Chapter 4: I TOLD YOU NOT TO CRY
The sun hung low over Aerundal’s wintry skies, casting pale gold across the vast courtyards of House Smith. Snow clung to the branches like cobwebs, but the silence in the estate wasn’t peaceful—it was tense, as if the land itself held its breath.
Logan was nine now.
Four years had passed since his mana core was sealed.
Four years of silence. Of pretending.
But while others slept and grew soft on luxury and ignorance, Logan trained. He cultivated Qi with unrelenting focus—Void Soul Sutra in the dead of night, rigorous body refinement at dawn. He lifted stones until his fingers bled. Punched logs until bark shattered into splinters. He tempered his mind until pain became nothing but another breath.
And not once—not once—did he touch mana.
Darius, now fourteen, was the pride of the Smith household. With the Enlightenment Ceremony behind him, he had formed a brilliant mana core. The affinity crystal orb radiated red, white, and purple colors when he touched it after baptism. That meant he awakened fire, air, and gravity elementals—just like Rudeous.
The affinity crystal orb shows different colors for different elemental affinities: red is for fire, blue for lightning, green for healing, white for air, sky-blue for water, grey for earth, and purple for gravity. Most have one or two. A rare few... more.
Like Darius, who—following in his father Rudeous’s footsteps—awakened three elemental affinities: the rare tri-elemental affinity.
"Just like Father," the court mage had said proudly. "A destined heir. A true prodigy of this era."
Servants bowed deeper when Darius walked past. Nobles visited more frequently. Even Rudeous, usually unreadable, smiled faintly.