"How the hell did I not realise that I could do this until now?" Jon muttered to himself, his Minerva-Sagacity Eyes able to perceive the silver-metallic wisps of spear natured spiritual energy released from his Spear Mana Core.

The human did in fact know the answer, he just did not know why he did not think of it before this moment.

With the limited amount of spiritual energy contained within each of his Mana Cores, Jon could perhaps fight once, or maybe even twice at full throttle before running out of spiritual energy. If his opponent possessed a similar number of abilities to Han Of The Red Wind, or even Avahni if she managed to manifest all her summoning abilities, Jon did not feel that he would be able to last more than thirty minutes before expending every drop of spiritual energy he possessed.

Within this forest where mutated beasts and strange sentient creatures lurked about, Jon was fighting at least once a day. While the average beast was able to be eliminated with a few precise strikes from Assail or with [Wrath Of Green, Piercing Wood Eruption], Jon was always reminded to keep some of his spiritual energy in reserve after encountering the fire-breathing duck.

Jon had always made sure to keep some of his wood natured spiritual energy in reserve, to activate [Green Is The Flesh, As Red Is The Blood] in the event of injury. He found himself using the Spell manifested from his Fragment Of Spirit over the Spell manifested from his Fragment Of Eruption more and more, only Assail proving to be a somewhat continuous drain to his wood natured spiritual energy.

Jon was unsure how this would be affected because of his Archetype Green, although he was not quite as reserved in using the ability anymore, with the addition of his Yaochi-Jade Prana.

Combined with the fact that Jon needed to practice using his abilities to understand their limitations and effects, did not leave him with much spiritual energy left at the end of the day. Expending his spiritual energy, only to release it into the world around him was just a senseless waste of a precious resource.

"I've often heard stories about individuals who were chosen to participate within a System Introduction. Most have shared the same worries and difficulties as you have Jon and even more did not realize that their Mana Cores were capable of such things until after obtaining all six of their Mana Cores. You are ahead in that regard," Rana admitted, watching as Jon crudely manipulated his spear natured spiritual energy.

The human was releasing it in slow stream all around him, trying to determine the distance at which it would be absorbed by the ambient spiritual energy around him.

After reaching roughly ten feet, Jon could no longer control his spiritual energy, as if trying to catch a floating soap bubble only to watch as the wind carried it further and further away from him.

Using his Minerva-Sagacity Eyes, Jon tried to urge his spiritual energy back towards his Spear Mana Core but could not return it as easily as releasing it. Jon tried inversing the rotation of his Spear Mana Core however, just released more spear natured spiritual energy as a result.

Scratching the top of his head, Jon frowned, staring at the mental image of his Spear Mana Core within him.

"Am I missing something? Regardless of the direction of rotation, my Mana Core will continue to release spiritual energy. Is it me? Am I not understanding something here? The imaginary image of my Spear Mana Core is the same as the one that I once held in my hand. How can I return my spiritual energy given the shape and nature of the Mana Core in my mind?" said Jon, furrowing his brows for a moment before remembering the first time he held a Mana Core in his hands.

'It's strange. It feels like a gemstone to the touch, but the moment I come into contact with it, it behaves more like a water balloon more than anything else. Is there something inside of it? Liquid spiritual energy or something.'

Jon felt his eyes widen, slapping his forehead while shaking his head.

"What the hell are you doing Jon! The form of a Mana Core is pliable, so of course the mental image of one should be as well! Keeping the singular image within my mind does not but stagnate myself!", Jon could not help but let out a self-deprecating chuckle. How he forgot about this, he would never understand.

Forming the mental image of his Spear Mana Core within his mind, Jon felt a significant amount of mental resistance in trying to change the structure of his Mana Core. The eighteen-year-old decided to sit down, to temper his concentration, leaving Rana to alert him to any approaching sources of spiritual energy.

Trying to force any significant changes to the spherical construct proved to be more difficult than he imagined. Jon could press down on the Mana Core, compressing it into a flat disc before watching it return to its original spherical shape.

Even stretching it as far apart as Jon could imagine proved to be useless as the Mana Core swiftly regained its original shape. The human furrowing his brows, his eyes still closed as he performed more and more dramatic changes to the mental image.

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Twisting it and forming a loop.

Transforming the spherical shape into a cube or triangular prism.

Even increasing the rotation while simultaneously compressing the spherical shape proved to be futile, as the Mana Core returned to its original spherical shape.

Jon hummed, once again feeling that he was missing something.

Perhaps he was being too general with his manipulations. This was a Spear Mana Core after all, perhaps something more conceptually close to its namesake would prove to be a better choice?

Taking a deep breath, Jon attempted to condense the Spear Mana Core into a long-thin construct. Using the form of Assail as the basis, Jon transformed the silver-metal Mana Core in his mind into a two-metre-long spear with a barred tip, engraving carved up the length of the polearm.

Jon felt as though he had taken more than half an hour to form transform the shape of his Spear Mana Core into something closer to Assail. The change was not quite perfect, but the moment the human let his concentration slip, the transformation was reversed, causing Jon to open his eyes, letting out an annoyed tsk at the result.

"Dammit! There is something else I am missing," said Jon, causing him to bite the tip of his finger in frustration. The young human male tapped the tip of his nose, as if the action would help the answer come to him.

Spiritual energy was released from the Mana Core. Of that he was certain.

Increasing the rotation speed of his Mana Core released more spiritual energy. Of that he was also certain.

Each Mana Core possessed its own unique type of spiritual energy, that contained within it concepts and notions that made it distinct from one another. Despite the conceptual similarities between a Sun Mana Core and a Solar Mana Core, both manifested different abilities and notions that separated the two.

Jon took in a deep breath, before pausing halfway, thinking about what he had just said.

"Spiritual energy… is released from within the Mana Core?" he muttered.

If that was the case, then perhaps the answer laid within the internal structure of a Mana Core?

Jon blinked.

He did not know what the internal structure of a Mana Core looked like, although felt that perhaps this was done on purpose. Jon swiftly closed his eyes, trying to imagine his own internal structure to his Spear Mana Core.

Jon was not quite sure how to attack this problem, knowing that the shape of his Mana Core required some sort of intake and outtake to regulate the absorption and production of spiritual energy. The eighteen-year-old furrowed his brows for a few moments before imagining the familiar figure of Ashvattha Rana within his mind.

Trees absorbed nutrients and water through their roots and carbon dioxide through their leaves. Trees released oxygen back into the atmosphere and produced an overabundance of fruit and seeds to propagate itself further, ensuring the continuation of its species.

Taking a deep breath, Jon likened his Spear Mana Core to a seed, narrowing his brows as he attempted to extend roots out from the bottom of it. Jon could feel the spear natured spiritual energy within his Spear Mana Core expend itself at an extremely rapid pace, urging Jon to continue the process, despite the drain on his spiritual energy reserves.

It took Jon the better part of ten minutes, but the human opened his eyes, feeling the last droplet of spear natured spiritual energy used up, before gazing inwards, admiring the change to his Mana Core.

Raising an eyebrow, Jon observed his Spear Mana Core, not quite noticing any difference to the structure or shape of the silver-metallic construct. Looking even closer, Jon almost did not notice the faint sign of a bump appear on the bottom of his Mana Core, warping the spherical shape of the construct to a degree that most would not even take note of.

Jon however, leapt to his feet, throwing his hands in the air in celebration.

"Yes! I knew it! I knew I'd figure this out! See that Rana, a tree! A tree is the answer!" shouted Jon, an enormous smile marring his face.

Despite having only performed the smallest, most minute change to the shape of his Spear Mana Core, it was the first tangible start to both the completion of his second mandatory task and his third mandatory task.

His understanding of the relationship between an individual and their integrated Mana Cores.

And the formulation of a methodology for the circulation and refinement of spiritual energy.

Jon had used thirty percent of his spear natured spiritual energy to cast [Thou Art The Monarch Of Truth And Spears], using the remaining seventy percent to create this small bump on his Spear Mana Core. The bump was just over millimetre in height. Jon knew that if he could do this twice a day, he might be able to grow this "root" between two to three millimetres per day given the increased capacity of his Spear Mana Core.

His Knowledge Mana Cores and Wood Mana Cores would develop slower, but that was fine, Jon needed but a single root to start absorbing ambient spiritual energy.

"There is also the need to develop a main branch out of the Mana Core as well. Increasing the rotation of a Mana Core can expel the spiritual energy within quite rapidly, but some of the spiritual energy flows into the other abilities regardless of whether I want it to or not," Jon muttered to himself.

Jon did not know what sort of benefits growing an entire tree from his Mana Core might possess, but he had not yet heard a certain bodhi tree's input on the matter.

"What do you think Rana? Not too bad am I right?" said Jon, his words dripping with overconfidence.

Ashvattha Rana remained silent for a few moments, before shaking her branches, affirming Jon's words.

"Your process was somewhat inefficient. Your manipulation of spiritual energy is rudimentary and quite primitive all things considered", Jon frowned at the statement, before the bodhi tree continued, "However, I doubt that more than a few thousand individuals across the entirety of the System Introduction have discovered this yet. Despite the… inexperience you possess, you are quite intuitive where it counts Jonathan."

Jon's smile widened, hearing the compliment from his summon. Jon was almost tempted to repeat the process with his other three Mana Cores but refrained from doing so until he had returned to camp. While Jon's thoughts were consumed with methods of how to increase his mana regeneration, Ashvattha Rana could not help but smile, feeling that the intent Jon had used to grow his Mana Core seed reflected her own physical form.

It was not her who had given Jon a compliment.

It was him who had given her one.

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