Just as the heavy silence settled in, the patter of small feet echoed down the hallway.

“Akul! Akul! Play with me!”

A tiny force collided into my side, small arms wrapping around my waist as a little bundle of energy latched onto me.

I looked down to find Lina, my five-year-old sister, grinning up at me with her usual mischievous smile. Her golden-brown hair was slightly messy, her bright amber eyes filled with excitement.

Before I could react, she lifted her arms up high.

“Horsey ride!” she demanded.

I sighed, a smirk forming on my lips. “Again? I just awakened my grimoire, and you think now is the time to ride me like a beast?”

“Yes!” she said without hesitation, bouncing up and down.

My mother groaned. “Lina, not now. This is an important moment for your brother.”

Lina pouted dramatically, her tiny hands grabbing at my sleeve. “But he’s always busy! It’s my turn now!”

I chuckled, reaching down to squeeze her chubby cheeks just to mess with her. “So demanding. What am I, your personal mount?”

She huffed, swatting at my hands. “Yes! Now kneel, mighty steed!”

I snorted. “Mighty? More like unfortunate.”

Mother let out an exasperated sigh. “Akul, you don’t have to—”

“It’s fine, Mom.” I hoisted Lina up onto my back, adjusting her so she wouldn’t fall. “She’d just keep pestering me anyway.”

Lina threw her hands in the air like a victorious conqueror. “Onward, noble steed!”

I sighed dramatically but smiled. “Yes, Your Highness.”

As I started trotting around the room, her giggles filled the air, pure and unrestrained.

For a moment, the tension from before faded.

While I carried Lina around the room, I caught my mother watching me, her expression softer, but still laced with something unspoken.

Worry.

I knew what she was thinking.

The grimoire had sealed my trait, one of the most important aspects of an artifact. To her, it must have felt like I had been robbed of something vital.

But strangely… I didn’t feel that way.

I could still feel my trait.

It wasn’t gone. It wasn’t missing.

It felt… guarded.

Like something intentionally waiting for the right moment.

I didn’t fully understand it, but I knew one thing—I didn’t feel like I had lost anything.

I wasn’t afraid.

So, for now, I would let my mother worry for the both of us.

I’d prove to her that I was fine.

As I carried Lina through the house, I noticed something strange.

My grimoire was floating.

It hovered exactly one foot away from me, perfectly aligned with my movements.

Even when I spun around with Lina on my back, it followed, drifting through the air like a silent guardian.

Lina noticed it too. “Ooooh, your book is flying, Akul! Is it magic?”

I glanced at it, then grinned. “Looks like it likes me.”

She poked at it curiously but couldn’t quite reach. “Can it play too?”

I laughed. “I don’t think it knows any games.”

My father, watching from the side, nodded approvingly. “It’s bonded deeply to you already. That’s a good sign.”

Still, as cool as it looked, I didn’t want my grimoire floating around me all the time like some kind of ghost.

So, I tried something.

I willed it to return to me—to absorb back into my soul.

The moment I did, something unexpected happened.

As soon as the grimoire entered my soul space, I felt it.

A rush of pure energy.

It wasn’t overwhelming, nor painful—it was like unlocking a door that had always been there.

For just a moment, I sensed it.

My trait.

It was there. Waiting. Guarded. Unsealed… but only within me.

A powerful instinct told me that if I reached out, I could see what it was.

I could know.

…But I didn’t.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Not yet.

If my grimoire had sealed my trait outside but unlocked it inside, there had to be a reason.

So, I let it be. For now."

I focused back on Lina, laughing as she tugged my hair like horse reins.

There would be time to figure everything out later.

Later that evening, we sat together for dinner, eating in comfortable silence.

Father had gone to contact his friend about the golden body monkeys, while Mother prepared a simple but warm meal.

Lina sat beside me, humming happily as she swung her legs under the table. She had already forgotten about her earlier protests, too busy shoving food into her mouth like a little beast.

Mother glanced at me, eyes searching, as if still trying to understand how I felt.

I met her gaze and smiled reassuringly.

She exhaled, then smiled back.

For now, everything was fine.

As night fell, the house grew quiet. The lingering warmth of dinner still filled the air, but the earlier laughter had faded into a comfortable stillness.

I sat cross-legged on my bed, my grimoire resting on my lap. The black pages shimmered faintly under the lantern’s glow, the golden inscriptions shifting slightly, like they were alive.

My father stood by the door, arms crossed, watching me with an unreadable expression.

After a long moment, he sighed, stepping inside.

“I still can’t believe it,” he muttered, more to himself than to me.

I raised an eyebrow. “What?”

He pulled up a chair beside me, his gaze falling on my artifact. “Your grimoire,” he said. “It shouldn’t be this…complete.”

I looked down at it, running a hand over the smooth, obsidian-like cover. “What do you mean?”

He exhaled, shaking his head. “When I first awakened my artifact, it was barely holding itself together. A fragile, translucent form, constantly flickering between existence and nothingness.”

I turned to him, surprised. “Really?”

He smirked. “I had to spend months—months—just to make it feel solid. And yet here you are, with a grimoire that’s already more stable than mine was after a year.”

I blinked. That… wasn’t normal, was it?

His fingers traced the edge of my grimoire, eyes narrowing slightly. “You don’t realize it yet, but this is special, Akul. What you’ve created—what you’ve summoned—it’s already on a level beyond most first awakenings.”

I swallowed. “So… what does that mean?”

He met my gaze, and for the first time that night, his expression turned serious.

“It means you’re destined for something greater.”

I didn’t know how to respond to that.

A part of me wanted to deny it, to say he was exaggerating—but deep down, I felt it too.

The sealed trait.

The way the grimoire reacted to me.

The way it felt like an extension of my soul.

Something was different.

And maybe… just maybe, he was right.

My father sighed, his expression softening. “I won’t put expectations on you, Akul. Your path is yours to choose. But whatever you decide, I want you to strive for greatness. You have the foundation for it.”

I nodded slowly.

Then he clapped his hands together, snapping me back out of my own thoughts. "Alright, enough talking. Time for your first cultivation session.'"

“Listen carefully,” my father said, his voice calm yet commanding. “An artifact is not just a tool. It is alive.”

I frowned slightly. “Alive?”

He nodded. “Not in the way beasts are. But an artifact is tied to your soul, your will, your growth. It will evolve with you, strengthen with you—but only if you cultivate it properly.”

I watched as he lifted his own grimoire. The old book hummed in response, its pages glowing faintly with golden light.

“The way we cultivate artifacts is through visualization and internalization.” He placed a hand on his grimoire’s cover. “By focusing on its existence, strengthening its form with our will, we make it more real, more solid, more powerful.”

I took a deep breath. “And how do I do that?”

“Close your eyes,” he instructed.

I obeyed.

“Feel the artifact. Don’t just see it—understand it. Every fiber, every rune, every connection it shares with your soul.”

I focused.

At first, there was nothing—only silence, only darkness.

But then…

I felt it.

The weight of the grimoire.

The energy pulsing beneath its pages.

The way it seemed to exist within and outside of me at the same time.

“Now,” my father continued, “breathe in. Slowly.”

I inhaled.

And the moment I did—

The world responded.

A faint ripple, like the very air stirring to life. The energy of the world—the essence of mana itself—began to gather.

My grimoire trembled in my hands.

“That’s it,” my father murmured. “Now… let it absorb.”

I exhaled.

The energy around us flowed toward the artifact, sinking into it, strengthening it. The pages glowed, the golden runes becoming sharper, more refined.

I opened my eyes.

The grimoire felt denser. Heavier.

More real.

My father smiled. “Good. That was your first step.”

I glanced down at my artifact, my chest rising and falling. “…It felt like it was breathing.”

He chuckled. “In a way, it was.”

“Now that your grimoire has begun absorbing energy, there’s one more thing we need to do,” my father said.

He flipped open his own grimoire, revealing an intricately painted page. A vast forest, with towering trees and endless green.

“This,” he said, “is my beast space.”

I stared. “You… drew it?”

He nodded. “Every summoner must create a space within their artifact to house their contracted beasts. And the best way to do that?”

He tapped the page.

“The Mír’fael Sutra—The Thousand Strokes of Soul Painting.”

I blinked. That sounded… insanely cool.

He smirked at my expression. “Our family has always specialized in grimoire-type artifacts. Unlike others, we don’t just summon—we paint. We create worlds within our pages.”

I swallowed. “So… I need to paint my own space?”

“Yes.” His tone was patient. “But it’s more than just painting. You must visualize. Feel the land beneath your feet, the air, the sky. Everything in your beast space must come from your soul.”

I nodded slowly, flipping open my own grimoire.

The black page shimmered, waiting.

I closed my eyes again.

What kind of world did I want to create?

The first image that came to mind was… a vast plateau.

Strong, solid land. Open space. A place for growth and strength.

The moment I visualized it, the golden ink began to move on its own, tracing the outline of a rugged landscape.

I opened my eyes.

The first stroke had been made.

As the night stretched on, we continued to cultivate.

With each breath, my grimoire grew stronger.

With each visualization, my beast space took form.

And as I sat beside my father, watching him guide me through the process, I knew—

Tomorrow, I would visit the golden body monkeys.

Tomorrow, I would take my first step as a summoner.

But tonight…

Tonight, I was building the foundation for everything to come.