Estelle, noticing that Vince didn’t care about anything but his books, decided to leave. She had yet to cultivate today, so she headed towards the training facility dedicated to her family.

On her way to the facility, she met her older sister, Elsa, who was also heading in the same direction.

“Good evening, dear older sister, Elsa!”

“Good evening, younger sister Estelle.”

After both made a deep bow, they stared at each other and burst out laughing.

“Big sis, are you also late with your training?”

“Well… so it seems. I was preparing my stuff to bring to the academy.”

“So… we won’t see each other until I also join the academy?”

“I don’t know…”

Seeing her little sister so dejected, Elsa decided to give her a bit of hope.

“But I promise that as soon as I get the chance, I’m going to come and see you, alright?”

“Okay!”

After a few more minutes, they stood before a four storeys tall building, built out of stone bricks and neatly decorated. There were two ten metres tall statues at the entrance, holding seven metres tall great-swords that penetrated the ground.

After the two little girls bowed in front of the statues, both moved inside. Two instructors were currently waiting for them in the wide corridors. Hence, the sisters had to go their separate ways. Estelle followed behind the instructor, and remembering the determination her attendant had shown earlier, she didn’t want to be outdone.

“Instructor Eric, may I be allowed to cultivate in seclusion today?”

“Ehh… sure, I’ll guard you, but tomorrow you’ll do extra sword swings!”

“Okay.”

Instructor Eric then brought her to a small room, and after Estelle was inside, he positioned himself in front of the door. Once inside, Estelle sat cross-legged at the centre of the room and tried to concentrate. She had been taught what she was supposed to do, but she was never allowed to try. In fact, probably Eric wasn’t convinced in her choice as he believed she wouldn’t be able to do anything.

Even though Estelle knew the most talented of her family only managed to reach the Awakening Realm at seven years old, she tried nonetheless.

‘So, first of all, I have to try and sense Mana. But I think I already do as I can sometimes feel a sort of wind even though I’m indoors.’

‘Since that’s the case, let’s move onto the second step. I should try to gather all the Mana in my body in a single spot so that I can condensate a core.’

Estelle started to focus, and at one point, she was trying so hard to move the Mana in her body that her face became as red as a tomato.

‘I’m doing something wrong… could it be that I don’t have to force it?’

She tried again, but this time instead of having a stiffened body, she was completely relaxed.

‘I sense the Mana reacting, but it doesn’t move! At least before it trembled a little bit!’

‘Let’s try to push it a little bit at a time, in short bursts.’

Once again, she relaxed her body. However, this time, she would momentarily stiffen some parts of her body, focusing on moving only the Mana in a specific limb or area.

‘It’s working! I see it slowly moving! But it’s not gathering…’

‘Maybe I should use more strength, the closer it is to my abdomen. I’ll also try to synchronise the short bursts all throughout my body, like when multiple people try to tow heavy objects.’

Once again, Estelle relaxed her body and periodically tried to move Mana in short bursts. Shortly after, all the Mana in the room started to slowly make its way towards her in an attempt to fill her little body that now had no more mana in it.

‘It’s working! Now it’s just a matter of endurance.’

More and more beads of sweat appeared on her petite face as time went on. But, the speed at which she was gathering Mana gradually increased. It was now a race; will she get mentally exhausted first or succeed in condensing a Mana Core?

Eventually, her face grew as red as a tomato once again, and all her clothes became drenched with sweat. One wouldn’t think she was in secluded cultivation, but she was doing intense physical exercise. When she was about to give up, she suddenly felt a slight vibration in all the Mana in the room.

All the Mana that was slowly making its way towards her suddenly came to a halt, making the walls of the room tremble slightly. Eric, who was still guarding the room on the outside, hurriedly opened the door.

“Milady, what happened?”

“I did it, Eric! I did it! I did it! I managed to condensate a Mana Core!”

“Seriously?! Let me check. Come here, quick!”

Eric couldn’t hide his excitement. If she had really managed to form her Mana Core, he would be passed down in history as the instructor of a genius. Kneeling on the ground, he gently put his hand on her little abdomen. He proceeded to inject his Mana into his hand, which completely covered not only Estelle’s abdomen but also all of her stomach.

And indeed, he found a tiny Black coloured Mana Core standing there in her abdomen. His expression went from one of a shock to one of sheer joy.

“It’s true! You actually awakened! We have to tell the Lord immediately!”

“Hehe, see? I didn’t lie.”

Estelle, seeing his reaction, thereupon stuck out her tongue. But Eric couldn’t care less and ran towards the Lord’s office while dragging the little girl along.

Once they reached a big double iron door, Eric knocked three times on the door.

“My Lord! My Lord! I have big news, please open the door! It’s of utmost importance!”

A tall blond man came and opened the double doors. Seeing the young man he couldn’t really recognise and the little girl whose wrist he was holding, he grimaced.

“What is it? I hope it really is something worth disturbing my work over. If not, I’ll make sure you’ll never get to set foot in this mansion again.”

“She awakened!”

“She awakened? Don’t joke with me. She’s only four years old. How can she awaken? Even my prided first son only awakened at seven. And he is a talent seen once in a millennium.”

“I’m not joking! My Lord should check himself!”

“Let’s see how long you can keep lying!”

The blond man then executed the same set of actions that Eric had done almost half an hour ago. When he confirmed that it was indeed the truth, he couldn’t help but stare mouth agape at the similarly blond little girl.

“Awakened at four! She awakened at four! Nothing like this had ever happened in this family! I think not even in the whole Kingdom! We are set! It’s time for a good change in power! Let’s rename this Kingdom the Sideria Kingdom! And you, brat, you have to sign a soul contract with me and never tell anybody that she has reached the Awakening Realm!”

“Yes, my lord!”

Eric was a bit disheartened, as he knew he probably wouldn’t be passed down in history at all. But keeping his head on his shoulders was his priority.

But this was only the beginning. After sending Estelle back to her room, he immediately moved to another room to make the Soul contract with Eric.

The contract only imposed Eric of never speaking about anything that happened that very day. It also imposed on him to never leave the mansion’s fief starting from that moment.

Such a condition was to make it easier to keep him safe. Even though the Soul contract prevented Eric from telling someone, it did not delete all of this from his memories. If a good enough wizard intervened, all of his memories might be forcibly read. Therefore protecting him was very important as well.

After he was done with all of this, Gilbert proceeded to contact his brother. He had a brief talk with him and told him what he was planning to do. After receiving his consensus, he made his way towards the final destination, the elders’ palace.

It was a very luxurious building, located in a remote location of the fief. The path that connected the palace with the mansion was filled with signs telling people to not trespass.

Once he reached the building, he slowly stepped in. What greeted him was a big hall, neatly decorated with paintings of people in combat uniforms. Some of them wore heavy armours, while others lightweight ones instead. Probably every one of those people had been portrayed while wearing their most cherished combat attire.

Gilbert strode towards the most prominent double door in the hall without hesitating, and once he was in front, he gently knocked.

“Great Elder, this is the current family head Gilbert von Sideria. I have to ask you to arrange a meeting with all of the other elders since I have an essential matter to discuss. The sooner, the better.”

“Little one, what happened? Is it that urgent? I can arrange it in one hour if it’s really that important.”

“Yes, please, in one hour would be perfect. I’m going to be waiting in the crypts. Be sure to bring everyone.”

“Fine. I’m curious about what happened, but I’ll refrain from asking and wait for you to tell everyone.”

After that, Gilbert made his way to the crypts, where he had the meeting room arranged for what was about to come…