I woke up in my bed.
Which was weird.
Because the last thing I remembered was collapsing face first onto a desk.
The sheets were tucked in, my shoes were off, and someone had even wiped the ink smudge off my cheek.
What the hell?
"While you were busy auditioning for 'Sleeping Beauty: Rune Burnout Edition,' Gareth came in, took one look at your sorry state, sighed like a disappointed nanny, and carried your four year old noble butt to bed."
So… I got princess carried?
By Gareth?
"More like sack of potatoes'd. But sure, let's go with the pretty version if it helps you cope."
"How long did I sleep?" I mumbled.
"Twenty seven hours. Technically twenty seven hours and forty nine minutes, but let's not get petty."
"What?!"
"Relax. Philip checked in on you twice. He said your body needed the recovery time. Apparently, collapsing from mana depletion like a Victorian heroine is… not ideal."
I groaned and pulled the blanket over my face.
Even with a full day of rest, my limbs still felt like boiled noodles.
And not the good kind, like, the ones you forget in the pot too long.
I forced myself out of bed, washed up, and stumbled down to the kitchen.
Apparently, no one was expecting me to wake up anytime soon most of the food had gone cold.
Still, I dug in like I hadn't eaten in a week. Because technically... I hadn't.
"You missed three meals and half a day's worth of important facial expressions," Mnex muttered. "Mother was genuinely worried. She even sat by your bed for a while. Of course, she left once you started snoring like a dying sheep."
"Wait, she was in my room?"
"For a solid twenty minutes. Then she decided you were beyond saving."
Halfway through my second slice of bread, Gareth entered.
"Ah, young lord. Good to see you vertical again," he said with a tired but relieved smile. "Master Philip is out in the fields. He said to let you rest, but if you're feeling up to it…"
"I'm up," I said, grabbing one last bite before hopping off the chair.
"Careful now. You've just woken from a mana coma. Let's not collapse dramatically twice in a row, it loses impact."
I ignored Mnex and made my way outside.
The sky was clear, the air crisp.
Beyond the city walls, the poisoned fields stretched out like a bruised canvas waiting to be healed.
And there, in the heart of that desolation, stood Uncle Philip.
He had his arms outstretched not in a dramatic, spellcasting kind of way, but calm, deliberate.
Above his hands floated something strange. Something… beautiful.
A cloud.
Small, child sized. Hovering just above head level.
It shimmered faintly, like a vaporous marble spun from air and light.
And then, it began to rain.
Not hard. Just a soft, steady drizzle, concentrated directly onto the patch of land below it.
I watched in silence as the droplets sank into the soil, soaking it gently.
Uncle Philip didn't even turn to look at me. He just smiled and said,
"Magic isn't always about force, Henry. Sometimes… it's about persuasion."
"This is elegant," Mnex said, his voice unusually calm. "Hydro. Aero. Density control. It's like taming the weather on a micro scale. For you, Henry, everything's possible. Rain, fog, frost… even lightning, if you learn to weave it right."
"How did you combine those spells?" I asked. It had never occurred to me before that I could merge two different spells to create something new.
"Once you form the spell in your mind world, all you need is imagination," he said, flashing a wide grin.
If I could master all the elements, I'd have infinite combinations at my disposal. And then it hit me if spells could be linked together, surely runes could be too.
"Mnex, I think you've gathered enough data to start auto simulating rune combinations."
"Yes," Mnex replied, his voice as confident as ever. "I've collected enough data from the previous night. But I'll need to draw a bit of your mana to run the simulation."
I still wanted to learn wind magic, though...
"Ah, you've become my little monster at last," Mnex sighed theatrically. "I imagine this is how Dr. Frankenstein must've felt. Alright then. If I start the simulation slowly and balance your brain functions, you can manage both. Just… don't overdo it, okay?"
I smiled. My uncle Philip looked at me with a blank expression, completely unaware of what was happening.
"I guess it's time to learn wind magic," I said, winking.
Uncle Philip clapped sarcastically. "If you fail, you have to let me analyze those papers you drew earlier. After all, I did show you something interesting, didn't I?"
I didn't even answer. I just sat down on the dirt, closed my eyes, and dove into my mind world.
This time, I didn't need to ask Mnex what air was made of. Oxygen and nitrogen. Simpler than earth.
Two molecules again. If I got the ratio right, I'd be able to form the wind element. Nitrogen was dense, oxygen light.
With my eyes closed, I visualized the air. I dropped down to the molecular level. Molecules swirled everywhere, probably things like carbon dioxide too, but they didn't matter. Oxygen and nitrogen were the key.
I was already familiar with oxygen, so spotting it was easy. Nitrogen was even easier, it was the most abundant molecule in the air. I found the densest clusters and focused. It felt like a puzzle game at this point. Fit the right pieces in the right place, test, and observe the reaction. I couldn't help but feel a little like a scientist. All I was missing were the glasses—and pushing them up with my middle finger.
Naturally, my first attempt failed. I probably used too much nitrogen. The second time, I reduced it, but the ratio still felt off.
"You don't seem like you need help," Mnex said, "but here's a basic tip, aim for a four to one ratio."
Exactly what I needed. Thanks, Mnex, sometimes you're actually useful.
I adjusted the nitrogen to oxygen ratio as he instructed. I could feel a new confidence rising inside me. I couldn't say I fully understood what I was doing, not yet but I had about 70% grasp of it now. And with Mnex's help, that 70% might as well be 100.
I opened my eyes. A transparent sapphire floated before me. I didn't need to be a genius to understand what it meant. I reached out and gave it its first shape.
"Congratulations, Aang. As the last airbender to master all four elements, all that's left is to make the Fire Lord kneel."
My chest swelled. With pride. I had succeeded in only three attempts.
"Told you, if you studied hard enough, you'd get to see the Smurfs one day too."
"Admit it, you're proud of me. Aren't you?"
"I'm more proud of myself, but fine, I'll let you have your moment this time..."
I opened my eyes again and slowly stood up. I was expecting a headache or something, but nothing came. I pulled a bit of mana into my hand and dragged the air from my mind world into reality. Just like with fire, I pushed it forward. Uncle Philip's hair shifted, I had created a small gust of wind.
"Haha, congratulations Henry! You can now form spells for all four elements. Don't forget, you promised to let me look at your sketches."
"What are you, my uncle or a knowledge thief? Don't you dare touch my drawings," I said, gathering the purple flames into my palm.
"Whoa, whoa! Easy there, little devil. I was kidding!" he said with a laugh.
For the rest of the day, I simply watched my uncle Philip as we went from field to field, healing the soil. At some point during all this, I noticed something… The tools the farmers were using… how should I put it, looked like they came straight out of the Stone Age. And honestly, they didn't seem very efficient.
Mnex? Do you think we could improve those tools?
"Ah, if I'm not mistaken, wasn't your dream to lay around and do nothing? What happened to that, hmm? Lately, you've been working me so much, it's like some workaholic evil spirit has possessed your mind. You keep going, 'Should we do this? Should we improve that?' constantly. What am I, huh? At this rate, I'm going to demand a 9 to 5 schedule with weekends off."
I didn't reply. If he were in front of me, I would've tried to pressure him with a stare, but for now, all I could do was silently observe the pitiful tools the farmers were using.
"Alright, alright… I'll sketch up a few upgrades tonight, something more advanced and efficient... Ugh."
Thanks to the new fertilizer I'd developed and the lightning method, the soil was now mostly restored. With my uncle's magic, the soil's fertility increased another 50%, and with better tools, it would rise even more. I couldn't help but think, if only we could do GMO…
"Wait a second. What did you just say?"
What?
"Did you say GMO?"
Yeah?
"Maybe we can try something. Maybe even create something better than GMO."
What do you mean?
"I just got a brilliant idea."