The Exiled Prince Domination

Chapter 103: The Heart’s Awakening

The air in Lucian’s bedchamber hummed with a weight so thick it felt like standing at the bottom of a frozen sea, even a commoner with no spark of magic would have felt their breath catch, their skin prickle with the sheer density of mana gathering there.

Lucian drifted suspended in the center of the room, streams of pale light winding through the air like living mist as they poured steadily into him. His eyes blazed with the same cold glow, and beneath his skin, his veins lit up like silver threads mapping every beat of his blood. Books, chairs, even the heavy iron candelabra hovered chaotically around him, tugged upward by the pull of his power.

Then, after what felt like an eternity, the suction stopped. The oppressive chill softened, the floating objects settling gently back onto their places. Lucian lowered slowly until his boots touched the floor, eyes closing as he listened to the rhythm of his own body.

His heart which had become something akin to a mana core after he used the knowledge he gained now thrummed like a living storm. He could not name his rank, could not measure the depth of the power that now dwelled within him; it was too vast, too boundless to fit any scale he knew. He could feel the mana in the air and sense what kind of element it had.

Curious, he lifted one hand. His voice soft but ringing with newfound weight as he chant "Breath of winter, bind the mist, form from frost, take shape at my will."

"Snow Sphere."

Where he had expected a fist-sized ball of packed ice, a great sphere of glimmering snow bloomed from his palm, smooth, dense, and as tall as he was, hovering steadily before him.

Lucian stared, then let out a breathless laugh of disbelief. "This is ridiculous."

Snow Sphere was the most basic cantrip any mage can learned, meant to summon nothing more than a handful of snow. Yet now it had answered his call with overwhelming force. Maybe it was because of the massive mana capacity he now had, or because he was still new with this kind of power and his lack of control had caused this.

His predecessor had held great affinity for water and air, but the Southern Isles had long dismissed the study of magic as foolishness. He had never been taught formal meditations or advanced arts; instead, he experimented with them daily to come up with his own set of spells using some books left in the library of the kingdom. After years, he had perfected making a spell based on snow. He had used this as his hometown was full of snow all year, so his predecessor used the snow around him to control. At that time, he still couldn’t summon solid things out of thin air.

From his predecessor’s memory and with the knowledge he gained from the books he read, there are two types of how to use magic. One is using what is in nature. For example, since there is water in a river, they will control it and use it. The other was to weave the mana all around him, calling the very essence of the elements into being from nothing at all. That was what he had done: his words had drawn every trace of water and wind from the air, compressing them until they took solid form.

He then looked at the snowball again and didn’t know what to do with it. Just as he was thinking to blast it off the window...

Bang!

The door slammed open so hard its hinges groaned. "Your Majesty, are you alrig—"

Yen Sid’s words died in his throat. He had sensed the wild surge of mana from halfway across the castle and rushed here after pinpointing where the mana was gathering.

He immediately panicked as he knew it was the room of the king, fear spiking in his chest at the thought of what might befall the young king. Now he stood frozen, his gaze locking on Lucian, on the faint, seeping aura of power that marked him as something only a Grandmaster Mage could ever hope to match.

"How...?" he breathed.

Then his eyes sharpened, tracing the flow of power beneath Lucian’s skin. He saw where the mana inside was being stored. It was his heart. When he saw it, he remembered what Lucian had said to him that he used an experimental technique to make his heart a mana core.

"Yen Sid, this is uhmm..." Lucian tried to make an excuse but couldn’t come up with one. But Yen Sid didn’t bother. He suddenly appeared beside him and said.

"Your Majesty, please sit down. I want to help you," he said as he put his hand on Lucian’s shoulder and made him sit down.

"What is happening, Yen Sid?" Lucian asked.

Yen Sid then put his palm on the back side of Lucian where his heart is and said, "Your technique that makes the heart a mana core is something that I have seen in the past, as I have met the one who made it."

"You know him?" Lucian frowned when he heard that.

"I did and one of the things that made this technique forbidden is because no flesh was meant to bear it." Yen Sid’s voice grew grave as he suddenly chanted.

Then from his palm, a magic circle appeared, and chains of something came out from it and entered the body of Lucian. There, Lucian felt something that restricted his heart as he felt a little discomfort but that was all.

Lucian turned and asked, "What did you do?"

"It’s a simple binding spell to lock the mana from your heart and not pump it all to your body," Yen Sid said as he suddenly turned serious. "The creator of this technique killed himself because his body couldn’t handle it. With the heart becoming the mana core, it constantly pumps mana alongside the bloodstream of the body, making one strong as all his body becomes enhanced by mana. You can say that he can even become ’One With The Mana,’ but the downside is the body can’t handle the transformation, especially a human body that is fragile inside. It will only wreak havoc and kill you just like the previous king."

"For now, I locked the mana from your heart, but it will be undone once I know you can stabilize it. I know your body, Your Majesty, is much stronger, but just to be sure, I need to train you. Once the coronation and the kingdom’s business is done, I will start helping you," Yen Sid said.

"I see. I would be glad to have you guide me." Lucian said as he looked at Yen Sid, then finally his head turned as he looked at the moon on the window outside.

But suddenly something strange happened as he saw something bizarre. Across the dark sky, drifting like stardust fallen to earth, were streams of glowing golden sand.

Lucian rushed to the window and looked around. Those golden sands were drifting in the sky with it like roots as it went in many places. "Do you see that?"

Yen Sid followed his gaze, and a soft, knowing smile touched his face. "Beautiful, is it not? That is Dreamsand."

"Dreamsand...?"

"A magical golden substance woven from pure hope and joy," Yen Sid murmured. "It carries sweet dreams to every child who sleeps, adventures, wishes, the kind of wonder that makes the world feel bright. It comes from the one who guards all slumber."

Lucian watched the golden currents flow, awestruck. "Where does it come from?"

Yen Sid then turned and looked at Lucian and said, "It comes from the Sandman."