Chapter 33: Discovered
"Sister!"
Lumien’s heart nearly stopped as he stumbled back, eyes wide in shock.
Completely immersed in his spiritual world, Lumien had been oblivious to his surroundings. So when he finally opened his eyes, only to find his sister standing mere inches away, imagine the surprise he was getting.
Her crimson eyes stared unblinkingly into his own from an uncomfortably close distance.
Damn it! How long has she been standing there?!
Lumien’s mind raced as he broke out in a cold sweat.
Was she already here after I entered my meditation state, or... was it even earlier?
He prayed fervently that it was the former.
"What are you doing here, Sister? I thought you were on the verge of a breakthrough and needed to stabilize your condition?" he managed to stammer, his voice shaky with equal parts scare and surprise.
Azalea’s lips curled into a faint smirk as she took a few steps back, giving him room to breathe. Her sharp gaze flickered briefly to the charred remains of his experiments and then back to him.
When Lumien watched her gaze, his heart skipped a beat.
Don’t tell me...
"It’s settled. For now, at least," she said evenly, crossing her arms. "But you’ve got a lot to explain, little brother."
"I passed by your room earlier," she continued casually as if talking about the weather. "You weren’t there. I asked the servants, but none of them had any idea where you’d wandered off to." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "So, I decided to take a walk around the estate. That’s when I spotted a small hill... and imagine my surprise when I climbed it only to see you, my silly, sickly little brother, throwing fireballs expertly."
Lumien’s stomach twisted into knots.
Fuck! She actually saw everything! This... this is the absolute worst-case scenario that could ever happen! Is my luck that terrible?
She raised an eyebrow, noticing his silence, her voice dropping a few tones colder. "Do you have any idea how much of a shock that was?"
"I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me. But no matter how many times I rubbed them, the scene didn’t change. I still saw you throwing fireballs... effortlessly. If I didn’t know you better than anyone else, I might have believed you’d been faking your illness and deceiving our family all these years."
"Sister, I wasn’t-"
But Azalea quickly silenced him, pressing a finger against his lips. "That’s why I said, if. Because I do know you, better than anyone. There’s no way you could have kept something like this hidden for so long. Even the Apocethary didn’t mention anything unusual. Which means," she leaned in slightly, "this ability of yours... you must have learned it recently."
She stepped back, hands behind her back, and her tone softened. "As for how recent that was, I’ll leave that for you to clarify. So, care to explain yourself, little brother?"
Though she sounded calm, Lumien could sense the unspoken threat behind her words. Years of living under her watchful eye had taught him to read between the lines. This wasn’t a question; it was a demand.
He let out a long, resigned sigh, running a hand through his hair. "Alright, fine."
While Lumien had the intention of keeping his newfound ability a secret from his family, he hadn’t been naive enough to think he could keep it forever. But who could have predicted just how fast his sister would find out?
His secret didn’t even last half a day!
Terrifyingly fast. She’s like some kind of bloodhound when it comes to me.
"Well? I’m waiting." Azalea thought Lumien didn’t want to reveal the truth to her, thus urged him with a pout.
Lumien glanced at her, then at the scorched remnants of his earlier practice session, and finally back at her. With no other options, he braced himself to spill just enough of the truth to satisfy her curiosity—without giving away everything.
My reincarnation... the system... I’ll keep them secret until I can figure out the truth behind them!
"Well, it’s as you can see, Sister. I’m an Aspirant now," Lumien laughed dryly.
"When? How?"
Lumien scratched the back of his head, avoiding her sharp gaze. "Honestly... I’m not entirely sure myself. Last night, I felt a fever coming on—a pretty bad one too. But when I woke up this morning, the fever was gone, and I could sense something... different. Something inside me."
He paused, choosing his words carefully as he crafted his story. "When I focused on it, I think I ended up in what people call the ’spiritual world.’ There, I saw something that matched the descriptions of a Mana Core—a small, glowing orb. In my case, it looked like a miniature sun."
Lumien paused and glanced at her expression. Sensing her face looked relatively normal and didn’t seem to figure out something was wrong with his lie, he took it as a good sign and pressed on with his explanation.
"During our journey home, my mind was so preoccupied with it all and didn’t know how to break the news to you guys,"
Azalea tilted her head slightly, a flicker of realization lighting up her crimson eyes. "So that’s why you were so quiet on the way back?"
"Y-yeah," Lumien stammered, offering an awkward smile. There was no way he was going to admit the real reason for his silence actually had to do with his heartbreak than anything. That would open a whole new can of worms he wasn’t ready to face.
"Continue,"
Lumien exhaled softly, relieved that she seemed to have accepted his excuse for now. "Well... after we got home, I couldn’t stop wondering about this ’Mana Core.’ What does it represent? How does it affect me? Does it give me any benefits? Can I now cast magic with it? I had so many questions, so I decided to run some experiments in secret. I came to this spot because it’s secluded, but as you can see..."
He gestured around with a sheepish smile. "It didn’t take long for you to find me."
"Anyway, at first, I wasn’t sure where to start. But thank goodness I spent so much time reading. Truly, knowledge is power!"
"All those books I’ve read over the years gave me some general ideas on what to do. Plus, the Colosseum matches yesterday were a big inspiration. Remember that participant who used fire spells? One of their moves was a fireball. I figured I could try recreating it and, well..."
Raising his hand, Lumien concentrated. A small fireball began to form, flickering to life in his palm. This time, the process felt smoother, and more natural, compared to his earlier clumsy attempts.
After maintaining the fireball for a few seconds which was his current limit, he decided to toss it into the nearby dirt. The small explosion left a hole less than half a meter deep, scattering dust into the air.
Azalea’s crimson eyes widened to their limits as she watched throughout the ordeal.
Lumien thought she was simply shocked by seeing his performance at a close distance. However, her next words left him completely off guard.
"C-Chantless magic..." she stammered, her voice tinged with disbelief. "Lumien, you... you’re actually a genius!"
He blinked, momentarily confused, until her words fully registered. Chantless magic?
Then it hit him. Most Awakened relied heavily on incantations to channel their spells. This wasn’t just limited to Aspirants; even higher ranks like Adepts and Masters often used chants to control their mana smoothly and execute spells effectively.
Chantless magic, on the other hand, was a rare and highly revered skill usually only seen among prodigies.
For Azalea, watching her ever-sickly brother suddenly awaken as an Aspirant, and then casually cast magic without a single incantation, was nothing short of mind-blowing. Her shock was entirely justified.
Shit! I totally forgot about this. My memory screwed me over again! If I’d remembered, I could’ve at least faked it with some corny incantation to throw her off.
Left with no other choice, Lumien could only give her a stiff, awkward smile. "I-I guess so?"
Azalea stepped closer, placing both hands firmly on his shoulders. "So, let me get this straight. Just yesterday, you were an ordinary person—no Mana Core, no magic, still sick, nothing. Then, overnight, you wake up with a fully formed Mana Core inside your spiritual world? And now, after only a couple of hours since we got back home, you’ve not only cast your first spell but done it without an incantation?"
"Lumien, do you honestly expect me to believe a story like that? Do you hear how insane that sounds? Just think about it. You were always the sickly guy who couldn’t even stand being near magic without coughing up blood. Even the slightest ripple magic in the air, and you’d be bedridden for days!"
"I know your condition’s improved recently. That’s the only reason our parents even let you go to the colosseum yesterday. But this? Suddenly forming a Mana Core overnight and casting spells without a chant? None of it adds up! It doesn’t make any sense!"
Her usual calm, teasing expression was gone, replaced by genuine disbelief. Lumien rarely saw her like this.
"But that’s the truth," Lumien muttered, forcing himself to hold her stare.
Well, almost the truth. Except for the part about the system. And, uh... last night’s passion with Elise. Those details are better left unsaid.
After a moment of silence, Azalea suddenly asked a strange question that completely baffled him.
"You... you didn’t happen to encounter some mysterious woman, a ghostly figure, a spirit-like existence guiding you in secret, did you?"
