"Fuu...focus..." I muttered to myself.
Yesterday had been a tactical failure when it came to practicing my magic, but I didn't let that discourage me.
How easy life would be if you could do everything on the first try, right?
Well, now for the most important thing, I had gotten up early and had breakfast, and now I was back in my father Paul's study, which he used more like a closet.
In front of me was a bucket of water, and my magic guidebook was open to my left.
Today, I would also try to learn magic, and I would do it with a simple spell. Once again, I would opt for the water ball.
"Good..."Let the vast and blessed waters flow where you will, and let a single, pure stream gush forth..."
Please let this works...
"Waterball!" I screamed and immediately felt a sensation as if blood were pooling in my right hand, and then, as if that blood had been extruded through the palm of my hand, a sphere of water the size of my fist manifested.
"Gah!" I yelled at the strange sensation, and a moment later, the ball of water fell and splashed onto the ground.
"...I did it," I muttered, a smile forming on my face in excitement.
"I did it!" I announced as I pumped a fist in the air.
It seemed like it took concentration to maintain a spell.
Focus... Focus...
I could feel the blood rushing into my hand once more. That's it. Here we go. Yeah, this feels good. Once again, I raised my right hand, forming an image in my head as I recalled how things had gone last time. I wasn't sure how much magical power I had, but I figured I couldn't keep using it over and over again.
My plan was to practice one thing at a time until I could get it right. I would form the image in my mind and replay it, over and over again, and try to represent it in reality.
If I messed up, I would recall that image until it was perfectly etched in my head.
Just as I had practiced combos in fighting games in my previous life.
Thanks to that, I almost never messed up a combo during a real fight. Hopefully, that means my training methodology will be solid here as well.
I took a deep breath.
My blood coursed through my body, from my toes to the top of my head, pooling in my right hand, filling it with power.
Then, I felt that power appear before my palm. Now, little by little, so carefully, my thoughts aligned with my heartbeat.
"Ha!" I cried out in pure reflex as my hand extended before me, fingers splayed.
In that instant, the water ball was born.
"Whoa, what?"
(Splish!)
In my moment of astonishment, the ball of water fell into the bucket, splashing me a little in the process.
I was in shock. Not only had I managed to perform magic, but I'd managed to do it without a spell.
I couldn't stop another smile from forming on my face, but this time I was able to contain my emotions better.
But when I wanted to try again, the same feeling of tiredness came over me, and I fell asleep on the floor.
I woke up about two hours after casting my first spells and ran down the stairs.
I wasn't going to tell my parents what I had done. I wanted to avoid the endless questions about how a two-year-old already knows how to read and sing spells. I would wait at least another year before announcing my achievement.
But what interested me now was the explanation of what had just happened to me, so I went down to my room with my book in hand and locked myself in again.
...
"Using an incantation allows magical effects to activate automatically."
This had great advantages. First, it made teaching easier. Instead of needing a convoluted explanation about feeling the blood coursing through your veins and all that, casting a spell by chanting words was easier to explain and easier to understand. And then, as the studies progressed, the idea that the incantation was an indispensable part of the process naturally took hold.
The next day, I still felt fine after casting my fourth Waterball.
It was after the fifth that I started to feel tired.
"What the hell?"
Given my experience the day before, I knew that if I cast another one, I would faint, so I decided to stop.
And then I realized: That put my limit at six Waterballs, double what I'd gotten yesterday.
I stared at the bucket containing five water spells and wondered why I'd been able to cast twice as many as the day before. Had I been more tired because it was my first time?
Had the spells consumed more MP because it was my first time casting them?
Today I'd cast all my spells without incantations, so I doubted it had anything to do with it.
I had no idea. Maybe my skills would grow even more the next day.
The next day, my Waterball count increased significantly. I was now up to eleven.
What was the catch? I felt like the more I used the spell, the more I could use it. If I was right, I could get 21 the next day.
The day after that, just to be safe, I only cast five before calling it a day.
The next day, however, I got twenty-six. It seemed I was right: using the spell more often allowed me to cast it more.
I'd been lied to!
What was all this about a person's magical reserves being set at birth? People only assigned limitations to talent when it had none.
How dare adults tell children what their limits were!?
"I guess I can't take what this book says at face value," I muttered. The material written in the book seemed to take the perspective that there were limits to what a person could accomplish.
"Rudy! Come down to dinner!" My mother's voice brought me out of my reverie, so with a grunt of discomfort, I closed my book and headed downstairs.
"Darling, I boiled some potatoes and squash just for you! Come sit down!" my mother said with a smile, and I smiled in return.
Zenith was a loving woman. I'd come to love her as my new mother. Paul, on the other hand, is obviously a womanizer. The guy is always horny. I'm also incapable of seeing him as a true authority figure. He's more like that stepfather you tolerate, the one you don't hate but don't love either.
Lilia, on the other hand, I've seen looking at me sternly on many occasions, and she deliberately avoids being too close to me.
Maybe she's already noticed my behavior? That would be crap.
I've gotten used to this house, and I wouldn't want to be kicked out because of my carelessness. Thank goodness I'm a little boy. Now's the time I should have taken advantage of the fact that I didn't have any responsibilities so I could learn magic more freely.
"Um... Rudeus will be three in four months. I think it would be appropriate for him to start his training at that age," my father said suddenly, which earned him an incredulous look from my mother.
"Isn't that a little early?" she asked with a tone mixed with anger and concern.
"Obviously I won't have him swing a sword just yet. I mean light exercises to increase strength, you know," he said, and my mother nodded, more relieved.
"Training? What kind?" I asked, genuinely confused.
"Don't worry. It'll just be jogging around the house and stuff. We'll train your stamina and strength so that when you grow up, you'll be able to wield a sword properly," Paul said in a serious tone, very unusual, even for him.
My mother wanted to protest, but for some reason, she remained silent.
...I just hope this isn't as intense as I think it will be. I'm barely turning three, you know? After dinner and a bath, I returned to my room. There were so many things I wanted to do. I wanted to travel the world, learn about its culture, its traditions, everything! But one step at a time. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew here. "Aaah...dear! More! More!" "...I must resolve that issue anyway," I muttered to myself as I covered myself with my pillow.
...
Another four months passed, and I completed three years of life in this world. My mana reserves had increased significantly. I could now throw over 600 water balls before even feeling tired, but it had also become tedious. If I kept this up, it would take days for me to exhaust myself again just throwing water balls. I wanted to advance to the intermediate level, but I didn't want to do it inside the house...
It would be time to reveal the secret.
"Your center of mass is tilted!" Paul's voice pulled me out of my reverie, and I just groaned in response.
One downside was that I had now started fencing lessons with Paul. If it were with someone else, then I'd be more than happy to learn something new about this world...
But the problem is who's teaching it, and that's Paul.
The guy simply sucks as a teacher.
And I'm just jogging around the house. How can someone be so bad at just teaching that?! "Paul! That's enough for today, breakfast is ready!" My mother's voice rang like a lifeline to me, while Paul only grunted in response.
The days had passed without any major incidents. Well, it's not like I expected anything interesting to happen. I was happy with my current family dynamic, except for the cold shoulder Lilia has placed between us. I still can't quite explain why, but I still need some time to resolve this problem.
"Rudy... I've always wondered what you're doing locked in my study or your room. Aren't you bored?" Paul suddenly asked, making me freeze in place.
"Yeah... I've wondered that too, but I never knew how to bring it up," Zenith said in the same tone, and all eyes fell on me, even Lilia.
If looks could kill, she'd be strangling me right now.
Okay, then the time has come.
"Guess who can use magic, hehe!"
Paul raised an eyebrow as he stared at me.
"Are you sure?"
"Very sure... I filled a bucket with water, which came out of my hand," I muttered.
Now everyone was staring at me, so I simply took the empty glass in front of me and raised my hand.
"Let the vast and blessed waters flow where you will, and let a single, pure stream gush forth, waterball," I murmured, and a small ball of water fell from my hand into the glass of water.
"..."
"..."
"..."
Now there was a deathly silence in the room.
Shit... is magic a taboo in this world? I don't want a bunch of hooded idiots coming to burn down our house in the name of the Holy Inquisition...
"Pardon?" Paul asked. "That was a beginner level..."
"Oh, honey, did you hear that?!" Zenith interrupted, practically trembling. "I knew our son was a genius!" She balled her hands into tiny fists and jumped up and down in ecstasy.
Well, she sure was in a good mood.
Zenith was clearly excited by this development, but Paul still looked lost.
"Wait, wait," he said, looking at me. "We haven't even taught you how to read or..."
"We'll have to hire a tutor for him right away! Oh, he's going to grow up to be an amazing wizard, I just know it!"
Zenith's reaction to my ability to use magic was one of barely contained glee. Evidently, my fears that children shouldn't use magic were unfounded.
Meanwhile, Lilia had casually and wordlessly begun clearing the table. Either she already knew I could use magic, or she had her suspicions.
Since this skill didn't seem so bad, it seemed like he didn't mind that much. Or maybe he just wanted to see my parents happy.
"Honey, let's go to Roa tomorrow and get a job for a tutor," Zenith said.
"We have to make sure Rudy can hone his talent!"
Well...that went better than I expected.