'Wait, aura! That's it!' the realization dawned on Ezra and his smile grew deeper.
Ezra slowed his breath, pushed his focus to the max and closed his eyes.
Everything seemed to slow down as Ezra focused on resisting, no, countering the crushing pressure.
The definition of aura differs across clans and kingdoms, but its effects were consistent.
You could say that it was the projection of mana outside the body, or maybe the projection of a person's will and intent in the form of mana.
Sometimes it would manifest unconsciously when one has a particular burst of emotion.
The color of each person's aura differs depending on their personality and traits.
Its uses were numerous.
Knights used it to enhance their weapons when against monsters with absurd regenerative abilities or anyone they think to be worthy of it.
Ezra also heard that grandmasters could even make an entire weapon out of aura alone.
Ezra's aura was black because the intent he channeled into it was to grant death to his enemies and to those of his lord at the time.
The aura he was currently emanating was pitiful compared to what he could do before. Nevertheless, it was enough for what Ezra was about to do.
Ezra's aura suddenly spiked, alerting Bard, who only furrowed his brows as he looked on.
'Hmm, that'll make him lose stamina even faster. What is he trying to do?'
At this moment, Ezra went into action as his aura seemingly melded onto his body, coating it like a second skin.
After that, Ezra had a thin black film covering his body, only his head left untouched.
Ezra looked at it and thought…
'Not as good as before, but it'll have to suffice'
On the other hand, Bard's stone face totally crumbled as his eyes dilated in amazement.
A boy no more than eleven years old was using aura.
This alone was enough to have the boy hailed as a genius no matter the place in the three continents.
But…
'For him to even know aura manipulation! This! This…'
Bard couldn't even find the words for it as an unbelievable smile stretched across his face, but it also got him thinking.
'There's no way a boy this good would have appeared without me known of it'
Which begged the question…
'Who is he?'
And without further ado, Bard immediately canceled his aura, making the pressure vanish like a dream.
This in turn startled Ezra as an incomprehensible look made its way to his face.
"Huh?!" he muttered as he looked at Bard, whose face beamed a proud smile that disoriented Ezra.
The stark contrast between his former stone hard expression and his face now, which held a smile that almost looked genuine, was like day and night.
And it spooked Ezra, who would have thought they were different people if he hadn't seen the transition himself.
All these thoughts happened in seconds as Ezra canceled his aura just in time to hear the old man's voice.
"You, who are you?" the old man asked with an expectant gate as he heard Ezra mutter something.
"Are all the prince's this unpopular, or is it just me?"
Ezra then stared into Bard's eyes as he slightly bowed while answering…
"I am Ezra Miller, the fourth son of the Emperor''
His voice was deep enough to seem authoritative, but neither arrogant nor overbearing.
Without pausing, he continued…
"I have come to seek guidance on Alchemy from Mr. Bard Vertid, head of the royal alchemists, the creator of five alchemical formulas so far, and rumor has it that you're already on the way to become a grandmaster Alchemist"
Yes! He was the head alchemist of the Empire's royal faction, meaning that he was the most reputable, the one known as the most talented, and most especially, the one overseeing almost everything related to Alchemy.
A letter from him could put any Nitonian guild for Alchemists out of business.
Who better to have for a mentor than the best?
Maybe being a prince wasn't as bad as he might have thought.
One might ask why he was just a Master and not a Grandmaster. Let me ask you a question…
Do you think grandmasters are cabbages on the roadside?!
Sure, more than five alchemy Grandmasters exist throughout the three continents, but how is that enough?!
In Lexon alone, you have ten kingdoms and one empire.
That's eleven different powers. And we haven't even added the S-rank guilds! Do you expect every power to have one? Because as far as it was known, only two kingdoms and one S-rank guild had a Grandmaster alchemist in Lexon.
Do remember that these Grandmasters are not from one continent, but from different continents and from different places.
The loss of a Grandmaster professional was a big blow to any power, no matter how big.
Of course, the definition of a "big blow" also differed according to each power.
Those above the Grandmaster rank existed, but they were few, too few, and far in between.
So the head alchemist being a Master was not surprising, but expected. It was the fact that he was close to becoming a Grandmaster that was amazing.
Mr Bard, who was being addressed, caressed his beards as his evaluation of Ezra climbed higher.
'For someone so young to be so gifted in the art of speech, why did the emperor-'
His thoughts abruptly stopped as he once again gazed at Ezra. A light of realization flashed through his eyes, which turned into ones of shock.
'Hold on, he said he was the fourth prince of the emperor just now didn't he? But the fourth prince…the fourth prince, hmm…if my memory serves me right, he couldn't be older than six or seven'
But why speculate endlessly, when you could simply ask.
"Ezra, I mean, prince Ezra, my memories seem a little hazy. Remind me again, how old are you?"
Ezra only raised his palm while spreading his fingers to get the message across.
"You're five?!" Mr Bard said with an incredible expression.
It was one thing to guess it, but it was another thing to confirm it.
But Bard's mind whirred as he thought…
'How is this a five year old child?'
He scrutinized Ezra carefully, from the silver hair to the black eyes. None of it resembled the Emperor, so he thought…
'Is he lying? But there was no way to prove it…wait, he said he was the fourth prince, the fourth prince…so he's the son of that maid, hmm. More importantly, that means he's the genius who awakened mana at three'
He suddenly became alarmed at such a prospect.
Thinking about it now, guards were stationed at the entrance of the underground alchemy chambers.
So no one without enough authority could just barge in. And as he was a kid, there was no way the guards didn't see him.
So for him to be here…
'He must be telling the truth'
Honestly, at this point, Bard just gave up. Ezra seemed to be an expert in defying common sense. Trying to rationalize it would only give him headaches, which he wanted to avoid. And so, he just decided to go with the flow as he asked…
"So, your highness, what brings you here?"
Ezra chuckled lightly as he said…
"There's no need for all that, and… I already told you why I was here"
Bard's eyes widened a little as he said…
"You were serious?"
"But of course. I wish to learn Alchemy. Well, maybe not learn…but understand more about it" Ezra said as his demeanor took a U-turn.
"Oh, in that case, come inside, the hallway is no place to talk" Bard said as he went into his lair with Ezra in tow.
The first thing that met Ezra's gaze was a variety of potions on a shelf lodged into the wall to his left.
He could identify some of them as healing potions, disguise potions and a few more. But that was all.
A few meters away from this shelf was another one, filled with books on multiple subjects.
The whole lair was quite expansive, with two windows (made of metal of course) and a long stone slab built on the opposite wall. On it were jars of pills and a row of desks was built underneath it.
Unlike Ezra expected, the roof was actually not too close to the ground.
He was sure the old man could jump without his head touching the ceiling. Of course, only if he didn't reinforce his legs with mana.
Looking further, a small silver cauldron with runes etched onto it came into view. Beside it was a brown cauldron smaller than the silver one, and from a glance, not as good.
There was no doubt that they were both high quality items.
By the time Ezra was done scrutinizing the entire lair, he found that Mr. Bard was calmly waiting for him. From the look on his face, Ezra could guess that such a reaction wasn't anything new.
*Cough*Cough*
To hide his fleeting feeling of embarrassment, Ezra coughed before speaking again…
"This lair looks magnificent, Mr. Bard"
"Hmm, I always thought so too" Bard shamelessly replied, before pushing towards the topic at hand.
"Now, that's enough pleasantries. What exactly does our fourth prince want to know?"
—---------------------------
While Ezra brushed up on the basics of alchemy…
"Alright boys, were here"
Cabrera was having his own adventure.