As expected no one had noticed his absence.
Right now, Drake had awakened his magic power and his body would be rapidly strengthening at every moment of everyday. That was good news, but it also meant one thing, he had a power he couldn't fully control. Yes he could make the magic power move slightly and have it do simple things like roam around his body but that wasn't enough.
If he was a mage, he needed absolute control over his magic power. Manipulating it however he wanted should be second nature to him, he needed to be able to make it move to his will with just a thought and that required training. Only with constant practice could he learn how to fully master control over his power.
…
Hmmm! Hmmm! Hmmm!
Drake sat in a comfortable posture with his back against the wall, the light from the open window lightly batting against his skin, the light pulsing sound of magic energy emitted from his body as he sat quietly in his room.
He had been doing this since he had returned to the clan, trying to attune himself to the pulse of the magical energy. With every breath of air every heartbeat the magical power surged through his blood to all parts of his body.
Being curious of where the magic energy was going he tried following the energy with his inner sight, next thing he knew he felt as if he was diving into the crack in the seal.
Once he was on the other side, he felt as if he was transported to a different world, he tried looking around and he was shocked by the sight before him.
It was like he was in outer space staring at the galaxy swirling like a nebula of stars. It was like there was a whole world sealed in here, and this whole world was completely made up of the purest magic energy, the more he looked the more amazed he was.
When he tried controlling the magic energy, it was tasking the energy barely budged. It was too heavy making him feel like he was pushing a mountain it was mentally exhausting and he started feeling sleepy after trying for a while.
Upon noticing how mentally tasking it was he hastily stopped, instead he tried moving just a wisp of energy floating in the void from the stars. This time there was not much resistance.
'The concentration of magic energy here is enormous, but I guess it should only be expected considering it has been accumulating over sixteen years.' He thought.
He continued experimenting over how much energy he could freely control at a time. There was a limitless quantity of energy for him to practice with and the purity was daunting so he had no worries with his practice.
Drake had asked Queen for a few basic ways he could use magic power and had learned that, as a one star mage magic energy was not stored in a specific location in the body.
At this stage it was born in the energy nodes scattered through out his entire body, it would constantly nourish and temper his body making it stronger and stronger over time. As for what it could be used for specifically in this stage? She only said one thing.
Reinforcement!
When a mage channeled their magic power, they could burst forth with superhuman abilities multiple times what they were usually capable of. If they put their magic power into a fist when they throw a punch, they could fell trees and shatter rock in one blow. If they used it in their legs they could run at extremely fast speeds that shouldn't be possible for regular humans. And if channeled to other places like the eyes, ears and other sense organs, it could enhance their sight; letting them see farther distances clearer or even see in the dark, hearing the wings beat of a fly and the heartbeat of a person in a market was not impossible. In short everything about the person could be enhanced by magic power, including resistance and immunity to unfavorable conditions like extreme heat, cold and even poison.
Right now, Drake was training his proficiency and flexibility in moving his magic energy by sending it to his arms, legs and to his eyes, ears, nose; he practiced moving it to every part of his body. This was a necessity as long as he could master moving the energy to where he wanted then he could learn to do it in a heart beat.
This was one of the reasons that people who awakened their magic powers as children. It was because it was easier for them to learn and master this till it became second nature to them. The earlier you awakened your magic powers the better,
For the next few days this was what he focused on, he made sure that his energy was circulating to all parts of his body at all times. At first he would need to stop moving completely and focus on moving the energy before he would be able to mobilize the energy, and even then the energy moved at snail speed. But as he trained in this more and more he started to get the hang of it and the energy started to move faster and faster throughout his body.
He reached a level of learning to move the energy while performing simple tasks with his body, like raising an arm, leg or maybe while doing push ups or sit ups during his workouts, then maybe while walking, running, jumping he tried everything all so he could be able to move the energy in a split seconds intent. And even though progress was extremely slow, progress was progress no matter how small. While doing this he didn't forget to continue testing the limit of how much energy he could control in the seal.
A wisp, two wisps, ten, a hundred, a cloud, a stream, slowly the quantity rose and so did his proficiency and flexibility. Before he knew it he was soon able to control a whole star worth of energy.
During this time, Drake also noticed that his body was getting stronger faster when he did his workouts. He also noticed that his stamina had increased so he could train for longer than he used to and it was improving by the day. Also his body absorbed the magical energy faster while he was working out than when he let it passively do so.
Two weeks later, Drake no longer felt the bloated uncomfortable feeling he had when he first unlocked his magic energy. finally it was time for him to go out.
As he walked to the gate leading out of the clan grounds, he did his best to make sure he didn't attract any attention to himself, right now he was in a good mood and he didn't want anyone spoiling that for him.
However nothing ever goes according to plan in life and the more you tried to avoid something the more reality laughed in your face.
"Oh, so the trash has finally decided to go outside!" Just as he was exiting the gates of the clan, a voice sounded behind him.
As he turned his head, he realized it was only the guards at the gate, this made him breathe a sigh of relief.
"Where are you going trash? You know you're not allowed to go outside the clan grounds without permission." The guard asked in a condescending tone.
"I have permission." Drake said slowly taking out a permit badge. He knew this was only regular protocol.
It was true that there was a rule that prevented people under a certain age from stepping out of the clan grounds at anytime they pleased, they needed to apply for permission at least twenty-four hours beforehand, and only when it was approved could they leave. This was a security measure so that the clan could always know who was where and if someone wasn't seen after a long period after they left the clan grounds, it could be quickly found out and a search team would be deployed to find them.
If anyone ever exceeded the time limit that they were allowed to be outside on purpose, it would result in them being banned from leaving the clan for anything unless it was an errand given by the clan. And if they ever had to go out it would be with people watching them.
This was a rule that protected them but it was also a way to restrain some. As for Drake, he was an exception to this rule, since his uncle had given him a special permit to leave whenever he wanted. but it was rare for him to go outside, it wasn't because he didn't want to, it was just that he was always being watched whenever he did leave the clan, which only happened less than a handful of times since his parents were determined dead. And these few times he had faced several assassination attempts, and even though he had never reported it, he knew the ones to hire the assassins were from the Black clan. So whenever he did leave he always did so without using the gates.
"Oh do you? How come I don't know about that?" the guard squinted. He barked. "Get back inside! Put the permit away, I don't need to look at it. You don't have my permission to leave the clan."
Drake was surprised by this. Not at the fact that the guard was acting all high and mighty, no he got that everyday from every other person in the clan including the servants. What surprised him was that he was being denied leave from the clan, so he asked. " Do you know who I am?"