I saw the tree trunk approaching me quickly, or was I approaching it quickly... probably the latter. In a last-ditch effort, I did something that might be considered crazy. I let mana flow into most of the muscles in my body, combining [Predator's Agility] and [Predator's Strength]. As I got closer and closer to the tree I prepared my eight-year-old body as best I could for what I was about to do.

Once I was close enough I punched against the tree, cracking its bark, with enough force to stop myself from crashing into it and ending up as a red smoothie.

The next thing I did was take all the mana out of my muscles and channel it to my right and left hand, which I had made completely straight to the extent where my fingers bent slightly outward. A thin layer of mana materialized around my hands. It was almost like my hands had been stuffed into light blue, translucent, blade gloves.

I rammed both my hands into the tree, which slowed my descent, making me leave behind short, completely straight crevices.

That was a bit too close to my liking.

I looked around. From where I was hanging I could see a few treetops through the branches and leaves of the large tree I was currently hanging in. The closest ground was far below me and the closest wooden post or platform was too far from the tree trunk at this moment for me to jump to them.

...

...

...

...

...

"Well, shit..."

I calmed my nerves and looked around, channelling mana to my eyes. My vision suddenly focused and I could see everything much clearer. The fine lines in that leaf that was falling to the ground right now? Yup, if I focus I can zoom in and see them. That wood elf that's training on the beginners course? Yup, easily.

Maybe one of them can see me?... Probably not...

The wind began picking up making my hair, which was tied behind my head and hung down in a single thick strand right now, flutter through the air a bit, shifting my balance slightly and almost making me fall.

I once again used [Predator's Strength] and [Predator's Agility] to hold myself in place and slowly begin my... more or less... careful decent.

Sometimes I nearly fell and was barely able to catch myself before actually falling to what would probably amount to my second death...

Over the past three years, I had been able to overcome most of the issues I had with my past life trauma and I could even start joking about it in my head... probably as a coping mechanism but it was better than having constant flashbacks whenever I thought about web novels or fun facts for too long.

"But really, who came up with this course? Whoever is responsible must hate children enough to make them kill themselves for the sake of training," I mumbled to myself as I descended further to a point where there were finally fewer branches and leaves, allowing me to see a bit more.

Assessing my situation sounded a bit ridiculous. I was currently hanging from the largest tree in the entire forest that went on for kilometres in all directions and I couldn't see what was beyond it, as if there was some sort of veil around the entire thing. I could look down on the tops of all the other trees and due to my enhanced sight, I could see my classmates and our teacher below, training and teaching. Alyra, who was now nearly ten as she liked to point out, and Ilmar, who was now eleven, were jumping around on the death trap that was the advanced course, be it lower than where I was.

I had always advanced faster than others. And we have figured out why as well. I simply have so much mana that I don't need to finely adjust my usage or figure out where exactly a muscle or nerve or whatever was... I just had enough mana, so it would just enhance everything I was concentrating on because it was already there once my magic mark spread over my body. That also meant that the potency of all my techniques was much higher than that of most adults in our village.

I had also thought about possibilities for me having more mana than basically everyone below the age of three hundred.

It was either because I had been reincarnated and was special, because of my training, which was unlikely since Alyra and Ilmar had been training with me the entire time and weren't as far as I was, or that I was simply lucky enough... which was also unlikely. So I had simply come to the conclusion that I was special, in some way or another. I knew it was arrogant but the facts couldn't be ignored anymore...

Now that I was done with my bi-daily trip of arrogance and unfounded pride I continued my descent. After what felt like hours but was more like forty-five minutes I finally reached the ground, immediately sinking and leaning against the tree I had just climbed down from.

"Mister Lyrius!" Our teacher was running towards me.

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"Are you alright?" he asked with concern in his voice.

I could also see Alyra and Ilmar running towards me in the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, I'm fine... just... nearly died right there," I said, panting a bit.

"What happened?" Alyra asked, with the concern she always had when something happened to me since we started learning magic.

"I missed a handhold and nearly fell to my death... but besides that... nothing," I answered.

"Perhaps I should make it safer..." our teacher mumbled.

"It's probably just because you're so tiny," Ilmar suggested with a grin on his face.

"You're just jealous that he's more talented than you even tho he's younger," Alyra said, crossing her arms.

"Uh, how come you're protecting him, sis? Could it be that you're in love?" he said, drawing out the "love" for especially long.

"N-No, of course not! I just think you shouldn't make f-fun of him for that!" Alyra was blushing.

My years of reading web novels and such had taught me how to react to such a situation. Sadly I'm not the main character of one of those web novels so I turned away from them and could feel my face getting hotter.

Can't be... right? No, no way... right? I mean... right? Or maybe... no... but maybe...

My thoughts just went on like that for a while.

At some point, I just let out a loud cough, got up from the ground and said, "Well, I think that was enough training for me today anyway. I should probably head home for now and... eat, yes, eat."

"Alright then mister Lyrius. Give your mother my greetings and tell your father that he still owes me. Oh, and don't forget about the festival next week, there will be no school for the entire week and the training grounds will be off-limits.

I nodded, said goodbye to the siblings and went home.

_______________

The festival had begun faster than I expected. Chattering and the smell of cooked food filled the air along with a warm breeze that carried these things all over the village. To both sides of the main street of the village were stalls, some manned by your typical wood elf: light brown skin, dagger-like ears and dark antlers, while others were manned by goblin: small, pale green to dark green humanoid creatures with long noses, pointy teeth, a sturdy physique that made them look strong despite their small stature. At only about one to one and a half metres tall most of them were smaller than me.

The wood elves mainly sold furs, leather and things made out of these things while the goblins sold beautiful rings, necklaces, bracelets, headwear, chains and even some weapons. As far as I knew in this world the goblins were the typical mining race instead of dwarves who, according to some stories from this world, seemed to be more the waring type, similar to my old world's depiction of orcs.

Quite the peculiar world...

Alyra, Ilmar and I walked down the street, dodging the oncoming traffic of wood elves and goblins alike.

"Man, the festival truly is as big as they always say..." Ilmar stated as he looked from stall to stall, drooling at the sight of the different types of foods that were being sold by both wood elves and goblins.

"Yeah..." I replied, my eyes focused on a stall not too far away from where two goblins sold food on a stick that consisted of a combination of different meats and fried vegetables that looked like potatoes.

I put a hand in my pocket and pulled out a few small cubes made of silver, which was abundant in the caves where the goblins lived. At the beginning of the festival wood elves and goblins would exchange some goods for these cubes which were then used to pay for things during the festival. In the end, everyone who had some could go and exchange them for some raw materials that we needed. Wood elves would often exchange them for metals while goblins exchanged them for furs and leather.

I found the system strange but it seemed to work. Apparently, there were only a few thousand of these cubes, half of which belonged to us wood elves while the other half belonged to the goblins. One got them by giving the others goods, used them to pay and the people working the stalls could then exchange them for raw materials to use to make new things. Simple but effective.

"You guys want one as well?" I asked, pointing to the stall with the delicious-looking food that made my mouth water and my stomach growl.

The siblings looked over to the stall as well and I could see Ilmar swallowing some saliva.

"Yes," was all he managed to say before he suddenly grabbed both me and his sister by the hand and dragged us to the stall.

What are you? A zombie?

"Ah well hello there children," one of the goblins running the store said when he noticed us. "What can we do ya for?" He let out a chuckle.

"We'll take three of those," Ilmar said, pointing at the potato, meat mix skewer.

"Three of those, comin' right up little ones," the goblin said.

For a few moments, he turned around and talked to the other goblin before turning back to us, now with three steaming skewers in his hands.

"That'll be three cubes," he said.

I was about to give the cube I had pulled out of my pocket to the goblin when Ilmar stopped me and gave him three of his own before taking the three skewers and handing them to each of us.

"Thank you for ya patronage," the goblin said, bowing his bald head.

The three of us left and we all began eating as we walked away from the bustling street and towards a hill that had replaced our clearing as our hang out spot after we had to run away from a dire bear.

All three of us sat down leaning against the tree and we ate the hood food while looking over the festival going on below.

"What do you think the future holds for us?" Alyra suddenly asked, staring down at the festival with unfocused eyes.

"What?" I asked, confused by the sudden question.

"I mean, looking at this, everything seems so peaceful but... I don't know, what if something happens? I'm just asking what you think will happen..." she said.

"Are you sure you're nine?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nearly ten, and also that's coming from you," she rebutted.

"Good point," I replied.

"The future holds what the future holds, it's as simple as that. Unless you know what will happen you can't change it. So thinking about it will only make you worry about every little detail in your life which will lead to constant stress. Just live life and worry about things you can actually change or influence." Ilmar's words kind of shocked me. They may be flawed but also held a lot of truth.

"But isn't that just willingly ignoring all the terrible things that might happen?" Alyra asked.

"Might be, might not be. Who knows? But if you really wanna know what the future holds I'll tell you. You and Alt are going to get married, have children and then live happily ever after."

I immediately looked away, feeling my head growing hotter by the second while I heard a gasp from Alyra and a chuckle from Ilmar.

"You enjoy this, don't you?" Alyra asked, sounding flustered.

"I couldn't even begin to describe how much I enjoy this." A smile crept over his face as he gazed down at the both of us with his golden eyes.