Chapter 33: C33 - 3 Years Later

It's been three years.

Excitement roused me at the first bell. Today was the 4th of Summer, my birthday! I was summoned on the first Shaniday of the summer, 4 years ago. My new life had vacillated between a whirlwind of activity and maddening boredom. I continued to remind myself that every day was a step towards reclaiming a more adult life. Saying 'wabbit' instead of rabbit still made me cringe.

I could see Fazio rolling over to try and get a couple more minutes of sleep. Normally, I'd rouse him with my usual jumping antics. Today I decided to be kind and let him sleep in. Mona had stopped coming to get me ready because I was able to dress myself in simple clothes. Besides, Fazio could help me if I needed. Status. I immediately saw the semi-transparent screen floating in front of me.

Name: Damiano Calo (Callahan O'Shea)

Title: None

Race: Human

Age: 4

Class: Magician

Level: 1

EXP: 140/200

HP: 65/65

MP: 110/110

SP: 13/13

Strength: 1

Agility: 5

Fortitude: 13

Intelligence: 6

Wisdom: 2

Charisma: 11 (+32)

Unspent points: 0

Status: Awake. Alert.

Overall, I was pleased with my growth. Exponential growth might have required self-torture, but I sought a pleasant life. Unfortunately, torture is antithetical to a happy life. I continued to play "daggers" with Fazio, which was really just sparring at night when all the adults went to sleep. Because of charming, playing daggers, and absorbing mana I had gained four extra points of fortitude and charisma and three additional points of agility. I haven't figured out how to get extra points in intelligence or wisdom. I had placed my quest reward points in intelligence and fortitude. I had also intentionally neglected strength. Unfortunately, I wasn't old enough to go purchase weights. I also couldn't conjure enough material to make my own. Skills.

Basic Active Mana Absorption. Rank 2.

Magic Basics. Rank 10.

Basic Mana Sense. Rank 10.

Candle Flame. Rank 1.

Dagger Basics. Rank 3.

Basic Dodge. Rank 3.

Basic Poison Resistance. Rank 1.

In the dim predawn light, I glared at the skills screen with disdain. My Magic Basics and Basic Mana Sense were capped at rank ten. I reached that rank in those skills ages ago but have been unable to have a breakthrough. I think I need something external like a teacher. Which is why, today is the day we "discover" my abilities. If I knew my mother like I thought I did, I would immediately get a magical teacher to train me. I could see her cackling, scheming face in my head already. Thankfully, she would both be visiting the island villa today.

Fazio's gentle snores filled the room, shaking me out of my reverie. I closed the system windows with a thought and silently crawled out of bed to the dresser. I selected suitable clothes and clumsily dressed. My façade is half pretend and half real struggle. My small hands were thankfully losing a lot of the baby fat. They were still a bit unwieldy at certain tasks. Once I was dressed in suitable lounge attire, I crept out of the room. I descended the stairs to the kitchen. I saw the large chef, Connor, already preparing breakfast. He was an older man, approximately in his fifties. He was a tall and broad man with light skin and short red hair.

I asked, "Connor, is breakfast ready?"

He spun around, and said, "Young master! Why are you up so early?" I shrugged, noticing a pile of rolls and reaching for one. He blocked my hand with his. "Breakfast will be at second bell, as usual."

I complained, putting on the cutest face and the whiniest voice I could, "But Connor! I'm hungry!" Connor agonized about it before giving into my charms. He picked up one roll, which looked comically tiny in his massive hand. He split it in half and handed half to me.

Connor whispered, "This is only to hold you until second bell when breakfast is actually served." He quickly gulped his half of the proportionately small roll down in one bite.

I smiled widely and replied, "Thanks!"

Connor grunted, "Don't tell anyone!"

Just then, Mona came into the kitchen and asked, "Don't tell anyone what?"

"Nothing!" I said quickly before running away, leaving Connor to his fate of being grilled by Mona.

"Young master!" I heard Mona call after me but I ignored her.

I ran through the house to the front door. Out into the front yard of the villa I sprinted, clutching my half a roll. My destination was my favorite spot in the villa. About fifty feet from the front door was the cliff that led to the town of Sampagnanoli. Perched at the edge of the cliff was a large boulder. I climbed up, and for a moment silently enjoyed the view. The freshly baked roll was soft, warm, and emitted a delicious, yeasty aroma. My hands weren't at all as large as Connor's. To me, it was a big piece of bread. I nibbled on it in bits as I watched the sun rise out over the ocean.

It was hard to think that more than four years ago I was an engineer on the Union Star Ship Bellerophon. The knowledge of advanced technology I possessed was now mostly useless. For example, laser rifles needed nanometer-precise machining of elements not found in nature. The elements were synthesized in moon-sized particle colliders that built the element one proton or neutron at a time. All I had to rely on was everything I remembered from my Ancient Tech 101 class. But for the things I didn't, it was going to be trial and error experimentation. It was frustrating learning how magic worked in relation to the physics I was familiar with. I held up my palm in the ocean breeze and concentrated. I collected a clump of my mana into a concentrated ball. I applied matter mana and finalized the spell with the image of a lump of iron. I saw the small metal materialize a centimeter above my palm before it fell into my hand.

It was lumpy. Like my previous attempts, it would begin rusting almost immediately considering the moisture of this island climate. I had previously tried to add percentages of chromium and other elements to make poor man's stainless steel. I was unsuccessful. Even applying a specific shape caused the spell to fail. I could conjure simple matter at will, but I still needed additional fundamental elements to make alterations at the more granular level.

I was broken out of my thoughts with a voice behind me, "I knew you'd be here!"