Chapter 3 Rebirth [3] - Core Awakening

After the realization that something like magic existed in the world he was in, Seth became a little bit of a maniac.

The moment he woke up the next day, he went straight to his mother, and through a series of manipulation, crying, and screaming, she eventually relented and read him a book or two.

Seth understood the power behind a baby's cry, which was one of the main reasons he hated children in his past life.

Whenever his mother got tired from reading to him, he simply went to his other parent or even to his grandmother.

He spent every hour of every day learning new words. While the books helped him, the child's ability to ask thousands of questions without any repercussions also worked in his favor.

Of course, since he couldn't speak, the only thing he could do was point at things and say "Gaga!" until one of his parents understood what he was asking of them.

Of course, he was just a baby so it was a little weird to see him so curious at such a young age, but they played along with him despite fully expecting him not to remember any of what they taught him.

It was the main reason he was able grasp the basics of the language in less than a month. His understanding of it was much better than his reading and speaking, but in the end, it worked out in his favor.

And once he learned how to read at least at a basic level, he crawled toward the basement without anyone looking and went down the enormous-looking stairs one by one.

When he was finally at the bottom of the basement, he crawled around for half an hour, trying to find the book Rhea had discussed.

Luck was on his side, as he quickly found it conveniently laid within one of the smaller cupboards alongside another book with the words "Spellbook" written on it.

He pulled on it with all his might and finally freed it from the persistent grip of the books around it.

Laying it on the floor, he opened the book past the index page and to the first chapter.

The book was called:

'Magic 101- Basics Of Magic.'

The moment Seth began reading the book's contents, he couldn't stop. It reminded him of the first time he read a book in his past life. He was so entranced by what he saw that he simply found himself unable to stop.

When he finally snapped out of it, he felt a warm hand touch his shoulder, causing him to jolt slightly as he looked to his side.

There lay his mother, watching him with a curious yet loving smile.

"You know, whenever I look into your eyes, I don't see the eyes of a child or baby. It's weird, right?" She spoke, making Seth's heart drop.

'Was I too obvious? Sh*t! I knew I shouldn't have crawled this early.' Seth cursed.

"You really do have your grandfather's eyes... I just wish he was here to see you. Maybe you're his reincarnation." She chuckled before taking Seth into her arms.

'Heh...If you only knew how right you were about the reincarnation thing. I might not be him, but at least you got yourself a smart baby!' Seth thought while puffing his chest out with pride to the best of his ability, before pointing at the book on the floor.

"Gaga..."

"You want this book?"

"Ga!"

"Alright, alright. Don't throw a fit, okay?" She sighed while leaning down and grabbing the book.

In reality, she wouldn't have minded if Seth had thrown a fit every now and then. Parenting was so easy with him that it made Rhea miss Syra's attitude when she was a baby.

Rhea could count the number of times Seth cried since his birth on one hand. However, at the same time, she knew that getting on his good side was the best-case scenario.

She remembered what happened the last time she refused to read to him. He cried nonstop for so many hours that her mother, Keira, was the first one to break and finally followed his instructions that were given to her in a long and tiring form of miming and pointing.

'The the power of a baby's cry.' Seth grinned while looking at his mother who did exactly what he asked of her.

Seth spent the rest of dinner contemplating his newfound knowledge, and once his family finished eating, Seth found himself in the cradle next to his parent's bed, where they slept peacefully, cuddling with one another and breathing in sync.

Watching them felt like he was invading their privacy, so he simply turned around on his cradle and rested his back toward them and onto the wooden beams that kept him in it.

Crossing his legs to the best of his ability, Seth closed his eyes and took deep breaths.

From what he understood from the book, magic was a complex form of energy manipulation. The energy the people of this world manipulated was called 'mana.' Everyone had mana; it depended on whether one could manipulate it or even use it through the intermediary that was their mana core.

While mana itself was a strong form of energy, it could be broken down into four main schools, better known as affinities.

Fire, water, air, and earth.

To understand magic and its workings, one had to understand the fundamentals of what the humans of this world referred to as 'mana cores.' From what Seth understood, they were essentially organs allowing the user to absorb, process, and spew mana out of their bodies.

He saw something about a mana core having different levels that would affect a person's mana pool and ability to conjure spells, but that was the least of his problems for now.

While everyone had a mana core to a certain extent, the difference between a mage and a normal human was whether their mana cores were awakened or not.

An awakened mana core would allow someone to spew out mana to create magic circles and cast spells, while those who did not get the chance to awaken remained human and were forced to take another path in life.

Due to his beginner-level reading ability, Seth only got to page three and had no information on how to awaken his core. However, from what he had read so far, he knew that cultivating a mana core was a simple process of expelling impurities from the core over and over until it gets stronger...

So why not do that to awaken?

What he didn't know was that no child below the age of 6 should be capable of awakening their mana core, simply because their mana channels were not ready yet.

Awakening before the age of 6 could be detrimental to a person's talent in their later years, and could even cripple them for life. However, there were some children who would turn into monsters, mutating into something inhuman a few years after their initial awakening.

Seth was about to give up on awakening since he couldn't find the 'mana channels' the book was talking about, but just as he was going to give up, an emerald green light appeared around him.

He would have usually freaked out, but when the emerald energy appeared out of thin air, a wave of calmness kept him steady, while his trust for this mysterious energy had never been stronger.

Of course, the reason for that was simple. This energy wasn't mysterious to him at all.

Seth watched calmly as the energy forced through his fingers, toes, mouth, and nose. It was almost as if the green energy was illuminating a path for him...

He could feel the energy course through his body in a manner that was akin to the feeling of cold water traveling down his throat after being particularly thirsty for an extended portion of time. He was being filled with so much vigor that he almost felt like his muscles were screaming for him to energize himself or work out.

Instinctually, he took a long and steady deep breath.

Once the energy had reached his solar plexus, he instinctually held his breath, allowing the energy to begin revolving within his mana core in a circular pattern. The energy revolved counterclockwise, and after a few more seconds of spinning within Seth's core, it finally dispelled itself through a second set of mana channels while the air in Seth's lungs left through his mouth at the same rate.

Yet, this green energy was not a cultivation technique. Hell, it didn't even do anything to his core, yet despite that, its job had been more important than all of that combined.

The green energy was not only creating a passage similar to that of mana channels, but it was a guide that allowed him to grasp the art of cultivation, and so he did exactly that.

He remembered everything and etched it into his memories. The feeling of energy entering his body and coursing through it to reach his core as if he wasn't there.

Seth took another deep breath, but instead of green energy entering his body, a pristine, almost crystalline milky white energy that refracted light itself entered his body through all the same places as the green energy before coursing toward his mana core and entering it.

At this point, Seth had begun holding his breath while the mana circulated within his core in a counterclockwise rotation before he finally let go of the energy, allowing it to leave his body through the second set of mana channels at the same speed as his exhale.

'This feeling... It's exhilarating. I feel so alive!' Seth thought with a widening smile.

His heart was beating faster than ever, while his breathing had increased dramatically too.

And that's when it happened.

A sudden gust of mana shot out of his body and in every direction. It wasn't strong enough to awaken Seth's parents, but it was enough to trigger a phenomenon inside his body.

Slowly, his mana core churned and shone brightly while a black substance oozed out of his pores. There wasn't much of it, but the smell still wafted into his nose, making him scrunch it up while looking at the thing that was forming before him.

*BZzzz*

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Name: Seth Evergreen

Age: 3 Months

Race: Reincarnated Lesser Human

Core: Dull-Onyx

Affinities: Mana (Earth, Fire, Water, Air), Life Equation

Bloodlines: None

Blessing: Evolution - (Your body, mind, and soul have been sculpted to transform you into the peak life form. Everything you do, and everything that is done to you, shall affect how you evolve.

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'Wait... Did I just awaken?' Seth thought as the feeling of pure energy coursed through his body, making him more alive than he had ever felt before.