Batain handed the food off to Lucas before proceeding to rummage around his room, looking for something. Though he had inklings about the kid's talent, it still surpassed his expectations so he hadn't properly organized all of what he'd planned to use.

Meanwhile, Lucas wolfed down the food, inhaling the eggs and bacon, chomping down on the bread before drowning it all down with some milk. Despite the massive portions associated with the food that the dining hall serves, it took a grand total of 6 minutes to finish the plate.

Upon finishing, he drained his cup before looking at Batain, or rather, Batain's ass. The man was bending over to look for the tool he'd lost.

Lucas appreciated the view. He didn't swing that way but he believed everyone had the right to admire someone else's glutes, especially since Batain's were surprisingly well defined.

Completely unrelated, he wondered about something. "Batain, if this is so similar to the magic that makes lightballs light up, why didn't you tell my parents? It can't be that big of a secret."

Though he couldn't see it, Lucas knew Batain rolled his eyes. "First, they're similar but not that similar. Would you say fire magic is 'so similar' to air magic because they're both not solid? Second, why do you think I'm teaching you at all? You have talent. Conduit magic requires a ton of mana sensitivity since unlike other forms of magic, you're manipulating mana indirectly, through a conduit. Learning how to do that shit takes time. Only way you'd know is you were somehow using mana sense in the womb but that's stupid."

Lucas mentally patted himself on the back for not flinching at Batain successfully guessing his origins.

"By Empre, it took me years to fully grasp it. It'll probably take you a year at this rate, and you're like 2 years old. It's fair actually that you can't perform elemental magic."

Lucas had been surprised he was taking so long to understand it, so hearing this was news. He'd never really known how difficult it was to have such a high sensitivity to mana. However, with the amount of mana Lucas absorbed in the womb, and the amount of time his soul had spent solely sensing and manipulating tiny amounts of mana, it was second nature to him.

Batain, sensing Lucas' confusion, continued. "Ah right, you don't really know about your new family yet", he said, his tone as sarcastic as could be, when he said the word 'family.' "To put it simply, you'd probably die if either your mom or that petty dumbass you call a dad ever let it slip."

He took the following seconds of silence as Lucas' fear and was hit with a tiny pang of guilt that he squashed instantaneously. Fear was a damn good motivator to make kids take things seriously and the entire purpose of this little stunt he was doing was to help Lucas.

He had nothing to feel bad for, especially since it was a very real threat. While his siblings were expressly forbidden from directly harming each other, this protection did not extend as much to extended family.

However, deep in Lucas' mind, a sense of competition lit up. Had Batain known about this, he would've had the most constipated expression for a second, and then shrugged. Competitiveness was also a good motivator.

"Ah, finally found it." Batain stood up, holding yet another cube identical to the last one, turning around to see Lucas' focused expression turn downwards.

He snorted before throwing it over to him. "Do the same thing you did with the other one."

Lucas inwardly sighed. He could only hope this was a sort of 'wax on wax off' scenario. His opinion quickly changed though upon using mana sense on it. Where the last cube was semi-transparent, appearing like it was made out of water, this one was clouded with shadow, like oil or diluted ink.

Pushing his mana into it, he found he couldn't make the cube light up at all. It kept its blank metallic state despite him forcing as much mana as he could into it, out of desperation.

Batain smirked, before picking up Lucas and calling a servant. He, then, turned back to Lucas. "Ok now get out of here. Until you learn how to light up that lightcube, don't come back."

Lucas nodded. This was essentially his homework, a shitty but necessary concept in his eyes. Putting the cube into a pocket, he began walking back to his room. The servant had been to collect the dirty cup, plate, and silverware that Lucas had left.

Clothes, trash and various stains on the floor were fine but Empre forbid a single mess that Batain himself hadn't made.

Lucas decided to walk back to his parent's room rather than go directly to his room. By now, it had been an hour or two and he'd rather directly go to his parents than go back to his room and get confronted there like a teenager coming back from a party late.

Knocking on the door, he waited for a response while looking out a nearby window at the rising sun. A sudden sense of confusion set in. 'Wait, what the hell am I supposed to do all day? It's still morning.'

A second later, he remembered the cube in his pocket, and immediately felt like an idiot. He felt like a piece of shit too when the second right after that, the door opened to reveal his mother's suspicious expression morph into a variety of emotions when looking at him.

She pulled him through the door, greeting his eyes with the refreshing sight of a clean room. Sebastian, who was sitting on a bed, just looked tired, rather than worried.

Once Emelie closed the door, she immediately used her mana sense on her son, looking to see if anything was wrong. She saw nothing out of the ordinary besides the small metallic cube that she would've inquired about, had the relief from knowing her child was safe not transformed into righteous motherly anger right after.

By this point, Lucas' feelings of guilt had also transformed. What had his mother planned to do for him other than hire some shitty tutor that'd say he wasn't working hard enough? It was this sentiment that brewed in his head as his mother berated him about not listening to them. After less than a minute, Sebastian spoke up, a sense of boredom and fatigue in his voice. "Calm down, Em."

Emelie blushed at the nickname before turning back to him, about to speak her mind about his actions too. Luckily, Lucas, tempered from his years of battle, knew when to take an opportunity, and began to compose a speech. Before that, though, he mourned Sebastian's ears.

It only took a second before he realized that nothing would fit. It'd either be twisted into fuel for the nagging or simply get ignored.

Once Emelie turned back to him, he spread his mana sense as wide as it could go, verifying there was no one lurking around, before whispering something.

Emelie stooped down to hear him, confused.

"He's teaching me conduit magic."

Emelie, upon hearing that, also spread her mana sense, while Sebastian grew more alert at the sudden actions of both his wife and son.

Once she verified there was no one around, she whispered into Sebastian's ear, what Lucas had told her.

"He told me not to tell you because he didn't trust you but I trust you, mom and dad", Lucas said, emphasizing the last bits with as much childish innocence as possible.

Emelie's anger immediately melted away, but that wasn't the real reason Lucas had told them. Well, it was, partially.

He was guessing that the reason Batain didn't want to tell Sebastian came more from his own pettiness than Sebastian's. Also, he knew that Emelie wouldn't let him get lessons from Batain again, if she didn't know what he was doing.

Similar to how Batain had implied though, his parents seemed to be both cautious and joyful. Both of them knew the precarious situation which was also part of why Emelie wanted Lucas closer to her while he was still an infant.

Conduit magic, like all branches of magic, can theoretically be performed by anyone as long as they have mana as magic is simply an expression of magic. However, in practice, the idea was ludicrous. Not everyone had the sensitivity required to do so, and for most, it wasn't worth the amount of effort required to obtain it. Even then, concepts such as attunement take hold. If you aren't attuned to conduit magic, then it'll be even more difficult. Most humans are attuned to various branches of elemental magic, and of the few that aren't, even fewer are attuned to conduit magic, and even fewer have the raw talent necessary to actually use it.

Lucas having the potential to use conduit magic was an incredible thing. Those with conduit magic often turned out as great innovators. They can shape their mana into anything, with equal strength, as long as they have the right conduit. A lot of interesting inventions such as a self powering faucet or a self powering furnace had been made because of conduit magic users.

Sebastian could taste the money rolling in, if his son managed to master the branch of magic. However, those dreams were swiftly shattered as he remembered who was teaching him.

Emelie, however, sported a pensive expression. This only lasted for a couple of seconds though before she turned her eyes back on Lucas. "And he didn't hurt you or anything like that?"

Lucas shook his head.

"Then it's great that he's teaching you that. Just don't sneak out and tell us if you want to leave. Don't tell anyone else about what your uncle Batain is teaching you, definitely not your other uncles and aunts." Emelie said, a small smile on her face.

Lucas nodded before heading off to his room, sighing upon sitting on his bed. He blankly stared into space for a couple of seconds before remembering to pull out his lightcube. After about half an hour of fiddling, his mother knocked on his door before entering.

"Remember to talk to your father about it, ok? He'll be busy soon."

Lucas nodded once more, prompting a short awkward silence and a nod back from her.

Sebastian managed his own couple of farms that was kept intentionally small so as not to mess with his siblings. Emelie also helped manage her father's land though she couldn't really do it as effectively, an hour away from it.

Once she left, Lucas fiddled with the cube for several more hours. Every time he thought he'd managed to fill it, he'd be greeted with the same box of shadowy water as before. At best, it'd gain a bit of light from any lingering mana that hadn't yet dissipated. Funnily enough, this was what kept him going for so long. He constantly gained hope that he'd managed to solve this supposed puzzle and it would all be crushed less than five seconds later.

Having nothing better to do, he walked back into his parents' room. asking where the library was. Emelie shared a look with Sebastian before deciding to take him. By now, Lucas had changed out of his overalls into more respectable pants and a shirt.

Lucas tried his best to memorize the path there but it was all for naught when he paid too little attention where he was, and too much to where he had been.

Looking up, he saw a stocky man looming over him, a deep frown on his expression. However, once the man saw him, a smile appeared on his face.

Bending down, he ruffled Lucas' hair, while smiling. "Remember to look where you're going. You wouldn't want to hurt yourself because you didn't pay attention."

Behind him, from around the corner, another man walked in. He was slightly shorter with a much leaner build, and the Cazenarch Family's characteristic blonde hair. "Medard, chill out..", the words caught on his tongue as he looked at Emelie.

"Hi miss, may I know your name?" The blonde asked.

The other man simply shook his head, still looking at Lucas the entire time.

"Emelie Cazenarch, and that is my son Lucas Cazenarch right behind me", she said, ushering the boy behind her. Immediately, the stocky man's face contorted, giving her a stare now, one of anger.

The blonde sighed. "To whom are you related, madam?"

"The sixth son Sebastian is my husband."

A small light in the blonde man's eyes lit up but he didn't say anything, simply wishing the couple well on their future endeavors, before taking his friend out of there.

Once the pair was out of sight, Emelie let out a breath of relief, looking back at Lucas to ensure his safety, before walking into the mansion's massive library.