Chapter 5
(Five Years Later)
(X770)
Five years had passed since I began training under Irene.
I was now seven years old, while Erza had recently turned five.
Looking back, those five years had passed surprisingly quickly.
They had also been some of the most productive years of my life.
When I first asked Irene to teach me magic, she started with the basics.
And by basics, I mean the absolute basics.
The history of magic.
The nature of ethernano.
Magic power.
Magic circuits.
Spell construction.
Elemental properties.
Different types of magic.
The principles behind casting and controlling magic.
Normally, learning all of that would have taken years.
Fortunately, I had always possessed a fairly good memory in my previous life, and my divine-level magical talent seemed to have followed me into this world.
I absorbed knowledge incredibly quickly.
Sometimes, even Irene would stop in the middle of a lesson and stare at me.
"Are you sure you've never studied this before?"
"Nope."
"You understood that after hearing it once?"
"Yep."
She would then stare at me for a few seconds before sighing.
"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised anymore."
Once Irene was satisfied with my theoretical knowledge, we moved on to practical training.
That was when we discovered just how ridiculous my talent actually was.
I took to magic like a fish to water.
No.
A shark to water.
My control over magical energy improved at an absurd rate, and I could feel the ethernano around me more clearly with every passing year.
Even more surprising was my mana capacity.
When my magic first awakened, my reserves were already comparable to those of an A-Rank wizard.
Irene initially thought that was merely the result of my unusual Light Magic.
Five years later, however, it had become obvious that my natural magical capacity was something far beyond normal.
My current reserves were greater than those of most S-Rank wizards.
They were still somewhat below the level of the very strongest mages, such as the Wizard Saints, but I was only seven years old.
Irene often reminded me not to become arrogant.
"Having large reserves doesn't make you invincible, El."
"I know."
"And having talent doesn't mean you can defeat someone with decades of combat experience."
"I know."
"And—"
"I know, Irene."
She would then smile.
"Good."
Despite her warnings, she was clearly proud of my progress.
My Light Magic had also developed considerably.
At first, I could only create small amounts of light.
Then I learned to manipulate its intensity and shape.
After that came the more complicated applications.
I could create concentrated beams of light, construct simple barriers, surround my body with light to increase my movement speed, and transform parts of my body into light.
Eventually, I became capable of completely transforming my body.
The elemental body was one of the most fascinating aspects of my magic.
When transformed, physical attacks could pass through me as my body dispersed into light.
I could also move incredibly quickly while transformed.
However, I quickly learned that possessing the ability to move at extreme speeds didn't automatically mean I could use it effectively.
My mind still needed to perceive what was happening around me.
My magical control needed to be precise.
And most importantly, I needed to learn how to fight while moving at those speeds.
That was where training came in.
But my Light Magic had another aspect that was perhaps even more important.
Healing.
Irene had encouraged me to practice my healing magic on the people living in our town.
At first, I was nervous.
Healing someone's injuries was one thing.
Experimenting with such powerful magic on another person was something else entirely.
Fortunately, Irene supervised me every time.
My first attempts were relatively simple.
Cuts.
Bruises.
Broken bones.
Minor burns.
But as my control improved, so did the complexity of what I could heal.
Eventually, we discovered just how powerful my healing ability actually was.
One day, a man from a nearby village arrived at our bakery after suffering a terrible accident.
His leg had been crushed beyond what ordinary healing magic could repair.
I examined the injury carefully.
Then I began using my magic.
Light gathered around my hands.
It flowed into his body.
Slowly, damaged tissue began restoring itself.
Bone regenerated.
Muscle reformed.
Blood vessels repaired themselves.
And eventually…
His leg returned.
Completely.
The man stared at it in disbelief.
Irene stared at me.
I stared at the man.
Nobody said anything for several seconds.
Then Irene quietly muttered,
"That shouldn't be possible."
I looked at my hands.
"Apparently it is."
That was when we began testing the limits of my healing.
The results were absurd.
I could restore severely damaged organs.
I could heal injuries that would normally be fatal.
And with enough magic power, I could even regenerate lost limbs.
However, there was one major limitation.
Mana.
Healing someone who was merely injured required relatively little magic.
Restoring something as complex as an entire limb consumed a massive amount.
Approximately forty percent of my total magical reserves.
And healing someone who was only a breath away from death and restoring their body to something close to its prime was on an entirely different level.
According to Irene's calculations, I would need a magical reserve comparable to several of the strongest mages in the world before I could perform that kind of healing and still have enough power left to defend myself.
That limitation was important.
My healing wasn't an unlimited miracle.
If I exhausted my magic power, I couldn't protect myself or anyone else.
Still, the ability had already gained me quite a reputation.
People from nearby towns began coming to see me.
At first, they came because they had heard about the strange young healer living with the famous baker.
Eventually, stories spread about a white-haired boy with golden eyes who could heal injuries that other healers couldn't.
Some people even started calling me a saint.
I found the whole thing rather embarrassing.
Especially when people bowed to me.
"Please, don't do that."
"But you're a saint!"
"I'm seven."
"That doesn't matter!"
"How does that make any sense?"
Irene usually found these interactions hilarious.
"You brought this upon yourself, El."
"I didn't ask them to call me a saint."
"You could always stop healing people."
I stared at her.
"…No."
She smiled.
"That's what I thought."
Helping people had become one of the things I genuinely enjoyed.
But healing wasn't the only thing I trained.
Once I reached the age of four, I began serious physical training as well.
My divine talent wasn't limited to magic.
My body developed at an astonishing rate.
I spent hours every day exercising, improving my flexibility, strengthening my muscles, and increasing my endurance.
I also began training with a sword.
At first, Irene taught me the fundamentals herself.
Footwork.
Balance.
Stance.
Grip.
Striking.
Blocking.
Dodging.
Everything had to be learned from the ground up.
I deliberately avoided relying on any outside fighting style.
I had been given extraordinary talent, not someone's memories.
That meant I had the opportunity to develop something that was truly my own.
Irene quickly realized that I had an instinctive understanding of swordsmanship.
Sometimes she would demonstrate a technique once, and I could reproduce the basic movement almost immediately.
But copying a technique wasn't enough.
I wanted my own style.
Something that suited my body.
Something that suited my Light Magic.
Something that could continue evolving alongside me.
That's why Irene made sure I received as much actual combat experience as possible.
And that led to the arrival of two more members of our unusual family.
Juliet and Heine.
Irene created them through enchantment and gave them bodies and personalities of their own.
They were based on the two spirits I had seen in the original story.
Juliet was a youthful woman with orange hair tied into short pigtails with brown bows.
She had a cheerful personality and was incredibly energetic.
She also had a tendency to giggle at almost everything.
Heine was her complete opposite.
She had black hair, sharp eyes, and a much more serious personality.
She was calm, disciplined, and considerably more mature than Juliet.
Although she could get annoyed rather easily, she was still respectful.
The two became my regular sparring partners.
At first, I struggled against them.
That was actually a good thing.
Magic talent didn't automatically make me a great fighter.
I had to learn how to read an opponent.
How to predict movements.
How to manage my stamina.
How to fight when my magic wasn't enough.
How to fight against someone faster.
How to fight against someone stronger.
And most importantly…
How to remain calm when things didn't go according to plan.
Juliet was particularly troublesome.
"Got you!"
She rushed towards me.
I barely managed to block her strike.
"Too slow, El!"
"You're enjoying this way too much."
"Of course!"
Heine watched us from the side.
"Stop talking and focus."
"She's right."
Juliet immediately complained.
"Why are you always taking her side?"
"Because she's usually correct."
"Traitor!"
I couldn't help laughing.
These sparring sessions had become one of my favourite parts of training.
Five years had passed since I first arrived in this world.
I had learned magic.
I had learned swordsmanship.
I had learned how to fight.
And yet…
I knew that I was still nowhere near the level I wanted to reach.
I was strong for my age.
Very strong.
But the world was enormous.
There were monsters like Irene.
There were Wizard Saints.
There were dragons.
There were countless powerful mages I hadn't even met yet.
And one day…
I would have to face some of them.
I looked towards the house.
Through the window, I could see Irene sitting with Erza.
My little sister was five years old now.
She was already energetic, stubborn, and incredibly attached to both of us.
I smiled.
'I've got a long way to go.'
'But that's fine.'
I had an entire lifetime ahead of me.
And this time…
I wasn't going to let the people I loved suffer the same fate as they had in the original story.