Unless he had created a mana heart to become a wizard, shouldn't it be gathered in his dantian? At least, that's what the textbooks said. If he wasn't walking the path of a wizard, the point where magic formed was the dantian in the lower abdomen.
[...I'm, I'm sorry....]
"No, it's not your fault, is it? I was just curious."
[No, I'm really sorry... Well, Dad is already practically a wizard.]
"Me?"
It was a shocking truth. I thought I was a martial artist, but I'm actually a wizard? Wizards can't use aura, so it seems like I'll have to apply for magic classes without fail.
[That's not it... I used up a bit too much of my lifespan even though I haven't hatched yet, so my existence became unstable. To survive, I needed to make a contract quickly to be firmly bound to reality. But to make a contract with Dad in my egg state so that he could use magic, the only option was the heart.]
"Ah, I see. If that's the reason, it's okay. You did well, Shar."
He couldn't just let Shar disappear, could he? If she did it to save her own life, Yeon-woo had no complaints.
Once he decided to take responsibility, he would see it through. That was the way of the man, Choi Yeon-woo.
[So now Dad has become a half-dragon. To be precise, only your heart has been replaced with a dragon heart....]
"What...?"
My heart is a dragon heart?
The... most expensive and precious thing in the material world?
[Uh... is it?]
"Shar, haven't you heard that a truckload of Ginseng of Life or whatever can't even compare to half a dragon heart?"
[Dad, how would I know that? How old do you think I am?]
Shar snapped back in disbelief, and Yeon-woo felt a pang of realization.
It had only been half a day since they started talking, but Shar spoke so well and knew so much that he had unconsciously forgotten that she hadn't even hatched yet.
In fact, Shar was only a month old, born as an egg, which was similar to a human fetus.
The premature maturity of a crazy dragon....
[...Hehe, I'm glad Dad is happy. I know race is a sensitive issue.]
Shar seemed to feel sorry for turning him into a half-dragon without his consent. Yeon-woo burst out laughing at her words.
Of course, race was a sensitive issue, but it wasn't something a child who hadn't even been born yet should worry about.
Besides, if it's a dragon, it really doesn't matter. In fact, it's even better.
But what was it, can dragons use aura?
It was a fundamental question. Were they so strong that they didn't need to use aura, or could they use it too? From what he had heard, it seemed like the only difference was that the point where magic formed was the heart instead of the dantian.
[We could just make a separate mana core in the dantian, right?]
"Is that possible? Doesn't the dragon heart absorb all the magic in the area?"
[Hmph!]
Shar scoffed confidently and continued. If she had facial expressions, how proud would she look? Yeon-woo couldn't help but imagine it.
[What can't a dragon do!]
...That's right, she's a dragon!
"Alright, then let's give it a try."
Yeon-woo decided to try moving his magic first. A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. He knew how to destroy his own body better than anyone, but he was a complete novice when it came to moving magic.
To use magic naturally when it mattered, he needed to practice moving it regularly.
[I'll separate about half of the magic and move it to your lower abdomen. Once Dad gets used to manipulating magic, we can create a core.]
As if sensing Yeon-woo's attempt to concentrate, Shar guided him in a calm voice.
Feeling grateful, he didn't reply in order to focus. He inhaled.
[Separately from that, if you're going to practice manipulation, it's better to do it from your heart. That's where you'll be most sensitive.]
Exhale-.
Following Shar's advice, he slowly focused his consciousness on his heart...
He wasn't moving his heart. Ordinary humans didn't know how to move their hearts.
But with the presence of magic, a foreign energy...
If he could recognize the dragon heart, an organ that wasn't originally his...
He could move magic. When it came to the first hurdle of recognizing magic, Yeon-woo was in a more advantageous position than anyone else. He had recognized it thanks to Kim Hyun-soo, and the dragon heart's excellent sensitivity was assisting him.
The warm energy wriggled slightly. First, he kneaded the whole thing. He scattered it, gathered it, and changed its shape.
Since it was his first time, he moved very slowly. But he was happy that the magic moved according to his will.
He knew himself better than anyone. As someone without talent, there was always only one thing he could do.
Persistently repeat one thing until it's complete, then move on to the next. He had to take it one step at a time, slowly.
In other words, work hard enough to die.
...Watching him, Shar couldn't help but feel bewildered.
The slow and tedious manipulation of magic was enough to make her sleepy. He was her dad, but she couldn't sense even a shred of talent in him.
Still, as her mom had said, his concentration and effort seemed genuine, so she decided to just blankly watch him.
No matter how talentless he was, he would naturally become proficient with practice. The task of gathering magic into a point and then releasing it was simple, so even Yeon-woo, with his lack of talent, quickly mastered it.
However, it seemed like her father wasn't satisfied with just that. He repeated it dozens of times. He repeated the same process at the same speed as when he first started.
It was the same as when he moved his body. If he moved slowly, the stimulation to his muscles increased, and his understanding of the movement deepened. In that sense, magic wasn't much different from muscles.
There was nothing better than continuously moving slowly to recognize and develop a part of the body.
He continued for tens of minutes, for hours. He started in broad daylight and continued until the moon rose and the cold moonlight filtered in through the balcony.
During that time, Shar dozed off several times.
For some reason, listening to Yeon-woo's breathing while quietly resting on his head made her sleepy. It felt as peaceful as being nestled in the embrace of nature.
...And while she lightly fell asleep and woke up several times, the man never once lost his concentration.
Only when his stomach started growling did he naturally get up, saying, "Oh, it's already this late. Shall we eat?"
It was said that it took geniuses about a week at the fastest to recognize and manipulate magic. Once they reached that level, creating a core wasn't difficult.
They just had to gather the magic scattered throughout their body into one point.
Even though he was in an overwhelmingly advantageous position in every aspect except talent, it took him twelve hours to create a core the size of a bean.
Yeon-woo thought it was hard to decide whether to be happy or sad about this fact.
