“If you didn’t know how to use it, then just say so. Don’t put on a show like this.” I mumbled beneath my breath as I tiredly stretched out my limbs.

Above my head was a crystal clear blue sky, while all around me were the crumbling rubble and ruined buildings that I had long grown accustomed to seeing. Right now, I was within one of the castle’s empty courtyards, standing in the middle of a patch of unkept grass.

“No, no, no.” Mereli stubbornly shook her head. “Mereli definitely knows. Mereli knows more than Brother Karm, so you should be nicer.”

She pouted, her cheeks inflating in a way that made her appearance look cuter than usual. Mereli was leaning against a slab of marble, while her eyes glared reproachfully at my direction.

“You say that, but in truth you don’t know any magic, right?” I rebutted. “Listen here Mereli, just because Big Brother is nice doesn’t mean you can deceive him like this, you know? Since we’re now siblings, I intend to raise you properly, and to do that, I’m going to have to take care of that attitude of yours.”

In response, Mereli stuck out her tongue. “Brother Karm was the one who asked for Mereli’s help, so Brother Karm should just listen quietly to Mereli.” After a short pause, she added, “Also, we’re not siblings.”

“Don’t mind the small details.” I casually waved off her denial. “In the end, you still don’t know real magic, right? Mereli, you shouldn’t brag about things you can’t actually do. Here’s a little life advice from your Big Brother, only brag about things you can brag about.”

“Aargh, Brother Karm is only a brother not a big brother!” Mereli stamped her foot in frustration. With her furrowed eyebrows and quivering lips, she was clearly angry, but her angry expression looked way too cute for it to be intimidating. “Brother Karm’s not listening! You’re not listening at all! Mereli’s not going to help you if you keep bullying me like this!”

“Okay, okay, that’s enough teasing for now.” I lightly stated. “Although I do want to say that you can’t just say you’re being bullied just because someone’s doing something you don’t like, but… oh well, let’s leave that for later. What was it that you learned again?”

Mereli huffed out a few frustrated puffs of air, before she eventually regained her composure. With a still clearly evident pout on her face, she sat down on the grass, and crossed her arms. Her black pointed tail waved erratically above her head.

“You’ll listen now?” she cautiously asked.

“Yes, yes, I’ll listen.” I reassured while flashing a somewhat weary smile.

“Promise? You can’t—”

“I know, I know, I can’t break promises.” I hurriedly stated. “Trust your Big Brother, alright?”

After a moment of hesitation, she eventually nodded her head. “Alright, Mereli will help.”

“Good girl, thank you, Mereli.” I let out a relieved sigh. I was so close to losing my chance to learn magic, all because of a stupid little prank. “So, what was it that you learned?”

“You know, Mereli was taught by all the teachers that Father hired…” Instead of answering my question, she suddenly started narrating. “Even Miss Sage would teach me things… but because she was always mean and yelled at me when I fell asleep during her classes, Mereli did not listen to her.”

As if an unpleasant memory just surfaced in her mind, Mereli’s nose wrinkled. Fortunately, her expression quickly returned to normal, before she abruptly raised her nose high up into the air.

With a smug smile and a somewhat boastful voice, she explained, “Everyone said that Mereli was a genius, and not just any genius, but a super genius! They said that there are only thousands of me every one centuries!”

“What exactly does that mean?” I glanced at her suspiciously. I’m pretty sure this little girl was purely repeating the words that someone had said to her in the past, but somehow along the way, she got the phrase messed up.

Mereli tilted her head further back, and flashed a disdaining gaze my way. She clicked her tongue and said, “Brother Karm doesn’t know? See, this is why Brother Karm should just listen to what Mereli says. Mereli knows a lot, that’s why she is a super genius, a purology.”

She shook her head, and sighed exaggeratedly. Mereli opened her mouth as if to say something, but abruptly stopped. A weird expression flashed through her face, before she suddenly got up, and walked over towards me.

In the midst of my confusion, she placed her hand on my shoulder. Scribbled on Mereli’s face was a clearly pitying smile.

“Actually, it’s okay if Brother Karm doesn’t know things.” She sincerely stated. “Since Mereli is a super genius, Mereli will teach you. Mereli will teach you a lot. So, don’t be sad, okay?”

“…”

This little girl…. She’s getting way too cocky, isn’t she?

Even though I had such thoughts floating around in my head, I did not voice any of them out. I maintained a complacent smile as I stared directly at Mereli’s face. My inner thoughts may be plotting how best to discipline this unruly child, but my outward exterior showed no clear signs of any of it.

Instead, I urged her along. “Then, what does ‘only thousands of you every one centuries’ mean?”

Too my surprise, she simply shook her head. “Don’t know, but it definitely means Mereli’s the best genius.”

“… Are you sure they didn’t mean something like a once in a hundred-year genius?”

“That!” Mereli suddenly jabbed a finger towards my face, as she excitedly exclaimed. “That sounds right! That sounds cool! That was what the old uncles said, Mereli’s a one in a hundred… no, a one in a thousand… no, a one in a ten thousand genius! Mereli’s a super genius, a super purology!”

“You mean a prodigy, right?”

Mereli ignored me, as she paused for a moment. After a few seconds of silence, she mumbled to herself, “Although they did not say years… Centuries? How many years are centuries? How many years is Mereli a genius for?”

Seeing the slightly confused, slightly pompous expression on her face, I couldn’t help but lightly sigh. This little brat’s ego was simply too large. If I don’t take care of that attitude soon, it’s bound to cause trouble in the future.

“So, what exactly did they teach you?” I shook my head and once again asked, pushing the troublesome issue of disciplining Mereli for the future me.

“Don’t remember. Mereli fell asleep during classes.”

“…”

I could feel my face stiffening.

Before I could comment, Mereli took a sudden step back, and proudly stated, “But Mereli did learn how to do this!”

She raised out her arm and opened her palm. For a split second, I felt a warm pulse deep within my chest. It was an odd sensation, one that gave me an even weirder feeling of dissonance. This sensation only lasted for a fraction of an instant though, before it completely disappeared, like the fading wisps of a summer’s daydream.

At the same time, Mereli’s concentrated expression flashed through my eyes. Her gaze was completely focused in on her open palm, and after a few seconds of waiting, a soft, faint, and almost entirely translucent, blue light leaked out from the tips of her fingers.

My eyes widened, while my mouth curled into a natural O. “Wow…” I couldn’t help but exclaim.

While my attention was entirely focused on the magical light, Mereli’s sneaky gaze drifted towards me. Seeing my clearly shocked reaction, Mereli’s lips curved into a self-satisfied smirk.

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“Mereli did this while I was making Brother Karm.” She proudly boasted, as she brought her other hand over towards her open palm. After a few seconds, the faint translucent light almost doubled in intensity.

“While you were making me?” I numbly repeated. “Then, that means this light is magic? No, not magic, but mana?”

Mereli nodded. She raised her head to the skies and chuckled lightly. “Even though all the teachers said it was really hard to do, but because Mereli is a genius, I was able to do it really well.”

Her boisterous laughter broke me out of my shocked stupor. I looked at Mereli’s beaming expression with clearly suspicious eyes. “Really? Is it really that hard to do?”

If a child can do it, surely, I can to, right? How hard could it really be?

“At the very least, it won’t hurt to try…” I mumbled to myself while I imitated Mereli’s earlier actions. Extending my hand out in front of me, I opened my palm and concentrated.

I did not fully grasp it back then, but when Mereli first demonstrated, I could definitely feel something. It was faint, so faint that I almost didn’t believe it myself, but I knew that it was there.

It was a fluctuation of sorts. A weird feeling to describe. It was something that I could not physically feel, but nevertheless, I was wholly aware of it.

I had sensed it the moment Mereli initiated her actions. I felt a soft fluctuation that seemingly bypassed the air. A mental change that I could barely detect. I did not properly comprehend it back then, but I was close. I was definitely very close. It was a difference comparable to an inch of separation. So close, but yet so, so far away.

Was that mana? Was that weird sensation in my chest really mana?

Seeing my current actions, Mereli stopped what she was doing and walked over. Instead of the usual condescending expression that she liked to showoff, this time she had an earnest, and eager glimmer in her eyes.

“Mereli’s a super genius.” She suddenly stated. “Since Mereli’s a super genius, then as Mereli’s brother, Brother Karm should at least be a regular genius. Ah, but you can’t be better than Mereli, okay?”

“Then, can you show it to me again, Mereli?” I asked. After a few seconds of thought, I added, “The only way I can learn is if someone as good as Mereli shows me by example.”

Without surprise, the fish easily took the bait, and Mereli happily complied.

She showed off that faint light of hers for a little while longer. Staring at it, I couldn’t help but sigh in awe. This was probably the same light that had created me. Mana, the basic building blocks of magic.

I focused on the feeling that it gave off. The faint tugging at my chest, the almost unnoticeable pulse that resonated within my body. This was probably the feeling of mana.

With Mereli’s example, I quickly noticed something that I had not noticed before.

Something was lingering in the air.

It was a faint, translucent layer that blanketed the surroundings. It was everywhere, kind of like air, but not quite. It existed within the same “space” as the air in the surroundings, but it did not necessarily react with it. It was there, but at the same time, it wasn’t. It was at the same place, but at the same time, it wasn’t.

It gave me an odd feeling, but at the same time, I instinctively felt that it was natural. The presence of this invisible layer, it felt normal. I was almost certain that I had stumbled upon a hidden natural force within this world that was comparable with gravity.

The more I took note of this strange, new natural force, the more it gave me the impression that it was calling out to me. No, that wasn’t quite right. It wasn’t calling out to me exactly, but rather, something inside me was beckoning for this force.

I did not know what or where this weird feeling came from, but imitating that beckoning sensation, I tried gathering the surrounding mana into my palm just like what Mereli had done earlier.

To my surprise, the normal mana that lingered in the air did not react. Instead, it was a different sort of mana, a mana that I did not know even existed. A steady stream of indescribable energy that originated from somewhere deep within my body suddenly rushed to my open palm.

As it moved along my arm, and recklessly made its way to my extended hand, I was overcome with an uncomfortable sensation. I suddenly felt like a bottle with numerous holes poked in it. I could feel it. I could feel the mana in my body erratically flowing out.

A small portion of that mana followed my original will, and moved towards my palm. The gathered mana caused a faint light to emit from the tips of my fingers. As for the rest of my mana, it randomly leaked out from my body, pouring out from my skin like invisible sweat drops. This reckless flow of mana quietly dissipated into the air, where it later assimilated with the mana that lingered in the outside world.

At almost the same time, I noticed that the mana within the air began fluctuating. Like moths drawn to a flame, it reacted with the light in my palm. Some of that mana appeared as if they had been sucked by a vortex on my hand. The absorbed mana worked in tangent with the preexisting mana, and helped to strengthen the faint light at my fingertips.

My light was softer, and less noticeable than Mereli’s, but in exchange, light particles resembling that of ephemeral dust leaked out from my skin. It gave the faint impression that my body was glowing.

I don’t know how much time passed, but after a while, a certain sense of fatigue suddenly hit me. It came without warning and hit like a moving freight train. Almost immediately, the light that surrounded me and the light that my palm emitted, abruptly vanished.

With a groan, my body limply fell to the ground. Harsh, wheezy sounds that were grating to the ears, leaked out from my throat, while I breathed in large, desperate gulps of air. Sweat dripped down from my forehead, while I faintly noticed that my limbs were shaking, quivering like an autumn leaf.

My body was in pain.

It felt as if I just ran fifteen marathons all at once. Every cell within my body was crying for reprieve, and every muscle attached to my skeletal system was severely sore. It was definitely a weird, and sudden sensation, one that came from out of nowhere and sucker-punched me directly in my figurative gut. Prior to this, when I was manipulating the mana within my body, I did not feel any indication of this fatigue.

As I lied down on the grass, my hazy eyes looked up at the brilliant sky. I did not notice since when, but thin, wisp like clouds had filled up that blue canvas. After a few seconds, a dark shadow abruptly fell on top of my face, and obscured my vision.

There, looking down at me with a wide smile, I saw Mereli. The black horns on her head shined against the harsh sunlight like polished obsidian.

“That was amazing, Brother Karm!” She unhesitatingly praised. “It wasn’t as good as Mereli, but it was really amazing!”

“Really? It was amazing, wasn’t it?” Even I couldn’t help but feel happy after doing what I had just done. “Mana… that was mana, that was really mana. I can’t believe I actually did that. Could it be? Am I actually a genius?”

Even if I was a weak homunculus, if I was a genius magician, what did my race matter? As the saying goes, “might makes right”!

Although my light was softer than what Mereli produced, surely, I was a genius that did not lose out to this little demon. After all, it was still my first time witnessing it, and I was already able to immediately do the same thing she had. In the end, I might actually be even better than her.

If Mereli really was a one in a hundred-year genius, didn’t that make me a one in a thousand-year genius?

Drunk on my own delusions, I couldn’t help but foster such gleeful thoughts.

In my excitement, I couldn’t help but ask, “So, how long did it take me to do all that?”

Mereli tilted her head to the sky, before stating. “Ten minutes? Mereli wasn’t counting.”

I chuckled gleefully to myself. I did not know it then, but a smug smile resembling Mereli’s trademark expression had formed on my lips. “Ten minutes, huh? Aren’t I pretty awesome? Isn’t that amazing? How long did it take you to learn, Mereli?”

Mereli spoke without hesitation. “thirty…”

Thirty minutes? I guess for a little kid, that isn’t so bad, but as expected, in the face of this otherworlder, it definitely can’t compete, huhuhu…

I was about to go into another fit of laughter, when Mereli’s follow up words instantly crushed my spirits.

“Thirty seconds? Mereli doesn’t really remember, it was too fast.” She tilted her head and absentmindedly spoke.

The words in my throat immediately died out before they could escape from my parched lips.

I wanted to retort, but looking at this girl’s clueless expression, I could only slowly close my eyes and nod.

“Of course.” I mumbled half heartedly to myself. “Mereli is after all a genius. She’s a genius who appears every one in a hundred, no… one in a thousand, no… one in ten thousand years. It can’t be helped that she’s better than me. I’m still probably a genius, it’s just that I underestimated the rest of the world, that’s all.

“There’s always a higher peak. Every Hero grows through adversity. Also, it’s a lot more comforting if this girl is a genius. After all, she was the one who created me, it’s better to be created by someone amazing than someone mediocre…”

I repeatedly nodded my head, all the while an endless stream of words that resembled the cries of a beaten dog, leaked out from my throat.

At the same time, Mereli looked at me with a weird expression. “What is Brother Karm mumbling about?”

“Nothing important. Mereli really is a genius, huh?” I asked with a hollow chuckle.

She stared at my face for a while, before she widened her eyes as if she had just realized something. Mereli suddenly inched her way forward and knelt down beside my head. She patted my forehead, all the while a somewhat reassuring smile stretched her cheeks.

“Don’t worry too much Brother Karm. Mereli is a super genius, after all. Don’t compare yourself to Mereli, okay? Don’t be sad, okay?”

Hearing this brat’s words, my mouth involuntarily twitched.

“A-anyway, Mereli, what did you do about this fatigue?” I asked in the midst of my self-pity.

“Fatigue? Is Brother Karm in pain?”

I could only nod my head. “Yeah, almost every part of my body hurts. What did you do when you were like this?”

“Don’t know.” Mereli shook her head. “Mereli didn’t experience pain.”

“R-really?” My lips twitched again. ‘Then what was your first time manipulating mana like?”

Mereli placed a finger to her lips as she recalled the past. “Mereli doesn’t remember. Mereli was only two when I first did it. Father said Mereli was really amazing, and that Mereli was able to do it after seeing someone else use mana.”

Hearing her words, I felt an indescribable blow to my soul.

W-well, technically, I am still a week old, so in a sense, I’m more of a genius than Mereli… in the first place, why am I competing with a child?

With a sigh, I bitterly said, “Well, regardless, I can’t move right now, so Mereli, please take care of me.”

Mereli vigorously nodded her head. “Don’t worry, Brother Karm. Leave everything to Mereli.”

Another easy-going and self-confident smile appeared on her face.

In that moment, I realized the gap.

It was a bit too early for the weakest existence to challenge the geniuses of this world.