The next couple of years went by fairly smoothly.
Saivas would spend most of the day cultivating his magical power through accumulation.
In fact, it ended up becoming so frequent that he could even cultivate in his sleep! After all, the basics of cultivation were simple.
Breathe in, hold, circulate your mana through your lungs, and exhale when you needed to or when the ambient mana in the air you took in was completely assimilated.
Given that it was actually such a simple process, Saivas found that the muscle memory was formed very quickly, and it was now his new default way of breathing.
'Well, isn't that convenient' Saivas thought
Even though the process of accumulation is very slow, practicing every hour of every day nonstop was bound to have major results!
In fact, by the time he had turned two, his mana flow had gone from a small trickle, to a respectable stable stream of mana.
Not only that, but he was now at an age where talking would not be considered surprising! That alone was enough to let him breathe easy.
Finally he could start doing what toddlers do best:
Asking a million questions and getting on his parent's nerves!
"Mom! Can you read to me?"
"Dad, why are you so strong?"
"Mom! Can I have a puppy?"
"Dad when are you going to teach me how to fight like you?"
And so many other questions that eventually his parents made a rule of only 5 questions a day just to get some peace of mind.
"Stingy parents, I thought curiosity was good" He grumbled.
Still there were still a few more very positive changes.
A. Saivas no longer needed to wear a diaper.
B. He could now eat solid food.
Those two points alone were enough to make him cry tears of joy.
"MY PANTS ARE CLEAN, MY PANTS ARE CLEAN, HALLELUJAH!"
Not only did this mean the uncomfortable feeling of pooping himself was finally over, he finally could comfortably look his mother in the eye.
'Thank you for your forgiveness of this unusual one' He made a small prayer to his mother.
One other amazing change was that it wasn't unusual for him to take an interest in books anymore!
His mother now read to him regularly and let him read by himself too! Not that she actually thought he could understand the words on the pages, she just thought he liked to look at the pictures in the children's books.
'I'll need to find books on magic at some point, but those might be a bit advanced for me at the moment'
Within 3 months he had a good handle on the new alphabet. This let him, albeit slowly, get through books on his own!
He was hardly a master, but he was adapting to this new language at a quick pace.
He still had to be careful how intently he looked at the books however.
One thing that hadn't changed was that Saivas still had no intention of being seen as a genius.
'Not again, never again...'
Luckily things were about to become much easier for him.
.
.
.
Saivas was about 2 and half when he and his parents sat down for dinner.
His mother had sat him down to enjoy this world's equivalent of chicken and rice. It wasn't extravagant, but she always made it in a way that was incredibly delicious to Saivas. Compared to the meager meals they usually ate, it was easily his favorite.
Stuart had just come in from his evening training. After looking at the table, he couldn't help but remark "Well well, what's the occasion darling?"
While it may not be a great meal by normal standards, to a family as poor as them, anything involving real meat was a rare sight. It was almost never served without reason.
As for what that reason was, Saivas had already known for the last few weeks.
'Maybe a couple more if you count noticing the "Attempts"' He groaned inwardly 'Seriously, my crib is RIGHT next to your bed, have you no shame?!'
Still, he knew almost immediately after they were successful.
It wasn't for nothing that he could sense the flow of mana after all. And a second mana fluctuation in his mother's abdominal area wasn't exactly something he could miss after spending every minute of every day with her.
Scarlett feigned a worried expression causing Stuart to feel uneasy for a moment, but after a few seconds she broke into a big grin.
"Oh it's nothing too much, but I found out today that Sai is going to be a big brother!"
Stuart blinked, after a moment of processing he finally broke into a big stupid grin rushed over to embrace his wife.
"YES, I TOLD you it wouldn't take long!" He started cackling like a maniac.
Saivas just inwardly groaned 'You only kept me up the last 2 weeks to make it happen'
Deciding that his father was far too happy after everything Saivas had endured, he figured he had what happened next coming.
In his best toddler impression, he walked up to his father and tugged at his sleeve. With big sparkling eyes, he looked up at his father and asked:
"Daddy, where do babies come from?"
Stuart immediately turned pale before stuttering
"Oh kiddo, you'll uh, find out when you're older" he said trying to turn his attention back to his wife.
Saivas wasn't letting him off that easy, so he started counting on his fingers like any toddler would. When he reached 10, he looked to his father and said:
"Ok, I'm older now, please tell me daddy!"
Stuart looked like he had been punched in the gut and looked to his wife for support.
Scarlett walked over to Saivas's chair and knelt next to him
"Um sweetie, babies come from the love between a man and a woman. When their love gets really big, they have a baby" she said with a sweet expression, clearly uncomfortable.
'Time for the knockout blow' He chuckled inwardly
"I love you lots and lots mommy! Does that mean it might be my baby?" He said with the most innocent, confused face he could muster
His father choked on his food and his mother nearly fell over.
After Saivas let his parents off the hook, he finally thought about what it might be like to be a big brother.
He was an only child in his past life, so he couldn't help but be excited about what it might be like.
'Should I be the cool big brother, the fun big brother, or the caring big brother? Can I do all 3? Either way, hopefully a new baby will take some pressure off me so I can finally start practicing magic'
That thought made him happy.
'Either way, whether their brilliant or an idiot, I'm going to make sure they always have family with their big brother' He thought resolutely.
.
.
.
Much to his delight, the constant supervision lessened as soon as his mother announced she was pregnant. At that point all their parent's attention went to preparing for the new child.
If he were a normal toddler, this might have bothered him, but standing in his play pen, his hands were trembling with excitement.
'My first time practicing magic, what should I do?'
The first thing that came to his mind was what he definitely would not do.
'Fire, lightning, Ice, light, and dark magic are obviously off the table, there's no subject for light magic and I don't need a mishap destroying the house' He thought to himself
After much consideration, he finally decided the first spell he'd try was the spell his mother used to dry their laundry.
'Well... here goes nothing'
Saivas closed his eyes and remembered the incantation and hand weaves his mother used. He'd seen it many times by now.
He had a strong suspicion he could cast without them, but for his first time he definitely did not want to take any chances.
He cleared his throat and began the incantation *"Wind, grace us with a warm pleasant breeze that soothes the mind and spirit"*
He weaved the proper signs and aimed to have the breeze roll gently past him.
As soon as the last sign was weaved, Saivas felt his mana being tugged out of him and mixing with the mana in the air around him. Shortly after, a warm gale brushed past his face and moved through his hair. A satisfied smile appeared on his face.
'Well, that was easy' He thought with a bit of smugness 'Now, let's see if my theories are real, or just the hopes of a child'
Theoretically it should be possible to do what he was about to try, but from what he could tell there was no previous example of anyone achieving it.
Then again, they didn't have the knowledge he had. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time he did something "Impossible".
He started by closing his eyes and concentrating.
Beginning to feel the flow of his mana and the mana of the world around him, he remembered the feeling of the spell he just cast. Using that as a guide, he let his mana intermingle with the mana of the world around him.
Unsurprisingly, he noticed that while his control over his mana wasn't nearly as strong as it was within his body, he still had some semblance of control over it.
'That part is the easy part, here comes the tricky part'
With a thought, Saivas began to move his mana. Aiming to create a current in the air around him.
The results were unexpected to say the least.
While he had intended to create a small gale, what he didn't realize was that a large part of the mana he used while utilizing an incantation was used for control and direction.
Since that was not necessary for what he was doing, the resulting wind was fueled by an excess of mana.
The aftermath was strong enough to send him flying several feet.
Obviously this ended with him flat on his ass.
His parents came running when they heard a loud thud, but all they saw when they arrived was their son laying on the floor with a stupid grin on his face.
'It really is possible!' He thought as he wondered how many more of his theories he would be able to make a reality.
After nearly 2 years of agonizing slow progress, he had finally taken a huge step into the world of magic!