In a decent-sized forest, there is a small clearing located directly in the middle, which is situated in a remote area quite far away from any form of civilization; every now and then, you'd hear explosions accompanied by the occasional sights of water and steam above the trees along with the disturbance of mana, indication two beings were mostly liking fighting. This went on for nearly two full hours before everything began dying down, allowing the mana in the atmosphere to finally return to its peaceful state.
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While soaking wet, I breathed raggedly as I glanced at Master, who was standing roughly ten meters away from me, surrounded by burnt and charred grass, and pointed my hand toward her as I attempted to create attacks with the use of my mana; however, before I could, a giant ball water that was floating above me, which I wasn't able to sense, suddenly exploded and drenched my already wet body.
"Alright, I think that's enough for right now, Alexander; I don't want to push you to the point where you might collapse." Said Lavender with a slight smile as she fixed the ground in the vicinity using earth mana before approaching Alexander, who was lying on the ground.
"How was that, Master? Surely I've improved since last week?" Asked Alexander as his breathing quickly returned to normal because of his incredible healing factor.
"Yes, although it wasn't much, I noticed you had slightly improved since last week's spar. Though, I must say, Alexander, seeing you make improvements, even if slight, every week is impressive; your talent when it comes to mana is simply superb." Remarked Lavender with a soft smile as she squatted down next to Alexander.
"Fufu, I couldn't ask for a better disciple, and I can't wait till the day you adventure outside this forest and begin making a name for yourself with your outstanding potential and talent. The world will come to know of Alexander, the invincible Archmage, the disciple of Lavender Vestalis!" Added Lavender with a prideful smile, earning a chuckle from Alexander.
"Hehe, that's good; slow but constant progress is already more than I could ask for; no complaints from me; though to be fair, Master, an Archmage is usually someone who has very high attainments in mana, something I'm currently incredibly far away from; however, speaking of Archmage, Master; I don't think I want to be a Mage." Stated Alexander as he slowly stood up while nervously staring at Lavender, waiting for her reaction.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Did you think I was going to be disappointed or angry? I've always had a feeling that you weren't going to be a mage, not to mention most mages don't actively train their body like you've been doing for the past several years." Replied Lavender with a smirk while dismissively waving her hand, causing Alexander to sigh in relief.
"Ah, well, I know you're a mage, and since I'm your disciple, it would only make sense for me to inherit your status as a mage and follow in her footsteps." Said Alexander while awkwardly rubbing his head as he glanced at Lavender.
"While that's true, I don't want you to feel obligated to follow in my footsteps or walk the same path as me; you're different, you have a different mindset, a different goal, and various desires that may or may not be achievable if you decided to be a Mage. Besides, I don't think you're really cut out to be a mage anyways, we spend most of our time acting as hermits, and I don't think you want to spend weeks, or possibly even months, without leaving your room." Declared Lavender lightly with a smile as they turned around and began approaching the treehouse.
"No, I definitely don't want to do that, though, since you've brought that up; have you done that before, Master?" Asked Alexander curiously as he followed behind Lavender.
"Haa, yes, I have, and more times than I would like to count; I remember one time me and my colleague were close to achieving a breakthrough on our project that we stayed locked in our office for nearly two years and only exited when he completed the project." Said Lavender while sighing with a dejected expression, though contrary to her expression, her words were laced with joy.
"Two years!? I know you've got a long life to waste away, but that's absurd!" Exclaimed Alexander in disbelief while Lavender smacked him on the back of his head.
"Hmph, since you think it's fun to make fun of my age, you'll be the one to make lunch." Remarked Lavender as she ignored Alexander and merged into the tree, as that was how she always entered the house.
"Haa, I didn't even mean it like that; old people are so sensitive." Muttered Alexander with a frown while sighing, though the ground beneath him started rumbling when he said that.
Sensing Master's Ire, without a second thought, I quickly ran towards the pond in the distance, not only to run away but because I also needed to wash after the spar I had with Master. Once I approached the pond, the rumbling from the ground vanished, causing me to release a sigh of relief before I took off my clothes and entered the pond. Though when I entered the pond, I made sure not to say anything about Master's age, as since I was in the water, I was also inside her domain.
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
While floating in the crystal clear pond, enjoying the water caressing my skin as it washed away any of the dirt that covered my body, I thought back to the past three years since I was first introduced to mana.
'It's already been three years? Haa, when you're enjoying yourself, time always moves fast; still, to think it's already been eight years since I died and reincarnated. I'm technically 30 years old; damn, I'm old.' Thought Alexander while floating through the pond.
'Well, at least these past three years weren't for naught; I've improved quite a lot in the magic department, not to mention that my Status panel is practically completely different.' Thought Alexander as he summoned his Status panel and inspected it, causing him to smile slightly.
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Name: Alexander
Species: High-Human
Age: 8 years
Tier: 0
Level: 0
Experience: [30%]
Class: Hero(Genesis)
Sub-Class:
Sub-Class:
Sub-Class:
Title(s): True Hero(Genesis), Reincarnator(Epic), Member of the Gypsies(Rare)+
Lifeforce: 100%
Mana: 790/790 → 1,890/1,890
Vigor: 15 → 27
Endurance: 17 → 30
Agility: 10 → 22
Dexterity: 12 → 22
Intelligence: 72(79) → 172(189)
Perception: 24(26) → 45(50)
Traits: Heroes Aura(Mythical), Heroes Will(Mythical), Heroes Physique(Mythical), Heart of a Hero(Legendary), Enhanced Perception(Rare), Enhanced Intelligence(Rare)
Skills: ?????(???), Heroes Gaze–lvl2(Mythical), Omnilingual–lvl2(Mythical), Rebirth–lvl1(Mythical), Mana Manipulation–lvl5(Uncommon)↑, Shrink–lvl2(Rare)↑, Expand–lvl2(Rare)↑, Fire Blast–lvl2(Uncommon)↑, Fire Breath–lvl2(Uncommon)↑, Fire Ball–lvl3(Common)↑, Fire Shot–lvl2(Common)↑, Wind Blade–lvl2(Common)↑, Wind Shot–lvl2↑(Common), Wind Step-lvl4(common)↑
Condition: N/A
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Looking at my Status panel, I couldn't help but smile while feeling a surge of pride; although it may not look like much, considering I've been training with the assistance of Master for three years, it's gratifying to see all the hard work I've done actually amount to something useful. Not to mention Master has said many times that my progress is very impressive, and while it doesn't really feel like it, sometimes, I don't doubt her words; I mean, who would question the words of someone as ancient as her?
'Hehe, now that I think about it, isn't Master older than the calendar back on Earth? I died in the year 2020, and Master is roughly 2,300 years old, so she is indeed older than the start of the official calendar. She really is old.' Thought Alexander as he closed his eyes and submerged himself in the water to thoroughly cleanse himself.
Unfortunately, over the past three years, I've seen no improvement in the skills [Heroes Gaze], [Omnilingual], and [Rebirth]; speaking of [Rebirth], it hasn't leveled up once compared to the other two skills. Still, I'm not surprised that the other two skills haven't leveled up; I've pretty much spoken to every non-hostile creature in the surrounding vicinity of the clearing since Master won't allow me to venture too far away, and it's not like I planned to do so in the first place, even if I can somewhat protect myself now.
The same could be said for [Heroes Gaze]; I've practically inspected everything there is to analyze, and I don't think analyzing a few boulders or rocks will help, if at all. And for [Rebirth], I don't even know how that skill hasn't leveled up yet, I'm always passively using that ability, so I feel like it should've leveled up by now, but it might be because I haven't used its activate ability.
'Ugh, but if that's the case, that is very annoying as I don't want to just use the ability when I do not require it; it would feel like a waste, not to mention, what if I'm in a situation where I need to use the skill, but it's on cooldown, for however long that is?' Pondered Alexander while washing himself.
Once I deemed myself fully clean, I emerged from the depth of the pond and exited the water as I made my way toward where I had left my clothes; when I arrived near them, instead of putting them on, I raised my hand and commanded the wind mana to brush against my body, decreasing the time needed to dry myself, and while I would've liked to use fire mana along with wind mana, I wasn't nearly proficient enough in magic to keep two different elements stable and intact.
After roughly a minute of being blasted with a mildly intense wind comparable to an average thunderstorm, I picked up my clothes, and when I was about to put them on, I only now remembered they were in rough condition after the earlier battle with Master.
"I like how comfortable and loose these plant fiber clothes are, but they aren't very durable against magic attacks; I need to ask Master for better clothes." Muttered Alexander as he grabbed his clothes and approached the tree house in the nude, intending to wear clean clothes instead.
Arriving at the tree, I jumped from branch to branch until I made it to the entrance of the house, carefully opening the door since I didn't necessarily wish to be seen by Master while in the nude as even though she's seen me naked plenty of times before, that doesn't make it any less embarrassing for me. After using [Heroes Gaze] just to be sure Master wasn't nearby, I very quickly ran toward my room, not even bothering to try to be quiet; once I arrived near my room, I promptly entered it, turned around, and shut the door behind me, only to be shocked by my stupid luck.
"Ah, Alexander, I see you've finished bathing; here are some new clothes. I've been noticing recently that after every time we spar, your clothes are always greatly damaged, so I figured it was about time to get you some clothes with better mana resistance." Said Lavender calmly with a slight smile as she placed the new set of clothes on Alexander's bed while looking at his nude and embarrassed appearance, causing her to chuckle slightly.
"I-It's not funny, Master!" Stated Alexander in anger and embarrassment as he swiftly covered his genitals while eyeing Lavender.