After successful proving that Alex was capable of using magic, they spent the rest of the time before breakfast trying out different spells of different elements. While he performed the spells, Lucia watched excitedly while his father and Luna watched in amazement.

“This is incredible!” Lucia exclaimed once he completed performing all the basic spells of each element. “You can use every element, Alex.”

“Is that great?” Samuel asked curiously.

“Of course, it is!” She said, turning to look at him in shock as if it was obvious. “I don't think any of the council members are capable of using elements any more than four or five, but Alex could use ten! That's an incredible capacity!”

Both Samuel and Luna looked stunned by her words while Alex looked at his teacher with curiosity and asked her a question.

“How many elements can you use, miss?”

“Uh,” she began, looking sideways and forming an embarrassed smile on her face. She twirled her hair repeatedly and said grudgingly, “Three.”

“Well,” said Alex in a consoling voice, “that's still better than one,” and he moved forward to pat her on her back where his hand could reach.

“Argh! My student is consoling me!” Lucia exclaimed, looking unhappy. “It's supposed to be the other way around!”

He grinned and asked her, “So, what's next, miss?”

She took a moment to recover from the surprise of being consoled by her student before looking down at him.

“Next up is learning about the magic categories,” she announced in a firm voice.

“Categories?” He asked her, looking confused while raising an eyebrow. “Aren't they fire, wind, ground, and so on?”

She shook her head and explained, “Those are elements, Alex. What I'm talking about here are categories, which are basically the types of magic can be used as.”

“Oh!” He replied, finally understanding her meaning. “It's like attack and defence?”

“Yes,” she said with a nod of her head, “but there are a few more categories to list. Attack and Defence are the basic categories, but there are more elaborate ones such as Healing, Gravity, Illusion, Sensor, Boost, Transport, and Reality.”

Alex listened quietly to her listing out the category before nodding in understanding by saying, “Okay. I understand them.”

“You-You do?” Lucia asked with uncertainty.

He nodded and explained his version of what he understood them to be.

“Healing is using restoration magic to heal injuries, Gravity is using a weight manipulation magic to control how much we weigh, Illusion is using a falsification magic to surprise the victim, Sensor use sensing magic to feel our surroundings, Boost for amplification magic to become better, and Transport for using travel magic to go from place to place.”

When he finished, he looked at her questioningly and asked, “Am I right, miss?”

She was visibly surprised by his explanation before replying in a dull voice, “Yes. You're correct, Alex.”

He smiled at her words, but she felt unhappy that he was able to easily understand those categories without needing to ask her. It felt as though she was just there to point him in the right direction, and he could travel in that direction on his own. Even though she felt proud that he was such a capable child, she felt out of place at not being useful as his teacher.

While she was feeling dejected, Alex had moved on with his thoughts and was thinking about the last category that his teacher mentioned; Reality.

“What is this Reality category? Is it like magic that can change the shape of our reality? Does such a magic actually exist?”

Filled with questions, he looked up at her and asked, “Miss, what is this Reality category you mentioned from the list of categories?”

As if a pump was used to energize her, her mood brightened by his question and replied, “It is a magic that is capable of changing the very fabric of our reality. It's a powerful magic.”

He nodded in understanding and asked, “Yes, it is, but what I'm confused about is whether such magic exists or not?”

To that, she shook her head and stated, “Actual, to my knowledge, no such magic exists.” When he looked shocked, she hurried on to explain, “That category is something I added on my own because I have this feeling that such magic could exist. After all, our current reality is created based on the vision of our maker, so there must be a way to manipulate it as well, right?”

He nodded and said, “That's true when you put it that way, but… there's no proof.”

“Ideas are based on visions that come from the hope of discovering the unknown!” She replied to him quickly, looking excited. “It doesn't matter whether it exists or not, but the thought of envisioning the existence of an unknown magic is exciting to me.”

Alex was surprised by his teacher's sudden excitement at the thought of discovering the unknown. Then he smiled to himself as he felt that this way the life of any magician must be as they dove deeper into the depth of magic and tried to discover the unknown.

“Maybe I was like her back in my world,” he thought, finally realising why he did not seem to feel any pain for not making any friends.

During these twelve years of growing, his only playmate was Luna and his parents. Sometimes, however, Luna went outside and played happily with the other kids while he remained at home and did not feel the motivation to play alongside them. Even when his parents forced him to go out and play, he simply watched from the side-lines while they played. He did not know how to express it, but he felt he could not mix together with them.

“Maybe, in my previous life, I was some magician that lived a solitary life exploring magic and doing whatever on my own with no contact with the outside world,” he thought, assuming what he felt was closer to how he felt about a past that he does not remember. Then he thought wryly, “Well, my feelings think so anyway.”

“Alex,” asked Lucia, snapping him back to reality. “Are you listening?”

“Ah? Oh. Yes,” he said quickly and nodded his head at the same time.

“Okay,” she said with a look of satisfaction on her face. “Anyway, those are the nine Magic Categories that each spell can be categorised into.”

As Alex nodded in understanding, they heard his mother's voice calling, “Breakfast is ready!”

While they became surprised, Samuel looked impressed and said, “That felt quick. I suppose learning something new that's interesting can make you forget the time.”

“You were listening, father?” Luna asked, looking surprised. When he nodded, she smiled and said, “I couldn't understand any of it.”

“It's okay. So long as Al understands, that's okay,” he said, turning to smile at Lucia and Alex.

As the two headed together into the house, Lucia and Alex came behind them with the young girl explaining how she came to discover those categories. He listened intently to her explain how her father taught her magic after discovering she could not feel her energy, and how the unfair treatment of forcefully making people join the army and never to see their families again made her decide to try and do something for society.

“But, you're so confident that everyone that fails is capable of using magic, right?” He asked her as they entered the house and sat down at the dining table.

“Well, it's a given rule,” she told him from across the table as she sat next to Luna and he sat next to Samuel. “Just take a look at us. We failed to feel our energy, and yet we're capable of using magic. It's the same with the army.” Then, as an afterthought, she added with a wry smile, “Or, do you think we're the special ones? Chosen ones destined for some unknown greatness?”

Samuel and Luna laughed at her joke while Alex merely smiled, feeling strange with the way she put it. They were completely unaware of the fact that he was a being that came from the future and had been reborn in the past. So, Alex did not know whether to laugh or cry at her joke and merely smiled instead.

“If the council members come and tell me they're special compared to others, I'll suggest them to write a novel about it where it fits perfectly with their stupid fantasies,” his teacher further added while they began eating soon after Sarah bought a tray of food and placed a plate in front of each of them.

They laughed and enjoyed a lovely time having their breakfast. Samuel and Sarah finished first, and she quickly went after her husband, who went to get changed. By the time he came out of their bedroom, Alex, Luna, and Lucia finished eating and came to the entrance to send him off.

“I'm off,” he told them, turning to look at them with a smile.

“Have a great day, dad!” His son wished him with a smile.

“I wish you the same, father,” said Luna happily.

Lucia simply watched the scene from behind with a warm expression on her face. She liked seeing the wonderful relationship this family had between one another.

Samuel waved at them and walked outside before flapping his wings and soaring into the air. Sarah had stepped outside behind him and watched her husband fly away before turning around to face her family.

“Okay. I'll get to cleaning,” she said while she entered the house.

Just as she was about to close it, the neighbourhood children arrived at their front door and stood there silently looking towards Luna.

“What is it?” Sarah asked wearily, turning and realising who was at their house entrance.

“Um…” One nervous boy asked, coming forward a little to make his presence known. “C-Could Luna come out to… um… play with us?”

Sarah raised an eyebrow as she knew this was what they came to ask her. She turned and looked inquisitively at Luna, who was looking between them, her, and Alex. It was clear she was anxious but also wanted to go and play outside, but feared she might upset Sarah or Alex. Lucia, in the meanwhile, quietly slipped into the background as she realised this might turn into a family drama.

It seemed that Alex also knew it would become like that, with his mother being the one that would send the children away with sharp words and then scold Luna for not spending time with him. So, with the only option for a way out of this predicament, he decided to support Luna, sticking to the promise he made when they both were still babies.

“Go on, Luna,” he said and pushed Luna gently towards the kids.

“Al!” Sarah said sharply, looking astonished by her son's decision.

“Let her have her fun, mom!” He told her in a firm voice. Then he turned to look sweetly at Luna and said in a warm voice, “Play with them, Luna. I'm sure your friends really want to play with you as well.”

“B-But… Alex…” Luna said slowly, looking very worried. “Y-You should come play with us as well. You're always staying home when I go out to play. Please… Come and play with me.”

She implored him with beseeching eyes, and this troubled Alex. He looked over her shoulder at the kids and saw that they looked as though they did not like the idea of him joining them. It was obvious that they did not really like him because he always remained secluded at home even though they requested him multiple times in the past.

“Sorry, Luna,” he said finally, looking apologetically at her. “I'm not interested. You go and play.”

As he said those words, he turned and slowly walked into the house. Luna stood there for a moment, unsure what she must do before Sarah nudged her on the shoulder and indicated at the waiting children.

“Make sure to come back in an hour,” she told her, sighing in resignation.

“Come on, Luna!” Said the boy from before, gesturing her to come on. “Let's go and play!”

Finally, with the decision made, Luna turned and smiled as she joined them. She missed the idea of playing with Alex, but she would soon forget that sad feeling from being overcome by the entertainment of playing with the neighbouring kids.

Sarah closed the door shut after she left and sighed heavily before heading off into the kitchen. Lucia was the only one that remained standing at the entrance, thinking about what she witnessed unfold before her. A moment later, she moved into the living room where Alex sat staring through the window to watch Luna playing with the kids energetically with a smile on his face.

Lucia was surprise to see him smiling before she walked over to sit on his other side and asked him, “What're you smiling about, Alex?”

He was taken by surprise at her sudden appearance and sitting down next to him before he shrugged his shoulders and gestured out through the window at Luna.

“Nothing. Just happy to see her having fun,” he replied in a pleasant voice.

Lucia nodded in understanding and looked out of the window as well to watch them play. They remained like that for a few seconds before she glanced sideways at Alex, feeling amazed that he was looking very relieved to see his childhood friend having fun.

“Don't you think she would have fun with you around?” His teacher asked him finally after deciding to break the silence.

He shook his head and said without looking at her, “We play often already, miss, and she has more people to spend time with like this.”

This made his teacher raise an eyebrow in amazement and ask, “I see, but doesn't that make you upset that she's having so much fun without you? I mean, have you ever felt like you're in here missing out on the fun out there?”

Her question made him momentarily freeze before turning to look at her. In that instant, she felt a powerful shock hit her like a strong hammer punching a nail in. He was wearing an expression of emptiness as if he did not feel anything about it.

“I don't feel like playing with them. It's that simple.”

His sentence was so simple that it shocked Lucia, who started questioning the mentality of this youth. He was supposed to be at an age where having fun takes priority, but he stated that he preferred being home instead. She somehow did not like seeing her student looking so empty on the inside. She was a kind person, and a sincere person that followed her principles, and so wished the best for her student.

“I have to do something about this,” she thought with determination, glancing outside to watch Luna playing happily and laughing with the other children.