The following morning, Kyle is summoned alone to the courtyard.
The air feels different today.
When he arrives, he sees Marshal Glauderia standing beside a hooded, masked mage wrapped in dark robes. The mage's presence feels… wrong. Empty. Like a void that shouldn't exist.
"This is Umbra," the Marshal says. "He'll be teaching you the basics of mana and proper control."
Umbra lets out a low scoff."If he's as talented as you claim, there shouldn't be any need to go easy right?."
She glances at Kyle. "Work hard. I'll be waiting for you."
Kyle smirks. "You won't have to wait long, I've been dying for a rematch."
For the first time since they met, Glauderia laughs.
Then she leaves.
Kyle turns back toward Umbra and nearly jumps out of his skin. Umbra is suddenly right in front of him. Kyle hadn't sensed a single thing.
"It's useless trying to feel my presence," Umbra says calmly. "You won't."
Before Kyle can react, a dark rune ignites beneath their feet.
The world folds.
Their shadows swallow them whole.
When Kyle opens his eyes again, he's standing in an enormous underground chamber, walls lined with floating grimoires, ancient staffs, mana orbs, enchanted blades, broken relics, and forbidden artifacts.
It looks like a mage's heaven.
Umbra gestures to the floor. "Sit. We begin with meditation."
Kyle obeys.
Umbra places one hand against his back and releases a thin stream of dark mana into his body.
Kyle stiffens.
"This feels… familiar," he says quietly. "Like when I fought Zach and then later when I fought the Marshal."
Umbra hums. "Your channels aren't fully open. That's why your mana output is unnaturally unstable."
He pauses."When did you awaken your mana?"
"…Recently."
Umbra's head tilts. "That makes no sense. Your mana is already too dense for a new awakening."
He thinks for a moment.
"Do you wear anything constantly? Jewelry. An accessory."
Kyle's chest tightens.
"I used to have a pendant… from my mother. It broke in a fight."
Umbra's gaze sharpens.
"…That may have been a mana-restricting artifact."
Kyle's breath catches.
Umbra raises his hand. "Stay still. I'll force your channels open."
Kyle hesitates. "Wait-I don't think-"
"Shut up," Umbra snaps. "It'll only hurt a little."
Then suddenly, BOOM. A violent surge of dark mana floods Kyle's body.
Pain erupts through every vein. But suddenly, Kyle's mana violently erupts and devours Umbra's power entirely.
Umbra stumbles back in shock.
"My mana… was consumed?"
Kyle's hair begins to grow. Then his hair changes color rapidly to dark gray then to pure white.
Umbra steadies himself. "Keep circulating it. Don't stop."
Kyle remains in meditation for five full hours, forcing his mana through every channel until his body finally collapses from exhaustion.
Umbra exhales slowly.
"…Your mana capacity is already that of a 5th Circle mage."
Behind the mask, the Archmage is smiling like a madman. After Kyle recovers, Umbra leads him forward again. "We're heading to a ruin. Attribute confirmation and real training."
Kyle smiles. "Whenever I activate mana on instinct… it feels cold. So I think I'm Ice or Water."
Umbra stops walking.
"…Ice."
Kyle looks up.
"Ice is not that common," Umbra continues. "Ice is extremely rare and most who awaken with that attribute don't become that strong."
He pauses.
"And the only family in this kingdom ever recorded with powerful ice attributes…"
Kyle listens.
"…were the Pure-Blooded Midgars."
Kyle freezes.
"…They were exterminated," Umbra adds flatly. "Feared for their power. Descendants of the Firstborn of the First King. Their main lineage was as powerful as the royal family itself being able to freeze battlefields with just their blades and they once had a head so powerful, it was said that he could freeze the very essence of time."
Kyle's pulse pounds in his ears.
Umbra continues.
"I witnessed their strength once. During the Monster Siege."
He turns slightly.
"The late Grand Duke Lloyd Midgar saved the Landergrey estate along with Grand Duke Drake Oriana… then walked he into the Arayana Forest alone back when it was the Dark Forest."
Kyle swallows.
"There was a dragon living there," Umbra says."Lloyd went in alone."
Silence.
"Three weeks later," Umbra finishes,"he walked out alone. The dragon… and everything else inside the forest… was dead or frost particles."
Kyle's eyes widen before he started smiling
"Then I'll surpass him."
Umbra scoffs as his eyes linger on Kyle's face and for a split second, he thinks...
You really do look like him.
But he says nothing.
"Stand still," Umbra says instead. "We're teleporting again."
Darkness folds inward.