Come on, come on. You can do it!

A few years had passed since he had formed his cultivation technique, and by his reckoning, he was not far from becoming six years old by Earth's standards.

He was a little older than that with this world's increased growth rate, and if he ever wanted to work it out, he just did Earth standard plus twenty per cent, which roughly gave his proper age.

Please don't die, Please don't die.

His breathing quickened as adrenaline surged through his system at the approaching danger. Filling his lungs with air, he looked down into the valley, spotting his house in the distance as he noted the dozens of metres drop below.

Just do it, you pussy!

Without giving himself a chance to chicken out, he pushed himself forward and jumped off the cliff, closing his eyes.

The expected rush of air and sudden fall to his death didn't manifest, and he opened his eyes to look around as a thrill ran through his body.

A large frame surrounded him, and he looked up at the red, white and blue sail above his head as he glided smoothly through the air.

The Many Form Mirage skill had come a long way over the years as he noted the hang glider around him. He smiled as he sailed through the air, rejoicing at the skill not poofing into the air under the strain of the wind.

He hadn't jumped off a cliff randomly and had been setting this up for a while now. Ever since he had realised he could create almost any object he could think of with the skill, flying had been on his mind.

There were limitations to the skill he had found. The first was that his illusions, or mirages as the skill termed them, were still bound by gravity and other forces acting on them.

There was a slight cheat in that he could increase and decrease the weight of creations without affecting them, as the general hardiness was based on how much power he put into the skill rather than the material he formed.

The mirages themselves reminded him more of bouncy castles in that they were flexible like a balloon but still had a level of toughness about them. Still, a sharp object easily penetrated them, causing the complex matrix of power inside to overload and the skill to end.

He could create an illusion of a car and even sit in it. The issue was there were no electronics, engine or integral parts of machinery, as he had no idea how those worked.

He could open the doors as they were set on hinges and easy to understand and copy. The manual or automatic gearbox might as well have been rocket science, as he had no idea, so those never worked.

Overall, the skill was valuable and flexible, but it had good and bad points.

Creating moving copies of animals and even copies of other humans was doable, and he felt this was because he understood enough about how a flesh and blood body worked. He felt that the spirit power he input took some of that knowledge and made it work somehow.

There were other limitations, like when he had created a wagon like the ones around the village. It functioned fine; the wheels even spun when pushed, but he could not get them to move themselves like an illusion of a winged insect. He could form a beast of burden to pull it, and it would work fine until it rolled over a sharp rock.

It was a helpful skill, but it seemed to be bound by the limitations of the natural laws and his understanding of the principles behind how a formed mirage worked.

Jumping today wasn't about being an adrenaline junkie, but he felt that having a way to fly would be a massive help, especially in the mountains. During his schooling back on Earth, he had been taken for a summer of adventure training, and hang gliding was one of the activities. That's where he got the idea.

At first, he started on some small hills before working his way up to a cliff that overlooked his home. Today was his ultimate test day, and he was glad it was paying off. Even though he had taken a bit of a risk, he wasn't without backup plans, as he still kept rule number one at heart.

His core was due to rotate soon, so if the worst was to happen, he would at least be able to heal from it, provided he survived the fall. That's where his backup plan came in, as he had also been messing around in forming parachutes and jumping from tall trees, much to his parent's displeasure.

As he created the chute literally on the fly, it was already open, so the idea wasn't as stupid as it seemed. It worked for the most part, and he only broke his legs a couple of times before he perfected it. Thankfully, his core's unique ability dealt with those minor issues. Breaking his back and hips that one time was what really hurt.

The whole thing wasn't as stupid an idea as it seemed on the surface, as his body was far more sturdy than the average, even if it was slightly weaker compared to others at a similar level.

The chute snagging on branches and popping the illusion was the problem in those instances, and he had already come up with backup plans for even those times.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he looked down and smiled at seeing some villagers looking up and pointing at him. Thankfully, they knew he liked to mess around with conjuring strange things and had long gotten used to him and his strange inventions.

He tilted the nose of the glider slightly and spiralled slowly downwards, doing circles around his house as he came to land. As he was about ten metres off the ground and getting lower, he spotted Rhea and some older children standing on a wall nearby, watching him.

He observed her pick something off the ground and take aim with it, launching a stone towards him.

Tilting the glider, he tried to avoid it but failed as the projectile smashed into the Mirage and popped it, causing him to fall the last few metres to the ground with a thud.

He created a small bouncy castle under him, realising there wasn't time for a parachute.

Landing on the pink and blue princess castle, he felt it pop, but not before it reduced his speed and sent him rolling across the ground, landing face down.

The castle looked like something from a little girl's birthday party because that's exactly how he remembered it. Objects he had personally seen and experienced seemed to have an extra sense of realness.

That's why he didn't blame Rhea for his current situation.

Well, not totally.

The village children had sparred against him often enough to know just how weak his conjured skills were to an attack, and she had waited until he was low enough that it would only hurt and not injure him seriously, and he probably deserved it.

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During their latest bout in the ring, she had gotten up close and personal with a dozen or so hairy tarantulas he brought to life from a memory of a school trip to Chester Zoo.

The poor girl had nearly ripped her hair out and burst her lungs from screaming as they crawled all over her. Spiders did exist in this world, but he had yet to see any as large as the Goliath Bird eaters he conjured.

I guess some fears are just genetic.

It probably didn't help I made them hop around like jumping spiders.

Groaning, he rolled onto his back and realised he had just landed beside a manure pile. Internally, he sighed and wondered how he would get his own back on the girl during their next confrontation.

There was no guilt anymore surrounding his torment of the girl, and he knew that was the strange sense of vengeance inside of him rising again. He looked over to see Rhea and Lysander pointing and snickering at him.

Many of the children had targeted him at her instigation, so he was used to the feeling, but he never let it get into anything more than some pranks as payback.

Seeing the pair, he recalled the dark-haired Lysander trying to injure him badly during a match the other day. He knew the boy had a thing for the annoying girl, and he often went into fights with him by pulling no punches.

The peculiar thing with Lysander was that he preferred not to wear shoes, something to do with his family's cultivation technique.

It seemed he wasn't used to it yet, as a minefield of assorted Lego bricks brought that fight to a swift and painful end. They would vanish after he stepped on them, but not before inflicting pain.

What brick hurts the most to stand on?

Maybe a field of one-by-two rocker bearings next time?

As he was plotting revenge, His father appeared above and looked down at him with a shake of his head.

"Serves you right for messing around with those things. Haven't we been telling you?" Marcus said as he held out his hand.

Taking it, he got back on his feet, dusting himself off. His father had seen the girl's actions, but the adults wouldn't get involved in childish spats unless it turned severe. His parents had also seen the spider incident as they and the entire village heard the screams and turned to watch.

"I just don't understand why you can't get on with the other children," Marcus said, looking down at him as they walked home.

"They just don't like me because I'm younger and keep beating them in sparring matches. Plus, I don't want to waste my time playing games." He replied, jumping over a wall and onto a path that led to their house.

"I think it's more that you keep using your skill to defeat them in ways some might find humiliating," Marcus replied, landing beside him.

He stopped momentarily and seriously considered that aspect before he shook his head and walked on.

"It's the only skill I have. What do they want me to do, fight with my hands behind my back? How is that going to make anyone a better fighter?" He asked with a side glance, feeling a little guilty.

He may have overdone it on some occasions.

"Perhaps you're right," Marcus said, taking time to think.

"I'll have you moved up into the older group. If you hold yourself back, it's not worthwhile training." Marcus said after several breaths of thought before turning to look at him.

"Still, some ways you win is a little... unorthodox."

He couldn't help but stifle a grin at his father's words. Unorthodox was putting it mildly. Fighting him must be a nightmare for the other children.

It wasn't that he revelled in their misery or something stupid. He just used the opportunity to practise conjuring on the fly with his skill.

It wasn't his fault the skill relied on someone with great imagination and strong soul power, both of which he had in spades. He also loved horror movies, pulling pranks, and crazy game shows like Takeshi's Castle.

This combination probably led to bad memories for the other children, but he felt it was all fair training. Besides, he only brought out the good stuff for the ones that provoked him.

Sometimes, he felt like he should act like a grown-up, and he tried. The problem was his weird personality quirk that kept calling for revenge; the only real way he had to control the urges was to plot a long revenge or get them back using pranks.

He sometimes worried about what would happen if he ever lost control and didn't want to find out. So it was better just to keep doing what he was doing.

"Joining the older group does sound better." He said after some consideration.

"Good, I'll ensure you get moved up at the next session," Marcus said as they arrived at the front of their house.

"Oh, right, I nearly forgot. Your medicine should be ready. Here, go pick it up." Marcus said as he turned and produced a heavy purse that chinked as it flew over to him.

He recalled the medicine that he had been purchasing from the village herbalist. His parents knew his body wasn't growing at the rate it should be, but they didn't quite know why, as he didn't mention his reverse cycling.

They had done what they could to help him deal with the issue, which involved medication and fierce beast meat to strengthen his body. Because of this, the problem of having a weaker body wasn't so pronounced, but he knew it would be a constant battle.

It wasn't without its benefits, as he felt his soul was far above where it should be. There was no way to measure it precisely, but his skill required spirit power to function, and he had found that the amount he had available had increased drastically.

He hadn't gone into using the reverse cycle technique without a lot of consideration beforehand. He knew the risks involved but felt this was the best way to min-max his potential.

He wasn't looking for short-term gains as he was in a safe environment and had the time to think long-term. If there were any problems, then he would own his mistakes.

"I wish you or Mother would do it. I hate that creepy bird. It's always staring." He grumbled as he caught the purse and slipped it into his jacket as he turned to walk towards the village.

"It's just being a good companion and keeping a lookout, so don't be rude to her. She's important for the village." Marcus warned from behind him.

"I know. Still creepy, though." He mumbled the last bit and waved over his shoulder.

It didn't take him long before he arrived at the village entrance and hugged the outside wall as he walked around it to the left.

He spotted a cosy-looking thatched cottage sitting in the corner of the valley, tucked away between cliffs on its left and rear, with the village wall to its right.

Smoke rose from the chimney, and a faint scent of medicinal herbs wafted over from the small fenced-off garden that ringed the property.

As he neared, he looked around, moving his head from left to right as he searched high and low.

There!

Hidden between the branches of a small tree that grew out from the side of the mountain sat the strange bird, watching him with glowing eyes.

He stopped and stared at it, wondering why it was always hiding around the village and watching him. As he stared at it, he saw it tilt its head to the side as if asking what he was doing.

He didn't know what it was, but something about this strange creature unnerved him. Straightening his shoulders, he was about to head towards the house when a voice sounded behind him.

"Are you here to pick up your package?"

Whirling around, he nearly jumped in fright at seeing how close the older lady was to him.

"Um, yes." He stammered out, a little caught off guard.

"Here," Penelope said as she pulled a small wooden box from her basket, offering it to him.

"How did you get behind me?" He couldn't help but ask as he took it.

"I was in the village doing some business, and as I was going to drop this off with your parents on my way back, I saw you walking over here, so I followed. I didn't want you to waste a visit." Penelope answered with a smile as he accepted the box.

"Thank you." He said with a nod, tucking it under his arm as he passed the payment to her.

He wanted to ask how the crafty old woman kept sneaking up on him, but he bit his tongue. Every time he went to collect a parcel from her over the years, she appeared before he reached her cottage garden, startling him.

She's probably just doing it to fuck with me.

Turning to leave, he spotted a large procession of wagons and mounted people moving into the valley and heading towards Mysthaven, stopping him dead in his tracks.

"Wayfarers." The elderly woman said, having moved to stand beside him.

"Sorry?" He asked, a little confused.

"Those people are Wayfarers. You looked a little taken aback by their arrival. It's a group of roaming traders who usually have some interesting stuff. Make sure you check out their goods." Penelope stated before she turned to walk towards her house without saying anything more.

The wayfarers weren't the only thing that caught his attention as he spotted a familiar-looking shape dismounting outside his farm.

I guess I best head home and see what's going on.