Read Kingdom Of Twilight :: Preparations

Five years passed in the blink of an eye.

Not much happened to Mesgen Josepy Kim on the outside, but internally, well...

I had already progressed from black mana to orange mana.

Ten years was the average age for a human child to first 'awaken' or 'solidify' their core, and it usually takes two or more years to advance the color of your core. And every time you reach a new color, it typically takes even longer to reach the next stage. In my past life, the age of a highly talented orange core mana user was 16, with the average being around 17.

It wasn't an exaggeration to say I was well ahead of my generation, but to my new family, who were unaware of my ability to use mana, I was a normal child. Of course, I'm sure the duke had his suspicions, but he was too busy being either a loving father or a proud noble to really investigate why I radiated so much mana. From his and my mother's point of view, I wasn't much in terms of talent. Most children would have awakened around their tenth birthday, and while my fake age was ripe for it, I was older than Mesgen by half a year, so was actually below the average. I mean - I've already awakened, but I never told them.

Just as Mother said, Father had let down his walls and followed his wife's example. He spoke more often to me and treated me in the same way as he treated his daughters, and never really showed any negative emotions to me. It seemed that I was filling Mesgen's shoes well enough in his opinion, and that was something I was glad of.

And so, for the 'tenth' birthday of his son, Arman Van Kim, with his great wealth and power, planned to organize a grand celebratory banquet.

As Mesgen had always been a sickly boy, he hadn't left the mansion much in his life, and when I replaced him, not much changed. So for the nobles of the land, it was their first chance at seeing the emperor's nephew, which quickly led to the event being a hot topic as soon as the first invitations were sent.

Although it was still the beginning of June (the actual banquet was on the 26th), the house was never at rest. With the emperor accepting the invitation, and even foreign dignitaries guaranteeing their presence, time was something the household lacked.

At the center of it all, Mother commanded an army of maids, workers, chefs, and soldiers to have everything made perfect (even her towering husband followed her commands without batting an eye). Thankfully, I didn't have to do much - aside from the occasional rehearsal - but that was fine by me.

Although I never enjoyed parties, I felt that this was an amazing opportunity. Not only do I get to meet that brat Teresa and our so-called 'children', but I also get to meet the descendant of lord Regil, the emperor Harman Van Kimaron.

Both events sure are something to look forward to, I thought as I gazed out a window.

Only two weeks left...

***

A major obstacle I was yet to tackle was my awakening. Josepy was half a year older than Mesgen, and that meant to the duke and duchess that he had no talent for mana since he hadn't awoken around his actual tenth birthday.

However, if Josepy had awoken in December, that would have been even harder to handle as the rest of the world knows him to be nine, and rumors would spread of a prodigy when he was only normal.

Although it doesn't seem like much, even for twins, if one were to awaken a day before the other, they would be given more support. This was due to mana being noticeably richer the younger you awaken, and even the span of a single day can change so much.

Basically, if I had awoken when Mesgen was nine and Josepy was ten, I'd satisfy my parents but surprise the world. If I awaken now, then I'd be late in the eyes of my parents, but normal in others' opinions.

And to add another problem, there was the fact that I actually awakened five years ago (but without the telltale explosion), as my technique differed from the modern method, so I'd need to fake it.

But considering how Mesgen is turning ten this year, I needed to 'awaken' as soon as possible, and due to the fact that I'd be doing it with an orange core instead of black, I'd need as many witnesses as possible so people don't claim I had any demonic influence.

So in the same manner as I had done for five years, I spent the June nights developing my mana, with the only difference being that I used the modern useless method.

Although grouping clumps of mana in my body into three concentrated cores was rather simple, that would ruin all my progress in spreading it everywhere throughout my body. It'd take more time, but if I absorbed mana from outside my body straight into the cores, it wouldn't disrupt my five years of effort and let the mana built up in the other parts of my body remain.

All I actually needed now was to have a 'false awakening', and blow up on my birthday. And from what I can deduce, the explosion that happens when someone awakens is probably due to the cores solidifying in the body. It seems easy enough to recreate.

And with this, my plan to 'awaken' on the day of the party commenced.

I hadn't touched a sword since I reincarnated, but I kept a wooden stick in my room to practice with whenever I got bored of meditating. Despite the massive difference in build between this body and my previous one that made my old techniques hard to replicate perfectly, I never really gave up practicing the sword over the last five years.

I guess it's lucky I didn't quit it completely. When speed is essential, the fluid movements of swinging a sword really helped the flow of energy in the body to be as efficient as possible. And if I want to get my body ready by the day of the banquet, time is a key factor. Here come a lot of sleepless nights...

***

So on the day of my banquet, I had orange mana spread all over my body, with three nearly-complete cores of denser mana located in my chest, right shoulder, and forehead.

Tonight was going to be very, very special.