I was woken up by the loud steps coming towards me. Usually, the people around me tried to stay quiet while I slept. I opened my eyes slowly and looked at the person coming to wake me up. It was one of the maids, Felicia.
"Hello, young master, it's dinnertime. I'll bring you down okay?"
Felicia smiled and lifted me with little effort and started down to the dining room. I rubbed my eyes awake and got my bearings. My stomach was grumbling for something to fill it and it was getting painful.
It was a feeling I was used to, yet had not experienced in a long time. In my previous life, I had been the middle child of a single mother. I had an older brother and a younger sister. My father had died while I was still a baby, so I didn't have many, if any at all, memories of him.
My mother tried her hardest and worked long hours to make sure that we all were fed and educated. However, this became even harder to do after my grandmother died. After my father's death, my grandmother moved in to take care of us children while my mother worked.
But with the death of my grandmother when I was 7, things started getting a lot harder. My mother had to find someone to care for us while she worked, and not only that; she had to work even longer to afford the nanny.
With all the long hours my mother worked, it would be hours at a time in between meals, and even then often the meals would be meager portions and we would order food. We all got used to fighting hunger and conquering the pain. By age 10, hunger no longer bothered me to the point, that I often didn't eat, even if there was food.
We arrived at the dining room and I sat next to my mother's place in my high chair. John and Mary were already eating and my mother was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey Alex, Mommy's a bit sick right now so she's in the bathroom. She'll be here soon, so start eating." John addressed me.
This was getting worrying. My mother, Katherine was not recovering well. It had already been around 2 weeks since this started. I would try to help her more, but before that I was hungry and some food had just been placed before me. It was a soup with bits of finely diced vegetables and meat.
A minute later, my mother came in looking sickly, but strangely happy for some reason. We all ate and my parents talked about the news and current events. After we were all done eating, my mother spoke out.
"I have an important announcement to tell you all."
Surprise flashed across John and Mary's faces as their heads raced through possibilities.
"What is it, Kathy?" My father spoke out.
"I'm pregnant, again." My mother couldn't help but let out her excitement and joy in her words.
"That's just wonderful, darling." Mary was the first to speak. "But, you should know that this baby probably won't be as easy to deal with as Alex." After a long pause of my father and I processing the bombshell dropped on us, my father spoke out.
"Well, that's wonderful news. Alex will be having a sibling. How long have you known?"
"Just today. Know how sick I've been recently? That was just because of the pregnancy. I got checked today and the doctor says that I have probably been pregnant for around 2 months now. It's due sometime in June."
I only then processed all the information. I would have a sibling! I was going to be an older brother. That thought scared me. Would I be a good role model? Could I live up to my siblings and parent's expectations? Would they like me?
These were all the questions racing through my head. 'Calm down, take a deep breath.' I repeated to myself. I would have to do my best and try. There was nothing I could do now. I calmed down and fixed my behavior to that of a baby.
"Mommy, will I be having a baby sister or brother?" I asked innocently.
"Yes, Alex, you will be getting a baby sibling in a couple of months. Are you excited?" responded Katherine.
"Yeah! I'm super excited! I can't wait to play with my sibling." I beamed. I had practically mastered how to respond as a baby by this point.
"Have you thought of a name yet?" interjected Mary.
"No, not yet. We don't even know if it is a boy or girl yet mother. I have some ideas, but will have time to decide later."
After that, my mother was bombarded with more questions until bedtime, when at last we all retired for the night. It had been a long day, and everyone was tired. Katherine was especially tired from being sick all day.
This had also happened to her during her pregnancy with me. For me, the sickness stopped and got better after the 2nd month, so it would be better starting now. The reason for the sickness was that the baby's body rejected the high intensity of mana inside mages' bodies, so she would have to seal off her mana during the pregnancy, and she could only completely seal off her mana after weeks of being pregnant.
Sealing off mana completely and retracting it within you were completely different things, with the former being much more difficult and obviously, time-consuming. I would also try experimenting with that in the future. The future was the keyword there, I was too excited to try new magic to be able to seal it off now.
It was on that thought that my brain finally shut off and I went into deep sleep.
-----
It was the next day, and I was rejuvenated from a long night's sleep, and full of energy. I would try to go off by myself again today. The last time I had managed to escape my babysitter unknowingly, but today I would do it on purpose. There was still a lot more magic I wanted to test out and use.
I started my day, as usual, careful not to give anything away. When I went outside, I did my usual running, except that this time, I first completed my daily task, then used mana-enhanced running to quickly escape from the sight of my nanny.
I knew I would have at the very least 10 minutes before the maid realized I was gone, and after that another 40 minutes before they started worrying and sent out a search crew. I had around an hour before I would have to return.
I ran to the clearing I found yesterday to start practicing my magic. This time I started with all my magic elements. I ran through my skill list but skipped my lightning skill. It was too powerful and noticeable. Not only that, the lightning magic had started at level 2.
It should be known that at every level, the power increases by a power of 10. That meant that even the weakest tier 2 spell was at least 10 times stronger than the strongest tier 1 spell.
Right now I could only cast one spell at a time, but I hoped to change that with more practice. Each spell required immense concentration to execute so at the moment it was hopeless to cast two spells at once. I could stack spells, but not create two at the same time.
I had once stacked neutral and light body, but I didn't do it again since the cost far outweighed the benefits. Throughout the hour I gained proficiency in my spells and explored how mana acted to make the magic happen.
From my observations, I saw that mana acted like a magnet, an energy source, a physical force, or a repulsor depending on the magic I was using. I didn't know how the mana knew what to do, but there was nothing I could do to find out now. I only had my limited knowledge to go off of and the books I had read on mana were all beginner books, not advanced theory. It looked like I had my work cut out for me.