Today is a beautiful day. A gentle warm breeze blew across the grassy lawn out behind my house, causing the tips of the grass to bend ever so slightly. The puffy clouds in the sky slowly made their way by casting faint shadows on the ground. Songbirds were in the trees singing away. It is indeed a good day. But what made this day better than any other day is the fact that right now, at this very instant, I am about to cast my first magic spell!
The long awaited day was finally here. I just had to make sure not to make a scene as I did before. At least, I hope I do not shorten my magic casting time. I just need to make sure I keep my mana output to a minimal amount required for the spell.
I was excited when I saw my mother walking over with a small bucket and placing it in front of me. "Faith, for your first spell, you will be filling this bucket with water. It is one of the best beginner spells because it will allow you to be anywhere and still be able to create water."
I sighed internally hearing this. I knew my mother was saying this just in case one day I found myself alone due to being a demi human. A lot of books I read back on Earth talked about such things as discrimination against demi humans, and now that I am living in such a world, I guess it is true. Although Earth also had its fair share of discrimination as well. This was something I never understood and probably never will. All I know is that in a world where power is law, I just need to be stronger than others in order to not get bullied.
While I say power is law, this is not always the case. From the history books, I read that there are many kings and queens in this world. And while they might be powerful by themselves, some have powerful retainers who will follow their orders and are much stronger than those kings and queens. While I live on the continent of Chomoris, and this continent alone is as big as Earth itself, there are thirty more continents and millions of islands in this world as well. This planet is able to house over a thousand Earths. At least, this is my estimate. I do know that if you added up all the landmass and oceans on earth, it would just barely fit on the whole landmass of Chormois.
As for power struggles, those who are powerful with ambition could easily wipe out a country or two and take over if they so wished. There have been instances in the past where a king or queen angered a person so powerful that the next day their entire family was wiped out, and the person they angered took control of the kingdom. I couldn't help but think how cool that is. Of course, I have no wild ambitions to do such things, nor do I wish to wipe out anyone's family, I just want to be strong enough to protect my family from any harm.
"Faith, all you need to do is follow what I have shown you many times. Channel your mana into the tip of your finger and allow it to form the magic circle." My mother was explaining things to me as I copied her motions.
I released a stream of my mana and channeled it down my arm. The process was much simpler than I had thought. I figured it would take me a few tries to channel my mana the way I wanted, but it turned out to be very simple. It was no different than me wanting to move a finger. As soon as I thought about my mana moving to the tip of my finger, the mana all rushed to that point and patiently waited for me to give it its next order.
I then proceeded to give my mana the instructions on what I wanted it to do, and soon the magic circle began to form in front of me. I first started with the conditions of what I wanted the magic to do, which was to fill the bucket on the ground in front of me with water. Then I began adding in the runic equation and the activation word.
This was the slowest part of the process, and I already knew this spell would not cast, but I decided it would be best to take things slow so I would not suddenly cause a huge explosion or something. Although I am using a water spell, there was no telling what might happen if I was not careful.
Rune after rune began to appear on the magic circle, and my mother watched from the side with an approving look. She seemed to have noticed I was taking my time and being careful. Knowing her, she would definitely yell at me if I went too fast.
After a few minutes, I was finally able to finish my magic circle and added in the activation word. "Finished."
"Let me check it." My mother knelt down and inspected the entire magic circle before nodding her head. "It's perfect. Very well done. Now this time, do it faster so it can be activated."
Seeing my mother smile so brightly when I completed something she tasked me to do with such perfection made me happy and a little relieved. Relieved because it meant I could put her worries at ease, even if it was just a little bit.
I drew back in my mana and redid the spell once more. This time I did it within three seconds. I had a much better feel for how things worked, so I was able to form all the runes very quickly. I am not sure but I think this has something to do with my intelligence stat.
"Okay, Faith, go ahead activate it." My mother announced the golden words, which made me excited to see my first spell finally being activated.
I took a deep breath and watched with shining eyes as I spoke the magical words: "Fill!"
A small ball of water began to form as streams of mana flowed out of the magic circle intertwining with each other. The ball of water slowly began to get bigger and bigger until finally, it was the size of a basketball. It slowly moved over the bucket and settled down inside of it before releasing and filling the bucket. I was so happy that my tail was wagging back and forth at an incredible speed. I was filled with so much excitement I couldn't contain my joy and jumped up into the air and shouted: "I did it!"
"Very good! To be able to cast a spell on your first try is truly amazing. Faith, most kids would take a few days before even forming their first magic circle correctly. But you did things so smoothly as if it was second nature to you. I think magic is something you were born to use. As a teacher, I couldn't be more proud of you, and as a mother, not only am I proud but relieved. I hope you will continue to study magic. Only by excelling in something will you be able to stand with your head held high without worrying about anyone trying to look down on you." I guess my mother is really worried about my future. While I can be with them until they grow old and die, after that, I would be left alone. She is worried I will be targeted by those who dislike demi humans.
I could only sigh and look up towards the sky. Even if I am disliked, I will not care. But I should at least accomplish something in my life that will give me a kind of status. This way, my mother and father will be able to be free of worry. I turned my gaze back to my mother and nodded my head: "I will work hard and excel at magic to the point no one will be my match."
My day continued like this. I trained with the same magic circle filling the bucket so many times I lost count. My mother kept asking me how my mana was and I kept her up to date, saying it was decreasing slowly even though it was not.
At the end of the day, I had dinner and went back to my room, and got ready for bed. My brother had come home early since the crop harvest was now in its final stages and not as much work needed to be done. I looked over at him to see him reading a book on magic. I pursed my lips and walked over to the side of his bed and knelt down, resting my head on my arms, and looked up at him. "Brother, can you take me outside tomorrow?"
Eric looked over at me with a confused expression and asked: "Did you not go outside today?"
"No! I mean outside, outside. I want to walk around outside the yard. I want to go to the edge and look out over the valley below. I want to see the town. I want…" I have a lot of wants, I know. I wanted to do a lot, and I knew I was still too young to do it all. I was old enough to leave the yard, but I knew my mother would probably not let me without an escort. Which was why I was currently pleading my case to my brother.
Eric looked at me helplessly. It was the same look he always gave me when he was unsure of how to answer me without hurting my feelings. "I-I will need to talk to mother and father first. If they say yes, I will bring you out for an hour. But not to town just yet."
I quickly nodded my head and smiled. My brother was the best. "That's fine, I just want to walk around a bit."
"Then go to sleep. We will talk to them in the morning."
When the next day came, I excitedly got up and rushed downstairs to hear words of doom. "No! She is not leaving the yard yet. Eric, it is not that I do not trust you to look after her, it is the others. I do not want them doing anything to my daughter. When she is a little older and can protect herself better, then she can go out."
When I walked into the room, my brother gave me an apologetic gaze. I sighed and flopped down into my seat, and pouted. I should have known this would have happened, but there was nothing I could do. Mother's words were the law of this house, and in order to not gain her divine wrath, everyone followed her laws to the letter.
My mother looked at me and shook her head. She placed her hand on top of my head and said: "It's only for now. We will need to teach you how to use protection spells and attack spells just in case. If you are attacked, you need to be able to defend yourself. I trust you and your brother, but I am scared about the other villagers. They might not treat you kindly and might try to do you harm."
I looked up at my mother and nodded my head. "I understand."
And so, my days of magic training began to intensify.
