method of breathing. It took him ten minutes feel a current of heat passing through his body. After he learned the method he started to meditate to pass the time. Very quickly an hour passed and Drake grabbed the leather wrapped stick and bit down on it and started to absorb the mana from the air. As he did the mana started to rapidly rush into his body to the point where if someone were watching they would see it thin out at a slow but noticeable speed.
Half an hour passed in this manner as Drake bit down so hard that his gums started to bleed from the sheer force of strength he was using. As the last bit of dense mana flowed into his body Drake felt a surge of heat erupt inside the very core of his being.