"Red!"

A board game was placed in the table in front of me.

"You ready for round 2?"

As I lifted my head, I saw a woman with dark hair in a pigtail, grinning from ear to ear.

"Have fun you too."

My mom said as she left the house.

I then looked back at the woman in front of me.

When she saw me not answering, she began to smirk.

"What? Are you scared?"

I became dumbfounded.

Is she a child?

"Um... Nancy, I have a request."

She continued smirking almost as if not listening to what I have to say.

"I'll listen to you after you beat me at this game. And I'm not losing to a first-timer."

"You already did though."

"Twice! I'm not losing to first-timer twice!"

"I think you should worry less about the first-timer part and more on the fact that I'm only 5 years old."

I guess you could say that technically I'm not really 5 years old. If you add up my age from my previous life that would make me 29... But she doesn't know that.

*Sigh*

"If I win, would you listen to my request."

"Sure. By the way, I was going easy on you last time because like you said, you're only 5 years old."

"Is that so? Well, I hope you'll go easy on little ol me again because I really want that request."

"Hmp, Not a chance."

By the way, the game we're playing is actually very similar to chess, so technically this isn't really my first time... But she doesn't need to know that.

***

"So about my request, would you please answer some of the questions that I have prepared."

"I'm listening."

"Great! Here's a list of questions that I prepared beforeha- what are you doing?"

As I was talking, she slowly slid the board game towards me.

"Didn't you say you'll listening to my request after I won."

"Hu hu hu, I only said I'll listen. I never said I'll actually do any of them."

I stared at her with a bemused expression.

Seriously... is she a child?

And so begins round 3.

***

"Alright, alright I'll answer your questions"

"All of them right?"

"Well..."

"Right?"

I looked at her with a serious expression. By the way, we kept playing for 2 more rounds.

"Fine. I'll answer what I can"

She said as she grabbed the paper I was holding.

"What's with that scary look, you remind me of your mom."

"What? Mom is the gentlest person I know."

"Huh? Oh, right she- wait! Hold on."

She looked at the paper containing the questions that I wrote.

"What's with these questions!?"

"What about it?"

She looked at me with a bit of confusion but then made a gesture that seems to indicate that she remembered something.

"Oh right, you're a prodigy."

What?

Now it was me who was looking at her with confusion.

"Where'd you heard that from?"

"From your mom, also your dad. They kept boasting about how much of a prodigy you were that I finally grew curious. At first, I was a bit skeptical but boy they weren't kidding."

She said in a cheerful manner.

I was looking back at the things that I did, but nothing really came to mind that would make me a prodigy. But then I remembered.

Oh right, I'm supposed to be only 5 years old.

This realization made me feel less like a prodigy and more of a moron as it seems like  I would sometimes forget that I was supposed to be a child and act not my age.

I facepalmed at my own stupidity.

Well, at first, I did try to act my age and was always constantly asking myself 'would a kid my age do this?', 'How does a child talk again?', 'Is this the age where a kid should be able to this?' but it was mentally exhausting questioning my every move so somewhere along the line, I just gave up.

I didn't realize I would end up being this careless though.

*Sigh*

And I even kept mentioning that I was 5 in the earlier conversation yet I forgot the moment we started playing, maybe even before that. Seriously, am I actually stupid?

Well, nothing I can do now. Guess I'll just ride this prodigy thing for a while. Makes it easier to move as I don't have to constantly remind myself that I'm supposed to be a toddler.

Speaking of toddlers.

"Nancy, aren't you also a genius?"

"Hu hu hu, where'd you hear that from?"

"From my mom, also my dad. They kept boasting about how much of a prodigy you were that I finally grew curious. At first, I was a bit skeptical."

"...But?"

"Alright, enough of that. Let's move on to the questions."

She gazed at me a bit then back at the questions looking a bit discouraged.

"...Do I really have to?"

I looked at her with an expression of a troubled innocent little child.

"Please big sister Nancy, you're the smartest person I know."

When it comes to magic that is... Maybe.

She flinched when she saw me acting all cute.

"W-well if you put it that way, I guess I have no choice."

Looks like being a child also has its merits.

"Great! Let's start with this, what's a magic formula?"

She put on a grim expression when she heard the question.

"Wait! What happened to that cute innocent child back then!"

"I hid him in the back of my mind, looks like the little scamp has its uses too."

"Let him out!"

"Don't worry, the back of my mind is actually quite comfortable. I even imagined him the highest quality floor matt to sleep on."

"That's child abuse!"

"Hey, I'm using my mind for more important matters, like learning magic or teasing a baby sitter."

She began shaking at my answer.

"Y-you're a demon"

I smirked.

"Well, you shouldn't have made that bet with me in the first place. As the saying goes, never make a deal with the devil. Now answer the question, Chop chop."

"Are you kidding me? Magic formula is one the most complicated topic in magic!"

"Then start with the basics."

"Still..."

"Are you saying you can't do it?"

She began smirking at my question.

"Hmp, who do you think you're talking to?"

"A sore loser?"

"The top of the class! That's who."

She replied with a smug look..

"Sure..."

I said, still seemingly unconvinced.

But those doubts soon washed away as she began teaching me about all kinds of stuff. From magic to aura, monsters and other races. As well as mana stones and magic artifacts.

I looked at her in awe, she was like an encyclopedia.

They weren't kidding.

I listened to her with enthusiasm and took notes as she goes in detail about certain topics.

If I were to summarize what I learned about magic so far, including the ones I learned from mom, it would be like this.

Once you've reached the age of 10. You will be able to feel the amount of mana in your body. The more you have the easier it is to feel, while the less you have the harder it is to detect.

Obviously, more mana also means you can cast more magic, as well as more powerful spells. But more mana doesn't mean it is easier to control. It does however provide you with much more leeway, like if you keep failing to cast magic, as attempting to cast magic also expends mana.

This means, the person with the highest mana doesn't automatically make him the winner, because even if he CAN use a lot more powerful spells, it would be useless if he can't actually execute any of them. Either if the enemy manages to keep breaking his concentration or if the caster keeps failing his chants.

Casting can fail either if the caster brakes concentration or the chant was incorrect. Getting injured doesn't automatically break their spell.

Chanting takes longer, requires more mana but is also more powerful and doesn't require much concentration. While chantless casting is quicker, less costly but is also less powerful and requires much more concentration.

Magic is done by taking mana and changing its properties.

Internal magic requires more concentration but is less costly. This requires more concentration because mana inside the body is alot harder to manipulate. But since the mana stays inside your body, mana cost is lower.

External magic requires less concentration but is more expensive. Mana outside the body is generally easier to manipulate but it also dissipates the longer it is out of the caster's body. Meaning if you want to make a fireball that travels far, you gotta pump it with lots mana.

There are 2 support magic that is considered to be the most popular. Healing magic and protective layer magic.

Healing magic requires a lot of concentration. This is why this type of magic is mostly done by chanting. Healing yourself also requires more concentration, as this would be considered as internal magic.

Protective layer magic is the other most popular support magic as it can serve as one's final line of defense from unexpected attacks. The thing about protective layer is that it doesn't become stronger the more mana you pour into it. It does however make it last longer.

Magicians commonly reserve a bit of their mana on protective layer. Once the protective layer has been activated, you don't have to keep concentrating on it. If you want to keep it longer, just pump more mana into it.

You can condense the layer in certain parts of your body if you want to make it stronger, but doing this makes the defenses on the other areas of your body thinner.

Protective layers can either be broken through sheer physical force or extreme temperature.

There are also elemental affinities, the higher your affinity is with a certain element, the easier it is for you to execute them. And when it comes to protective layer magic, the higher your affinity is with that element, the greater your defense is towards it.

Magic and Aura aren't exclusive to the human race as other races, including monsters, can also use them.

Monsters have the innate ability to detect or sense people through their mana or aura. Humans can also do this by using a spell that detects their surroundings, but doing so also reveals their location.

Monsters also have protective layers on them but are weaker compared to a magician's.

And magic formulas are... Well, it's complicated. The best way I could describe it is that it's like the formulas in math, containing all kinds of variables and parameters you can tinker with to get the most efficient use of mana as well as in creating your own spell. For us beginners, it's better to use existing spells as those kinds of things are too advance.

***

After a few hours have passed, we finally stopped.

"Fuuh... I thought babysitting was supposed to be fun."

She said in an exhausted voice.

"I had fun."

"Well, I didn't."

She said looking a bit angry.

I felt a little bad as I did kinda forced her to give me a basic run down on all kinds of topics. Even for a genius, I could imagine it being pretty exhausting recalling all the things you've learned from your school days.

I was trying to come up with ways to repay her somehow but nothing came to mind. I mean, there's that board game, but does she even have enough energy to play that? She did used her brain a lot just now.

"Nancy?"

"Yeah?"

"Is there anything you want to do right now?"

After I said that, her eyes, which looked dead a few seconds ago, started filling up with life.

She grabbed her bag and pulled out what seems to be another board game.

"Let's play this!"

"Aren't you tired?"

"I'm just getting started!"

"Is that so..."

Well, whatever makes her happy.

"Alright, I'll play with you."

"Ya-"

"But if I win, you'll have to teach me more about magic formulas."

She froze as I said that.

"M-maybe we should just take a little break after all..."

I couldn't hold back my laughter anymore after seeing her reaction.

"Hahahahaha, I was kidding. I understand how exhausted you are. In fact, I'm actually quite grateful for all you've done for me."

I brought back that innocent kid from the basement of my mind then made a child-like smile.

"Thank you, I mean it."

She looked startled at my sudden expression of gratitude that she began to stutter her words.

"T-that's okay, I also enjoyed t-teaching you a bit. Ah! enough that. Let's start playing."

Looks like she's not good with receiving sincere words of gratitude. Well, whatever.

"Alright then, how do you play?"

At my question, she began explaining the rules to me. Basically... it's checkers.

***

After a few rounds, we finally took a break. The score? 3 - 3. It's not like I lose on purpose, it's just... I was never really that big  on checkers. Even though it was a draw, she seemed quite satisfied with the result. At that moment, mom returned from work.

"Oh, looks like you two had a lot of fun."

"Yes! I even lost 7 times!"

Why does she sound so proud of that?

"Oh, congratulations."

Is mom teasing her?

"By the way, have you two eaten yet?"

At her reminded, both of our stomachs began to grumble simultaneously.

"I-It looks like we were having too much fun that I forgot to cook anything."

Nancy said looking a bit embarrassed.

"That's fine, I'll cook. you two just relax."

"You're the best Jessie!"

"No mom, I'll..."

I was about to suggest that I'll cook instead but then I remembered... I'm 5. Also, based on how she reacted at my suggestion on doing the dishes, I doubt she let me go anywhere near the fire.

"...I'll, set up the plates."

"Thanks, son."

"Umm... Is there anything I can do?"

Nancy asked looking a bit troubled.

"Hmm... If it's alright with you, you can go wash the vegetables."

"Roger!"

Soon, my Dad also returned from home.

"Ooh, are you guys preparing a feast just for me? I'm touched."

"Stop fantasizing dear and help cut the vegetables."

My dad looked a bit discouraged after what mom said.

"Huu... Sure, but what's with the feast? Is there a special occasion?"

My mom smiled then looked at Nancy who was humming cheerfully while washing the vegetables.

"Oh!"

What oh? What is it?

"Mom? Is it Nancy's birthday?"

"Huh? Oh, it's not that it's just..."

While looking at Nancy with gentle eyes, she continued.

"...I haven't seen her this happy ever since that day."

What? What happened?

I gave mom a questioning look but it doesn't look she'll elaborate any further on what she just said. It doesn't look like she wants to talk about it either so I just gave up.

I guess even geniuses have their fair shares of problems. Maybe I'll ask her about it in the future.