It’s been four years since that day. The day I found out what type of magic I used. In that chart Petra drew up there was a class of magic users that she left out. Because of the rarity of this class they don’t talk about them much.

Spectres.

I am a spectre. A magical anomaly. I have no specific magic type and I can use all types of magic. This sounds like a blessing right? But it is infact a curse, in a sense.

Spectres are a special class of magic users and once born they are taken away to live their life serving the country as a slave soldier. There haven’t been many spectres born in this world, apparently only two have been documented—excluding me— one of them born many years ago, dead now—very little information is given on him but records only say he was a tyrant—and the other born within this century, she’s said to have never aged a day after she matured and serves the royal army. They call her Celestine the Evernight Witch of Crystals. Unlike me she can’t possess more than five types of magical abilities I’m told but her most devastating ability is what gave her the title she has now—crystal magic.

Nobody knows why it’s a rare type of ability and she’s the only one to have manifested it in this new age. Petra told me about the time she met her once, she described her as suffocating to be around—literally—her aura is so dense it weighs pressure on people not on the same level as her.

At first I was down that I had no specific ability but after hearing about her, my view on things changed and I’ve taken up the interest in honing my skills.

There’s also the part about me having to keep my abilities a secret from the rest of the world so I had to pick one ability for public use—I chose water as it’ll let me help Grandall in the fields to water the crops while he worked—while I was indoors I was able to practice and hone my other abilities.

Many years of training and I still haven’t reached a cap on how many abilities—who knows if I have one—I can learn, I’ve completely mastered both Grandall and Petra’s abilities as they acted as reliable guides through the whole process but all of this has left me with one question to ask myself—what now?

Up until now I’ve ignored that question and it hit me only a few days ago. There are no schools in this world, the struggle to survive isn’t all that difficult here—Grandall and Petra made sure of that—every other thing seemed to bore me out.

I was left with that feeling again, the feeling of confusion. In my previous life I had only one goal and that was to carry out the will of the sanctuary, I didn’t have to think about where I wanted to be in several years or had any long term goals. I just carried out my orders.

Grandall and Petra cleared out one the rooms upstairs and gave me my personal bedroom last year, I’m grateful as I couldn’t stand another night of hearing them go at it while they thought I was sleeping.

I spent most of my days practicing spells and reading a lot of books—one of the perks of having Petra around, I got access to a ton of books from her job as a librarian.

I shut the book I was reading and looked outside the window to see Grandall watering the fields with his kegs. Sitting inside has become a bore to me so I might as well just do something more productive. I opened the windows and jumped down the three storey building, cushioning my landing with wind at my feet—a risky thing to do considering I’m out in the public but we live far off in the country side, there’s hardly ever people around. If Petra were home now to see that she would absolutely lose it. So I’m glad Grandall was here instead. Unlike her he was chill, but still had worry in his eyes when I pulled stunts like that.

“Your mother would lose her cool if she saw that.” Grandall called out to me whilst wiping sweat off his forehead.

He’s been here all day. The bad side about running this farm alone was they he had too many things for one man to do alone but hardly complained or asked for help.

I shrugged and walked to sit under a tree and stared at him. Yes this was my idea of being productive.

“Not going to help your old man out.” Grandall asked tossing the keg aside and coming to sit beside me under the shade. He let out a sharp breath and leaned his back against the bark. This has to the the first time he’s ever asked me to help around. Most times I do it on my own. So this was weird. “I still have a lot more grounds to cover, the corn seems to be growing slower than usual.”

He’s complaining about work…. Something was off here. This is a man who would do everything on in own and not make a single complaint. Why’s he’s doing it now?

“Maybe I’ll get someone to be helping me around here. I’m getting too old for this.”

“You’re just thirty….”

“So he speaks.” He ruffled my hair and I pushed him away. “What ability are you learning now? You know you need to talk to your old man more. You’ll break this poor farmer heart.”

“That’s emotional blackmail.”

“It a line I’m willing to cross if it’ll get you to talk to me or anyone at all.”

It’s meaningless to start a conversation just to occupy silence, then again I can see where he’s coming from.

“Do you still need help watering the crops?”

“Well I’d still get it done if you don’t want to.”

I sighed and got to my feet. “It’s okay to ask for help one in a while.” I made my way towards the field and stretched my hands out in front of of me. “Weathering harvest.”

Droplets of water began to form out it thin air above my palms and they built up, amassing up to a gigantic blob and it levitated up into the sky before bursting and letting down a shower of rain, watering the crops on the process. Grandall his hands as I approached him.

“You’re getting good at controlling your water magic.”

“It’s easier than it seems.” I sat back down beside him and there was this awkward silence between us. He could sense it too as he spoke.

“So any new spells you learned?”

“Yes.”

“Which one.”

“Many”

“Like…..?”

“A lot.”

He paused for a moment and punched my shoulder.

“Hey!”

“Be nice to your father. Geez.”

“I answered your questions.”

“Not properly. At first I thought with you parenting was going to be easy, you didn’t cry a lot as a baby nor are you as destructive as a regular toddler your just difficult.”

“How am I difficult?”

“For one you don’t smile.”

“I do smile….”

“Really…..?”

“Yes, see.” I forced myself to smile and I noticed him holding back a laughter that’s when I realized what he had done. My smile dropped and he let it all out.

“You fell for it.”

“Ha ha laugh it up.” My ears burned. I hated how I was vulnerable around this man. He had a way of letting you drop down your guard. I can’t tell if it was the overwhelmingly outgoing personality or his way with words. All I know is being around him was dangerous to me.

“Okay, okay. I’ll stop messing with you.” He ruffled my hair again and slung his big hands over my shoulder. “You’ve been a good kid. I’m lucky to be your dad.”

One thing I noticed about him was the sincerity in his words. From the day I was born he’d never told me a lie, not even a little one. Petra told occasional white lies when she forgot to bring me books, saying management wouldn’t let her when she just forgot. I guess that’s one of the reasons he’s one of the few people I can tolerate.

“Did you hear about letty? She got enrolled in the royal knight selections camp. Apparently her magic was strong enough to pass the exam.”

Letty, the name of the person I couldn’t stand at all. She’s eight years old now, pretty chipper and bouncy and more confident too. There’s no time she’s ever come around and doesn’t tease me or flaunt just how good she is at magic in my face. The last time she was here she talked an awful lot about joining the royal guard, Special soldiers handpicked by the king himself, said to be the main guardians of the royal family. I have no idea what sparked her interest in that role, then again I have to give it to her. Many girls her age are out there thinking about marrying princes and being a responsible housewife/mother when they grow. She’s one of the many few out there who actually don’t want that path. Apparently her mother supports her

“She’s a knight in training now?”

“Well there’s a few more processes to it but it’s a start for her.”

Hm…. Petra said only few commoners on this side of the chart have the capacity to use our magic in battle—I don’t think I classify as a commoner class magic wielder—Letty apparently is one of those few people. She’s never fails to show off how good her magic is when she’s around.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“She’ll be coming around soon. Her mother put in an order for some vegetables. You should say hi. It’s been a while since you two played together.”

I scoffed.

We never played a day in our lives. We’re like sworn enemies—at least I see her as mine—I’ll probably be in my room the moment she arrives. She has the common decency to at least not disturb me while I’m reading.

I got up to my feet.

“Well my job is done here.”

“Leaving already?” Grandall asked, sounding almost sad.

“I have a lot of learning to do.”

“Ah okay…. Oh wait….I wanted to ask. What’s it you want do when you grow up?”

I stopped in my tracks. this was the question I was trying to avoid.

“Don’t you think I’m a little too young to start thinking about that.”

“You certainly don’t act like it.”

“I’m four.”

“And yet you act like you have the mind of a man in his twenties.”

I shuddered. That was weirdly accurate, it was like he was looking into my soul.

“That crazy talk. You’re getting too old. Stay out of the sun.”

“Hey! I just turned thirty. I’m not that old.”

“Yeah yeah. I’ll tell you about it when I figure it out.” I waved, not looking back as I continued my walk.

Only then the thing I was trying to avoid caught up with me the moment I stopped at the door. I heard the footfalls of horse shoes coming to a halt and a thump behind me.

“Arddddddie poo!”

“Kill me!” I muttered to myself and turned around to find Letty running towards me. She was about four feet taller than me, hair had grown longer and looked like waves of water as she ran, she had a basket in one hand but one thing that caught my eyes was the change of clothes. She would usually wear long frilly gowns that covers her knees but now she has metal clinking as she ran. She was half dressed in bronze plated armour that seemed to fit her just fine.

Before I could stop her she grabbed me and pulled me into a hug.

“It’s been so long.”

“We last saw each other five days ago.”

“It’s still been so long.”

This is what I hate about her. The outgoing personality. I liked it better when she was scared of me as a kid. She wouldn’t have the guts to be all touchy like this.

“Look.” She pushed me to ten door and twirled around, flashing me her armour. “I got into the selection program. I bet you’re jealous.”

“Nope. Knock yourself out.” I turned to walk into the house when she skipped and stepped in front of me and crossed her arms

“That’s so mean.”

“What?”

“You didn’t even congratulate me.”

I wouldn’t care if you were impaled

“Congratulations.” I said listlessly and pushed her aside, reaching for the door knob.

She held her head high and puffed her chest. “In the end I’m the better magic user.”

And I stopped as soon as my hands reached the doorknob. I’ve never been good at being called out. Weakness isn’t a good look on me and I certainly won’t have people having that perception of me, so I played petty.

“Really now?”

She smiled proudly and summoned a fireball in her hands.

“See. I can use my magic without having to say incantations first.”

Okay that is impressive…..that basically twelve year old material. To do it as eight, there’s no doubt she has raw talent.

“That’s not as impressive if that’s the type of fireball you can conjure.”

“E-excuse me! This is a large one.”

“Meh… I’ve seen bigger.”

Her cheeks flushed red. “What do you know about fire magic?!”

A lot more than you think. I could conjure flames larger than that at the age of three but I can’t let her know that.

“Want to compare spells?”

“Uhn?”

“My best water spell versus yours. If yours is better I’ll concede and admit you’re a better magic user than me.”

She was hesitant at first but spoke. “You’re strange for a four year old. Fine, but don’t go crying to your dad when you lose.”

Trust me I won’t. I nodded and lead the way.

On our way out I saw Grandall walking up to us with a rake resting on his shoulder and he had his gardening hat on.

“Letty…. You’re here already?”

“Hello Uncle Grandall.” She waved enthusiastically.

Grandall paused and noticed me leading the way and he has this look of suspicion in his eyes. He obviously knew something was up. Before he could ask I answered.

“We’re heading out to the other field.”

“Um…. Why?”

“Don’t worry uncle we’ll be back quick. Short stuff and I have a bone to pick.”

“A fight?!”

“N-no nothing like that. I just want to show him how good I am at using my magic.”

“I’m curious.” I added. “Or we could do it here and burn down all the crops you worked so hard to plant.”

He sighed and picked the basket off Lefty’s hands.

“You two be nice.”

“Noted.” I said as I walked past him.

“Also nothing dangerous.”

“Understood.”

“Go to where I can see you from here.”

“Okay…!” I said and stormed off with Letty skipping behind me.

“You’re one grumpy kid you know that right?” She said and I ignored her

We made our way to the fields just outside the main planting area. This part of the land here still belonged to us but Grandall never does any of his work here as the soil here is mostly barren and the crops planted here don’t bear in gains during harvest season, he learned that the hard way. This is where I come to learn magic that would potentially be dangerous inside the house, like fire or lightning as there was no grass or ant flammables to start a fire—well if you don’t add the forest behind it. It’s just behind the house and after here is a large forest, it was quiet, serene and nobody was here to interrupt me.

“I’ve always wondered what was here. It’s just an empty field. I assumed it was a slaughter house.”

I shot her a look through the corner of my eye.

“A slaughter house for livestock.”

“Quit talking. Show me.” I’ll be honest, at this point my curiosity to see how she’s grown has taken over the urge I have to crush her.

“I’ll make you swallow your snarky tongue.”

She took a few steps ahead of me and looked at me over her shoulder. “You said strongest spell right? Meaning I can go all out?”

“By all means.”

She snickered and lifted her hand up into the sky and embers sparked around her. The air carried the smell of burning wood and I immediately knew the spell she was pulling off. I took a step back as she exhaled and swiped her hand across the air and crimson flames overtook my vision. The heat wave radiating off her spell was enough to make me step back a few more time.

She performed vaporising spell, an A-class attack flame spell. It’s a spell that’s mostly unavoidable as it makes the air surrounding it’s caster combustible, anyone caught in a spell like that would be reduced to ash in a second. Honestly I was impressed, it seems she’s taking her dreams of becoming a royal knight seriously, as I wondered how long it took for her to practice these spells for a person her age. Must have been a lot of hard work.

She spun around to face me, panting heavily—the spell must have taken a lot from her—but with a cocky smile on her face.

“Did you see that? That’s an A-class spell. Let’s see what you can do”

I will make you regret your words.

I meant that. Most days I don’t buy into her petty attempts to show off to me. Her spell was impressive but it’s nothing to write home about. I could do that without running out of breath.

I clapped and stepped forward, walking past her, water droplets rose from the earth and formed in the air around me. I couldn’t see her face but I could tell her reaction, shock.

“You can perform an A-class spell. Good for you so let’s me show you just a glimpse of how far I’ve gone.” I pointed my finger at a tree and the water droplets forming around me gathered at the tip of my finger and condensed into a tiny drop of water. I really shouldn’t be doing this. I’ve never pulled this spell off before, I’ve only read it in the grimoire of waves but I’ve been confident I could pull it off.

You see water spells—unlike fire spells which are mostly offensive—has stages.

Stage one: normal spells or C-class spells—these are spells used for normal everyday purposes like what I help Grandall with in the fields or when Petra needs clean water to cook but can’t go to the well to get some.

Stage two: Defensive spells or B-class spells—like it’s name it’s used to only protect its caster from offensive attacks.

Stage three: Healing spells or A-class spells—although there are a plethora of healing spells, water has just a few and they’re mainly very effective.

Finally stage four: Attack spells or S-class spells—this is what makes water spells so hard to learn and this is why Letty is so cocky around me. Only royalty or nobles with water magic can perform attack spells as they take a huge toll on the person’s body when their aura is drained—sometimes the exhaustion is so severe it kills it’s caster—so most water magic spell users below the noble caste don’t attempt to become fighter and stick to learning C and B class spells.

I turned my head to look at Letty over my shoulder and she had her eyes wide open in shock. She has realized what I was trying to pull off.

“Let this stay between us okay.”

“Wha…”

“That’s the only way I’ll perform this spell. Agreed?”

“Y-yes!”

“Good.” I turned back to my target. I could feel my aura flaring up and burning away into my spell the longer the droplet of water stayed suspended in front of me. I let out a sigh and the droplet of water shot forward faster than the eyes can see and bore through the tree and a row of trees ahead of it. I exhaled and staggered. Water attack spells are no joke.

I looked up at Letty who lost all the shock she had in her eyes and she gave me a deadpanned stare.

“That’s it?” She asked.

“Wait for it.” I said and the earth under our feet rumbled violently. From deep into the woods we could see trees begin to fall and the sound of flowing water drew closer.

“What is that?!” Letty asked, preparing herself to bolt but before she could turn around a wave of water burst out from the forests, clearing everything in its path and eventually washing over us. I stood where I was and the water parted as it reached me and Letty screamed before the wave crashed into her her.

It carried her rolling on the floor and for a few minutes before it stopped, she gathered herself and got back to her feet. Hair and body soaked and I walked up to her and looked her dead in the eyes after she parted the soaked bangs obstructing her vision.

“You we’re saying?”