Reincarnated as the third son of the Duke-Chapter 124 - The Awakening

124 The Awakening

A tidal wave of mana swept through the room, sending papers flying and shattering glass vials. Bookshelves toppled like dominoes, their contents spilling across the floor. Caught in the magical storm, Raymond clenched his teeth, fury flashing in his eyes.

"You bastard! What the hell did you make!?"

"Ughhh!"

Ian, who was barely managing to withstand the surging mana, could only groan as he struggled to keep his footing. But amidst the chaos, only one person remained untouched.

William.

’Unbelievable.’

William swallowed the words that threatened to escape his lips. If he so much as exhaled too sharply, the mana raging within him felt as though it would burst outward in a catastrophic wave.

’I expected it to be strong, but not like this.’

His entire mana network blazed like molten steel, the enhanced energy coursing through him with an intensity that should have destroyed an ordinary person. But to him, it was merely… refreshing.

Every time he so much as blinked, the surrounding air trembled in response. If simply moving his eyes caused this much of a reaction, what would happen if he swung his sword?

A small temptation flickered in his mind before he crushed it. Testing his strength now would be reckless—if he lost control, Raymond and Ian could be killed in the aftershock.

More importantly, this wasn’t a power he could wield yet. It wasn’t something he could control, but rather an overwhelming force reacting to his very existence, like lava erupting from beneath the earth.

’If I could fully contain and refine this power within me, it would be perfect…’

But right now, he was trying to dam a flood with his bare hands. The mana would eventually leak away, its potency fading. Unless…

A faint tremor ran down his spine, a mana pathway that had always been dormant suddenly reacting to the overwhelming energy.

’A path I never used…?’

Hesitantly, he opened it, and in an instant, the surging mana surged upward, flooding his mind without any backlash. A wave of clarity washed over him as something new came into focus.

’Mana…?’

Even without enhancing his vision, he could see it—mana, in vivid detail. The intricate flows within the bodies of others, the movements of Ian and Raymond now so clear it felt like he could reach out and grasp them.

Then, a name surfaced in his thoughts.

’Felicia.’

A prodigy who could see mana itself, predicting every movement, every strike with inhuman precision. Now, William understood.

’So this… this is how she saw the world.’

Of course, this wasn’t the full extent of her abilities.

Felicia’s talents didn’t end with her enhanced vision—she possessed an innate mastery over fine control, the ability to adjust her strength with precision, and an unparalleled gift for teaching others. Yet, having a fundamentally different way of perceiving the world gave her an overwhelming advantage from the very beginning.

’If my opponents were knights of equal skill, I could probably take on an entire group of them at once.’

Whoosh.

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William clenched his fists tightly, barely containing his excitement.

The storm of mana surging through his body began to settle, gradually losing momentum. The effects of the Nectar were finally wearing off.

"Is everyone alright?"

Thwack!

"Ugh! My Lord, now is not the time to speak!"

Whoops.

William quickly shut his mouth when he saw Raymond reeling from the sudden burst of mana that lashed out the moment he spoke.

Thankfully, it was Raymond who had taken the hit. Had it been Ian, the frail alchemist would have been knocked out cold.

A few minutes later, the last remnants of his unstable mana dissipated with a faint, crackling hiss, like the final embers of a dying fire. William braced himself for the possibility that his newfound vision might vanish alongside the fading mana, but to his relief, the enhanced perception remained.

’The moment I return, I need to begin training in swordplay immediately.’

He carefully scanned his body one last time, ensuring no traces of unstable mana lingered, then turned his attention back to the others.

"I was worried when you got hit by that mana surge earlier, but you seem fine. As expected of the Black Lion."

"That’s my line! What the hell was that just now?! Where did all that mana even come from?!"

Raymond’s voice rose, frustration evident in his tone.

"What do you think? The potion amplified my mana," William replied nonchalantly. "The effect was a bit excessive, but overall, it’s a good elixir."

"Excessive?! That was far beyond human limits! Any ordinary person would have exploded on the spot!"

Raymond trailed off mid-sentence, his eyes narrowing as he studied William with newfound wariness.

By all logic, no human should have survived that kind of mana surge. And yet, here William stood, utterly unfazed.

"My body is… a bit special," William admitted casually. "Poison might kill me, but an abundance of mana won’t."

"What kind of nonsense—are you hiding something from me again?!"

"I’ll explain later," William said, brushing the question aside. "For now, we should deal with him first."

Raymond followed William’s gaze and turned to see Ian slumped against a fallen bookshelf.

The young alchemist was barely conscious, his body trembling, eyes unfocused, muttering incoherently under his breath. The pressure had long since faded, yet Ian’s frail body was still reeling from the overwhelming shock.

"If he dies here, that’d be a shame," William mused, his tone oddly light despite the gravity of the situation. "He’s a genius who could turn the world upside down, after all."

Even though it was spoken as a joke, Raymond found himself unable to laugh.

No matter how he looked at it, William’s words weren’t an exaggeration. Ian’s discovery was monumental—one that defied conventional understanding of alchemy.

’This level of mana amplification…’

If consumed in its raw form, the potion would tear an ordinary human apart from the inside. But if it was diluted to a manageable level—something humans could actually withstand…

Even at its weakest, it would provide the equivalent of decades’ worth of mana refinement.

And considering the potion’s purity, even a heavily diluted version would still be incredibly potent.

If this potion could be reliably mass-produced, it would shift the entire balance of power across the continent.

A cold sweat broke out on Raymond’s back just thinking about it.

"Raymond."