Chapter 3 : Olivia

As he slowly opened his eyes, Julius felt the sting of the sun on his skin. His first sensation upon waking was the soreness and fever engulfing him; he sprawled completely across the immense four-poster bed, taking up as much space as possible.

'I had completely forgotten how tough the first few days after opening the circuit could be,' thought Julius as he struggled to sit up.

It had been so long since he opened his magical circuit that he had entirely forgotten its effects. Indeed, upon their opening, it was common for the person involved to experience fever and numbness in their limbs for several days; the more powerful the circuit, the more intense these sensations were initially.

As he sat up, he noticed something that brought a smile to his face—lying in his bed was a little girl with long blond hair, sound asleep. He knew her well; she was Olivia Mira Armstrong, both his future bodyguard, childhood friend, and one of his many romantic conquests.

Although the Armstrong family was considered a vassal family of the Eltram family, they were not looked down upon despite not being a family of mages. On the contrary, they were highly respected as a family of martial artists and had been a long-standing partner of the Eltram family.

It was quite common for martial artist families to align themselves with mage families. In exchange for their vassalage, they gained benefits such as special elixirs and various body enhancements aimed at permanently strengthening their physique. In return, they had to pledge allegiance and become a part of the military power of the family.

Having a family of martial artists on their side was a definite advantage in case of conflict. Even without magical circuits, they were capable of superhuman feats due to their ability to perform physical enchantments far superior to what a mage could achieve.

This was precisely because they did not possess a magical circuit to actualize their mysteries, so they relied on something else to achieve this.

To do so, they relied on two things: superhuman training from a young age, a natural talent that usually translated into a unique physical constitution, and most importantly, their secret martial techniques.

Just like mage families have their secret and unique magic, martial artist families have their own secret methods of breathing and movement that couldn't simply be replicated by observation.

As Julius gently ran his hand through Olivia's hair, he noticed a slight movement beside him, her eyelids fluttering slightly, a sign that she was waking up.

As she was about to wake up, Julius's mischievousness got the better of him. He quickly slid right next to her, very close, just a few centimeters away, opening his eyes as wide as possible, to the point where the blood vessels in his eyes were red and perfectly visible.

Olivia opened her eyes and saw Julius's face way too close to hers, displaying that terrifying expression he always put on whenever she least expected it, solely to tease her.

"Kyaaa!" she exclaimed, trying to move away from Julius but ending up falling off the bed, much to the young mage's amusement.

"What possessed you to do that right after waking up?" she asked as she got up.

"It's more like I should be asking what you were doing in my bed," Julius retorted playfully.

Realizing this, Olivia blushed, remembering that she had fallen asleep there the night before.

"It's your fault for sleeping for days on end. I was really worried," Olivia replied shyly, avoiding Julius's gaze by looking away.

To this response, Julius was surprised for two reasons...

Firstly, Julius wasn't aware he had slept for two days, though it wasn't uncommon, so he shrugged it off. Secondly, Olivia looked very cute when she behaved like that. Usually, she acted like a tsundere, but this time, she had been honest with herself, even if she remained shy.

He let out a light chuckle before responding, 'You know, you could've just asked my mom what was going on.'

At this response, her blushing became more pronounced, but soon, it turned into a quizzical expression as she looked at Julius insistently.

Not knowing why her expression had changed, Julius questioned her, 'Is there something on my face that you're staring at?'

Hesitant, Olivia asked her question, 'Why did your eyes color change ?3

Following that, Olivia went to inform Julius's mother. She took a few minutes to return, accompanied by Felicia.

The latter examined Julius to confirm her thoughts, then stepped back with slightly trembling hands and tears in her eyes. "What happened for our family to be blessed with such a genius?"

Julius quickly stood up to join his mother. Even though he already understood why she reacted that way, he had to play his role until the end. "What's happening, Mother?"

Approaching him, she embraced her son. "Don't worry, my dear, these are tears of joy."

While Felicia held her son tightly, an innocent voice interrupted them. "What's happening to him?" asked Olivia innocently.

Felicia wiped the tears streaming down her face, then sat on the bed, holding her son in her arms. "Julius, you possess what we call Mystic Eyes."

Felicia paused, contemplating how to explain, then finally began, "If I were to simplify it, this is the oldest form of magic used by humans. It allows interference with the external world solely through sight. This ability can result from a sudden mutation of the magical circuit in the eye region, be inherited, or even transplanted. Yours seem to be inherited as they share the same rank as those in the family. They might be the Mystic Eyes of Analysis from the Faust lineage."

She hugged her son tighter. "The possession of these eyes generally signifies a first-rate Mage if they are properly mastered, granting immense power while being easy to use."

"They are classified as such:"

"Orange, Violet, Green: Common Red, Blue, Yellow: Rare Gold: Very Rare Gem: Extremely Rare Rainbow: Purely Theoretical

"And what you possess are of Gold Rank, which is considered exceptionally rare."

After his mother's brief explanation about the Mystic Eyes, Olivia and Felicia eventually left, allowing Julius to rest.

He sighed deeply before sprawling on his bed. He then raised his hand and uttered the aria "Ignite." As he pronounced these words, he felt warmth rising within his body as his magical circuit fully opened.

A faint smile appeared on his face as the familiar sensation coursed through his body. "I feel alive again."

"I think I'll have to get used to the sensation of opening my circuits again." Initially, even after the first opening of their circuits, magi often experience numbness and soreness throughout their bodies due to lack of adaptation. Opening and closing them repeatedly helps the body adjust over time.

After several openings and closings, Julius decided to stop, as rushing would only cause injuries. Instead, he grabbed the candle on his bedside table. Knowing his circuit wasn't yet trained, it was better to follow the exercises usually taught to children to learn circuit usage.

One of the most common exercises was reinforcement application, a basic yet widely used spell. It simply involved infusing magical energy into an object to enhance its structure, filling its faults with that energy, and then solidifying it by connecting with the world. It was quite simple in theory, but in practice, any slight mismanagement could turn magical energy into poison for the object.

Julius took a deep breath and focused seriously. Before even starting to reinforce something, he needed to identify what he wanted to strengthen; in his case, it was the candle, more specifically the wick.

The second step involved channeling magical energy into the object to understand its structure. When he did that, Julius was able to visualize and understand both the structure and the flaws of the object.

Once done, the third step involved guiding his magical energy towards the object using his magical circuit. This was straightforward for any mage, coming naturally and instinctively, as natural as breathing. He guided all the magical energy he could into the candle's wick, being careful not to extinguish it. With his experience, even without practice, he avoided the usual mistakes beginners made, which was a weight off his shoulders. He completed this step calmly.

Now, he reached the fourth step, the hardest, which required not experience but practice. Since reinforcement was a basic, unranked spell, it required simple aria. Naturally, Julius knew the one that was most effective for him: "strengthening." With this simple word, Julius's circuits connected to the world, and the phenomenon began to materialize. Magical energy began to crystallize, filling in the flaws of the candle's wick. However, just as it was about to finish, the candle broke in his hand.

Faced with this result, Julius sighed lightly. No mage succeeded in casting a spell on their first try; it was impossible. Mastery of a spell required practice. Until his circuit was trained, he wouldn't succeed on the first attempt. It was like trying to use a muscle that had never been exercised to lift too heavy a weight. He might have succeeded by pushing himself to the limit until injury, but that would have been counterproductive if he could never achieve it again. He settled for that for the moment; after disposing of the candle fragment, he returned to his bed.

Since he had tried magic, all that was left was to test his Mystic Eyes. The Mystic Eyes of Analysis had enabled many things. Even though he didn't possess a destructive power, they were extremely useful. Their basic ability allowed him to understand the nature of everything within his field of vision, including structure, composition, and the nature of a mystery. This was incredibly useful for an alchemist who needed to understand what they wanted to transmute. It was also handy in combat, allowing him to understand the nature of spells being cast and react accordingly. However, he possessed a unique ability unknown to anyone but himself: the ability to see a person's skills.

If they were to be defined, skills would be a quantification of a person's abilities engraved and crystallized in their soul by the world. This was something that hadn't yet been discovered even by the mages of his time. It was very useful to know the strengths of a person during a duel.

Julius began to concentrate on his own abilities and finally could see his current skills. He had far fewer than before, but that was normal given his current state; he would recover them gradually as he grew.

Mind Eyes True (C-): An enhanced observation capability, refined through training, discipline, and experience. A danger evasion ability that uses gathered information as a basis to predict the opponent's activity and alter the current situation. It's not the result of talent but rather immense combat experience. A weapon wielded by none other than a mortal, acquired through relentless training. While there's even a 1% chance of returning, this ability significantly improves the odds of winning. As his body is still young, he's unable to demonstrate its true power, so his rank has been lowered.

All Kind of Talent (A): Represents the possession of numerous talents in various fields such as martial arts, fine arts, etiquette, sexual affairs ,politics, and more. He can perform anything he practiced in life at a B rank or higher, as long as it's physically possible, and learns faster than usual, even if he's just started. This also aids in recovering the skills he had in his previous life faster.

Silver Tongue (A+): A capacity representing a talent for speaking to others, an acting skill that allows him to play a role effortlessly. It translates into being eloquent and persuasive in speech, especially effective with women due to the disdainful air with which he addresses men.

Magic (A+): Represents the possession of vast knowledge in the field of thaumaturgy.