Reincarnated as a Genius Mage

With a snap of his middle finger and thumb, He says with a loud voice that echoes in the entire room: "High."

Vwoom

The heat of the blue flames hanging up in the room increases acutely.

The room illuminates with a sublime blue hue, and I can see the broad amplitude of the room.

It's an underground room that's so spacious— hell, I can't see the four walls of the room. I only see the parts of the room where the blue fire burns brightly in, and the other regions of the room are completely enclosed in darkness.

It seems like Alexander doesn't want me to see more than I'm seeing. But the sight I see under the blue light is already... Extraordinary.

Various cube-like glass cases are lined up. The lines of glass cases— I can't count them; they line up into the dark side of the room.

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9... They keep going.

I think the glass cases, they're numberless.

I'm patiently walking behind Alexander. Walking past various glass cases.

All the glass cases reflect the blue light of the flames shining from above; creating an enchanting sight. My heart tingles in excitement as I take in the sight of the room.

What could my gift possibly be?

As we walk, I see the contents trapped inside the various glass cases.

There are pieces of jewelry of different types. Some of them are necklaces, some are weirdly designed bracelets with runic letters and hieroglyphs on them. Some are rings, and some are... Unidentifiable. While most of them aren't even jewelries but are clothes.

Is he gonna gift me a piece of jewelry? What are we even doing here?

Suddenly, Alexander— mid stride; halts his movement.

"In all the square prisms present in this room, there are various artifacts. In this room, under the witness of me– Alexander Von Flameworth, the Patriarch of the Flameworths. You shall choose your artifact."

Yes, before we entered the room, he did say something about artifacts. But..

"What are artifacts?"

I mean, I know that artifacts are man-made objects that have historical and cultural significance, but this is another world. One where the common logic of Earth doesn't apply, so the knowledge of artifacts that I have could be different from what they really are in this world.

This guy bleeds lava and controls fire, so why won't Artifacts be different? They may be magical or something.

He turns his neck slightly, facing me, and as our eyes meet, my body shivers slightly.

I compose myself, and I wear a fierce look on my face.

A smile creeps on his lips, and he nods calmly to himself.

"Artifacts are objects. Ancient objects crafted or modified by ancient men."

My brows arch slightly.

That's not so different from what I know.

"But they carry magical capabilities, and different powers. The ancient men... they had special abilities and techniques, one of which they called 'Mana craft'. It allowed them to make these artifacts. But those abilities have all been lost."

His words carry a strong, and stern tone.

Yeah, it's different from the one I know.

"So, I get to choose anyone?"

His lips slowly curl upwards into a heart-stopping smirk.

"Choose? No." He starts chuckling, shaking his head slowly.

"You can't choose your artifact, Charles. Your artifact selects you." He adds.

"I'm confused."

He nods his head.

"It's a normal thing to be confused. You're supposed to receive your artifact after you graduate from the Imperial Academy, but seeing the rate at which you're growing, I decided you had to recieve it now."

I open my mouth to speak, but I immediately close it back. The question I was about to ask was stupid.

"Even your eldest brother George, only got his artifact after he graduated, but you... you're a different breed. I feel like your capabilities aren't to be restricted to this family. You might leave."

How does he know? In a few years, once I've learned the location of Ludia and formed my first circle, I'm off.

"And judging by you're growing a presence.. how the air around you ripples subtly, and how the mass of gravity around you is shaking.. I've figured you'll soon get your first circle, there is only so much mana the cells of your body can handle. It needs to be stored.

Mana itself seems to... love you. Because, the speed with which you're gathering mana is too fast. Much too fast."

What's with the speech? I just wanted to know more about the artifacts, and now he's hyping me up. Well, I'm used to it now...

"Ah, I got sidetracked. Just know that the countless artifacts here have been obtained by our family for generations.

And another fact that'll clear up your confusion, is that to get an artifact, you must first infuse mana into that..." He points to a small, square shaped stone platform in the middle of the room.

It looks like it's made of block, and it has various runic designs on it. I didn't notice it before, but it's in the middle of two glass cases that are larger than the normal ones.

"That thing. It sends your infused mana to every glass case present in this room. They're all intricately connected underground."

So much irrelevant explanation.

"I see. But there's one problem." I speak cautiously.

"And what's that?"

"I have no idea how to manifest or manipulate the mana in me, not to talk of infusing it to an object outside my body.

I can feel and sense the mana in every cell in my body, and I can feel it. But... I can't utilize it, I haven't learned how to yet."

He nods, silently musing. And after a few seconds of pondering, he just shrugs with a resigned grimace.

"You'll learn that from eh... What's his name again? Krais?"

"Klaus. The vice-captain."

"Ah, yes. You'll learn it from Klaus. But for now, you don't need to infuse your mana with your will. All you need to do is to place your hand on the rock, and some mana from your body will be sucked in automatically."

This sounds all shades of suspicious, but okay.

I nod my head in understanding.

"Go.. place your hand on it. Claim your artifact."