IMPORTANT: Guys, I made some slight modifications to the ending in chapter 2. The modification is to the last 2 paragraphs

Chapter 3: Realization

I woke up a little bit before dawn. Milly was still sleeping near 2 pears and an apple. I figured this was the food she promised me, so I took the apple and started eating.

While I was eating the apple and watching the sunrise something occurred to me. I was calm. Too calm.

Yesterday my old habit took over, meaning that when I hear of knew knowledge, I loose myself. Magic was no exception. It was actually something way more exciting than anything my old world could provide.

Now that I have slept a bit I feel a bit more rational, but I still think I am way too calm for the situation I’m in.

Near me there is a fairy, and while she may look cute on the outside she was able to kill 3 people in cold blood. That’s right, she’s a killer. But I can’t really feel like all that happened was real. I didn’t even knew the name of those people, well aside for this Nathan person, and I can’t seem too concerned. Is it because I changed bodies? I’m sure that, if something like that happened to me in my old world I would be panicking right now. Here, aside for the initial shock I don’t really feel much, rather, I feel excited. This world has magic, a whole new area of study. And creatures that are only found in stories.

Milly: “Mmm…too bright!...”

Oh, the fairy’s awake. I should try to get more information about this world after she gets up. As for why I’m so calm, I don’t know, but I’m thankful for it.

Milly: “Oh! You are awake! You do know that you sleep too much Ben, don’t you? Ah! Why did you eat my apple? You should have eaten a pare…grr!”

Wow this is one hyperactive fairy…she barely woke up and is already so energetic. If I didn’t know that she could turn into a giant wolf and kill me in 2 seconds flat I would think she was cute with a pouting face and slightly teary eyes.

Ben: “Good morning to you too Milly, and sorry for the apple, I didn’t know that was for you. Do you want me to search for another?”

Milly: “No, it’s ok. I’ll just eat a pare. What are we doing today?”

Well she got over that one fast. And what’s with the we? Actually I do need a guide in this world…

Ben: “Well, I was thinking of going to a town or something, do you know one close by? And also, call me Nathan from now on, I don’t know if there are more people who know him around.”

Milly: “Ok! We can get to a human village by flying for 2 hours in that direction.”

She had a big smile on her face while pointing in the opposite direction of the rising sun, so I guess west. That is, if the sun rises from the east in this world. Well, morel knowledge for me to acquire.

Nathan: “You do know that I can’t fly, right? Well, whatever, I’ll just walk. Say, Milly, can you tell me more about this world, and about magic?”

During our walk, Milly and her talkative nature prover an excellent information provider. I found out that this world is named Altea, after the Goddess. This goddess resides over the whole world, well not much different of a religion from my world. The interesting this was that the Goddess gave the inhabitants the power to control mana, in other words magic. So she does have proof of existence…at last I think.

She also told me that we are in the Elemental Forest, she has also been here for more than 5 years. I asked her why it’s named like that but she didn’t know. She did say that the spirits of the trees here were much brighter, some almost as bright as a small animal. In case you were wondering what spirits are, it’s the same think which alerted her I was not the real Nathan. So I guess something like the soul.

We also passed by a stump which she said it is her friend. I did ask her if she was sad, but she told me that the tree will grow back in a couple of years even stronger so she wasn’t all that sad, and she already took revenge.

While on the subject I asked about the people in the house. She didn’t know much, but from what she knew, from observing them for 2 days, the old man was dying of sickness and was looking for a successor to his martial arts. The other two were lovers and it seems that the old man was planning to have Nathan succeed him and marry his daughter. The rest was easy to imagine. The 2 poisoned Nathan so that they can get together but I took over Nathan’s body so their plan was destroyed.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

After hearing those circumstances I didn’t feel sorry for them anymore. Well the old man didn’t deserve to die yet, but from what Milly told me, his spirit was so low that she wouldn’t be surprised if he had died the same day, without her interference.

After her explanation my conscience was clear, I found out that even if I was quite calm and collected this situation was still eating me from the inside. Now, with renewed vigor, I made Milly tell me all about magic.

Here, I was let down. She told me the same think she said yesterday. I did try to interrupt her but…well you try stopping a speeding train with your bare hands!

Still, revising what I learned yesterday I tried to toy with matter again. This time I took a rock and started to feel for its structure. Like yesterday I saw all the molecules and the way they were combined. Trying to move them proved to be a bit of a challenge. I had to keep in mind that the rock was matter in a solid state, so, to shape the rock, I had to change the state of the matter. To change a rock from solid to liquid all I could think of was melting it than reshaping. I easily reproduced the experiment from yesterday with vibration and melted the top of the rock and started shaping it. I was astounded at how easy it was to control the resulting magma. Like molding clay I made different figures using my mind until I settled on wolf, yes the same wolf Milly could transform into.

While thinking of my hyperactive companion, I noticed the lack of noise in the background. Looking at her she was staring at me with her mouth wide open and her eyes almost out of their sockets. I made for quite the funny scene.

Nathan: “Puff! What’s with that look?”

This snapped her out of it and started to stare intently at me, actually at my rock wolf.

Milly: “HOW? How did you do that without even chanting? I may not know magic, but I do know that you need to chant to use it! And is that me? How did you do that? Di you invent a magic just to make a little statue of me?”

And the hyperactive fairy is back…

Nathan: “Ok, ok! Slow down! One question at a time please!”

I think I'm starting to get used to her. I don't know if that's a good thing or not tho...

Milly: “How did you cast magic without chanting?”

Chanting…of course, this is a fantasy world so you can’t have magic without chanting…Why didn’t she tell me this before, when I asked about magic?

Nathan: “Well…I didn’t really cast any magic. Remember the water trick you showed me? It’s almost the same thing.”

Milly: “No way! Don’t lie! I showed you how to make small waves. You can use that magic to maybe make a breeze with the wind but there is no way you can use fire! And a fire that hot would mean that you are at least at the Mage rank in magic!”

Hm? Mage rank? What’s that? Well maybe later I’ll find out, but now that she mentioned it, the temperature to melting point of a rock I about 1200 degrees Celsius. To me it felt like it was the same temperature from when I picked it up.

Nathan: “It really was. I just excited the molecules that make the rock to increase its temperature and melt it. Then, controlling the shape was exactly as you made waves in the water, just easier because magma is has a higher density than water.”

Milly: “Moecu? What’s that? You mean you can make whatever you want with rock? Can you teach me?”

She made a cute gesture by tilting her head to the right. You could also see the sparks in her eyes.

Nathan: “I could, but first, tell me all that you know about physics and chemistry.”

Milly: “Pisics? Chemesty? Is that something to eat?”

Nathan: “…”

Milly: “…”

Nathan: “Sorry, you can’t learn it!”

I may be able to teach her, but teaching someone from the basics takes too long. I don’t want to waste my time like that.

Milly: “M-Meany!”

Wha!, That’s foul play! She was using the same pouting face as this morning.

Nathan: “ Come on, don’t be mad, here, I’ll give this wolfy to you, ok?”

Milly: “YAY! Ok, I forgive you!”

REALLY! That’s all it took? And now she’s all smiles…

Like that we continued our walk toward the village….by the way, we already walked for 4 hours and there is no sign of civilization!!!