Growing up, John never had the chance to understand what family truly is back on Earth.
His whole upbringing was just some food in the fridge and an evasion of pain during the daytime. His rage, pain, and sorrow were crushed into a bit of ball that hid in the depths of his heart, so he would stay calm when another tragedy hit him.
This time, however, was a new life.
John was born into a vast family. It also seems that his mother loves him, so does his granny.
Still, he can't abandon the thought that all of this will soon disappear. After all, he had the experience of being left by his real family and ignored by his caretakers.
For half a year as a baby in a new world, John lived preparing for being abandoned. Even though he understood that he had some importance, this irrational fear remained.
"Well, never mind, I can't keep sulking for my past. If push comes to shove, I'll have to survive independently. Let us explore this mind-space in the meantime and learn speaking, and I don't believe that with my previous life knowledge, I won't find some advantages in this weird world." John stayed rational once again.
Thus, John's new life began with simple eating, shitting, sleeping, and meditating in his visual space that existed in his consciousness.
This simplicity remained for precisely six months from his birthday. Not an hour less.
During this time, John already showed his little talent of learning language and began saying simple words, bringing joy to his mother's eyes.
"Wonderful Felix, you can already understand some of the words of ancient Kellar language. It seems your mental maturity is growing even faster than mother predicted." So exclaimed John's new mother with a warm smile and warmth in her eyes.
John learned that this new family spoke a very refined language. Every sound and word brought an intent or elegant mannerism. But, unfortunately, he also noticed that his mind would become more and more tired every time he spoke. For now, John believed that he didn't have enough information to understand why even speaking took a toll on him.
"This is annoying, but considering the rate of improvement inside the sphere, it shouldn't take longer than a month for me to be able to speak normally." So John deduced with a confidence of an experienced observer.
John used the first four months to grasp speaking, and he succeeded. Then, finally, he could say any word and began to understand most of the words he heard. But, sadly, he also noticed that saying a word was mentally taxing, and vast learning amounts took a toll on his mental energy inside the sphere, significantly increasing his fatigue.
Only in his fifth month of living, he understands that this language was like a never-ending training for his mind, and he rejoiced, thinking he could strengthen his brain in such a convenient way.
Today was his first day of the sixth month of growing as a baby. Previously, his routine was the same, so he was already expecting his mom to come and take him for a speaking session, feeding, and changing clothes. However, when he woke up from the sun shining brightly into his eyes, the first person he saw was his grandmother's elegant face.
"Good morning, little Felix. I heard from your mother that you could understand what we were saying and even talk a little. Is this true?"
"Yes, grandmother. But it is tough to speak long." So answered John slowly and awkwardly.
"No need to be polite. Just call me granny. Now don't talk unless you need to say something, as we have a long day ahead of us." Granny said and took me in the arms.
"This will make you feel a little fuzzy in your head, Felix, so take a deep breath." Said granny with a mocking grin and a jocking glint in her eyes.
I didn't understand what she meant but quickly took a deep breath. And soon after, I felt the world shrinking, spinning, and turning with changing colors. This movement made me so shaky I thought I was going to vomit on the spot, but somehow I managed to hold it in with a pale face.
"You held way better than the other's, my child. This experience was body displacement, or a better way to say it, jumping in space. You will learn more about it later when you can visit the library." Granny rattled in a joyful tone without stopping.
"You know your sibling and even parents, aunts, and uncles retched on the spot after their first time." Jokingly said granny with a giggle.
"However, they were a lot older than you. You see, my child, this place we are in is for training our offspring in various ways. We can do most of the teaching back in the clan, but some things need a lot of other equipment and precious resources, so we have this place to safeguard from intruders." Explained granny with haste.
John shook when he finally looked around. He was on a mountain cliff, erected on a cliffside platform. A humongous door was in from him, with various engravings made of golden, silver, blue crystal, and other kinds of materials. The door also had this magical feeling around itself, and John could feel danger around it.
"You don't need to worry. Only our family members can pass through this door. The mechanism and other defensive measures attack any trespasser here. Now let us go inside." Granny began to walk towards the massive door.
John curiously looked around and noticed that he felt no cold, even with baby clothes. On the contrary, all the wind seemed to evade him and his granny. This unfathomable mystery made him wonder what this woman is even more. Yet, he still remembered his birth and how this granny made him float and even entered his mind with just a glance.
What was even weirder, even after all these crazy things, he couldn't feel afraid of her. He could feel her love and care towards him every time.
The massive door opened without a sound, just enough to let them pass. They walked into a vast hall filled with engraved pillars making two rows inside. An entrance inside the stone was between two posts, with a tablet of words above.
John deduced it was saying the name of the place inside. He couldn't understand why they would engrave a small circular hole inside a stone.
"Don't worry. We won't hit the stone." John saw his granny looking at him with a smile as if she could read his mind.
The ground inside the semicircle lit up with blue light, and granny stepped inside. John could only wonder how this step took him into a spacious room with carved holes and windows to view outside the mountain.
"I know you have a lot of questions, but it is a waste of time to hear answers from me. When you learn how to read, you will have your knowledge feast in the library, so be patient." Granny didn't even give him a chance to open his mouth and put him on the softest rug he had ever seen.
The room was stunning, there were cabinets on one wall and engravings on the others, so the esthetic was very archaic when the ceiling seemed to have no end.
"As I was saying, this is a restricted area for the children's needs and training. So I brought you here to explain some things, and we will stay here for a couple of days every month until I deem you fit to change your training." So instructed granny with a sonorous voice, ensuring there was no confusion in John's eyes.
She walked to the cabinet, and after taking out some keys, she took out a very fancy glass bottle filled with blue shining liquid.
"This is a potion that you have already tasted while you were still inside your mother's belly. This liquid is a simple purified energy and nutrition potion that every sophisticated power gives the children in set intervals. Our Westgate family deems it fit to provide three brews to our offspring, regardless of their status in the family." said the old woman with haste and went to the other cabinet looking for something.
"This drink will make you feel some discomfort, and it will be up to you to absorb it, so the time it takes depends only on you."
John instantly recalled that electrifying feeling when he was still inside his mother. Now he understood why the energy was so vast and pure back then.
"Take this potion now. You can get comfortable on this rug. It is from special beast fur that can increase energy conversion. So lie down or sit. After all, it is up to you." So instructed the elegant lady with an experienced voice while pouring the liquid inside a two-handled goblet.
As John drank this weird substance, he felt the familiar sensation of electricity coursing through his body and into his mind-space. It took him just a moment to enter a meditation state and begin absorbing it with unbelievable speed.
You could see the shock on the woman's face as she saw this spectacle in front of her eyes. Never has she seen any of the kids absorbing so much energy so quickly in her entire life.
The commotion ended as quickly as it began. The spinning vortex of energy flew into the baby boy's body, and silence began as he was in a meditative state with eyes closed.
Previously John made a considerable improvement in absorbing the energy from his surroundings into his mind-space. It took him some time, but he understood that calm meditation and relaxation were the best way to get in harmony inside the sphere of his mind-space.
The calmer he was, the more energy he managed to absorb, so during the monotonous routine of the first months of his life, he just relaxed and absorbed the power, as it made him feel more clearheaded and vigorous.
He made numerous observations of this phenomenon. Finally, however, he realized that the only thing that worked was meditation, as his knowledge was just not up to par for him to fathom what else he could do.
Now, all of his efforts have shown unimaginable improvement, and it even made the knowledgeable granny baffled by what she saw.
It took a little over half an hour for Jhon to absorb all the energy cleanly and open his eyes.
"Felix, now you can ask a question. I will answer to the best of my ability. Just remember that you will fall to sleep from fatigue soon, so be smart." Granny said with elegant bearing.
"I want to know what to do with this energy in my mind," John said without any stuttering. He already thought, what should he ask if given any chance.
A few weeks back, he had already tried to ask his mother, but she stopped him, saying it was not the right time yet. So he stayed patient and waited for an opportunity. Now that it was here, he showed unprecedented focus in his eyes and looked straight into his grandmother's bright green eyes.
"Well, this is a good question. As I promised, I will answer you fully this time."
"Felix, you see, in our world, there are numerous people and other sentient beings." John listened to every word, absorbing them like a sponge.
"There are billions of simple mortal humans, who live simple lives, going about their jobs, food, family, and all that stuff. However, some people can become stronger. And I mean stronger to the point of changing their existence." Grandmother made a pause as she saw confusion in the eyes of a child.
Seeing this pause, John understood he could say something, so he took the chance and went for it. " What do you mean changing their existence?"
"I mean exactly what I say. The people with these talents can become something better than a mortal ." Granny looked into John's eyes and continued explaining.
"It may be hard to understand, but not everyone can have what you have inside their minds, Felix. Although most of the populace can think recurring thoughts, they can't observe the world's energy, nor can they absorb it or use it. They have a cap to how strong they can train themselves to be, and their intelligence is improving only up to a certain point. We call these humans - mortals. " Explained the elegant elder calmly.
John was able to understand it only because of his previous life knowledge. He even had a swift thought that even if another child could be here, they would be utterly confused with no prior information. Nevertheless, it seemed that his grandmother could see if he understood her words or not.
"Now, if the mortal human can absorb energy and become stronger, we call them warriors. It is accurate and straightforward, as they can fight better against regular humans or other warriors. You see, there are other kinds of talented people, for example, bloodline warlocks, who also inherit powers from their ancestors, but it would take too long to explain everything so that you will learn about it later on." Granny immediately brought up other information when she saw an impatience in John.
Her words entranced John. He had more questions every second, but it seemed he had no other choice but to wait until he learned to read and visit the library for more information.
"Now, the warriors and the like absorb energy into their bodies, it accumulates, and after some time, their bodies become more robust, and they reach a higher stage of strength. We call this second stage Supreme Core Stage. However, you showed no bodily constitution, bloodline, or energy absorption talent when I examined you after your birth. Therefore, I thought you would be a mortal at first."
Granny told everything she thought from the beginning. It made John feel quite satisfied with this treatment. After all, he was just a baby boy now. John's fascinated by how this world operates. Even a baby is treated as an intelligent being when he shows his ability.
"However, when our eyes met for the first time, I felt that your mental energy was off the charts, and a simple examination led me to see your mind-space already constructed. Felix, this mind-space is a scarce talent that only one person in a million has, and most of the time, it becomes noticeable when a child reached 3-5 years ago. Later on, you will learn how absurd your existence is, but now let us talk about your mental energy."
John was already feeling fatigued, it was overcoming his tiny body, but he still held extreme focus and looked at his grandmother with a bright look. His granny also noticed that, so she went straight to her answer.
"Mental energy that you collect is stored inside that sphere in your mind. That sphere is just a container for power, so it's irrelevant to talk about it now. The energy you collect accumulates up to a point, my child. That is why I gave you the potion today, as you have the mental capacity to understand not to squander its potential. Usually, children receive all three potions when they reach five years of age. You, however, can enjoy it much earlier because of your ability."
Granny began to talk faster as John's body began to feel even more exhausted from this conversation.
"For now, meditate every day to absorb as much energy as you can, Felix. Later on, we will teach you how to use this energy, but first, you will have to experience one more change in your mind-space. It is called Mind Palace Formation. I will talk about it tomorrow because it seems that you will have to overcome this at a very early age. So, to answer what this energy can do is simple, it can do anything you comprehend. As I'm not a mage, I can't tell exactly how it works, but our family has records, so I will say that as long as you work hard, you can learn to do almost anything if you have enough luck and talent. For now, this is it for the conversation. Let's resume it tomorrow, my child."
John was shocked by the information he had just learned, but even he couldn't overcome the limitations of the baby's body, so his eyes began closing by themselves.
The next day he woke up in a new room, but he could still see the mountains through huge windows, so he knew that he didn't leave the training ground yet.
His granny sat near his bed, meditating on a praying mat in a lotus position. Just as he looked at her, she opened her eyes and stared right back at him with a warm smile.
"Good morning, Felix. I hope you slept well."
"Good morning granny, I slept like a baby." So joked John, and it made the granny laugh, so he smiled as well.
"Very well, let's get you this third potion, and we will do a quick exam to see how long do we have until your mind-space transforms."
Granny flicked her fingers, and John was stunned to see himself sitting on a familiar rug.
"Drink it now. Later you will be fed by Sitri, as you will be quite hungry by then." Said granny without wasting any time and handing him the goblet.
John once again absorbed the energy with astonishing speed, this time even faster than yesterday. It took him only about fifteen minutes.
"This child's mental strength is abnormal. So I need to prepare even more resources for his transformation, to be safe." So worried granny and began to think what she should acquire to let Felix safely form his Mind Palace.
After John absorbed the energy, granny took him to another hall, where a colossal altar stood filled with weird engravings and lights.
"This is Inner Examination Formation, our family uses to precisely measure, what stage your body or mind reached and if there are any anomalies, problems or other things inside your body." Introduced grandmother quite easily, but John still felt confused as it looked like something from and sci-fi movie.
"Lie down in this compartment, I will tell you when to enter meditation, and you will see me inside your mind-space soon."
John lay down and felt a faint buzzing sound, and soon that sound forcefully brought into his mind-space sphere.
"Enter meditation state, Felix." John heard his grandmother's voice, but he couldn't see her no matter where he looked inside his mind-space.
John relaxed and calmly sat in the lotus position near the small vortex in the sphere's center. It took him only a few minutes to enter a meditative state. However, this time he felt flying out of his avatar, and now he could see his own mental body, sitting in meditation near the vortex, and soon he saw his grandmother near him. It was weird to have a mental avatar for your mental avatar. It left John baffled utterly.
"As you can see, the formation lets you know what happens to energy inside your mind, and now I can explain it to you as well."
John looked at how his first avatar meditated and how the vortex was starting to churn with more force. He also noticed that the sphere's boundary was like a glass wall, and it had small engravings all over it, filled with red, blue, green, white lights, and other kinds of patterns.
"As you can see, Felix, your sphere is almost full to the brim with energy, and any excess is sent to the wall to reinforce the globe so that you could absorb even more power. However, everything has a limit, and you can see that from the engravings on the wall. There is only a limited amount of space for reinforcement runes. This amount of space indicates you only have about six more months until your mind fills with energy."
John listened to his grandmother's explanation with a frown.
"So what happens after six months?" John asked without wasting any time.
"Well, what do you think happens to a bubble if you blow too hard?"Said granny with a bitter expression.
John instantly felt the blood leaving his face, as he felt unprecedented danger. As an intelligent guy, he knew if this energy exploded in his head, it would pop like a melon.
"Child, this is the main reason why mages are so rare," Granny said with a grave expression.
"You can rest assured that family will use all resources possible to help you overcome this hurdle, but there is always a chance you will not make it." So, the grandmother said without further ado.
John was instantly terrified. "So, all this time in a new world and I have to overcome explosion inside my head?! Well, isn't this a nice surprise, fucking hell!" He cursed inside his mind.
"Felix, now that we know how long it will take, you will have five months to prepare, and then we will set up a whole month waiting time in a secure location, where you will wait for your Mind Palace formation to begin. I know that you are just a baby, but life is not fair, and you also seem to have some secrets, but our family has rules that state we cannot pry into secrets of any member unless they endanger the family."
John wasn't shocked to hear this, as he had seen his grandmother scan him with her eyes like an open book the moment he was born. It only made sense that people encountered all kinds of weird situations in a world filled with magic, so John was quite relaxed even now.
"Now learn to read. I can see you have the ability to do that. Then, when you visit the library, maybe you will know that an intelligent baby isn't even rare in this world. Also, I will take you to read about mages transformation. Perhaps it will help you pass through this hurdle. Now let's go back. You need to eat after all."
John left the formation with his granny and jumped through space straight into his mother's chamber. She was already waiting for them.
After eating and sleeping, the women left the baby in his crib to sleep and left the room together.
"Mother, what did you find?"Sitri asked with a concerned voice.
"This child is brilliant. He has the traits of his ancestor's intelligence. Of course, there is a secret inside his mind, but he bears no ill will towards us, so I let it slide. You know that there are many weird occurrences of children being born with blessings, ancient bloodlines, and other talents that raise their intelligence and protect them from the darkness of the world."
The two women discussed as they went through the corridors of the palace.
"Mother, do you think he has any chance to survive? After all, even the main family said they will not put any strength into him if he doesn't survive the Mind Palace Formation."
"Sitri, they have no other choice. It is the clan's rules, polished through ages of hard work and tragedies. It is unprecedented for a 1-year-old baby to begin Mind Palace formation. Even the most talented ones only start at five years of age. After all, the accumulation of power is not essential, but the child needs to comprehend the world. It means that if he can't understand what is going on during the palace formation, he is doomed to die."
Sitri looked at the elegant woman, but no words left her mouth.
"Sitri, you know, those children with the talent of mages are also called cursed children. It is because they have limited time to learn about the world, and they experience a trial of comprehension so early in their lives that most of them die during it. So your child is blessed and cursed. It will depend on his luck to survive. We can only help him externally."
It seemed that no matter how you looked at it, a mage was a talent that was also a curse. Children had to experience transformation with limited time to prepare. This curse was the balance of the heavens.
Every survivor gets a mage's name, a talent with unlimited potential, so it seems only fair for it to be infrequent and difficult even to have a chance to become one.