Thus ended the first day of their stay in the Capital Athenian, and the following days passed far too quickly to notice.
With Ethan stuck in meeting rooms daily alongside the emperor, he could barely enjoy the capital with Theo. There were exhausting sessions of nearly ten hours a day, followed by two more hours of judgment and monitoring the local police.
In total, there were five days in the capital and nearly sixty hours—two full days—of meetings with the High Court.
Theo did not complain. After all, with his father occupied and being in a place where no one would dare restrain him, he felt comfortable spending the day in the study room of Chloe, his cousin. They did not get along at first, as she was not good at mathematics—while he was a genius in exact sciences.
Taking advantage of the discrepancy in knowledge and experience, Theo decided to make a deal that firmly benefited him with Stephany. While he stayed in the capital, he would teach her the basics of whatever she struggled with. In return, he would gain access to Stephany's books, stored in the locked library of Castle Caesar.
But within the first hour of the day, he had already regretted the agreement.
If Theo was considered a genius, Chloe was the absolute opposite.
Of course, she had her particularities—talents in gathering information and negotiation. But she was a disaster in school. Her average never exceeded six—the minimum accepted. The difficulty became clear when a simple question was asked, just to test her knowledge…
"Chloe, what is ten times three?" Theo asked, while his cousin sat at the study table.
"Hmm…" she murmured in loud thought. It took her five seconds to answer, and she almost counted on her fingers. "Thirty!"
"And thirty divided by ten?"
She fell into absolute silence. It was embarrassing to admit, but her mind could barely process such a simple question.
In silence… the room remained.
Theo crossed his arms and frowned, unable to believe what he was seeing. Avoiding his gaze, Stephany looked away toward some shelves in the corner.
"Are you serious?" he asked after nearly half a minute.
"I don't know how to divide!"
"You don't know anything, it seems…" he said with a dissatisfied sigh. Crouching beside her, he grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down specific titles before handing it to Stephany. "Here. These books are very good—they'll be essential for her."
Taking the paper, she quickly began arranging the search throughout the capital.
Books that, to someone already educated, would be useless. Yet Theo treated them as the greatest source of knowledge in the universe. They were gold to him, as he knew how to dissect their information step by step—and no one else had managed to.
At first, teaching her was torture, because even Chloe herself did not know what she was looking for. But his methods were refined over the hours, increasing his focus and productivity quickly.
She understood the basics she needed on the first day and, on her own, was able to complete her school demands in an afternoon.
Of course, she had not become the smartest in the castle, but she gained a few points on the list. And it was also enough for Theo to gain access to his request.
At the end of the day, Stephany took Theo, in isolation, to the private library of Castle Caesar. He had almost dreamed of that place in the past hours. A source of noble knowledge, of the High Court, that even Ethan sometimes mentioned. No wonder the Duke had a small copy in the basement of the Lawrence residence, where no one could access.
And the real reason was magical science…
While observing the sea the previous day, Luanne had let some discouraging information slip. Unlike Egon, where information was scarce and they needed to share everything, the current continent was the opposite.
The magic system, as it was called, had been developing for nearly seven millennia—since Lumen's pact with Araav—and it was something far more complex, with an overwhelming degree of information.
Because of this, anyone who wished to teach new Deviants had to be authorized by the World Government and receive the status of mentor.
And even as a mentor, one was not authorized to teach everything they wished. There was a level of knowledge that adolescents, up to the age of twenty, were allowed to acquire.
This was called controlled teaching, where the Government could keep Deviants under control—simply to avoid dealing with individuals that were too powerful.
Having an army of Titans would not be appropriate; after all, who would control them? That was the government's excuse for controlled teaching.
However, noble families possessed knowledge beyond the Great Orders. Something private, reserved only for higher ranks of the army. For that reason, he was guided by someone authorized.
"The Great Orders follow a single pattern: academic agents go from rank one to eight, increasing their prestige through missions and significant advances in their studies," said Wendler, a retired mentor from the Order of Myrddin.
Wendler guided Theo through the immense library, between rows of well-crafted wooden shelves filled with books. With his hands behind his back, the mentor carried a magnifying glass, which he pointed at a tall book and read its name.
"After the eighth rank, agents are treated as members of the army. Respectively: officer, special agent, lieutenant, captain, general, colonel, and titan…"
Slightly manipulating the air around him, Wendler guided the book through an invisible current, making it levitate through the space until it landed in his hand.
"Since you are not an agent of the order and do not follow the predetermined ranks, you are an aspiring agent. Someone who only studies, but does not carry out the actions of an agent."
Science is magic; and vice versa. That was the title of the book Wendler picked up and quickly handed to Theo.
"This is the only content you can access at the moment. As requested by Lady Stephany and Priestess Owlye… It is intermediate access, so you may learn something…"
Wendler's disapproval was clear.
Theo was only seven years old and did not have the appearance of a genius—at least not in the deviant world. To Wendler, the Young Master would not even be able to understand the concepts. Even with the simplified expressions used by the writers.
"I will learn many things, Sir Wendler," Theo said with a determined gaze. "Thank you very much!"
Leaving Mentor Wendler to drown in his own prejudice, Theo left the library with a persistent thought. He had seen several titles on the shelves that caught his attention, but he could not even touch the dust that covered them. But that was fine, because he had obtained the most valuable information just by analyzing Wendler.
"It'll be enough to tear that look of disdain off your face, Sir Wendler!" he said as he left, causing Wendler's disdain to be replaced with unimaginable surprise.
In absolute silence, Theo hid himself in the guest room for the entire night. At first, he had difficulty understanding the formality the writer used, just as Wendler had predicted. But nothing that a few visits to the dictionary beside him could not fix.
Since he would have to return the book before leaving, he focused on studying and taking notes of the most important parts—not that the entire content wasn't—but the scientific article style was part of a hatred Theo had inherited from Liam.
The former general hated theoretical classes; he was better in practice. On the other hand, Theo was beginning to enjoy the explanatory style and was adapting casually. Then, after a long historical introduction he almost wanted to skip, he finally reached the important part he had longed for.
[Ki is the energy that shapes the thin layer of energy around the core; it is a barrier that prevents leakage to the other organs…]
Closing his eyes, sitting cross-legged, Theo interlaced his fingers and focused as he followed the methods described in the book.
Below the heart, in the solar plexus, he felt a small distorted sphere, without attempting to shape it. It behaved like a gelatin bubble trying to move in all directions. The main objective, from the moment one can perceive the behavior of the core, is to contain its irregularity.
A process that may take hours or days, but not excessively long. After all, this is where the second fundamental energy comes in.
[Psychoenergy: it is the energy that shapes a Deviant's control, and how capable they are of performing spells and enchantments. Thus, here come the five fundamentals of mana control…]
The first fundamental is conduction. The act of locating the epicenter of energy in the core, called The Spark of Phanes, and conducting the energy through secondary channels until it fills the body. And while applying the first fundamental, it is essential to develop the second in essence…
The second fundamental is control. After locating the epicenter and conducting the energy through the body, the Deviant must control their own energy. The first test, then, is to control Ki with Psychoenergy and shape a perfect form for the core.
With the perfect form—being a sphere without distortions—the individual can begin the second stage of control: filling the entire core with the main energy. This is where a dance that combines the first two fundamentals takes place.
When breathing, an individual absorbs mana from the atmosphere. If their core is positive, they absorb only positive particles; if negative, the same occurs with negative particles. Theo did not understand the difference between particles, nor should he at that moment, as it was an automatic system.
The respiratory system guides the particles to the lungs; then, along with oxygen, the particles of the respective core enter the system, while the opposite particles leave along with carbon dioxide, expelled during exhalation.
During that night, and over the following days, Theo dedicated himself exclusively to mastering the first two fundamentals of energy. But he quickly found a flaw in the common methods.
Since meditation was the traditional method to apply the two fundamentals in practice, it would be necessary for a Deviant to spend a great deal of their life to improve ideally. After all, cores have three stages: small, medium, and large, which determine the amount of stored energy.
To increase these stages, prolonged practice of the two fundamentals was required.
He spent so many hours searching for a solution that two days had already passed.
Due to persistence and irritation at not finding an answer, Theo slammed his elbows on the table and grabbed his hair.
"It should be simple!" he muttered, grinding his teeth.
It should—but it wasn't. There was no information, in Liam Mason's memories, that detailed the use of energy in that way. The source of power of Egon's sorcerers was Weltna, which only faintly resembled psychoenergy. A power that came from the mind, not from a solid energy core.
The knowledge of the most powerful man in his empire was superficial compared to millennia of studies and practices of an almost ancestral race.
"I'm feeling irrelevant in this…" he thought aloud, becoming upset with himself.
"Irrelevant in what?" Luanne asked, placing a cup of coffee on Theo's table.
When he turned, the Priestess quickly understood the notes and took on a heavy expression. Sitting on a stool beside him, she reflected.
"Studying cores, are you?"
"Yes…" he replied, taking a sip of coffee.
His mind clicked as he drank it. It was perfect—not bitter, but not sweet enough to mask the taste of coffee.
His thoughts flowed along with the caffeine.
"What's your doubt, dear?" she asked, noticing her own nails, which needed to be done again.
"The first two fundamentals… I'm almost mastering them, but there's a flaw. We need to be completely still and focused on conducting and controlling, otherwise we lose the effects and have to restart. It's a flaw that requires a lot of time to execute."
"Patience is the greatest virtue a Deviant can possess," she said, crossing her left leg.
Looking toward the other side of the room, at the open window with the curtains drawn back, Luanne admired the sky as she spoke.
"Did you know many high-level Deviants live with monks?"
"Monks?" he murmured, thoughtful. "Have you lived with them too?"
She laughed as if affronted.
"I live in a monastery, dear… But yes. And they are the ones who live the longest. After all, the healthier we keep the core, the longer we live: if you don't take care of your core, it explodes from overload and you die. We can live some time without our core, if we have to remove it. But if it's overload… sudden death."
Turning to her godson, Luanne rested her arm on the table and asked:
"The monks practice something we call energy cultivation for decades… perhaps centuries. That's why they have the healthiest cores among Deviants, and the greatest longevity. So how could such a method have a flaw?"
Interlacing his fingers and looking at her clearly, Theo presented the reason he felt so delayed with basic cultivation.
"Meditation is the biggest issue. We need to be focused… still. Motionless. Couldn't we do this while moving, while acting? Since we are always breathing mana, our body could get used to conducting and controlling automatically and…"
As he spoke, he noticed a curious expression on his godmother's face. She was serene, as if Theo were stating a fact rather than a theory.
"That's already possible, isn't it?" he asked.
"Curiosity is your gift, dear. Always keep that creativity…" she said, standing up and stretching. "But yes. It is an advanced technique of conduction and control. Something high-level academics may or may not master."
"Then how do I do it?" he asked, excited, his voice raised.
Laughing at his innocence—a laugh that reminded him of controlled teaching—she replied:
"I cannot tell you, but I cannot stop you from analyzing the masters. You can already see mana… use your sense to follow us, young star."
'Analyze the masters…' he pondered, activating what they called the Eye That Sees Beyond, where a Deviant can perceive the mana in the environment and within others.
Walking toward the exit while noticing Theo carefully analyzing her, Luanne nodded slightly.
"If you need me, I'll be wandering around the castle. See you later, little moon~"
Rubbing his eyes to rest them after using the simple technique, Theo dove back into his notes. Completely disconnecting from the outside world for the next few days, until Ethan came to retrieve him.
The same Duke of Lawrence who was in trouble.