The long awaited day has come for Regulus and his family. It was the day of his mana awakening.
"Go on, Regulus.", an encouraging voice came from the side.
"Mmh."
Regulus took a deep breath, before heading for the orb that laid on the altar in front of him.
With every step he took, it was as if gravity was increasing its effect on him.
He stood in front of the orb, noticing its blank interior.
The orb was devoid of any color and even light, as if it was a blank canva waiting for an artist to put their own touch on it.
Regulus gulped before placing his hands on the orb.
At that moment, like fireflies at night, the orb lit up so brightly, to the point that it momentarily blinded Regulus himself.
After the brief flash, Regulus opened his eyes and stared into the orb; now a crimson red color.
He smiled. That was good. It was a sign that his affinity to fire magic was high. Fire fitted his bright-red hair as well.
He then took his hands off, and as he did that, the orb lost its former crimson glow, returning to its blank state.
"Now, you will test your second affinity.", a deep voice rumbled behind him.
It was well known that most has an affinity to multiple elements/magics. He hoped that it would at least compliment his first element. An enhancement-type would be nice.
He channeled his mana into the orb once again.
As if time was reversed, the orb once again shone with a crimson light, blinding Regulus and the audience alike once again.
Regulus was puzzled. The second test was supposed to determine his other affinity.
"Try again, Regulus.", the same voice that encouraged him earlier sounded out again.
Regulus did just that. He allowed his mana to flow into the orb, which... lit up crimson.
Silence fell upon the room. There was not a single person making a sound.
Regulus sharply inhaled and exhaled, revealing a bitter smile on his face.
At least his one affinity was good.
...
"It's okay. You don't need more than one magic to make us proud."
The encouraging voice that came from his mother has always helped him when he was feeling down.
His father had the same idea, although he had no idea on how to express it to his son. All he could do was assure Regulus that he would be fine in his own way.
"With our family's influence, you can still get into Berzet Academy."
'Berzet Academy...'
Regulus tossed the name around in his head, before dismissing it.
It was once his dream to go to such a prestigious academy, but that was shattered by the revelation of his single element.
'By now, the news should've already spread. I can already imagine the smile on that asshole's face...'
People that could use multiple elements had an direct advantage when it came to battle. Not only were they more versatile, but when combined, the magical output would be far more devastating than what a single element could achieve.
Of course, there were exceptions to that as well. Some people had abnormally strong affinities to a single element. Regulus was one of them, judging from the bright flare of crimson that he expelled onto the orb.
"You'll need to work harder than most in order to stand next to them.", his father told him.
"I'm aware."
"You have full access to our family's resources. Don't let them to go waste, Regulus."
Regulus' family, the Custos, is one of the 12 founding families of the Vessila Empire, the strongest empire on the continent of Axelot.
As one of the founders, they naturally enjoyed a large amount of prestige and resources over other noble families.
As the heir to the family, he has access to the Vault, where the resources accumulated over centuries are stored.
His father, Trigno, is credited as one of the strongest in the Vessila Empire. Having gone on 'impossible' conquests, he gathered a large abundance of resources that wouldn't be depleted even a century later.
Due to his immense love for his son, he'd gladly give it all up.
"We'll leave you to your own devices now."
Regulus' parents left the room, leaving Regulus to contemplate his future.
"Haaaaaaah..."
Regulus released a deep sigh, before a fire was lit in his eyes.
'So what if I can only use one type of magic? If I can only use one, I'll take it to its utmost limits.'
Regulus was determined; he would take his fire magic to its utmost limits.
After all, he was the heir to the guardian of the Vessila Empire, Regulus. Regulus Custos.
...
The Custos family ate their dinner in silence.
After finishing his dinner, Regulus left for the Vault, and on the way there, he heard whispers, aimed at his back.
"Did you hear? The young master only has one element..."
"I know. He's heading for the Vault isn't he? What is the lord thinking? It's better to just create another child that's not a failure."
He ignored it all. Why should he care about the ramblings of bugs that can only stare at his back?
He viewed his single affinity as a minor setback, but even then, it was better than nothing.
Regulus then blocked out the servants' words, and before he knew it, he was in front of the Vault.
The guardian to the Vault's entrance was a stone lion. Specifically, Regulus' namesake, Regulus. The contracted beast of the Custos family.
To gain access to the Vault, you needed to have the blood of the Custos family, and the ring that symbolized leadership, shared by the lord and heir of the family.
Regulus glanced at the ring on his finger before moving his hand to put the ring against the lion's nose.
The lion's eyes flashes for a moment, before the Vault's door opened with a creaking noise.
As Regulus stepped inside, the door slammed shut, eliminating possibilities of anyone sneaking in.
The Vault of the Custos family was organized into different sections, and within those sections, there were specific categories.
He ignored the [Weapon] and [Armor] sections, as he found no need for them as of the moment.
He glanced around trying to find the [Enhancement] section.
When he found the section, he immediately headed over, wasting no time to enter through the doors.
Inside, there were many categories, some being [Herbs], and [Minerals] sections.
He pondered on which one he should go to first, and he chose the [Herbs] section. After all, herbs that enhanced your power were usually easier to compound into a potion.
When he entered the subsection, which was organized similarly to a greenhouse, he started to look for specific herbs. Specifically, one that would enhance his physical prowess.
He found quite a few that did just that, but he was still reluctant to take them. After all, using potions that directly enhanced your strength could stunt and limit your growth. The repeated potion consumptions' effects will also lessen, and after just a few, it will yield little to no results.
He was looking for one that either increased his strength massively in one go, or would allow for him to break the boundaries of his physical body.
Although he made finding the two herbs sound simple, in reality, it wasn't.
Herbs were already a rare commodity in the outside world, and only a family on the caliber of the 12 founders could afford to have a greenhouse, like the Custos.
An herb that could massively increase a person's strength could already cause a war between small nations, while one that broke a person's limits would easily cause a war between empires.
Regardless of the rarity, Regulus still resolved for himself to find one. It may be selfish of him to take it like that, and not leave any for his descendants, but he didn't care. If he didn't take it, someone else would take it anyways.
He scoured through the greenhouse for almost 3 hours, astonished at the sheer amount of useless (for him) herbs, and the small amount of useful herbs.
If a commoner heard Regulus' thoughts, they would probably implode on themselves and die. Treating herbs that could start wars as useless, that was something a member of the founding families could do.
Regulus was about to give up, as patience was never his strong suit, before something caught his eyes.
[Limit Breaker - Only for heads]
The limit breaker herb was reserved for the heads of the Regulus family. No one else was allowed to take it.
Of course, to Regulus, that didn't matter. He was the heir, and that was as good as the head in his eyes.
'How come I've never heard of this...'
It was natural that he has never heard of this before. This single herb could easily cause the other 11 families, including the royal family, to turn on the Custos family the moment news about it came out.
Regulus grabbed the herb's container, removing its nametag before leaving the area.
'I just need to compound a potion now...'
Regulus was confident in his alchemy skills. That was one of the few things (that required patience) he was good at.
Regulus left the [Herbs] section with only thought in his head; making a potion.
In his haste to leave, he failed to notice one thing.
The lion's eyes were shining red, staring at his back.
...
"Get me the best cauldron, and a room for alchemy.", Regulus instructed the servants, without letting his hands off the container that contained the limit breaking herb.
After a few minutes, the servants gathered what he needed, and he walked into the room, but not before warning them.
"No one is to disturb me in the next 5 hours. There'll be consequences for all of you if someone does."
Of course, Regulus never intended to punish all the servants for one's mistake, but it was a good warning, as two servants immediately stood guard in front of his door as he closed it.
Regulus then took a deep breath, before carefully removing the herb from its container, treating it as if it was a delicate butterfly.
He poured water - water that has been mixed with magic, into the cauldron in front of him.
The magical water was pure, which means that it was the best solvent available to dissolve the herb in. The magic element in the water was to act as a stabilizer for the magical properties of the herb.
'Now the real question is; Do I ground the herb up or do I just throw it in?'
Regulus has seen many types of herbs; ones that required itself to be ground up in order to be effective, while others would dissolve in the water.
He had a 50/50 chance to do this.
"Haaaaaaaaah..."
He sighed before deciding on his method; throw the herb in directly.
Why did he do that? One, because he had a 50/50 chance to do it. Two, he was too nervous to ground up the herb, afraid that he would damage it and reduce its effectiveness in some way or another.
The herb landed in the water and immediately started dissolving.
'Yes!'
Regulus pumped his fist before realizing that he needed to direct his magic to help the water stabilize the herb.
He placed his hand on the cauldron, before channeling his magic into it, soothing and calming the herb into dissolving peacefully.
The process took, as he expected, 4 hours in order to complete.
"Phooo..."
Regulus sighed in relief, drained of his mental energy.
Mental energy was specified in this case because his mana reserves were completely fine. In fact, it was quite filled. To Regulus, this was normal. He was born with massive reserves, far larger than what either of his parents were born with.
Of course, fate played a cruel prank on him by giving him a single affinity, but that doesn't matter to him. His sheer firepower would just overpower others' magic. It's just that he could've released more power if he could combine magic.
Regulus shook his head and cleared his thoughts on his single affinity, before refocusing on the newly made mixture laying in the cauldron.
He carefully transferred the mixture to a transparent bottle, before observing it.
The mixture was purple and red in color, which did not look very visually appealing to Regulus. The smell was doing no favor to it either.
Regulus brought the bottle up to his mouth, the scent hitting his nose harder than his single affinity, before reluctantly gulping it down.
The taste was, just like many potions, horrible. It tasted like an unholy mixture; something like chocolate with fish.
The feeling of slime flowing down your throat was unpleasant, and coupled with the taste and smell, Regulus wanted to throw up.
Of course, he held it in. He wouldn't forgive himself for wasting such a precious potion, whose value was immeasurable.
"Ack!"
After gulping down every single drop in the bottle, Regulus choked on the taste, and resisted the urge to strangle himself to end his suffering.
A few minutes later, the taste still lingered in his mouth, but it was at least bearable now.
After shaking the taste off of his mind, he felt it.
He felt the changes that the potion brought to his body.
His insides were overflowing with mana, and like a dam that tried to hold back an ocean, it broke, along with an invisible limiter.
The ecstasy that the potion brought him was unimaginable, and he felt as if he was invincible.
Of course, Regulus knew that he wasn't invincible. Not yet, anyways.
It was just the beginning of his era.
The ignition of his journey.