As he spoke the name of the skill, he expected something to happen, and yet nothing seemed to happen. El thought that maybe he had messed up somehow, thus the skill not working, so he tried it again. After the third attempt at getting the skill to work, El was getting frustrated, and decided to stop for the day.

After a peaceful night of sleep, and finishing chores in the morning, El was feeling much better than he had ever felt before and attempted to use his skill again. He attributed his mood improvement to the level up, as it seemed that his body would be empty of mana after a level up, hence needing to do some activities in order to get the natural mana level in his body to increase. This was his hypothesis, and if he was able to successfully use his skill, it would support that hypothesis.

Thinking so, El, sitting on his bed, closed his eyes, uttering [Recall Memory].

This time, he was definitely able to feel something, but he did not know what was supposed to happen. After nothing happened for a few minutes, El considered the name of the skill.

Since the skill was named [Recall Memory], it would make sense if it helped him remember things. Thinking of this, El attempted to use the skill again, but this time, he actively tried to think about a specific memory. El wanted to test if the skill would actually help him remember. First, he tried to recall the exact contents of the book they had in the church. This was not very hard for him to remember, since he had read that book multiple times before, but he did notice that this time, he remembered words that he had not noticed before.

Next, He wanted to test if this skill would also work with his memories from earth, since it was from a whole different world, but after attempting to recall a boring physics book, he noticed that his head had started to hurt.

This was a sign that he should stop, hence he ceased the usage of the skill. However, the experimentation was a success in that he had seemed to recall specific words from the book that he would never have before. This implied that with enough practice, he should be able to recall more information. And so, El’s days passed with the same repetitive schedule as it had before, now with the addition of practicing a skill.

In the years leading up to his fifteenth birthday, El though long and hard about what he would like to do. His mind was not in staying at the Church, since he wanted the freedom to do whatever he wished to do. It was also not possible for him to leave and try to settle somewhere in the wild, since he was not very strong and had no finances to speak of. No one had mentioned anything about the Academy to him and seeing that even Goras had received a skill a few weeks after him, he did not think himself to be prodigious in magical ability. His only option now seemed to be to use some sort of invention from earth to make some money, and he could buy books and such to improve his own knowledge.

It was hard for El to think of what he could make. There were a lot of things he could have made. Things like concrete, rebar, printing press, and even the kind of paper present in earth. However, these all required an initial investment he could not make. After thinking through the logistics of it all, El decided that his first attempt at making things as soon as he turned fifteen and gained independence would be making a consumable such as cheese.

This world had milk, but there was no cheese, since magic had been used to preserve milk in order to prevent it from going bad. In earth, people had to find creative ways to preserve milk for a long time so as to get the benefits of milk without having to worry about it spoiling, but that problem was not present here, resulting in cheese not being created.

His skill, after many hours of practice, was now much easier to use. However, as of now, it was not possible to for him to recall something he had not already remembered. If something had had a big impact on him, he was able to recall it clearly, but he could not recall the contents of books and such. He assumed that it would get easier to do so with practice.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

After three years had passed since his acquisition of the skill, El was finally going to turn fifteen. He had not built any strong bonds at the Church. He was thankful to the Church and those there for taking care of him, but the Mother and Sisters had been too busy with the functioning of the Church, and the other children were either older than him and did not want to associate with him, or they were his age, but too immature for him to talk with.

That is not to say that he did not talk to them, or that they were distant from him, it was simply the kind of relationship created out of necessity. If they were not living in the same place, they would not have played together, and after going their own ways, they would forget each other.

The day before he turned fifteen, he was called by the Mother. It was perplexing, as Goras had not been called, it was only him that day. El considered what possible reasons she could have for calling him alone and concluded that it was likely to ask him about his future plans. He decided that if she was going to ask about his plans, he would not disclose his plans to “discover” cheese, since the Church could want to build ties if they knew he was going to be rich. He would say that he wanted to be an adventurer, or a traveler.

When he entered the room, he noticed that the Mother was the only one there, whereas usually, the Sisters would also be present. This prompted him to think that it was going to be some serious matter.

The Mother, seeing him there invited him in and while motioning towards a chair near her said, “take a seat”.

This a surprise to El, since the Mother was not known to offer a seat to the children in the Church.

“What do you plan to do after leaving?” she inquired.

“I don’t have a solid plan as of now, Mother” he replied.

“I was considering becoming an adventurer and traveling” he added.

The mother, looking at him, scoffed. “with what skills?” she countered.

This left El in a bad position as he could not find an answer to that question. Before he could formulate a suitable answer, the mother spoke once again, “when you and Goras awakened your mana, the magus told me that you have the capability to be a magus yourself”.

El was shocked upon hearing this news and began to consider the implications this would have on his future. He knew that magi, the plurality of magus, were able to formulate spells with their understanding of mana. Most regular people could only use their mana in a specific way, like a skill or spell granted to them, but magi were able to, with practice, manipulate the mana itself in order to form spell of their own.

The Mother, after giving him some time to think, began speaking again. “All children capable of becoming magi are able to attend the academy”. This sentence itself was enough to electrify El in his seat, shocked to hear this news. He had been led to believe that he would not have the ability to go to the academy, hence the need for him to find some other way to make money in order to learn how to magic. This opened another avenue for him, where he could accumulate some power.

After thinking for a bit, El asked, “how will I pay for it?”.

The Mother, expecting the question, replied, “There is no need to worry about it now. The academy pays for the students that cannot afford to go there, and they can either pay it back over time, or they can choose to work for the academy to pay them back.”

This was pleasant news to El, who had expected money to be a problem, since all the web novels he had read before seemed to show that people had to pay for their own schooling.

“Where is the academy located,” El asked, knowing nothing about the world outside of the city he was in.

“The closest branch of the academy is located in the city of Rine, which is where you will study if you go.” Was the reply he got.

“You will have to decide before tonight if you wish to attend” the mother added, “because the caravan will leave tomorrow morning”. saying this, she dismissed him from the room. While it seemed like a big decision to make, to El it was not, since it meant that he would be able to learn more about the world at the academy.

Even after fifteen years in this world, he was not aware of everything that went on in the world. There was a lack of information, not in the world, but to him. He was in no position of power, nor was he an adventurer, who would be afforded more information. He had not even been able to see a map of the world up to this day, with the only map in the city being in the Guild.

He had learned that this was due to the fact that the city he was in, Sadena, was far from the rest of civilization. This city was built as a foothold in order to tame the wilds, but there had not been enough adventurers to brave the wilds to reach the city. It had only been in the last few years that there was more communication with Sadena, and adventurers and merchants had started to frequent the city, seeing that it had not crumbled after decades.

Before leaving the room, El confirmed to the Mother that he would like to attend the academy and left.