Another two days passed and my practice with the Mana Crystals have progressed somewhat.
I no longer need to close my eyes to move the crystals around but everytime I try to change it to another element, it will explode quite violently.
On the plus side, I now have improvised elemental bombs in the form of these Mana Crystals. If I ever have to fight another bear, I could use these.
Although I don't think that time would come soon since mother finally returned today.
There wasn't any warning to her return at all, in fact, she simply burst into the house when I was absorbed in studying about magic.
The next thing I knew, my face was shoved in between two weapons of mass destruction.
"Ahhhhh!! My dearest, sweetest child! Mama missed you soooo much!!" She squealed, busy hugging and kissing my face.
"Mnnnnhhhh… Welcome back mother…" I managed to gasp in between her fervent displays of affection.
"Ufufufu~ Look what Mama brought back for my cutest darling!"
She lifted her palm and instantly, I was ready to proclaim her as my real mother and follow her for life.
"Macarons!!!" I screamed, already eagerly eating out of her hand as I stuffed my face full of those sweet, sweet treats.
Pure. Utter. Bliss.
"Mommyyyyy… I wuv you…" I spluttered in between the bouts of me stuffing my cheeks with the macarons.
That came out so unexpectedly that even I was surprised.
Although it looks like mother was even more affected by it with how she took a step back as though she was physically struck.
She quickly recovered by hugging me to her chest again, "Yes! Yes!! Mama loves you too! Mama loves you so much my dearest child!! Call me mommy again!! Please! Mama will give you more sweets!!"
Well… If it gets me the sweets…
"Mommy…"
"Kyaaaaa!! Yes, yes!! I'm your mommy!! My little child is soooo cute!!! Have all the sweets you want!!"
Oh, more macarons!! Me want!
I happily munched on the sweets that she had taken out for me with relish.
It's been sooooo long since I ate sweets. In my previous life, the longest I've ever gone without sweets was a week and that's because I was on a trek up a mountain and had already eaten all the sweets I had. That had been torture!
"Ufufufu~ My child is the greatest~" She giggled before moving towards the kitchen. "Now, Mama brought back some nice ingredients as well so we'll have a nice dinner tonight~"
She went towards the storage that functions as a fridge, the air inside kept cool using a Mana Crystal with a frost enchantment.
The moment she opened the door however, she stopped moving and gasped at what she saw inside it.
"My dear… Did you kill… A bear?" She asked, looking at the leftover bear meat inside.
Honestly, I forgot about that. In fact, I'm surprised she could even tell what it was with just a glance.
I wasn't sure how she would react but there obviously wasn't any way for me to deny it when the meat was right there so I nodded.
"Did you get hurt?"
I decided to remain honest, "It swiped my arm but it was more of a scratch and I already healed up from it."
"How did you kill it?"
"Umm… I got it stuck under a tree and stabbed its head with my dagger."
She fell silent after that, as though trying to register what I had just told her.
There were only two possible reactions from her, one is that she gets angry at my recklessness and the other was excessive praise.
She went with the excessive praise path.
"Oh my dearest sweet, sweet child! Mama is so proud of you!!" She squealed, pulling me into a hug and gushing all over me.
I'm not sure if I should be concerned that she wasn't even worried that I was hurt albeit with just a scratch or happy that she had that much confidence in me.
She pulled away with a smile, "In that case, I think we can ramp up the difficulty of your training now! Let's go with a fifty kilometre run, five hundred pushups, five hundred situps and five hundred squats as a warm up!"
… Five times from the get go?
I should be scared, maybe even protest the increase even… But for some reason, a part of me was telling me to do it… And do it I shall.
But first… There's one thing I need to know.
"Mother, there's a question I want to ask…"
Unexpectedly, she started pouting and looked away from me. When I say pout, I really mean pout, like she actually puffed up her cheeks and crossed her arms kind of pout.
Why? Did I say something wrong? I didn't even ask my question yet though?
Oh… I get it…
I sighed, "Mommy…"
Her demeanour did a one eighty and she was all smiles and gushing at me again, "Ara, ara? What is it, my sweet child?"
"I tried to practise magic on my own by making use of Mana Crystals… I managed to change their forms but they all exploded when I did it. Why?"
My words made her eyes widen with worry.
"My little one manipulated mana inside the Mana Crystals?"
I have a feeling it's going to be a long while before she's going to leave me alone again but I nodded.
She immediately started fussing over me again, "Is my little one hurt? What element did you change it to? Where did you do it? What happened? Are you hurt?"
She was panicking so much she actually asked if I was hurt twice.
"I'm ok… Mommy… And I tried changing it into water so I was only drenched by it. I'm fine, really."
She sighed in relief before hugging me again, "Already trying to use magic at such a young age? Ufufufu~ My little one is surely destined for greatness in the future~"
She released me from the hug before materialising a Mana Crystal from thin air, prodding it with a finger, "The pieces explode because of the crystal themselves. Does my dear child know how Mana Crystals are used in normal magic tools?"
"I know that the magic tool draws out the mana inside the crystals to power them."
"And what happens when one is depleted?"
"The crystal disintegrates into dust?"
"Ufufufu~ Not quite. You see, the outer shell of the Mana Crystal is crystallised mana that is formed to contain the more malleable mana inside it. When used in a magic tool, the tools are also designed to break down the crystallised mana after they are done using up the mana inside them. Thus, what my little one has done is changing the 'soft' mana inside the shell but not the shell itself, and changing the mana into another element would definitely expand it bigger than the shell~"
"Thus, the change causes them to explode out from the shell," I concluded, finally realising what I was doing wrong.
"That is correct! Ufufufu~ As expected of my child! You're already trying to circumvent your lack of inherent mana by using an external source!"
I smiled wryly, "I suppose someone else has attempted to do this before?"
Her own smile matched mine, "Ufufu~ That's precisely how the magic tools came to be, my little one. To allow those without mana to use mana~"
That makes sense… At least now I know how I could practice with it. Maybe if I were to become more proficient in one of the magic elements I bought at character creation, I'll get a bonus when the skill actually materialises for me?
That definitely sounds too good to be true. In that case… I'll try to use it and learn magic that I've not bought with my points. In case I don't awaken those elements when my mana is formed, then I can simply practice the new ones first to get a better understanding of how magic works.
Yep, perfect plan!
I looked up at mother with glee, "Does that mean I can practise magic now, Mo… Mommy?"
She giggled, "Ara, ara? I suppose we can have a head start in it~ Although it's ok if you wish to wait until your first birthday to start though, that should be when your mana will form."
I pumped my fist together, "There's no reason not to excel right? And starting early wouldn't hurt either, yes?"
"Ufufufu~ It most definitely wouldn't. There have been some scholars who have theorised that children who start learning magic at an earlier age would grow up to be much more capable at wielding magic than one who has started later. Unfortunately, no concrete proof has been brought forth in regards to such a theory~"
"Have others tried like I have?"
"Ara, ara? There most certainly isn't a lot of children that can measure up to you, my little one~ My child certainly shines brighter than all the rest~"
Right, I suppose normal children at my age would still have trouble forming cohesive words and worrying about pooping their diapers than actually learning about magic.
I almost forgot I'm not even two months old and yet so many things have happened to me…
"Now, now, does my little one want to help me with making dinner? I brought something nice along~"
I've already figured that she most likely went to the Lehcarouc Kingdom for her trip because of the sweets but I wondered what else she brought back.
Waving her hand at an empty space in the kitchen, an oven materialised out of thin air. An oven that was specialised for making pastries.
I could not love my mother more at this moment.