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Chapter 6 - Chapter 6 - Blooming

Chapter 6 - Blooming

Before making my Aura bloom.

First, I left the room to eat breakfast.

'I can't concentrate if I'm hungry.'

When I arrived at the dining hall, my mother was in the middle of arranging plates.

"Mother, what's the occasion? You're cooking everything yourself."

Usually, the servants handled everything.

But sometimes my mother would help prepare a meal, and on those days, her cooking would always be on the table.

"Just because~ I felt like cooking today for some reason."

My mother answered with a fresh smile. I returned a smile of my own and sat down.

"Looks delicious."

As I looked over the food set on the table, the words popped out of my mouth without me realizing.

They looked delicious, and they would probably taste incredible.

That was because my mother's cooking skills, without a single shred of exaggeration, were even better than the imperial chefs.

'Of course, the cuisine I know is from 300 years ago.'

I hadn't eaten the cuisine of today, so I didn't know what it was like.

But even my uncle, who belonged to the imperial court, would say he came home just to eat my mother's cooking.

That in itself was proof of my mother's culinary skills.

"Just wait a little bit. Your father will be here soon."

"Okay."

And not long after, my father entered the dining hall and took his seat.

"Time to eat!"

As soon as the meal was ready, I brought the food to my mouth.

'Wow…'

The food melted in my mouth.

It was so good it made me feel sorry for having compared it to the imperial chefs.

'This is unbelievably delicious.'

There was actually a reason my mother was so good at cooking.

She had a better intuition than others.

On top of having sharp five senses, she possessed an outstanding sense that was hard to explain in words, like noticing something before it happened or feeling changes that couldn't be seen with the eyes.

Perhaps that was the reason my mother had been so overly worried after I reincarnated.

In any case, it seemed she had unconsciously and faintly sensed that today was a special day for me.

"Eat slowly, dear."

My mother said so and gave a small smile.

I nodded and continued my meal at a slower pace.

Thirty minutes later, having finished my meal, I lightly wiped my mouth with a napkin.

"That was so delicious, Mother."

"Fufu, thank you~ son."

Now that my stomach was reasonably full.

It was the perfect state to make my Aura bloom.

"Is it alright if I excuse myself first?"

I said so and got up from my chair.

"Yes, go ahead. By the way, you know what today is, right?"

In truth, besides blooming my Aura, there was one other important event today.

The Family Convocation.

An event where the various families belonging to the noble house gather, and my first official external activity since reincarnating.

"Of course. It's the Family Convocation day, isn't it?"

"Yes. We'll be departing in the evening, so feel free to rest."

As my mother said, the convocation event started in the evening.

In other words, it was something that would happen after I bloomed my Aura.

Therefore, it wasn't something I needed to worry about right this moment.

"Yes, I understand."

I gave a light bow and left the dining hall.

'I think I've really gotten used to this life now.'

One is bound to get close even after spending six months with a stranger.

Moreover, now that most of my memories as Lael had returned, I had completely become 'Lael Peron'.

Now, Elia and Lian were truly my family.

'I think revealing my reincarnation was a good choice, too.'

On top of that, I had even revealed the fact of my reincarnation to my mother.

My father already knew anyway, and I thought it would be more comfortable for me regarding my swordsmanship training later on.

And as a result, it was very successful.

My mother no longer looked at me with anxiety, and thanks to that, she had become much brighter than before.

Of course, there were many other secondary advantages, but that was what struck me the most.

"You've arrived, young master."

I was walking, lost in thought.

The voice of my personal attendant, Philip, was heard.

That meant I had arrived in front of my room.

I acknowledged his greeting with a light wave of my hand, then made a request.

"Philip, for the next 8 hours… no, for 5 hours, don't let anyone enter my room."

"Um… even if the master of the house comes?"

"Yes. Whether it's my father or mother, just don't let anyone in for 5 hours. If you tell them I requested it, they won't try to force their way in."

"Hmm, yes. I understand."

"Thank you."

I expressed my thanks to Philip and immediately opened the door and entered the room.

Clack—

Then I securely locked the door to further enhance security.

"…Though it probably won't mean much."

My parents could probably undo this kind of analog security in less than a second.

They may be doting fools for their son, but my father was still the head of a house and a 7th Circle mage, and my mother was also a skilled mage who had once made quite a name for herself.

"Still, this puts me at ease."

So this was purely a measure to make myself feel comfortable.

Because for what I was about to do, peace of mind was more important than anything.

Click—

I turned off the lights and sat in a formal posture in the center of the room.

Then I took a deep breath in and out.

"Sssuuu… haaah…"

This was to make my body's senses as sharp as possible.

'I've already done this once. It won't be that difficult this time.'

In my past life, it took me a whole year to make my Aura bloom.

Considering that it takes others an average of 1 to 3 months, that's a considerably long time.

The reason it took so long back then was because my body had too much mana.

But that was no longer the case.

'Now, it's a body with no mana.'

Therefore, I intended to make my Aura bloom within a single day.

Thump—

I slowly closed my eyes and felt my heartbeat.

Thump— Thump—

The steady beating of my heart gradually calmed my mind.

"Hoo…"

After exhaling once more, I focused on the direction the pulse was heading.

Following the blood vessels, some went up, some went down, and others went sideways.

They spread throughout my entire body, and I soon became able to feel my whole body.

'With this, the preparations are complete.'

Commonly known as the Aura Blooming Method, or the Five Senses Deprivation Method, it is largely divided into a preparation stage, a deprivation stage, and a blooming stage.

And the deprivation stage that was to follow was the core of this method.

Humans are inherently born with a minute amount of Aura in their bodies.

However, it is so small and light that it's impossible to feel it through ordinary means.

Therefore, one must go through the deprivation stage, which forcibly erases the senses, to be able to move on to the blooming stage where one can feel the Aura.

'First, the sense of touch.'

I focused all my thoughts on the sense of touch.

I became aware of the countless things touching my body.

The hair tickling my skin. The wind brushing against my cheek. The soft texture of skin felt in my lightly clenched fists.

As if that was my everything, I felt all touch.

Thump—

And in time with the pulse, I erased all sense of touch.

To be precise, I ignored it.

It was a function made possible because a minute amount of Aura already resided in the body.

"..."

It felt as if I had been thrown into a void.

No sense of touch was felt, and now I was left with only four senses.

'I will eliminate the next sense right away.'

Normally, one would get used to eliminating one sense before moving on to the next.

But I was already accustomed to sense deprivation.

I immediately focused on the next sense, sight.

"Hoo…"

I slowly opened my closed eyes.

As my obscured vision cleared, various objects in the room came into view.

However, since the lights were off, they weren't very visible.

I took in the various blurry shapes as much as possible.

I focused all my mind on the sense of sight.

As my pupils adjusted to the darkness, the shapes of the objects became clearer.

"..."

After some time had passed focusing on sight.

At some point, the dark room began to feel bright.

The moment 'seeing' felt like my everything.

Thump— I erased my sight.

The bright surroundings turned dark in an instant, and I could no longer see anything.

Now, I was left with only three senses.

"Hoo…"

I steadied my breathing again and immediately focused my mind on my hearing.

…How much time passed like that?

I succeeded in erasing all my senses faster than I thought.

"..."

A state where all five senses had disappeared.

Nothing could be seen, nothing could be heard, and nothing could be felt.

There wasn't even any smell, nor could I feel any taste.

Am I even alive?

Could it be that reincarnation was just a sweet dream I was having after death?

Such idle thoughts roamed through my head.

As all the senses that made me feel alive disappeared, I even began to feel a sense of doubt about my own existence.

'Whatever.'

But I immediately corrected my thoughts.

I cast aside all the rising questions.

Whether I wasn't alive, whether this was all a dream, whatever the truth was, it wasn't a reason to stop now.

Because if I just take one more step forward, just one more, I would surely know where I am standing.

'Let's focus.'

I slowly calmed my mind.

I moved to find light in the empty darkness.

No matter how faint the light, in pitch-black darkness, it would shine brightly.

And at some point.

Thump—

I felt a pulse.

Somewhere deep in my heart.

I saw a small light.

Thump—

It was so warm, and it had a pleasant scent.

My five senses still hadn't returned, but I could feel that tiny light.

Thump—

I moved toward the light.

Then, small lights began to gather one by one, and at some point, they grew large.

Toward that large light, I slowly extended my hand.

Thump—

Along with the sound of the pulse, my hand touched the light.

In that moment.

The light turned red, and then began to take shape.

Fwoosh—!

Like a blazing fire.

Or like a blooming flower.

Aura blossomed spectacularly within me.

It awakened my physical body.

"Keuk…!"

I let out a rough breath and opened my eyes.

The senses that had disappeared returned all at once.

"Uuurp…"

A large amount of information I had been momentarily ignoring flooded into my brain.

A headache strong enough to make my mind reel washed over me, and I threw up right there.

"Heok… heok…"

Fortunately, the pain did not last long.

I quickly adapted to the returned senses.

"…It's done."

And there was one thing that had changed from before.

A new sensation felt around my heart.

The Aura had successfully settled in my body.

'I really did it in one day.'

I glanced at the clock.

The magic-imbued clock displayed the numbers 11 : 42.

I had entered the room around 8:30.

Only about 3 hours had passed.

"Heh heh heh heh…"

Laughter escaped me without me realizing.

"So this is how clearly it feels without mana."

Before, because it was obscured by mana, it took quite some time to fully feel the Aura even after it bloomed.

But now it was different.

It was as if flower petals that had been swept away by waves had finally been planted in a flower bed.

"Well then, let's see…"

I calmed my excitement and sat back down in a formal posture.

Now that the blooming was done, it was time to try wielding it myself.

Woooong—

I spread out the gathered Aura widely.

It spread throughout my entire body and then quickly shot out of my body.

I quickly caught the Aura that was about to scatter into the air.

Then, the Aura shimmered red and enveloped my entire body.

"…Insane."

At that, I couldn't help but be amazed.

"To think I can cover my whole body with just this much?"

In fact, in my past, right after my Aura bloomed, I could only cover about a single finger.

No matter how much I spread my Aura, most of it would be extinguished by colliding with my mana before it even left my body.

But now, there was no mana to collide with.

I was able to cover my entire body with a moderately drawn-out amount of Aura.

'Which means…'

I had been under a huge misconception.

My past self hadn't just been utilizing only 10 percent of his Aura.

10 percent?

What a joke.

I couldn't even properly use 1 percent.

In other words.

"Just how much stronger can I become…."

I can now transcend the level of a Sword Master by far.

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