I walked to down the hallway heading towards the ballroom where the party was held wearing the suit Mrs. Anne gave me this morning. With a confident look on my handsome face, I entered the room.

As I walked in, everyone looked at me with scrutinizing gaze. It seems that they’re measuring me. Well, no matter, I couldn’t feel any hostility from their gazes anyway. I’ll just enjoy my time here and go on an adventure after this is over.

I looked around and saw Elise that had went to the ballroom before me while I was changing. My father announced my entry with a big smile.

“It seems my son is here. Congratulations on your 10th birthday! Happy birthday, Richard.”

I walked to where my father was and bowed down slightly to the guest.

“Thank you everyone for coming. I hope you will all enjoy the feast my family had served for the guests.”

Father raised the glass in his hand and toasted followed by everyone else in the room.

After that, the party continued as normal. People I’ve never seen before flocked around me to talk. Although if they’re invited by father they must be good people, right? Or at least there’s no harm in forming connections with them. I talked to them with a friendly expression for a while before excusing myself to take a break outside on the balcony.

I entered the balcony to be greeted with a view of the garden full of plants and flowers tended by the gardeners every day and the moonlight shining on them. It gave a wonderful feeling. I wondered why I never appreciate scenery like this before. Perhaps I’ve been focusing too much on training to appreciate the smaller things. I breathed in the fresh air outside and leaned on the balustrade.

At that time I noticed Elise coming towards me and smiled at her.

“Happy Birthday Richard!” Elise wished me.

“Thanks.”

“How was your research with Henry?”

Her question was filled with excitement as she asked me about the research. Anything regarding magic intrigues her greatly.

“It is complete now. I’m also a 2nd circle mage now.” I showed off to her.

I looked around to make sure there’s no one to see us. I focused mana on my hand and made a fireball.

“Woah,” Elise said admiringly with a small voice.

I quickly put out the fire and put a finger on my lips.

“Don’t tell anyone else,” I told her to keep it a secret.

She hurriedly nodded. There’s no particular reason to keep it a secret, I just like seeing Elise being this excited. It was cute.

“How was your magic training?” I asked Elise.

“I can feel mana already, but my teacher said it’s still too early for me to become a mage since I can’t control mana yet.”

She looked disappointed but it was an impressive feat to feel mana at her age. She’s a year younger than me, most mages started feeling mana at the age of 12 and it would take them a year on average to start controlling mana. That is what Harry taught me at least. Considering I was able to feel and control mana in the span of a day I couldn’t relate to the difficulty at all. But comparing my feats to others is not fair at all so I was actually impressed by Elise.

She really does have talent in magic after all. I comforted her.

“I’m sure you’ll get there in no time.”

“You really think so?” Elise looked hopeful at my statement.

“Of course. You’re talented after all.” I pat her head while praising her.

She accepted my hand and smiled.

‘Adorable’ I thought in my head.

The night continues with the guests enjoying the party and me enjoying the beautiful scenery while conversing with Elise. I noticed that father and Duke Franz were looking at us from a distance with smiles on their face and ignored them.

***

My birthday was finally over and now there’s only the presentation before I go on an adventure with my magic teacher and sidekick Harry.

Invitations were sent to all nobles in the kingdom and famous swordsmen. We also sent invitations to swordsmen of the Gaja Empire and neighboring kingdoms. Even though we’re enemies there’s no war happening currently with the ceasefire agreement between both powers.

This presentation would change the balance of power in the whole continent where mages won’t be the only powerhouse any longer. It is only right to invite as many people as we could.

The presentation would be held in the capital of Arcadia. The royal family permitted us to use the biggest hall to hold the presentation as there would be many people coming to hear about ‘Harry's' discovery. Any fact of my involvement will be hidden for my safety, and also because people would find it too ridiculous that such groundbreaking discovery was achieved by a 9-years-old me.

At this time, I stayed back at home to train. I already know everything about qi anyway. Harry was managing everything regarding the presentation, so I wasn’t needed.

I was sparring with Chris again that day. Chris had successfully blocked the first few attacks from me before I knocked him out with a strike to his torso. He was constantly improving during our spars, but I haven’t been slacking either. He seemed annoyed that he wasn’t able to catch up to me but he still trains hard despite always losing to me. That tenacity and determination were admirable as always.

“Damn it.” Chris cursed under his breath while getting up.

“You did well.”

“You’re still saying that after beating me each time?” he complained.

“What, you’re going to quit because of that?” I said jokingly.

“What was that?” Chris asked me, clearly irritated.

“If you’re going to complain, then keep getting stronger until you could beat me in a fight,” I told him with a taunting smile.

Chris looked agitated, but he then smiled and looked at me straight in the eye.

“Just you wait, I’ll beat your ass one day.”

I could see the conviction in his eyes when he said that to me. I laughed out loud, amused and impressed.

“Then I’ll be waiting to see that day.”

I imagined the scene of us talking being cool in the eyes of onlookers.

***

Omniscient POV:

Capital of Arcadia.

Guests from all over the continent had arrived for the presentation that will be delivered by Harry as the proxy of the Hale family.

People have been curious about the discovery of a new path of magic claimed by Harry, a potential heir of the famous Pottre family. Coming from a prestigious family of mages, a discovery by one of the greatest mage outside of the 6 Great Mages is bound to be credible.

As all the guests have arrived and were seated in the huge hall, Harry walked on stage and started his presentation.

“Thank you to all the guests for coming. As has been said, I have researched and discovered a new path of magic. However, it is not quite the magic that we have all been used to. As we all know, mages construct magical circuits around their heart to create resonance with mana in the atmosphere and produce natural phenomenon based on a mental image.”

With that explanation, Harry raised his hand and fire lit up above his palm for a few seconds before disappearing. When he was finished, a swordsman in the crowd raised his hand to ask a question.

“You said the discovery is about a new path of magic. But you also invited swordsmen from around the continent for this presentation. What do we have to do with this?”

“As I have said, mages could form natural phenomena by controlling the mana in the atmosphere through resonance. This ability cause them to hold immense power by creating phenomena on par with natural disasters on the battlefield.”

“However, my research team has discovered an organ named dantian in the human body capable of storing mana. This opens up the possibility of utilizing mana from within the human body itself and strengthening the body to transcend human limits. By purifying mana and accumulating the purified mana in the form of qi in the dantian, swordsmen could release a terrifying amount of energy from it and demonstrate incredible strength.”

The research team Harry’s talking about naturally refers to Richard. He was the only mage in his small tower after all. And Richard was the only person to hang around the tower to accompany Harry.

“Therefore, this possibility has opened a new path for the swordsmen of this continent. Swordsmen now have the potential to rival mages in terms of power.”

As soon as he said this, the whole audience fell into an uproar. Swordsmen grew excited at the statement while mages were bewildered by the ridiculous notion.

A new wave of changes will spread across the continent by the end of this presentation.