Upon entering the small office furnished with a wooden desk in the middle facing the door I felt a huge burden on myself, I felt as if something was crawling through my insides and I felt like almost throwing up before it suddenly stopped.

“Now do you believe me, Victor?” standing opposite my father who was sitting in his chair with his hands locked as if deep in thought was Silas. This might have been the first time I’ve seen both of them together. Looking closely they were almost like twins, they both had dark mahogany-colored hair and amber-colored eyes.

“This level of genius is even higher than the elves and King Valorian’s son from what I know. This is unbelievable.” With every word from my father, I slightly shivered as mana radiated out from his body, it seemed like he couldn’t control his emotions, and that caused him to radiate unstable mana. Upon looking at me again he quickly withdrew the mana back into his body.

“Kane, we took you in due to our circumstances with my wife. However, never in my life would I have thought you’d have this sort of aptitude for magic.” Victor looked deeply into my eyes as he thought for a second. “Starting tomorrow, we’re going to increase the intensity of your training as an acolyte. Silas is going to be your mentor for now in magic.”

Silas looked stunned momentarily until he noticed Victor's deep gaze on me. “Furthermore, nobody can know about your talent in magic. That damned Cornwood can never know about such a talent in our household!” My father slammed the desk in rage as he thought about Count Cornwood.

My heart jumped for a moment after seeing father’s rage, Count Cornwood was known as a fair leader by the public and was generally liked, however, based on my understanding I had gathered in the last year the decline of House Blackwood from Viscounts to Barons was vastly due to the schemes of Count Cornwood. However, I did not know any details about this.

“I’m going to ask Darius to get you ready too, I don’t think it’ll hurt to get you ready to defend yourself. I’m also removing you from the lectures you currently attend, it can’t be known that you’ve already passed the formation stage.” Father looked lost in thought, his smile was not one of pure happiness but I could feel him being scared too. “We’ll have to get you ready for when you attend the Royal Magus Academy, I’ll have to suppress the information about you until you are at least twelve.”

“Please, leave me alone for a moment. I need to think this through.” Me and Silas locked eyes and both jointly headed towards the door together. As I reached the door and reached to open it I heard my father speak again, “Kane…” After a short stop, he continued “Congratulations, you’re destined for great things.”

I simply nodded and headed out of the room with Silas, however, my smile grew more after I left that room, it seemed like I had talent towards being a mage and I couldn’t wait to continue growing my powers. “Child, tomorrow after your training with Uncle Darius come and find me in the study. We’re going to begin learning some basic spells.”

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“However, for now, follow me. We’re going to celebrate the little prodigy!” Silas patted me on the shoulder and led me down towards the dining room. On the way we ran into a maid who bowed to us as we walked past where Silas quickly whispered something to the maid. After we walked past her she quickly turned around and started running towards what seemed to be the kitchen.

Upon entering the grand dining room which seemed fairly empty I could see Mother sitting near the top of the grand table made of dark wood from the surroundings of the manor. Her auburn locks framed her looks, as she noticed me entering the hall, her smile dimmed slightly, but she nodded and acknowledged my presence.

She had welcomed me into the family home begrudgingly but had warmed up with time, much to the nudging of Lord Victor and Silas. She was only at the expansion stage, having never aspired for higher and been refused by the academy’s faculty. If not for Victor choosing to marry her, she would probably be destined for a quiet but not unpleasant life.

“I can sense something different with you today, Kane. But I can’t quite figure it out.” she had closed her eyes for a moment and I could feel the mana in the surroundings starting to be controlled by her.

I looked towards Silas as I didn’t know what I should say based on my father’s wishes and he simply nodded back to me.

I smiled. “Yes, ma’am.” Moving closer, I whispered, “I completed the formation stage earlier today with Silas’ assistance.” I sat down on the chair to her left while Silas sat opposite us.

“Unfortunately I doubt that Victor will be joining us again, I’ve asked the maids to prepare something special today to celebrate the young acolyte.” Silas quietly commented to Elena who only signed in return, as if expecting this response.

We had engaged in casual talk while waiting for the maids to bring out our meal about what we had accomplished today which was fairly similar to what we did every day, however, I talked to both of them about my experience since I broke through. They had commented how my perception of mana seemed to be very keen, them not remembering being able to perceive mana to such a degree right after breaking through the formation stage.

Shortly after we were slowly running out of topics to talk about. The maids brought out a special meal which was usually saved for when we had respectable guests visit us. It consisted of two butterflied chicken breasts with gravy poured on top of them with mashed potatoes and a small assortment of vegetables. This was a much more prestigious meal compared to the usual stew with white bread.

At the end of the meal, I waved goodbye to Silas and Elena who I perceived wanted to talk in private after the meal. Silas quickly reminded me, “Remember to come find me after your training with Uncle Darius.”

I simply nodded and headed back to my bedroom where I sat on my bed with my legs crossed yet again. I started on the cultivation technique once more based on what I had learned from Silas’ casual teachings. This time I would slowly bring mana into my abdomen and absorb it into my core. This was slow, monotonous work, but it would pay off in the future.