How did I get here?

Do I belong in this family, or this world?

I died, and reincarnated as Ken.. but is that really what happened?

What if.. I took over his body?

What if I stole this child's life?

..

I feel terrible..

Again - Chapter Two

I'm five years old now.

I still feel pretty weird in a child's body, but I'm slowly getting used to it.

Reading and writing the human language turned out not to be hard at all.

I say human because there's apparently separate languages for other races..

Oh, and by other races, I don't mean human races.

I mean stuff like..

Elves!

Ah, how refreshing it is to think that they really exist here.

Will I ever meet one? I will, right?

A-Anyway.

Mom and Dad have been teaching me some minor stuff recently, like a bit of basic math, the outside world and society, as well as proper, or formal ways to talk.

Society, huh?

I never particularly liked going outside, partly because I felt out of place, disconnected from society.

Mm.. I didn't like the world, I'll just say that.

As a result, I simply resorted to the online world, and became a shut-in.

I was waiting for the day that I would somehow be able to live in a virtual, but ideal world.

But obviously, I was never able to visit that kind of world.

..

Now I'm wondering, what's the world like here?

I swallow the piece of bread I was eating and ask dad, who was sitting across the table that very question.

"Hey, dad. What's the world like?"

He looks pretty surprised, I guess he didn't expect a question like that from a five year old.

He thinks for a moment before answering.

"Well, it's not exactly as nice as you might think. The world's beautiful, but the people living in it, not so much."

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"I see..", I say.

"He's very right. And since you're clearly special, we want you ready for that world as soon as possible.", Mom says, while cleaning some dishes.

Woah, didn't expect that.

Did they really put that much thought into it?

I thought they just wanted to have a smart kid, or something, but I guess they're just getting me ready for life.

Now that's what I call good parenting!

I'm taking notes.. if I ever get kids, I'll follow their example!

....

I don't think I need to say that I'm interested in magic.

Who wouldn't be, am I right?

Mom told me a while back how you'd usually create something like a fireball, but my memory has betrayed me..

Luckily, we have a mini-library in the house, and two sections of it are all filled with books about magic!

There are quite a lot of books for beginners, so I decided to pick out some of them and compare the provided information to each other, to make sure everything's accurate.

You might be thinking that I don't need to put this much thought into it, but misinformation can be a deadly weapon!

Here's the information I've gathered..

Ahem, ahem.

Typically, you cast a spell by visualizing it in your mind and saying it's name.

You can reach a point where you only need to visualize the spell and skip the name, which can be very useful, but it takes quite some time to learn.

Obviously, you can't use spells every second with no penalty, you need a certain amount of mana for any and every spell.

Mana is stored within your body, and it's pretty much just energy, except you can also use it for spells.

You consume mana by using spells, you restore it by sleeping or eating.

The maximum amount of mana you can store within your body depends on a few factors, like age, genetics, and frequent or infrequent use of mana.

Apparently, you can also cast spells that exceed the max amount of mana you can store within your body, but it can heavily damage your body, or just immediately kill you, which is pretty scary.

There are a few spells listed here, along with illustrations to help you visualize them, but they all seem to be really basic.

Hm.. maybe I shouldn't rush. That's right, start small.

Well, with that said.. I don't think I should do it in the library..

I struggle to pick up even just two medium-sized books, but patiently carry them back to my room.

As I'm going there, Mom sees me, and immediately sends me a smug smile.

"Ooh, finally getting interested in books, mister?"

I was barely able to respond.

"Who wouldn't be interested in magic.. my dear mother..!"

She laughs softly.

..

At last, I'm here, my comfort zone.

I set the books down and flip one of the books to the same page I was on earlier.

Let's see.. which one would be exciting but beginner-friendly..

I look through every single one and decide on the simplest one.

The "Earth Rock"!

..

Yeah, doesn't sound too exciting, does it.

However, it's the best one that I can start with.

On the illustration, it just shows a single, small, sphere-shaped rock.

The description says that you can create it as any shape.. interesting.

I look away from the book, and as it instructed, raised my dominant hand, which is my right, and put my left hand on it, to transfer the mana concentrated on the left to the right.

Now, just visualize..

I close my eyes and form an image of a relatively small, smooth, cube-like rock.

Alright!

"Earth Rock!"

I feel some sort of heat forming in every part of my body, then swiftly moving over to my right hand, all the way to my fingertips.

I open my eyes and see a stone cube forming from a blue beam coming out of my fingertips, which is most likely the physical form of mana.

In just a second, the cube has already taken form.

"Woah.."

I remove my left hand from my right arm and watch the rock in fascination.

This is the first time I've actually seen a perfectly smooth, cube shaped rock..

Once I start moving my hand around, the cube follows it, kind of just floating.

The book said that if I want to throw it or drop it, I just have to think about it..

Fall, cube!

The cube "disconnects" from my hand and drops down on the ground.

Oooh.

Now for picking it up..

I focus on the cube, and it slowly starts floating back to the same point it was at.

Interesting, it's like an invisible dot is made in front of my palm that attracts it, if I focus on that dot and visualize it in my palm, I can hold the rock normally.

As for throwing it, I just have to imagine that the point is repelling the cube instead of attracting it.

It's really cool to play around with, and I can adjust the force as much as I want with mana, but the more I do this, the more tired I get.

I mean, it's to be expected, this is the first time I've ever used mana, so my body doesn't store much.

Apparently, the cube is not exactly made of stone, but mana that takes the form of stone, so it can be destroyed by a capable enough mage if they just revert the form of the mana, but it takes a lot out of them as well, and it's pretty hard to learn how to do that. Since everyone's mana is different, they have to adjust theirs to match mine, which, as you might be able to imagine, is difficult.

I set the cube down on the ground and change it's form to a tiny pebble.

I wonder if I can change it's form drastically..

Then.. if I imagine a huge boulder..

No, no, no. If that wrecks the roof, I'll be in huge trouble.

I grab the pebble and throw it from the window.

Well then, that was very informative.. and fun!

Oh, man.. I can't wait to learn more advanced stuff!

"I'm lovin' it!"

As I finish saying that, I fall on the ground, completely drained.

Ahh, the cold, hard ground.. I love it..

Again - Chapter Two