What is she doing here? I inwardly screamed.

Unless the girl from the library was a body double, then there was no doubt about it; the person I blew off in the library turned out to be the damn princess.

I prayed to God, hoping that she wouldn’t act as if we have met before and thankfully; he heard my prayers.

“Is the food to your liking?” Andarion asked while cutting up a piece of meat.

“Yes, your majesty. I am very thankful for your generosity.” Aaron replied while poking a cherry tomato with his fork.

“You are the great heroes and our guests, it is only natural that we treat you with such luxuries.” 

Oh please, you just want to butter them up and send them to war. I inwardly scoffed.

There was a brief back and forth between the King and the other heroes, but nothing notable really happened. And in all honesty, being treated like a hero even though I’m not one felt awkward. So I elected to remain silent and savor the high-quality food while I still could.

As I ate, each time I glanced up, all I would notice was the princess gawking at me with a tint of slyness on her face. I do not know why nor, do I want to know why she kept on doing that. Perhaps she was annoyed at me for rejecting her?

Andarion stood up, “Ahh, yes, let me use this as an opportunity to introduce my family members to you. As you can see, this is my wife, Evelyn, the Queen of this kingdom.” he gestured hand towards her, “And these are my two children Martin and Valerie.”

“It is nice to meet the heroes described in the prophecy.” said Martin

“Indeed, it is.” Valerie mischievously smiled.

Andarion sat back down, sipped from his goblet and spoke, “By the way Mike, when do you intend to leave the palace?”

The atmosphere in the dining hall froze momentarily, “I'm planning on departing from the palace in a week from now. Currently, I am just trying to learn as much as possible about the world, so don’t end up like a fish out of water the moment I step outside.”

“I see… well then I wish you good luck in your studying.”

“I am not worthy of such kindness, your majesty.”

 

◊  ◊  ◊

 

Once breakfast wrapped up, I decided to attempt a spell I read about in a magical testing book.

With an inkling of excitement, I headed down to an empty courtyard that knights often use for training and recalled the contents of the book.

‘Mages use their mana to manifest desired magical phenomena through mana accumulation combined with mental power and catalysts depending on the magical systems. Some examples of catalysts include; mentally drawing runes, chanting phrases or hand signs, ’

However, the spell I was about to try didn’t even require a catalyst and would decide whether I had some aptitude to become a mage. It is known as ‘Light orb’ a Level-1 spell which costs 0.2 mana points.

I inhaled and calmly recited, “Clear your mind and then feel the flow of your mana.” 

My eyelids shut and I imagined mana flowing through a circulatory system parallel to my main one. Luckily, I was able to get a glimpse of what mana was when Alfred used it back in Vale so as a result; I had a brief idea of what to look for.

Faint at first, I gradually sensed the seed-sized amount of mana I had flowing throughout my body.

“Now imagine the spell.”

With all my might, I envisioned an orb of light illuminating the pitch-black area of my conscience. But unfortunately my concentration shattered from random thoughts and the spell failed.

“Tch.” I frowned. 

I attempted it again only to produce no results, and it was dawning on me that magic may not be my cup of tea. But I refused to yield, and endeavored for one last time. 

My eyelids shut once more, and I took a deep breath to clear my conscience. My focus shifted to the mana circulating through each vessel and on a whim, I attempted to incorporate it into my mental picture. Like a lightning bolt, I was hit by a sudden enlightenment the moment I tried to add mana to my imagination. 

This is it! This is what I needed to do to cast the spell!

Thanks to the sudden revelation the mana inside me swirled and the mental image of the light orb grew vivid. 

Now!

I released the gathered mana, forcing it to rush out and form a tiny orb of light identical to the one pictured in my mind. It was actually pretty dim in contrast to the sunlight, but regardless it was still the first spell I ever cast, so it satisfied me with just that.

[You have acquired the Mage class!]

[Due to a sudden enlightenment your mana capacity has slightly increased!]

[+2 Δ]

Completely caught off guard by the system manifesting, I hastily called it out to view my stat’s. 

[Status Window] 

[Name: Lucas Harrison]

[Aliases: Noble Brat, Mike Hunt]

[Age/Sex: 14/M]

[Class: Mage Lvl. 1]

[Mana Points: 4.8/5]

[Mana Recovery: 0.2/h]

[Δ: 4]

Not bad. I smirked at my poppy seed-sized mana capacity evolving to sunflower seed. But I still have no friggin clue about what the delta symbol means.

I dismissed the status window and tried to conjure a handful more light orbs. One by one they slowly emerged until beads of sweat were rolling down my forehead and mental capacity was at its limit. 

[Mana Points: 1.6/5]

Anymore and I won’t be able to carry on for the rest of the day… 

The orbs flickered and dissolved into the atmosphere at the beckon of my hand. 

“I wonder how hard it was for others to cast their first spell…” I leaned against an exotic tree with my hand against my chin.

‘Light orb’ was only scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of spell casting, if I wanted to be of any use I would have to select a magic system and work from there.

I staggered up and left the courtyard to obtain a grimoire from the magic section of the library. When I got there, I politely requested the librarian for permission to borrow a book—which he accepted thanks to my fabricated reputation.

My eyes skimmed through each shelf before arriving at a grimoire titled ‘Rune Magic: The Most Versatile Magic System (Level 1)’. I had considered learning eastern hand sign magic or chanting magic—which was more geared towards spirit users—but in the end, I opted for rune magic due to it being most prevalent in this Kingdom.

I vacated the library with the book in hand and returned to the courtyard. 

Studying was one of the things I found comforting in life. It was like I had an innate ability for it, so it came as a tremendous shock when felt repulsed by the pages.

The words made absolutely no sense and the runes just looked like organized scribbles named ‘Spell-Structures’. But as I continued, I gradually began to comprehend and then become enthralled with the contents. 

‘Casting spells with Rune Magic can be broken down into three steps. In summary; the first step is to accumulate the correct amount of mana in your body. The second is to draw the runes and form the spell-structure mentally, and the final and trickiest step is to release and control the spell.’

The spell ‘Fireball’ presented itself the instant I flipped to the next page, “Fireball. A level one spell which costs 0.2 points of mana each time you cast it.” I read out aloud.

Sounds good. I mentally prepared myself for the strain. 

My eyes carefully scanned each millimeter of the spell structure in hopes to replicate it during spell casting. Once finished, I cracked my knuckles for reassurance and slowly accumulated roughly 0.2 points of mana. 

Similar to a switch being flicked, I knew exactly when I had the right amount of mana prompting me to begin construction of the spell-structure.

The runes were engraved into my mind and produced a spell-structure much faster than I originally thought it would. 

Here goes nothing.

0.2 points worth of mana was instantly sapped out of me the moment I unleashed the spell. The released mana then swiftly formed into a tiny flicker of flames I could barely call a fireball and died out after only ten seconds. 

“Again.” 

“Again.”

“Again.” 

I casted the spell three more times with only slight success. What was I doing wrong for it to only produce candle lights?

“Am I...scared of the fire?” I wiped the sweat off my forehead.

The trauma from the bombardment had to be tampering with my ability to cast spells, there is no other explanation. Even the book states that your mentality could affect the casting process.

“No.” I slapped my cheeks with both hands, “I chose to learn magic, I can’t back out now because of some fucking mental health bullshit.” 

I used my newfound determination to cast the spell again. This time the mana smoothly gathered in conjunction with the now lucid spell-structure however, this time wasn’t drawing it. Instead, I was becoming the spell structure itself.

A tiny flame emerged and grew to the size of my fist in less than a second. The second it reached its peak mass, the flame fleetly flew forward and collided with a stone wall creating a small explosion.

“Nice.” I murmured with a minor headache.