"Hmmm…This face - is handsome than the one I had in a past life," Sol thought while looking in the small mirror in his hand, "Who would have thought that I would become the character I created." Sol had average looks in his past life, now he had a face that would become more handsome as he grew just like the character which he had drawn in his past life. Even right now as a ten-year-old boy he was quite good-looking.
"Sol, come for dinner," called Sol's father who was a brown-haired man in his fifties.
Sol put the mirror on his bed and went down to the kitchen. The whole family sat at a small dining table for dinner.
"Isn't today Hina's coming of age day?" said Sol.
"Ah! Yes! We should go and congratulate her," said Sol's mother. His mother was also in her fifties and had black hair.
"Really? Is she already 13?" Father was surprised.
In Vida, the coming of age was celebrated at thirteen. Till fifteen he or she had to stay and help their parents and villagers. After fifteen they are given the choice to do what they want. They could stay and continue their parent's work, go to other places for work or settlement, or become adventurers.
"I wonder what she is going to choose to do. Is she also going to stay here and continue her parent's occupation or work in another place just like others did," said Sol, "How come no one wants to be an adventurer?" He had not seen anyone from the village who had chosen adventurer for occupation.
Upon hearing Sol's words his father and mother both stopped eating and looked at him.
"Do you want to be an adventurer? Sol," his father asked.
Sol looked at his father and mother. "Looks like they are worried," thought Sol. He smilingly said, "No, I don't have what it takes to be an adventure."
He knew very well that a person who did not have mana could never be an adventurer. Even if he became one he would lose his life much earlier compared to other adventures with mana. For an adventurer magic was must and for that magic, mana was essential which Sol did not have since birth.
His mother asked, "Then, what do you want to do when you become an adult?"
"I want to travel, travel around the world. I guess," answered Sol.
Sol's father laughed loudly, "That's a great idea." He smiled and said, "You do what you want. Just be safe and happy."
"Dear!" Sol's mother looked at the father with a worried face.
His father gave a warm smile, "Let's finish the dinner. It's getting cold."
The family dined in silence.
In the midday, Sol went to the forested hills across the river wearing long sleeve dress, thick brown gloves, cloth mask, and farm boot. It was his hunting dress code. He had white sentinel appear from his back and had it around his neck as always to watch around, sense other creatures, inform him, and guard him. He headed to the cave he discovered a few days ago to mine the Flora mana stone and Terra mana stone.
"Looks like I made them worried," Sol thought as he went down the hill towards the cave. "Of course, they would. – They have already lost one son and they wouldn't want the same thing to happen to me."
Sol wasn't the only child the Fojer couple had. Before him, they had a son named Alphonse. At fifteen, Alphonse went to town to become an adventurer and he became one. He used to visit home whenever he could and would bring gifts with him. Whenever he came he would brag about many things. At first, his parents were worried, since being an adventurer meant putting one's life in danger. But after seeing him enjoying his job they discarded their worries. As long as he was safe and happy they were also happy. One day his friends visited the Fojer couple instead of him. They gave them the news of Alphonse's death. He had died in a mission while subjugating a beast. His body, his belongings were never brought. They told him he was devoured by a beast. They were devastated.
Sol knew about Alphonse. He didn't hear it from his parents but from the gossip of villagers. He never asked his parents. So he knew why his parents were worried when he brought the word adventurer and when he said he wanted to travel.
"I wonder how he was. It would have been great if you were alive, Alphonse?" thought Sol.
Sol reached the middle of the hill where the cave was located. He went into the cave. As he went further it became darker.
"Share Vision." The white sentinel around his neck shared its vision with Sol. The White Sentinel was now the eyes of Sol to see in the dark passage of the cave. Both Sol's and White Sentinel's red eyes glowed.
Sol went further and stopped before the big hollow cave. The White Sentinel on his neck loosened itself and went inside the hollow cave for checking. It looked at the ceiling of the cave where the Giant Venus Flytrap was. Sol was sitting outside the hollow cave, watching through White Sentinel.
"One, two, three, …. eight. Eight of them." Sol counted the Giant Venus Flytrap on the ceiling. "Last time they couldn't enter this passage. So, I am safe as long as I run to the passage." The white sentinel came back around his neck.
He then made three Silver Sentinel appear from his back. He could only make four sentinels appear. Right now he had one White Sentinel and three Silver Sentinel. He made Silver Sentinels destroy the ground with powerful force. With Silver Sentinel's strong metallic body and powerful force, the ground broke into many pieces. It made a big sound.
The Giant Venus Flytrap's mouth started moving after hearing the big sound and followed the sound. They tried to enter the passage where Sol was but couldn't. Their stems weren't long enough to enter the passage and they were attached to the ceiling inside the hollow cave. They blocked the entrance to the hollow cave as they tried to enter the passage to eat Sol.
"Good, you are here," said Sol. In the dark cave passage where nothing could be seen, his and white snake red eyes were glowing. The three Silver Sentinel wrapped big stones from the destroyed ground and picked them up. "Why don't you eat this?" The three Silver Sentinel threw the stones they picked with great force one by one. The stones crushed three Giant Venus Flytrap's mouths one by one.
"Five left," said Sol.
The Silver Sentinel wrapped and picked up stones again and threw at it again. Three more were crushed and again the last two Giant Venus Flytrap mouths were crushed. Those crushed Giant Venus Flytrap were hanging from the ceiling with green liquid gushing out, covering the ground.
"Now let's go and get those mana stones." Sol walked toward the entrance where the crushed Giant Venus Flytrap was hanging dead. "Are they really dead?" Sol pierced all the crushed Flytrap with Silver Sentinel again to make sure they were dead since the white sentinel couldn't identify the plant-like creature's death.
"Whoa! They are huge. Look at these long, spiky teeth and look at the long stem." Sol observed them closely. "It's good that the Venus flytrap on Earth is much smaller than this," he said.
Sol walked through it and entered the hollow cave which was partially filled with Terra mana stones and Flora mana stones. The stones weren't glowing tye.
"Whoa! All these are mana stones and on top of it they are rare," said Sol as he stands in the center of a dark hollow cave filled with mana stones. "They really do come in pairs, huh. As mentioned in Dr. Nomu's book."
"Deva," called Sol. A red light ball appeared from his chest and turned to grimoire, hovering in the air. It opened its sun-like eye. "Get ready to store all these," Sol said. Then, a yellow storing magic circle appeared in front of the grimoire's eye.
The mana stones were partially attached to the soil and were easy to pluck out. The three Silver Sentinels started plucking out the Terra and Flora mana stones starting from the ground. They plucked out the stones and put the stones into the yellow storing magic circle over the grimoire. Sol just stood and through the white sentinel's eye watched three silver tentacles plucked out the mana stones and put them in the magic circle.
"Should I also do it?" Sol questioned himself. "No, there's no need to be in a hurry. Besides the silver sentinel is much faster, they don't get tired and can last long enough to reach higher." He didn't do anything besides changing places after nearby mana stones were all plucked out. It continued for hours.
"How long have we been here?" Sol took out a round mechanical watch from the pocket. "It's already been two and half hours." He put the watch back into the pocket. "Let's stop for today," he said. The silver sentinels stopped plucking out the mana stones. "How much did we collect?" The grimoire turned pages itself to the last page which was about the mana stones they were collecting.
"Whoa! The pages are filled," said Sol, "Looks like it filled the page from my knowledge about it." After Sol read about the mana stones from the book, Deva, grimoire filled the contents about those mana stones themselves. Before there were only large pictures and quantities of it. Right now, the pages had title heading, long description, picture, and at last quantity.
"Three hundred twenty-six Terra mana stone and three hundred twenty-six Flora mana stone," read Sol, "That's a lot." He looked around. All the mana stones on the ground and walls were plucked out and all that left were on the higher place and ceilings. "There's not much left. It will be finished tomorrow." The silver sentinels went back to their dimension inside Sol's back. He left the remaining mana stones for tomorrow and returned back to the cave entrance. The grimoire followed Sol by floating.
Sol got out of the cave, undone the 'Share Vision', and climbed to the top of the hill with Grimoire hovering and following him.
Sol turned towards the forested valley. He said, "Deva, show me the requirements for Adam." The grimoire flipped the page to a page about Adam. It was the last page of Adam where the requirement was. " Five hundred mana stones, " he read, "When would I have collected five hundred mana stones if I kept hunting beasts? I got lucky by finding the cave." In the grimoire, it was stated that five hundred mana stones were needed to summon Adam. "Right now I have a total of seven hundred and six mana stones. Fifty-four beast mana stone and three hundred twenty-six Flora and Terra Mana stones.
"There are enough mana stones for summoning Adam. Should I summon it now?" Sol looked at the forested valley in front of him. He turned back, took some steps, and saw a green plain where his village was. He thought, "There are high chances that villagers might see it when I summon it. – Then I will summon it later when no one can see it. " The grimoire turned into a red light ball and went inside him.
Sol didn't summon Adam and headed home. On the way, he stopped by the river and went home with the two small fish he caught.
The next day as well he went to the cave to get the remaining mana stones. That day he collected one hundred twenty each Terra and Flora mana stones. Now he had a total of nine hundred forty-six mana stones: fifty-four beast mana stones, four hundred forty-six each Flora and Terra mana stones.
~~
Four months passed, the monsoon came. Most of the day would either be pouring or foggy.
"Hmmm…this face has become…chubby. I have become very fat," Sol said while looking in the small mirror. "I don't look like the handsome character I drew in the grimoire."
Ever since he collected all the mana stones from the cave he needn't have to go to hunt beast for mana stones. He no longer went to the hills.
During these four months, he had become fat. He had become a chubby, blond eleven-year-old boy with fat cheeks, a fat body with a small belly. He was completely different from the slim and handsome person that was in the grimoire which he resembled. Before everyone called him handsome and now everyone called him a cute boy.
"Let's head to the hill," said Sol. He wore a thick white fur jacket, black pants, and rain boots. The white jacket made him look chubbier. He stepped outside the house, looked around, and said "Good!" The village was covered with thick fog and the weather was a little cold. Because of the fog, the hills could not be seen.
Sol slowly headed to the hills. He crossed the village outskirts forest, walked thirty minutes to the river. By that time he was already tired.
"Huff!. Before, I could walk without getting tired of the hills but now I am out of breath when I have just reached the river," said Sol. He then crossed the river.
"White Sentinel," called Sol. A white thick snake appeared from his back and lopped itself around Sol's neck. He then slowly climbed the hills. By the time he reached the top of the hills, he was already tired, out of breath, and sweating. "Let me rest here for a minute." He took a break till he wasn't tired. It was the same densely forested hill where the cave was located in the middle of it.
Sol stood and tried to look at the village but he couldn't due to fog. He walked forwards, tried looking at the forested valley but couldn't due to fog.
"Deva," he called. His living grimoire appeared in the form of a red ball from within his chest. It turned to grimoire and floated in the air in front of Sol. It opened its yellow sun-like one eye.
Sol looked at his grimoire. Then he said, "Summon Adam!" Sol had more than five hundred mana stones to summon Adam.
The grimoire created a green magic spell circle. The magic circle went up in the sky and grew big, big enough to cover a hill. From it a large ray of green light appeared, dispersing the mist around it and summoned something in it. Then the green light and magic circle disappeared.
"Whoa!" was all Sol could say, after all, above him was an enormous, flying wing-like ship floating which overshadowed the hill he was in.