Magic in this world is basically the ability to manipulate the elements which form all the matter from air, water, earth, human body, animals, monsters, plants, inanimate objects etc. So, as far as I can imagine it is pretty much a limitless ability if you live long enough to master it.
According to Sebastian the mana core develops along with the growth of body and the amount of effort one puts into developing his/her mana core; certainly, there's a factor of innate talent too, soul develops with the experiences and mind develops by acquiring knowledge. Generally, by the age of eight years mind acquires enough experience to stabilize the body after awakening the mana core.
"Sebastian, do you know how to fight?" Elijah asked while walking behind Sebastian in the palace corridor.
"Yes, young master I was trained in magical martial arts by the Lord Philips and" after a slight pause he continued "I fought alongside the Lord in war against Serpens kingdom"
Elijah stopped walking as he was shocked, 'I expected him to be experienced, but Lord Philip's apprentice, he was the Second head and the war he is talking about happened 400 years ago' he gulped on the sudden revelation "You ….."
"Young master?" Sebastian looked back at the Elijah who was frozen in his tracks.
"Never mind, let's continue"
Both Sebastian and Elijah arrived before the tower adjacent to the palace, the tower walls were made of crimson-colored stones and were at least twenty meters tall, a magnificent wooden door with the Fenice family emblem carved on it marked the front entrance. Tower was heavily guarded with soldiers patrolling all around it.
The door opened revealing a grand hall lined by white pillars on both sides, the floor was covered with thick carpets and the whole area was filled with Grimoires and people responsible for their maintenance were watching Elijah with expecting eyes, while observing his every movement, this floor was similar and not to a library on earth, similar as there were shelves filling up most of the walls while the central area was mostly empty except for a few tables and chairs.
Two grand staircases led to the upper floors, following these stairs, Elijah and Sebastian arrived on the fourth floor then entered an ordinary looking wooden door.
"It's a pool" Elijah said his thoughts out loud as he was too amazed at the sight before him.
"It's the central Sanctum of the Fenice family's magic tower, the whole place is surrounded by illusion magic" Sebastian explained with his usual professional tone.
There was a silver pool in the middle of what looked like a garden the size of a football stadium, there was a white tree with blue leaves with odd colored fruits by the side or adjacent to the pool. The whole area was filled with crimson grass like plants and the path leading to the pool was lined by vibrant flowers of odd colours.
"Shall we proceed young master?"
'What do you mean proceed? Give me some sort of explanation here I'm five years old dammit' Elijah mumbled inside his head however nodded in response to Sebastian's question.
Both arrived before the white mystical tree, plucking a crimson apple like fruit from the tree Sebastian handed it to Elijah and then pointed towards the stone bench beside the pool. Elijah took the apple and then sat on bench with clear confusion on his face.
"The mana is present everywhere and the magical arts involve manipulation of mana; mana is the essential building block of all matter including both animate and inanimate objects." Sebastian began his explanation.
"This tree is a spirit tree formed due to the presence of this spirit pool" he explained pointing towards the silver pool, "By consuming a fruit of spirit tree one can gain the ability to feel and observe the mana present in the surroundings temporarily, then during that moment you have to gather as much mana as you can to form a rudimentary mana core inside your body and thus awakening your magic."
Elijah nodded in response to the explanation, he then tried to draw an analogy from his previous world, but found himself unable to do so, there was nothing similar to spirit fruit or mana core in his life on earth, except for the popular anime he watched with his nerdy friend, Obito. During the COVID lockdown, in his second year of college, he was basically forced into the world of anime and manga after exhausting all other forms of entertainment available at the time. Elijah gave a heartfelt thanks to Obito for introducing him to the world of anime and manga which has helped him keep his sanity intact, then proceeded to eat the spirit fruit.
The spirit fruit was strikingly similar to an extra premium apple or some luxury apple, which by the way Elijah never ate, but he was thinking that way, it way juicy and sweet, he finished it in no time. There were no seeds inside, after finishing the apple, sorry the spirit fruit Elijah began to worry as nothing happened, a minute passed then another and even after five minutes nothing happened.
'What if I can't use magic, I never felt any mana around me in my last five long years, even when Sebastian used magic, I just saw it as some fancy light show. Is this some kind of prank?'
"umm, uh.. Sebastian"
"You should focus on gathering mana inside your body young master" Sebastian said in a stern tone.
"uh, but I can't feel anything different" Elijah mumbled in a low voice, maintaining a stoic expression not showing an ounce of worry he was feeling inside, it was his one of the best qualities even on earth - The Poker Face.
"How? is that even possible?" asked Sebastian with a confused expression,
'Duh, it's your world you tell me' Elijah retorted in his mind maintaining his poker face,
"Everyone has different perception regarding mana, however, there has never been a case in Fenice family regarding failure to even observe mana."
'Oya!, So basically, you are telling me that I am special one, the chosen one who has never appeared before in this family', Elijah remarked in his head, "so, what now?"
Sebastian began to frown and started walking back and forth in a panicked state, "I have to report this to Arthur and Alina as soon as possible" he mumbled
'wo ho ho! where's your etiquettes Mr. butler I'm still in front of you; they are lord and lady to you.' Elijah was enjoying this turn of events in his head, it was so fun observing the panicked state of Sebastian that he momentarily forgot about his current peril, 'I guess my days of magic training and becoming a supreme mage are over even before they started, well I was never cut out for that, how I miss my delinquent days in high school. This life and my later years on earth have made me too humble', " haaa!" Elijah let out a sigh with a frown on his face.