Chapter III: Light Magic And Mental Magic
The idea of chanting magic was still very much interesting in Kenneth's mind, so the prospect of being able to see it in action for the first time was very exciting for him.
"Good morning, Mother." Upon reaching the kitchen, Kenneth greeted his mother, who was preparing breakfast.
"Good morning, you two. Just a minute, I'm almost done with cooking. Lena, dear, could you help me prepare the plates?" Mikaela called Lena, who was playing with Kenneth's hand.
"Right away, Mom. Oh, we're having bacon and eggs, my favorite!"
'A kindred spirit!' Kenneth thought to himself. Another person who appreciated the simplicity of bacon and eggs was a person he deemed someone worthy.
Bacon and eggs, mmm. Kenneth's mouthwatered at the thought of his favourite meal still being the same in another world.
"I guess no matter the world, there's one thing that still reigns true. Food is life's greatest pleasure." Kenneth murmured as he went over to his chair.
There was always one baby chair that was kept in the corner of the table. It was firmly planted to the floor, so it stayed there even if the table wasn't in the same position.
The great thing about it though, was that the chair was able to descend in order for shorter toddlers to sit on it.
"Ahh. This thing is still as comfy as always, aside from the stains left behind by my older siblings. Urgh." Kenneth felt like vomiting.
There were multiple stains on the chair that George had never bothered to clean up, as it was too much work to get the chair off its place. Stains that were left behind when Lucas and Lena were the ones using these.
"Not exactly how I imagined my first hand-me-down to go. At least the shirts my past mother gave to my younger siblings were clean. I don't remember making a mess out of my old clothes." Kenneth thought back to when he was the older sibling, and his parents would give the shirts that wouldn't fit on him anymore to his younger siblings.
It was a great way to save money, and was a commonly employed tactic by the rich and the less fortunate alike.
"Good morning, Father." Kenneth had forgotten to greet his father, since he was invested in trying to wipe away the dirt and stains on the chair.
George did not seem to mind the baby. He too, was focused on another object. Kenneth didn't pay much attention to the fact that his father was reading the latest news on his phone.
"Good morning, Kenneth. Is Lucas down yet?" George questioned the toddler.
Despite Kenneth's young body, the family had learned to talk to him like an adult. So it was no surprise that the two were able to hold a conversation.
"I didn't see him on my way down with Lena. He must still be in his room." Kenneth replied, his focus still on cleaning the chair.
"I see. Have you given any thought about your decision in regards to using your powers for fighting?" George closed the phone he was reading on, and placed it on the table.
"I'm not changing my decision, Father. I've already decided that I'll be doing so. I intend to leave my peaceful life here and go adventuring." Kenneth replied back, his attitude equally serious.
"Well, do what you want then. Your mother and I will be supporting you. Do try to lessen the wounds you will eventually receive." George, satisfied by his answer, picked his phone back up and soon went back to perusing the latest news.
Kenneth, who had just finished talking with his Father, was sweating bullets. It was the first time George had used a strict tone with him. This emphasized the fact that George was on the verge of refusing Kenneth's intention to go adventuring, but would still choose to support him if he chose to do so.
As any good parent should.
"Geez, don't be getting all serious, Dad. It's early in the morning." The serious mood was interrupted by Lena, who was carrying two plates in her hands.
It was almost as if she was god-sent. Her vibrant personality helped to stabilize the unstable aura in the room, and soon the three of them were talking cheerily.
In the middle of their talks, Kenneth had caught wind of Lucas, who was attempting to head down the stairs unseen and unheard.
He wasn't successful though, as Kenneth had possessed heightened senses as a result of his innate magic. The toddler had no issue in hearing his older brother trying to sneakily head down the creaking wooden stairs.
"Ah, I guess I've been caught. I can never fool your senses, Kenneth." Lucas, who had realized that his attempt at being sneaky was useless when Kenneth was around. He gave up halfway through his descent, and instead chose to jump down the remaining distance that he hadn't managed to overcome.
"Of course. But maybe if you were a bit more quiet, and if the stairs had somehow stopped creaking every time someone walked on them, then maybe you would've fooled me." Kenneth replied, his focus on Mikaela, who was bringing in the last of the dishes.
"Here it is. Oh, good morning Lucas." Mikaela, who had noticed that the eldest sibling was now up, called to him. "Don't forget to wash up, breakfast is ready." She added.
"Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute." Lucas replied idly, his back turned to the family as he made his way to the bathroom.
"He's long adopted the hobby of sleeping late in the night, which is why he wakes up later than the rest." Kenneth murmured, as he reached his fork out to grab a piece of bacon, before placing it inside his mouth.
"This saltiness is something I'll never get sick of. I wonder what the eggs taste like?" Kenneth then cut off a piece of the scrambled eggs, and placed its yellow surface onto his tongue.
"I wonder if Mother somehow knows of my past life. Because how in the hell did she know how to cook the food exactly the way I like them?" Kenneth was dumbfounded. All of the food served was tailored to match Kenneth's preferences, and was specifically adjusted to suit the growing boy.
Soon after, Lucas had come back from the bathroom, and had sat down in one of the chairs. By the time he had reached the dining room, everybody had already eaten a considerable portion of their food, thus leaving Lucas' plate the only one untouched.
Seeing that his family was about to finish eating while he hadn't even started yet, Lucas took the fork and knife in his hands and chowed down the bacon and eggs surprisingly quickly.
In just a moment, Lucas' plate was almost empty.
The whole feat amazed Kenneth, since it didn't even look like Lucas bothered to taste the food itself. He just devoured his food.
After breakfast had finished, Mikaela went ahead and took the family's plates from the table and brought it over to the kitchen, where she had already immersed herself in washing the dishes.
"Should we head out now, little brother?" Lena asked Kenneth, who was lying his back on the baby chair. The toddler was visibly full from the breakfast, and didn't seem like he was in any condition to move.
"Yeah, just give me a moment. I can barely move…" As the baby chair descended closer to the floor, Kenneth reached out his stubby arms and grabbed his walking stick, which was leaning on the leg of the chair, slanted.
Once Kenneth was able to move, the two bid goodbye to the family and went outside, to the backyard of their house.
The backyard wasn't very furnished. Aside from the swimming pool that took up a fourth of the area, the place was relatively empty, with the trimmed grass coating the entire yard.
This was, on the other hand, very useful for the two siblings. Since the backyard was basically this empty husk of land, there was plenty of space to be able to practice one's skills.
Lena led Kenneth towards a part of the yard that was a bit farther from the pool. Standing in place, Lena began taking deep breaths.
"Are you ready, little brother?" Lena, who had taken in a lot of mana particles through the breathing she had done, looked like she was raring to go.
"Go ahead. I'll be staying a bit farther back." Kenneth replied, taking a few steps back so as to not get injured if the spell went haywire.
"Then, here I go! Light Beam!" As soon as Lena recited the spell's name, a golden stream of light was shot from her palm. Her hand was pointed towards the sky, so the beam kept on going, until it eventually stopped.
"Wow. Can you make it bigger?" Kenneth asked, intrigued by the spell.
"I can. Give me a minute." Lena soon began to take more deep breaths. And once she looked like she was ready, she recited the same spell.
This time, the beam was noticeably larger than the one she had fired earlier. It went even further as well, with the beam stopping a few hundred or so meters away from where Lena fired it.
"I can keep firing this beam as long as I still have mana. It's very consuming though, so I rarely ever use it." Lena says, closing her palm, and with it stopping the flow of mana to her hand. The Light Beam soon began to fade away into nothing, as the leftover particles would soon return into the atmosphere.
"Wow…" Kenneth applauded his sister, now even more interested in magic. Just from that demonstration Kenneth's interest in magic was piqued once again, and his desire to cast spells similar to Lena's was ignited.
"How about you, little brother? Have you tried casting a spell?" Lena, too, wanted to see how a Mental Magic user would employ their spells in combat. With her brother conveniently being one of them, there was no issue in having him go at it.
"I've been looking into anatomy books lately, and have thought of some prototypes. I was thinking of hacking into the limbic system, a part of the brain that controlled emotions."
Apparently novels weren't the only things Kenneth had been reading for the past weeks. He had also been researching the biology of various animals and human beings, allowing him to gain an understanding of their body parts.
The primary focus of attack was of course, the brain. This went for almost all living beings. Each organism had a brain that controlled their every action. If a Mental Magic user was able to tamper with this, then their opponents would find it hard to resist defeat.
"Wait, wait, wait. Don't you think you're going a bit too in depth about this, little brother?" Lena had stopped Kenneth just as he was about to continue on explaining his theories. "How about trying one of your spells on me instead? Wouldn't that be better?" Lena suggested, pointing to herself while doing so.
"I don't think that's a very good idea. Especially since I'm a Mental Magic user. Giving me full access to your brain is like asking me to control your entire body." Kenneth replied, hesitant about the whole thing.
"Aw, come on! It's just a spell. And moreover, you said it was just a prototype! What could possibly go wrong?" Lena exclaimed. She truly did not think anything was going to happen.
"Well, you asked for it. Here we go…" Taking a deep breath, Kenneth began circulating the mana particles he had taken in.
Somehow, every particle he had breathed in, he could feel. It was like tiny little balls that went down his throat and began moving around his bloodstream. The tingly feeling that occurred as a result of this was something he wasn't used to yet.
"Here goes nothing. Enrage." Staring directly into Lena's eyes, Kenneth recited the spell.
After a few seconds, nothing happened. Lena didn't seem to feel anything, either. Lena began inspecting her arms and legs to see if anything was different.
"Did something go wrong, little brother? I don't feel like it wor-" Lena's words were cut short by her own swipe, as she threw her left fist towards Kenneth.
Realizing the effect of the spell, Lena tried her hardest to battle the anger building up within her head. There was this crippling feeling of wanting to beat down anything close to her.
Fortunately, she was able to divert her fist from hitting Kenneth's face. Taking her other hand, she dragged her unwilling right arm away from Kenneth, and redirected it to the grass.
"I'm sorry! I- I'll turn it off…" Kenneth apologized, flustered from his mistake.
Eventually Lena was released from her state of anger. The only problem was that her clothes were now dirty, as a result of her rolling around in the grass like a kid in an effort to stop her disobeying right arm.
