Chapter 29: Master Stage and Status Update
The reflection in the mirror did not lie.
Five years had passed since that day—the day I asked my mother and Isis to truly train me. And now, before the polished surface, I no longer saw the nine-year-old boy who had left filled with hope and youthful arrogance.
My face was now firmer, with striking features, a well-defined jaw, and silver eyes with bluish undertones—the same as hers. My body had changed completely, now toned, strong, with muscles sculpted through sweat and pain. Long white hair cascaded down my back like strands of living light. I was taller now—exactly 1.80 meters. And more than that... I was more mature. Not just on the outside.
At my sides, I could feel the presences that had shaped this new self.
My arms were still around the waists of my mother and Isis. The former, my mother, with her possessive serenity, rested her chin on my shoulder, her eyes blue like calm crystals. The latter, provocative as always, wore a mischievous smile on the corner of her lips, her nails gently tracing my muscles like someone admiring a sculpture they helped shape.
For a moment, no one said anything. Silence hung heavy—but comfortable. A moment suspended in time.
Then, my mother murmured:
"It’s time, isn’t it?"
She wasn’t referring to training. Nor to anything physical. It was something beyond—a rite, a milestone.
I nodded subtly, and the mirror ceased to be the center of the scene.
She raised a hand and drew a semicircle in the air, opening a portal. On the other side, the training chamber was revealed: vast, surrounded by black columns etched with arcane inscriptions, the floor marked with a magic circle engraved in living silver. The air there was dense with mana—almost tangible.