Chapter 4
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Two years have passed by with not much change. Aiden is still rather alone at school, but it doesn't bother him because it is peaceful for him. His sister, however, is living a perfectly normal school life. Although the circumstances should have been pretty much the same, being that she is the daughter of Alejana as well, Hana actually had nobody avoid her. Aiden could only sigh when he realized this fact. But like said before, he didn't let it get to him.
Hana was perfectly ordinary, well... she was a little above ordinary. It wasn't to the point to where everyone loved her, but she had a lot of friends in her class since she knew a lot of them from the day care. Her long blonde hair and beautiful cloudy eyes made Aiden expect that when middle school started, the boys would start to be all over her. But since she was still only six years old, there was still a long ways to go before Aiden had to worry about even more jealous boys targeting him.
Hana seemed to have a playful and adventurous attitude, the opposite of her 'brother'. She would do anything in her power to go outside to play, and would often drag other children with her. Although her favorite person to drag into her shenanigans, was Aiden. Ever since she was little, it's been 'Din-Din this, Din-Din that' with her. To Aiden, who only wanted to read and rest, it was a little troublesome. But he had only ever seriously denied once, and his sister had cried the entire night. Ever since then, the most he has done was complain, but he has never once said no.
Although it was troublesome, he still loved his sister.
***
While sitting under a tree and reading a book that was far too advanced for a child of his level, Aiden welcomed the cool breeze as he spent a relaxing day off from school doing whatever he wanted. Like all seven year olds in the village, soon he will be starting magic lessons.... although it was mostly just the basics like finding out their strong elements and controlling mana. So he made sure to study up on it, hence the current book 'Mana in Nature'. As Aiden sat and read, his sister was playing with a squirrel a few feet away. For some reason, most nature and wild life favored elves, and unlike with Aiden, wild animals would readily approach an elf as long as they stayed calm and collected and did not scare it off. Due to the giggling of his sister, Aiden read the same line three times in a row, yet the distraction was too much and he understood none of it. Sighing while setting the book down, he decided to take a break until he could collect his thoughts again.
As he got up and approached Hana, the squirrel squirmed out of her arms and scurried up a nearby tree, causing a sad 'ah' to come from his sister. As he sat next to her on the soft grass, Hana put her fist straight into his chest.
"Din-Din, why would you do that!? It took forever to get him to let Hana touch him. Uuu, now Hana has to start all over." (Hana)
While blocking second flying fist,
"That hurts. I was bored, and you wouldn't let me read in peace. Anyway, how is school going?" (Aiden)
Taking a change in attitude, the small tear that began to form in Hana's eye completely disappeared and she frowned a little.
"Uhh..." (Hana)
"Whats the matter?" (Aiden)
"Don't tell mama or papa, but I failed the pre-test..." (Hana)
Hana was now in the first grade, and Aiden was in the second. If Aiden remembers correctly (which he always does) then the first grade test around this time of year was mostly just simple adding and subtracting. Realizing his sister was on the verge of being classified as 'slow,' as she wasn't even able to know the simplest of things, he felt desperate to help. Other kids see Aiden's ranking and think he is stupid (because he never does his homework) so if people realized the other child from the same house hold was stupid, it could ruin his parent's reputation. People already ignored him, so he decided to at least salvage his sitser before it was too late.
"Come on, let's go upstairs. I'll help you study." (Aiden)
At this words, Hana brightly smiled and grabbed onto her brother's hand as they walked towards the rope ladder that led to their house.
"Thank you, Din-Din!" (Hana)
"...try not to become an idiot... idiot." (Aiden)
As they playfully teased each other, they stayed up late that night while Aiden taught her shortcuts and easy memorization tricks involving the numbers 1 through 10.
***
Later that week, Hana was pleased to inform her brother that she got the highest score in the class.
"Everyone was congratulated Hana, and Mrs. Luna even asked me what methods I used." (Hana)
"Hoh~ congrats." (Aiden)
Replying in his usual tone all the while while not looking up from his book, Hana felt a bit dejected. She sat still for a bit, while thinking of something else to say to get her brother's attention.
"Ah! Yeah! When Hana told Mrs. Luna about the method, she smiled and said, 'tell your brother I said hello, and that he never visits me anymore'." (Hana)
At these words Aiden looked up from his book. Seeing her brother finally have a reaction, Hana smiled. She always found it fun to try and break his seriousness, almost like it was a game. As her brother's lips slowly curved into a smile, she internally gave herself two points.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
She could tell that I taught her just by my methods? She really is one scary woman, I mean it's not illegal to help my sister out right? It's not like I took the test for her, she did it on her own. Seriously that woman is scary. (Aiden)
(NOTE: It's pretty common in fictions or translations, but to clarify... when there are italics, it normally means that someone is thinking something rather than saying it out loud.)
Mrs. Luna was Alejana's childhood friend. They both loved cute things, so naturally they got along well. Following their shared passion of cute things, one became a first grade teacher while the other started her own nursery. Most of Aiden's teachers could tell how smart he was just from tests alone, and Luna was no exception. If anything, her levels of observation were on a level that rivaled Aiden's. Although he referred to her as scary, she was still one of Aiden's favorite people as she was always nice to him and she reminded him of his mother.
He would often stay after school in her classroom to read, and Luna would take these time to teach him things or urge him to do his homework. He was excited to learn things that he normally did not have access to, such as spells or advanced history, and she would even let him borrow books from her personal library. But he found himself stopping going there when he entered second grade due to the troublesome talks about homework she would always lay on him. Since his magic test was coming up soon, he decided to visit her one more time.
***
"Ahh! Aiden, long time no see." (Luna)
As Aiden and Hana entered the room, his former teacher's face lit up. She was... short. If he had to guess, he would say she was at most 5ft tall, if that. Even among human standards that is considered a short, but among elves that's even shorter! By elf standards she could classify as a midget. Aiden laughed to himself as he joked that he could very well be talking to the shortest elf to ever live... maybe she'll go down in the records. Aiden, who was taller than most humans and was on par with the elves, was almost as tall as her even though he was still only seven.
Considering that this woman and his mother were childhood friends, Aiden guessed that she was somewhere in her mid to late thirties. Although that's how old his mother was, elves had high vitality. The oldest elf lived up to 230 years, although the average elf only lasts around 170. Their aging slowed down a lot once they hit twenty or so (although they still aged, but it is not very noticeable)... so both Luna and Alejana were in their prime of womanhood and looked like they were at most 25 or 26. Although this woman may have looked even younger considering how short she still was.
"And hello to you too, Mrs. Knowitall. Very nice job on your test." (Luna)
While saying this, she winked at Aiden... fully aware that it was him that helped her go from a failing grade to best in the class in a few days. Aiden returned this wink with a small laugh and a bright smile. Much like with his mother and father, Aiden felt more open when he talked to this person. Although he still wasn't super energetic, compared to his normal listlessness and straight face, this was a major improvement. Meanwhile Hana was blushing as Luna slowly rubbed her head and congratulated her.
"So Aiden, how is the magic going?" (Luna)
Aiden was one of Luna's favorite students, mainly because his magic was unlike anything she had seen before. The first time she had seen it, she did not know what to say. She was speechless, and she even ended up consulting the town elder. The town elder calmly told her that Aiden was a special case and not to press into the matter, and much to her disappointment, he would not tell her why he was so special. The reason she thought his magic was so unique was, that it was limitless. Most people could use any element, yet they normally stuck to the one or two that they had an innate talent for. Yet this child...
He could control none of the elements. She had tried most of the ones known to her including; fire, water, air, earth and she even threw in more advanced ones such as lightning, darkness, and light. Yet he could not cast a single spell. However, what he could do was more powerful than any spells she had tried to teach him. He could control raw mana, both from nature and himself, and bend it to his will. Practically anything he immagined could be controlled or created as long as his mana supply did not run out. It was insanely unique and the color of his mana was beautiful... a light blue/white that resembled his hair and looked like the stars themselves.
She had no prior knowledge to the element, and had no ideas what spells or power he could create with it...
Unknown to her, it was the power of the cosmos...
Capable of creating the hottest flame, or the coldest ice,
[Celestial] magic.