3 Chapter 3: KYU

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Arthur Leywin:

I was sitting on a stone in the forest just outside the village, letting the mana from my core seep and fuse into my muscles and bones. It's a slow process that took me three years to complete, but it will be necessary for my future.

How will my mana core level equate to a falna level? Still, with the assimilation process almost complete, I should be able to compete with a veteran level 1 adventurer and pull a good fight against a veteran level 2.

Falna is the grace given by Gods and Goddesses to their Familia members. Therefore, adventurers and supporters can gather excelia to raise their status and grow stronger. That is an easy way to get strong, but the problem is that if something happens to the god, you become a normal person again. The god could not update your status or lock the falna, so I want to get stronger on my own first to have a backup if something like that happens.

But back to the assimilation, I'm almost complete, and I only need to send a large amount of mana into my core. The problem is that I don't have anyone to do it for me, so I came up with a stupid idea. By focusing the surrounding mana in the air around me, augmenting myself with some of it, and forcing it into my core.

That leads to this moment, focusing on the mana in the air, I start slowly pulling it towards me. Being an augmenter, not a conjurer, this was a complicated process with my current core level, but after a while, I had enough mana around myself, so I pushed it into my core.

"GRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"

I yelled in pain as my whole body was in pain. It was like my body was filled with magma. This continued for the next few seconds and disappeared as fast as it appeared. My body was covered in sweat, and my eyes felt heavy. Then, before I could even do anything, everything went black.

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I woke up with a slight pain, probably from the stone I passed out on. Looking at the sky, I could tell a few hours had passed, so I pushed myself onto my legs and went home so grandpa would not worry about me, and that was when it hit me.

"SYLVIE!"

I started running home, remembering the egg on my bedside table and what should happen now after the first phase of my Beast Will activated. Without even thinking, I augmented my body and ran home.

Without slowing down I entered the house and ran to my room, not bothering about the surprised look grandpa had when he saw an ordinary boy without a blessing run at such a high speed. But when I saw the colorful egg in front of me, I stopped. The cracks started to get bigger, and before I could do anything else I could see her looking at me.

"KYU?"

The little dragon said with a confused look before jumping from the table and biting me on my arm. A mark burned itself on my arm while Sylvie looked at me with a smile that could rival my sisters.

"KYU!"

'mama!'

I knew she bonded with me, and we could talk in our minds, but still, it was a weird feeling.

"KYU!"

'mama!'

'no no no no I'm a boy call me papa.'

"KYU?"

'papa?'

'Yes, papa, and your name is Sylvie'

"KYU!"

'SYEEVY!'

After hearing her name, she started to jump around on my bed while I looked at her with a smile before a voice snapped me out.

"Arthur?"

I looked to my side and saw grandpa watching Sylvie and me, probably still confused, and we just looked at each other without saying anything. Thankfully the silence was broken when my sister stuck her head through the door and saw Sylvie, and her eyes started to sparkle with stars.

"What is this? It's so cute!"

She went to look at Sylvie, and they began to look at each other Bella with excitement and Sylvie with confusion.

"This is Sylvie. She just hatched from the egg say hi Sylv."

"KYU!"

'Hi!'

Bella started to pet Sylvie on the head, which Sylvie seemed to enjoy, but when I looked at grandpa, he seemed to want to talk to me about something.

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I was sitting at the table with grandpa on the other side. He looked at me for a while and then said.

"Arthur, listen, ever since you were little, I knew you were special, and for the past four years, I could feel something different about you, but today when you returned home, you ran with speed comparable to a veteran level one adventurer."

After he said it, I started thinking of the best way to explain it. Running while augmenting my body maybe wasn't the best idea but when I remembered Sylvie I didn't think about anything and just run. So I decided to tell him about my magic and how I found Sylvie.

"It is something I just knew ever scene I was born. It's like ever since I was born I had the knowledge on how to do some things like when I hold the sword, it is like I know how to use it. But, at the same time, it is the first time I have held the sword, and it is similar to magic. So during the past years, I have been training."

He looked at me for a while, probably thinking about what I said, and then answered.

"I see. But what about the egg? I know it is something special you ran straight to it as if you knew it would hatch today."

I was hoping he would not ask about Sylvie because it would be bad if I said that a ROB just gave me the egg of a dragon that Arthur Leywin should get from what is a deity in that world, so I just told the truth.

"After training one day with my magic, it just appeared in front of me."

Grampa seemed to think about it for a while and didn't ask more questions. He probably knew I didn't tell him all the details, but it seemed he didn't want to pressure me to tell him about it.

"Hmm... Could you show me the magic?"

I would show this magic in the dungeon so it would not hurt me if grandpa knew about it, so I placed my hand in front of me and created some fire, and changing the concentration of mana, the flame turned blue. It took a lot from me at my current stage, but I wanted to show off.

I looked at the blue flame and then at grampa, but for some reason, he seemed surprised and then turned to a serious look. Then I remembered how the magic system works in this world. There are two types of magic; congenital magic, which is based on one's own ability and race, and acquired magic, which is based on the falna given by the Gods and Goddesses. Most spells require a specific chant to activate, except for no chant magic like Firebolt, and the longer the chant, the stronger the magic is. So for me, to create such an intense flame without any chant isn't normal, especially for someone without a blessing.

"Arthur, I haven't seen any adventurers with magic like yours during my days. When you master it, you will probably be the strongest fire mage in Genkai."

I thought about it and then showed grandpa some more of my magic. Unfortunately, I haven't unlocked the elements' deviant forms, but I could still show off.

"Grampa, I'm not only limited to fire."

After saying that, I created wind and water on my left hand while creating fire and earth on my right hand. Grandpa just looked at the four elements floating around my hands and laughed.

"Hahaha, for all the years in this world, there seem to be so many mysteries left."

I could understand grandpas reaction in this world. People naturally have between one to three slots for magic and can typically only learn one magic per slot. However, most people tend never to have any magic appear. Filling one's first magic slot is somewhat hard to achieve, while filling the second one is harder, and the third one is even harder to fill than the second. In rare cases, a third magic is not obtained, no matter what.

It is also possible to use magic without a falna, though it requires the user to undergo training, and magic used without a falna is weak compared to magic used with one. So for a boy to use such magic is unbelievable even if I just displayed the elements, and let's not talk about when I unlock the deviants.

"Listen here, Arthur. Many gods would go to war to have someone with magic like yours. You could become the strongest falna-less mortal, but you won't win against first-class adventurers especially if a god sends a whole familia after you. So what will you do now?"

Grampa spoke in a serious tone, which does not often happen, considering he always tries to act like the funny grandpa, so I knew how serious this topic was.

After thinking for a while, I decided what I needed to do. I, of course, wanted to stay and watch Bella grow up and then go on an adventure together, but I needed to be strong. When I become a white-core mage, I will be one of the strongest mortals in this world, and Sylvie needs to be stronger. To do that, she needs to get magic stones, and the best way to get them is in the dungeon.

"I need to be stronger. Strong enough to protect everyone I care about. I'm no hero that would save every single person, but I'm gonna do everything to protect the people I care about."

I paused for a while and looked grandpa in the eyes.

"I've decided to become an adventurer."