Tomas

As he began to absorb the mana, Riven had braced himself for pain to come just like it had in the void.

But nothing happened.

In fact… it felt nice.

He closed his eyes and tried to search within his body to try and sense how the mana was being absorbed. He reached out with his mental senses to where his mana heart was and felt it beating rapidly with a soft yellow glow.

He then stretched his senses outside of his body and at first he didn't notice anything past the darkness of his closed eyelids.

But then, he sensed it.

Tiny white lights were floating around him, dancing in the air. He watched amazed as one by one, each of them drew closer until they reached a vacuum like suction in front of his chest and were absorbed.

Congratulations! Your understanding of mana has improved!

Reward: Mana absorption increased by 25%

The vacuum in front of his chest began to spin faster until all the dancing mana lights in his bedroom began to tremble and be swiftly pulled in towards him.

Absorbing Mana: (+25%)

(65%)… (66%)… (67%)…

The time it took between each 1% grew longer as the mana in the air began to grow more and more sparse.

A few hours passed and his progress bar had only gone up by 4%. His stomach growled and it was then that Riven realised that he hadn't eaten today yet. He had one last search but it seemed that he had absorbed all the remaining mana close to him.

As he got up from the bed and stretched his limbs, he recalled some of the knowledge he obtained from his family's library. It was said that one could increase their mana exponentially with the help of potions or areas dense with mana. It did mention one of the mana dense areas being located within the academy so Riven decided to make that his first task to do once he arrived there next month.

He called for a maid and requested a lunch be prepared for him. A little while later a servant arrived along with a man dressed in chef attire.

"Young master, please pardon my intrusion." The chef said with his head bowed. "I wish to speak with you in private for a moment if you would allow it."

Oh? Riven raised an eyebrow as warning bells sounded in his mind. Could this man be in cahoots with his step mother? Was she making a move this fast?

"I'll allow it." Riven nodded and sent the maid away. He eyed the shiny silverware set on the trolley that the maid brought in and he took a few casual steps towards it, ready to grab the steak knife and defend himself if needed.

Damn he wished he knew how to use his mana.

"What is it that you wanted?" Riven asked as he casually put a hand on the trolleys handle, right beside the knife.

The chef suddenly dropped to the ground sobbing and Riven almost jumped backwards, shocked at the man actions.

"Please forgive me, young master!" The chef cried, the man's chubby sobbing face reminding Riven of a baby crying. "This useless man has failed you!"

"Uhh…" Riven was speechless as he watched the man continue to sob on his bedroom floor. "Who… who exactly are you?"

"Oh, of course you wouldn't know who this useless old man is." The chef sobbed and removed his pristine white toque from his head, revealing a head of greying blonde hair. "My name is Tomas, I'm the head chef of the Counts household. I was… I was also very close to your mother before she passed." Tomas looked downwards as he squeezed his toque in his hands.

"My mother?" Riven asked, a frown forming on his face at the mention of her. Memories from his bodies previous owner flooded his mind but none of them were good.

Whenever the original owner of his body had asked about his mother, he was berated constantly and was told that she died during his childbirth. Candace would call him a murderer, blaming him for the passing of his mother. He would stay up nights on end, sobbing and calling for the mother that wasn't there.

Riven swallowed the lump in his throat and clenched his jaw.

"Amelia and I were very close - we grew up in the same orphanage and were hired into the Counts household together." Tomas explained, his sobs softening as his gaze darkened. "She asked me to take care of you should anything happen to her and I promised I would. Whenever I prepared meals for everyone, I would make sure you got the finest cuts of meat. I even used some of my wages each month to send small toys and gifts to you on your birthday but Candace… she just admitted… you never got any of it. She starved you and abused you and all the servants and maids here just turned a blind eye to it."

Riven was bewildered at Tomas's confession, unsure of how to react, he scratched the back of his head and motioned for Tomas to stand.

"I know you might be wary of me, and I know you don't have to forgive me for it is my own ignorance that I didn't check on you." Tomas said, his voice thick with emotion. He reached into his pocket and retrieved a small pouch and held it out towards Riven.

Riven took the small leather satchel and examined it warily before pulling open the strings and looking inside. Gold coins, reminding him of pirates doubloons he had seen in his previous life, were piled inside.

"It's not much, but I've been saving some money for you each month since you were born. I was going to give it to you on your birthday at the end of the year, but I suppose it would be of much more use to you now before you set off for the academy." Tomas smiled, his blue eyes squinting with the motion, causing more tears to escape.

Riven didn't have much knowledge on the currency in this world, but he knew a gold coin was worth quite a bit.

Rivens stomach knotted as he looked at the coins in the pouch. Even if Tomas was the head chef for the counts household, Riven was smart enough to know that this would be a large amount of money for the man.

"When I heard news about the young masters mana heart finally manifesting, I was overjoyed. But then when Candace's confession came out, all I could think about was how lonely you must have been and how hard you must have worked." Tomas voice broke as he met Rivens eyes. "Your mother would be so proud if she saw you now."

Silence filled the room as many emotions and memories swirled in his mind, some of his own and some of the previous owner of his body.

This man was nothing to Riven, and Riven knew that anyone could hide true intentions behind sweet exteriors. 

Tomas said he sent packages to him every year? Provided him with delicious food every day? 

So what.

The original owner of his body never received any of those things. So what change did it make now that he was confessing all of this?

Riven learned his lesson of betrayal before - he was different now.

"Eh? It's not your fault Tomas." Riven planted a fake bright smile on his face as he tossed the pouch up in the air and caught it again, the clinking sound of coins echoing around the room. "It's all in the past, right? All is well now."

"Young master…" Tomas froze and a fresh wave of tears began to stream down his face. "I promise I won't fail you again! I'll prepare all your meals personally from now on!"

"Yes, yes." Riven continued to smile as he ushered Tomas to the door. "I'll be in your care."

"If you need anything young master, don't hesitate to come to me!" Tomas continued to cry and smile at the same time and Riven gave him a pat on the back as he half pushed him out the door.

"Yes of course," Riven gave a small chuckle. "And thank you for the money, I will make good use of it."

"Haha! Yes!" Tomas laughed heartily as he waved and made his way back down the hallway, a gleeful skip to his steps.

Riven closed the door and the fake smile disappeared from his face, his eyes turning cold and dark. He clenched the pouch of money and clenched his jaw.

"I'll use whatever I need to achieve my goals," Riven said quietly as he placed the pouch in his inside pocket. "I know now that trust is a fragile string that inevitably snaps in the end. I don't need something like friends or family in this life because in the end I will be on my own once more."