Two months had passed since Damian had achieved the impossible—forming two reservoir mana cores before awakening his talent.
When the twins, Annabella and Isabella, had first celebrated their beloved brother's success, they thought it was a feat that defied all known logic—a miracle so unattainable that it might forever remain an anomaly.
Yet their joy turned to shock as they painfully realized that Damian wasn't done.
Not even close.
The formation of mana cores prior to awakening was universally deemed impossible, and not without reason.
There were several barriers:
Insufficient Mana: A body naturally accumulating mana would never reach the amount required to form even one core.
Inadequate Control: Even if someone somehow gathered the necessary mana, their lack of refined control would render core formation unattainable.
Yet Damian, being the prodigy he was, overcame these insurmountable hurdles with terrifying ease.
He not only gathered enough mana but wielded it with the precision of a seasoned mage of the highest level.
As if this were a trivial matter, he had successfully formed not one but two reservoir mana cores—on his very first attempt.
This accomplishment alone was unprecedented, the kind of achievement that would forever alter history.
At first, his family thought the process was complete.
Damian had formed two cores, depleting all the mana in his body in the process.
It seemed logical to assume his body would now enter a natural recovery phase as it would normally take a long time to recover the lost mana.
But they couldn't have been more wrong.
Typically, it takes weeks—sometimes months—for a body to naturally replenish its mana reserves.
Damian, however, defied this norm.
His body began absorbing mana from the surroundings almost immediately, recovering at an astonishing rate.
"At this pace, he'll regain all his mana in just a few days," Freya observed, marveling at the rapid influx of mana streaming into Damian's body.
"Doesn't that mean he could strengthen his existing cores—or even form additional ones—before awakening his talent?" Annabella asked, her wide eyes brimming with disbelief.
"Could he even start learning spells before awakening?" Isabella added, a grin spreading across her face as the endless possibilities took root in her mind. "This is… completely abnormal."
As the room buzzed with awe and speculation, Fiona, who had been silently listening, kept her gaze locked on Damian.
Her intense focus betrayed an undercurrent of thoughts no one could read.
To her, Damian was the only person in the room, the singular axis around which her world seemed to revolve.
Freya, however, had already noticed the way her daughter's eyes lingered on Damian, not just now but on several prior occasions.
A sly thought began to take shape in Freya's mind—an idea that, if executed, could benefit not only her but also the entire Everhart territory.
In the past two months, Damian had successfully formed more than twenty-five reservoir cores.
When comparing his mana reserves to those of official mages, his quantity of mana was equivalent to that of a 2nd Circle mage.
The cultivation rankings for mages are as follows: 1st Circle, 2nd Circle, and so on.
The highest level ever achieved in the Kingdom of Astoria was the 15th Circle.
Make no mistake, however—Damian did not possess the power of a 2nd Circle mage, only a comparable amount of mana.
As for the purity of his mana, there was no one who could rival him.
Freya Everhart, Duchess of the Everhart Dukedom, was a Half-Step 13th Circle mage, while Damian's elder twin sisters were both 6th Circle mages.
...
In an isolated chamber reserved for cultivation, Duchess Victoria Ignatius sat in the lotus position, her stunning crimson hair cascading down her back as she absorbed the surrounding mana into her flawless, porcelain skin.
A thin but dense crimson aura surrounded her, deceptively calm yet brimming with the potential to annihilate anything perceived as a threat.
"What do you want, Freya?" Victoria asked, her voice calm and unwavering.
She didn't bother to open her eyes as she sensed another woman approaching her chamber.
"I want to talk about the future," Freya replied.
Victoria opened her eyes, narrowing them as she looked at Freya. "What do you mean?"
"I need your help."
"Let me guess," Victoria said, her tone sharp. "You want my help to break off the promise your bastard of an ex-husband made with Duke Ironcliff?"
"Yes…" Freya sighed heavily. "I don't want my daughter to marry that man's son."
Freya's history was a complicated and tragic one.
Years ago, she had been married and had a daughter.
But happiness was fleeting.
Her life took a darker turn when Silas Everhart, Freya's older brother and Victoria's husband, betrayed both their family and their kingdom in pursuit of power.
The betrayal forced Victoria, the love of Silas's life, to put him down for good.
Freya soon discovered that her own husband, Cedar Ironcliff, had been complicit in Silas's treachery.
Consumed by fury, she had dealt the final blow herself, crippling Cedar and ensuring he spent the rest of his days imprisoned alongside Silas.
The fallout was immense.
With Silas's disgrace, the Everhart family's heir was ostracized, and Freya, one of the kingdom's strongest mages, was named Duchess of the Everhart Dukedom.
Before his downfall, Cedar Ironcliff had promised their daughter's hand in marriage to the son of his brother, Duke Ironcliff.
This promise, made without Freya's consent, should have been nullified after Cedar's Banishment.
Yet Duke Ironcliff continued to pursue the arrangement, exploiting the weakened Everhart Dukedom for his own gain.
In the thirty years since the incident, the Everhart Dukedom had struggled to recover.
Duke Ironcliff capitalized on their vulnerability, using underhanded tactics to sabotage them—manipulating trade, spreading false information, suppressing opportunities, and bullying their allies.
While Freya could theoretically solve these issues by agreeing to the marriage, she refused to sacrifice her daughter to appease a man she despised.
This was why Freya had come to Victoria, the strongest of the four duchesses, to request her aid.
"You do realize this is a personal arrangement between the Everhart and Ironcliff Dukedoms? The Ignatius Dukedom has no grounds to interfere," Victoria said, shaking her head.
"Not your dukedom," Freya replied, a sly glint in her eyes. "But your son."
"What?" Victoria's eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Your son, Damian," Freya said with a shrug. "He is the rightful heir of the Everhart clan. He has the authority to interfere."
Suddenly, the chamber's temperature spiked, an oppressive wave of fiery killing intent pressing down on Freya.
"If you think you can take my son away from me, you are gravely mistaken," Victoria said, her voice like molten steel. "I don't care if you're his aunt—I will erase you and your dukedom without hesitation."
Her crimson hair seemed to defy gravity, rising and dancing with the surging aura that enveloped the chamber.
Behind her, a pair of wings, forged from pure, blazing crimson energy, unfurled and surrounded Freya like a fiery cage.
"You had better choose your next words carefully," Victoria growled, her distorted voice echoing with ominous finality.
Freya instinctively stepped back, her face pale and drenched in sweat.
Despite being a half-step 13th Circle Mage, she knew she was nothing compared to the strongest Aura Master standing before her.
If a fight broke out, Victoria could kill her before she even had a chance to cast a spell.
"P-please… Sister Victoria, you misunderstand me," Freya stammered, her voice trembling. "I-I would never dream of taking Damian away from you."
Victoria's gaze remained fixed on Freya for a tense moment before her expression softened.
The suffocating killing intent gradually dissipated, and the fiery wings receded into her back.
"Hmm," Victoria murmured, her composure returning as if nothing had happened.
Freya took a deep breath, trying to calm her racing heart.
She had clearly underestimated just how sensitive a subject Damian was for Victoria.
At least she herself had only been threatened—likely because she was Damian's aunt, bound to him by blood.
Had it been anyone else, they would have been obliterated without hesitation.
It was a stark reminder of how fiercely protective Victoria was of her children.
Freya even suspected that Elizabeth, as well as the twins, Isabella and Annabella, would react the same way if it concerned Damian.
Straightening her thoughts, Freya turned her gaze to Victoria, who was still waiting for her to speak, her expression unchanged.
"I wish for my daughter to become your daughter-in-law," Freya finally said.
.
.
.
{Author's Note: If you enjoyed this chapter, don't forget to vote with some POWER STONES. It would also really help me if you could rate this book. Thank you for reading!}