"Enter."
Astra gave her permission and Vaan walked into her room with a slight smile on his face.
"Did you succeed?" Astra questioned with a curious look on her face and as if she was waiting for this question this whole time, Vaan instantly summoned his 2 Magic Circles and stood there with a proud look on his face.
"I am officially a 2nd Circle Mage now."
"Pffft!" Astra laughed out loud as she shook her head and glanced at Vaan again, "I can't believe you came in prepared for that question, you even absorbed the Mana before coming in."
"I practiced around 20 to 30 times before coming in," Vaan replied.
"I can't be disgraceful in front of the best Mage in the world, now can I?"
"Still buttering me up, huh."
"Of course, one must constantly butter his benefactors in order to continue receiving the benefits." Vaan nodded shamelessly and Astra laughed out loud again.
Vaan then sat next to Astra, with a genuine smile on her face, Astra cupped Vaan's cheek and, "Congratulations on becoming a 2nd Circle Mage, son. I am proud of you."
A genuine smile appeared on Vaan's face as well.
This was the moments he missed in his past life. Spending time with his parents… a time where his heart actually felt at ease…
It felt much much much better than winning a territory war or destroying the enemy gangs.
Thinking about all that, Vaan chuckled as he shook his head, then just as he was about to place his head on Astra's lap and close his eyes,
*Knock* *Knock*
A knock was heard.
Vaan frowned but then, he heard a sweet voice.
"Teacher, it is me."
"Ahh, I forgot, I called her earlier since I will be a bit busy later." Astra spoke with a playful smile on her face.
"Then should I leave?" Vaan questioned.
"Hmm? Why would you do that? Stay." Astra replied, then, she raised her voice and, "Come in, Elara."
Elara opened the door and, "Good Afternoon, tea- Vaan…" her expression changed as her eyes fell on Vaan sitting next to his mother.
"Hello, Fiance."
Vaan replied with a smile on his face and hearing him call her fiancé in front of her teacher, Elara blushed and just lowered her head.
"Are you not going to greet him back?" Astra questioned. The smile on her face was enough to tell how much she was enjoying this situation.
"H-Hello, Vaan…" Elara replied.
"Oh c'mon, don't be so low, Vaan has something interesting to show you, you know?" Astra spoke up.
Then, she turned towards Vaan and signaled him to take over. Vaan understood what his mother wanted, he absorbed Mana and this time, the two spirits appeared next to him and 2 advanced magic circles formed around him.
'To think he showed those advance circles to his fiancé before his mother, guess I would need to have a talk with him later.' Astra thought inwardly as she glanced at his dear child.
Vaan of course, had no clue what was coming for him in the future, right now, he was looking at Elara, who was rushing towards him with an excited look on her face, then, she held his hands and,
"You became a 2nd Circle Mage!"
She exclaimed.
"I did." Vaan smiled.
"And with your circles, you aren't much weaker than 3rd Circle Mages either! This is amazing!"
"Well it is not that easy." Suddenly, Astra spoke up.
"He has 12 Inner Circles, yes, but that doesn't mean he is equally strong as a 3rd Circle Mage, the biggest difference would be the amount of Mana the two can store inside their Mana Veins, right now, Vaan cannot use the Peak 3rd Circle Spells.
In my eyes, rather than trying to act like a 3rd Circle Mage, you should focus more on the path of an 'Advance 2nd Circle Mage', use your Inner Circles to optimize your 2nd Circle spells to a level where let alone a 3rd Circle, even a 4th Circle Mage would have trouble against you, don't just copy other mages, Vaan.
Create your own path.
Don't just mindlessly copy others,
You will never achieve greatness if you walk on that path, even though you have such an apparent advantage."
Astra spoke as she looked into Vaan's eyes.
Looking into her clear eyes, Vaan frowned.
It was as if Astra was trying to tell him something…
Vaan then narrowed his eyes and then started thinking about it.
"An Advance 2nd Circle Mage…" Elara spoke as she started thinking about it.
"Mother."
Suddenly, Vaan called out.
"What is it?"
"Can I test my Affinity again?"
"Huh?"
Hearing Vaan's question, both Astra and Elara frowned in confusion.
Every Mage had affinity with certain elements, Seraphina, for example, has affinity with Wind Element and similarly, most people have affinity with any one element out of the main 4.
Elara was a prodigy who had affinity with 2 elements, Fire and Earth.
And just like her, Astra had affinity with 2 elements as well, Wind and Earth.
That was one of the reasons the two of them were hailed as the Magical Prodigies and their Talent overpowered all their peers.
Vaan, however, only had affinity with the Fire Element. Astra was disappointed when she found that out, however, beings having affinity with more than 1 Element were extremely rare, just the fact that Elara and she were the two such mages and were both living together was surprising.
So wanting Vaan to have affinity with more than 1 element was selfish, honestly, it was too far-fetched and Astra knew it.
"What is there to check? You have affinity with the Fire Element." Astra replied.
"I know that… but…"
Vaan glanced at Splashy who was looking around with a curious look on her face while Flamey, who was acting like a big sister was showing her the room.
The room that wasn't even hers…
"I want to test it again…"
Vaan replied.
Astra narrowed her eyes.
"Alright then."
Vaan had shown her many miracles before,
Expecting one more wasn't too greedy, right?
A mother is allowed to be greedy.
