Lucian woke up with a frown. He felt his arms aching and his legs weak.
"Oh? You woke up?" A feminine voice came from the direction of his desk.
Lucian immediately woke up and widened his eyes in surprise.
"Beatrice?" Blonde hair and a slender figure. His stepmother was sitting on his wooden chair. She was reading a book facing him and didn't even look at him. As if it wasn't worth looking at him.
How did she get into his room without him hearing? If it was an assassin, he would be dead by now. Should he be happy that it was just his stepmother?
Lucian was still confused.
However, Beatrice ignored his confusion and said, "The historical archives of the Gorgon Empire, the manifestation of mana, and the topology of the continent... You've become surprisingly academic, haven't you?" She turned the page.
Lucian nodded.
Academic? He remembered being a troublesome child, a change in personality would no doubt be worrying to others.
Lucian had forgotten this important point.
Was she going to kill him now? He held a kitchen knife hidden under his pillow. If she jumped towards him, he would throw the knife directly at her chest.
Finally, she turned her head towards him. Her gaze was cold. It felt like being stared at by a supreme predator. Lucian trembled greatly. Was this murderous intent? "You read it, didn't you?" She pointed at a book he had read last night.
"Introduction to Mana," he muttered.
Lucian was sweating.
Beatrice turned her head and stared deeply at him.
Lucian felt like he was being drawn in by her gaze. Being drowned in an endless ocean.
However, despite the uneasy feeling in his chest. Lucian remained still against his stepmother and faced her.
Beatrice was secretly astonished.
She couldn't know that he had practiced the awakening process.
He hadn't formed a core. One could practically say that his body was a core, so looking for an internal core in the chest was futile.
As if the core didn't exist.
Beatrice seemed to realize this as well and slowly stood up.
"Well... I know you practiced the awakening process, you just have to see the bloodstains on the floor and the smell." Beatrice laughed, staring at the floor.
"...!" Lucian widened his eyes.
There was a trail of blood from his desk to his bed. He had completely forgotten to clean the traces of his meditation last night. Fallen asleep from accumulated fatigue.
Lucian remained silent, but his stepmother said, "You failed the awakening process, it's natural. I thought you would be an irregularity, but it's a false hope. There is no internal core in the chest."
She paused. "However, surprisingly, there is a large amount of mana in your body. It wasn't present last time." She held her chin and then left the room.
Before leaving the room one last time, she turned around and said, "Oh. Here's a potion from the trade association. They say it can improve the natural regeneration of mana?"
She tossed a vial filled with luminous blue liquid into his hands and then left the room definitively with the sound of a door slamming.
Lucian finally looked at the object in his hand.
Mana potion was written on the label around the bottle.
Why would his stepmother who hated him give him a potion? Did she change her stance now that he was no longer fit to be heir? Lucian hesitated, then opened the bottle and poured the contents into his mouth. He even scraped the bottom to avoid losing a single drop of mana.
But no sensation coursed through his body. He usually felt ordinary.
"Well. Maybe the effect isn't felt directly."
He scratched the back of his head and then quickly cleaned up the mess and blood on the floor. He needed to clean it quickly before the maids caused a misunderstanding.
"Oh... There's a lot." Several bloodstains were spread around the room in an unknown manner. Lucian raised his eyebrows.
It would take several dozen minutes if he did it conventionally.
Maybe he needed a second hand.
Concentrating his mana, he materialized a double of himself. "It works!" The double quickly took a bucket of water and poured it on the floor. He took some cloths and scrubbed the floor.
However, in forty seconds, Lucian was already panting on the floor.
"Ten more seconds. That's a clear improvement."
The double had already disappeared, only he remained in the room.
"I should take a bath afterward..." Lucian got up and continued to scrub the floor.
If only a second person was present...
"Young master, the instructor is calling you...?" Dorothy appeared behind the door.
Lucian turned around, surprised then smiled grotesquely. "You come at the right time, Dorothy." His red eyes shone deeply.
"A-ah? Uh. I think the master is calling me now...!"
"No, come back here." Lucian grabbed her forearm and forced her to help clean his room.
Dorothy was crying internally. She wondered why so much blood was visible in the room. Had he been practicing forbidden martial arts?
"It's almost new!"
Lucian finally shook his head joyfully in front of his clean room. All the cloths had been gathered in a bucket, and now the scent of tulips filled the room.
Dorothy had already left the room crying.
He hadn't forgotten to hand her the laundry, as well as the bucket filled with blood.
"Ah, Dorothy reminded me I had an instructor." Lucian scratched his head, checking the clock. He was an hour late.
Lucian finally left the room.
Beatrice continued walking down the hallway.
All the low-maids bowed their heads to her.
She finally turned her body in another direction, and several shadows behind her began to move like snakes.
She should have been surprised but remained calm.
"Your analysis," she ordered.
A cold voice and a blurry gaze.
Beatrice showed her true appearance behind the young mistress of the barony.
A young man covered in a black tunic said, "We detected ambient mana in the young master's room, but no internal core. We deduced that the young master barely survived."
Beatrice nodded gently.
The awakening process is an important event for anyone with a certain talent. One awakens a unique ability at the age of twelve and is hailed as an elite.
However, in rare cases, during a rejection, there are risks of death. Beatrice deduced that Lucian had barely survived this rejection.
But the consequences are disastrous because the core is premature. It often breaks before even appearing. Twelve years is considered the optimal age for awakening, but eight years is too premature.
There is a high chance that the internal core and the unique ability of her stepson in four years will be accompanied by a heavy burden.
"Lucian just signed his death warrant in the race." Beatrice laughed.
Then the shadows disappeared into her shadow and Beatrice opened the door. "I'm back, darling." She greeted her husband with a pure smile.
Lucian reached the classroom.
"Enter." A cold voice echoed behind the door. He rarely shivered, but the person behind the door seemed angry.
In some situations, anger manifests as a cold sensation.
He opened the door and entered. A smell of chalk filled his nostrils. A board could be seen on the right side of the room and a chair behind a desk in the middle. A man of average appearance was standing there in front of the desk.
"I must have fallen pretty low for my student to skip the first hour of class, right?"
"No professor, I had an unexpected event."
"Unexpected event?" he asked.
"Yes, the mistress of the house." Lucian averted his gaze and sat calmly.
Bertrand stared at him for a long time.
Everyone knew that the relationship between the young master and the mistress was tense in the barony. Even the town knew about the tense situation of the family. If someone didn't know that, they were treated as a tourist.
Lucian had given a good excuse.
Bertrand retreated and turned towards the board.
"We will resume the history lessons."
Lucian listened calmly to the lesson. He felt like he was back in the past when he was a diligent student behind a desk. The teacher continued to speak while the students wrote the lesson.
The lesson was relatively simple.
It was a lesson written for an eight-year-old child, but he was in his twenties.
It explained the power of the Empire against the kingdoms and the occasional appearance of monsters in human territories, as well as the introduction of new weapons. They were said to be lessons for nobles.
He answered all the questions with correct answers.
Finally, the end of the lesson approached.
"Professor, I have a question."
"Strange coming from a child who just answered all the questions with perfect answers. I'm listening," Bertrand adjusted his glasses.
"Are there levels of power among people with unique abilities? For example, the High Defenders?"
Bertrand raised his eyebrows but replied, "Of course. Every person starts as an initiate and slowly climbs to higher ranks, confirmed, specialist, expert, grand expert before reaching a high level like master and grand master."
"There are many stages..."
Bertrand laughed. "It's not a child's game, after all. There are higher classes like champion, lords, and people with a level above lord are now rare."
"What are the levels required for a High Defender?"
Bertrand scratched his chin. "Hmm. We count about 55 High Defenders in our empire, the average level is around champion? The troop level is expert."
Lucian thought deeply.
If we follow the logic of the ranking system, he would have started as an initiate. It's the lowest level in this world as an awakener. But starting at the age of eight is a huge advantage.
Especially in a world threatened by monsters and conflicts, having strength is a necessity. He must improve his personal power.
"Thank you, professor." Lucian returned back.