Degen didn't know anyone at the funeral. Many of the people attending knew his father and brought children along with them. Degen assumed that the old man taught their children as well.
At the funeral, Degen didn't see many people cry, including his father. Many were laughing with each other, and the quite a few of the children that were older than Degen openly talked about how they hated the old tutor. It confused the boy. The old man was an amazing person, why wouldn't they shed a single tear?
The question bothered him throughout the funeral, and eventually, he asked his father.
"No one really knew Mr. Lee," his father replied. "He was just a man that was willing to teach young children. All of my... coworkers only knew him through a recommendation. The group I was a part of saw that I had you and they recommended I get Mr. Lee to teach you. He had low rates, so most people who were told about him said yes, like me. That's how most of us got to know him... but aside from that, none of us really knew him."
When Degen arrived home he found the black box that held the unadorned silver ring that the old teacher gave him on his 5th birthday. He slid it onto his thumb, his largest finger, but it was still too big for him. Sliding it off, he ran to the kitchen. After looking around, he found a large piece of white string and looped it through the ring.
He put it on his neck and ran to the standing mirror in the bedroom. He thought the makeshift necklace looked dumb, but there was a simple solution. He put the necklace under his shirt. There was a small bulge, but he doubted anyone would notice. When he went to school in 3 days he'd be surrounded by dumb kids. He doubted any of them would care or think too hard about it if they noticed.
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The next few days passed in an instant, and soon, Degen found himself surrounded by noisy kids. He hated it. Gotham had a law preventing children from skipping grades. Degen thought it was a dumb policy and it held back good students. The only consolation for children who were overachievers was a chance to be moved up in individual classes if they were smart enough and had a teacher's recommendation. Another asinine policy, but it was better than being stuck with all the children.
"Okay, class! Settle down! I'm going to call out your names! If you hear yours, stand up, introduce yourselves, and give one fact about yourselves," Ms. Torres shouted. She was a young woman in her mid-20s
"Okay, Albert Aston! Stand!"
All the children started laughing. Degen cringed inwardly as the children all laughed about how the name sounded dumb.
A small blonde boy stood up and said in a shaky voice, "I-I'm A-Albert. And I-I uh I like Ice Cream." Degen felt as if he was verbally abused by the time the kid finished.
"Yay! Everyone clap for Albert!" Ms. Torres shouted with fake enthusiasm. "Micheal Belin!"
"Catherine Carrey!"
"Chanis Corin!"
The teacher shouted name after name, and each time, without fail the children would laugh at the name and the kid in question would give a cringy introduction. Degen was no exception.
"Hi, my name is Degen! I love learning!"
He hated school. He completely and utterly hated it!
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One of the strange things about Gotham's education system was that there was a time specifically for napping. It was only for younger students, and Degen didn't understand why until he got drowsy during class and almost fell asleep. 6-year-olds were not meant to be in school for 7 hours a day.
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School was very uneventful, and in most classes, he did nothing but stare at his status screen.
Status:
Degen Vasir
Age: 6 years
Health: Healthy
Mental: Bored [Extreme]
Mana Reserve: [Locked][Leaking-Heavily]
UNALLOCATED STATS: 8
STR: 2
VIT: 2
DEX: 4
WIS: 25
INT: 62
PER: 15
Extra Stats \/
Traits \/
Abilities \/
Most of his stats went up with age so he didn't use any of the unallocated stat points yet. He got 1 every year and he had 2 in the beginning for some reason, and he refused to touch them. If his stats rose by themselves, why use them now when he still had potential for growth? His Intelligence improved at a snail's pace and that made him assume the higher one's stat, the harder it was to improve.
His stats were completely skewed to the mental side, and that was due to his body being 6-years-old. He hated being so weak and short but he couldn't do anything but wait. Degen hated waiting, yet it was all he could do.
When coming home from school that day, Degen's stomach hurt. By the time he entered his apartment, his entire body hurt and then caught fire. His father watched on, but didn't bat an eye. He hadn't unlocked his reserves yet, but the mana bursts were coming more often. It was only a matter of time.
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Degen didn't pay much attention in school and he managed to get his teachers to approve his transfer to higher-level classes. The only exceptions were physical education and nap time. By the time he entered the fourth grade however, nap time was no longer a class, so he had to spend one less class with all the children his age.
Several weeks before he entered the fourth grade his Mana Reserves finally unlocked. It wasn't a large explosion of energy, it wasn't eye-catching, and it wasn't special. He simply felt a sense of release and then received a notification.
Trait Overflowing Removed
Mana Reserves UNLOCKED
Trait Mana Touched Added
Mana Touched: You are connected to Magic. You gain the ability to absorb magic from external sources. +500% to Mana Regeneration.
It looked and sounded like a very powerful trait. The only problem was that he didn't know how to use mana, so regenerating it wouldn't do anything. Regardless, he decided to test out his new ability and ask his dad for help.
When he first brought the issue up with his dad, his dad hesitated and didn't explain much. The second time, his dad told him how his parents were able to use magic, but he never was. He only knew the signs because his younger brother went through the same thing in front of his eyes. He told Degen that he couldn't help him, and was hoping Degen wouldn't have asked until he was in college.
It was around that time, that Degen began to suspect that his dad had a very low INT.
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Degen found some success in his experiments with magic, but they were slow. He could move objects with mana and make lights. Aside from that, he had little success. Until he entered high school, he had few achievements to speak of when it came to mana.
High school was different from the rest of the Gotham Education system. He got a choice in his classes. When he saw his choices, he applied for quantum physics, weight lifting, calculus, and physics C. He got into none of them. If there was a test for courses he'd have aced it, but none of the courses he applied for were available to Freshmen, and seniors were prioritized, so he most likely wouldn't have gotten in unless the class had seats.
Instead of learning calculus, he found himself sitting in an algebra class, being taught things he already knew. The period after that, he was in criminology. A class he didn't apply for and somehow managed to get into. The old woman teaching the class made sure to split the class into groups of 2, and he was paired with a girl named Barbara Gordon. The next class he had was World History, and she was in that class as well. The teacher allowed students to choose their seats and seeing as he already had 1 class with her, he decided to sit next to her.
The period after that was his lunch period and he went outside to get food. When he came back, he had Boxing for physical education. After that class, he had 3 more, which were English, Latin, and Biology. He found the girl in his English and Biology classes as well. When Degen saw her in Biology, he laughed. He shared so many classes with one person, but he didn't share more than 2 with anyone else.
In his past life, he had managed to get 4 classes in a row with his best friend through switching classes, but by random chance, he managed to get in so many classes with this girl. Perhaps, this year, wouldn't be so bored anymore.