"Wake up, kid!" I opened my eyes to see Kasan holding me up by my ankle. "I said I would teach you a way to talk to your parents, so that's what I'm doing today!" He let me go and I dropped onto my bed. "Meet me in your backyard!"
I grumbled as I got dressed. I was going to make different shapes today... I went into the living room, and I could see Adrian stifling a laugh. 'Shut your trap...' I went out the backdoor and saw a lush, untamed garden.
"Took you long enough! C'mere and sit down." I obeyed his orders and sat down in front of him. "You already know the basics of mana manipulation, right?" I shrugged. "Good enough. Watch my lips."
'Hello? Can you hear me?' His lips didn't move, but his voice came out. "Awesome, right? It's an artifact a patient gave me one day. Try it out." He handed me what could only be called a trumpet mouthpiece. I imbued it with mana and tried to say something.
"You have to let it hear your voice, stupid." Of course, I do. Could have started with that... "Ahh~" I heard my voice for the first time in almost five years. God damn is it bad...
"Testing, testing." I nodded at the artifact. "You might want to bond with it while you're at it." I raised an eyebrow. "How would I do that?"
He took a needle out of his pocket and pricked my finger. My blood fell onto the mouthpiece, and it glowed for a few seconds. "Now you don't have to imbue mana into it any time. Not only that, but no one else can use it."
We walked back inside, and my family was sitting on the couch. "Well? Did it work?" I smiled at them. "I think it works pretty well." My parents sighed in relief. "Wait, what do I do when my voice gets deeper? Will I have to attune it?" Kasan shook his head. "No. Because you bonded with it, it'll change as your voice changes."
I wonder if I can change the voice manually. "Wait, Kasan, can I speak with you for a moment?" He nodded as we left the room. "Can you get your hands on a status plate for me?" he raised an eyebrow. "Why do you need something like that? Usually, only adventurers use them to keep track of their skills." I leaned in and elbowed his side. "C'mon, you know you want to help your favorite nephew!"
"Fine. I'll see what I can do..." I smiled at him. "You're the best, Uncle Kasan!" I saw a smile flash on his face before he turned away. We went back into the living room and he waved to us. "I have to get going, but it is always a pleasure to help my favorite 6-year-old!" He yelled before leaving the house. I'm his favorite nephew, I know.
"It's time for me to get to work. I'll see you guys later!" Father left the house too. "So, what are you going to do today?" Mother asked me. I was going to train my magic, but... "I think I want to hang out with my siblings." Lucille's face lit up, while Adrian's dimmed.
"C'mon, it'll be fun! Come with me!" I led my siblings outside. They sat down on a bench as I stood in front of them. "I didn't really want you guys to hang out with me. I just thought you should relax outside. You guys are super pale." Lucille laughed at my comment.
Adrian sat in the shade reading, while Lucille ran around looking at all of the creatures. Are we sure they're twins?
I shook off the thought and sat with my legs crossed. I held my hand out, and this time, a cube of water appeared. I already felt the strain from that, so I released the spell.
I waved off my hand and held it out again. This time, a small flame appeared. "This one will be harder. What if I..? The fire grew a little bit, and I saw it slowly turn into a small lizard. "So cute!" Lucille was staring at it. Sweat began to fall from my head so I released the spell. "Sorry, but I can't hold it for long." She pouted before walking off.
I'm not completely sure what else I can do with the wind except for a small tornado. I took a deep breath and recovered my mana. "So, what're you going to do next?" Adrian asked me, peering up from his book. "I figured I'd make a small tornado."
This should be easy if I move the wind like the water. I twirled my finger, and I could see the black wind surrounding my finger. "And... release!" I let go, and it floated for a second before disappearing. It isn't perfected, but it's good for now.
I stood up and patted the dust off of my pants. I was only ever able to move rocks, so now I think I should try to move the solid ground.
I slammed my foot on the ground, breaking up a little. "Not good enough..." I slammed my foot down harder, and a two-foot, black spike of dirt shot up, following my mind's command. "That's better."
"That's the four elements. Now what?" I turned to see the two of them watching intently. "I was thinking of trying something else. Last night, I was able to freeze almost all of a water sphere. So I was wondering if I could..."
I got distracted. I felt the mana in my body rush to my hands, cooling off my fingertips immensely. Just have to freeze the air...
I felt something being created in my hands, so I opened my eye and saw a teardrop made of ice. "Yes!" My artifact yelled for me. I sat down to try and catch my breath as Lucille grabbed the teardrop. "You can keep it if you want. I'm not sure how long it'll last, though." She nodded and ran off.
I'll just meditate for the rest of the day. I sat back down and crossed my legs. My eyes closed, and I let the mana flow. I was getting hot from sitting in the summer sun, but the mana kept me cool.
Never have I thought I was strong until recently. But, a thought began creeping up. There will still be stronger enemies, right? I have to get even stronger! I had this thought multiple times while training my mana manipulation. It was like someone, or something else was putting them in my head. Is my mana manipulating my thoughts? I pondered on the subject, but it pittered out, perhaps because of the mana.
A month had passed since I arrived back home. I had trained my mana every day, only practicing new things when I was alone.
I opened my eyes and saw a perfect ball of ice. "Aha!" I whizzed it around the room before my muscles began to stiffen from using too much mana. It dispersed into steam and I laid down. A few days ago, I saw a calendar on the wall in the kitchen. Using that, I figured out that the date of this day was July 23rd.
I stretched my arms and exited my room. "Balere? You sure woke up late," I heard mother say. "I've been awake, I've just been practicing..." I groaned and sat next to her.
"I think Kasan mentioned something about swordsmanship?" Mother randomly brought up. "Oh, that. I practiced it a little," I replied. I went into my room and grabbed my training sword. "Hm. How good are you?" I sighed and sat back down on the couch. "Not as good as I'd like to be. I managed to beat the elder of the beastmen, but that was only because he didn't use magic."
"That's still very impressive. From what I've read, to become the leader of a beastman village, you have to beat the already existing leader in combat." I snickered at her fun fact. "I think you have to be a beastman for that to count."
I heard a screech, and then Adrian ran out of his room. "Lucille cut my hair!" The little girl walked out after him with a proud smile. "He was being mean." Mother sighed and grabbed a pocket knife from my sister. "It isn't good to cut your brother's hair, even if he is being mean!"
Lucille scoffed and turned away. "Now, Adrian, it isn't that bad. You also shouldn't be mean to your sister!" He shook his head and crossed his arms. "Even so, my hair feels unnatural." She sighed and looked at it. "I guess we can go by the barber and cut your hair."
"Can I get one as well?" Everyone turned to me. "What's wrong with your hair?" Lucille asked. "It's a little long for my taste." I demonstrated this by pulling my hair down to the bottom of my lip. "I couldn't tell it was that long... Alright, we can go to the barber. Come now!"
We walked down the street until we found a barber shop, with the cliché red, blue, and white thing outside. We entered it and a man with a thin mustache came up to us. "Good day, young family. How can I be of any help?" He asked with a bow. "We need to cut both of my sons' hair." He nodded and looked at me and Adrian. "Very different, yet alike. Any specific way to cut them?" He asked.
"I'd like mine as short as you can get it," Adrian said. Very militaristic. "However you think is fine." He smiled and clapped. "I will have Aurelio cut the blond's hair, and I will cut the awakened one."
Before I could ask anything, he brought me to a chair and put something around my neck. Y'know, those paper things? "It is an honor to do your hair," He said while grabbing something in his drawer. "Why is that?" He began snipping my hair as he spoke, "Your mana is already very strong for someone so young."
"Is that so?" He nodded. "Not only that, but you also have an artifact bonded with you. I think only the noblest of children could be like you. Would you tell me your story?" I thought about it. I could come up with some bullshit story, but I'm not sure if that's good. "I'm just bored at home, sir. That, and my imagination is strong." He chuckled under his breath.
He kept snipping until I heard him mutter under his breath. "Is something wrong?" Mother asked. "Well, it seems he has a pair of horns growing." Horns? I was brought back to the sight of my spirit, and how I had horns in the 'vision'.
"Like how your spirit had them!" Mother exclaimed. "Spirit?" I heard Lucille ask. "It's how you check if you'll become a mage, young one," The man cutting my hair informed before speaking again, "If you want, I can rid you of them."
This was a tough decision. If this was my past life, I would have cut them off. But this was a different world, and they might be important later on.
"Let them stay. If my spirit had them, they must be of some importance," I said calmly. "If that is your decision." As he continued cutting my hair, I could see some of my past self in me. Besides the two little horns sticking out. This was the hairstyle I had in my past life!
"I think we're done!" He said before pulling the thing around my neck off. "Thank you for this." Mother pulled out a little purse, and the man stopped her. "The first time is always free, ma'am. I trust that you'll come again?" My mother smiled and nodded.
We got back to the house and I grabbed my sword. "I have to keep training, or else I'll become rusty," I said with a shrug.
I went to the backyard and created a dummy out of the ground. I quickly slashed at the dummy. The sword got stuck in its arm of it, and it took a lot to pry it out. "Stupid dummy..." I sighed and imbued mana into the sword. This time, a slash cut almost through the entire thing. I looked up at the sky and smiled. I need more strength.
I trained for the remaining month.