"Mother, can I get a storage ring for my ninth birthday? Please? I've been going to classes without making a fuss and I've already learnt a lot." Victor asks his mother with pleading eyes.
"Fine, I'll talk to your father about it. How are your dance practice sessions going? You have to perform on your birthday with your fiancé right?"
"Umm …. I've been practicing mother." He says with a straight face.
Jane looks at him with a scrutinizing gaze . "Do. You. Know. How. To. Dance?"
"No mother. But I'm practicing right? Don't worry mother, I'll not embarrass you." He runs away from the room. He was never good at dancing. He was a mage, general, programmer and an embarrassingly small time mechanic in his previous lives. Dancing? It had no use in fighting, spell casing or programming. Victor was a practical guy. He never wasted time doing things unrelated to his skill set. As for the storage ring, he will get it on his birthday. If he doesn't get it, he would have to manage with normal way of storing stuff.
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"Move your body like the waves. Sometimes slow and calm, sometimes aggressive and raging. Don't move like a damn puppet." Victor's dance teacher was furious. She didn't know how to get Victor to learn how to dance. He always danced like he was controlled by a sloppy puppeteer. There was no flow or smoothness in the moves .
"I am dancing the way you danced. If you find my moves bad, you suck at it too. I'm so done with this sh*t." He went out of the room. All he had been doing these days is dance , dance and dance like a maniac. He was already on edge. Now that he ran away from the dance teacher, he didn't know how he will explain this to his mother. It was time for lunch so, he went to the kitchen to get some food.
"Master Victor, your father wants you in the dining hall as soon as possible." The butler, Mr.Whisker informed him.
*sigh*
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[In the dining room]
Kevin and Jane sat on their respective seats. In front of them there were a couple and a small girl around the age of Victor with a cute round face and bright eyes. She was Victor's fiancé, Aurora Silvers. Rei Silvers and Elsa Silvers looked over at the Lee's and said "Sir Lee, we hope that Victor is ready for his birthday. We know that he is a genius, but he is still just a kid. You should cut him some slack."
"Although he is a kid he is a member of the Lee family, so he should stick to the traditions."
"Father , did you call for- why are you guys here?" Victor didn't expect something like this . He was ready for a huge lecture as he thought that his dance teacher told his dad about the stuff he did today.
"Victor. Where is your manners?"
"Fu*k you and your manners. I'm done with this crap. I CAN"T DANCE. Why don't you guys understand that?"Victor exploded. He was already pissed with his teacher and now, hearing his dad tell him to mind his manners….ticked him off. In his previous lives, he always thought that nobles had it easy. Only now he understands that all this etiquette and manners thing was not for him.
Kevin raised his eyebrows. He was completely shocked . He never expected Victor to blow up like that.
"Pffft. Ah sorry." Aurora couldn't control herself. She never saw Victor this pissed. He was always elegant, the way he spoke to people made it look like he was born with the experiences of noble life ingrained into his soul.
"There you go Mr.Lee , as I already said victor is just a kid. You shouldn't force him to do things he doesn't want to. Let him enjoy his early years and have some fun." Rei Silvers said as he gave Kevin a meaningful look.
*sigh* "Victor. Can you at least make sure not to embarrass yourself?"
"I'll show you the stuff that lady taught me . You can judge by yourself."
He danced the same way he did in front of his teacher not long ago. When he finished everyone the room were trying to control their laughter. They were adults . They wouldn't laugh and crush a child's self-confidence. But when Aurora burst out laughing , it was pure chaos. The sound of laughter filled the room.
"Why don't you dance the usual way?" Aurora said as she gazed at Victor who looked like he was about to blow up any moment.
"What do you mean by "dance the usual way"? I never danced."
"Well…. Last year when you fought my neighbor's guard, it looked like you were dancing."
Everyone in the room had a surprised look on their faces. They never knew that Victor knew sword play."Victor, why don't you show us your sword play? Let's go to the training grounds. " Kevin was eager to see his son's talent in swordsmanship as he was also a swordsman.
"Alright."
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[Training grounds]
Victor had already finished showing his swordplay. The audience were astonished beyond belief. How could some normal dance compare to this? The elegance and complexity were off the charts.
"Honey, Don't you think his swordplay is far more beautiful than yours?"
Kevin revealed a look of dread. Jane only noticed him because of his swordplay. "You're not gonna leave me for your son are you?"
"Noooo. Aunty Jane stay with uncle Kevin . Victor is mine."
"Hahahahaha... no,my darling Aurora . I'm his mother, how can I take him. Kevin you need to improve your sword play alright? Isn't it embarrassing to be outdone by your own child?"
"Victor. Just perform your swordplay with Aurora as your partner. Aurora, practice swordplay with Victor from tomorrow onwards and Victor, make sure that your swordplay is at aurora's level on your birthday." Kevin said with a serious face. That was the only thing he could do to escape from the embarrassing situation .
"Mhmm . I'll learn from Victor. Don't worry uncle."
"Alright father I'll teach her. Aurora imagine someone you hate and start hitting them with this sword. Go on. That's how I did it ." Victor looks at everyone's faces which held immense disappointment . 'Ah, I forgot I suck at teaching too.'
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"Huff .…huff …. How much more should I train uncle?"Aurora asks. She had been training for about two weeks. All she did was eat, train and sleep.
"You are pretty good for your age but I don't think you can reach even half of my proficiency in swordplay, forget matching Victor. He is a natural swordplay monster." Kevin replied. He was tired too. Jane stopped sleeping with him, saying that he has to either get as good as Victor or teach Aurora swordplay in place of Victor.
"Uncle. What happened to Victor's dance teacher? Didn't she come to you with issues about Victor's behaviour and dance?"
"Ah .... that. Jane fired her."
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Victor sat in his room, staring at the bag in front of him. There were ninety seven used mana crystals. They were the crystals that contained almost zero percent mana in them. Not all the mages were nobles. The mages from the commoner background had to save up money to buy their "mage set" and a lot of mana crystals. Most young mages including noble children used low grade mana crystals to replenish the mana in their bodies. The poor ones resold the used mana crystals to earn back some money. The nobles just drained the crystals completely till it turned into powder. The little bit of mana left inside the crystal acted as a binding agent to keep the crystal in shape.
"Take this money and get me more crystals." He gave another pouch of bronze coins to Oven Frazer. The latter just took the pouch and left.
'Now it's time to check if my theory works.' Victor started imbuing some of his mana into the crystal. It glowed brighter and brighter, at the end just broke into tiny pieces that looked like glass.
'Did I do it fast? Well …. Let's just continue with the experiments.'
Victor stayed awake all night. Hustling, taking down notes and making improvements in every step. It was a good thing that the mana crystals didn't explode. Instead the crystals broke into pieces and the mana inside dispersed into the air.
After about sixty tries he found out that his mana was different from the mana in this world. 'Is this a good thing or a bad thing?' What happens if we put a sugar cube in an ocean? It dissolves. His mana was like the sugar cube. Dissolving in about a second after he released it outside his body. He couldn't use normal methods for his plans now . He had to change the way he went on with this project. He started doing random different procedures just to get a clue or luckily an answer.
"Well…F*ck" He had used up all his mana crystals.
"Nevermind it's time to sleep."Victor was exhausted from the all nighter he had pulled.
*Knock knock* "Master Victor, it's time for breakfast."
".........…Alright." *sigh*.