Part 1

One year has passed.

I am now six years old.

It's been a almost a full year since I started learning swordsmanship from my father, and it's been over a year since I started learning Magic from Cynthia too.

I've learned how to use mana to strengthen my body and weapon a little now thanks to my father's guidance.

As for my magic, I first reached intermediate rank a couple months after Ralph started teaching me sword play, I also reached advanced rank a few months ago.

In simple terms, I am now an advanced rank fire mage, Cynthia will probably be leaving soon…

But she did promise to show me a Saint rank Fire spell before she left.

Other than that this year has been pretty steady going.

Oh I do have a little sister now..

…

Two months ago.

In the middle of winter, 10 months after my mother got pregnant she went into labor..

It took the entire day and most of the night until she was born.. my sister that is.

My parents named her Liliana Corrant, taking the L from my fathers name and merging it with my mother's names.

We just call her Lily most of the time tho..

I guess that sort of thing is pretty common in this world, I doubt it'll ever come in handy knowing the worlds naming convention for newborns but hey who knows.

It might also be a regional thing..

I didn't really wanna hang around during the labor so I trained during the day and at night I played some strange board game with Cynthia upstairs, it kind of reminded me of how chess was in my previous world..

And how bad I was at it…

Part 2

Present day.

I am training in the yard with Cynthia when we stop to take a break and catch our breath..

Phew, I was almost at my limit too.

"You're really growing Allen"

"Am I?"

"Yes, you reached the third rank in only shortly over a year.. it's very impressive, ..incredible even."

"Thank you, but without your direction it would have been impossible master"

"I seriously doubt that, your mana capacity has likely tripled in the past year alone, it's terrifying how strong you've gotten in that amount of time"

"My mana capacity tripled?"

"I don't know if it's exactly triple what it used to be, but it's definitely around there"

"But how?, I thought mana capacity was set at birth, like how much you're born with is how much you have and that's that."

"That's a myth, most people don't increase their mana capacity because they don't try hard enough, mages are better at it then warriors and we increase at greater speed with greater amounts but theirs steadily grows too, ..if they're good that is."

"I see.."

So mana can grow.. I hadn't thought about it too much before but now it makes sense, I can fire off way more spells of the lower rank than before but I just though that meant I was better at controlling my mana and was cutting corners.

"Hey Cynthia"

"Yeah?"

"If you can increase the mana you have, and you can increase the mana you put into a spell, can you decrease it as well?"

"Not really… increasing a spells power is dangerous and you have to be careful not to overload it or it will backfire on you. Decreasing mana cost only works in small doses like increasing your efficiency, but lowering the power below the minimum threshold is impossible, the spell would fall apart."

"I see.. thank you"

"No problem, I'm your teacher, it's my job to make sure you know at least this"

"Yes, ..right"

So making spells stronger is a yes but with caution, making them weaker as in at the minimum also seems to work, but trying to go anywhere below that would just destroy the spell.

I kind of get it..

Part 3

The next week.

Cynthia announced that she'd be leaving soon…

Im kind of bummed really.

She may have been a little bossy at first but she's really nice and she's taught me everything I know about magic.

Without her I'd be no more than a dead fish or a clawless cat when it came to casting spells…

I'd still be able to swing a sword thanks to Ralph but I wouldn't be able to do some of the things that I can right now.

But I can't find anything interesting to talk about. I can only keep asking things about the village.

The day before Cynthia is leaving she asks me to follow her and brings me outside the town gates, my parents don't seem to mind since she is with me..

She leads me so far outside the gates I start to question where exactly it is we're going, until we stop in an open grass field.

This is the kind of grassland that stretches out forever towards the horizon.

"Allen.."

"Yes?"

"I promised to show you a Saint rank fire spell didn't I?"

"Oh is that what we're all the way out here for?"

"Yes, if we did it too close to the town someone might get hurt."

"I understand"

"Very well, then please watch closely, I can only do this once or twice before my mana runs out completely"

"Yes"

Cynthia raises up her staff to the directly in front of her and begins chanting, I can feel the winds start to spring up us nearly blowing me to my side.

"Fire, ..I commandeth thee to erupt in a brilliant form whereever thy seek, show yourself oh mighty spirit of flames, you who tears apart the sky with your mighty sword of heaven and hell… grant my tiny body this reprieve and unleash a great flame that shall rule the earth! ..Flame Tornado!"

She chants every word out beautifully as if reciting lyrics like an aria.

No it's more like a prayer than a song, like a gitas I suppose.

Sparks begin to fly out from around us and the entire area turns to pure heat for a second until suddenly a large tornado of fire forms and implodes across the ground destroying everything in its path, we're too far from the forest for it to hit the trees but I can see them in the distance with their leaves blowing violently, the wind and air pressure is so extreme that my knee's lock into place.

The flame tornado slows down its spiral and begins to unfurl brilliantly in front of my eyes..

The wind slows back down and although the air is rough, it once again seems breathable.

…

"Hmph, …and to think the mayor almost didn't let me do it."

"I kind of see why, master"

"Oh? What did you think? Was I cool?

She seemed really excited.

"Uhh yeah.. totally.. that seemed dangerous tho"

"Eh, I had control of it the entire time, ..but phew that took a lot out of me so we should really head back"

Now that I look at her she's sweating harder than I am, and she looks kind of pale..

We should head back.

"Alright yeah, let's go back"

After that we headed back into town and Cynthia got scolded by the guard caption for doing something so dangerous… apparently later that night she also got busted by the mayor who also scolded for doing something like that.

That night we all eat dinner together one last time…