Sunlight seeped through thick curtains, casting golden lines on the floorboards. Adrien, shirtless and in the middle of his room, breathed slowly, arms up slightly — not in meditation, but in equilibrium.
His palms prickled.
Electricity crackled around his fingertips, a barely perceptible buzzing like before a storm.
'Control first. Then power.'
He breathed out through his nose and concentrated.
Mana coursed under his skin, drawn from somewhere deep within — not the heart, but close to it. The mana core, buried like a buried ember in his chest, vibrated with pent-up energy.
[Mana output: unstable. Coordination: 60%. Mood: trying too hard.]
"Helpful."
He opened one eye and glared at the empty space.
[Just letting you know. Wouldn't want you to fry your eyebrows off without warning.]
He sighed and closed his eyes once more.
Lightning wasn't subtle. It needed to jump, to bite. But Adrien required finesse.
He concentrated again — slow inhale, slow exhale. The hum. Stronger now. Electricity tingled at the tips of his fingertips.
There was a tiny arc of electricity between one hand and the other.
He smiled.
And then his hand jerked back with a stinging pop, as if someone had slapped his knuckles with a metal ruler.
"—Ow!"
He shook it out, making a wincing face.
[Discharge failure. Do try not to electrocute yourself before your first class. That would be historically embarrassing.]
'I'm learning, alright? Give me a break.'
[You've got two days. I'm just calculating your odds. Currently… below average.]
He sat back on the floor, sweating lightly. The cold stone floor did nothing to calm the heat building in his core.
That had been attempt five.
And attempt five hurt.
'No shortcuts. Fine. But there has to be a system to this.'
He glanced at his palm once more — no burns, thank goodness. Just a light crackling in the skin. The mana was present. The Lightning Affinity was not just an illusion. The issue wasn't power.
It was control.
According to the system tutorial he'd read through the previous night, the energy system of the world operated thus:
Mana Cores defined potential. Copper, Iron, Silver, and so on.
Affinity determined what your mana did — Lightning, Fire, Ice, Earth, etc.
Capacity was the amount you could utilize before becoming exhausted.
And Control… that was the difference between a mage and a corpse.
Adrien had reasonable capacity — 210 units was the norm for a Copper-level core. But his control stat? Low. Very low. And lightning wasn't nice.
'At least I'm not saddled with Wind or something ridiculous.'
[Wind users have started kingdoms. You've started static. Point of view.]
Adrien groaned and stretched once more.
'Two days to go. I'm not attempting to be a prodigy — I just wish to make it through orientation without blowing up.'
He clenched his teeth and concentrated once more.
This time, he didn't attempt to call lightning. Instead, he attempted to sense it — to get a feel for the current of mana in his limbs. Not force it. Just map it.
A soft glow coalesced at his palm.
No pain. No sparks.
Only heat. Power. Compliance.
He grinned.
'That's something.'
The knock at the door came as he was finally allowing the glow to disperse.
He stood up, wiping sweat from his neck with a towel.
A servant's voice echoed from the wood. "My lord, the Duke would see you at the front gate. Your escort is here."
Adrien went still.
He looked at the sun, already higher than he'd ever noticed.
Two days had passed.
[Time to smile and wave. Or scowl and pretend to have been born to conquer. Up to you.]
He looked at the mirror one more time.
Still not accustomed to the face.
But it was his now.
And he wasn't entering this world blind anymore.