Four years passed after Aisrin learned he could cast magic. Four years of mostly self study, and mana proficiency training. Secretly, as Aisrins parents didn't want him over using his gifts. The water ball he made when he was two was five times smaller and slower to form than what he could do now. It was also more stable now. He could almost instantly form it.
From there, he began testing himself with other types of magic. Fire, for example. He could produce fire instantly as well. Though he could not find a way to throw it or make it fly towards an object. Instead, he opted to just cast his magic until exhaustion, which took a fairly long time before that happened.
He could manipulate rock, dirt, wood, and even some metal with much concentration. Air was easiest, just making a light breeze spin in the palm of his hand, useful on hot days. He didn't know much else about magic, as he never was into that in his previous life.
Currently, he was doing a double cast with earth and fire. Sweat was pouring down his face as he concentrated with all his will. Still, he could only double cast continuously for fifteen minutes before his mana ran dry.
"That's fifty more pushups!" He cursed himself as he pushed out fifty. It was a regular routine. Every time he fell short of his goal, he'd exercise his failure out and go again. And he failed, a lot. Although he set a goal, he knew he wouldn't reach in quite some time.
"I have to last at least an hour!" He grunted as he pushed the fiftieth.
"Aisrin! Come quick! There's someone here for you!" Iri, his mother, called out the back for him. Aisrin sighed and stood up. He stretched and began making his way out of the woods. The area he lived in was called Dorstend. A minor town in the Kingdom of Bloodrend.
Bloodrend was part of the human continent of Mortas. In all, there were four continents. The Elven Continent Letta to the South. The Demi-Human continent of Eddin to the East. The Demon Continent of Ruen To the West and Mortas of the North. In all, collectively, the world was called Elrim.
Aisrin approached his mother, dirty and sweating. Her hands went immediately to her hips.
"Now, what were you doing out there, young man?" Iri asked him haughtily.
"Trying to catch a butterfly mother." Aisrin replied innocently. Iri started at him unwaveringly, Aisrin did the same. Finally, Iri broke first and accepted his statement.
'You're a hundred years too early to beat me at this game, mom!'
"Come on, I want you to meet someone!" Iri grabbed Aisrins' hand and led him to the common room. Waiting for him was Abrahm, Itsysu, a maid, and a pink haired little girl.
"I dont need friends." Aisrin unhesitatingly stated as soon as his mother let go of his hand.
"Friends? No, this is Lilac. Your Arcane Instructor. She's an Imp Demon. Also one of the greatest mage professors of the current era, as well as your aunt." Iri replied proudly.
'And?'
"Sis, this is Aisrin. He was able to cast water magic at two years old!" Itsysu, too, proudly proclaimed.
"And? That was how long ago?" Lilac sighed as she gave Aisrin one look and disdainful turned back to Itsysu.
'And a fuck you to you too cunt.'
"Well, four years now. We try to make sure he doesn't overuse, since we dont know his capacity for mana yet. Or his affinities." Iri interjected.
'I can tell you exactly what I can do.'
"Well, I brought the scrolls and Crystal's with me, we can do the test right now. Come sit... Aren?" Lulac gave Aisrin a prideful look and purposefully said his name wrong.
'If I could launch magic attacks at you, I would do so!'
"Okay!" Aisrin put on an innocent smile and tone and sat right next to Lilac, as close as he possibly could, beaming at her innocently.
'What up then?'
"Disgusting. Here. Hold this scroll, and, run mana through it, if you even can." Lilac scooted away. In her mind, anyone younger than eight, whose parents believe have talent, are usually wrong and she wastes her time dealing with them. Even if they are family.
Aisrin gladly took hold of the parchment and did as he was told. Within a moment, the scroll flashed gold and held the color for a solid minute before reverting. Lilac took the scroll and opened it. Her eyes widened as she read the contents.
"A solid twenty-three! At six? At best, a talented eight year old can get ten, maybe thirteen!" Lilac exclaimed excitedly.
"Twenty-three! Aisrin!" Iri immediately looked to Aisrin scoldingly.
"I was bored. It's more fun to practice." Aisrin replied honestly.
"So the butterflies?" Iri continued.
"The butterflies of excitement!" Aisrin closed his fist in mock triumph.
"Put that aside! Here, hold these crystals, run mana through each one. These test all affinities. This one is elemental. If it glows blue, it's water. If it glows Red, it's fire. If it's yellow, earth. Green, wind. Purple, lightning. If it doesn't glow, it means no affinity. If multiple, it'll segment into those colors accordingly. The more of one color means the stronger the aptitude. Please start." Lilac pushed onwards with the testing.
Aisrin picked the odd grey crystal up, and immediately, it began to glow until every color was shown. Purple was the smallest, as Aisrin never knew about lightning magic and therefore never practiced it.
"All affinities! A true elemental mage! How absolutely remarkable! Next! This one here, it tests Psychically Connected Magic. Please proceed." Lilac stopped giving detailed explanations and just had Aisrin move forward.
He once again repeated the process, and three colors popped up. Pink, smallest, white, largest, and indigo, in between.
"Indigo is Telekenisis, very rare with elemental type mages. Pink is Mind Alteration, also uncommon. But, white, is Illusion! Less than a hundred mages can use it. Even I cannot. This one is holy magic." Lilac had begun to write in the scroll as the test proceeded.
Aisrin picked the crystal up and repeated, but nothing happened.
"No holy attributes, I suppose the demon side won over in terms of mana. The next one is Enhancement Magic. I believe you already know what to do." Lilac didn't sound at all surprised.
The enhancement crystal had two colors. Orange and Cyan. Cyan was the larger of the two.
"Orange is support, cyan is agility. You can boost you allies, or boost your own speed. Finally, the last crystal is dark magic." Lilac wrote down some more stuff. Not expecting anything from this crystal, Aisrin ran the mana through it, only to have black mist run out of the stone and envelope his hands, similar to dry ice in appearance.
"Incredible! By far, shadow magic outweighs the void and curse affinities to barely perceptible. He is truly your son, Itsysu." Lilac nodded approvingly as she finished writing. The scroll rolled itself back up and vanished as soon as Lilac ran some mana through it herself.
"That goes to the academy principal. They look it over and send me a response. If they deem him teachable, then I'm his instructor. If not, I'm his instructor off salary. Either way, I'm teaching this child." Lilac seemed proud, unlike how she was at first.
"I just want to start training again. It beats boredom." Aisrin sighed. He was anxious to begin his training again.
"Whatever training you were doing, forget it. I'll make you a C-Rank mage by the time you turn sixteen. By then, you'll become a full fledge adult, and you can go on to become whatever you want." Lilac laughed.
"I want to train." Aisrin stood and began walking towards the door. but was interrupted by a booming sound outside, similar to a grenade. Aisrin halted and immediately went to cover. His immediate instinct was to grab his rifle, forgetting that those didn't exist here.
"What are you doing? Seems like we have visitors." Not long after Lilac said that, a knock was heard from the door. Aisrin stood up and breathed a sigh of relief. Abrahm opened the door to reveal three personnel clad in robes and one in full knights armor.
'So this kind of bullshit is actually fashion around here, huh?'
"Principal?" Lilac looked confused.
"Hoho, don't mind me. I just wanted to see the lad with a twenty score with my own eyes!" The oldest looking dude in the red robe laughed as he looked at Aisrin.
"I can see it. Hmm, quite the aura you have, child. I personally wanted to deliver the approval for his teaching." Old dude handed another scroll to Lilac.
"That was rather fast. I only just sent the request ten minutes ago." Lilac said, unsurprised.
"We don't get many requests from you. So I had to see it myself." Old dude responded.
'It's like game monologue.'
"A soldier seems pretty out of place for visiting a mage apprentice." Lilac comented.
'Definitely game monologue.'
"It's only customary to visit prodigies. Whether they are mages or soldiers." The knight replied.
"Can I just train?" Aisrin suddenly became agitated by the monologuing and exited past the group, bee lining for the woods.
"He seems eager." Red robe cackled.
"He seems to train himself all the time. I really must go and nurture him before he builds too many habits." Lilac bowed.
"Then I won't take more of your time. Frederick, did you see what you needed to?" Red robe turned to the doldier, who was watching Aisrin disappear into the woods.
"I'll send an instructor when he turns eight. I see a pupil in him myself. His body is already very toned for a six year old." Fredrick nodded.
"Aisrin, huh? Hmm, quite the find indeed. For now, let's put a lock on his information. Can't have anyone looking for him." With that, the four left, as quickly as they arrived, and with the same loud boom.
Aisrin had already sat down and began his duel casting, but this time, he wanted to try lightning. Unfortunately, he'd only ever been tased a couple of times, and grasping the feeling wasn't working.
"A hundred sit-ups then!" He stated as he went into routine.
"A mage... a kid who does physical workouts for magic practice? That seems a bit odd, don't you think?" Lilac commented from the side.
"I'll do it until I grasp lightning magic." Aisrin replied between sit-ups.
"Lightning magic is best understood by just running mana to your point of focus, and then making it move rapidly and chaotically. Like making things slam together constantly very quickly." Lilac began instructing.
"After the sit-ups." Aisrin responded. He quickly got through the workout and retried. Imagining the flow of his mana becoming chaotic and fast. Sure enough, lightning came forth, and Aisrin cast fire in the opposite hand.
"Duel casting? I'm so lucky to have found a star like you! How far can you cast them?" Lilac asked.
"I can't. I've only been casting, and I haven't found out how to use it." Aisrin replied.
"It's easy. Just release the mana as it builds up, like firing a bow. Build pressure and release." Lilac demonstrated and launched a water ball strait into the air. When it finally popped, it rained back down, drenching Aisrin.
'So like gunpowder and a spark? Or a primer and pin? Perhaps the image of a bullet is better.'
Aisrin extended his right hand with the lightning out and pictured it shooting off like a bullet out of a barrel. It worked devastatingly as it tore through the trees and explode loudly deep within the woods.
"Yes!... uh." Aisrin exclaimed happily and then fell to the ground dizzily before passing out.
"You've got a long way to go before you can control that. But damn, that's some destruction, kid." Lilac smiled at the sleeping Aisrin. A charred path was left in the wake of Aisrins lightning bolt, a full twenty yards.