The days continued to pass, and I found myself becoming more attuned to the wisps of mana that floated around me. I began to pull them into my chest, feeling a strange sense of satisfaction as they gathered. Each wisp, once aimless and free, now had a purpose as it was drawn towards me. They formed a ball within me, the colours dull and muddled, as if struggling to find their place. This process consumed almost all of my focus.
When I wasn’t busy absorbing the wisps around me and enjoying the naps I needed, I observed my mother as she took me everywhere with her. I could sense my mother's growing concern as she watched me.
Did I do something wrong? Am I not acting like a normal good baby? I took a deep breath, trying to get a hold of my emotions before I accidentally started crying again.
I wish I could say I hadn't cried much, but it had been a long couple of months. It became more manageable as the days passed, and I slowly adjusted to my new life. I still didn’t have adequate control over my emotions, but with my mother, it felt like I didn’t need to. Every time I cried, whether from hunger or missing him, she always comforted me, any time of the day. It was the other times that worried her—the times I tried to decipher her words or find more wisps to guide toward my chest. But what else was there to do?
It took nearly thirty days by my count. I could feel the tension building within me with each wisp I pulled in. The ball of mana in my chest grew denser, its colours more muted and muddled. I realized that my previous life without mana had made me more sensitive to its presence, and I could easily determine what was caused by mana and what wasn't. This sensitivity made sensing and manipulating mana feel almost natural to me.
Finally, on what I believed to be the thirtieth day, I drew in the last speck of mana. As it settled into the ball in my chest, I felt a sudden, intense pain. The ball of mana seemed to collapse into itself, like a star imploding. The pain was excruciating, leaving me drained and sore. But through my mana sense skill, I could see a small star that had formed in my chest. Despite the pain, I felt a sense of accomplishment and wonder at what I had achieved.
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From a mother's perspective:
The days had been tense as I watched my daughter, Aerorae, become increasingly focused on something. Her eyes, once full of innocent curiosity, now held a deep concentration that worried me. I had never seen a child this young so absorbed in something so intangible.
The other mothers and older women in the village warned me that new mothers would fret and worry about every small detail when it comes to their firstborn. But these worries did not feel unfounded.
One night, while I was cleaning the dishes after laying Aerorae in her crib, I felt it. There was something strange. My [Mana Awareness] skill told me something was happening with my beautiful daughter. I was still thinking about it when I felt a surge of mana from Aerorae's room, unlike anything I had ever felt before. My heart pounded in my chest as I recognized the sensation—a core ignition. I ran into her room, my breath catching as I saw the last traces of light settle into her chest. This wasn't supposed to be possible. It took active, waking effort to form a mana core. For an initiate mage, it could take almost a year of study and practice. For normal people, it naturally happened somewhere close to their thirties. For some, it never happened.
My husband rushed in behind me, his face a mirror of my own shock and concern. Without hesitation, I instructed him to go into the living room and start yelling as if we were in an argument. He needed to burn through his mana to cover the traces of Aerorae's ascension. We quickly kissed a brief moment of reassurance amid the chaos.
"Will she be okay?" he asked, his voice trembling.
"I don't know," I replied, my heart heavy with uncertainty.
As he went to the living room, I stayed with Aerorae, watching her closely. She looked exhausted, her tiny body struggling to recover from the ordeal. I could only hope that whatever had happened to her would not cause lasting harm. I had to trust that the star now residing in her chest was a sign of something greater, something that could change the world forever.