(Clyde POV)

I got up from the bed. It was a little past 4am when I looked at my pocket watch on the bedtable.

Arthur was sleeping soundly next to me yet again.

“Geez. You might as well move here.”

I quietly took off my sleepwear and put on my new magician’s robe. It’s so boring at the mansion now that I’m finished with my training. My mentor said I’ll need to wait until I graduate before joining the Mage Tower’s elites. I never planned on joining them anyway.

Anyways, my plan today is to go out of the city to battle some monsters. I always dreamed of adventuring on my own. Being from a modern age where technology is all over the world, I get bored sometimes in this fantasy world where everything is lacking compared to my previous one.

Sure there’s entertainment like acting, plays, circuses and dancing, but I want to do something more fun. It might be dangerous but that somehow heightens the fun a bit. Noble children sometimes indulge themselves in the taste of women if they have nothing else to do.

“----”

I heard muffled voices coming from down the large hallway when I came out of my room.

“Hm? What the….”

It was the main bedroom Sadith is using.

I saw Sadith going down on a girl wearing maid clothes. The girl was heavily convulsing so I could guess that Sadith is quite good.

‘Ugh. Damn puberty…!’

My pants were pitching a tent watching that hot scene.

“Madam! I-I’m---!”

“Pwaah~ let it out darling~”

“I love you Madam♡!”

An arc of liquid shot towards the door.

I backed away from the door with a disgusted face.

This woman is really Bi. Does the Duke know of this?

**

“Wow~”

The gate was packed with people when I arrived there. The sun wasn’t even up yet but the people were already opening shop. It was so dark that I had to bring a lantern with me.

I snuck past the guards safely and walked the dark path. I’m not really scared of what could be out there since my spirits keep telling me that they’d protect me.

Recently I’ve been having these strange dreams. I’m not sure what it is but in every dream I die when it ends. There were even times when I dreamt of fighting in a war. Those dreams could only have been my future self’s memories or something. He said we’d meet again if I managed to gain control of my imperfect white mana.

“Hm?” While I was walking down the road, I heard movement. I acted as if I couldn’t notice them.

Goblins. I caught a glimpse of them during our carriage ride here a year ago when we left the duke’s city residence. Green, short and ugly are the right words to describe them. They have the intelligence of a baby without a higher ogre leading them.

There were three following me so I could guess they were fairly experienced at hunting humans.

The sun just rose bathing the horizon with light.

“Kireuk!!”

“Gigigi!!”

Two of them rushed towards my flank. I hurriedly lifted my sleeve.

“-----!!!”

“!!!”

Along with the sound of something being drained, I sucked out the water out of their bodies with the help of the spirits making them collapse on top of each other.

WOOOSH

An arrow grazed my cheek.

“Blaze!”

A huge blue fireball shot out of my hand.

“Gyaaaaaaaah!!!”

The archer goblin was burned alive along with the surrounding vegetation.

“Phew. What sloppy attacking.”

My white arm gradually returned to its original form. I have two other reasons for coming out to the forest alone besides entertainment.

First – to test my spirit abilities.

Second – Practice my new combo magical attacks.

I wanted to try casting with both spirit and arcane magic. I have an hypothesis that if I do that, that I might be able to gain control of my spirit mana core’s insane amount of mana. I haven’t been able to train my spirit magic much since we were in the capital city of the kingdom instead of the countryside.

Compared to the city Jerris, the forest has far more spirits roaming around.

-Kya! Kya!

-Play!

-Whoosh! Pew! Pew!

All sorts of lights were flying around each other seemingly playing. They all gathered around me when I walk past them and also stick to my clothes. Some even gather around my spirit arm which is my right arm.

I felt even more mana burst into my body. It’s like my spirit mana core is an never-ending abyss that has no bottom.

A Spirit mana core. It’s far different from a normal mana core since you can constantly supply it with spirits. I read in books that having a spirit core means you can have an infinitely supply of mana as long as there are spirits around you.

“Wow…”

Like now. Millions of lights are flickering as they head towards me. Under the cacophony of voices, my voice gradually disappeared. The happy voices of children grew even more and more but then it stopped.

“Hm?”

My arm was so bright that I could light up the dark surroundings of the forest with it alone. An extraordinary amount of power was in my body that’s filled with mana spirits.

The lights suddenly gave way for something blue headed for me.

“----!”

A beautiful woman with blue skin and transparent blue hair walked towards me with a gentle smile. Her swaying hips made her look alluring.

“My King~~~~!”

The beauty suddenly jumped towards me and hugged me in her giant chest.

“W-W-Wha---!!”

It caught me so off guard that my childish body reacted to her touch.

“Sniiiiiiif♡ How long I’ve waited♡” She sniffed my hair with a deep breath.

‘Who the hell is this!?’

“Ah. I-I apologize for my sudden outburst of emotions…”

The woman then knelt before me.

“My name is Undine, My King. I am the Elemental Monarch that controls one of the eight elements that makes up our world.”

**

“I-I see.”

I kind of got the gist of what she just told me.

Undine told me that due to the ‘love’ she has for me, she was able to manifest out of the spirit realm into the mortal realm to meet me. I now understood what the old man at the Mage Tower meant by “Spirit Users are loved by nature and the spirits”.

“So I have full control of the water element?” I asked after she caught a fish for me. Well, she just flicked a finger causing a fish to jump out of the river. I cooked it after lighting a fire.

“Yes, although not perfectly. My King, this may sound weird…but have you met your future self yet?”

“What? You know about that?”

“Of course. We spirits are single entities no matter what dimension one comes from. I have memories from different timelines even if I haven’t personally been there in those worlds.”

She appears very humanlike despite being a spirit.

“I cannot answer any questions about the future so please forgive me.” She bowed her head.

“Tch. I figured as much. That old man already told me that he pinkie swore with a celestial or something.”

I grumbled unhappily. It itches me the wrong way not knowing what might happen in the future even though there’s someone in front of me that already knows.

“It was the Primordial, master. If Future master broke the code then your soul may have also disappeared along with his. It’s called a punishment of the God code laws.”

“What…?”

I never thought such a consequence could happen.

“You have heard of the butterfly effect, yes? Changing things little by little for the future could either lead to a harmonious future where the immortals never discovers this world or a future riddled with disasters and pain. Immortals are beings from another planet so they don’t think like us humanoids. I experienced both those timelines with you, master. It’s better to go along with the universe’s future unknowingly. Who knows? Something different might happen.” Undine looked at the lake shining due to the sunlight.

“Will I ever find out why the Immortal wants to come to this world?” I asked hoping she’d give me an answer.

“Yes. Immortals are simple beings. Master will understand once master meets one of them. Anyway…” Undine got up and grabbed my hand in both of hers. “Let’s get master stronger! I’ll definitely meet your expectations!”

“Eh? Wait–!”

Undine suddenly blew out the fire and summoned something in the shape of a horse from the water.

“I know where we can find a dungeon. Please leave it to me, master!”

**

During the whole day, Undine and I hunted the troublesome monsters. We, or rather I met up with adventurers who also seemed to want the treasures of the dungeon if there was any. Undine seems to be invisible to people other than me if she wishes to do so.

We fought a Chimera monster at the bottom of the dungeon. I easily won with the help of Undine and her water spirit magic. I always thought water magic was weak in offense but I was wrong. If you just add an element of depth imitating the force of the deep ocean then it can become a powerful weapon. Undine’s magic ripped holes through the Chimera with her jet streams.

In the end I was useless with spirit magic since I couldn’t reach Undine’s level of control.

She was like a big sister that comforted me when I was feeling down about being so weak in my trait that should’ve been the strongest.

“Ugh, will these even sell?” I said after picking up the dirty gold coins that was in the treasure box.

I did, however find a precious red gemstone. Undine said I had to take it so I could install it in my staff after taking out that gem. I was kind of reluctant since my parents bought me the staff and I didn’t want to ruin it. Undine reassured me that the magic seals inscribed inside the staff will react better with the new gem. In the end I took it and was surprised by the results.

It felt like I could channel mana more easily with the new red jewel imbedded in my staff.

‘I should do this more often.’

Senior Francis says it’s better to wait until I use my spirit magic in front of people. The Sage was born with both spirit magic and ancient magic. Her sister was the Saint who controlled the Light Attribute just like that girl from the other day. The light attribute is a rare element that can be used for healing effects, buff or offensive magic.

I heard that the Saint could cure millions of people with one prayer to the gods with her abilities even if her offense was abysmal. One can’t be amazing in all your abilities, after all. The amazing thing besides her healing though were her buffs. She could increase the strength of her comrades by tenfold or even hundredfold if they were numbering in the thousands. She was eliminated by the enemy nation for being too much of a threat back then. Seeking revenge, the Sage destroyed those nations that plotted her sister’s death. She disappeared after that never to be heard from again…

While I was deep in my thoughts, we arrived at the front gate. It was already past midday when I came back. I had to wait in line this time since I’m entering the capital without an adventurer license.

I reaffirmed my will to apply for an adventurer ID when I turn 12 in one year.