.

 

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Where am I?

 

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Ah…

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Reincarnated huh?

Unbelievable.

Well. I'm glad it's not hell at least.

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So what now?

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I am very sleepy… But I need to understand the situation I am In right now.

Need to force my eyes open.

It’s hard. But I’ll manage.

Huh? A shabby room? Really?..

Ah, why did I even expect something better? Probably because of that thing. God or whatever. Didn’t like that guy… or girl. Not that it matters.

Now.

What should I do? 

Let’s try moving around a bit.

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I’m a baby, aren’t I?

F*ck.

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Why is a baby left alone right after birth?.. Is it right after birth? Well, I am a baby so I guess so. Am I not supposed to be cared for by a parent right now? Or a nanny at least… No, looking at this room there is no way we can have a nanny. Maybe a family’s friend or something. Leaving the baby all alone in an almost unlit room is not ideal parenting. But that, and I refuse to refer to It respectfully, said it’ll leave me in good hands. I knew I couldn’t trust that thing.

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I’m just gonna sleep.

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I’m hungry. 

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What can I do?

I can’t move properly.

As if my body isn’t mine right now.

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I think I’m crying.

Will somebody help me? 

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Somebody entered the room. I can’t even look at who it is. Is it my parents?

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He picked me up. I can see his face. Is he my dad?.. He looks… sad. Why does he look sad when he looks at his child? He doesn’t look old. But he’s worn out. Brown eyes, brown hair. Oh and a scar under his ear. Is he a warrior of some sort? Like an adventurer or a knight? Yeah, he probably is, he’s very big and it’s noticeable that he is muscular even through his clothes. His eyes are scary looking. But his hands are warm. It feels good. I don’t feel like crying…

Oh, now I can see the room properly…

Well… 

There’s nothing apart from an infant bed, a regular double bed and a wardrobe.

Father brings me to the kitchen.

It is also not big.

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Ah… No fridge. It’s not a well-developed world after all… Or am I just too poor? Now that I look at it. Doesn’t that thing resemble a stove? It’s from stone but still.

Father placed me on the table.

“Сядь здесь”

I didn’t know the language yet. But I guess that was something similar to “Sit here”.

His voice is deep, very deep. And it sounded sad. Why are you, sad dad? Did I do something wrong?

I decided to look around a bit more. 

Table I’m sitting on, a few wooden chairs, a stove, a few drawers, and that’s all. 

There is a window too. It seems that we are in a forest. I can also see a weird-looking rabbit. It has horns.

Father returned. 

He has a bottle of milk.

He goes to me and places the bottle on the table near me.

“Кушай”

Then he looks at me.

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Are you serious?

I got the meaning. He most likely said “Eat”

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What am I supposed to do? I mustered all my strength so that I may sit. But you expect me to pick up that huge bottle? 

Not happening pops.

I wanted to shake my head. But I stopped myself

An infant wouldn’t react like that. What would happen if he finds out his child’s soul was replaced with the soul of a grown-ass man. I need to behave properly. At least around others. I don’t know how this world reacts to reincarnated people. They might call me a demon or something and burn me. I don’t want that. 

For now, I’ll just look at him. 

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“Guh”

He made a weird sound.

It seems he doesn’t know how to treat a child. 

But he took the bottle and tried to feed me.

It wasn’t a neat job.

But I was fed.

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“Твое имя Mixen Zyckor”

He pointed his finger at me while he said that. Is that my name?

Oh, what a weird name. But that’s a given. A different world and all. I bet everyone has such names.

 It’s not bad though. At least it’s not something like Claudius Lucius Savengod the Second…or Brandon.

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?

What is this feeling?

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*Burp*

Oops. I did that. Can’t control my body and all. Sorry, dad.

He didn’t react at all and just took a towel and cleaned me a bit. 

It tickles.

I laughed.

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He looked happy for a moment.

But just for a moment.

His slight smile turned into a frown.

And I saw one of his eyes tearing up.

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Why are you like this father?

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And…

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Where is my mother?

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Some time passed.

Father has this routine of feeding and cleaning me. But after that, he leaves me in bed to sleep.

I don’t want to sleep, but I have no choice. I can’t say my opinion to him in this state after all.

I don’t even know the language. 

About the language.

It’s not hard to learn really. 

But who makes it hard is father.

He almost doesn’t talk. But every time he does. I listen carefully and learn.

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Well, I asked for such a father myself so that’s on me.

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It’s boring.

Let’s try something.

I have no idea if that’s true, but that thing said this world has magic.

And there is no magic world without mana and such.

So I’ll try feeling it.

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It’s harder than it sounds.

Can’t feel anything.

What if I use that? I think it has something to do with magic.

Well, I know I can use it freely even now. But I don’t want my father to see it, so I’ll use it while he’s not here. 

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Yeah, now I feel something.

Like something passing through me. Is it mana?

Well, no wonder it works.

Becoming completely undetectable is like that after all.

Not even mana knows my existence when I use my power.

It is a useful power I choose personally after all.

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I guess that thing deserves some respect huh. I’ll call it God at least. But no way I’m praying 

to him.

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Hmm… Did I make a mistake? I thought it might be a devil or a demon of some sort when it told me I can choose any power I want. And besides, who would believe someone who looked like that.

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Well, it’s too late to regret now. And I chose a power I wanted anyway.

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Let us begin magic training!

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Sh*t it’s hard. Too hard. I can feel it. But only the way it touches me.

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It tickles a bit.

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I’m tired.

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To even feel mana I need to concentrate. It exhausts me quickly, I am a child after all.

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I’ll sleep for now…

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My training continued.

As time passed I could feel mana better. 

I started feeling it like an echo with no sound, going from one wall to another. 

Then, bit by bit, I started feeling its form and shape.

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But…

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It has no form or shape. So what do I feel?

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Ah! It’s like water! Or more similar to gas in this case?

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No.

It’s mist. 

That is the best way to describe it.

I can feel it in the air around me.

It has the shape of my room.

But…

It bounces off of everything. Rarely, sticks of a bit.

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Come to think of it.

I can know what’s in my room with this. But it requires a lot of concentration.

I can tell that there is a note in the kitchen. But I can’t tell what is written on it.

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Oh and as I progressed. I found out that our house is very small.

It’s only the kitchen, the bedroom, and a small hall with a front door and a door to the basement. Father keeps various foods in the basement. I guess it’s cold there. 

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I miss the fridge.

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The next step in my training is to go outside the house with my sense.

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Sense is not a good name.

How about “Sixth Sense”?

I won’t come up with something better. Let’s keep it.

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Anyways. I need to train now.

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Today was a good day.

I managed to break my record and see as far as 500 meters from me. So it’ll be 1 km wide in total because it is in the form of a sphere. I found out that the best way to train is to increase its range from all sides… Well apart from going down… So it’s a hemisphere? It can't be underground if there is no cave. But that doesn’t matter.

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But that is not the only reason today was the best day in my life so far.

Dad told me his name today.

His name is “Michael Zykor”.

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Why is his name a normal one?

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I won’t dwell on it.

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That’s not all. When he was saying his name he said this.

“I Michael Zykor congratulate you on your first birthday son”

He wore a smile, but. It was strange. It was the first time I saw him smile but I didn’t feel good about it.

It was forced. But why?

“And I want to gift you this”

He gives me a small wooden sword. I take it, but it’s hard for me to hold it for long. I still don’t know how to even walk, so there is no way I am swinging that.

“Of course, your body is still too young to swing it. So our training will be held after you become of age.”

Can you read minds?

“And I hope it is to your liking”

It is. But why are you speaking so formally to me? It is as if I am a prince… Am I.., a prince?..

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No that still doesn’t make sense, he is my father so he doesn’t need to talk like that…

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I want to say something. I still can’t talk, but I was able to produce syllables. 

So I once tried saying “Pa~pa~”.

When I did, he almost screamed in surprise. But soon he put his regular serious face on again. But I know that’s a mask, I spent enough time with him to say that he is actually happy right now. 

It’s as if he’s shy. 

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Is he?

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He has complicated emotions towards me. 

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But of one thing I am sure of. 

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He loves me. 

And so do I.

“T~ank you pa~pa”

I tried as hard as I could to say that.

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He is clearly puzzled. He doesn’t know what to do.

*Cough*

“I-I’m glad It to your liking” 

He tries to wear a straight face but fails, so it looks weird right now.

I want to laugh.

But I won’t.

“It’s time to go to bed”

I nodded.

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Father cares about me a lot.

He is always outside the house during the day.

He hunts.

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Or so I'm guessing…

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He comes home with a corpse of an animal.

It is not a corpse of a monster. Just a regular animal from my previous world. Sometimes it's a deer, sometimes it's a boar. He is very skilled with a knife. He cut it in a matter of seconds. Drained its blood, threw unnecessary parts away and placed the meat in some sort of container and placed it in the basement. 

He used the stove to fry the meat…

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How the hell does that even work??

No matter how you look at it it looks like a stone. Yes, the shape is similar to a stove but… 

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Ah… How could I forget? Magic items and magic engineering probably exist here.

Let's see.

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Yes, as I expected. I can see a string of mana coming from something resembling a heart. But using an actual human or animal heart would be ineffective, wouldn't it? So it probably just looks like one… Maybe a magic stone? I have no idea if this world has any.

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Father finished eating… I want meat too… But I'm still too young to be able to digest meat.

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I'm sick of that milk… Is it even milk? It has a different taste from milk in my previous world for sure.

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After his dinner, all father does is write some weird notes and put them in a strange box in the basement.

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No idea what that can be.

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After that, he usually baby-sits me. If I'm in the bed, he usually just watches over me… Sometimes he falls asleep with his back to the wall…

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But, even while he sleeps… 

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I feel safe.

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My training went quicker than expected.

The limit of Sixth Sense is already 4 km in diameter.

But.

There is a problem

I can’t go further.

It’s as if a door is there and I’m just cant see nor go through it.

.

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Is this what they call a limit by talent?

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Well, I won’t be depressed.

I still have ways to train and improve.

For example,

I noticed a beast the other day while training.

I could tell it was a wolf.

Big wolf.

Like 4~5 meters big wolf.

It was sleeping.

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Now I want to find it again. It’s not like I can know everything in the range of Sixth Sense. I can feel that there are trees and holmes and stuff but to find something specific I need time and concentration. But I’m sure I’ll become better in the future.

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Found it!

It’s hunting right now.

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Wow.

I know it is a different world and all but that speed is unbelievable. I can’t keep track of it. But it looks like it’s hunting a rabbit with horns.

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I know the next step in my training.

I’ll watch this beast till I can keep up with its speed freely and don’t lose track of its movement.

I’ll start now.

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Some time passed. 

I became better at it, but there is one thing that I noticed. It seems that this beast has some sort of liquid in it I can feel. I guess it’s connected to mana.

It flows from the heart through the whole body. I guess through blood vessels then. 

And the rabbits it usually hunts also have it, but far less. 

When it eats them it also consumes its mana. This increases the amount of mana the wolf has after digesting it. It takes time, of course, and mostly it happens when it sleeps.

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Now that I think about it. Can’t humans do the same? Well, maybe beasts have some sort of special organ. But can we have mana in our bodies? Well, there is magic after all so I can’t see a reason why not.

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But why dad has no mana in him? 

Why I don’t have any can be explained. I am still a child.

Maybe it can be obtained after some sort of training or with time. 

And saying that because father doesn’t eat beast meat is the reason is wrong.

Rabbits have it they don’t eat meat, they eat grass and grass has no mana in it. So how did they get it? By breathing. They just breathe and get it slowly…

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Or so I thought, obviously, it’s not. If that was the case dad and I would have some mana by now. So I need to experiment.

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I found the answer! It wasn’t actually that hard. When I hold my breath, I can feel mana much better. Furthermore, I can control its flow while it’s in me. So when I found that out I tried leading it to my heart… Well, I know the results were good, but I still wish I wasn’t so careless with my own body.

.

. 

It was painful. Very. I might have been on a verge of death. I coughed up blood.

When father saw it he asked what it is. I said my teeth were growing out. They really were so it worked as an explanation.

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But I got what I wanted. Mana started flowing through my veins by itself.

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The amount is small though. Smaller than that of a rabbit. Much smaller.

But now it will grow.

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Should I start doing breathing exercises?

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I finally did it. I can keep up with the beast’s speed. I can watch it freely.

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There was a piece of information that I found by luck while training and watching the beast.

Firstly, the beast is a she and not he. Secondly, she gave birth. The baby wolf was small and I could tell it was cute without actually seeing him, but what is important is that it had mana.

Beasts are born with mana in them from the start. They don’t need to go through that literally heart-blowing session! 

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I’m guessing humans are the same.

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That means mana capacity is defined at birth.

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But I was born without mana.

Father too is like that.

That’s why he has no mana.

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Life is unfair…

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There is hope!

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Today a monster came too close to our house. So father killed it. 

And as I speculated before… My dad is a swordsman! Well, I knew before that he had a sword with him but, I never saw him use it. But now I’m sure of it. Dad is awesome!

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But the most amazing part is how he killed it. It was with one swing. One swing one kill! It’s so cool!

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Oh, yeah, and that was when he was killing it. His sword as if grew by itself and pushed all mist away. It strange sight, looking from the Sixth Sense at least. 

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But I think I know what it is.

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It’s Sword Aura! 

I am sure it is! 

That means there more powers in this world apart from mana.

So I need to start training in aura right now!

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And how exactly do I do that?

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F*ck

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Well, I’m sure dad will help me if I ask him to.

But It’s not the time yet.

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AN: The red text is me speaking.

And the blue text is future Mixen reminiscing.

It’s a way for me to do some world building without breaking the style.

You can skip it if you want, I’ll try to write it so it doesn’t affect the experience even if you haven’t read it.

But there are some foreshadowings here and there.

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I remember the time when I first find out about Sword Aura. I was excited to find out about it. But I wouldn’t know the truth about it for a very long time. Problem was, it was highly classified. Although the word Aura was very well known to the public, the way to gain it wasn’t. And the Kingdom always said that it was like that because it is dangerous, bullshit. That bunch of fat pigs just don’t want to give people even a chance at gaining strength. Father did not want to speak about it at the time saying I wasn’t ready and Gerda just didn’t know about it.

But now I know. There is only one way to gain it. It’s to awaken it.

If mana is a force that comes from your heat then Sword Aura comes from your brain. It is more proper to call it just Aura, as there are Spear Aura, Bow Aura and some fools just shoot it from their fingers.

The process to awaken it is uncertain. But the key is known. Its emotions. Strong emotions. Like hatred towards the person who just killed your entire family. Or relief after surviving a near-death experience. Or fear brought upon by that same situation.

There are many emotions in this world, just as many as the colours. 

Based on which emotion you awakened you gain an aura of an appropriate colour. Like red for anger, blue for calmness, grey for fear. There is even pink — for love. Yeah, I know a guy with Aura like that. Swinging his sword for love. When he saves a damsel in distress, it is not because he is very good at swordsmanship, but because bandits or thieves let their guard down the moment they saw a guy in shining armour with a pink sword coming at them.

There is also one colour that I hate — the golden colour. It is impossible to get it. The only way to have it is to be born with it. They are born with a golden spoon in their mouth.

Parents always pray to God for their baby to be born with golden eyes. In that way, we can tell for certain that the child is a “blessing from God”. Those children are always taken away by the Kingdom or the Church. In any case, they are treated like kings… Well, no they are given a title equal to that of a Viscount.

King>Duke>Marquess>Earl>Viscount>Baron

They are required to train in swordsmanship but their training is really easy. And in skills, most of them are at a level of a Skilled Swordsmen.

Apprentice<Intermidiate<Skilled<Master<Grandmaster<Titled

And they don’t even try to improve. They just leach off the people. While everyone is praising them. Arrogant bunch.

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I’m just jealous, aren’t I?

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Some time ago was my second birthday.

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Father had the same “formal” approach to me.

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This time dad also gave me a gift. It was a book. A book for children to help them learn how to read.

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I was excited to learn so I started soon after.

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Father forgot to tell me how to pronounce the letters.

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My father is silly.

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But I still love him.

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And I need to ask for his help.

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Time passes quickly. 

I learned how to read rather quickly. Probably because of my boredom.

I still have no clue about how to progress my training on Sixth Sense and Sword Aura.

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So I started training my only other power.

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My undetectability!

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That sounds bad.

It needs a name.

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Come to think of it, that God said it was called… Loki’s Rift?

No…

Loki’s Gift!

Right!

Sounds ok. Let’s keep it

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But I hope it’s not that Loki. And I’m not talking about Loki from some adaptation. No-no. The original North mythology Loki. He was a nasty fellow.

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I needed to ask at that time if it was just a name or an actual gift… 

I would never take a gift from a gay like him.

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Well, anyways I also am stuck with this training as well.

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But maybe stuck is a wrong word.

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Finished maybe? 

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From the begging, I knew that this power was good as it is so didn’t feel that I need to train it further. 

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But, I was bored.

So I tried anyways.

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Now I can make my individual parts invisible. Like only my head or my toes.

I also can make things I touch undetectable if needed. But I knew that before, I wouldn’t take this power if I needed to walk around naked all the time, I don’t have such fetishes. Nevertheless, I figured I can make things invisible without me being too. Now, I can be the world biggest smuggler! But I can’t carry too much I have a limit and I know that, although I am not sure what that limit is exactly.

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After telling father I can read on a level of a first schooler, He brought me more books.

Various books, legends, myths, geography literature and book that I was most excited about — magic book. It was a book about introduction to magic and various first circle spells.

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My eyes had stars in them when I saw it. 

.

Dad noticed my weird behaviour. So he looked to check.

“How did this get here? This is useless to you. Give it to me.”

“Huh? Papa, why would this be useless to me? I think magic is cool!”

“You can’t use magic”

Well, it’s you who can’t. But I can…Maybe a little, but still can!

Ah, I can’t just say I can. So I play the dumb card.

“?”

“You were born with no mana in you.”

“Does it matter”

“Guh, just read it and you’ll understand”

Dad gave up, I won!

I get to read a book about magic!

.

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After spending an entire day reading it I found out this: 

Possessing mana is a rare occurrence for a person. Only about one in ten people will have some mana in them. And there is no known way to obtain mana via any other method. Moreover, if a person has no mana but tries to take a mana boosting elixir they will die from heart explosion. Yikes, I was really careless back then. And I am interested in that elixir, but I am pretty sure they are very expensive, and as I have too little mana I’ll need to discuss it with someone who knows a thing or two about mana.

Concepts of the mist and mana in our bodies are called mana essence and liquified mana respectively. People are born with a specific amount of mana. Mana amount is approximately graded as such 

E<F<D<C<B<A<S

Also, there is a ranking system for mages themselves.

Apprentice<Intermidiate<Skilled<Master<Grandmaster<Titled

I’m guessing Titled means someone will get a title when they get on that level. Like Poison Dragon, or Ice Queen… If I were to get a title what would it be?.. Sneaky Mixen?.. Hell no, that sounds like Sneaky Vixen!.. Although I do like foxes.

Also, spells are graded into circles. Like first circle spells, second circle spells, etc. Why they are graded as such is simple. Each spell is created in your body by “drawing” a circle.

But it is not easy. There are many things you need to consider such as vector, position in your body, amount of mana poured in, finally, the shape of the circle, which is the most important part as it changes the most meaning behind your spell. and yes it’s a circle only in the name which annoys me as a reincarnated person a lot, even this ∞ is counted as one and that is far from circles I know of. But I guess as long as there are no corners it is acceptable as a circle.

Then there is affinity and elements. There are technically seven elements. That is Water, Fire, Wind, Earth, Darkness and Light. I’ll leave the seventh one for later. Some elements are more useful against another and some attack, others defend. About affinity, It is also decided when you are born. Depending on the colour of your mana, you can find out your affinity. The most common way to check it is by placing your hand on the magic orb. Magic orb will shine in the colour of your mana, and you can also measure your mana capacity by the amount of light it emits. And there are cases when there are two streams of mana with different colours in one person, two different colours are a rarity and three or more are on a level of a legend. If you have two colours in and train diligently then you can produce very powerful combined elements like Ice or Lava. Oh, but there were no cases of having Darkness and Light in one body. But, that is pretty obvious. I am guessing a person with both Darkness and Light will just explode on the spot.

And now, seventh element — Unstable. This one has grey colour. And has no specific action that it does. It can be Necromancy or even Time Manipulation. It is very rare, and still many people die while trying to conquer it. Unstable is named like that because it has different properties for each variant. Well, regular elements have differences too, but those are not as rare as Unstable ones.

Lastly, people can also use spells outside of their elements, but it requires a lot of practice and concentration to properly build the circle. Nonetheless, creating a small fire or filling a bottle with drinkable water should pose no problem.

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Oh and I’m very excited about finding out my element.

I want to know it right now!

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And I can! I can use my Sixth Sense to feel colours… 

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Well, that sounded weird even in my head.

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Anyways, Let’s check!

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I hope it’ll be Darkness. It’s a perfect match for my power.

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Maybe if it’s Unstable it will be cool too.

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Huh?

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Seriously?

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Wind?

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Life is unfair…

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Ah, with hell with it, Wind? So be it. Let’s use some magic!

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Oh, it’s not that hard.

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I created a small wind… It was pleasant. Maybe Wind isn’t that bad?

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I want to show it to dad.

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I ran up with a book to dad, who was laying on the bed.

“Did you read it?”

“Yes!”

“I guess you read just enough to understand that magic is useless to you”

“What? No, Papa, I read it whole, magic is not useless to me. ”

“You read it whole? So quickly?.. And what do you mean it’s not useless to you? You can’t use it”

“But I can. Look!”

I quickly created a small wind that passed through him and made his hair even more funny looking.

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There was an awkward pause. But his face of confusion looked priceless.

Then he suddenly grabbed me by the shoulders.

“You are so amazing! I am so proud of you son!”

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Or that is what I wanted to hear.

“How can you be so careless!? You could have hurt yourself if you did it wrongly!”

He screamed at me… 

.

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Why is he angry?.. 

.

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I tried so hard…

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Is it because…

“You know that if you put the circle in the wrong place or the wrong shape it could explode!”

.

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He let me go…

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I can only put my head down.

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I started sobbing.

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“I’m sowwy papa, I won’t *Sniff* do it again”

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Is he angry?..

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I looked at him with my teary eyes.

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He wasn’t angry. He was worried.

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I’m sorry papa.

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I want to cry.

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Ah, I already am.

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I won’t learn magic by myself anymore.

.

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“No… You can continue learning magic…”

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Really?

“*Sniff*~Eally?”

“Yes, but do you know just how lucky you were when you used a circle while not being sure what affinity you have?”

.

What?

.

That’s why he was so worried?

.

Not because I tried it alone?

.

“But. *Sniff* I know my affinity Papa”

“What? How can you know without a Magic Sphere?”

Ah, sh*t I can’t tell him about my abilities.

“When I was *Sniff* reading about Wind spells *Sniff* I could just tell”

I hope he won’t give me more questions

“That wasn’t certain. It was still too dangerous to do”

“I’m sorry *Sniff*”

.

.

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He looked at me with apologetic eyes. And said in a quiet tone.

“Can you stop crying now? It’s alright if you won’t do the same mistake twice.”

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Right… I’m still crying. 

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Damn it.

I was supposed to act like a baby and not become one.

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Screw it.

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I came closer to dad.

“*Sniff* Okay, but can you hold me, papa?”

.

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Did his cheeks become redder?

“Guh… F-Fine, I’ll bring you to your bed.”

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Being a child is bliss.

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Today I’m going to become three years old. 

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Father was regularly taking books that I read or wasn’t interested in and brought me new ones. I read only books I thought may be useful. Like about monsters or survival in the forest. I didn’t read things like literature, geography and some others. 

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My knowledge about this world is becoming bigger by the day.

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Father brought a proper bed for me to sleep in.

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Yeah, it was getting tight in my old bed, so it’s a good gift.

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.

Hmm

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Will he do like last time?

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“Mix”

!

He gave me a nickname!

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My serious father is informal on my birthday!

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“Yes!”

I think I sound too excited, I need to calm myself down.

“T-T-The bed is your present. D-Do you like it?”

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He stuttered twice in one word. That never happened.

“Yes! I like it a lot. Thank you, Papa!”

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“Ah, I’m glad…”

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Did he think I expected something else?

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Silly father.

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I came closer to him

“Papa I want a hug!”

“Guh, S-Sure”

Not finding another reason this time huh?

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I’m glad.

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“Well, Mix I have something to tell you.”

?

“?”

“From tomorrow morning we will begin your training. You’ll need to wake up sooner.”

Training?

Ah, the sword!

Yes! Finally! I waited so long!

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Next day.

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“Son, wake up.”

Father woke me up. 

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Ugh… I’m too sleepy.

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It’s dark outside, what time is it?

“Pa~pa *Yawn*. What time is it?”

“It’s about 4 a.m”

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4!? Then it’s not morning! It’s still night!

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And it seems that dad is good at telling time without a clock. 

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We don’t have a clock here.

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He took me outside the house.

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I already know how to walk dad, it’s not necessary to hold me.

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I think he just likes it.

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But… My first time outside…

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The scenery is great. You can tell that trees are green without the light from the sun. And they are big… Extremely big… I kind of could’ve told while looking from the window, but now that I look at them from up close… Are those giant redwood trees?.. No… they must be just similar. 

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Why are they this big? 

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Maybe mana?.. 

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It doesn’t seem that way. 

When I look at it with Sixth Sense I see that mana essence just bounces off, as it does with any other solid surface.

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I have no idea.

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Does it matter? No.

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Not now anyway.

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“From today your training will begin”

Father placed me on the ground

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“Yes Papa!”

“Guh, when we are training don’t call me like that… Call me Vene… no just call me Father.”

“Understood, Father.”

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“And when we are in public too”

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Being shy again?

“I understand.”

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“Now let’s begin.”

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Why are looking at me like that?

As if I should know what to do.

“What do I need to do?”

.

“Right, you don’t know. Run laps around the house till I tell you to stop.”

Stamina training, that’s a given!

“Yes Sir!”

.

Always wanted to say that.

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I started running.

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Dad, how much do you think a child can run?

I’m running non-stop for 5 minutes now. That’s not much? I’m a 3-year-old child, and it’s the first time I went outside the house! My legs are hurting already.

.

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But I’ll continue. 

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I can’t disappoint father.

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I think it’s been 10 minutes.

My legs are trembling. But I keep on running. 

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I think I’m going to pass out at any moment.

“Stop.”

*Thump*

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I fell.

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Now my face hurts too.

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“Here.”

Father gave me a bottle of water.

“Rest for a bit then we will continue.”

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There is more?!

.

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Well, training won’t give great results if it isn’t hard.

.

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After some time we started regular training from our previous world. Sit-ups, push-ups, etc. I worked out in my previous life so I know how to do it properly.

.

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But, It’s still too much for a child dad!

.

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After the training, I was too exhausted so I’m currently laying on the ground.

“I will make something to eat.”

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Some time ago I asked father if I can have something different from that disgusting milk. 

Immediately he started cooking something for me. 

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It was a light meal.

Well, obviously, I can’t properly eat hard meat yet.

.

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It was tasty.

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Does dad have talent as a cook?

.

“Tish ish Tashty”

“Guh… Chew properly and don’t talk with a full mouth”

.

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He said that while looking at the wall and not me.

*Gulp*

“Okay Papa”

.

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I missed regular food

.

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Ah, the sky is beautiful.

.

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Soon the morning will come. But right now is still dark. 

.

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There are probably different star constellations when compared to the previous world… I don’t remember any of them either so it doesn’t matter…

.

.

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Hmm?

How could I have not noticed sooner?

When I look up there is a moon. Regular one. Just like I remember it. With holes and all. Cheese looking…

.

But, next to it… Another one… Blue and small… Real small… And it has no holes as if someone polished it. It is also pretty shiny.

.

.

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It is a different world after all…

.

.

I sometimes thought that it may be a parallel universe where magic exists. Or something similar, like being far away in the future when magic suddenly appeared.

.

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But no. Different world.

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Probably different geography.

.

Why did I ignore geography books?

.

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Should I read them now?

.

I probably should. I’ll ask father to bring me the books he already brought once but I didn’t read. Apart from literature, everything may find its use.

“Mix! Food is ready!”

I heard father yelling for me from the house.

“Coming!”

.

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My legs are in pain so it’s hard to stand up.

.

.

But, still…

.

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I feel great today.

.

.

.

.

.

I’m now 5

.

My training with father continued steadily.

Day after day I become better and better. And for some reason, father pays too much attention to my stamina. Almost 80% of the time I’m spending on training is running. But, I’m sure father knows better.

.

.

I’m kinda disappointed that we still haven’t started training my swordsmanship… I’m sure when we will father will show me his Sword Aura. I desperately want to see it with my eyes. But father says that my body is not ready, so I have tried to swing it secretly while using my power while father sleeps. I have leeway in doing so because father goes to bed very early. Probably because of our training… Well, I should’ve been in bed too… There was a problem. My sword is kept safe in the basement. It’s safe because the basement is closed so that I nor anyone else goes there. The only way to open it is with a key. Father has the key… with him, so I can’t possibly take it. I wouldn’t want father to get mad at me. The reason I can come out of the bed at all is that I managed to use Sixth Sense to feel when father is asleep. Even though he has no mana so I can’t feel his heartbeat, I can feel his breathing. And when his breathing is very shallow — he is asleep.

.

.

.

On my fourth birthday, father gifted me a Magic Sphere. Well, I knew everything already, but to reassure father, I did a checkup anyway. Without mistake, Wind, but the light was so dim I almost couldn’t see the colour. And for some reason, father nodded his head. I thought that means I can practise magic freely. Because before, I was doing it only in theory. After all, I already knew shapes and positions for third circle wind spells and a lot of other second circle spells of other elements. Finally, I can put it into use.

.

.

Oh also, I got to see my reflection in it. I look nothing like father. I have puff cheeks, my chin is a bit pointy, but my nose has a bump and my ears are pretty big. The only thing I have in common with father is my brown eyes, my brows and my hair. I guess I look more like my mother.

.

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Will my hair become as long as fathers?

.

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Living with my father is good, but I miss having friends. And it’s boring when I’m not training. Father doesn’t know how to play and have fun… I tried…

But father doesn’t let me go outside the forest. He says that the forest is too big for me to leave it on my own safely. So I asked him to bring me there. Then he said…

.

.

“I can’t”

“Why?”

“It’s one of your tests.”

“Tests?”

“Yes. After you finish your training you’ll have some tests. That’s one of them”

“Why would I need that kind of a test?”

“I want you to be able to survive in an unknown place while adapting to your surroundings”

“But how will taking me to the city affect that?”

“You’ll know the road to the city”

“So what? It’s still hard.”

“It is, but the main point of the test is to get to the city safely.”

“What if I close my eyes?”

“You’ll still know the approximate way to go in… It’s time to eat.”

.

.

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So I couldn’t get his permission…

.

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I’m sorry father, I’m just too bored.

.

.

.

I’ll sneak out of the house.