12 (12) Mana reserve

In no time the whole mansion entered a session of uproar. 

It was common knowledge that awakening mana after turning five years old meant he or she held enough potential to be called a monster. 

Nicokel who awakened at the age of 12, stood in a whole league of his own. There has never been a record of someone awakening their mana so late. Because of this, many were doubtful of the validity of such a claim. 

The one who was the most shocked about Nicokel's sudden awakening was Trenae. She was left dumbfounded in her position like a statue. Her hand shook a little before she retained her calm. 

"Mother?" Gelen walked up to Trenae, seeing her staring blankly at the servant. 

Trenae glanced at Gelen before addressing the servant to repeat what she said. 

"This morning, while young master Nicokel sparred with the apprentice knight as usual. He awakened his mana, most likely due to the stimulus he experienced while sparring." The servant kept her head down while speaking. 

Gelen's expression immediately turned to that of surprise, similar to Trenae. 

Sending away the servant, Trenae turned to Gelen with leisure. "It doesn't change anything even if he has awakened. He is already out of the race, he can never catch up to the other heirs." 

Hearing Trenae's cold words, Gelen's eyes gleamed with a flash of light, erasing any sort of envy rising within him.

Trenae continued speaking: "Still, you haven't sparred with him for a while now, yes? Your father, Duke Verskein will arrive in two weeks, so it's a very good time for an official challenge."

Gelen smiled almost instantly, he nodded his head deeply. 

"Understood. I will petition for an official challenge to be set at an appropriate time." Gelen caught on immediately and replied. 

Both the son and mother duo smiled insidiously. 

"I heard that he awakened some talent too, but I think it's most likely a lie. There's no way he is lucky enough to get a talent along with such a mana reserve..." 

.....

Nicokel returned to his room, eating breakfast vigorously. 

Just after the sparring was stopped, the knight captain spoke with vigour like never before. As it turned out, he discovered Nicokel's talent's existence, though not its applications. 

Unknowingly, Nicokel's eyes had turned amber in color, shining with a glistening light. It had reverted to normal, but the knight captain had discovered it almost immediately.

'For my talent to have such an ability...I can actually use mana to activate it. Not only does it temporarily boost my vision to an unbelievable level, but I can also understand things at lightning speed...' 

Not only that, Nicokel could feel and see the mana in the surroundings now. It was a normal phenomenon for all who awakened their mana. The mana flow of the world was something no one could understand...or at least it was supposed to be. 

The moment Nicokel willed it, his talent of understanding activated, his eyes shining like amber. The mana flow that was incomprehensible a second ago, appeared different. 

"Ugh!" Nicokel held his head, both due to mana exhaustion and the mysterious knowledge flowing through his head. 

Nicokel could understand the natural flow of mana like this. Though what he understood was a very small portion, comparable to a drop of water in the ocean. 

Having exhausted his mana, Nicokel felt a throbbing pain in his temple. His mana reserves were similar to an ant poop. Just using his talent for two seconds was enough to exhaust it. 

 'I need to first raise my mana reserve quickly...' Nicokel remembered his conversation with the knight captain-

"How can I increase my mana reserves?"

That was the first thing Nicokel asked the knight captain after calming down. 

The knight captain happily explained: "Mana reserves can be increased very easily truthfully. However, it does depend on the individual potential to how much mana will awaken at a time. With a young master's potential, it should be very easy." 

"First, stimulating the mana by emptying all of your mana is the easiest. But doing so would cause a nasty headache for a while." 

Nicokel nodded his head in reply. 

"Mana reserve can be increased by training with swords while using mana too. It takes a while to get used to controlling mana, so it would be hard in the beginning, Young Master Nicokel." 

"As for other methods, meditating is the best. After awakening mana, everyone can feel their potential mana deep within them. It's possible to awaken a little at a time by meditating, actually, everyone does it every day." 

Recollecting the conversation, Nicokel sat crossed leg on the bed and breathed out relaxedly.

Inhale-exhale. 

Continuing the process for a while, Nicokel brought all his gathered concentration upon his body. His senses traveled deep within him, going past his flesh and bone, looking for something even deeper. 

"Ah...." 

Nicokel found it, he couldn't tell what it was, but his instinct told him that what he was feeling was his potential. 

"...."

It was a colossal being, Nicokel couldn't even tell its limit or anything. All he knew was that such an existence was asleep deep within him. 

'So that's my mana potential...?' Nicokel focused, ignoring the headache due to mana exhaustion. His heartbeat with mesmerization. 

Nicokel tried to force his hidden potential to awaken, but it didn't even budge in the slightest. Without getting unmotivated, he continued trying with a persistent mindset. Only after trying for half an hour did a change occur. 

Nicokel could feel his mana reserve increase by a level. He continued trying to force more of his mana to awaken, but no result appeared after an hour. 

'I guess I have reached the limit for today...' Nicokel smacked his lips in dissatisfaction and got up. 

"Oh..." 

Nicokel felt that he had already recovered the mana he used up, in the past one and a half hours. He activated his talent again and began looking at the mana in the air. 

'Ah, but still....even if my mana reserve increased, I think it would take 20 or so years to fully unravel the world's mana flow. Why the hell is it so complicated?' Nicokel deduced with disappointment in his eyes.