CHAPTER 3 - LEARNING

Over a week had passed since Lucan decided to informally adopt Set. There were a few things that they had learned about Set. He could not eat normal human food. Any attempt would immediately be rejected by his body, causing him to throw it all up. The only monsters that appeared near the cabin were wolves, which limited his core diet immensely. Normal animals did exist in this world, but they were devoid of any mana, unable to form any cores.

“Aaaa, normally you wait a few more years before you start teaching your child how to read and write I think. But you seem to understand me pretty well after a week already.” Lucan scratched his head and looked at Set.

Set stared at Lucan with curious eyes. Every day for a week, Lucan had gone out to hunt lesser wolves for their cores. What drove this man to work so hard every day just to feed a random stranger? Don’t give him the ‘anyone would have done it’ crap, surely abandoned kids existed in this world too? Just how much responsibility is a kid? Even if Set was a rare exception, the fact of the matter was that it was an extra stomach to feed.

Lucan pulled out a red book and a quill pen and placed it on the floor next to Set. “Here, I bought this for you”. The book contained unrecognizable symbols that Set could barely make out but he could still tell that it was a book meant for kids to learn how to read. Lucan sat right behind Set and pointed to a word, “This word means…”

Two years had passed by quietly. Every day, Set was fully immersed into learning how to read the symbols in the book. After all, there wasn’t much for him to do around the house. Any other kid would be bored out of their mind, but Set knew he needed to find a way to grow his body. Who would be completely fine turning from a full-blown adult to a baby? The only clue he had was the green crystal that came from that direwolf. When he had first woken up in this world, he could not move at all. After he ate the direwolf core however, his body was strong enough to start walking. With his daily diet of lesser wolf cores, he was able to fully sprint without worry. The only conclusion was that cores would improve his body.

Lucan opened his pouch and took out a small dagger in its sheath. It was a wide straight blade made of iron with the grip wrapped in direwolf leather.

“Happy birthday, Set.” Lucan smiled and presented the dagger in his hands.

Set grabbed the dagger and let it rest on his hands. It was light for its size but it was very heavy for Set to hold with one hand.

“Are you finally going to teach me how to hunt now?” He looked up at Lucan. As soon as Set could start talking, he constantly begged Lucan to teach him how to kill monsters, but each time he would get shot down with a long lecture of how it wasn’t a game and to wait a little longer.

Lucan sighed. “Fine. But you have to remember, this is not a-”

“A game.” Set cut him off. “You’ve told me this a million times already, It’s not like I have a death wish. I’ve thought this through.”

At least, that’s what he thought until he was currently staring at a lesser wolf right in the face. Sweat poured out of his hands. His legs trembled violently. He clutched the dagger tightly and held it in front of him with both hands.

“Where’s all the big boy talk now?” Lucan smirked.

“Sh-shut up!” Set stammered. Even if he knew that Lucan would save him if he was in trouble, it was his first ever battle.

Okay, breathe... This isn’t even 10% of that direwolf. Every animal should have the usual weak spots.

Set lunged forward in an instant to strike at the wolf’s eye.

“Too wide! A smart opponent would have already stabbed you 10 times.” Lucan criticized Set’s movement.

The lesser wolf lunged in to bite at Set’s side. He had already anticipated this and jumped back in response.

“Good! Anticipate your opponent’s moves. Don’t ever rely on your reaction time to dodge your opponent’s moves.” Lucan nodded in approval.

Set lunged in a second time, careful to not leave any openings. Unfortunately, the wolf was faster and lunged first, biting at Set’s arm.

“Shit!” Lucan rushed forward in order to stop the wolf but it was too late. The wolf had already bit down on Set’s arm.

To its surprise, every single tooth that had bit down on Set broke off. Shards of teeth flew out and littered the floor. The wolf, confused and in pain, tried to run away but it was too late. Set had stabbed the dagger straight through its brain.

“Kid… just what kind of insane method was that?” Lucan facepalmed and walked over to Set to examine his arm. “Not even a scratch mark…” He sighed. “In any case, congratulations on your first kill, now I can teach you how to skin it.”

Set was also extremely confused. Had the wolf cores really strengthened his body this much? He dusted himself off and kneeled over the wolf. With Lucan’s instructions, he was able to skin and collect the core of the wolf in just a little over a minute.

“You’re halfway there to being an adventurer already!” An adventurer at 3 years old… Who would believe it?

“Can I learn how to shoot out fire like you did?” Set recalled back to the time when the burst of flame soared through the wind, saving him.

“Before I teach you this, you must promise me that you will not use this to harm anyone undeserving.” It wasn’t as if Lucan didn’t trust Set, but this was the universal promise that was put on anyone who officially trained in magic.

“I promise.” Set affirmed. Going out of his way to hurt innocent people would only make him become like the assholes who framed him.

“Very well.” Lucan nodded. “Mana is an element that exists in practically every corner of this world. Whenever someone casts a spell, they are essentially ‘borrowing this world’s power’. People who can cast spells are born with meridians in the body, which can absorb the mana flowing around them. With daily usage, these meridians become increasingly large, allowing the caster to generate more powerful spells.”

Set listened to the lecture and closed his eyes. He focused his body and could feel the mana flowing around him. It was comparable to a warm bath.

Lucan continued his lecture. “Every person is different in the elemental affinities that their bodies have. The element that you have the most affinity with is the one that is going to be the most powerful out of all your spells. This can be tested extremely easy with an affinity stone.” He opened his pouch and tossed Set an affinity stone. “Try to feel the mana flowing inside you and slowly send it into the stone until it is full. This will tell you your most powerful affinity.”

Set took the stone and closed his eyes. He slowly sent the mana into the stone, just tiny wisps at a time. He opened his eyes as soon as he felt the stone was full, excited to see the results.

All of a sudden, the stone broke.

“Kid! What did you do?!” Lucan grabbed the stone and could see a crack right down the middle.

“I did exactly what you said! I slowly sent mana into the stone until it was full!” Set looked down apologetically.

“Ugh” Lucan groaned in irritation. “Well, whatever, let’s test to see if you can cast the spell, hold out your hand and focus all the mana into your palm. Mentally visualize the spell being cast.”

Set stood up and held out his hand, with the other holding it up. He imagined the mana pooling in his hands and visualized a flame bolt shooting out. All of a sudden, he could feel intense heat on the left side of his chest, where his heart would be. The heat traveled through his arms and went straight out his palm, exploding a tree into bits.

[New fire spell created]

[Please choose a name for this spell]