"Kael! Kael! Where are you?" my mother called out.
I panicked. I didn't want her to see the book I was reading—she might get suspicious. I quickly tried to put it back in its place, but I was too short. I had barely managed to grab it in the first place, so returning it was almost impossible.
Well... I guess she'll see it. There's no way to hide it now.
But to my surprise, when my mother walked in, she wasn't suspicious at all. In fact, she seemed happy that I was reading about the world.
"It's time to sleep now, Kael. Come on," she said gently.
---
The next day, when I woke up, I saw my father—Auron Ashveil. He's a skilled swordsman. Maybe I should try to learn the sword styles of this world. It shouldn't be hard for me; after all, I was the best martial artist in my past life. Even the king had acknowledged me and made me Commander-in-Chief.
I went to my father and asked if he would teach me swordsmanship. He agreed, and I picked it up quickly—much faster than he expected. He was amazed by how fast I was learning, but for me, it wasn't difficult at all.
Excited, he called my mother to show her my progress.
"Mira Cime, I have a surprise for you!"
That… turned out to be a bad idea.
She scolded him immediately. "How could you teach a four-year-old swordsmanship?" she snapped. Then she turned to me, gentler but firm.
"You won't be training with a sword until you're at least six or seven years old. Understand, mister?"
I nodded… but that wasn't my plan.
---
The next day, I tried to continue training with my father, but my mother was watching me constantly.
So, I shifted my focus.
I decided to learn more about mana.
I picked up another book about magic and mana. It said I needed to concentrate to gather mana, and to become a mage, I had to form something called "Mana Flow." Gathering mana was the first step.
Well, I'll try it...
As I concentrated, I started to see strange colors swirling around me.
Is this mana? I wondered. I'll try to collect it for now.
---
One year later
It's been a whole year since I started meditating and collecting mana. Nothing major happened at first, and I still couldn't train with a sword—Mother never let me out of her sight.
But my constant meditation made my path to magic much easier.
Then one day, while I was gathering mana as usual, something changed. I suddenly felt cold, and when I opened my eyes—
Everything had frozen.
I had used ice magic for the first time. Two trees and a fence had been cut down by sharp shards of ice. My parents rushed outside, alarmed by the noise.
They stared in shock at the broken trees and shattered ice.
They asked if I had done it. I tried to deny it, but the evidence on the ground said otherwise.
They were stunned—most children awaken their magic between the ages of 10 to 15. I had done it at five.
Despite the shock, they were also happy.
"We should celebrate your first time using magic!" my mother said with joy.
And we did.
After that day, my mother began teaching me more spells. I learned them, though not as quickly as I had picked up the sword.
That made my father smile and say, "You should train with the sword too. You've got talent for it."
---
Time passed. I was mastering my mana and magic. I learned how to control mana and enhance my body—like using it on my feet to move faster.
I also learned new types of magic: fire and water. To my surprise, I had affinity with both light and dark elements—extremely rare, especially having both. Some say that kind of dual affinity only appears once in several decades, or even centuries.
One day, my father quietly came to me and handed me a wooden sword.
"It's time to train with swords," he whispered. "Just don't tell your mom, or we'll both get in trouble."
So we trained in the mornings before Mom would wake up. He taught me stances, styles, and the basics. I learned quickly—my past life helped a lot. My father often said he had never seen a child pick up swordsmanship that fast. He even joked that it was like I already knew what he was about to teach.
---
One day, I was bored and decided to explore the forest.
I walked for about two hours… and got lost.
I tried to retrace my steps, but nothing looked familiar. As I wandered deeper into the woods, I spotted people in the distance. Hoping they could help, I got closer—but cautiously. I decided to spy on them first.
That's when I realized they were slavers.
They had two young captives: an elf girl with silver hair and a beastkin boy with black hair. They looked around my age.
I was furious. I had to help them.
I walked up to the slavers and pretended to be lost. They laughed and whispered to each other about selling me too.
One of them came toward me—unlucky for him. I knew magic, and I had my wooden sword.
I summoned large ice shards and took him down. The others, surprised to see a child using magic, got excited about how valuable I'd be. They all charged at me, except for their leader.
I fought and defeated them with some effort. But when I turned to face the leader, something went wrong—my body couldn't keep up. My mind remembered the moves, but this child body didn't respond fast enough.
He came at me, blade raised.
I don't want to die... not before I save those kids!
Suddenly, a dark shield appeared between us—a shadow shield. It gave me just enough time to reposition and counterattack.
Without even realizing it, I used another spell. Black, fire-like shadows engulfed the leader, and I defeated him.
I ran to the cage and freed the children. At first, they were scared of me, but I reassured them.
"You're safe now. Let's get out of here."
They wanted to go home, but they didn't know where home was. And they were scared of going alone—they could get caught again.
So I decided to take them with me.
There was just one problem.
I was still lost.