...

Some days later, Alexander's Mansion, Attic

"Welcome! Today, we will write history!"

With this announcement, spiders gathered around the ceiling in the attic, watching how a young wolfkin stood before a crowd. Some were fascinated, others less, taking their flies and mosquitoes as snacks, but nonetheless, all watched with interest.

Before Alexander, there was a small group of people. All of them were either family, friends, or close retainers. Everyone here was about to receive a gift, yet emotions varied. However, in his mind, this would quickly change.

Furthermore, if everything worked out, he would have successfully proven that the distribution of mana skills could be handled efficiently without his interference. Thus, the path to creating a society where magic could be taught to first graders would open up.

Such a thought excited him, making him imagine utopian scenarios. He could massively decrease hunger, eradicate diseases, increase everyone's quality of life, and more. It was a shortcut solution for so many problems, and he couldn't imagine what else it could bring. Of course, there would be some negatives, but the positive points were overwhelming in his mind.

Yet, before he could implement magic lessons in kindergarten, he would need to develop a new chant language and tweak some spells to make it much safer. The last thing he wanted was to explain why little Jenny turned into a living bomb while playing with plasticine, and Frederic suddenly drowned in his orange juice.

However, now he wanted his loved ones to receive it first, as they always stood by his side. Some looked annoyed, like Patricia and Linuel, but others, like his Grandmother and Janina, were excited, and Ipe was smiling cutely into some empty space, probably imagining the death of his kin.

Alexander opened his arms, gesturing toward the weirdly built chambers inside the attic, "This is the mana chamber! With this, you can get [Mana Sense], which brings you a step closer to being a full-blown mage like me..."

Alexander slightly changed what Ocilia built, trying to put more mana in or out of the specific spaces, making them either more filled or empty. This didn't mean, though, that it looked better. A test with one of his newer maids showed that it worked after the change, too, even though she needed more than five hours and multiple attempts.

"Now you have a choice! You can have one of two types of mana skills..." He showed two fingers, making it all dramatic, "...one, you will become like me, a pure mage, who will be able to cast spells as flexible as possible, or second, you will choose a racial trait, mystic skill, or whatever, and we will be able to specialize you in this sense like..."

He started explaining the upsides and downsides, which he tested with Ocilia and Lili and came to some serious conclusions. At first, he thought that he doomed his close ones to be second-class mages by using their [Mystic Skills] or racial skills to activate their mana skills, putting them in a more unfavorable position.

However, this wasn't the case, as there were upsides and downsides to both ways. Ocilia, for example, had almost no problems manipulating her threads and creating a robust construct right off the bat after Alexander found a way for her to do so.

At first, he thought that her speed, control, and robustness of the constructs she created were the norm since they were somewhat similar to his when he started. Since Ocilia was also his first disciple to whom he seriously taught magic, it was an easy mistake he oversaw.

Why mistake? His control group, Lili, had immense problems creating constructs after she learned [Mana Manipulation]. It was so challenging for her that at some point, he wrote to Green to ask if this was normal, and it seemed to be the case. Even inserting her mana into her energy was ridiculously hard for her.

By talking to Ocilia, his brother, and many more, he found out that one had an innate feeling if one controlled mana with [Mystic Skills] or racial skills, which, in turn, made the learning and application process much easier and straightforward. There were also some more perks, but they depended on the skill.

Ocilia, for example, could use her mana skills inter-dimensionally after telling him how she invaded and killed some night-elves in their shadows, also getting a new skill all the while.

His Mother was the same. With her mana, she could increase her demonic energy's power and infection rate, which was already over the top and much faster than the typical Nine-Fire [Divinity Line].

His Father could use it through his tattoos, which were apparently changeable if he put his specific natural energy into them, easily turning them into constructs on his body. This was also why he got Sarusos to scout the black market for enchantment spells for the body, as his tattoos were nothing more than an equivalent to enchantments. His Father was able to double or triple whatever he chose to strengthen if he combined constructs and his druid buffs.

Then, there were more creative approaches, like that of Narsiz. He could create constructs and conjure them through a writing skill. By going through a series of tests, Alexander concluded that his brother was a natural enchanter who could efficiently emit his mana into materials.

Lorient, Sarah, Sarusos, etc., used it like his Mother, only to strengthen their already excellent skills and energy. For spells, they would mostly use lifestyle spells like the cleaning spell, as anything more complicated than 2D constructs was not worth their time.

This was also something he overlooked. Much studying was needed to be a mage efficiently, but not everyone was ready to throw their precious time into this. So most, after talking and apologizing to them, only laughed, saying that they wouldn't want to study like he did, for hours on end, trying to perfect spell after spell.

While Alexander explained to them the benefits of having their mana skills linked to one another, he also explained the benefits of being a true mage.

They had great flexibility, and with little training, they could become at least as strong as he was now. His earth bullet was proof enough that even lesser spells could become significantly powerful. But looking at their faces, he saw only two who truly wanted to be a mage. The rest were rather bored at the idea of starting anew, learning another field they weren't acquainted with.

After ten to twenty minutes of explaining the upsides and downsides of everything, everyone without mana skills stood there thinking. However, Patricia was the first to come forward, "I want it like you."

Alexander nodded, thinking it was natural for her to want the skills the way he had since he couldn't imagine gifting it to her any other way. Also, she was young and intelligent, so she would probably get the hang of it fast, "Great! Come with me!"

He opened the door to the room filled with mana, telling her everything she needed to know while she listened to him attentively, 'She is really tense.'

After explaining, he hugged and patted her, trying to calm her, "Don't worry. I am sure that you can do it, but if not, we will just try again. All of this is experimental; don't forget it, okay?"

When he let go of her, she had a reddish face, which made him worry if she was sick, "Are you unwell? Is everything okay?"

She only nodded slightly, "I... am fine..." and walked into the room, closing the door behind her, 'Well, maybe she is just nervous? I would be too if someone sent me into an attic and then into some weird chamber.'

He turned around and saw how his Grandmother was thinking, clearly undecided. Fortunately, Ipe came forward, making the process much smoother, "I want to specialize. Since you explained it so well, Mr. Alexander, I already know which skill I want to be strengthened."

He clapped his hands, "Great!"

Like this, hours went on. Everyone besides Patricia and Janina decided to specialize, making his previous assumptions more valid. They were young and could quickly get into certain topics without losing much. Even if they had little success with magic, they should then have more than enough training to boost their other skills easily and flexibly.

However, Alexander was confused. Everything went well, like perfect. Everyone got their [Mana Sense] skill, even Janina, which he didn't expect she would get on the first try. He even readied himself to repeat the same process in the following days.

There was also a funny side to all the ordeal. After receiving the skill, Alexander's close ones were confused as this was a new sense they had developed, initially making them somewhat disoriented. Besides the slight disorientation, everyone looked psyched, especially his Grandmother, who always strived to become stronger.

Now, though, after some hours of supporting everyone in developing the skill, he also ordered some servants to bring everyone else from his family besides Lorient and some retainers to join them.

Why not Lorient? Because he had already tested later parts of his gift with her, and it worked smoothly. So, all she did for now was train and test it out.

When everyone else arrived, it became a little chaotic, which weirded Alexander out, 'I feel like some manager at a Christmas party, trying to get everyone to play some stupid game.'

Stolen novel; please report.

He raised his voice, using an air contraption to sound even louder, "Now we will learn how to manipulate mana! While I gave you the most important mana skill, which acts as a fundament, I will also give you the next one to manipulate mana!"

Alexander went to everyone who already learned it, asking them to help the ones who hadn't, while he tried to instruct Janina and Patricia, the only true mages.

His Mother helped his Grandmother, and his Father helped Ipe while Narsiz and Sarah went over to Linuel. Sarusos and some others were waiting, making Alexander feel bad for them as to why he called them at all, 'Well, fuck it.'

Fortunately, they listened to him without any problems, making coordinating the whole ordeal much more straightforward. He would need a couple of days to teach everyone individually. Even though it was rough and rushed, they could deepen their understanding afterward by reading dozens of notes and explanations from others, which he put into their public estate library.

Like that, hours went by again, and the afternoon sun stood high up, cooking the attic to uncomfortable degrees. Even though he didn't feel the heat, the air became much heavier and more uncomfortable for Janina, 'Time to switch locations.'

"Okay, did everyone get it? Janina and Patricia did..." He looked around and only now saw how most of them were comfortably chatting and waiting for the younglings to finish, which surprised Alexander positively, "...great! Let's move toward the training ground..." He looked at Janina, who was heavily sweating and breathing uncomfortably, "...I feel a little uncomfortable here."

The first to answer was his Mother, who quickly glanced at Janina, too, "Good idea, Alex. I also feel that the air got stale here..." She turned around, looking at everyone else, "...let's go."

...

10 minutes later, Training ground, Alexander's mansion

As they went toward his training area, a lot of chatting was going on, and by observing everyone, it seemed that they were very considerate of their youngest, who was also physically the weakest, not even showing some annoyance, 'I really like this family.'

It was unusual to have such a strong, bonded family, which he loved. Still, it was also challenging to enter this circle, as seen by Linuel, who was flirting with his brother but was also scrutinized by his Mother, 'Well, at least she is not starting a fight.'

Regardless, he became uneasy as they entered his training grounds since it always looked like a battlefield. Alexander's training mainly consisted of exercising control over his spells by following the family tradition, which was more complicated than he had thought. As such, some mistakes happened when he, for example, tried to create a metal bullet, which, when shot, would explode when it hit something, then turn into a fragmentation grenade, demolishing the training area and almost killing him.

A slightly disappointed voice came from the side, "Boy, you really need to keep your house in order."

"Dad, not now. I have already so much shi..." He was suddenly hit on the back of the head by his Father, "...ow! Why?!"

He shook his head, "Your Mother told me your cursing is my fault and scolded me. So don't."

Alexander mumbled, barely audible, "First my freedom and now my speech, what is this? A prison?"

His Father laughed out loud, "Guhahaha! Would a prison feed you so well? Now shut up. Everyone is waiting for you."

Alexander looked around and saw how everyone was slightly staring at him, while some smiled at the exchange, making him embarrassed, "Okay, fine..." He clapped once, "...now we come to the juicy part of today's lesson!"

The next part was teaching [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission]. This was somewhat tricky for him since he needed to remember how he had learned it, which took time and effort.

"So, [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission] are pretty easy to learn. For this, please sit down..." After a moment, he saw how most wore good clothes and dresses, so he quickly conjured chairs out of stone, from all the debris around them, into existence beside everyone so they would not get too dirty and continued, "...close your eyes, and do exactly as I say. We will start with [Mana Emission]..."

The principle was easy. One would need to roughly sense the mana inside oneself, which moves all the time, and breathe out the moment when clumps of mana are close to the lungs. There were, though, a couple of problems with this method.

First, it was somewhat nonsensical for those who already had too much mana, which meant there was no reasonable difference in its movement. However, the logic behind this action was that one needed to expel mana purposefully to get the skill. Doing it passively, as he tried with Lorient first, would lead to nowhere.

The second problem was a theoretical one. He feared someone could accidentally get the [Mana Seering] skill, should they strain their senses too much and, thus, throw up since the procurement of that skill was somewhat similar.

Regardless of his fears, most got it almost immediately, which surprised him since he needed hours as an infant. This was cracking his ego a bit, 'Be happy for them, Alex. Nobody cares that you needed hours to learn the skill as a toddler.'

The next skill was [Mana Absorption], and it was the same, just the other way around. One needed to sense the mana around and try to breathe in the moment it came close without using any other skills.

Again, this meant purposely trying to get mana inside of you to get the skill. In general, this was the conclusion he reached when acquiring skills. There must be a purpose one wants to achieve to get a skill. While achieving it passively or indirectly was possible, one would also need much more time.

The same was true for how one wants to level them up. Passively leveling them up will cost much more time than just concentrating on them, and it seems that his siblings also understood it as they always sparred with some goal in mind and not just for more ambiguous purposes like getting better.

After no more than an hour, everyone got the skills, and Alexander felt proud. For some reason, when everyone learned all the basic mana skills, he imagined a classroom where students would learn them by the hundreds. It was a step closer to his ideal society.

Regardless of his ideals, which he threw to the back of his mind and concentrated on the next part, which he felt the most excited about and which was also the actual present for most of them, "Great! You all got it, and now, let's learn the fun part!..." He stopped and looked at Janina sadly, "...sorry, not you. This skill almost killed me when I was little, and you are too young to learn it."

She didn't react well at first, contorting her face from anger to sadness, but after a moment, she nodded, with her ears hanging, "Fine..." Even though not quite accepting, she understood that something was up with the next skill he wanted to teach, 'I will later talk to her and make clear why it is so dangerous.'

With this in mind, he concentrated back on everyone else still sitting on the ground, "The skill is called [Body Overload (Mana)] and will boost your physical abilities to a new level while straining the body to immense degrees..."

He started to direct them through every single step, "... close your eyes and first sense the mana flowing inside your body. From the mana core through your veins as it travels around. It is a circle to continuously supply mana to even the smallest part of your body..."

While the mana core was where the solar plexus was, the mana veins were the same as blood veins, only much more extensive. They were everywhere and supplied the body with mana while circling it around if one looked close enough inside themselves.

Was the mana recycling? Was it somehow used and brought back to the core? What was the mana actually doing inside the body? For these and many more questions, he had zero clue. Little to say, he could barely explain what blood did on an elementary school level, so describing the intricate processes of how mana interacted with the body was too much for him. However, there was some hope that some medical genius would, at some point, step up and try to explore it.

Yet, now was not the time to deliberate such questions. As such, Alexander used [Mana Absorption] and [Mana Emission] simultaneously, "Now absorb mana through the air and, at the same time, emit it to the outside to create an equilibrium. Both need to be in balance. The emitted and absorbed amount of mana needs to be the same. You can't have too much or too little mana on either side..."

It was actually not necessary to do it like this. Still, it was a great help as one could easily transition to the next part, which was the most challenging one, "...now you need to emit your mana inside of you toward the natural flow and absorb it on the other side, all inside the current flow, to create a faster stream. Use [Mana Manipulation] if you have problems in redirecting it..."

He was interrupted suddenly by his Mother, "Got it."

He looked at her as her body was seething while her mana, which was linked to her energy, rushed at insane speeds through her body, much faster than Alexander was able to do, 'This is kinda unfair...'

"Let me try..." She stood up, flashed multiple times, and smiled while doing it, "...great."

'Yeah, Grandma talked shit...' What was it again? His Mother was only slightly above average when it came to talent, or so everybody said, but looking at her, it was far from the truth.

When fighting his Grandmother, he needed a lot of concentration to avoid overheating and bursting his mana veins. On the other hand, his Mother could do it immediately and without any problems. Even her control was excellent, much better than his.

Next was his Grandmother, "Ugh, what an annoying but great skill..." She smiled and looked at herself. The mana and energy inside her body went haywire, much less controlled than what he or his Mother was doing. However, it was at speeds he couldn't perceive anymore. He now understood much better how robust her body was when it could endure such a thing.

She looked at him and smiled much more honestly, "Now I understand the skill. It truly is a great..." She stood up and looked at his Mother, "...fancy for a spar?"

Marisia nodded, "One moment..." She went to Alexander, smiling and patting him, "...it is truly a great gift. Thank you, Alex."

She turned around and pointed to the door with her thumb, "Let's go to my training area so as not to disturb everyone else."

His Grandmother nodded, and as they walked outside, she suddenly stopped by his side and looked at him, "Alex, what you gifted me today is something beyond my imagination. So, if you ever need something, simply say a word, and you will have it."

She continued walking outside while chatting with his Mother, 'Well, this was already my thank-you gift for what you did for me, though?'

He looked back to his group of students, and slowly but surely, all of them acquired the [Body Overload (Mana)] skill one after another. The last one to do so was Patricia.

It wasn't because she wasn't talented enough, but because she had the same problems as Alexander. The moment she was about to use the skill for the first time, her body spasmed out as the strain wasn't little, making her even puke blood as her innards started to get grilled by it.

The only way to combat it was to fine-tune the different skills for a weak boost that an undeveloped body could handle. This was also why Ipe stayed with them till the end.

After hours and almost biting the dust multiple times, she got it and looked elated, "Finally..." She stood up and, after some wobbling around, got it together. She started to look at him weirdly, "Alex, I don't know how I can thank you?" Her tone dripped with sentiment, making Alexander cringe a little.

However, he only smiled at her, trying to fight his insensitivity and be thankful to have a friend who truly appreciated his gift. Because of that, his following words were also sincere, as he wanted to make sure to let her know that it was a thank-you gift, "Don't worry. You were there for me while I was in pain..." He shook his head, "...there is no need to thank me; rather, I need to thank you for all your time spent with me. Maybe you don't believe me, but I can't be thankful enough for you to be with me."

Patricia came closer to him, her eyes almost teary, "Alex..."

Alexander only smiled back, finding the moment great too, finally getting over his old self, "Yes?"

However, from the side came an audible sobbing and a sniffled-up voice, "How beautiful and precious youth is."

Alexander turned around and saw Ipe crying while looking at them, "I am sorry, Mr. Alexander and Ms. Patricia. I was fully immersed while observing you both... so beautiful."

Alexander only raised an eyebrow and didn't think much about it, but as he turned to Patricia, she stared at him furiously, 'Well, who wouldn't be embarrassed?'

He walked over to her and grabbed her hand, "Let's eat something, all right?"

She looked back at him and was somewhat sad, only to sigh, "Fine, I am hungry too."

As they walked away, he looked back and saw how Ipe was creating two trees that looked like them at the training ground, 'What a weird guy.'