1-2: The discover

“Take this!”

My hands were really dirty, my face drenched with sweat, and my clothes were torn. In any other context I would be confused by someone who had been attacked, that’s why I was doing my own thing in a lonely place. What I was doing? Smashing some rocks with a hammer obviously.

“...Finally, this is the copper I needed.”

I quickly started a fire with some branches and stopped breathing. With all that set up ready, I threw some copper to the fire, making the color change. The smoke could poison me, so I used some dirt to put out the fire before breathing again.

“So the chemical reactions are the same. Thank god I remembered that trick.”

Totally satisfied with the final result, I picked up the hammer to return it to the person who lent it to me and started walking back home.

Some weeks had passed since I recovered my memories. In my previous world I was called Kazu, but right now my name is Thomas Creiter. I think the only interesting thing about my appearance is that my eyes are green. My hair has a standard black color and my body is what you would expect from a seven year old kid.

During my years without memories I learned useful things like the language, magic and in general, anything that would be considered common sense in this world. Probably for the me who learned all that, it was better not to question anything. But now, with a conscious mind, I can only say one thing.

“The magic is really disappointing.”

When Yutwo mentioned magic my mental image was a book full of spells with a weird pronunciation, a lot of stones with magic properties or just a wand, but I was wrong. The magic in this world is like reading a math book!

Spells? Enchantments? No, apparently they use formulas for doing magic.

“How was it again…?”

The process isn’t difficult. It’s just visualizing the formula, understanding it, visualizing how the magic came out, and with that I can do spells.

“...Another stone…”

I’m grateful with the me that learned the language, but even in seven years, I only know how to use basic magic. Tiny water flows, boring sparkles, a wind that can only elevate paper. The most interesting thing about this magic is that I can create various minerals with earth magic, but they are just as big as a coin and disappear after ten minutes.

Memorizing everything it’s like memorizing multiplication tables. Advanced magic must be really complicated if this is the basic one. I’m not bad at maths, but I’m not able to learn a new type of system without any help.

“Maybe a teacher knows more about this…But it would be too expensive…”

My family wasn't completely destitute, but it wasn't in the best situation either. Paying for the books I used to learn to read was already a luxury; I can't imagine the price of a teacher... And I have a second problem.

Yutwo did exactly what I wanted, no one is interrupting me while I’m trying to adapt to this world, but that means I can’t receive any kind of help. For my parents I’m just “That child that was born by accident”, so I only receive food and maybe some extra clothes during my birthday. Our relationship is not bad, it’s just "Don't be a bother and we won’t be a bother". At least I know how to repair the clothes I usually damage trying to get some money.

“Even after searching a mine for six hours, I only managed to get enough copper for my experiment. Looks like mining isn’t my best way to gain money.”

I wanted to get more knowledge and some useful stuff, but a child doesn’t have access to most ways to get money. I could try hunting weak monsters, but only adults can claim the money. I could try selling some things I know from my previous world, but no one would take me seriously.

The only good thing about my situation is that I have a good amount of time to practice magic.

“...They wouldn’t be sad if I got back a little late.”

I needed to relax a little, so I stopped walking and stretched before going to another place so I could start with my practice.

“Well…water!”

When I said that, the water flow went a little harder than I expected. Looks like screaming the spell helps to make it stronger.

“Let’s try…bubbles!”

I visualized the formula of the spell and then tried thinking about a lot of bubbles coming out from my hand. Somehow a tiny bubble appeared, but it wasn’t enough.

“Maybe they have a specific formula for bubbles?...But learning it would be a pain…”

Creating bubbles was something really basic, so it was the perfect way to train my magic.

“Bubbles!”

After four attempts, I managed to create seven bubbles. Increasing the number felt like an achievement, but if this is the most I can do on my own, probably I have reached the limits of someone without education…

“Maybe I can make a show with bubbles or with green fire…Wait a minute…”

Thinking about that gave me an idea. Bubbles don't come precisely from water, and they also can be gotten better with some weird methods.

“...This could be a little dangerous.

I walked away from the trees so I wouldn’t cause a forest fire and prepared for what I was about to do.

“…Visualize nitrogen"

For a second I visualized the formula of wind magic, then I remembered every single thing I knew about nitrogen, added some oxygen, soap made with algae, and water. Before I noticed, my hand was holding a lot of bubbles.

“...Fire”

A little scared, but at the same time intrigued, I created a spark, and that caused an explosion. My hand hurt a lot, but luckily, I still have it.

“I thought I couldn’t do that”

In this world using formulas for the magic was supposed to be something obligatory, but that made me wonder how much control I actually have. What else can I do? Trying to discover it, I didn’t try any of the magic I learned, I just tried to release pure mana and touch it.

“This is weird…”

When it came out, it was like water, but when I touched it, it felt like clay. Does that mean I can change its shape?

“Something easy…I know!”

Like a kid playing with clay, I modified the shape of the mana until I got a large hat. It was transparent and I could only see it focusing a lot, so it was totally useless. But being able to do that gave me some ideas.

“This world is finally showing me the new possibilities.”

I put the hat on my head and with a little branch started to write something on the ground. Probably I’m still having that mentality of “Just do what you are told to do”. If I didn’t have the curiosity of a child right now, I would have missed this. That’s why I did a reminder so I would never forget what I’m feeling right now.

TRY AND TRY.

Now I have a few ideas about how to make some money, so I guess it’s time to finally do the thing that made me choose to be here in the first place.