Satori's Lifestyle

Kei opened his eyes to soft linen sheets and warm morning sunlight. A knock on the door—a man spoke with a prim and proper tone.

“Master Satori has summoned you. Come out when you're ready.”

Kei slowly got out of the bed and put on the only clean set of clothes he had. He opened the door. A man, mostly bald with grey hair around the edges of his head and dressed in a black tuxedo, stood waiting.

“This way.”

He led Keisuke through the house. It was less of a house and more of a mansion. Through the windows, he noticed staff and servants toiling away—some gardening, others on errands.

The man knocked on a massive door. Kei heard Satori’s familiar voice.

“Come in.”

The man opened the door and bid Keisuke to enter. As Kei stepped into the library, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Three floors, wall-to-wall books. On the table Satori sat at was a massive stack of books.

“Amazing, right?” Satori grinned smugly.

“Are you some kind of trust fund kid or something?” Kei asked, raising an eyebrow.

Satori snickered. “Hell no. I grew up dirt poor. I earned all of this. What do you expect from the second-best adventurer in the world? Slaying dragons and dungeon diving pays well—if you live long enough.”

Kei scratched the back of his head as a curiosity ruminated in the back of his mind. “Who's the best adventurer in the world?”

“It's not important,” Satori said sharply. His mouth scrunched to the side, almost as if he were pouting like a petulant child. He looked back at Keisuke. “I'll be lending you my library. You'll find pretty much anything you want to know about magic—what's available, that is.”

“Wait, wait.” He approached the massive stack of books. “I have to learn magic from a book?”

Satori’s smug grin widened. “Tomes, technically. You learn the application inside, and practice what you learn. You can go out back to do that. Though try not to burn anything down or get anyone killed.”

“Why are you helping me this much? You're letting me live here and use your library. I'm not trying to look a gift horse in the mouth—I'm just curious,” Keisuke asked with his brows furrowed.

Satori let out a sigh. “You remind me of my baby brother.”

Kei blinked. “Eh? Really?” He didn’t know what to say. No one had ever compared him to family before.

Satori looked away, his expression dropped. “Yeah. He was hopeful and naive, just like you. He was a real idiot. Wore his heart on his sleeve and had big dreams but no way of actualizing them.”

Kei scratched the back of his head. “I see.”

Satori rose to his feet. “Well, good luck. The pile of books on the table is what you should start with. Just ask the staff for any magic you want to specialize in after that. Gotta make good use of your twenty-one affinities.”

Satori quickly exited the library, the sound of his footsteps carrying through the hallway. Kei approached the towering stack of books.

“I can do this,” he muttered, pulling the top tome into his lap.

“Mana and You: Basic Spells and Magical Concepts,” Kei said aloud. He flipped the page.

The book went into detail about how mana manipulation is all about visualization. It included a few exercises to help learn how to properly manipulate it.

Kei sat in the library and tried one of the exercises. He closed his eyes and pictured a torrent of fire pushing from the center of his body, through his arms, and into his hands.

A warmth spread through his hands and fingers. He opened his eyes and nearly jumped out of his seat as he saw a low flame simmering on both palms. It wasn't burning him, however. The flame felt like a gentle warmth. His skin turned slightly redder, but no damage was being done.

“Uh… what the fuck?” He waved his hands, trying to put the fire out. “How do I turn it off?”

Sweat dripped down his brow onto the floor as he tried to douse the flames. Then he remembered the passage about visualization. He closed his eyes and focused on sending a cool breeze through his arms and hands. It worked.

Kei let out a sigh of relief. He continued reading and trying out the exercises. The staff brought him breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Finally, evening came. He closed the book, got up, and left the library. As he turned the corner, his eyes narrowed and his body froze on the spot. He averted his gaze as he saw Satori escorting three beautiful women to his bedroom.

“That bastard is pulling three women and I can't even get one girl to go out with me my entire life!?” He gritted his teeth, fire lighting up in his eyes. “Fucking pretty boys always getting the girls. It's unfair. When is it my turn to get even one?”

He stomped back to his room, flung the door open, then paused. Directly above him, he could hear giggling.

“Is Satori’s room above mine? Did he do this on purpose? That bastard!”

The fire in his eyes grew as he heard bedsprings and moaning.

“God, they're so loud,” Kei muttered. He lay down on his bed, grabbed two pillows, and pushed them against his ears, but it was no use.

He let out a sigh. “Damned playboy.” He struggled to sleep for an hour.

“How much stamina can one guy have? I know he’s jacked, but this is seriously ridiculous,” he gritted his teeth.

Finally, after two and a half hours, the noise subsided.

“No man in the history of the human species has that much stamina. Impossible. I’m calling bullshit. Maybe he uses a spell?” he grumbled as he tried to sleep.

In the morning, as he went to the library, he observed Satori sauntering out of his room with a satisfied smirk on his face.

“You are literally the worst person alive,” Kei muttered.

“Jealous?” he teased with a grin.

“You're damned right I'm jealous!” Satori laughed out loud as he walked away.

Day after day, Kei studied in the library. He kept up his physical training to build muscle and stay in shape. He practiced what he learned out back, taking books with him for reference.

One morning, he was practicing fire magic out back.

“Focus my mind, release the flame.”

A fireball shot from his hand and into a young lemon tree.

“Oh no.”

Kei quickly closed his eyes and focused his mind.

“Water, water,” he muttered.

However, he was too forceful in his visualization. A jet stream of water shot from his hand, dousing the flame—but also cutting the tree in half.

“Fuck!” he squeaked. The gardeners laughed. His face flushed crimson red.

Meanwhile, night after night, Satori brought a gaggle of women home. Sounds of debauchery echoed from his room.

“Fucking playboy!” Kei yelled as he tried to sleep every night.

One day, he was outside trying to freeze a glass of water without freezing the glass itself. He focused, brows furrowed. Slowly, the water turned to ice. He stopped and tipped the glass over.

“Yes!” he grunted as the ice slid out. The glass remained intact.

Two weeks passed in the blink of an eye. One late afternoon, Kei approached Satori just as he was heading out for another night on the town.

“How's your studying going?”

Kei looked down. “I've got the hang of a few basic spells.”

Satori patted his back. “Not bad. Keep at it. Just try not to kill any more lemon trees.”

As Satori strode toward the front door, Kei called out, “Wait!”

Satori glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. “What's up?”

Kei looked around—anywhere but into Satori’s eyes—as his cheeks flushed.

“How do you do it?”

“Do what?” asked Satori.

“Pull so many women! How the fuck do you do it?” he asked, now looking directly at Satori with fire in his eyes.

Satori grinned. “You want to learn?”

Kei looked aside again, crimson rising in his face. “Yes. I at least want one. You know? Then date her normally. I’m not playboy material. You’re just so good at it, I figured you can help me with the basics so I can work on getting a girlfriend when I’m over Heidi.”

Satori chuckled. “You're such a damned romantic. Alright, follow me. I'll show you the ropes of how to get women.”