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“Father… is not here anymore, little one” I could feel the hesitation and sadness in her voice. I had a soft feeling of loss in my heart, it was a rather new feeling for me. My previous life was just like a void, I never had friends or enemies so I never felt like I gained or lost anything before.
In this life, it was rather fulfilling to have such strangely affectionate mother for a bird. Yet, with it came this feeling of loss from never seeing my father. I didn’t even care if he was a bird or not, at that point.
Seeing my mother in such a state, I knew it was better not to talk about this subject any further. My siblings were already sleeping around my mother. Their sound sleeping faces and soft breathing sounds looked very calming. Just like that, I slept for the day.
Waking up the next day, I felt strange as I looked at my siblings. Now that I’m able to see them clearly, I could see they were about 4-6 centimeters in length with varying weights. There were four of them in total other than me. I instinctively knew there were two females and two males since I couldn’t see below their stomachs. But they felt small compared to me for some reason, I thought we were supposed to be the same size and age.
“Mother, why do I feel bigger than my siblings?” I asked my mother after we were done eating.
“Because you ARE bigger since you are stronger and more intelligent” she said as a matter of fact.
“Is our sizes are determined by our strengths?”
“There are multiple ways to change our sizes, little one, which includes increasing our strengths and learning magic”
Magic? Her words stormed my ears like a hurricane of excitement. “You know about magic, mother?” I asked excitedly.
“Haha…yes, I do, little one. You want to learn more about it?”
That’s a no-brainer. “Yes, please”
“All will happen in time, my dear. For now, you have to fly first”
Before I started I asked “if you know magic then why are you not very big, mother?” looking at her now, she was about 20 centimeters in length while she looked very elegant without much fat, if any, on her body.
“This is the biggest I can get, my dear” she said chuckling.
“Oh… ok” without adding any further, I did as she said.
I could already feel my body’s strength increasing enormously. Without waiting for mother, I jumped off the nest and flapped my wings
[Flying lv1] skill gained
Immediately, I gained the skill. Hovering above the nest, I decided to do a few laps around it. I noticed the happiness in my mother’s face which made me happy in return. Feeling the wind against my chest and wings was very refreshing.
I understood now that her intelligence was indeed not normal and more than that, this world was, indeed, a world of fantasy and magic.
My brothers and sisters were chirping happily in the nest while some of them were also flapping their wings. It seems they are all fast learners, for birds. They kept stumbling cutely on the nest’s twigs but continued none the less. I landed near mother and said excitedly “will you teach me now, mother?”
My mother agreed and we kept talking about some of the rules governing magic in this world. Something that I took notice of immediately was that mother was definitely not a bird because when we talked she actually told me some scientific knowledge that would usually be impossible for a bird to understand. However, I kept my mouth shut since I was supposed to be a bird that hasn’t even left its nest yet. Maybe all animals and beasts in this world were intelligent or my mother was just different. Either way, the things she talked about fascinated me immensely.
From her knowledge, she talked about how all living beings in this world have mana in them. Through the use of this mana, people are able to influence the world around them. For example you can try and imbue wind with your mana and move it, this will make you expend mana in the imbuing process and the movement process however if you know the scientific principles by which the wind is generated which, in the case of wind, is that warm air rises into the sky while cold air stays closer to the earth, therefore cold air pushes warm air up. That causes air to move and wind to blow. You can use this information to expend less mana with the same outcome. This is true in every branch of magic, be it the elements, healing, etc…
However, the imbuing process is the most fundamental and most important process through which the doors of magic start opening for you. Mother says that nobody can use all branches and elements in their life time since some elements or branches of magic will not accept every type of mana imbued in them. The reasons for this are not completely known to her however it has something to do with the understanding of the person to the imbued element. For example a person that doesn’t know how lightening is formed, will never be able to imbue their mana in lightening.
If what mother says is correct then the only reason nobody can learn every branch of magic is that we never stop learning. However, that also means that this world might very scientifically advanced depending on the different civilizations in it.
Ugh… I hate studying. Why does everything have to include studying in it. Grumbling inwardly, I kept listening to mother. She told me that all birds have an affinity to wind magic so it’s easier to imbue mana in them and us canaries have a weak affinity to sound magic. I could obviously understand why that is.
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After that, mother taught me how to feel for the mana inside me. In order to feel mana, one must be centered and calm or else you can never truly control and move it. It would obviously get easier and easier the more you practice but being centered and calm is the optimal state for mana control.
I kept training to feel my mana till night time. It was the first time I stayed up to see the darkness of the night before sleep overtook me. I could see the unbelievable amount of stars in the night sky even by the cover of trees. That night I was mentally exhausted so I slept like a new born (because I AM). I slept very soundly with mother and my siblings.
[Mana Control lv1] skill gained
The next day, I finally started feeling and moving my mana. I’m always amazed by how fast I’m improving every night. Mother told me that I have to level up my [Mana Control] skill to level 2 before I can use mana outside of my body. Apparently, certain skills level up using special methods or by getting additional effects. For example, when I told mother about my body control skill, she told me that in order to raise its level I had to exceed my control over my body right now which means that since I’m already able to have a certain degree of control of my muscles and joints, I have to either exceed my current level of control over them or start controlling other parts of my body like my organs, blood or even bones.
I obviously didn’t even know that I could control my blood or bones but I did hear about this certain yoga master that was able to stop his heart for a minute back on earth. I don’t know if that is true or not but in this world, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
Back to topic, to leveling up my [Body Control] skill by controlling my blood and bones would require a special method or technique which neither me nor my mother know of, currently. However, leveling it up by exceeding or exercising my current control of my muscles and joints would be possible, if only I knew how to control them better.
This might require me to learn some sort of martial art but I don’t know what sort of martial arts can be taught in this world. Besides, I think magic is cooler (it would be better if I didn’t have to study for it, though). Right now, I’ll just focus on leveling up my [Mana Control].
Focusing, I try and condense the mana of my body to a certain point and move it around a little. After a while I get an idea, I start to imagine mana going into my right wing and them I try to imagine it getting absorbed by my right wing, into the muscles, feathers, veins, blood, nerves and bones. I’m trying my hardest to imagine every detail of my right wing absorbing the mana.
My face scrunches up as my right wing starts to burn a little. I start to fear if I’m doing something harmful so I quickly decide to stop. I was training while standing on my two legs, it was easy for me to stand since I’m not really that heavy. Opening my eyes, the sun was setting, dying the sky red with hues of orange. The forest was already dark for a human but my eyes could see clearly enough. Mother was teaching my siblings how to fly, this morning. Now, they are already cuddling around her and sleeping soundly in front of me.
Our nest was rather spacious, if you ask me. You could probably fit about 20 to 25 chicks like us in it. As I nimbly walk towards her. I pay careful attention to not let my small talons make any sound. She sees me and smiles gently.
Without beating around the bush, I tell her my experience, quietly. She looked surprised and told me “that means that you have an affinity for body magic”
“Really?” I chirped rather loudly before shutting my mouth with my wings “Sorry” I say quietly.
“Well, it’s either that or you have some profound knowledge of your body and its systems” ignoring my excitement she said with an inquisitive look on her face. “But that can’t be, you couldn’t possibly have that knowledge, yet” she said as she dismissed her own silly thoughts.
“Oh… Y-yeah” trying not to look suspicious I said while trying to smile “can you teach me more about my body’s systems to improve my body magic, mother?”
“If you wish, but I was planning on teaching you more about wind and wind magic first ”she pondered slightly then said “however, if you want to learn more about body magic then I will teach you all that I know, for now, keep imbuing your body with mana until you get the [Body Magic] skill”
“How do I imbue my body again?”
“Just do exactly what you’ve done before with your right wing but this time imagine your whole body instead, it might hurt a little but the pain will go away quickly” she answered
I did as she told me and my body felt like it was in a 50 celsius degree desert with the heat being proportionally distributed around my body. My skin was stinging but it wasn’t really that painful, more like, very uncomfortable. It only lasted for about a minute or two and then…
[Body Magic lv1] skill gained
It felt like a barrier broke inside of me and instead of pain all I felt was strength and lightness. The shift was too sudden that it broke me out of my trance. Though, my mana was felt rather depleted, my body felt rejuvenated even after I had stopped feeding it mana. I was, once again, mentally exhausted but extremely elated. I told my mother of my accomplishment and slept on her nice warm body while hearing her congratulate me