Part 1
I woke up in my bed. I must have spent too much mana healing the flower, which is why I passed out. Clearly Lyra was right that I was too young to cast spells. I needed to be more careful next time or they would forbid me from using magic altogether.
— Airon, are you awake?
I slowly turned my head. Lyra was sitting there looking scared to death.
— Yes, I'm fine, don't worry.
— I told you you're too small for magic! Why did I ever listen to you?
— I'm sorry.
— What if our parents came in? I could have been punished because of you.
— …
— Fine, I'm also to blame, I shouldn't have made you cast spells after the first failure. Next time we'll practice a little at a time, gradually building up your mana reserves.
— I understand, thank you.
That was unpleasant. I felt something was wrong when my head started hurting but I was too absorbed in magic and ignored it. Next time I would pay more attention to my own sensations.
Part 2
Another year passed. During this time I mastered all the Beginner level healing spells. I decided not to wait for school but to study magic at home. Lyra told me that the first two years of school would be spent studying writing and literacy, plus a little magic theory, and practice would only start in the third year. I wasn't willing to wait that long so when my sister wasn't around I secretly took her magic textbooks and read them. Alak also enjoyed reading. He often read to me in the evenings and let me take books from the shelf. It turned out my father was not twenty-five as I had first thought he was fifty-eight. It must be a characteristic of the elven race. Elvarin was also much older than she looked. She was forty-two when she gave birth to me. I once asked her about elves. She said that elves can live up to five hundred years and some even lived up to six hundred. Elvarin was a descendant of Healers from Illushion. She studied at the local academy where she met Alak. After they married they moved to my father's homeland. Alak had been an adventurer for some time. Since he had a Special Rank in healing magic his skills were widely valued. He studied magic at the National Academy of Illushion named after Xérion. In addition to healing he mastered destruction magic at the Advanced level and even studied a bit of alteration magic. I didn't fully understand what alteration magic was but I figured it included all types of magic that didn't fit into other categories. For example telekinesis (or gravity magic) transmutation magic enchantment manaphotation and curses. The latter is banned almost everywhere in the world for some reason well whatever I have enough other types of magic. Although it would be interesting to find out how curses work in this world.
Part 3
Time passed. Every day I practiced magic. Casting silently was quite difficult. The thing is when I try to cast a spell without words I have to imagine the spell's effect in my head and direct the flow of mana into my hands. But if I cast spells with words I don't have to imagine anything it just happens naturally. That's why I needed to practice as much as possible. Maybe things would be different with destruction magic. The only problem was that we only had books on healing and enchantment at home. Even in Alak's home library among all the magic books I couldn't find a single destruction spell. Damn it healing magic is too boring for me. I needed to find destruction books somewhere but I didn't have the opportunity yet. Maybe I should find a way to earn money and buy a book to study that magic.
My father recently took me with him to the city. Lorelin was a port city located on the central coast. A very beautiful city. The city's feature was its abundant greenery. There were trees and bushes everywhere decorating the city's architecture. Most of the buildings were made of white brick and marble. In this city I saw humans and beast-folk for the first time.
Alak and I went shopping. I would be five years old soon so I would be sent to school. Since I had grown up my parents decided to buy me some new clothes and everything necessary for school. — Airon let's stop here they sell pens and notebooks.
— Okay
We went into a store called Neltor's Goods. An ordinary store with books pens and similar items. But in the right corner of the store I noticed magic books and various scrolls. While Alak was talking to the salesman I walked over to those books. Maybe there were destruction books here. I started looking for the book I needed. Among all the books there were textbooks on different types of magic so destruction should be here too. After a few minutes of searching I found it. The book was called "Fundamentals of Destruction Author: Xérion Latra." While Alak wasn't looking I took the book off the shelf and quickly glanced at the contents. It told the history of destruction magic and all the spells from Beginner to Advanced level.
My eyes lit up. I urgently needed this book! I had to somehow convince Alak to buy it I hoped he wouldn't mind since the price was quite reasonable.
— Dad, please buy this book for me!
Alak turned around and looked at me with a calm gaze. Then he smiled and said:
— Airon you are still too young for such books. I know you are smart for your age but I can't buy this for you yet.
— Oh please! Studying healing is boring.
— Someday you will understand that healing is much more important than destruction.
Oh damn! I was so hoping I could finally create fireballs just like in the games! God how tired I am of your stupid healing. I got a little sad lowering my head. Alak noticed this thought for a moment then sighed and said:
— Fine I will buy you this book if you bring home good grades after the first year of school.
— Okay I will try my best!
The conditions were quite simple. I was sure I would be an A student since I already mastered Beginner level healing and knew how to read and write. True I had to wait another year but one year for elves is like a month for humans. I hoped this time would fly by quickly.
Part 4
Summer arrived. For some reason the school year here begins in the summer. Maybe that's the custom in this world. For me summer was always associated with vacation but here it was the opposite. Well whatever I didn't really care as long as I finished this year quickly and got my grades. The Elementary School of Magical Arts where I would be studying was located about ten kilometers from my house. It was a normal school there were hundreds like it throughout the Elven continent. Just as Lyra told me for the first two years I would only study theory and practice would start in the third year. To finish this school I only needed to study for five years and if I wanted to continue I needed to enroll in middle school. Not all graduates of this institution even master Intermediate level healing. So I probably wouldn't learn much new here. I needed to finish my studies as quickly as possible and enroll in middle school. There I could even reach the Advanced level. When I entered the classroom I saw that not only elves would be studying here. There were humans too but still more than half the class were elves. Looking around I sat down at a desk in the middle row. A beautiful elf girl was sitting next to me. Her hair like liquid gold flowed over her shoulders shimmering in the sun. Light played in it sometimes becoming bright like a sunbeam sometimes soft like moonlight. Her thin pointed ears typical of elves were almost invisible among her golden hair but gave her a special charm.
She was quite attractive. Well I shouldn't be thinking about that.
— Dear students may the day of knowledge be a bright and joyful celebration for you. We wish you a happy and fun school life good grades a drive for knowledge and new discoveries. May your first school year be successful bright and interesting
While I was deep in thought our teacher gave a welcoming speech. She didn't look very young. Knowing the characteristics of the elven race I could assume she was at least two hundred years old. She also said that especially gifted students could finish school earlier. There were cases where a child studied for no more than three years then finished elementary school and moved on to middle school. This was great news for me. I could finish my studies here in three years. Next she announced the school rules and what we would be studying here over the five years. As she spoke I paid attention to my classmates. Among them was an elf but his skin was slightly darker and his hair was black. I thought all elves had pale skin and light hair. He was probably from a different elven people like what were they called dark elves. I thought they only lived in the South but whatever.
The first lesson was history. In this lesson we were told about the very beginning of this world. The teacher said that our entire world was created by a creator god. He created the earth the sea animals and intelligent races. He also created all the non-absolute gods. As I understood it there were absolute and non-absolute gods in this world. Their difference was that absolute gods possessed a divine power and could create entire worlds. Little was known about the absolute gods because they did not interfere in the affairs of mortals and no one among the mortals had ever seen these gods. And the non-absolute gods lived right on our planet and they maintained the laws of the universe. Non-absolute gods unlike the absolute ones were limited by a curse. These curses were placed upon them by the creator god so that they would be forced to maintain order in this world.
Later we were told more about the non-absolute gods. There were six in total: Azur (God of Seas) Dryad (Goddess of Nature) Kayen (God of Earth) Aeris (Goddess of Winds) Foreus (God of Flame) and Spherum (God of Knowledge). Each of them performed an important function. For example Kayen used gravity magic to hold the planet together so it wouldn't shatter across space. Azur maintained the currents of rivers and waves and also kept the glaciers in the North from flooding the human continent. Foreus controlled the heat of Etheria's core preventing it from cooling (which would lead to global freezing) or spiraling out of control (which would cause constant super-eruptions). Aeris managed all the winds on the planet to move the clouds (which Azur filled) across the continent. Without her constant work rain would only fall in one area causing droughts in others. Dryad controlled photosynthesis the growth rate of plants and the metabolism of animals. She ensured that forests wouldn't overgrow too quickly deplete the soil and turn into chaotic jungles. But Spherum was the most useless among them. Simply put he was created by the creator god to develop intelligent beings essentially to keep us from living like cavemen. Thanks to him cities writing and all other benefits of civilization appeared. Why did I call him the most useless? Because the world could exist normally without him too. Without Kayen the earth would fly apart into boundless space without Dryad all animals would die out and without Azur rivers would stop flowing and all the land would turn into a desert because he was the one who created the clouds. Spherum looked quite useless against their background although thanks to him I was sitting at a school desk studying history.
The first lesson was over. It was very interesting. I never thought everything here was so complex. Perhaps one of these gods knows how I was reborn in this world if I ever meet one of them I will definitely ask.
In the second lesson we studied the alphabet. For me who already knew how to read and write the lesson was terribly boring. In my past life I usually played on my phone when a lesson was boring but here all I could do was stare out the window and count crows.
During the lesson my deskmate suddenly spoke to me.
— Are you even listening to what the teacher is saying?
I stopped looking out the window and looked at my neighbor. She looked angry at me. But looking at her beautiful face her anger only made her seem cuter.
— I already know how to write and read. Why do I need to study the alphabet?
— I know how to read too, though only a little, but repetition wouldn't hurt.
Well look who's trying to lecture me.
— What's your name?
— I'm Aria, and you?
— Airon.
We talked a little. Aria also learned to read and write at an early age. But unlike me she didn't have mage relatives. She was born into a very ordinary elven family.
— Did you study magic before? — I asked her
— No my parents are farmers so they didn't teach me magic.
— I see
— Did you already study magic?
— Yes I have Beginner level healing magic.
— Wow that's great. Could you show me a couple of spells sometime?
I could but I had enough on my plate already. Recently I had been having trouble studying Intermediate level healing. Basically because I was still too young my mana reserves were quite low so I couldn't handle Intermediate level healing magic. But looking at her I just couldn't refuse.
— Alright I'll show you a few spells.
— Great. Then let's meet tomorrow after lessons?
— Okay.
I don't know if I should have agreed but whatever let's see what happens.
Part 5
The next day I went to school again. Today's lessons were quite interesting. Today we learned a bit about magic theory.
— Children today we will talk about alteration magic. This is the most complex and diverse type of magic. Alteration covers manipulation of space matter energy flows living creatures and objects. It turned out that alteration magic included 7 schools. Such as telekinesis (manipulation of object movement and position in space) influence (manipulation of a living creature's physical state) teleportation (manipulation of spatial position) transmutation (manipulation of matter form and composition) manaphotation (manipulation of someone else's mana) enchantment (infusing mana into inanimate objects) and curses (manipulation of negative effects).
Lessons ended. As I was packing up Aria spoke to me:
— Did you forget about yesterday's promise?
Damn it how could I forget? Yesterday after classes I got so absorbed in history that I completely forgot about it. I needed to pretend I hadn't forgotten anything.
— No I remember. Let's go to the school's inner courtyard I'll show you everything there.
We went out into the courtyard. First I needed to explain to her how to use magic.
— To learn a spell you first need to read it. When you do that you need to close your eyes and imagine yourself healing someone or something. While reading try to direct mana to the hand you will be healing with.
— I got it!
— We will heal that bush over there.
I walked up to a small bush and broke off one of the branches. I would teach her the way Lyra taught me.
— Try to heal this bush using this spell.
— Alright.
I gave her the magic textbook. She looked at it for a few seconds then aimed her free hand at the broken branch.
— Let the water take away the pain as a river carries away a stone. Let the earth give strength as a tree gives fruit. Let the light fill the wound as the sun illuminates the field.
Mana began to concentrate in Aria's hands. Her hand glowed bright green and then in a second the broken branch was restored as good as new. Even I couldn't restore the flower that quickly on my first try. Strange since I'm a descendant of Healers and she's just a farmer's daughter.
— I did it!
— Well done now you need to do the same thing but silently.
I broke the bush branch again. Now I had to watch carefully so she wouldn't faint from mana exhaustion like I once did.
— Heal this branch but be careful. If you feel unwell stop the spell. Otherwise you might pass out.
— Okay don't worry.
Aria stood opposite the bush extending her right hand. Then she closed her eyes and stood like that for at least ten seconds. Maybe it was hard for her to picture the spell in her head or she couldn't concentrate mana in her hand. Maybe I should tell her to stop? I didn't want her to fall to the ground from mana exhaustion.
After she stood there for a while her hands slowly began to glow. The light grew brighter with every second. She squeezed her eyes shut it was clearly difficult for her. After a few seconds the branch slowly began to mend. Before I knew it the bush was completely restored.
— Airon I did it!
— Wait are you dizzy? Are you alright?
— What are you talking about? I'm completely fine and nothing hurts.
Wait she used Silent Magic for the first time and she didn't feel unwell at all? Why did I pass out then while she was perfectly fine? She didn't even have mages in her family or did I not know something? Damn it it seems she was just lucky enough to be born with a large mana reserve. Then what influences these mana reserves? I should have more mana in theory but everything was the opposite. Well I'll have to figure this out somehow.