4

It was the following day. Leonard was sitting within the study room awaiting his new teacher to arrive as today marked their first lesson. Marie was accompanying him as she stood off to the side watching over his well-being just as his mother had instructed for the remainder of the week.

Currently, his emotions were rather subdued as his excitement and eagerness about today's lesson had been diluted following yesterdays discussion with his mother. He'd wanted to dedicate his time to bettering himself – alleviating the concerns his family had about his awakening. Only to now have the looming worry that if his early awakening were to be discovered, it could lead to a lot of attention heading his way. Attention he gleaned from his mothers reaction that his parents didn't want to risk.

His awakening, it's potential and the social environment around him were all too foreign right now and he could only agree with her worries; promising that he'd keep the matter a secret. Though, In his mind he couldn't help but wonder if him awakening was worth all this trouble…

Not two seconds later however, were his thoughts disrupted by the door into the room opening and the woman who walked in that took his breath away. Standing at least six and a half feet tall she bore the very essences of regality, confidence and seduction.

Her entire outfit was black highlighted in golden patterns and edgings. A corset dress tightly hugging her curvaceous body, entrapping heavyset breasts – emphasizing her assets fully. Whilst the golden belted, lower opened cut dress gave view to her delicious and well curved legs encased in black tights and garter belt leading down to the black heels elevating her intoxicating stature. Whereas her arms were covered by black elbow length gloves and her shoulders were enshrouded by the open front cloak she wore reaching down her back to her lower legs. All of which gave platform for her rich dark brown hair, cascading down the side of her face to gently settle above her open windowed chest. Encasing the mature and captivating face showing her luscious wet lips, delicately perfect nose, deep steel grey eyes and the small mole just below her left eye adding to her mature charm.

Yet despite her amazingly proportioned body and seductive appearance the biggest fascination that struck Leonard were her ears. They were longer than any humans and pointed outwards. This was his first time seeing an elf. Driving the point home further that this certainly wasn't Earth any more.

To say her apparel was overly immodest was an understatement. It took a moment for Leonard to regain his sense of awareness as the woman who had just entered confidently strode forward towards the blackboard to begin writing words in elegant cursive with white chalk.

Only once she was done did she turn around and face him. Her piercing grey steel eyes never breaking contact as if to ensnare him with her very gaze.

"My name is Emilia Sylphwood." Her voice holding a contrast of commanding softness with a hint of seductive undertone as she spoke.

"For the foreseeable future I am to be your teacher and you will refer to me as such from now on. Whether it's academic study, physical training or mana manipulation I will be the one in charge of overseeing your progress until I am satisfied."

She stopped; taking a side glance towards Marie who was stood off to the side of the room.

"Your mother has informed me of… recent concerns. Specifically in regards to the dangers that your early awakening might attract to you." Purposefully keeping his mothers risk a secret.

Upon hearing her words Leonards body instinctively stiffened.

"Truth be told, her worries hold some substance. Nobles in the past have coveted 'mana rich' individuals so to speak for centuries. All chasing the falsehood and belief that it leads to a strengthening of their 'blue blood'. Granting their oh so future generations the possibility of earlier awakenings and strength. Honestly, it's a stupid delusion."

Contempt and mockery dripped from her words, as her gaze wandered away a little from him, focussed on who knows what.

"Believing that an early awakening is proof of their noble bloodlines strength is an absolute joke and mockery to the authority of the royal family itself who-". Realizing she was going off topic, she caught herself from rambling. Stopping to make sure she still had the attention of her new student whose gaze hadn't shifted from her person since entering the room.

For Leonard however, gaining a little insight into the actual dangers possibly facing him managed to alleviate a little of his concern in moving forward. He had to admit, this woman spoke with as much confidence as she did in displaying it.

Clearing her throat she continued on with what her initial point was.

"Essentially what matters is this, the lessons I teach going forward are to prepare you both physically and mentally in dealing with the challenges you'll face later in life. It's to be expected that given you're my student, you are to be upheld to a high quality of standard, and just because you awoke much earlier than some; doesn't mean you are destined for greatness. True greatness is earned, worked for with blood, sweat and sacrifice. Is that clear?"

Leonard found himself nodding by reaction, he understood the points she was trying to make, only as to what that entailed within this life was a mystery.

"Regarding your academic studies, those will begin fully next week. I intend on getting your mana training fully organized and under control before we start working on anything else."

Leaving no room for answering, she swiftly followed through with her words.

"So, here is what the plan is going forward for today's lesson. Introducing the norms of what's expected of those that have awoken and how they train. Then we're going to compare that to the method on what I'm going to teach you and if we've time, maybe we'll get a hands on lesson with you controlling your mana. The sooner you get a feel for it the sooner we can put some worries to rest."

Turning away, not waiting for a response, she moved towards the blackboard drawing a simple human outline.

"Pay attention now. Throughout our world exists a source of energy called aether. Like the very air we breathe it exists everywhere and cannot be seen by the naked eye unless certain conditions are met. All living beings need aether to survive to some extent, the reason for this is because within our bodies is an organ we simply call a core. It absorbs aether from the atmosphere and converts it to a source of energy which our bodies can utilize called mana. Mana exists and resides within all living beings. For elves and dwarves, we are naturally attuned to aether, so when we are born our cores are already awoken. Yet when it comes to humans, beastkin and dragonians, their cores lie dormant. This is because their bodies need time to acclimate to aether, leading to why you get people awakening at different ages. So in short, a person awakening means that their body has adjusted to the aether in the atmosphere, allowing their core to attune to that aether and begin the process of absorbing it, refining it and channelling mana actively."

Leonard listened on in rapt fascination to how much different this new world was appearing to be and how it worked. He watched on as Emilia paced from left to right slowly as she explained and despite how her body bounced, to Leonard nothing but her voice had his attention.

"Let me clarify this first. Yes, we do need mana to survive so to speak, but that is not because it is as paramount to our survival as oxygen. It's essential because of the possibilities it grants us throughout our lives. Parts of our civilisation are built upon mana being a commonality and our control over it allows us to excel at certain jobs or practices. Fighting, forging, construction, just to list a few from the top of my head have all had their practices enhanced thanks to our application of mana by either strengthening our bodies or infusing mana into the tools we use. We'll touch on that in more detail however later down the line."

Turning away not waiting for a response and focussing back to the blackboard she zeroed in on the humanoid outline drawn earlier. Within the outline was a small circle drawn at its centre, located near the stomach area.

"Our core is located near the stomach. Once your body has adjusted, your core will actively begin attempting to awaken itself to absorb the aether attuned to your body. Think of it like striking a match. Sometimes the strike doesn't trigger a flame so you try again until it does. A persons unawakened core is essentially doing that constantly, eagerly attempting to strike the aether attuned to your body to trigger it's awakening. When this happens, a side effect is the individuals body will suffer varying degrees of fatigue, it's very common that the younger you are the more severe the backlash will be on your body. Your case being a finer example than any."

As she said that, she turned back to the blackboard and drew lines from the circle, lining them through the lower and upper limbs as well as the up the spine towards the head. The thing that stood out was how thick she made the lines, making sure it was obvious they were thicker than a single chalk line.

"Now. These lines represent our mana pathways. When someone awakens their core recently, their core and pathways are at their most malleable; four weeks being the recorded length which this state lasts. In this state, you can increase the density and quantity of mana which both your pathways and core can hold. This is important as the density will allow you to strengthen your body a lot more and the quantity essentially increases your endurance. It needs to be stated however, that once this malleable state is over, your progress in improving will significantly drop."

She then turned back to the blackboard and drew an exact replica of the previous image of the body and it's core without the pathways.

"Unfortunately you, however, won't be able to get the full benefits of that malleable period; having already lost two weeks due to weakness. In no ways am I blaming you for that. In fact, this is still very much a precious opportunity for you despite lost time. Yet, the secrecy of it all will mean our methods will be somewhat different…" Her voice cut short there followed by a curt statement, "Two years."

"In two years timeyou will be allowed to publicly reveal your awakening, coinciding with the same age as your siblings. That means for those next two years, you will be training here at home in secrecy. So your methods of development will need to be adjusted specifically for this case." A sharp gleam could be seen in her eyes as she stated their future coordination as her eyes locked onto his own as she spoke her next words with intent.

"Thus we'll need to take somewhat severe precautions. Nobody except for members of your family, the staff here and maybe some very trusted individuals whom only your parents will acknowledge will be allowed to visit you. I need to clarify further however, that the level of caution being taken isn't simply just because of your awakening, but also the fact your training will revolve around that of your pathways. Specifically, you will undergo training in the form of elven pathways from this point on. This decision is already set in stone, and will require all of my knowledge and experience as well as your full cooperation if we're to make it succeed."

Leonard had no clue how to react to this. The way she informed him about her plan made it seem important yet to his own frustration he couldn't understand just how much. Thinking of inquiring further about the matter his attempt was interrupted by an unexpected outburst.

"I'm sorry but I must object to this Lady Emilia." A calm yet resolute voice filled the room as Marie spoke up, catching Leonard by surprise with the unexpected outburst. "Surely you're aware of the attempts at reforging a persons mana pathways in the past. All of which ended in horrendous failure. I believe Leonard was to be your student, not your test subject."

Unsure what to do, Leonard cautiously looked between Marie and his new teacher. He saw Emilia glaring towards the maid who had interrupted her lesson. That natural beauty of hers never vanishing from her face despite the scowl of disgust being aimed directly towards the servant – voicing her response with an authoritative chill to it.

"I know very well the experiments in which you are referring to maid. And the very notion of you daring to associate such atrocities to my knowledge and abilities is as humiliating as it is insulting. Do you take me for some disillusioned fool of hollowed grandeur?"

"Surely Lady Ai-"

"Silence! As I previously stated, his parents are fully aware and are in agreeance with what we are asking of Leonard to achieve. Though funnily enough you should mention it; the only reason you are here in this room right now is because of Ailene's permission. Otherwise, I'd have removed you from this room the very moment lessons were about to begin. So, either make the choice of standing there quietly and observing as ordered or leave and stop interrupting my lesson. Leonard's position is something which has never been presented before throughout all of the kingdoms history and for you to attempt to stifle his ability is both disruptive and counterproductive to your duty as his family's maid."

There was no room for Marie to get a word in once her position was made clear on the matter. It was true that she was only here because Ailene wanted to have someone watching over Leonard throughout the week. But the thought of her young master going through the suffering that this elven witch proposed was only all too heart breaking to think about after he just survived his awakening.

"E-excuse me…"

A small hand was raised in the air as a nervous voice broke the frosted room. All focus was now placed on him as he attempted to get his words out.

"I-I know that Marie interrupting you was a little intrusive but she was only thinking about my own well-being when she did so." Leonard's voice gently rose as his confidence grew, "I also don't know anything about the things that you were both referencing, but for what it's worth." He turned to look Marie, a gentle smile on his face hoping to reassure her as he spoke softly, "Lady Sylphwood wouldn't be here if mother and father didn't trust in her abilities to teach me. I think them planning all of this and believing in me to reach their expectations is something I want to achieve. Not just for them but… also myself."

Emilia looked at Leonard with a raised eyebrow of interest, not a word was spoken but her curiosity about his attitude had no doubt been piqued by this interaction. For someone as young as him to try and diffuse a hostile environment and see a bigger perspective was certainly not in her forecasted outcomes for their first lesson. So she kept herself silent waiting to see how things would proceed.

As for Leonard, feeling like he was gaining some ground he decided to fully embrace this chance to get his thoughts across before the adults could reignite their aggression.

"Also, thank you Marie, I understand your concern for me is a priority but if I'm going to grow stronger then I'm going to need to start pushing myself to achieve that."

He hated the feeling of discomfort he was experiencing right now, having voiced his disagreement with Marie, he felt inwardly scared he'd hurt her. Internally twisting, writhing and saddened at the possibility. By reaction, he stood up from his chair and immediately marched himself in her direction. Wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his head near her stomach. Squeezing tight, silently saying he's sorry.

"But, I'll be responsible like you said, enjoy the journey, right?"

Whatever tension had built up in Marie's body from her confrontation was released as her arms responded to her young master, returning his embrace in realizing he was growing up faster than she could have realized. He was still so young but already trying to live up to expectations of others that shouldn't concern him. Who was she to stand in the way of that? Especially when his point about his parents knowing about Emilia's plans was more than likely the deciding factor for his determination.

As beautiful as their moment was, an enchanting pearl of laughter broke them from their own little world as Emilia made herself known again. Watching this little interaction play out was an amusing route for her first lesson to take, thinking that things would only get more interesting if she were to stick around this child. Feeling enough time had been wasted, she decided it was time to speak up.

"As grateful as I am for witnessing such a heartfelt moment I must insist we get back on topic and proceed with the lesson." An all knowing smile was directed towards Marie, "It would seem that if any further disagreements should spring up, I have a wonderful new student who seems to be quite talented in settling them." Chuckling at her own words.

Ignoring Emilia's remarks Marie let Leonard go and looked down, a small crack of a smile broke through her natural cold demeanour, directing Leonard to return to his seat.

Watching as the room returned to it's original sitting – shaking her head, Emilia took the initiative to carry on with the lesson at hand.

"Now let's focus back on to the task at hand." Pointing her finger towards the blackboard of the first image of the human silhouette. "As I previously mentioned, the direct pathways that travel through your limbs is the standard method of channelling mana through your body if you're of the three species who aren't inherently attuned to mana."

Focussing on the second image, Emilia proceeded to draw multiple lines reaching out from the core near the stomach leading through the limbs again. The major differences this time were the thickness of the pathways drawn which were thinner than that of the original outlines pathways. In addition, she had several smaller lines begin to branch off the main pathway drawn as they continued to branch off further and further, looking similar to a network of veins.

"So, these are Elven pathways, they aren't as thick as the previous pathways nor are they as simple. The first silhouette for standard pathways means that mana will travel through them and radiate strengthening properties to our bones and muscles which is why they're so thick. Again, simple. Whereas elven pathways differ in that although not as thick they branch off deeper into our bodies, chaining into a complex multitude of layers creating an almost similar effect to those of a human's pathways only with an added higher degree of mana control and application."

Leonard was following Emilia's explanation so far, the issue he was having trouble understanding though was how this applied to him. More so the fact why did he have to train in this form of pathway development and not the former.

Emilia stopped for a moment, giving herself time to think before continuing on.

"Now… onto why your training is going to be different and the need for you to train in elven methodologies. You see, when you awoke, your body released an absurd amount of aether which was a lot more compared to children who awaken normally. This had two major side effects. The first is the most obvious one with your body being severely weakened leading to a collapsed state. The second, however, is something I've only mentioned to your parents given the severity of the situation at the time."

Leonard couldn't help but feel his mouth dry at how the lesson suddenly switched from an informative lecture to a serious reality.

"When your core awakened it was in a state of near shattering. Meaning that the intensity of the aether within your body that built up was so large it would have over flooded your core entirely as it strained to begin refining everything within you, resulting in it's shattering. Leading to the combination of aether and mana which were bottlenecked within your core, bursting free and suffusing throughout your entire body completely unrestrained, burning out your pathways entirely and dealing serious physical harm that you would never be able to recover from. In the worst case scenario given your weakened constitution, it might have even lead to your death."

She let the reality of the matter linger in the air for a moment, letting it sink in just how close to death he had been when Leonard had his awakening. A small pit of worry formed in his stomach at an absurd possibility in why Leonard's awakening had been so severe… Yet it was something that terrified him and dared not contemplatefurther if true.

CLAP!

To break whatever morose atmosphere that was building up Emilia clapped her hands loudly, focusing Leonard's attention back entirely on her. Fixing her eyes on his to ensure she had his attention.

"So. As you're aware. You're not dead – and your core is very much fine. That's because I intervened and took matters into my own hands. Meaning, in order to expend all that built up aether and mana it had to go somewhere or be used somehow… thus I shattered your original pathways as your core was overloading."

A moment of silence followed suite upon her revelation.

"Huh?" "What?"

Both Leonard and Marie let out words of disbelief. Sadly they weren't given a chance to further comment as Emilia took the initiative.

"Yep! In fact, it's something I'm actually incredibly proud of. You see, by shattering your pathways I was able to recreate them using the overabundance of aether and mana you had stored up from your awakening. Alleviating you of the threat of your core exploding. However, just creating random chains of pathways throughout your body wouldn't work so I had to use an already established set of pathways as a guide. Mine."

Pride oozed off of every word she spoke about her achievement. Leonard couldn't tell if it was because she succeeded or because it was her pathways remapped into him. What he heard sounded like it was an incredible achievement but the inability to understand it fully frustrated him further. He looked towards Marie to the side and he could only see that her own expression had crumbled as her eyes were widened by Emilia's past actions.

"D-did you know it would work?"

She asked off to the side, having believed she would remain silent the remainder of the lesson.

"Hmm? Of course I did. I didn't exactly have a manual on how to do it but – oh I sort of did if I copied my pathways… but the theory of it all was in my favour. It more or less is just a testament to how incredible I am I suppose."

Crossing her arms she posed somewhat prominently emphasizing her breasts, she bathed in her own accomplishment and the shocked appearance of the maid before her.

Yet in Leonard's case looking down at the table in front of him was all he could do in response. He couldn't complain about her actions either as the alternative wasn't any better or rather, there wasn't much of an alternative at all, at least to his knowledge.

"So I basically already have elven pathways in my body is what you're saying?"

"Yes, but not fully formed. Elven pathways are developed fully before elves are born but yours were developed upon your awakening by me so they're in an unfinished state right now."

Contemplating a little Leonard spoke up about what the plan going forward was. "And I'm guessing that my training is going to revolve around me building up my pathways then?"

"Precisely. I'm already of the mind that I'm rather looking forward to seeing your development if you're putting the pieces together as well as you are at only five years old." She let out a small laugh. "But yes, going forward the training involving your pathways will need to be supervised by me to ensure no issues are developing that might cause problems later on in life. Because those pathways aren't an exactreplica of my own given your size and gender."

Compiling everything he'd just heard and learnt, Leonard knew he had little choice in what he could do now going forward. He'd been thrust into this life without any clue as to why or how and now he was having to tread an uncharted path that would decide his future with zero certainty he could succeed. But he wasn't going to squander such an opportunity again, he would prove he could do it and live this life to the fullest alongside his new family who believed in him.

"With that being said now would be an excellent time to begin that training, which wonderfully coincides with you experiencing the flow of mana!" A smile that could win the attentions of any hot blooded male was solely focused on Leonard yet, all he could feel from that smile was danger along with the pain and suffering for what was likely to come.