After breakfast, I continued training with my brothers and had a short solo session after dinner.

  "To reach the top, where only a few chosen ones can stand…" —it still sounds crazy in my head, but I trust my family’s judgment, and I want to become strong. If I can become terrifying enough to intimidate anyone from ever touching the people I love, I’ll be satisfied.

  “Tomorrow they’ll explain the ceremony to awaken magic,” I kept pressing for information during today’s earlier conversation, but they didn’t want to give me any clues. It’s time to sleep—tomorrow I’ll know everything.

  We finished breakfast peacefully and headed to the ceremonial temple, which is quite close to our estate—specifically next to it—guarded by some people hired by my family.

  My grandmother and my parents were gathered around the altar, while my siblings sat in chairs nearby, watching us. My grandmother would be leading the ceremony, with my parents assisting.

  “As you already know, Maki, the pillars are formed from your willpower and create a cube. This cube also works as a mana container.”

  “When the ceremony begins, your mind will be transported inside your consciousness, where you’ll have to personally carry out the transfer of mana into yourself.”

  “I have to transfer the mana myself?” I felt confused. How am I supposed to move something inside me while I’m inside my own mind?

  “You can understand it better with this analogy: Imagine a river. All rivers eventually flow into the ocean. In your case, your mind should create that river and direct the current into your cube—which will act as the sea. Does that make sense?”

  “Yes, I understand the analogy.” It’s easy to understand the words… what worries me is the execution.

  “Smart boy. Don’t worry if you can’t do it right away. Once you’re inside your consciousness, it will guide you—you’ll instinctively know the method.”

  “You’ll have a limited amount of time—it varies from person to person, but I can estimate around five minutes for you.” My grandmother stared at me without blinking. I could tell she was trying to read my thoughts from my expressions.

  “The base amount of magic will depend on you. As you level up in the future, it will grow exponentially. It’s up to you to build a solid base with a lot of mana, or to remain average.”

  So… I just need to pour in as much as I can into the cube…

  “Sounds simple, right? In words, it is. In practice… not so much. Your mind will know how to do it—the only problem is the mana. The more you try to draw, the more intense the current becomes. Whether you can control it depends on your talent, kid.”

  They sat me down in a chair, placed two bracelets on my arms, and had me dip my hands into two water basins. Everything around me was pure white—it looked so immaculate it made me feel clean just looking at it.

  “These bracelets absorb and store mana, keeping it until the ceremony. The water acts as a connector between the bracelets and the mana stones, which are placed below to activate the mechanism.” Each of my parents inserted a stone.

  “It’ll take about thirty seconds to start—get ready, little one.”

  Each family member wished me luck. They were all expectant, watching closely.

  “I’ll do my best—thank you for your good wishes.”

  Then I started to feel my mind darken… and I appeared in a white space.

  I saw eight enormous circles on one wall. On the front wall were blank white lines. The walls to the sides were entirely white—showing nothing, yet my mind knew they had a function. Perhaps they’re meant for the future.

  I looked around the space until I felt a powerful current outside the walls.

  As my grandmother said, my mind knew how to move mana into my cube. Strangely, I could "see" the cube without actually seeing it.

  I didn’t know where it was, but I could feel it, and I saw it slowly filling. I had to concentrate fully to make that river wider and smoother.

  My focus sharpened. I threw myself into the task of filling the cube. They hadn’t given me any tips—every individual’s process is different. Their advice could’ve backfired.

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  A flood of ideas came to mind. I decided to try every method I could imagine.

  Trying to expand the river didn’t help much. It just made it wider, not more voluminous. The mana flow didn’t increase—just the space around it.

  I tried opening a second river in my mind. After some pressure, it worked—I felt more mana coming in, but it was still insignificant.

  This damn gas won’t flow faster or increase in volume…

  Gas? Wait—if it’s a river, shouldn’t it be water?

  In my old world, I learned about this. To turn gas into liquid, I need to cool it down—condense it.

  Miraculously, it worked. I felt the mana turning from gas into liquid. The only issue was the heat—my body was getting hotter.

  Once one river fully liquified, I worked on the second. The pressure of heat from two rivers made me dizzy. I tried to get used to the dizziness—but it was impossible.

  “My focus is nearly maxed out. A third river is out of the question…”

  “No—I can’t give up. I have to try something else… but what?”

  I racked my brain. Only two ideas seemed remotely sane: merge both rivers… or turn them solid.

  I started with merging. The process was agonizing—it tortured my brain. But eventually, I managed to do it… somehow.

  I could feel it clearly. If I “fainted” here, I’d be pulled out and stuck with whatever mana I had gathered. I could also feel time running out. I had to hold on until the last moment.

  My condition worsened by the second. My eyes were heavy, my body burning and weak—but my willpower held me together.

  Not much time left. I had to increase the flow as much as I could. Even if I fainted, only a little time remained. I pushed to cram in as much as possible.

  It was like a hammer pounding my skull as I tried to increase the flow. My mind wavered between pushing further and ending the suffering. I managed to raise the flow by 10% for a few more seconds and—miraculously—I held on until the final second.

  Then my consciousness wavered… and I was pulled from that world.

  My eyes slowly opened—I saw my family waiting in front of me. My body was exhausted and weak. I could feel my mind teetering between staying awake and falling asleep.

  But the most important part: I could feel the mana. Not just in my body and cube, but in the environment around me. It couldn’t be clearly seen or felt—yet I knew it was always there.

  My exhaustion finally overpowered my will, and I drifted into sleep.

  When I woke up, I was no longer at the ceremony site. I was in my room, in bed.

  “How long did I sleep?” I looked out the window—it was still daytime. Checked the clock—4 PM. “I slept just under six hours…”

  My curiosity about mana is overwhelming, but I need to stay put for now. I got up and went looking for my family—first to my father’s office. He immediately called an attendant when he saw me.

  My whole family was gathered in under ten minutes, and we finally talked about what happened.

  “Son, you fainted right as the ceremony ended. That’s common for some children,” my mother spoke first. “How do you feel? You can now use willpower and mana—the world is just beginning for you.”

  “My boy, my champion,” my father beamed. “You absorbed mana like a vortex—it’s nearly impossible for us to know how much is inside you. But everyone in this room agrees on one thing—you have much more than the average child.”

  “Little one,” my grandmother added, “based on my experience and my sensitivity to mana, I’d say you have about 40% to 50% more than normal. Be proud—only truly talented mages get results like that.”

  “Maki, I’m considered a talented mage in the Marquis’s territory, and I only had a 20% boost. You’re skilled with weapons and magic. I’m happy for you.” Ritmo always speaks calmly and slowly—it makes him sound wiser.

  “You don’t look surprised, Sers,” I said. He was the only one smiling calmly at me.

  “Me? I expected this all along. I’ve always believed in you, Maki. If you’d gotten less, that would’ve disappointed me.”

  Sers—so confident and cheerful. I’ll never stop saying this: I love my family. I’m happy I’ve accepted this body, and now I have the tools to protect them. I just need to polish those tools into powerful swords.

  My grandmother cleared her throat to get our attention.

  “Now for the important part. Did you see the four walls?”

  “Yes. One had eight circles, another had blank lines, and the other two were completely empty.”

  “Yes. The blank white walls will have functions in the future. Don’t worry about them now—even if I tried to explain, you wouldn’t understand. This world has rules that forbid certain topics—your ears literally won’t hear the words. You’ll just hear… blank.”

  I didn’t fully understand that, but I trust her. I’ll just move forward until the time comes.

  “The wall with the blank lines is for Laws. There are endless Laws, which we’ll explain in the future. For now, it’s impossible to acquire one. You’d need to understand a subject at a deep level and be strong enough to bear it.”

  “The last thing—and most important—each circle is a slot for a skill.”

  Only eight skill slots? I don’t know if that’s a lot or not. But my grandmother must’ve read my face, because she didn’t let me ask.

  “For some, eight is a lot. For others, not enough. Don’t worry about it—you’ll gain more slots by ranking up and through other means. Skills are ranked: White, Yellow, Orange, Red, and Purple. White is the most basic—Purple is the peak.”

  “Skills improve the more you train or modify them to your liking. Everyone starts at the same place, but no one ends the same.” Her pauses made me nervous.

  “You’re probably wondering: how do you acquire skills?”

  “Yes—I really want to know!” My curiosity bubbled in my stomach.

  My grandmother tapped her head and smiled playfully. “You should have received system notifications in your mind when you woke up after the ritual. The problem is—you fainted. Don’t panic. Just focus, and you’ll be able to see them again.”

  I started to panic at her words—but quickly calmed down. I closed my eyes. I just had to search inside my mind… and there they were.

  “If you’ve seen them, read them out loud for us.”

  I opened my eyes because I realized something—the notifications weren’t messages, they were more like… information etched into my mind.

  “I’ll begin reading them.”