Matthew hurried home from school to try his new idea. If it worked, it could multiply his progress many folds over.

     Heading straight up to his room, he began as usual with his perception training. He was finally able to push his perception to the peak of the major grade and had solidified it up to twelve feet now. This kind of breakneck progress was astounding even among someone hailed as a genius.

     Having finished his perception training, he moved on to body refinement where he began to pull mana through his pores and into his bones. He first tired to concentrate on one spot and tried to create a clump of mana to circulate through his marrow.  He quickly found that a clump of mana would be impossible, but the fact that he was able to concentrate the mana was already a start.

     'This can work just not in this way,' he thought to himself as he tried to figure a way around it.

    He decided to give up on that idea for the moment and proceeded with the technique as normal, while forgetting the amount of mana he had accumulated.

     Circulating the mana of that concentration created an immediate effect.  The mana condensed down into a thread before it raced through his bones causing crackling sounds followed by a muffled *boom* sound.

     Matthew passed out before realizing what had happened.  The bones over the entirety of his body had cracked simultaneously creating hair like cracks everywhere.

     He stayed passed out until his alarm woke him at four in the morning. He had been asleep for twelve hours.  Upon waking up, he realized that other than being extremely sore he was fine.

     Little did he know that he had made a giant leap in the body refining process. His marrow had been cleansed all at once forcing every impurity through his bones causing them to crack like glass. His improved marrow then proceeded to heal his bones at a breakneck speed while also refining them.

     He tried his best to stick to his routine this morning as well. He could barely even stand to do the stretches that followed his perception training.  The whole time his joints made popping sounds as they released the tension that had built up. It almost made him feel like his body was falling apart as he showered and made his way to school.

     His perception had improved today as well with him being able to hold the twenty foot mark for fifteen minutes and had increased the passive range to fifteen feet.

     This new range had allowed him to sense his bullies from around a corner and change his route before they notice him.  They appeared to be searching for him to give him another beating. Little did they know that he was slowly changing to the point that he would no longer have to take these beatings.

Matthew Hart

Level - 1

Titles - none

Skills - Mana perception (major), Mana gathering (minor)

Health - 120

Mana - 10

Strength - 5 -> 6

Endurance - 5 -> 6

Agility - 4 -> 5

Intelligence - 7 -> 8

Wisdom - 4 -> 5

Mana core - Tiny cracked core (broken)

     The change in his stats had resulted for all of the training he was putting himself through.  His strength, endurance, and agility had increased due to purifying his marrow and beginning the refining of his bones. His perception was still gradually increasing his intelligence while the enhanced memory technique was improving his wisdom stat.