"In this world there are a lot of debates about what this energy we manipulate is, thus some race have their own word for it, elves and draconians call it mana while beastmen call it aura" stated Atlas as Ethan listened attentively, "Honestly it would be easier to just call it energy, but nooo everybody just decided they had to be special."
"But there is a reason for the different names, this is because the technique used to accumulate that energy gives it special characteristics. The draconian's for example have an ability called dragon language due to their technique ,this enables them to easily impose their will on the world making their words reality and the elves have an ability called resonance which enables them to converse with the world thus their closeness with nature while beastmen have stronger bodies due to aura." continued Atlas
" This doesn't mean you can't do what they can, it's just they have been doing it for so long that those abilities are practically encoded in their genes."
"What about us humans?" Ethan asked excited about this new information about the world beyond.
"If you are asking about humans as a species then sorry to disappoint you but were nothing special but that does not mean we are weak it's just that us humans are too malleable thus we tend to deep our hands in everything. There are people who are adept at aura others mana but the point is the name doesn't matter but for convenience just call it mana."
"Before you get too excited, you have to know when it comes to energy when in your body it affects three things in your body, mana veins, your body and your soul."
"What I'm gonna teach you is only about mana veins."
"Why only mana veins what about the body and soul?" asked Ethan
"I don't need to teach you those because you are an anima, it's called having a golden spoon" said Atlas sarcastically
"You always say we are from this great legacy but why do i never feel it, why are we living away from civilization and not in a freaking mansion." said Ehan as his father looked at him with a smile on his face.
"I hope you still feel that way ten years from now." said Atlas as he sighed.
"Just know you don't need any technique about your body for now as for the soul that's too beyond you to understand."
As soon as he finished talking, he gently swiped his hand Infront of him and a book appeared. This book was breathtakingly beautiful the cover was made from an unknown black metal which seemed to glow a rainbow hue, it had an engraving made of gems spelling 'ANIMA'. On its back cover was the image of a nine headed dragon identical to the one on both Ethan and his father's back.
As Ethan stared ,he could hear it calling to me , he raised his hand to touch it only for his dad to stop him
"No kiddo you can't touch that, it's mine ,it can kill you" he said as he took it into his hands and opened it.
Ethan looked expecting a grand spectacle of mystical lights only to be disappointed when he looked at its pages. There were blank and the pages seemed ordinary. he looked to his father for an explanation only to find him looking at him as he held back his laughter.
"hahaha, i could practically see the disappointment in your face." Said Atlas as he started laughing, Ethan looked at him as he wiped tears from the comer of his eyes.
'How is this Oldman this immature at his age' thought Ethan
"This is my grimoire, it's really nothing special i just use it to take notes" said Atlas as he flipped the pages, he suddenly stopped and looked at Ethan.
"This should do."
He snapped his fingers and a beam of light shot from the book and into Ethan's head.
He sat there in a daze as information started appearing in his mind.
"That my son is the 'ARCANE CIRCULATION ART', I remember when I created that method, I was only eight years old" said my Atlas as he looked to the sky lost in his memory.
"It's time to start." he said as Ethan snapped out of his daze.
As Ethan reread the information transferred to his brain, he started to marvel at the complexities, some of the later parts were practically unreadable as he would get headaches trying to read it.
"It's amazing, isn't it?" asked his father as he looked to him for acknowledgement. He nodded in agreement and continued to go over the information.
'Just how amazing was he to have created it at that age, is he getting more stupid as he grows older?' thought Ethan
The uniqueness of the method is that it's not tied to any specific elemental attribute of mana, you just cultivate pure, raw mana. This might seem too simple to deserve such a reaction but you have to remember mana for a specific attribute cannot be used for casting another attribute's arts.
This method is important for also setting up solid foundation in your early days.it also gives you a chance to discover what attribute best suits you thus continue in that path. The energy cultivated through this art can even be transformed into aura.
The only down side is that in the early stages of this technique can't use any elemental attribute.
"The problem about not using elemental attribute is not even problem, if you really want to use them you just have to understand elemental intent of the element you want and incorporate it into the mana in your body." explained Atlas as if he could read his mind.
"Because we are on that topic you have to remember that the mana accumulated in your body can only be used through methods called mana arts. Mana arts are divided into two; internal arts which are used to increase physical aspects like strength, agility, healing and other aspects and external arts which can also called spellcraft, this involves this like shooting fire balls or lightning, manipulating plants, producing lights and may other wonders."
"The reason i told you, you can use aura is because that is the only thing your mana can be used to do at this moment." said my dad
"So, i can't use even those internal arts?" i asked
"Those you can but what's the use for those when the arcane circulation technique enables you to use aura which is better than arts. Aura is a wide subject, it also has its attribute counter parts." said Atlas as a sword appeared in his hand out of this air.
The sword suddenly produced a black glow which appeared around his sword, the glow surrounded the blade of the sword and solidified into black translucent construct around the blade. This gave the sword the felling that it could cut through realty.
"This is sword aura." said Atlas as he held the sword Infront of me.
"In aura ,mana veins are called meridians. Aura can be divided into; weapon aura and martial aura. The weapon aura is aura associated with a specific weapon like spear aura, axe aura or even bow aura which come from practicing weapon arts. Martial aura is from practicing martial arts thus the fist aura, palm aura even finger aura"
"I've explained enough for today, digest that for today then we will continue tomorrow." said Atlas as everything he conjured disappeared. He stood up then gestured for ethan to follow him to the cottage. Only then did Ethan remember that it was night time.
He walks by his dad's side as he stared at the stars which seem abnormally bright as if signaling the advent of a new era into this amazing world.