"I'm back, Elliot."

After finishing his rounds, Ralph looked into Elliot's room and saw his son lying face down on the bed.

Claré was sitting in a chair beside the bed, with his index finger in front of his mouth.

"Today was the first time he had practiced magic, so he's exhausted and sleeping. Sword training will be difficult," Clare whispered with a smile. "He should get used to it in a few days, so please let him take a break from training in the meantime."

Ralph sighed as he scratched his short black hair.

"Well, I guess I'll have to practice for a while."

"Yes, please."

Ralph came down to the living room, hung the sword he was wearing on the wall, and took out a particularly heavy sword and headed for the garden.

Children grow up quickly. Not to be outdone, the anti-hero organization was secretly working in the shadows. Kartchnel, the Knight Commander of the Kingdom of Bilderna, along with a monster expert and a dozen knights, also tried and tested monsters to raise them. It took five years for them to get used to it.

Wild monsters like black dogs, wights, and red caps were easy to manage as they would reproduce on their own if locked in a cage, but breeding hermaphrodite lamias was difficult. Lamia eat their own young, so they must be watched over around the clock when it's time to give birth. Lamia queens sometimes appear among the lamia's children, and other species and stronger individuals begin to appear, which requires time, effort, and money to rebuild the cages.

The leaders of the seven countries and the anti-hero organizations regularly communicated progress and groundbreaking breeding methods to each other by letter, and they were gradually getting ready to accept the hero.

The best news of all was that King Raniester of the Kingdom of Graze told them that he had discovered a legendary armor. However, it was badly deteriorated, so it would take time to repair it.

"That's right, let's just focus on your fingertips!"

Curare's teacher spirit grew stronger with each passing day. Just as she had predicted, Elliot was growing fast, and was secretly creating a monster. Of course, he was also studying at the same time.

Elliot pressed his index fingers together and controlled the mana within his body.

"Once your fingertips get used to it, then thin them until they're as thin as a needle! Release them all at once, and circulate them."

"Ugh... Ugh...!"

Elliot furrowed his brow as he went through the training Clare had given him. He realized he was growing too, and Clare was pleased, which satisfied his need for approval. No one noticed that this was clearly forming the makings of a hero.

"Okay, let's take a break!"

Curare clapped his hands in front of his chest. "It took me a year to reach that level. That's amazing."

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"I-I see..."

Out of breath, Elliot dropped to his knees.

"Let's have lunch, then we'll try controlling atoms using mana."

"So, does that mean we're finally going to practice magic?"

Elliot's eyes started to light up.

"What we've been doing up until now is also magic practice. We just need to put it into shape. Now, let's try practicing again."

"...Yes."

Ralph also went home for a while, and after the four of them had lunch, it was time for the atom control lesson in the afternoon.

"I taught you that everything is made up of tiny particles called atoms. Not only earth and trees, but even the atmosphere is made of atoms."

Inside the room, Elliot nodded as they sat opposite each other as usual.

"Mana and atoms go well together. Because atoms are very light, you can use them on the flow of mana to create a variety of states. You can move the air to create wind, collide air with one another to create fire, or freeze everything to a standstill, or flow mana into earth to create golems or walls; it's quite versatile. Let's start with the simplest practice, which is moving the air."

Saying this, Clare held up his index finger in front of him. He then began to twirl his finger in circles, as if rolling the eyes of a dragonfly. It soon began to produce a sound like cutting through the wind. The breeze gently swayed the hanging lace in the room and the hair of both of them. The spider web that had made today in the corner of the room was also swaying, but the window was closed.

Elliot was amazed at the phenomenon.

Eventually, Clare's finger stopped moving, and the wind died down as well. "Well, it's something like this. If you concentrate mana on your fingertips and stir the air, this kind of phenomenon will occur."

"That's amazing! Can I do it too?"

"I'm already at the stage where I can do it! Come on, let's try it right away!"

Curare leans forward with shining eyes.

"Sensei, I'm close."

"S-sorry."

Curare coughs lightly and starts over.

"Okay, I'll try it."

Elliot holds up his index finger like Clare did, and concentrates mana on his fingertips and stirs it. But not even a breeze rises.

"Huh...?"

Elliot makes a confused noise.

"Instead of just stirring it up, let's circulate the atmosphere, focusing on atoms!"

"Atmosphere...atoms...particles of all things..."

When he becomes conscious of it as words, the situation changes. The sound of the wind, which begins to sound like Clare's model, gradually gets louder.

"That's it! Keep it up!!"

The wind gets stronger and stronger. Not only the lace in the room and their hair, but the photo frames and candlesticks also began to sway. The pages of the book on the desk began to flip.

"W-wait a second! Hold on please!! Hold the mana!"

"This is magic..."

Clare hastily grabbed Elliot's index finger. Elliot came to his senses and stopped pouring mana, and the wind stopped.

"You still haven't gotten the mana output right. Let's do it outside."

Clare hastily grabbed Elliot's hand, bowed to Emily, who was in the kitchen, and pulled him outside.

Despite Clare's worries, Elliot was impressed by his first time using magic. From then on, all practice except for mana circulation practice was outside.