My father was antsy about having me stay at the Academy, but my mother was completely gung ho about it. She was ecstatic.
“Our son is going to be a mage!” She cried out from time to time. I was a bit taken aback by her actions, but they weren’t completely unjustified. It seems, since the Great Disappearance, mages and powerful warriors have become rather uncommon. Most of the general populace were regular humans and few, if that, ever went beyond city or town walls.
They attributed adventuring and magic with a certain romance. It could be called human nature, I guess. We naturally desired power and a better life for our children. My new mother was no different.
I was a bit excited as well, to be honest. With my magic power awakened, I could finally begin training and using spells again. With my vast knowledge, I could eventually regain the same level as my game character had. Perhaps I could even rebuild my old guild, make new friends, and go on adventures too.
I’d definitely need to be more careful than during my game days, though. I highly doubt I’ll get any revives if I die… Though, since I’ve been reincarnated once, it seems like death really isn’t the end anyways. I genuinely wonder why I was able to keep my memories.
My parents and Matilda left Caltross the next day, entrusting their two year old son to the Academy. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t cry at our parting. After so long, I finally had a family… And now I had to give them up. Well, at least they promised to visit once a month.
And so my training began…
At only two years old I wasn’t quite old enough to join the regular Academy, where the kindergarten class only joined together at 6 years of age, instead I was forced into the preschool level course which consisted of daily exercises, learning letters and speech, among other things. There was plenty of playtime as well, but I wasn’t exactly attracted to playing make believe with other children. My body may be young, but I still had my dignity.
Perhaps the most valuable things I learned in these preschool years were the meditation techniques. Back in the game of Heroes and Magic, meditation techniques didn’t exist because players only needed to level up off monsters to increase their magic power and levels… Here, in reality, there was no such thing as leveling up. Instead there was only the culmination of training, study, and experience. Basically, there was no way to Power Level. While this was unfortunate, it didn’t limit me much. It seems, due to my talent being discovered young, my foundations were going to be rather strong. Not to mention my knowledge of an insane number of spells, including ones even my teachers and the Headmaster had never even heard of before, would give me a great edge over the competition.
My body continued to grow as I aged and I focused on studying and meditating. My parents kept their promise and came every month to visit. The Headmaster herself would greet them like they were special guests and even have a campuswide dinner in their honor.
My magic power continued to grow as years passed. At three I was equivalent to a second rank mage. By age five I could match most rank 6 magus. When I was finally old enough to enter the Kindergarten class at six years, I had more magical power than most of the professors in the Academy.
I was treated like a celebrity wherever I went, and people would point or stare as I walked past. I was allowed to skip several grades…
Despite all of this, I was never very happy. Being considered such a ‘talent’, my life was horribly lonely. None of the other students would get near me, for fear of my status or other such.
If I didn’t have the mental fortitude of an adult, I’d have probably broken down by now. Instead of sulking, I absorbed myself in the study of magics. I became a hermit and a truant, since most of the classes were beneath me. I’d only attend to pass the exams and then leave. The professors never said a word against me, either. They’d try to ramp up the difficulty on my exams as much as possible to “teach me a lesson” about my confidence, but even their hardest problems were solved simply by my experience and understandings.
I was on pace to graduate the Academy by my tenth birthday, and my magic power continued to rise higher and higher.
Perhaps the greatest of my “studies” was learning that all spell chants in this world were simple phrases in English. I could speak English fluently due to my past life, but even the foremost researchers in the field knew a few words of it in this world. This gave me unparalleled understanding of spells and their framework.
Eventually I learned that by modifying spell chants with other english words, I could change their effects too. Through this I could even invent my own. By chanting a phrase in english and applying magic power with your body, you could create spell effects I never even dreamed of back when I was playing a simple VRMMO.
The first spells I invented were soundproofing, healing, and anti-poison incantations. I published my soundproofing spell as a thesis paper in the Academy, cementing myself as an unparalleled genius. Few, if any magicians had ever invented a spell before.
I received invitations from massive clans, families, and organizations every day to join them. My fame had even reached as far as the Royal Capital, because I was invited to take part in a Magician’s Expo there.
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I declined everything. I was living my life only for two things: my family and researching magic. I became entranced by the possibilities of spells.
Despite my hermit-like nature, I became outgoing and friendly every month when my mother and father would visit. Often they’d bring along my new little sister and brother. My sister was born nine months after my very first enrollment at the Academy and my brother was born two years after her. They were adorable and I swore in my heart to protect them in the future.
Finally, after years of study, my tenth birthday came along. I was officially graduating from Heaven’s Academy with a perfect GPA. Though many professors had stood in my way before, every single one of them now acknowledged my strength.
My graduation became a huge ceremony against my will. Standing on a stage in front of the thousand other students and several hundred important persons from the city, I was prompted to give a speech.
It was at this moment, despite having a speech already written up, I had an idea. I remembered a famous scene from a book in my past life where a man, using a magic ring, disappeared in front of a grand Audience as a way to say goodbye.
This world had no such thing as invisibility or teleportation spells, I had crafted some of my own but I was reluctant to test the teleportation one since a mistake could fuse my heart with a rock or something stupid… But I knew my invisibility spell would work.
So I gave a short speech. I ripped famous speeches I knew of from my past world, including “I have a dream” and “ask not what this school can do for you, but what you can do for this school”.
It was going rather well, but then, as I finished my last line, I decided it was time to unleash my grand plan… I was going to disappear!
“And so it is with great honor that I bid you farewell, Heaven’s Academy.… Great spirit of the Zephyr, hide me and all I own from view!”
Immediately, I vanished from the stage. Well, I didn’t really vanish. I just turned invisible. The crowd burst into an uproar and cries rang out. The professors looked bewildered… The only person it seems I didn’t fool was the old Headmaster. Her eyes followed my invisible form like a hawk. She was probably using a magic sensing spell. Still, overall it was a fun success. Or at least I thought so…
I was slammed into a wall. “Why!? Why would you pull something like that? Do you have any idea what kind of terror passed through the crowd when you chanted a spell they’ve never even heard of and then vanished?! We almost had a riot! You stupid stupid child… You incredibly smart stupid child.”
The Headmaster’s mouth was flinging spit and harsh words at me, but my incorrigible smile wouldn’t fade.
“I just thought it’d be fun,” I replied with a sheepish tone, trying to sound like I was owning up to my mistake. It was pretty obvious I’d do it again, though.
It seems the Headmaster finally began to calm down. She put one hand to her forehead and sat in her chair. “You know, I sincerely want you to stay here and teach. What do you think?” asked the woman.
“I wouldn’t particularly mind it,” I replied, “but I desperately want to go out and see the world. I want to explore. I’ve spent so long studying, reading, writing, and whatnot.”
She took a deep breath and sighed. I thought I heard her mutter something about boys being boys under her breath. “If you wish to become an adventurer, I can give you a letter of recommendation. I doubt any guild out there will believe you if you tell them your name without some kind of proof… And please, at least talk to your parents first. You may be as strong as a rank 10 magus, but there are others out there much stronger than you. Not to mention the fact that you’ve never been in a real fight before. Your future is bright as a researcher. I don’t know how you do it, but you seem to be able to make new spells intuitively. Imagine if you marketed scrolls with the spells on them! You’d be the richest man in the entire Elderon Continent within a year.”
I took the recommendation letter and left the Headmaster’s office for the last time. I quietly made my way to my dormitory room where my parents were both waiting. They had hoped, now that I graduated, I would be coming home to spend some time with them. I hadn’t told them my plans to go off to become an adventurer on the frontier yet… And I was dreading it.
It had only taken me 10 years to become a rank 10 magus. I wasn’t quite at the level of my previous game avatar, but I could cast almost every spell I knew. There were only 11 ranks of spells after all. Ranks 1-10 could be cast by equal level magi, but Hidden class, the 11th rank, could only be cast by a Master Magus… I wasn’t quite there yet. A single rank 10 spell drained my entire pool of mana.
Still, I had enough now to make my way. Many people and organizations had invited me, seeing how bright my future would be… But I had decided what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to become an S class adventurer. I wanted companions. I missed my friends. Being revered as a ‘genius’ only further served to segregate me. It pushed me away from the others. I had spent such a long time alone. I missed Tyrion. I missed everyone from The Ancients.