Magic

I began to focus on both my soul and body as I'd done all those months ago. I first wanted to be able to control this focus with ease so I first practiced maintaining the feeling for five consecutive minutes. This had taken a bit less than an hour for me to accomplish but I couldn't allow myself to be disappointed. If I was able to cultivate the surrounding mana here then my progress rate would increase exponentially.

I took a few deep breaths before focusing. The difficulty of maintaining this focus had gone from the equivalent of balancing on a picket fence during an earthquake to just balancing on a picket fence. Once I felt stable in this position, I began to reach out to the surrounding mana. In my soul space, there had been more empty space than mana but here, it was inverse. This space was so filled with mana that it was almost overwhelming.

I decided that I'd first isolate the mana immediately surrounding me to cultivate with. Instead of my usually strategy of sucking all the mana from my surroundings, I imagined that my body was surrounded by a large bubble and focused solely on the mana in that sphere.

Within thirty seconds, I'd drained the small sphere around me of all mana which completely replenished my energy and largely alleviated the strain on my mind from the earlier practice. But after those seconds, I immediately stopped cultivating and stared at the door to my room.

Five minutes passed.

Ten minutes passed.

After fifteen minutes had passed I sighed heavily before letting out a smile. "It worked!" I decided that I'd cultivate for a few more hours tonight before sleeping but when I refocused I noticed something strange. Where once there had been a clear gap in the surrounding mana from my cultivating, there was now barely a spot that wasn't filled. "Where's all this mana coming from?! To be able to replenish mana that quickly, the source must be virtually omnipotent!" Suppressing my fear, I began cultivating.

—

In the morning, I decided to inspect the fruits of my labour. I quickly entered my soul space to be greeted by a very satisfying sight. My core was now almost entirely the next shade of red. If I cultivated again tonight the same as I'd just done, I'd break through to the next level with ease. Maybe I'd even attempt my first spell after this breakthrough. "Hehe"

—

After waking up, Giselle had come to Charlie's room to assist with his morning routine. She had entered the room to see Charlie in the bathroom with the door open, reaching his hands into the water basin that was above his head. After wetting his hands, Charlie washed his face and then dried himself with a towel. Any one year old would've had immense difficulty with such a feat, if not for height then dexterity. "Just how fast did this boy grow?" thought Giselle.

—

I'd finished relieving myself and washing my face and hands when I noticed that Giselle was in the room. She was standing by the door, looking in my direction. "Hi Giselle" I said in my high voice to get her attention. When she heard my voice she looked shaken but quickly came back and said "Good morning." She then proceeded to gather some clothes for me from the dresser.

I had been personally uncomfortable with being clothed so I asked Giselle if I could dress myself since I was now capable. She hesitated before hesitantly agreeing. She stepped out of the room and closed the door so I quickly dressed and stepped out to see her waiting. I could very clearly see her examining my outfit for fault but I'd put it on correctly so she then asked me to follow her to the dining room for breakfast.

When I stepped into the dining room, I saw only my mother at the table. She glanced over to me and Giselle as we entered the room with a smile. Once Giselle had placed me in my seat, my mother informed me about my father's whereabouts. "Your father's been very busy ever since he came back. He'll be out all day today so don't expect to see him until dinner." I was disappointed but I understood that he oversaw virtually all the settlements in the spirit lands as well as the trade between them and other parties. I nodded to my mother with a smile to show that I understood before starting on my breakfast.

At the end, my mother remembered something else. "You'll be having your first tutoring lessons today Charlie. First with Mr.Adler, then with Mr.Giles."

I nodded at this as well with a different smile. I'd finally be able to learn more about this world!

—

After breakfast, Giselle escorted Charlie to a room on the first floor of the right wing that resembled a classroom. There were two desks, one for the teacher and one for the student as well as a blackboard and a nearly filled bookcase. Mr.Adler was sweating slightly and looked excited as Charlie entered the room. Charlie was repelled by the sight, he hoped Mr.Adler wouldn't turn out to be some weirdo.

—

Nearly an hour into the lesson with Mr.Adler, Charlie gave up. "He hasn't taught me anything! All he's done is spout about some god and preach virtues."

As soon as Charlie had sat down at his desk, Mr.Adler began to introduce Charlie to his first religion in this world. The religion was monotheistic and preached good virtues like honesty and kindness but Charlie got the feeling that these were just a front. Charlie had innocently asked "Are there any other religions that people follow?" which annoyed Mr.Adler. "There are no other religions, just a bunch of mongrels worshipping their false gods. I won't teach you about such savage ideals" he spat.

Charlie was shocked. On the ship, Mr.Adler had maintained an image of scholarly arrogance but Charlie had still believed him to be a good teacher.

After having theology shoved down his throat for a few hours, Mr.Adler dismissed Charlie with a satisfied smile on his face. This kind of brainwashing from a young age would've made zealots out of any child but Charlie was no child so he decided to simply wait it out until Mr.Adler moved on from this religion and taught something more relevant.

—

Charlie had finished having lunch with his mother and was now being escorted by Giselle to the back garden. On the edge of the manicured garden before the forest, stood Mr.Giles. He wore a simple outfit, a tunic and pants with a sword strapped to his side and a bow over his back with a quiver of arrows.

Giselle nodded to Mr.Giles before returning to the house, leaving me behind. I looked up to Mr.Giles to see him looking back at me. He then turned to the forest and started walking so I followed him. He was walking very slowly so I knew that he'd intended for me to follow but he hadn't said a word until almost ten minutes of walking had passed. "I'm going to hunt some small game and teach you how to skin them, your job for now is to remain quiet."

I sighed internally, both my teachers weren't very good. Mr.Adler was a fervent zealot and Mr.Giles wasn't teaching me anything. These sessions would get very boring but I suppose there wasn't much that Mr.Giles could teach at this point since I was so young. I'd be furious with Mr.Adler for not starting to teach me how to read and write if I wasn't already at a beginners level from reading along as my parents read to me.

I continued to follow Mr.Giles through the woods as he shot some squirrels, birds and other small game. This whole time I'd really just been looking around the forest while carrying whatever he shot with his bow. Thick white trunks soared out of the ground into the sky, surrounded by fallen leaves, moss and dirt. The canopy up above had become denser as we went farther, slowly darkening our surroundings.

After an hour, Mr.Giles stated that "This is enough, we can go back now." And then we did just that.

Upon returning, Mr.Giles led me to the area surrounding a small shed on the border of the woods. The shed had a gabled roof and a single door with no windows. Mr.Giles led me to a table outside the shed before lifting me up onto it. I'd have been too short to see from the ground. He then took the game from earlier and skinned a few with a dagger that he'd had on his belt. After doing this, he gave me the dagger and gestures to the remaining game. Did he really expect a baby to be able to skin animals after watching it done a few times?!

But I wasn't one to back down, I'd been watching closely to get as much as I could out of this so I knew the basics even though he hadn't said anything. I grabbed a squirrel from in front of me and began to skin it slowly; I didn't want to risk cutting my hand with a bloody knife. It took me around three times as long to finish but I was satisfied.

I turned to Mr.Giles to see him give me a nod before saying, "Finish the rest." I was floored. He's really going to make a child do all this work?! "Asshole" I muttered under my breath. Mr.Giles had turned to move the skinned carcasses into the shed but I thought I heard him chuckle.

—

After skinning half a dozen more animals, I at least felt that I had improved my speed but that was all. My hands were gross and bloody as well as parts of my clothes. If someone didn't know better, I'd be mistaken for an infant serial killer.

Since my time was up with Mr.Giles, he came back from the shed to dismiss me. When he looked at me I could see him trying to hide a smile, the bastard. Despite his amusement with my appearance he still said, "Good job today".

When Giselle came to pick me up, she was horrified and rushed me to my bath to clean up before dinner. I didn't struggle as she removed my bloody clothes and put me in the tub which quickly turned red. I'd never felt so unclean so I made the process go as quick as it could and got out before I contracted a disease. I dried myself off and took some clothes from Giselle to dress myself. I was clean!

—

I was taken down for dinner afterwards but my father still wasn't there. I knew he cared for me but it still stung a little. My mother apologized on his behalf but she said that the workload would be heavy for a while since he'd been gone for a week. I smiled to ease my mother's worry before eating dinner.

—

After I returned to my room and got ready for bed, I wasted no time. I barely learned anything today but if I managed to do magic now then I wouldn't even care. I cultivated for a couple hours before I felt the familiar sensation of my cultivation speed increasing suddenly. I checked my core to confirm that it'd solidified into the next stage which was a light maroon tone.

The excitement was building in my body. I was seated on my bed in a cross legged position, considering what magic I should try first. Definitely not fire since my surroundings were quite combustible. I couldn't do earth either since I was inside and air was a little boring so I chose water. I hopped out of bed, making two soft thumps as my feet hit the ground. Then, I went to the bathroom as fast as I could to look up at the water basin.

I'd thought about doing this but I didn't really know how to start. To simplify, I'd be using mana to move water but I also had to isolate my mana use so as not to alert anyone who could sense it. I started to reach out to the mana around me before imagining a bubble around me as a guideline to stay within. Without any kind of prompt I just decided that I'd visualize the water moving. Nothing happened. Maybe I should move the mana around the water? I visualized what I was planning to do but I'd only ever moved mana by absorbing it; I didn't know how to move it in other directions so on a whim I moved my hand through the air while focusing on the water and got splashed in the face.