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[ 6 ] Magic
🕑 Added 2024-11-09 19:56:49 +0000 UTCOkay, let’s see here, Kal mused, sitting atop the living room sofa. His third birthday had come and gone without another unfortunate event like at his second, and in that time, he had been training his magic every moment he got.
For months after his second birthday, it felt like Daedrik’s eyes followed him everywhere, but he seemed to have relaxed recently—probably because Kal had kept his magic use discrete.
Standing up, he turned and extended his right hand out through the open window behind the couch.
Okay, this is my time to shine. Kal had been practicing control of his mana and spell forming repetitively for months now and couldn’t hold back anymore. He needed to see with his own eyes how much power he could put into a spell now.
Turning his mana into a ball of condensed air barely took any thought now, and Kal formed his spell in scarcely a second.
Aimed at the timber clothing line across the yard, he shot the ball of wind from his palm.
His eyes widened immediately as he realized how much energy he had funneled into his spell. He had gotten much better, and the spell had little mana waste.
Bloodline Trait Unlocked: Impatient -3 Charisma | Faster Mana Channeling
Wind Punch slammed into the clothing hanger with a loud crash that shot splinters out across the yard.
“M-magic?” Exclaimed Yandi as she spotted her son perched beside the window.
“Huh?” Kal gasped and turned to his slack-jawed mother. A creaking groan sounded from the window, and Kal’s expression twisted into a grimace as he turned back toward the window. The timber clothing line hung on a slant, one of its timber legs a shattered mess of broken and splintered wood, looking like someone had taken a bat to it—repeatedly.
“Sorry, Mom.”
“H-how is that possible?” She wiped her brow and stumbled.
“Mom?”
Yandi’s eyes fluttered shut, and she began to fall.
Shit, Mom!
In a flash, Kal sent the remnants of his mana shooting in another Wind Punch between the couch and the wall, jettisoning the couch toward his mom just in time to catch her as she fainted.
“What is going on out–” Daedrik said, his breath catching in his throat at the sight of Kal panting on one side of the couch while Yandi lay unconscious on the other. “What happened?” he added, dashing toward Yandi and hovering his hand above her nose.
“She fainted.”
“She’s breathing, thank goodness. What did you do?” Daedrik growled, turning to Kal with a scowl.
“Well, she kinda…”
“Just tell me,” Daedrik said, his hand beginning to glow as he hovered it an inch from Yandi’s forehead.
“She saw me cast a spell,” Kal shrugged. “I swear, that’s it.”
“That's it? Are you serious, Kal? Do you remember what I told you?”
“Honey?” Yandi murmured as her lids lazily fluttered open.
“My love,” Daedrik turned back to Yandi and leaned in for a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“Yeah, just a little dizzy. Where’s Kal?”
“He’s right here,” Daedrik turned and narrowed his gaze on Kal.
“Hey, Mom,” Kal said, waving as he stepped into view.
“I saw the strangest thing… wait,” her brow furrowed, and she shook her head. “Was I? No, I—I saw—”
“It’s fine, my love. Tell us later,” Daedrik patted her hair. “You need to rest. Let’s get you to bed.”
“Okay, honey,” Yandi nodded. “Are you good to look after Kal for a little bit?”
“I’ll be fine,” Daedrik said, glaring at Kal as he helped her up and to the bedroom.
***
Kal lay on his bed, throwing a ball toward the ceiling. His father would no doubt be pissed, but there wasn’t much he could do about it now. Besides, he caught his mom anyway. It's not like he let her hit the ground.
Sighing, he thought back to the Bloodline Trait he had unlocked in the middle of the chaos.
Damn, so much for all my charisma. But that is interesting. I can gain negative Bloodline Traits. Then again, it’s not really negative. Faster mana channeling should be pretty useful, depending on how it works.
“Kal.”
He sat up at the sound of his father’s voice.
“I wasn’t joking about what I said. I know it was just your mother, but she could have been seriously hurt. But what’s worse, I’m not sure I can trust you to follow my instructions. People won’t understand a child who hasn’t even reached their fourth birthday casting spells. Remember that Archmage I told you about? He was the greatest prodigy ever recorded in all of Lyssia, and he cast his first spell at age six.”
“I understand,” Kal said.
“Most people won’t even believe you’re human; I’m not even sure I do. Just take it easy, okay?” Daedrik rubbed at his temples. “You have given me no choice—I’ll have to explain to your mother what she saw when she’s feeling better. But don’t let it get to your head. I’ve warned you. I’m not doing all this just for me and your mother. You might not realize it, but this is for your own benefit. Kal, listen, you might think you’re strong, but it wouldn’t take even the flick of a finger for a government mage to subdue you, do you understand?”
“I do,” Kal nodded.
“Good. Trust me. Neither of us wants to bring that down on our family. For all of our sakes, take this seriously, and stop messing around,” Daedrik said, slowly closing the door.
Maybe I should be more careful. He seems genuinely freaked out by the thought of the government finding out about me.
***
Even though his mother knew he could cast magic, Kal kept his use of it on the down low after making her faint. Not that he let it get in the way of his training.
His father swung between berating lectures and oddly thoughtful reassurance. As with the disaster that was his second birthday, Daedrik’s antics calmed over the following months.
Yandi, on the other hand, pretended like nothing had happened and went straight back to treating Kal like her precious little boy who needed protection.
But from then on, he was extra cautious when taking excursions into town with his mom. From that day on, Kal went above and beyond what was asked, putting all his energy into restraining his core when out of the house.
Thankfully, this was becoming easier. Kal had been reading about mana and core hiding. There were the basic hiding techniques that everyone used, the ones he had already mastered. But there were also far more advanced methods used by spies and even assassins that attempted to mask one's core entirely, including its mana potential.
A powerful mage would stand out in a crowd without these techniques, and so they were also quite common among more advanced mages, and this was what Kal realized he needed to be capable of.
He had started to observe mana in others, which made him acutely aware of how out of place he would appear to a wandering mage. Hiding his stats simply wouldn’t be good enough. He would need to hide his mana potential as well as he could.
Following the guides, Kal used a technique known as pentagramal control. It was supposed to be near impossible, but none of the other techniques worked for him for some reason.
Splitting his mana into five points using this technique, Kal then had to mask the weakened energy. It was strange, though. Splitting one’s mana into five separate points was meant to be exceedingly hard, but it felt natural to him.
Bloodline Trait Unlocked: Problem Solver +3 Intelligence.
Okay, I’ll take it. Kal face lit up, but it felt undeserved. He had spent so much trial and error trying to cast a spell and yet hadn’t earned a Bloodline Trait like this. In comparison, he really hadn’t put much effort into this technique.
What are you worrying about, idiot? It’s a free boon.
=======================
Lesser–Demonic Mana Core
Mana 4/20
Mana Potential 128
Stage 1
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Dexterity: 0
Charisma: 2
Wisdom: 8
Intelligence: 8
Endurance: 3
Toughness: 2
Faster Mana Channeling
=======================
Kal eyed his stats with a grin. It had been a while since he had unlocked anything, and despite his unnaturally fast growth, he had started to grow a little concerned he was plateauing already.
***
Sitting on the edge of his bed, Kal practiced cooling his magical energy and forming ice. Before his last Bloodline Trait, he had only just been able to cast Wind Punch, so he had expected failure when he tackled the more complicated Ice Dart spell.
Magic formed a whirlwind in Kal’s palm, which promptly cooled and formed a shard of ice about three inches thick. It hovered in the air, suspended an inch from his palm.
“So cool,” Kal mouthed, looking down at the ice shard.
Glancing across his room at a little wooden statue of a goat that sat on a narrow bookshelf, he aimed the ice. The moment he relaxed his control of the mana connecting the shard of ice to himself, it released like a spring and shot from his palm. Flinching from the spell’s sudden explosiveness, Kal squeezed his eyes shut and fell back onto his bed.
Easing his eyes open, Kal pulled himself up. “Oh no,” he gasped.” The ice shard had flown off course and head-shotted a portrait of his father that hung on his wall.
He hadn’t particularly liked the oil painting. Not because it was bad but because he just didn’t want it in his bedroom. This, however, wasn’t the best way to deal with it.
Not good. Daedrik only just got off my back again. If he sees this, he’s going to be breathing down my freaking neck again.
Jumping off his bed, Kal quickly climbed the drawer beside the bookshelf. Unfortunately, he was still way too short to reach the painting.
What if I… Kal formed a weakened Wind Punch in his hand and aimed it behind the painting.
The gust of wind lifted the painting off its hook and flung it across the room. Cringing as the painting banged against the ceiling, the wall, and then landed on his bed, Kal turned with squinted eyes toward the broken frame and torn painting sprawled across his bed, and glass shattered across the floor and his sheets.
That was dumb.
A long moment passed as Kal stood stunned, looking at the carnage before him as he calmed and slumped, letting out a deep sigh.
Okay, it seems that somehow he didn’t hear. Finally, some good luck is coming my way.
Jumping down from the drawer, Kal dodged glass landmines on his floor and collected up his blanket, being careful not to spill the contents. Once he had it bundled up, he swept the glass remnants from the floor up and into the blanket.
Shoving the bundled-up blanket into the corner of his room, he carefully opened his door and eyed the corridor. It was late, but not so late that he could be sure his parents were asleep.
Tiptoeing down the corridor, Kal hugged the walls like a little ninja, tilting his head around each corner to scan the rooms.
No sign of them.
Breathing a sigh of relief, he returned to his room. Spotting no sign of his parents, he assumed they were asleep.
Time to get to business.
Sneaking out into the yard, Kal dragged his bundled-up blanket and picked a spot in the corner of the yard by the hedge.
Using a shovel would have been well beyond any other kid his age, but Kal could funnel his mana into his strength stat, empowering it far beyond any other three-year-old.
With great effort, he dug a hole, huffing and wiping sweat from his brow. Unfortunately, his mana hadn’t fully recovered from his late-night training, and using it to empower his strength wasn’t easy with such small reserves, forcing Kal to take breaks and sneak back into the house for some bread and dried meat from the pantry.
“What’s this?” His brow perked as he dug the shovel into the dirt. A spherical object broke free from the earth and rolled with a metallic ring along the shovel.
Curious, Kal scooped the sphere up and out of the hole. Immediately, he could feel the mana humming from the object. There was no doubt it was Daedrik’s, but Kal couldn’t restrain his desire to learn more about it and why it was in their garden.
Inching closer, he eyed the meticulous glyphs etched into the metal itself, giving off a dim, orange glow. Whatever this thing was, it was valuable and potentially useful for his magical growth.
Hastily, he threw the painting remnants into the hole and covered it up. Picking the sphere up, he looked down at it in his palm and the oddly warm sensation it gave off.
What are you?
Wrapping his hand around the treasure, he pocketed it. He might have gotten a little sidetracked, but Kal hadn’t forgotten his goal: no time wasting.
He was going to live this life to the fullest, regardless of whether he had a demon core or not, and that meant smashing his goals.
Sorry, Daedrik, but I have a feeling this little thing is going to be useful.
