Supreme Ruler: Reincarnated as the Emperor's Bastard Son

Two hours passed by the time as Ashoka finished his bath and had a light lunch.

There was still an hour until Sage Chanakya's lesson session, so Ashoka sat in his room and practiced the mana circulation method.

He sat in a cross-legged position with both hands placed on either of his laps.

His forefinger and thumb finger were in contact with each other and the rest of the fingers were left free.

As he slowly moved the mana in his heart through the mana circulation path in accordance with the Enhanced Art of mana circulation.

A cool sensation started to pass through his whole body as mana permitted into all corners of his body and his thoughts started to become organized.

'I'm about to reach 3-star in mana technique… and 4-star in swordsmanship.'

It had been many years since he left the tempest manor, but Ashoka had never once slacked off in his training.

He constantly trained his body in physical strength and his heart through mana training.

The results of his training were also not disappointing either, he had advanced to 2-star in mana technique and was on the verge of breaking through to 3-star, not to mention the Swordsmanship which had reached the peak of 3-star.

Now Ashoka was on the verge of breaking through to the next stages, both in swordsmanship and mana technique.

As he circulated the mana throughout his body, a cool and calm sensation engulfed his mind, taking away all his exhaustion.

'This mana circulation method...it's more amazing than I had thought!'

The Enhanced Art of mana circulation.

The mana technique that he learned from Sage Vyasa was not as simple as he had thought at first, the more he used the technique the more he realized just how amazing it was.

Just the fact that it helped to reduce his exhaustion was amazing, but after advancing to 3-star Ashoka noticed that there was more to it than what seemed to the eyes.

The density of mana in his heart nearly increased by twice and Ashoka could feel that his mana was getting more purer.

The magic spells that needed him to use almost all his mana could now be cast at least three to four times, using the same mana pool. It seemed as if his overall mana-holding capacity in his heart had expanded with his promotion to 3-star.

It was incredibly shocking.

Yes, there were many mana circulation methods in the royal library which would provide many beneficial effects to the user like reducing exhaustion, increasing the firepower of mana, increasing mana conductivity in the body, and many more… but Ashoka had never heard of any mana technique that could increase the mana pool by so much in such a short amount of time.

It was considered that he was the prince of the Empire who had more than enough resources available at his hand's distance.

Even Sage Chanakya who wanted to teach his mana technique to Ashoka decided not to, seeing as Ashoka's current mana circulation method was more amazing.

It may seem like not much, but the mere fact that the greatest magician in the Mauryan empire recognized the mana technique to be superior to his own was incredible.

Ashoka could only imagine the benefits he would receive from leveling up his proficiency in the future.

"Will my mana pool keep increasing with an increase in proficiency?"

It was a question that he didn't know the answer to, it was just a small prediction and maybe a bit greedy wish too, but who knows? maybe it was a one-time thing that happened as he advanced from 2-star to 3-star and will never happen again. Or maybe it could repeat when he reaches 4-star.

For now, Ashoka decided to train instead of filling his head with useless worries.

His advancement was not only limited to the mana techniques but his swordsmanship proficiency also increased by leaps and bounds, in fact he had trained even more with his swordsmanship than his mana technique.

In the past years, he trained in Imperial swordsmanship and had increased his proficiency to the peak of 3-star and was on the verge of becoming a 4-star knight.

In the empire, where most of the knights were in the range of 3-4 stars, it was an incredible achievement.

Only the first princess of the Mauryan empire was known to achieve such feet in the last fifty years.

That itself went to show that Ashoka was too good to be fixed in the realm of geniuses.

Excluding the mana technique and swordsmanship, Ashoka was also training in the special skill of the Previous emperor, Chandragupta Maurya.

It is the same 'Supreme art of Darkness manipulation' that he received as a reward from the emperor, but so far there have been no visible improvements.

'Am I doing something wrong?'

Since no one know how to use the Supreme art of darkness manipulation nor was there anyone alive who could teach him, Ashoka found it incredibly hard to train.

Not to mention that he was stuck without knowing if he was training in the correct method or not.

"The previous emperor...Would it have hurt him to write about the technique in detail?"

The main problem was not that there was no teacher, even if there was no teacher, Ashoka would have been able to learn it on his own with the experiences from his last life and the talent of his body.

But the problem was that the manual that he received from the emperor was....weird.

It was to the point that Ashoka wondered if the Emperor gave him the wrong book since he didn't want to give it to him.

~The path opens when you see the Darkness in Light~

That was the only sentence present in the manual he was given, the rest of the book was all empty.

It was likely that it was some kind of magic book that would reveal itself when he met certain conditions or that the previous emperor didn't write anything at all.

The previous was more likely but Ashoka was not even aware of the restrictions.

"I thought Sage Chanakya would be able to figure it out..."

Since Sage Chanakya was known as the wisest man alive by the people of Mauryan, Ashoka thought he would be able to figure something out but even he failed to notice something in it.

'Is he really a 9-star mage?'

Ashoka was really doubting it now.

Anyway, those were the results of four years of training after leaving the Storm Castle.

His growth speed in the mana training was far beyond what even a dragon-like Drakorinith could expect.

A 14-year kid was at the peak of 2-star mana technique and peak 3-star swordsmanship? there was hardly anyone in the whole empire who could be comparable to him in his age group.

However, the growth of his mana was far too slow according to Sage Chanakya's standards.

"5-star in mana technique and swordsmanship at the age of 16....."

That was the record set by the previous Emperor and as the one who taught the previous emperor himself, Sage Chanakya was not impressed by Ashoka's monstrous growth.

"I will surpass that goal"

It was an arrogant remark.

To Say that he would surpass the strongest man that the great Mauryan had ever seen in history, it was nothing more than being insolent.

But it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Having a big goal is something that would constantly push an individual to work towards it, it was just that in his case the goal was not big but enormous!

Comparisons aside, reaching the verge 4-star stage at the age of fourteen was an incredible achievement that was comparable to the monstrous talents of the empire.

His swordsmanship would also reach 4-star by the age of fifteen, which was one year earlier than the current emperor Bindusara Maurya, then he would have officially surpassed the emperor in the age comparisons.

Ultimately Ashoka's growth was progressing favorably.

Feeling himself getting stronger by the day was the best feeling there could ever be.

There was Cale's intense training regimen, The enhanced art of mana circulation, and the imperial library's notebook which he studied every day.

He was strengthening himself in not only power but also in knowledge whenever he had time.

All these activities were far more enjoyable than resting for the 14-year-old boy or would it be right to call for an adult in a 14-year child's body?

---***---