I heard a gentle knock coming from the door and woke up. I feel like I had a pretty long dream. And then it suddenly struck me, it was all real.
I quickly rose from my bed and hurriedly made my way to the door. Opening it, I was greeted by the sight of Winston, the butler. His composed demeaner was the same as yesterday, which somewhat managed to calm me down.
"Young master, Master Hartley asked me to wake you up. Breakfast will be served shortly,"
I spoke inquiring a little, "How soon does he expect me?"
"You have fifteen to twenty minutes to freshen up before joining him."
"Thank you, I will come after washing up."
"In that case, I shall take my leave," Winston nodded before turning away.
I closed the door and looked back at my life, thinking of all the things I had lost and the things I had been deprived of before coming to this world. I was filled with melancholy remembering my past.
I decided to look at the brighter side of things and it made me grateful for this opportunity to achieve something great and the chance to meet the genuinely kind people who had taken care of me since my arrival in this world.
I quickly washed up and went into the dining room. There I saw that the others had already gathered and were discussing something.
They saw me and, as I sat down taking the seat at the familiar spot I occupied the previous day, I asked, " What were you guys discussing just now?"
Lynda replied, "Sia can't decide what to give on her friend's birthday as a gift?"
My curiosity piqued, I asked.
"Who is this friend of hers and when is her birthday?"
Sia smiled a little mischievously and said, "I'll leave her identity as a surprise for you. Her birthday is in two days. I think you should go with Sia to her birthday party."
Feeling a little flustered, I muttered, "Is it okay for me to go with her? After all, I don't even know her."
Lynda replied, "Don't worry about the small stuff. Just go and enjoy. It's a large party and there will be a lot of people there."
Seeing no downside to it and thinking it would be bad to keep rejecting the offer of my caretakers, I replied."Okay, I'll go to the party."
Seizing the moment, Headmaster Hartley interjected.
"Back to the topic, kids. Sia, when choosing a gift, remember that it's not just about the act of giving, but also about putting thought and effort into selecting something that your friend will genuinely like. Let's avoid having the same discussion about birthday gifts every year."
We then ate the rest of the breakfast amid the cheerful conversation. After we were done eating the headmaster took me to the courtyard in the back.
"Now, Alex I want you to demonstrate the spell you learned yesterday."
Feeling a little nervous about it, I replied.
"I will try to do my best."
Calming down a little, I imagined what a water blast should be like. Suddenly I had an idea and I tried to implement it. This time I imagined something akin to a water cutter I heard about in school.
I increased the pressure while thinking of it like it was a small laser beam.
"Whoa!"
I stumbled back from the recoil the water coming out of my hand.
When the spell ended I looked forward and saw a small line cutting through the tree I was aiming for. I turned towards the headmaster and saw him pondering about something.
I inquired feeling nervous all of a sudden, "Well, how was it, headmaster?"
He turned his attention towards me and spoke up saying,
"Alex, what you just did is not something that a novice mage should be capable of doing. You need to have mastered the spell completely to perform it to such a degree. While your connection with elements should have made mastering the spell a lot easier, it would have still required some time to achieve this result. Also, the mana consumption to use the spell in such a way should be too much for a normal mage at the novice stage."
He again began to contemplate and ponder about something after speaking.
I also began pondering and thought of various reasons why this might have happened and came to a conclusion as to why I could master the spell so easily and the dilemma of mana consumption.
"Headmaster, I think I might know the reason for what you might be pondering about?"
The headmaster seemed momentarily surprised and spoke saying,
"Now, do tell me your thoughts on the matter?"
"Now I think the technique the apostles gave me has to do with my mana capacity. The technique increases my mana capacity along with the concentration of mana and control of my spells. It also does a few other things which I'm not too sure about at the moment."
The headmaster nodded in acknowledgment and inquired further.
"Well, that explains where the mana came from, but what about the reason for your quick mastery of the spell?"
I peered at his face and seeing his inquisitive look I spoke up,
"I kind of had an enlightenment and gained a high level of comprehension of the water element."
He looked to be processing what I said and inquired saying, " If you really had an enlightenment, you should have broken through the Adept rank at the least. So, what you say doesn't make any sense."
I hastily replied, "Well, I don't know much about it but according to the apostles due to my connection with the elements, I need to awaken a certain number of elements in order to advance."
"Now that clears things up a bit, but how many elements do you need to awaken to reach the Adept and Maestro ranks?"
"Well, from what I know, I need three elements to break through to the Adept rank and six elements to break through to Maestro rank. But why are you asking though?"
The headmaster seemed to not want to talk about it and made up a reason. He proceeded saying, "It's nothing. I just wanted to know about your path forward a bit and see how to best guide you."
Though the headmaster tried to hide it, I knew that he had little time left in this world and he was thinking of helping me and planning my route so that I can progress easily in the future.
I didn't intend to talk with him about it for now as it might negatively impact our relationship.