They arrived at the waterfall after walking for thirty minutes. Tracy could not wait to start her training, and Victor could not wait to see the results, as he wanted to practice the meditation too!
Victor was leaning against a tree, near the water pool the waterfall formed. He was looking at everything that was happening, eagerly waiting.
"Tracy," Arthur said, "I will pass the knowledge to your head. It will feel strange at first, but after a few seconds, you will understand it."
"Pass the knowledge directly to her mind? Arthur is stronger than I thought," Victor thought once he heard it.
It was not something the weak could do, especially if one wanted to pass the knowledge without hurting the other party.
For Arthur, though, it was a piece of cake. He placed his hand on Tracy's forehead and passed down the Dragon Meditation Technique to her.
A tattoo of a dragon appeared on her forearm, meaning the transfer was a success! Everything happened fast, and in less than five seconds, Tracy had the entire knowledge of the technique!
"Father, I have the knowledge! It says this technique can make a mage go up to rank 6, at most. Is that high or not?" Tracy asked.
When Victor heard it, he almost choked with his own saliva. Was it high? It was the highest Victor has ever heard!
"Arthur! Is this serious? Up to rank 6?" Victor said.
Arthur smiled, proud of himself. It was nice to have his technique praised by others, "of course. I told you I am awesome. Now, Tracy, let's start the training, shall we?"
Tracy nodded. There wasn't much for Arthur to teach her, to be honest. They both found a comfortable place to sit cross-legged, and then Tracy practiced the technique, mentally doing the chants and the breathing techniques described on it.
The only thing Arthur could do was to check if she was doing it correctly, and maybe help her channel the mana to the proper place.
She did not have a fully developed mana core yet, and that was another experiment Arthur was doing.
Would his Dragon Meditation Technique help her build a different core, one that was more powerful than the average one?
That was something he looked for, and for that reason, he placed his hand on her shoulder, helping her channel the mana to the right place, which was on her belly, right where the infant mana core was.
Every time Tracy breath using the proper exercises and the chants which were exclusive for that meditation technique, she could feel the mana from the surrounding area gather inside her!
But this mana did not flow to the right places. It was a complete mess, and if Tracy was not careful, the amount of mana she gathered would be significantly more than what her mana core supported.
And that was why Arthur was there, guiding the mana, making sure he never absorbed more than what she could chew.
Victor watched everything, and although he was not an extraordinary mage, he knew what Arthur was doing.
"The things he can do are impressive. Every time he surpasses his previous achievement!" Victor thought, as he stared at their training from afar.
"Is it working, teacher? I can feel something warm on my belly," Tracy said.
"Yes. This warming feeling is the mana, empowering your mana core. Keep doing what you are doing," Arthur said.
She nodded, closed her eyes, and returned to the meditation. Arthur remained by her side, taking care of any problem that may arise. After two hours of meditation, Tracy reached the first circle!
It was a fast pace if one considered Tracy had never trained before. Victor was even more surprised.
"First circle in two hours? This is better than any meditation technique I have ever seen!"
Victor was still incredulous after hearing that the technique Arthur passed to Tracy could turn a mage into a rank 6 one. It seemed too good to be true, but after he saw how fast his daughter was improving, Victor believed in it!
"Let's stop for the day. I think you will have to do the summoning ritual to get your familiar, right?" Arthur said.
"But I want to train more!!!" Tracy said, complaining.
She liked the feeling of having an increase in power.
"Training too much will do you more harm than good. Remember that, and one day you will be as strong as me!" Arthur said, cuddling her hair.
Tracy remembered how powerful Arthur was, so she believed him!
"Okay!"
After training for two hours, they returned to their village, meeting Emily, who had finished making dinner.
"Rice, chicken and vegetables. Good," Arthur thought, filling a bowl.
The first thing Tracy told her mother during lunch was how incredible the technique was, and how she reached the first circle in two hours!
Emily had a face of disbelief when she heard it, moving her gaze to Victor just to see him nodding, agreeing to what Tracy had said.
"It is true. She is in the first circle already. Impressive, right?"
She could still not believe her daughter had increased her power so rapidly. Emily and Victor sat to talk in private, and they both agreed to practice the technique too!
"He can pass it to our mind with just a touch. He is way more powerful than we imagined, Emily. You did not see it, but his true form is majestic!"
Victor had shared with Emily that Arthur was a beast, but he was the only one that had seen Arthur's true form. Tracy had seen it too!
Emily could only imagine how it was and hoped that one day she would see it, too.
"But there's something off. How can he be a friendly magical beast? I thought they only wanted to kill things," Emily said.
"Well, the stronger a beast is, the more intelligent it is. We don't know how powerful he is exactly, but if he had lived a long time, then it is understandable that he has feelings of his own, and plans."
What Victor said was correct. Weaker beasts had lower intelligence, and could only remain in their beast form, but as they got stronger, they would get wiser, and eventually have the power to transform into human form.
Arthur was the same, but he was more friendly than an ordinary beast because he was human too! Although he was seeing himself as a beast first, and then a human.
While they were eating, someone knocked on the door of their cabin. Victor did not overthink it, as he and Emily were the strongest mages, so it was common for the other villagers to come to them, asking for help.
"Kennedy, is something wrong?" Victor asked.
The man knocking on the door was someone he knew very well, a ninth circle mage who had been a friend of his for many years.
"Victor, we have problems! There is a horde of goblins coming in our direction! I don't think we have enough manpower to fight them!"
Kennedy said, gaping for air as he explained the situation. While he was on the verge of collapse, Victor was as calm as a river on a sunny morning.
He knew Arthur was there, and they had nothing to worry about.