Chapter 116 - Dungeon - XXIV
Seraphine fell silent for a few seconds after her sentence was cut short. Her eyes were fixed on the glow of the chalice. Her hand still rested on the scar, but now her fingers were motionless.
She finally spoke, her voice calm but laced with something that bordered on ancient exhaustion:
"Since the age of three, Aeloria and I were trained as heirs of the Lunaris Argentum house."
Everyone stayed silent. No one interrupted her.
"We started early. Even before we could read fluently, we were already learning the fundamentals of magical channeling, energy pathways, cultivation methods, and hand-to-hand combat. We used to run through the frozen halls of the mansion, leaping between statues and pillars, with instructors shouting rules while our muscles screamed for rest."
She let out a dry laugh, almost like a sigh.
"We would wake before the sun rose and stop only when the moon climbed the sky. All to be ready for our awakening."
Aeloria tilted his head with a half-nostalgic smile.
"She was always better than me at climbing the marble tower in the west wing."
"That's because I wasn't reciting magical theorems while climbing," Seraphine replied softly, and there was a brief exchange of knowing glances between the two.
"When we turned twelve, as is tradition among the twelve families, the tests began to predict the nature of our awakening. It's not an exact science... but it usually works."