Dante, having finally turned six years old, was preparing to come into contact with this world's power systems for the very first time. He was about to take the first step on his own cultivation path.
His father, Lux, entered the hall accompanied by two imposing-looking men: the hired mana and aura masters.
The mana master immediately stepped forward. With measured movements, he grabbed Dante's wrist and closed his eyes, concentrating on measuring the energy flowing through the boy's body. A long and tense minute passed in which the hall remained completely silent. When he finished, the man released Dante's hand, stepped back to return to his companion's side, and gave Lux a look full of helplessness while subtly shaking his head.
Lux understood the message instantly. He fixed his cold eyes on Dante for a few seconds before breaking the silence.
"You are six years old now. This is the age when training begins," the man started in his usual distant tone. "Normally, I would not interfere and would leave it entirely up to your judgment which path to choose. But, as advice from a father, I suggest you choose the path of Aura. In my youth, out of pure impulsiveness and stubbornness, I chose mana while ignoring my own father's warnings... Anyway, it's only advice. In the end, the final decision of which path to walk is yours."
With those words, his father turned around and left the hall, leaving him behind with both instructors.
Dante knew perfectly well why his father had warned him so seriously. Thanks to his knowledge of the novel, he remembered that Lux had tried with all his might to walk the magical path; although he managed to force the creation of his core by spending an obscene amount of family resources, he was never able to advance beyond that point. In this world, upon reaching that wall, many chose to remain stuck forever, while others—like his father—chose the painful and dangerous option of destroying their own mana core to start over from scratch with Aura.
Shaking his head to drive away those thoughts, Dante focused his attention on the instructors.
The mana master appeared middle-aged, although Dante suspected he was much older due to magical longevity. The aura master, on the other hand, looked around sixty years old, but possessed an imposing and perfectly proportioned physique, with powerful muscles visible beneath his robe. Neither of them said a word; they simply stared at the young heir, waiting for his verdict.
Dante frowned and sank into thought.
From the moment he managed to alter the timeline by saving his mother from the disease, he had been thinking day and night about which direction to take. He would be lying if he said he did not harbor the hope of trying magic. In the original novel, not much was mentioned about the original Dante's abilities, only fragments in a few flashbacks, but it could be deduced that his path had always been physical. In fact, the future children Dante was destined to have with the MC's mother—a woman with angelic blood—would not possess even a trace of magical talent.
Even so, he retained the secret hope that his status as a reincarnator had changed his body's stats. But harsh reality hit him head-on.
At six years old, before beginning any formal training, all children were technically in Realm 0: Latent Mana. In this natural state, energy is dispersed and chaotic throughout the body, without a core or real control, allowing only instinctive reflexes. At this stage, masters usually measure the mana passively accumulated within the body to determine a child's innate talent. Although it was not an infallible method, it served as a clear declaration of intent.
And in his case, the results were pitiful. There were practically no mana reserves within his body.
'What a disappointment,' he grimaced inwardly, swallowing the bitter pill.
He had entertained the fantastic idea that, if he possessed enough mana, he could pursue the Dual Path. He had planned to seek out the lost manual of the legendary "Ester System," an ancient cultivation method that perfectly combined both energies and had been extinct on the continent for decades. His secret goal was to steal that golden opportunity from one of the story's protagonists... but that beautiful plan had fallen apart before it had even begun.
'I could try forcing the mana path using my father's immense fortune... but I'd end up just like him,' he analyzed coldly.
Dante shook his head sharply and slapped both cheeks hard with his small hands to force himself awake and recover his spirits. The two masters blinked in surprise at the child's action but remained silent, assuming that the young heir was dealing with the immense pressure of discovering his lack of magical talent.
'It's not the end of the world,' Dante told himself, straightening his posture.
Now that mana was ruled out through natural means, he would devote himself body and soul to the path of Aura. He placed a hand on his chin, seriously analyzing the situation.
Unlike magic, Aura was not well regarded by high society; nobles and people of power often looked down on this path, labeling it as "the path of commoners and the poor." And they did not do so without good reason: unlike mana, the current Aura of the world did not possess such overwhelming area-destructive power, did not grant the advantage of extending life expectancy, and, most importantly... the system known to humanity was incomplete!
Due to the decline of knowledge over the ages, most current warriors only knew and practiced three Aura Realms. People simply stopped delving deeper into it because they saw no long-term benefits.
However, Dante possessed knowledge from the novel. He knew that in the past there had been a legendary warrior who managed to complete and record all 8 Aura Realms, achieving absolute transcendence, with the misfortune that he died before he could share his legacy with humanity. Furthermore, although Aura did not grant extra centuries of life, it possessed a wonderful aesthetic quality that magic envied: once a certain level was reached, the user's physical appearance would stop aging entirely. And in terms of raw power and individual destructive capability, it did not fall behind any spellcaster.
Dante did not possess the fallen warrior's complete manual at this moment, but he knew exactly where it was hidden. And fortunately for him, it was concealed within barbarian territory, the homeland of his new stepmother. Obtaining it would not be an impossible problem in the future.
With fervor shining in his eyes, Dante planted his feet firmly, raised his arm, and pointed directly at the muscular old man.
"I choose you! I will become an aura warrior."