"Happy birthday!"
Clap clap
A loud applause greeted Alan the moment he stepped through the door.
"Happy 7th Birthday!" Miya said with a grin. "I got you a present."
Alan's face immediately lit up, and for a good reason his previous birthday he never recieved present before, his mother had lived in a constant state of paranoia, terrified of the scorn and whispers that she might go through.
So every birthday, Alan got a handmade cake from his mother, but he never once complained.
"Really!"
"Yes, yes, come here."
But now it seems his mother has finally overcome her fear.
Likely due to Alan's recent course of action over the past two years.
As you might have guessed, the two years were spent absolutely terrorising anyone who talked bad about his mother.
If they called him a bastard he didn't mind because he is one, but the moment his mother is insulted, someone gets knocked unconscious.
Alan and Miya lived in an annex behind the main building of the estate, as such there was already a low amount of servants attending there.
His reputation as a young lunatic had cleared the halls of the annex, leaving them in a peaceful, silence.
Well not that it matters to Alan, his mother's been smiling a lot more frequently recently and even got the courage to leave for the shops in order to get him a gift he couldn't be happier, if his mother is happy then so is he.
Miya produced a small wooden case and clicked it open.
"Wow!"
Inside lay a necklace, a simple, pure black cord holding a polished amethyst gem that match his eyes.
Do you like it…?" Miya asked, her voice trailed off in a hesitant whisper.
Alan didn't say a word. He took the necklace, slipped it over his head, and let the amethyst rest against his chest.
Then he flashed her a bright smile.
In turn of that smile, Miya pulled him into a tight hug without saying much more.
"I love it!"
"I'm glad you do…"
***
Alan didn't spend the last two years only brawling with servants, he spent time trying to find ways to absorb and control mana.
A week ago, he had used his past-life skills as a special agent to "borrow" a manual from the archives of the Zevril Knight Order.
It seems his experience as a special agent really comes in handy.
For the past week, Alan trained from the manual he stole.
Then finally.
[Skill unlocked: Mana breath]
Got his rewards.
Alan smirked as he looked his status.
____________________________
[Name: Alan Zevril]
[Titles: —]
[age: 5]
[core rank: (Unawakened) ]
[Affinity: —]
[Soul weapon: —]
[Soul armour: —]
[Innate skill: Instinct, Intuition]
[Skills: Mana breath]
[Mastery: —]
____________________________
Now sitting on the grass inside the outdoor garden, Alan crossed his legs and activated his new skill.
Whoosh
Immediately he felt the difference, if before he could somehow perceive the mana surround him through pure instincts, he could now feel it directly.
It was a sea of invisible, alien particles vibrating with a strange energy hard to even describe.
Every breath he took, mana entered through his nose and mouth, dispersing inside his body.
Through his blood vessels, the invisible particles only he felt, slowly blended in with the flowing blood across his body.
He felt every muscle fibre in his body becoming relaxed yet strangely more strong, he could feel just the simple action of mana dispersing into his blood system was strengthening him.
'But it's not mine.'
Every mana particle he accepted into his body did not belong to him, it was just raw mana from the surroundings.
As such, the mana isn't acting on his command, nor can he control the mana.
To control and produce mana, you need a mana core.
A mana core contains mana that is special only to the person.
With a mana core, you can control mana both externally and internally, while also constantly producing mana from your core.
'So I'll just make a core.'
The book Alan stole has the basics about mana and mana cores, which was how he understood all of this knowledge.
A mana core was located deep inside the heart, essentially acting as a secondary heart which pulses and produces individually special mana.
A core also holds all the mana that the body can handle, so the stronger the core, the more mana one has and more it pulses within the body.
And so, understanding this, Alan closed his eyes and concentrated, until all the surroundings became silent to him.
Within the darkness, he finally saw something, a dull, lifeless gray orb floating aimlessly.
He already realised that was his core.
Without much hesitation, he followed his raw instincts and forced his blood to flow into his heart.
Thump Thump
With each beat of his heart, the blended mana within his blood entered the core, although an extremely tiny amount.
Still, he continued to pressure more blood into his heart.
Thump Thump Thump
He hammered his heartbeat against the gray orb, funneling the raw mana from his blood into the core.
His heart began to race at a pace that would have killed a normal child, from outside the sound his heartbeat echoed like drums.
Still, he forced more pressure.
Slowly his core started lighting up, from gray to lighter gray to finally white.
But, this wasn't the end, a developed mana core has a distinctive colour that belongs to the owner.
And so he forced even more pressure.
Sweat poured out of his face and body, pouring down his chin and hands like a faucet.
Crack
Finally, with a sound of something breaking, his core began changing.
The outer shell shattered like shedding skin, and from the shattered shell, beneath laid a colour so beautiful it made Alan catch his breath for a moment.
It was a brilliant amethyst sea, swirled with sparks of gold, crimson, and deep azure that mixed in the depths of the violet sea.
Pulse
The core vibrated, then again, then again before settling into a calm rhythmic beats identical to a heartbeat.
With every pulse, particles of violet mana pushed through his body and blood vessels.
"Haah!" Alan shot out with a loud gasp before panting heavily, he didn't even realise he was holding his breath.
Every breath he took, he inhaled the invisible particles of the surround mana into his body.
Yet unlike before where the particles blended into his body, the mana traversed directly into his heart and into his mana core, accelerating his mana production.
"Heh... hehe...hahaha!" Alan couldn't hold the joy he was feeling right now.
Bright violet mana belonging only to him flowed inside his blood vessels, strengthening everything in his body.
Muscles, bones, organs, everything was changing, unlike before where he felt an increase in vitality now he felt omnipotence unlike ever before.
As he was feeling elated.
[Core rank awakened]
[Core rank: 1 (Awakened)]
[Affinity Awakened: Ethereal Ember]
'Ethereal Ember?' just as he thought to himself.
[Ethereal Ember: Flames that defy the laws of nature, scorching or freezing, comforting or chilling, a formless flame that obeys no rules but yours.]
"What the fuck?" A grin spread across his face.
Alan raised his right hand, through his blood vessels violet mana travelled to his palm.
The mana effected the natural mana around his arms, turning it into his own before suddenly igniting into a small blaze of orange fire.
The heat of the flame wasn't anything amazing, just an average fire.
Then he raised his left palm, as the same sequence of actions repeated, a new blaze appeared in his left palm.
But this one was a pale blue, extremely light, it radiated chilly air around his left hand.
Alan felt as if this wasn't everything and so following purely his instinct he drove more mana into the orange flame.
The orange flame burnt red, then blazed into a dark blue.
The surrounding quickly became horribly hot, the grass below Alan curled and blackened to ash, yet the flames didn't affect him, well of course not the flames was a part of him.
'A bit more...'
He poured even more mana into the small blaze of cerulean flames.
Then for a moment he saw it.
A spark of violet in the blazing blue flames.
Then he collapsed face first.
'Mana exhaustion?'
Just producing that much power cost him this much?
'The cost is insane, but the potential...'
His affinity to flames were certainly something insane but came with an equalising exchange for its power.
Still, he didn't feel bad.
For a moment he saw it, a violet spark in the flames, if he is stronger he can create a flame of entirely different level.
And he could go even further, he felt it by his instincts.
And he didn't even experiment with the cold flames of his.
'Just how much can I go?'
Obviously he didn't know, in fact he just stepped into the realm of the inhuman.
His first step, and his goal?
It was simple yet arrogant, to be strong, so strong that no one could order him to do anything, not the grand duke nor the emperor.
Even during his days as Leon, he always wanted to be the strongest, just so no one could tell him what to do.
He never once bowed his head to anyone no matter how much stronger they were, he only aimed to beat them.
This life? Absolutely no different.
"Though it sucks I never got to read the novel properly..."
As he was idly thinking, a familiar voice called for him.
"ALAN!"
The panicked scream of his mother broke through his daze, Miya came running, her eyes filling with tears as she saw her son lying in the middle of a scorched circle of earth.
"Alan! What happened? Are you hurt?"
Her mind was already thinking of the worst possible case, was he attacked? But before she could say anything Alan looked up at her.
"..."
With a bright childish smile.
"Mom!"
Hearing his ecstatic voice and seeing his smile helped her calm down.
"Alan... What happened?"
Instead of replying, Alan raised his right palm and mana started flowing once more.
Soon flames ignited, but instead of a simple ball of fire, Alan created a vortex of different colours and temperature.
A swirl of multi-colored flames, orange, pale blue, and crimson danced in a beautiful, harmless vortex above his skin.
His mother's eyes widened and stayed like that, she couldn't even utter a response.
Being awakened was actually viewed as quite rare but nothing insane, in fact every member of the Zevril knight order was awakened, even the young recruits.
In the noble's world, everyone was practically awakened.
But for Miya who was just a ordinary commoner durring the past seven years the thought of her son being awakened didn't even cross her mind.
Then she remember just whose bloodline is flowing through his body, the blood line of one of the empires greatest clan.
Soon she approached her son, the very same child she carried in her arms just a few years ago already reaching a level she could never hope to.
Quietly she pulled him into her embrace with tears falling from her face.
"I am so proud of you..."
"Mhm!" Alan smiled and returned the hug.
"I will become the strongest!"
"Yes, yes."
"I'll make the emperoar kneel before me!"
"Mhm."
"I'll even make the head of Zevril clan roll on the ground!"
"Hehe..."
Miya let out a soft giggle and continued embracing the only one who truly loved her.