Die Soon

Anya's POV

After the spar between Oscar and Paul numerous thoughts have filled my head. How strong is he? What is the cause of his growth? Is he a mage? Does he have a bottleneck?

I decided to have a talk with my father, the king, about this issue. Normally, if it were any of his other children, apart from the crown prince, they'll have to make an appointment to see him. I guess those are perks of being the only daughter amongst five children. Oh, we are four now, Baldor is dead.

At this time of the day, Father would either be in his chambers or at the dining hall close to the throne room.

Stepping into the dining hall, I bowed as I greeted my father.

"Greetings your Majesty, may your reign be long."

"Haha! Anya, my little girl. How many times did I tell you, bowing to me when no one is around is quite bestranging, you are my daughter. A hug is enough."

Even though Dad talks like that he prefers it when I bow. It's in his nature.

"Anyways, come sit, let us eat."

"Yes Father."

"How are preparations for the academy going?"

"It's going well father."

"Hehe, I know it is. You have a high-grade talent after all."

That's right, apart from the dead Baldor and me, no one among my siblings has high-grade talent. They are all just a bunch of pompous weaklings, having nothing more than the status and blood of royalty.

Even the crown prince, doesn't possess any skills apart from scheming. That's the reason why it will be easier to usurp his position. I know he was the one who goaded Baldor into leading the army, encountering an ambush, that led to his death.

Now that my talent has been declared as high grade, Michael will start plotting against me. I just need to show him that I'm no weakling. Whether it comes to brains or brawn.

"Father I have a question." It's best if I'm direct in this case.

"Yes, go ahead."

"What do you think of Oscar after everything that has happened?"

Father let our a chuckle before responding.

"That boy? I think nothing of him."

"Father is it really okay to underestimate him?"

"Underestimate? He will never amount to anything and that is a solid fact."

"Oh..."

"Did he do anything noteworthy ever since then?"

"Well...he engaged in a spar with Paul Bloom and Joshua Lonsdale, a boy from a Viscount's household."

"So, what happened then?"

"Paul and Joshua lost"

"Mhmm, it's expected. They shouldn't be stronger than Oscar. Just because he didn't awaken does not mean he is a weakling entirely."

"No father, their loss did not bother me. It was also within my expectations."

"Then what was the problem?"

"It was how they lost."

"How did they lose?"

"They lost in one hit."

"Is that the problem?"

"It's not?"

"Oscar Lane has the combat intelligence of a soldier at syne two, you shouldn't expect two brats even if they are his peers to beat him. Even if they fought him together."

"Isn't that a bit worrisome father?"

"What make it worrisome?"

"Umm...he doesn't have a core but he uses mana. Oscar doesn't have any mana signature. He is still growing even without cultivating his powers. Does he even have a bottleneck?" All the thoughts in my head just poured out.

"Hahaha"

Why is father laughing?

"Haa..Anya my little girl. You worry too much."

"..." I scrunched my cheeks in a pout.

"Your worries are unfounded." He spoke, this time, in a serious manner.

"Father, what do you mean?" I didn't miss the underlying meaning of that statement. Oscar was never considered a threat all this time?

"Anya, don't bother about it. Something of the sort has happened before, but the situation resolved itself. Don't worry, he will die soon."

*******

"Are you listening to me?"

"I'm all ears, Sir Jonathan."

"Good, the conditions to be imposed are not too harsh. Firstly, you will have to sign an agreement to not disclose the information of any research you are to take part in. Lastly, you will also have to grant us the permission to run certain tests and examinations on your body structure. These are the only conditions I have, to not recoke your scholarship in the institute."

"I understand why I need to be discreet about the research but why do I have to go through forceful tests?"

"Calling it forceful is a stretch."

"With all respect, you are sugarcoating it." Oscar stated.

"Hmm, I know you might be worried. Do not think of yourself as a lab rat. You are human, and will be treated as such." Jonathan replied.

Pondering on it I asked: "Why though, why me?"

"We already have practical familiarity with the anatomy of mages, non-mages and even knolls. You however, are anomalous."

"Anomalous?"

"Yes anomalous, deviating from the normal. You do not fit into any of the categories I mentioned. You are no mage, there's no functional mana core in your body. Yet, you cannot be classified as a non-mage, frying that boy was an example, and obviously you are not a knoll. Do you see the reason now?"

"Didn't you guys know about this before, my condition?"

"We did, but your condition is not the first one to be seen or taken note of by us."

"You mean there was someone else that was diagnosed with my condition?"

"Not exactly."

"Then I'm confused."

"Let me explain. Ten years ago, a boy learnt how to use dark magic a year before his awakening."

"But that's just exac..."

"Shut up, I'm still talking."

"I'm sorry."

"Haa... Anyways the boy was also of noble blood, a viscount's son. He, like you could only control it around his body."

"Excuse me Sir, sorry for interrupting you."

"What?" A scowl was evident on his face.

"Why didn't we hear about the news?"

"I was getting to that do not interject again."

"Noted"

"The viscount was thinking of their son's safety. If it was any other element, it would be seen as good news. However, this was the darkness element, the prejudice against dark mages back then was very strong, the royal didn't bother to quell it.

They never held any kindness for dark magicians. The mages didn't suffer discrimination in the Iyun dukedom, this land was their origin after all.

So the Viscount only told Duke Gerard who also supported his decision to not inform the king, as there was an ongoing war during that period and doing so might do more than good on the child's future. Thinking it was better for the child to awaken naturally, they waited.

On the day of his awakening, the test result declared him to have a damaged mana core."

"???"

"Don't say anything, I'm not finished. This was the first time it happened in the whole of Soraxia. He wasn't a mage, non-mage he wasn't, obviously not among the species of knolls too.

The Viscount tried everything, he even brought the boy to this establishment as a last resort. We carried out tests, analysing and compiling all the information given. In doing so we realized that the cause of his mana core being damaged was because he awakened prematurely."

"Hmm" Oscar closed his eyes and shook his head.

"What, is there a problem?"

"Nothing, please go on."

"Using knoll technologies, we succeeded in developing the core, causing to undergo growth, becoming stabilized in the process."

"So you were successful?!" Oscar said barely reining his emotions.

"Yes and no."

"The thing about the mana core is, it's located at the navel region but is controlled by our mind. Haa... The boy died six years later, days after his mandatory service to the kingdom."

"That shouldn't be, he was already an adult."

"A young adult, he died at twenty-one."

"How?"

"He had a mental breakdown while trying to cast a spell and his core imploded, destroying his organs from within. He died on the spot."

"Did he go the academy?"

"Yes, after we fixed him. The next year, he went for a retest, and was certified to possess high grade potential. So he automatically got enrolled into the academy."

"Wow, so the reason why y'all didn't treat me was because you were afraid I would die."

"Not really."

"Huh?"

"We thought of your condition as identical to the dark mage but that boy, before his core went through reparation, was not able to execute such level of mana control, the way you did.

Compared to yours, his mana was erratic, all over the place and nowhere at the same time. He could only use bits and pieces of it, letting most go to waste. Your usage of mana is actually more refined, if I didn't know better, I would would classify you as syne one, but that's also where the problem lies."

"Is there a bigger problem apart from this?"

"Yes there is, the boy was partially awakened for a year. On the other hand you have been like this for over six years."

"What does that mean?"

"Your life is basically on a countdown, you will die soon."

"?..."