"W-What the hell!" Harmond spoke in shock and disbelief as he saw the mana fluctuations emitting from Havien. There was no mistaking it, this was the uncontrolled fluctuations of a new rank 1 mage.
He couldn't believe it, or rather, he didn't want to believe it. But he knew that he had to take action fast.
"Shadow guards, gather every single personnel present in the mansion RIGHT NOW."
"As you wish, my lord." Three hooded men emerged from the shadow of Harmond as they scattered quietly. Harmond then called his butler, whom he ordered to prepare a lot of mana contracts.
A mana contract, as the name suggests, is a contract with mana. Breaking this contract will derive the person out of all their mana, which would cause them to die in 99% of the cases.
His butler hurriedly carried out his orders, and soon after, all the people present in the mansion were holding a mana contract stating that today's events related to Havien Crimsonwhite's awakenings will never be spoken of to others.
This was the best method to ensure Havien's safety now, aside from killing everyone to silence them, which he obviously can't do.
"Haa... I had a feeling from the start that he would be special as soon as I had looked into his eyes, but this is still too much." Harmond muttered in exhaustion. His gut instincts told him there was more to Havien than meets the eye, but this broke all of his expectations.
****
Meanwhile, Havien was messing around with mana which he could now clearly feel the existence of.
"Wow... so this is what doing using mana feels like. Even though it's not some fancy spell, I'm still moving mana." Havien was using his mana core to move around and manipulate mana in seemingly random ways.
This was the second time in his life that he was having so much fun. The first one was when he applied all his brain and his knowledge to create his first-ever sci-fi technology, even though it was completely rendered obsolete just a few months later by his better inventions.
This was the joy of discovering something new to devote yourself to. He knew that now he will probably not be able to control his addiction to magic.
'As far as I know, mages quite literally 'evolve' their mana core when breaking through the ranks. A breakthrough only happens when a mage has 'matured' their mana core through constant use and stimulation by different applications of mana. Furthermore, a mage's 'understanding' about mana, that is, how familiar they are with their own power are the factors that help in a breakthrough.
As I am right now, my mana core is just newly formed, and I have no clue about my own powers. So right now, I can forget about breaking through for a few years. But I'm sure it will not be hard as I have created a mana core this early which, in theory, should give me a monstrous amount of affinity.'
As Havien was playing with mana, Harmond used his mana sense to check on Havien's core.
As he looked though, he became very surprised. The mana core was at least a very high rank one, but, since he thought it was a natural mana core, it was expected. Natural mana cores usually have a high rank than the ones manually formed.
It was at the minimum A+ rank, but he can't sense if it's more because Harmond just checked roughly and higher ranks can only be identified by using special artifacts.
One can imagine his shock when he would find out that it is actually a manually formed mana core. Havien's finesse in gathering mana rivaled a natural phenomenon. It was all thanks to his extremely high calculative abilities.
As the whole Crimsonwhite mansion was freaking out, Havien was already thinking about his next steps on the path of a mage.
'As much as I don't want to think about it, I'm sure someone like Stella would've formed her mana core on the day of her birth. That affinity gaia is a fucking cheat, she would have no idea about mana at all but the gaia would've done all the work the moment it sensed it's existence.
Plus, she is sure to form a EX-rank mana core, which is only a theoretical concept and has never been proven. Also, I can bet that she would have extremely high affinity with all the elements possible.
She would be a monstrous prodigy never before even imagined in this world. I have to catch up.'
All mages, as they advance in the path of a mage, start to specialize in elemental affinities. While affinities are somewhat determined at birth, it mostly depends on which element the mage is willing to work hard on and practice diligently.
It is totally possible to have multiple affinities, but they are some pros and cons.
The more affinities you have, the more diverse and creative you can be in your spells, but you will be a case of jack of all trades, master of none. For example, a mage may have affinities with fire, wind and earth, he would not be able to compare to a mage with only fire and wind elements in mastery, and that mage would be surpassed in fire mastery by a sole fire mage.
The reason for that would be because your mana core would be shared by different elements once you develop further if you choose multiple affinities. There have been people who have practiced all elements, but it is usually not very practical as you would have a lot on your plate.
The ones who actually practice multiple affinities are those who luckily have a high-rank mana core, as they are the only ones who could afford to share their core with multiple elements.
'This logic does not apply to Stella, she will be a master of all regardless of the core, but she will still get a damn EX-rank one.'
'I hate it that my gaias are still not activating even after forming my core, they were supposed to be helpful but at this point of time I'm doubting the usefulness of them.
But this does not mean that I'm helpless against that bitch. I'm Havien Crimsonwhite, I'm known for my resourcefulness and genius.
I have a really crazy idea, but I'll most probably cripple myself if this goes wrong.
.
I will form multiple cores.
.
There are 7 different elements: fire, water, wind, earth, light, darkness and space.
They have 7 further rare derivative elements, which are results of derivations and mutations on the original element: Lightning, ice, sound, gravity, heal, poison and time. They are derived from the basic elements in the respective order.
I will try to create an independent core for each of the elements. That way I can match Stella in element mastery, and I can be sure that I'll have a lot more mana capacity than someone with a single core.
The reason I'm somewhat confident that this can work is because I have yet to exhaust my body's potential. I was supposed to form a mana core naturally at 4 years of age, but by forming one earlier manually, I still have a body which can form cores.
I have to form at least 7 cores by the age of 4, after that I am 100% sure that no further cores can be formed in my body. Damn, I'm on a tight schedule.'
*****
While Havien was busy with his research which actually has no foundations, Harmond had brought in a core measuring device which checks the rank of the core. It was a box-like machine with a row of bulb-like lightings which would light up according to the rank. It ranged from F- to S+ rank mana core. there was a ball-like glass sphere on which one was supposed to keep his hand and the machine will automatically detect the rank of mana core.
Harmond carried his child and bent down to make Havien's hand touch the device.
A few moments later, the lights of the core lit up.
"IT'S S+ RANK!! IT'S THE LEGENDARY S+ RANK MANA CORE!!!" Harmond shouted in excitement, which led Havien to cry due to his ears getting irritated.