TBATE - Never Ending

// Third Point Perspective //

The now awakened Virion slowly descended to the exposed soil. Curling his tose in and then stretching them out, letting the cool, soft grain rest between his toes.

Like Arthur said, everything looks more vibrant.

The wind blowing through his hair felt somehow different. It was as if he had ascended to a higher plain of existence.

But like with everything good there was a problem.

A shudder ran through his body. And it wasn't a good one. It was like he was being pestered by mosquitos. It wasn't that painful but it caused discomfort to say the least.

Is this side effect of awakening a secondary Core? He was a fool to think there wouldn't be repercussions. Was this why the people didn't develop a second Core? Is it a genetic limitation of the human species?

'No. Calm down.'

He closes his eyes, to focus on the Mana Heart. It was normal as far he could tell. It was at the dark stage so what was wrong then?

He then tried to expel mana by channeling it from his Mana Heart. And just like that, he felt it again. The tingling sensation, a pulse spreading through his being. Even though his awakening was a success, the Core at his heart didn't develop the necessary pathways for Mana to be drawn in or expelled out ward.

That's because it was so small. It didn't mature under the right environment resulting in this. As cool as the idea was he didn't actually think that through.

He thought with the logic of, "How is there space for a Mana Core at ones sternum?" And now he is experiencing the backlash.

Now it had opted to use his heart as a type of conductor, to push and pull Mana through his arteries just like the flow of blood. The discomfort he experiences during this process is because his arteries were to small.

It simply didn't have the capacity to carry Mana.

He cursed to himself.

"Bothaa!" Ellie rushed at me. Almost tackling him of his feet.

"What's whong?" he was puzzled. He didn't exactly understand what had warranted such a reaction from her.

"You scared us. We could feel the shock travel through tye building." Alice clarified for him, he eyes slightly red.

Virion, realizing what he done, felt embarrassed. Not because he is guilty. But rather, he hadn't fully grasped the destruction that surrounded him. And for him, who prides himself on his attention to detail, it was a reminder that he become lax with his new lifestyle.

"I'm sorry." he averted his gaze.

.....

"He is just turned three years old the other day, Reynolds! And your telling he has awakened as a Mage!?" Vincent, understandably was in shock.

"I'm not lying. His awakening was what had resulted in your lawn looking like it does now." my father sighed. His frustration was evident. He knew it would be a hard to except fact for others as this was out of the norm.

But he prepared himself since Virion's birth.

A few minutes has passed with their bickering.

"Come on, Alice." Tabitha unsure, tried to be reasonable. Alice didn't budge. Silently thinking of ways she can prove that her son has indeed awakened.

Virion, stuck in the middle got fed up and sighed.

"Here." his voice was that of a child but commanded to be heard.

Everyone turned to him.

"Is this enough phoof?" it was a rhetorical question. Carrying the innocence of a child that did not know what his actions carry.

In his open palm, little gusts of wind twirled and rustled his sleeve.

In that moment, Virion, in their eyes appeared to be some sort of genius.

And rightfully so.

The fact that he had awakened at such a young age was already a feat unheard of. But now, fresh after his ascension to a Mage, he already showed signs of his affinity.

Reynolds understood this better than anyone in that room. He knew Conjures had a natural incline towrd their affinity but this was too soon.

"Ha." Vincent held his head. "I need a drink."

After his little demonstration, Lilia and Ellie's amazed yet envious gazes hadn't gone unnoticed by him.

Hoping that this doesn't turn into trouble later on.

.....

Virion went to bed early with the excuse of his awakening tiring him out. It holds some truth to it though. The occasional tingling sensation was really irritating.

What can he do about this? Not much but grow into it.

Sigh.

Earlier when he had drawn from his Mana Core he was surprised himself. He hadn't actually expected that a elemental phenomenon to occur like it did.

He knew Conjures had a natural inclination to manifest their elements earlier and didn't need a set core stage unlike Augmenters. But that was just an educated gamble on his part and it actually paid off.

Probably the biggest factor in this was the fact his Mana Core was actually Dark Red and not just dark.

There is so many variables in his awakening that he couldn't or hadn't accounted for.

Vaguely recalling Arthur's explanation, he mentioned that the Mana and the impurities in the body mixed. And as the Core progresses stages, it purifies itself.

So maybe cause he formed a Core at his heart, more impurities had acclimated at that point cause blood travels through his heart. (?) Coming out more pure than it initially was.

That would make sense. He still wasn't sure though.

Hm.

He cleared his head with a breath, spreading himself out on his bed.

"Let's see what otheh elements I got." he mumbled. He stayed quite for awhile before deciding against it. He is still new to Mana so he might accidentally cause trouble for himself if he were to try this in the house.

"Lhet's just go to slheep."

.....

An entire year has passed by in a fly.

Virion had undergone a new routine ever since which had binged some excitement to his dull life till now.

Train.

Eat.

The occasional play-date with Lilia and Ellie.

Eat.

And sleep.

Repeat.

Reynolds had suggested this since Virion was still to young to undergo close combat (his physical limitations as a toddler). And also the fact that he didn't have the basics down (like Arthur did) so his training regime was adjusted.

So he instead trained his utilization over Mana by absorbing Mana while moving. Initially it didn't go as well. Moving while absorbing mana was like scratching an itch but he didn't know how but now he had decently progressed.

He didn't know how effective it was since he can't go all out in such constricting places. And by that, he meant the vigilant eyes watching him. After all, he couldn't risk his identity as a reincarnater.

But anyway, now that he had a feel for moving while absorbing, he could move on to absorbing while expelling. In a way, it followed the same principle. But this time he had to use the one muscle (core) to perform two different tasks simultaneously which was harder.

Much harder than he liked. Arthur made it seem easy but that's only because he had almost an entire decade of experience using Mana Rotation. Virion didn't have that so even though he knew the theory behind it, it wad hard for him to apply this practically.

On the hand, suprisingly enough, his Mana Heart already follows this process without his intervention which was the cause of his continuous discomfort throughout his body. He couldn't stop it though unless he wanted to stop his heart. But it provided the benefit of not manually purifying them both.

And this was also the initial step to Mirage Walk, then Burst Step. But he didn't plan on performing Burst Step as the consequences are too severe for him to handle.

In between he had used his earth magic to mold miniature sculptures of the people in the manor. It was a great way to practice Mana usage and efficiency.

It was probably the only thing he has actual talent in. Perhaps due to his initial profession his previous father forced upon him, visualizing the objects he wanted to form came easy.

But the sculptures wasn't as detailed as he wanted them to be. Applying his vision onto an object was a different task on its own.

"Guess I have a long way to go." he sighed.

He could do this better with his hands.

And it didn't help that he had awakened three years after his reincarnation. He wasted to much time trying to learn the language in his first two years.

Will he be prepared fir the war at this rate?

"Sir Virion, you have been summoned." a female maid knocked on the door to his room.

Virion broke out of his concentration, placing the sculpputting down the sculpture he had been working on . "Coming." he responds lazily, jumping of his stool infront of his study desk.

Why has his mother called him? He didn't bother putting shoes on and just walked out of his room.

"Your mother is waiting in the living room."

"I told you many times that you don't have to address me so formally."

"I apologize but It's easier for me. And it comes with the job." she curtly announced before walking off.

He shrugged.

.....

He opened the doors to the living room to Rey and Alice hugging each other with content smiles on their faces. Looking at his twin and the auburn haired boy crunching infront of her.

It was Arthur.

The boy his mother and father told him about.

But he also knew him before that. He probably knows him better than anyone else in this world.

"Hm?" his blue eyes traveled over to Virion that stood in the door frame.

Now that he saw him, he did fit the description of "princess". Alice's features seems to carry through. At least when it comes to Arthur and Ellie.

Virion looked more like his father but the baby fat in his face gave him a gentle look.

"Ah! You're finally here." their mother chimed. "This is your older brother, Arthur. The one we told you and Ellie about."

How should respond? At the very least I shouldn't come of as suspicious to Arthur. He is quite the perceptive guy.

"Uhh, hi."

Virion internally face-palmed himself. He should at least sound more enthusiastic.

"Don't mind, Virion. He is very quiet and usually is cooped up in his room." Alice excused his behavior. Arthur seems to have recoiled at the name of his brother (went unnoticed by them). It had reminded him of something.

"So you guys really had twins, huh?" Arthur smiled. "It's nice to meet you too, Virion."

He walked over to Virion, offering his hand for a shake. Virion was about to grasp the hand when suddenly the small Beast on his head jumped into Virion's hand.

So he had no choice but to cradle it in his arms as he caught it otherwise it would've fell down and he wouldn't want that. It looked to cute to do so.

"Kyu~" she hummed with satisfaction while snuggling up to Virion.

"Oh? She seems to like you." Arthur looked interested. As if this was the first time he had seen such behavior from his bond.

Virion just chuckled nervously.

"Nho fair! I want to hold iht too!" Ellie pouted, running after the little Dragon that had escaped Virion's arms in a flash.

The rest just laughed at the spectacle.

.....

They had exchanged light banter - mainly the three older ones. Arthur then told about his time in the Kingdom of Elves. He of course held some information like the fact that he is a Legacy Tamer.

All the while Sylvie was resting in Virion's lap. Who was still confused as to why Sylvie had so quickly taken a liking to him. Ellie sat quietly next to him, being content with that at least.

"So, Arthur... what stage are you at now?" it didn't really surprise them all that much though.

"Then you better work hard otherwise Virion over there might just surpass you." Reynolds pointed across from them.

"Huh?"

"I'm saying that Virion had awakened a few months ago." Reynold's folded his arms under his chest. "More specifically he is a Conjurer."

Reynold's was like a proud father. Boasting about his so ti his other son.

Ellie felt a bit left out cause she hadn't awakened like her brothers did.

"I guess you're already living up to your name, Virion." Arthur gave him a thumbs up. But behind all of that was suspicion directed towards his brother.

If he could reincarnate why wouldn't someone else also be able to?

As far he knew, he was only able to awaken as early as he did was because of hus past experiences. And here, in front of him, in his home, there sat a possibility of another imposter.

For now, he'll just keep an eye on him.

Luckily that was the extent of his suspicion. Neither him nor his parents had noticed the presence of his Mana Heart. Whether it was because it had a balanced input and output of Mana or his Mana Core is just bigger and up a stage.

Now that he thought about. With his Mana Heart he was both a Conjurer and Augmenter since his arteries are more less the same size throughout (?)

"Hey, son." father stood up. "What you say about a light spar?"

"Honey!" Alice protested. "Let him rest for a bit. After all, he just git back home."

"I'm fine, mom. Really." he reassured. Standing while stretching himself. "All this sitting down has me stiff."

"By the way, what stage are you at?" Arthur asked.

"Oh. While working as the instructor for the Helstea Guards, I've recently broke through into the dark orange stage." he smiled pointed with his thumb at his arm band that branded the Helstea insignia.

Just as they all stood up and were about to the paved courtyard.

"Rey! I just heard that your son is alive!" Vincent came bursting through the door with his wife and daughter on his tail.

"What in the world... is happening?" he adjusted his spectacles.

"Your just in time. Vincent, Tabitha, I'd like you to meet my other son. Can you believe it? He's really back." Rey put an arm over Vincent's shoulder.

"I can see that."

"Arthur, this is Vincent Helstea, who runs the Helstea Auction house and my old friend who is now my employer. This is his house so introduce yourself before we start wrecking it"

.....

"After Virion... I'm not really surprised but still..."

Vincent contemplated the authenticity of his ability to reproduce. What kinda genes did Alice and Rey carry over to their children?

They seated themselves on the bleachers of the circular courtyard. Alice, Tabitha, Vincent, Virion, Lilia and Ellie. Of course, Sylvie rested on Virion's shoulder.

"Indeed. You truly have talented sons, Alice." Tabitha agreed with her husband. Alice didn't know how to respond and just smiled. Looking back to the middle of the courtyard.

Arthur and Rey had already started.

.....

"My god." Tabitha exclaimed.

"That's... your son... he's a deviant." Vincent stated the obvious in utter disbelief.

The fight had ended in a stalemate. Virion, whom had payed close attention to the spectacle that occurred had gained some valuable insight.

Arthur and Rey appeared to have an unorthodox style of fighting. In the sense that they were not properly trained to fight. They just used their raw talent to properly react and attack. That only comes from practical experience something Virion lacked. And would need to put a lot of time into.

If he were to break it down though it would be like this: gaging your opponents strength through moderate physical contact. Then you can let a little loose and through in surprises.

Yeah.

And if you don't do it carefully, you could just die in the process without intending to.

_______

A/N:

Author doesn't know what he is talking about. Please forgive him.

_______

"Arthur. When and where did you learn such a neat trick?" Rey questioned him while playfully pulling him under his arm.

"It's nothing." Arthur scratched his head. "I picked it up a couple of weeks ago. I still can't properly control it though."

In truth, he was more than a Lightning Deviant.

"Are you okay, papa?" Ellie ran over to the duo while Alice walked after her.

Virion stood up with Ellie still occupying his head. He walks back to the back entrance of the manor.

"I need a drink."

________

A/N:

Have any questions leave them in the comments.

As I said before I'm not very good at dialogs so please be patient as I will improve.

Hopefully.

Constructive criticism is welcomed.

Till next time.