Chapter 7: Youngest Mana Cultivator
The silence after Aiden's words felt heavy and long, like a thick blanket smothering the ruined room. Jonathan and Sara stood perfectly still, their minds unable to grasp what their son had just claimed.
The only light came from the moon shining through the huge hole in the ceiling, making the floating dust sparkle like tiny stars. In all that quiet, the only sound was Aiden's soft, nervous breathing.
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then, Sara blinked. Her eyes, wide with disbelief, focused on Aiden. Her voice was soft at first, then grew sharper with worry. "Aiden," she said, "why are you lying to us? I just checked your whole body. I didn't sense any Mana Heart in you."
Aiden froze. Her words hit him like a splash of cold water. He could feel it—deep in his chest, a faint, steady pulse that was different from his normal heartbeat. It felt real. It felt alive. But his mother, a skilled and experienced healer, was saying it wasn't there.
He frowned, confusion swirling inside him. *Was it all in my head?* he wondered. *No… I can feel it. I know what I felt. So why can't she?*
Before he could think of an answer, Jonathan's low, calm voice broke the silence.
"Sara," he said slowly, his eyes locked on her face. "Are you sure? You examined him properly? You found nothing at all that felt like a Mana Heart?"
Sara turned to him, her expression certain. "Yes. I checked twice, very carefully. There's no sign of a Mana Heart. Nothing."
Jonathan fell quiet, his eyes narrowing slightly as he turned back to Aiden. His voice dropped to that serious, no-nonsense tone that meant he expected the truth. "Aiden," he said. "Are you lying to us?"
Aiden looked up immediately, his dark eyes wide and honest. His small hands were trembling at his sides. "No, Dad, I'm not lying!"
He said, his voice almost angry. "I can feel it! There's something inside me—something different. It's just like the book described! I can feel it in my chest… but…" He hesitated, his voice growing small. "I don't know if it's real or just my imagination."
Jonathan was quiet for another moment, watching his son's frightened, sincere face. His stern expression softened just a little. He let out a sigh. "Sara," he said. "Check him one more time. We need to be sure."
Sara gave a small nod. "Alright."
She stepped closer to Aiden and knelt on the scorched floor in front of him. Her hands, pale and steady, hovered over his chest. Then she placed her palms lightly against him. A soft, white glow began to shine from her fingertips.
A warm, gentle feeling spread through Aiden's body, like sunlight soaking into his skin. He could feel her mana moving inside him—kind and pure, checking every part of him.
Minutes ticked by in complete silence.
Finally, the glow faded. Sara pulled her hands back and looked up, shaking her head slowly. Her face was solemn. "I can't detect anything," she whispered. "There's no Mana Heart."
Jonathan's brow furrowed deeper. He looked at Aiden and asked slowly, "So… you still feel it? The feeling that there's a Mana Heart inside you?"
Aiden nodded firmly, his voice calm but sure. "Yes. I can feel it clearly."
Jonathan let out a long, slow breath. He crouched down so he was eye-level with his son.
"Aiden," he said gently, "I think what you're feeling might be an aftereffect. When your body went through that explosion, your mana channels were strained. It can make you feel things that aren't really there. Don't worry. The feeling will probably fade in a few days."
Aiden nodded slowly, but inside, he wasn't convinced. The pulse in his chest felt too solid, too real, to be just his imagination.
He hesitated for a second, then looked up at his father again. "Dad," he said suddenly. "I still think I really have a Mana Heart."
Both Jonathan and Sara looked at him in surprise.
"So," Aiden continued, his voice calm but determined, "why don't you teach me how to use the mana inside it? If I can use mana and cast a spell, then it's real. If I can't, then it's just the aftereffect—just an illusion. There's no danger, because you and Mom are right here to stop anything bad from happening. Right?"
Jonathan fell silent, staring at his son. The boy's logic was simple, but it made sense. He glanced at Sara. She looked hesitant, worried, but after a moment of thought, she gave a small, reluctant nod.
"Alright," Jonathan said finally. "We'll test it that way."
A small, hopeful smile touched Aiden's lips.
Jonathan stood up and turned toward the door. "Let's go to the garden. That's where I train."
Sara followed quietly as Jonathan led the way down the dim, narrow hallway. The floorboards creaked under their feet. They stepped out the back door into the cool night air.
The garden behind their house was peaceful. The moon hung low in the sky, bathing the grassy yard in soft silver light. The air smelled of damp soil and night flowers.
The training area was simple—a flat patch of bare earth, a few old wooden practice dummies lined up against the fence, and some faint, dark burn marks on the ground from Jonathan's past fire spells.
Jonathan turned to face Aiden, his expression serious. "From now on," he said, "listen carefully to everything I say. Understood?"
"Yes, Dad," Aiden replied firmly.
Jonathan nodded and crossed his arms. He began to explain.
"For any new mana cultivator, the first step is to understand what *type* of mana your heart creates. The raw mana in the world is neutral. It has no element. Your Mana Heart transforms it. For example, my Mana Heart can turn neutral mana into both fire and water. Your mother's heart transforms it into healing mana and one other."
He paused, looking thoughtfully at Aiden. "As for you… When I saw you floating in the air earlier, I felt the presence of wind around you. So I believe that if you really have a Mana Heart, then it has an affinity for the wind element."
Aiden's eyes widened a little. "Wind element…" he repeated softly.
"You might have other elements, like your mother and me," Jonathan added. "But we don't have the tools to test for that right now. For tonight, we focus on wind."
He took a step closer, lowering his voice. "To convert your mana into wind, you must use the breathing technique while focusing on the air around you. Feel the wind—its direction, its gentle flow, its hidden strength."
"Once you can sense it clearly, imagine your mana flowing through your body like your own blood. Guide it down your arm to your hand using the breathing rhythm. When the mana gathers in your palm… push it outward. As it leaves your body, it should take the form of wind."
Aiden listened to every word, nodding with intense concentration. "I understand, Dad."
"Good." Jonathan took a few steps back and gestured to the open space in front of them. "Now, try it."
The night was still. Crickets chirped somewhere in the grass. Aiden closed his eyes. He took a deep, calming breath and began the familiar pattern: *five short breaths, three long breaths, five normal breaths.*
He focused.
He tried to feel the air.
At first, there was nothing—just the quiet of the night. But as he kept breathing and concentrating, he slowly began to notice it. The gentle brush of air against his skin. The invisible currents moving through the garden, stirring the leaves. He could even sense the subtle movement of air around his parents' still forms.
It was as if the wind itself was whispering to him, showing him its secrets.
Aiden's face tightened with focus. In his mind, he pictured the neutral mana inside him—a pale, glowing energy pulsing in time with his heartbeat. He imagined it moving, like blood pumped by his heart. He willed it to flow—down from his chest, through the pathways in his shoulder, down his arm.
And then, he felt it happen.
A soft, warm hum resonated deep in his chest. Mana surged from his heart, flowing smoothly and quickly through the newly formed veins. It rushed from his heart to his shoulder, then poured down his arm, filling his right hand with a comforting warmth and a sense of building power.
Aiden took one last, deep breath.
Then, as he exhaled sharply, he used the breathing technique to *push*.
The mana gathered in his palm burst outward.
A sharp, howling gust of wind tore from his hand. It shot across the garden like an invisible blade. It struck the wooden training dummy standing ten feet away.
***CRACK!***
The sound was loud in the quiet night. The dummy split cleanly in half. The top part flew backward through the air and smashed against the wooden fence with a heavy *thud*.
Then, silence.
Aiden stood perfectly still, his hand still stretched out in front of him. The breeze from his own spell ruffled his black hair. He stared at the destroyed dummy, his mind blank with shock.
He had done it.
He had conjured wind.
He was a mana cultivator.
Jonathan's eyes were wide, disbelief plain on his usually composed face. Sara's hand flew to cover her mouth. Her eyes were trembling as she stared at her son—the little boy who had just done the impossible.
Their seven-year-old son had formed a Mana Heart. He had become the youngest mana cultivator in all of recorded history.
But what shocked them even more than that was what they *couldn't* see or sense.
Aiden's Mana Heart.
Sara, a Stage Four cultivator, an expert in healing and body analysis, had examined him twice. She had found nothing. No core. No heart. It was completely invisible to her senses.
Jonathan's mind raced with terrifying questions. *What kind of Mana Heart is undetectable to a high-level mage? How is that even possible?*
The quiet night wrapped around them once more. Under the cold light of the moon, Jonathan and Sara exchanged a single, long look—a look filled with awe, pride, and a deep, unsettling fear. They both understood in that moment that their son was not just unique.
He was something the world had never seen before.
Author's Note: Which scene did you like the most, and who is your favorite character. Tell me in the comments.