Chapter 20: Awakened Lexia

Shocked he was the moment Kevin arrived behind the castle.

It was the same garden of thick, tall trees. The same snow-coated canopies, the same little girl in white, and the same route for the regime.

However, something was different nonetheless.

Lexia's speed didn't improve much but the frequency of leaves scoring a hint on her small body dropped marginally. A flow of energy Kevin was all too familiar with circulated around Lexia's body as she weaved through the thick barks.

This was definitely mana. Kevin could not be wrong about this sensation in his perception.

Furthermore, she wasn't far from condensing a third eye; estimated by the unstable fluctuations all around her body. Kevin was flabbergasted by two things.

First was his ability to sense discharged mana from the bodies of other people as long as they didn't make the effort of concealing them, second, was the fact his little sister caught up to him and awakened as well.

His first thought was that someone somehow possessed her body the same way he occupied the body of the former Kevin.

"Big brother!"

That thought was quickly swept away as he noticed the familiar joy spurting from her eyes as she cut her routine short and dashed over. Like the wind she ran, light and graceful. Bare feet barely dented the thick carpet of snow, long skirt fluttered and scattered the snowflakes all around; she lunged directly into his chest with small arms locked in a vice grip around his torso despite the blood in between.

Perhaps she had yet to realize how dirty her big brother was; perhaps she didn't care at all.

"What happened to you?"

Kevin caught her as he swayed and dropped on the ground, seated while she cradled his lap with stupid giggles and eyes overflowing with mirth.

She smiled and when she did, her dark eyes sparkled with zeal.

"What do you mean 'what happened'?"

Lexia cocked her head to the side, confused as she was delighted.

Her eyes were begging for praise and the fabled, promised surprise. She didn't slack at all these past two weeks of training, she believed her progress was exceptional and deserving of praise.

She didn't notice?

Kevin's eyes glowed for a moment. Then, he smiled.

"Nothing," he said, smoothly shifting the subject. "Your big brother can make you into a mage just like him, how do you feel about it?"

"Really?!" Lexia gasped. "You can't be fooling me!"

"I promise," he chuckled. "Here, close your eyes…"

Skeptically, Lexia closed her eyes but was quick to open her right eye stealthily, thinking she wouldn't be caught; at least she thought that way until Kevin poked her right eyelid with his nose.

She laughed then clasped her mouth shut, beating down the few giggles about to escape her vocals.

After a fierce internal struggle, she calmed down and peacefully closed her eyes. Then, almost naturally, Lexia entered a state of meditation.

Kevin's surprise was palatable, to say the least. He sensed a bit of mana in the ambiance; an element he was unaccustomed to, cold yet gentle, flooded their surroundings.

An inexplicable urge to meditate suddenly enraptured Kevin's mind and just like that, he too, closed his eyes and operated his spell <Concentration>.

Dark elemental mana started to ripple in his senses as he descended into a state of oblivion to his surroundings, arms coiled around Lexia as the two sat there in the cold, black and white ripples spiraling across their bodies.

In his perception, Kevin sense a small white eye not too far from the black third eye in his mind.

Cold yet gentle, the contradictory nature of that vibe confused him so.

Regardless, Kevin quickly focused on the scene he saw through the lens of his third eye as hundreds of souls huddled around a dense collection of mana.

The volume wasn't great per se, but when compared with the ordinary soul of humans, a mage's fragmented soul would still net a great value and exude a sense of majesty. The other feeble souls simply felt entitled to worship this greatness and orbit around it.

Kevin's mental energy stirred up as the <Concentration> spell took effect.

A silent crack like the shattering of brittle glass sounded in Kevin's mind, a sound he knew to be a misconception; an illusion.

Souls howled instinctively and a headache assaulted the young man. He endured, and the refining continued. He could feel the mental power formless as it was gradually increasing in his mind. He had the feeling that once this was over, he could run the <Concentration> spell twice or thrice within 24 hours easily and digest the accumulated mana into mental energy with twice the efficiency.

From mana to mental energy and vice versa, this was the essence of magi.

The more mana one can withdraw during a session of concentrated meditation, the more mental energy one would have stored in the third eye.

Proceeding, more mental energy would allow for versatility in one's repertoire of spells. The number of spells used per day, the functions of these spells, and their overall power; all of it depends on their mental energy.

Kevin was refining all of those souls he harvested into pure mental energy by utilizing the mana and the <Concentration> spell, and the process carried on smoothly. When he has enough mental energy to activate a spell of 8 nodes three times or activate three spells of the same caliber in one day, he would have qualified as an amateur mage, no longer a novice.

Kyle died because he didn't know Kevin was already a novice; he could always draw mana from the environment and even if he didn't turn it into mental energy, that mana was enough to provide him with stamina for a prolonged battle of high-tension.

When all of these matters settled in Kevin's mind and he opened his eyes to the curious, expectant gaze of Lexia, he realized that he'd overlooked inspecting her body while she was vulnerable in meditation.

Looking into those pure eyes, however, Kevin rid himself of that notion.

Since she had already awakened, this is a blessing and not a curse; he convinced himself.

"Is it done?" She asked, eyes sparkling. "Am I a mage now?"

"Of course," laughed Kevin, resting his forehead on Lexia's. "Here is how you grow stronger daily."

Kevin used a strand of his mental energy to pass on the simple method of the <Concentration> spell, even though he believed it was already stored in Lexia's subconscious and she was simply too young to realize this on her own.

Lexia closed her eyes, feeling her mind buzz for a second as a lot of information suddenly popped up. Dazed, she rubbed her forehead.

"Don't tell anyone about this," Kevin held an index finger to his lips with a hush gesture.

Then, he continued, "Train here in secret for the next two months while big brother is busy working, I will try to find a way for you to grow faster."

Unlike him, Kevin was positive his sister's growth would require material resources, resources he didn't have. Thus, if the chance arises, he would rather send her to one of the known Magic Academies.

To get to that point though, his noble ranking must at least be a marquis or perhaps a duke. As he patted her head while she nodded with glee, Kevin's eyes blazed with determination.

comment 0 comment

Vote

SEND GIFT

Load failed, please RETRY