Haa, no idea, on the bright side I'm still a baby and I have years ahead of me, on earth no child is expected to have dreams or goals at this age, but what if this place is different, their customs are different, who's to say their children don't mature early. Wait a minute, maturing early or not, this might be an advantage, I can get a head-start, still, get a headstart on what exactly?'
'This is a world of magic, nobility and different customs and I'm currently the son of a noble though I'm not sure of what rank, still, as the son of a noble I'll be expected to succeed my father, so I definitely need the knowledge and etiquette of nobles, I can't act the same way as 'MATTHEW' I'm 'ORION' now so I have to act like an Orion.
'Then there's the issue of strength, I've read enough novels to know that this worlds survival of the fittest will greatly depend on strength unlike earth which depends on riches and connections, it's a magical world so a person's strength must be tied to his/her ability to control magic, still I have no idea on how to learn magic, I'm sure I'll be thought in the future but then I'd have wasted my head-start, it's at times like this I wish I had a system to pop-up and guide me. No, I'm the master of my own life, I can't wait for a system that might or might not come.'
'What do I do, what do I do….'
'In most magical settings, there should be something called mana in the air around us, something like an ubiquitous micro-organism in our environment, and a person just has to draw the mana in. Hmm, draw the mana in.
On Orion's baby face, you could see signs of struggle as if trying to breathe but finding it difficult.
'Okay, that was a burst, all I did was hold my breath, I have no idea how to draw something I've never seen or felt, wait a minute… felt, I've definitely never seen anything like mana in the air, but maybe I can feel it, feel it…. I just have to relax, concentrate, and feel something I have never felt before… No big deal.
Orion closed his eyes, steadied his breathing, relaxed his posture, and started concentrating. This was a first for him, so he found it difficult to do nothing for such a long period of time, but he eventually got the hang of it.
He felt so relaxed and in tune with his environment, it felt somewhat like sleeping but still retaining your consciousness, Orion remained like that for about thirty minutes, luckily no one had entered the room to interrupt, yet he still couldn't feel anything, he began to doubt if he was even going to be successful, of course the whole concept of feeling the mana in the air was simply a conjecture, he had nothing to base it on.
He was about to give up when he suddenly started to feel something on his skin. It felt warm yet cold at the same time. This wasn't the first time Orion had encountered such a situation; he'd felt the same comfortable touch in that dark environment he suspects to be his mother's womb.
The contradiction between hot and cold was surprisingly soothing.
'Ha, I could get used to this feeling,' Orion said with a face full of bliss.
'I have to focus, what an addicting feeling, this must be the mana in the air, great!, step one complete, now I just have to find a way to absorb it, I have to be careful, I get the feeling if I lose this feeling it'd be difficult to get it back, absorb absorb ABSORB!!!.... Tch, it's not working'.
'I can't afford to get frustrated, I just have to imagine absorbing, what absorbs, a vacuum cleaner? No, no I can't imagine myself as a vacuum cleaner, a black hole maybe, I am a black hole, I am a blackhole, I am a black hole…..'
Suddenly the foreign mana started responding to his will and gathering into his body, surprisingly it didn't stop even when entering he's body, it started moving in a particular direction, like a black hole the mana started converging in his solar plexus, at some point he no longer had to guide the mana into his body, the mana simply moved into his body by itself, like a real black hole was in his body.
'Hmm, now that I've gotten the hang of it, what's next? I don't think anything's changed in my body, still, if what's happening is what I think, it'd probably take a while before anything changes.'
'So I have three objectives now'
-Gather mana in my solar plexus-
-Gather information about this world-
-Learn the customs, workings, and etiquette of nobility-
'Easy enough, I just have to take it bit by bit'
Orion finally felt relaxed; he'd set his short-term goals, now he just had to work towards them, and the long-term ones could come later.
He suddenly yawned, and an overwhelming amount of drowsiness suddenly overtook him.
'Damn, this baby body is seriously going to hinder my progress, it's still better than not starting at all anyway, when I wake up, I'll pick up where I left off'
Orion finally fell asleep with the blackhole still fully active and absorbing mana.
Somewhere else in the mansion, Aurora could be seen walking majestically with her golden gown flowing behind her, a subtle frown on her face, something about her movement unexplicably enchanting.
An aged man with silver hair and a properly trimmed beard, walking behind her as if daring someone to make a move against her, a long sword on his right side.
"How did he get so far in?" Aurora asked without looking back, maids and guards alike bowing in her presence.
"We have no idea, my lady, he hasn't spoken a word since his capture. Miss Iris is currently with him, still trying to extract information." The aged man replied, keeping up with her pace, he couldn't understand how she could move so fast yet be graceful at the same time.
All of a sudden, Aurora stopped in her tracks.
"Iris wasn't able to extract any information," Aurora said with astonishment on her face.
"No, my lady, she is still in the process, but so far we haven't been able to draw anything from him." The man replied with a straight face, a hint of frustration creeping in.
Aurora resumed her walk with the man following behind.
"Any sign of this being a distraction, I doubt a single man would be able to breach the forest without any aid; there would be others working with him," Aurora asked.
"None so far, my lady, we've activated the magical sensors across the forest and deployed enough guards to scour the forest as per Miss Iris's instructions."
"Very good, if you notice anything out of the ordinary, report immediately," Aurora replied with a stern expression.
"As you wish, my lady," The man replied with a bow.
They continued their walk in silence, with the number of maids and guards thinning the further they went.
There was a strange silence the further they went, with the heels under Aurora's feet being the sole indication of human presence.
They eventually got to the front of a huge gate, looming massively over them, one could imagine what sort of beings were held behind.
The guards, noticing the arrival of the lady of the house, quickly bowed.
"My lady!!" they said in unison.
Aurora nodded back while approaching the gate before placing her hand on the strange blue orb jutting out.
The orb shone with a resplendent blue before humming in acknowledgement of her title, the gates resonating with the orb opened before her.
Aurora, seeing the gate opened, quickly walked in, the man tailing behind her.
They walked for a few minutes before encountering a round platform with a board of mechanical functions extending from it.
They both climbed the platform with the man extending his hands to the board, inputting data with practiced ease, showing his familiarity with the interface.
A silver glow covered them before they vanished from the platform completely.
They appeared in front of a glass encasement, several guards surrounding it.
The guards, noticing Aurora had bowed immediately.
In the glass encasement, a woman was seated, a beauty by all the standards with luscious silver hair framing her face, her figure a sight to behold, her beautiful face tainted by the frustration, anger, and disgust etched on it.
In front of her sat a man chained and handcuffed like a criminal who had committed the worst of crimes, his face and body bruised and battered a testament to the various degrees of torture he'd endured, yet beneath all the pain and blood, his face remained resolute as though awaiting the inevitable.
Aurora looked at the woman in the glass room before letting out a sigh and entering.
The woman's face snapped to the entrance, about to reprimand whoever interrupted, but her expression changed as soon as she saw Aurora.
"My Lady," She bowed, addressing Aurora.
"It's alright, Iris, you can be at ease," Aurora answered with a warm smile.
Iris was Erevan's younger sister. She was naturally close to Aurora, but in front of a stranger, she had to show deference to the wife of the patriarch, regardless of their relationship.
Iris didn't notice Aurora's entry as the room didn't allow visibility of the surroundings to those inside.
Iris quickly directed Aurora to the only seat available, standing beside her as they watched the man.
The frustration in Iris's gaze was palpable; her fist clenched and jaws tightened, she was frustrated by her own incompetence to interrogate and draw information from a lowly intruder.
Aurora naturally noticed this but didn't comment, everyone had their battles, besides, she'd known Iris from a young age, she wasn't one to be consoled.
Instead, she turned her gaze to the intruder, her golden eyes radiating an intensity that made him shiver; he could tell she was different.
Since he arrived in this prison, he'd been steadfast in his refusal to mutter a word, he denied them anything to work with, and he'd rather face hell than open his mouth.
Yet in front of this woman, he felt his confidence shaking, raw, unadulterated fear over-washed him, like a prey about to be devoured, he could tell, this woman would make him feel pain beyond what he could ever imagine, this was beyond killing intent, she was infusing him with fear.
His rational mind told him she was doing something, she was playing with his mind, a technique probably, he'd never encountered it, but his experience in this life had taught him to never underestimate the capabilities of magic, his mind and heart contradicting in their commands, one saying resist, the other saying RUN.
"What's your name?" Aurora asked, her voice carrying the intensity of a monarch.