Chapter 1: The Neal Family | 1.2 Book Mimic Trait
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Despite trying to distract herself with books, Iris thought about her magic trait. 'Mine magic trait could be anything... I wish I had a twin.' Iris looked at her identical brothers. 'They're so lucky... I want my magic trait to be a twin. I want someone I can relate to, someone I can use telepathy with even before awakening magic, someone... I... I just want someone too.'
Feeling frustrated by her lack of a partner, she collected the gifts and brought them to her room. Connor and Caster, her brothers, were disappointed as she deconstructed their book towers, but they were quickly distracted by Uncle Martin. He picked them up and gently tossed them on the bouncy couch but stopped after receiving a look from Casey.
Watching everything, Iris's father, Mason, laughed, but after receiving a look from Casey as well, he quickly used telekinesis to put the couch pillows back in place. Iris rolled her eyes before retreating into her bedroom with the last of her birthday gifts. Alone in her room, she sighed remembering she would have to wait. 'I need to stay awake...'
Unfortunately, even the additional sugar from her second slice of cake couldn't keep Iris awake throughout the night. Casey found her daughter asleep on her bedroom desk with an open book and an empty plate nearby. She shook her head both exasperated and amused. Moving Iris into bed, she put a marker inside the book and took away the plate.
Casey and Mason stayed up late into the night, and once it was midnight, Mason visited his daughter. His initial magic trait is kinship reinforcement, and he has the skill [Kinship Sense]. Having leveled the skill over the years, Mason could use the skill to check the status page of people related to him.
* Status Page (Iris Neil, 10, F.)
* Magic Level: 1 (100 Mana | 100 / 100)
* Magic Affinity: Neutral
* Magic Trait: Book Mimic
He quickly read the information and quietly left Iris's room. Returning to his wife, he informed her of their daughter's status. Lounging on the couch, Casey blankly blinked her eyes, and the wine glass slipped from her hand. Uncle Martin, who had decided to stay up with them, neatly caught it and placed it down without spilling the drink.
Mason turned to his brother, "Nice catch." Martin gestured to Casey, "Is she okay? I've never seen her like that."
Mason shrugged and explained, "She's using one of her skills to flash remember everything she's ever heard and seen concerning book mimics, so you don't have to worry. I know that it looks like she's shocked, but it's the skill. I can tell the difference since she uses it every time we draw the monthly calendar on our fridge."
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After a moment, Casey returned to herself and noticed her wine glass missing. She looked at down at the couch and rug checking for a mess, but Martin quickly returned. "Thanks..." She accepted it from him and downed the whole thing before speaking, "Martin, we accept your offer."
Watching his sister-in-law amused, Martin suddenly became confused. "What offer?!"
"Do you really think I wouldn't know about you constantly bugging my husband to move back home?" She retorted. "Congratulations on winning. Now you get the honor of hosting us in your house until we can find our own place."
"W-what?!" He was shocked at first, but then he became overjoyed. "Yes!" He struck a quick victory pose before jumping up off the couch. "I'm going to have to pack up some of my things, so you can move in quickly." Martin left to go pack up his things in the guest room.
Casey called after him. "It's temporary! This is a temporary situation. We are not planning to live in your house for long. We will have our own place." She shot a look at Mason. "We are going to have our own house." He nodded repeatedly. "I'll talk to Martin about boundaries again, so don't worry. It won't be like last time." She rolled her eyes.
Mason looked at his wife concerned, "Is it really okay?" Casey grimaced before nodding. "It WILL be okay. We can't raise Iris here. District 1 is too strict. I don't want her to be ostracized by others. I can't stand the thought of our daughter being placed on the monster trait registry. She's our child, not some sort of criminal!"
She gestured towards the guest room where Martin was packing his things. "In District 3, they don't treat people with monster traits too differently. At least, there isn't a registry or any unfair laws against them. We can work with that. I don't want Iris to feel like there is something wrong with her simply because of the magic trait she awakened."
In the morning, Iris woke up and stretched. Then she remembered about her magic trait. Sitting up, she used her thoughts to summon the status page, and it appeared. A grey transparent rectangle similar to her holographic interface floated in front of her body.
Reading the information, Iris's mind went blank when she got to the magic trait, book mimic. 'B-book mimic? BOOK MIMIC!!!' She gasped as the realization hit. It was a monster trait. She had a monster trait.
Mimics were well-known monsters. Similar to slimes, they could spawn in high mana-concentrated areas like mana realms and dungeons. It is famously known that any left-behind item can evolve into a mimic monster like how any bones left in high mana-concentrated areas can evolve into an undead monster.
Feeling overwhelmed, tears began to stream down her face. She felt like her world was crumbling. Grabbing her pillow, she sobbed into it. Iris wasn't sure how much time passed, but she felt someone sit down on the edge of her bed. Looking over, she saw her father.
He just opened her arms and let her cry against his chest. After a while, she ran out of energy and became tired. He rubbed her back, "Tired?" She slumped against him and nodded her head. He tucked her back into bed and said, "Iris, you are my daughter, and no matter what, your mother and I love you. Don't worry about anything else, and get some rest."