Another long day, foraging as my parent's slave, comes to an end. The pathway was dimly lit by the sunset's rays, as the surrounding forest vanished. I was greeted by the fences of our small town, vibrantly lit with not only lights, but the kind villagers who neighbour us.

"Karine! How did your foraging go?"

"Do you really need to ask?" I responded dully; I think I have the curse of anti-foraging bound to my soul itself.

"Welcome home, Karine! I see you brought home a boar again." Cecil, my father, called to me. Sometimes I wish he would stop treating me like a kid!

"I'm back, father…" I answered, as Jaclyn, my mother, opened the front door and lunged herself towards me like a pouncing jaguar…

"Mother, I'm too tired for thi-"

"I missed you so much, Karine!!" mother interrupted radiantly. She is so overprotective sometimes. Did she think I'd get killed by some wild bear?

"I bet you're excited for your 9th birthday tomorrow, aren't you?" Father grinned, playful as usual.

"Of course I am! What did you get me this time?"

"You'll have to wait and see, darling…" Mother smiled.

"Will I finally learn something other than English?"

"Don't get too excited. I won't go easy with my sword just because you're a girl!" Father responded, as I recalled who he used to be.

Mother chipped in, saying, "Spellcasting is a complex thing to learn, Karine. I'll help you out with your education on magic. But are you sure you want to become a mage? It's not all that special, you know. You should become a housewife like me!"

"I'd rather not, mother. Magic is just so amazing! How does it even work?"

"We can discuss that another time, darling." Mother responded.

Well, I barely slept that night.

The next day, I looked in the mirror and asked myself, 'Who did I get my orange hair from? My purple eyes are from my father, but he has black hair and my mother has blonde hair. Not even her eyes are purple, they're black!' Strange...

Shortly after, my parents greeted me with a cup of tea and a delicious breakfast - pork sausages and rice, with my mother’s homemade sauce.

Is she some sort of genius at everything, or what? Hopefully I inherited those genes. More importantly, she explained how magic works to me on the way to the bookstore.

Mana is the life energy that flows through all living beings. Everybody is born with mana, including monsters, beastkin and humans. Mana capacity is determined and increased through 4 main methods:

- Everybody is born with a different amount of mana, depending on race and heritage.

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- Casting spells increases mana capacity over time. This happens mainly when mages practise their spells in training grounds.

- Blessings from spirits or gods can be given to increase mana capacity, though it is highly rare.

- And finally, mana meditation, which is the main method used by mages. It is used frequently by mages to increase mana capacity.

Mana meditation involves channelling your mana into your surroundings, which would typically cause them to wear down (eventually breaking). However, manatite is a crystal that absorbs mana, dissipating it gently into the air. This allows for manatite sanctuaries to be built; they are made partially out of manatite, which does not wear down during meditation. They are made out of manatite alloy, that is a percentage of manatite crystal - higher percentages are used for more powerful mages when they meditate (to prevent giant sinkholes appearing, of course).

That's quite the headache to remember… Mother told me to mainly remember mana meditation, though. Moving on to my father's sword lessons:

"Weak, Weak, Weak! Where's the power behind your swings?" Father complained, strangely excited.

"I'm not as strong as you, ok?" I exclaimed, already exhausted after a minute of swinging. After taking a breath, I continued, "I can't just pick up a hunk of wood and break a stone!"

"Well, I'm here to get you to that level, youngster! Let's do a duel."

Needless to say, that hurt.

Finally, my mother taught me some more information about other races.

"There are many races on our continent of Omora, split into three groups: Beastkin, Monsters and Humans." She went on, "The monsters you need to know are dragons, wyverns, orcs, goblins and demons. Dragons are majestic, flying creatures with immense power and mana. They tend to have a high level of intelligence, and won't attack unless provoked - so don't enter their territory."

She went on to expand the other types of monsters, before moving on:

"You will learn about beastkin and other human races as you travel, if you choose to be a mage or adventurer. Be warned though; many beastkin hold grudges against humans like you, despite your father being a demi-demon and my elven heritage. Demi-demons are humans with additional demonic abilities. Don't be scared of them!" Sounds like some races hold some grudges - interesting. I wonder why demi-demons aren't evil...

One other thing to note is that there are 6 elements: Wind, Fire, Earth, Water, Holy and Dark. Holy and Dark elements are difficult for humans to learn as they lack these connections, though holy magic can be learnt through devoted worship of a god. Beastkin have various elements they may specialise in - for example, faeries, which are ostracised for their typically evil nature - can use dark magic for illusion and trickery. Most races can use Wind magic, and humans can use Fire, Earth and Water alongside that.

– 2 YEARS LATER –

“Karine! Are you still this slow?” Father mocked, causing a swift retaliation from mother... That was a loud slap.

We were out in the nearby hunting forest, training my movement using the wind element; it has many uses for movement, including flight and hastening. When we encounter any predators, we stay silent and practise stealth (That’s an important skill, according to mother). On that note, father didn’t want mother to come along - until she started screaming the Earth to the pits of hell. Anyways, I was struggling to even keep up at their slow speed… Just how powerful are they?

A mighty silverfang wolf materialised in front of us, and I quickly went into hiding in a nearby bush. I’ve already seen a few of these, so I’m not too scared anymore - it isn’t that hard to just stay silent and wait, after all.

“Good luck, darling.”

Mother’s whisper wasn’t enough preparation for the plunge into hell itself. The silverfang immediately brandished its razors, circling and analysing my every move. I wasn’t ready for my first fight - this is nothing like duelling with my father! But there wasn’t time to think, as - in a flash - the silverfang was lunging its resolve to kill into my paralyzed face. As my mother had drilled into me, I instinctively brought up a Versatile Ward spell, holding off the silverfang for the second required to dodge.

As the furry beast slipped past the tip of my hair, I realised the sheer power of this monster -

It was a shapeshifter.