Nina Feldrast had blonde hair just like her father, and her hazel eyes were so bright that they almost seemed to be the same color as her hair. Her back was to a small stone structure that I had built using transmutation magic more than a year before. I didn’t understand the mechanics of hinges well enough to make a door out of stone, so the entrance to the hideout was an empty threshold.
Considering that it was built by an eight-year-old, I’d say the hideout was relatively high-quality. It was five meters from end to end, and the ceiling was two meters off the ground. It was more than big enough for two children and the significant amount of equipment I kept stored there. The structure had thin empty windows that were enough for ventilation but not enough to let the cold air in. In the winter, I kept a Hellfire spark permanently burning off to one corner for warmth.
“Nina…” I said, and she looked up from the book with a start. The book was Introduction to Elemental Magic. I thought about asking her to leave, but there was some benefit to having a person to whom you could speak your ideas out loud, even if they were incapable of fully understanding. “I’m on the verge of a breakthrough with my research. Would you care to assist me?”
“Sure,” Nina said with a gap-filled smile, “but I want to show you something first. Here, look!”
Nina reached her hand out toward me with her fingers splayed. She said, “Aqua.”
The next thing I knew, my head was absolutely drenched in water. Nina had just used the spell [Water Ball] and had lightly flung a palm-sized orb of purified water at my head. The people of Ferrum looked down on [Water Ball] as the weakest sorcery, but I found it absolutely amazing. Unlike the creation of water through transmutation magic, [Water Ball] created matter from nothing. The spell just created water and flung it. This violation of the most fundamental law of physics was more impressive than anything else I had seen on Ferrum.
“Well done,” I said with authentic surprise as I casually ignited a spark of Hellfire over my head in order to dry myself off. I was amazed. It was astoundingly rare for a five-year-old to hit 8 Intelligence. “Learning that spell at such a young age is really impressive.”
Nina pouted slightly at my lack of a negative reaction. “Well, you’ve been able to use [Water Ball] for several months now.”
I was able to cast [Water Ball] three years before, but that was neither here nor there.
“I’m… different,” I said, scratching my cheek in embarrassment. I certainly didn’t like the prospect of competing against an actual nine-year-old.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
“Huh,” Nina said thoughtfully. “You’re telling the truth.” She seemed surprised as she spoke. “How are you different?”
Crap. She had learned how to use her [Lie Detection] Talent. I had no idea how to answer that question honestly without revealing too much about myself, so I decided to use the oldest tool in the politician’s toolbox: changing the subject.
“Have you told Lord Koravin that you can use [Lie Detection]?” I said, trying my hardest to look like I wasn’t bothered by Nina’s earlier question.
“No, net yet,” Nina said with a smile. “I want to see if I can get some useful information out of Mom and Dad before I tell ‘em.”
“Bad idea,” I said shortly. “Trust me, you don’t want to pry into any secrets your parents are keeping from you. When an adult keeps a secret from a child, they’re usually keeping it for a reason.”
“Buzzkill,” Nina muttered as I stepped into the hideout. She followed me in.
The interior of the hideout was filled with heavy tomes and specially made laboratory equipment. Various types of beakers had been placed on a wooden table, and about a dozen small metal disks inscribed with arcane runes laid strewn about on the ground where I had previously thrown them in anger.
My research into transmutation magic had been more difficult than I had initially expected it would be. The books on transmutation found in the Feldrast family library only went up to elementary-level techniques. Most transmutation magic was focused on changing the macroscopic structure of an object. The typical example of the discipline was transmuting an iron ingot into a knife.
My goal was to use transmutation magic to synthesize the complex organic molecules found in the various drugs that made modern medicine possible. It was a difficult process that had taken me many years of work and subtle manipulation to develop, but I had finally reached the point where I believed I could finally synthesize a drug. I had borrowed more than 2 gold pieces from Sir Eadric and subtly convinced many of the tradesmen of Sableton to create custom-made tools for me.
“You know,” Nina started to say, “I’m the second youngest person ever to awaken to their magic potential in Sableton.” The implication in the statement was clear. She would hold the record if not for me.
“Sorry,” I said offhandedly.
“You need to stop freaking me out by telling the truth,” Nina said, pointing a finger at me. Despite the obvious absurdity in her statement, she was being completely genuine.
“Stop using [Lie Detection] on me,” I said, smiling.
I placed my book amongst the pile of other books and produced my leather-bound notebook out of my pocket. The notebook served the two purposes of holding my eight-step plan to save the world and holding my notes on Transmutation Magic. I turned to one of the simpler structural diagrams in my notes and tore the page out.
The most important piece of equipment in the hideout was a small wire-lattice structure made from sterilized iron. The structure was in the shape of a hollow cylinder with a diameter of 25 centimeters and a height of one meter, placing the top of the structure just beneath my chin. The wire lattice flared out at the top to hold a spherical object.
As I had done dozens of times before, I placed a round glass flask at the top of the structure and placed two of the metal disks into small alcoves built into the wire structure. The equipment had been set up. All that was left at that point was to add the ingredients and the mana.