It's been three years.
Excitement roused me at the first bell. Today was the 4th of Summer—my birthday! It had been exactly four years since I was summoned on the first Shaniday of the summer. My new life had vacillated between a whirlwind of activity and maddening boredom. Every day, I reminded myself that each step brought me closer to reclaiming a more adult life. Yet, saying 'wabbit' instead of 'rabbit' still made me cringe.
Fazio rolled over, trying to snatch a few more minutes of sleep. Normally, I would have roused him with my usual jumping antics, but today, I decided to be kind and let him sleep in. Mona had stopped coming to get me ready, a small victory since I could now dress myself in simple clothes. If I needed help, Fazio was always there.
"Status." The semi-transparent screen appeared before me, a familiar sight by now.
Name: Damiano Calo (Callahan O'Shea)
Title: None
Race: Human
Age: 4
Class: Magician
Level: 1
EXP: 140/200
HP: 65/65
MP: 110/110
SP: 13/13
Strength: 1
Agility: 5
Fortitude: 13
Intelligence: 6
Wisdom: 2
Charisma: 11 (+32)
Unspent points: 0
Status: Awake. Alert.
Overall, I was pleased with my progress. I could have pushed for exponential growth through self-torture, but that wasn't the life I sought. Torture, after all, is antithetical to happiness. I continued to spar with Fazio at night when all the adults were asleep, playing "daggers," which was really just basic training.
Thanks to charming, sparring, and absorbing mana, I had gained additional points in fortitude, charisma, and agility. However, intelligence and wisdom remained elusive, and I hadn't yet figured out how to improve them. My quest reward points had gone into fortitude and intelligence, and I had intentionally neglected strength, lacking the resources to pursue it further. Weights weren't an option, nor could I conjure enough material to make my own.
"Skills."
Basic Active Mana Absorption: Rank 2
Magic Basics: Rank 10
Basic Mana Sense: Rank 10
Candle Flame: Rank 1
Dagger Basics: Rank 3
Basic Dodge: Rank 3
Basic Poison Resistance: Rank 1
In the dim predawn light, I glared at the skills screen with a mix of pride and frustration. My Magic Basics and Basic Mana Sense were capped at rank ten, and I had reached this ceiling ages ago. I needed something external—like a teacher—to push beyond it. That's why today was crucial. Today, we would "discover" my abilities. If I knew my mother as well as I thought I did, she would immediately seek out a magical teacher to train me. I could already picture her scheming, cackling face. Conveniently, she would be visiting the island villa today.
Fazio's gentle snores filled the room, shaking me out of my reverie. I closed the system windows with a thought and silently crawled out of bed. After selecting suitable clothes from the dresser, I clumsily dressed myself. The struggle was half-pretend, half-real. My small hands, still losing their baby fat, remained clumsy at certain tasks. Once dressed in appropriate lounge attire, I crept out of the room.
Descending the stairs to the kitchen, I found Connor, the large chef, already preparing breakfast. He was an older man, possibly in his fifties, with light skin and short red hair. His tall, broad frame made the kitchen feel even smaller.
"Connor, is breakfast ready?" I asked.
He spun around, surprised to see me. "Young master! Why are you up so early?" I shrugged, noticing a pile of rolls and reaching for one. He blocked my hand with his. "Breakfast will be at second bell, as usual."
"But Connor! I'm hungry!" I complained, putting on my cutest face and whiniest voice. Connor hesitated, clearly torn, before finally giving in. He picked up one roll, which looked comically tiny in his massive hand, split it in half, and handed one piece to me.
"This is just to hold you until second bell," he whispered. He quickly devoured his half in one bite.
"Thanks!" I grinned.
Connor grunted, "Don't tell anyone!" Just then, Mona entered the kitchen.
"Don't tell anyone what?" she asked, eyeing the two of us.
"Nothing!" I said quickly, dashing out of the kitchen and leaving Connor to deal with her.
"Young master!" Mona called after me, but I was already gone.
Outside, I sprinted across the front yard of the villa, clutching my half of the roll. My destination was my favorite spot—about fifty feet from the front door, where the cliff overlooked the town of Sampagnanoli. Perched at the cliff's edge was a large boulder, which I climbed to silently enjoy the view. The freshly baked roll was soft, warm, and emitted a delicious, yeasty aroma. In my small hands, it was a large piece of bread. I nibbled on it as I watched the sun rise over the ocean.
It was hard to believe that just four years ago, I was an engineer on the Union Star Ship Bellerophon. The knowledge of advanced technology I possessed was now mostly useless. For example, laser rifles needed nanometer-precise machining of elements not found in nature. The elements were synthesized in moon-sized particle colliders that built the element one proton or neutron at a time. All I had to rely on was everything I remembered from my Ancient Tech 101 class. For the things I didn't, it would be trial and error.
Frustration gnawed at me as I tried to reconcile magic with the physics I once knew. I held up my palm in the ocean breeze, concentrating. I gathered a clump of mana into a concentrated ball, then applied matter mana, finalizing the spell with the image of a lump of iron. A small piece of metal materialized a centimeter above my palm before falling into my hand.
It was lumpy, imperfect. Like my previous attempts, it would begin rusting almost immediately in the island's humid climate. I had tried to add chromium and other elements to make a crude version of stainless steel, but I was unsuccessful. Even attempting a specific shape caused the spell to fail. I could conjure simple matter at will, but more complex alterations required additional elements or a deeper understanding of magic.
A voice interrupted my thoughts, "I knew you'd be here!"