("His most talented descendant?")
("Didn't he just say he waited for me for 1000 years and therefore, he knew me well?")
("Has he mistaken me, without realizing it, for Endric?")
("If he realized it, would he kill me?")
Many questions assaulted the young boy's brain. He really couldn't understand why the one who presented himself as his ancestor thought of him as his most talented descendant.
Orion, seeing from Adall's facial expressions that the latter was asking even more questions, quickly guessed what subject he was stuck on.
"Don't worry Adall, you are indeed my most talented descendant. Your current situation is only due to the fact that someone removed your magic circuit and replaced it with another. This new circuit, besides being barely passable, was deliberately misplaced so that you could never form a magic circle or aura star in your core."
"What!"
The shock of this revelation was easily readable on Adall's face.
So, the reason he couldn't create a magic circle in his core like the others was due to the machinations of someone?
"Uncle Zackael!"
A name automatically came to his lips, but he couldn't be 100% sure. Orion allowed Adall time to digest this information before continuing the discussion. This gave rise to a scene of total silence in the room for at least 2 minutes.
"How do you know that my circuit has been replaced?"
Adall was the one who broke the silence first. He needed to know if he could really believe the words of this being.
"When I was tending to your injuries yesterday against the black panther, I took the opportunity to take a look at your magic circuit. Even though I had guessed it for a while already by observing your daily life, it was this examination that allowed me to confirm it."
"Isn't a person's magic circuit normally impossible to manipulate for others?"
Adall's persistent doubts were entirely normal.
If it were so easy to manipulate another person's magic circuit, it would be widely known.
Orion began to laugh at Adall's new question.
"Hahahaha... I understand where you're coming from, kid. In reality, a person's magic circuit is not impossible to manipulate. It's just a privilege granted to individuals who have reached the rank of Genesis."
Genesis, the step above the 10th circle for magicians and the 10th star for warriors. If what he said was true, then Orion would have reached this level and his uncle would have someone of that caliber by his side.
The case of the first patriarch was easy to accept because many rumors about him reaching this level were already circulating in the world. For his uncle, however, it was a much harder reality to believe.
"Come on! Why not prove it by straightening out the current circuit in your body?"
Orion's words made Adall's eyes shine with joy.
Orion stood up right after and asked the young boy to stand in front of him. Which he did without wasting a second.
"It's going to be a bit painful, but not unbearable. So, hang in there!"
He reached out his hand and placed it on the boy's chest, precisely where the heart was located. Being the place where the core of a magic circuit resided, it was also where most of the work would be done.
Adall closed his eyes at Orion's request to concentrate.
Then, after a few seconds, he felt a strong energy pouring into him.
No!
This thing entering his body towards his magic core had a shape.
That of a hand!
The pain was strong, but it wasn't comparable to having a hand torn off by the claws of a fierce beast.
Adall, who had experienced this not more than yesterday, could better endure this pain.
After a few more minutes, Adall, all sweaty, heard Orion tell him that the operation was over.
The young boy opened his eyes at that moment and quickly sat cross-legged to meditate and note the difference brought by the action they had just taken.
As soon as he began to meditate, Adall felt his whole body warm up, he could draw on the surrounding mana and force it to accumulate in his core with disconcerting ease.
"So kid, what does it feel like to have a functional magic circuit for the first time?"
Adall responded to his ancestor's question with a trembling voice, on the verge of tears:
"It feels freeing."
Orion let Adall continue his meditation.
He didn't want to deprive him of his very first experience with a functioning circuit. He then decided to leave the premises for a while.
However, he couldn't go far, because as soon as he closed the door behind him, he heard Adall shout with all his might.
"Waaaah! I did it! I finally did it!"
Orion thought for a few seconds about what the kid could accomplish in his current state before exclaiming.
"Impossible! He couldn't have done it in just 5 minutes with this barely decent circuit, right?"
A smile of pure happiness involuntarily spread across his face as he added a few words that only he understood for the moment.
"So, there is still hope for this world."
Inside the cabin, Adall jumped with joy as he had just accessed something that had been forbidden to him for the past 3 years.
Indeed, he had just built his very first magic circle.
He could now consider himself a true magician.
Amidst his joy, he remembered the people with whom he would have liked to share this news, he who was now considered kidnapped in the eyes of many people.
"I hope you are all well, Aunt Axelle, Uncle Merlin, Uncle Martin, Allen, Jason..."