With a snap of his middle finger and thumb. He says with a loud voice that echoes in the entire room: "High."
Vwoom
The heat of the blue flames hanging up in the room increases acutely.
The room illuminates with a sublime blue glow and I can see the broad amplitude of the room.
It's an underground room that's so spacious that I can't see the four walls of the room, I can only see the parts of the room where the blue fire burns more brightly in and the other regions of the room are completely enclosed with darkness.
It seems like Alexander doesn't want me to see more than I'm seeing. But even the sight I see under the blue light of the room is already... Extraordinary.
There are various cube-like glass cases lined up in the room, the lines of glass cases cannot be counted as they line up into the dark side of the room.
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9... They keep going.
And the glass cases are numberless.
As I follow behind Alexander, we walk past the various glass cases in the room.
All the glass cases reflect the blue light of the flames from the bulbs, causing an enchanting sight. My heart tingles at the sight of the room.
What could my gift possibly be?
As we walk, I see the contents of the various glass cases. There are pieces of jewelry of different types. Some of them are necklaces, some weirdly designed bracelets with runic letters and hieroglyphs on them, some are rings, some are... Unidentifiable, while most of them aren't even jewelries but are clothes.
Is he gonna give me jewelry? What are we even doing here?
Suddenly, Alexander halts his movement.
"In all the square prisms present in this room, there are various artifacts. In this room, under the witness of me– Alexander Von Flameworth, the Patriarch of the Flameworths, you shall choose your artifact."
Yes, before we entered the room, he did say something about artifacts. But..
"What are artifacts?"
I mean, I know that artifacts are man-made objects that have historical and cultural significance, but this is another world, one where the common logic of Earth doesn't apply, so the knowledge of artifacts that I have could be different from what they really are in this world.
This guy bleeds lava and controls fire, so why won't Artifacts be different? They may be magical or something.
He turns to face me, and as our eyes meet, I shudder slightly and compose myself, and I where a fierce look on my face.
He smiles and nods calmly to himself.
"Artifacts are objects, ancient objects crafted or modified by ancient men."
I arch my brows slightly.
That's not so different from what I know.
"But they carry magical capabilities and different powers. The ancient men... They had special abilities and techniques, one of which they called 'Mana craft' that allowed them to make these artifacts. But those abilities have all been lost."
His voice carries a strong tone.
Yeah, it's different from the one I know alright.
"So I get to choose anyone?"
His lips slowly curl upwards into a heart-stopping smirk.
"Choose? Hahaha, no no no" He starts chuckling, and his tone drops from serious to playful. But it becomes stern again.
"You can't choose your artifact, Charles. Your artifact selects you."
"I'm confused."
He nods his head.
"It's a normal thing to be confused. You're supposed to receive your artifact after you graduate from the Imperial Academy, but with the rate you're growing, I decided you had to do it now."
I opened my mouth to speak but I closed it back, the question I was about to ask was stupid.
"Even your eldest brother only got his artifact after he graduated, but you... You're a different breed. I feel like your capabilities aren't to be restricted to this family, you might leave."
How did he know? After a few years, once I've learned the location of Ludia, I'm off.
"And judging by how the air around you is rippling and your mass of gravity around you is shaking, I figured you'll soon get your first circle, there is only so much mana the cells of your body can handle, it needs to be stored.
Mana itself seems to... Love you, because the speed with which you're gathering mana is too fast. Much too fast."
What's with the speech? I just wanted to know more about the artifacts, and now he's hyping me up. Well, I'm used to it now...
"Ah, I got sidetracked. Just know that the countless artifacts here have been obtained by our family for generations. And another fact that'll clear your confusion is that to get an artifact, you must first infuse mana in that..." He points to a small square platform in the middle of the room that's made of block and has various runic designs on it. I didn't notice it before, but it's in the middle of two glass cases that are larger than the normal ones.
"That thing. It sends your infused mana to every glass case present in this room, they're connected underground."
So much irrelevant explanation.
"I see. But there's one problem."
I tell him cautiously.
"And what's that?"
"I have no idea how to manifest or manipulate the mana in me, not to talk of infusing it to an object outside my body.
I can feel and sense all the mana in every cell in my body, I can feel it, but... I can't utilize it, I haven't learned it yet."
He mused, and after a few seconds of pondering, he just shrugs with an 'I dunno man that's your problem' grimace.
"You'll learn that from eh... What's his name again? Krais?"
"Klaus. The vice-captain."
"Ah, yes, you'll learn it from Klaus. But you don't need to infuse your man's with your will, you just need to place your hand on the rock thing, and some mana from your body Will be sucked in."
This sounds all shades of suspicious, but okay.
I nod my head in understanding.
"Go place your hand on it. Claim your artifact."