With the sounds of the city flowing over the walls of their backyard, Danny played alone, like he did most days while his mother worked nearby in the shed. Danny was now three years old now. He learned his brother was five, April was eight, Jane was nine, and Barb was pregnant. Barb was very happy and could usually be found with a bright smile on her face. April had left with Jane to their academy at the beginning of spring.

The rest of the family went to the store during the daylight hours, as was usual. His mother now trusted him not climb the wall or sneak out through the house. The wall around the backyard almost reached the middle of the second floor, and doubled as support for the aqueduct system. His mother left the door to her workshop open so she could hear him if he cried or called out. The backyard had a garden on one side of his mother workshop, where Sarah raised vegetables. The other side of the workshop had an area that was cleared in a circle about five meters. The area was ringed with stones. Its purpose wasn't clear. He hadn't seen anyone use it but the kids, and that was to play in. He decided to use it himself while his mother worked. Sitting in the middle of this area, he began meditating and entered the sanctuary.

He came here infrequently at night before going to sleep. When Danny had unlocked his mana, he had gained a significant amount of intelligence from the multiple volumes of elemental affinities and mana manipulation. He had learned after that night that gaining multiple skill levels at once results in sleepiness. After his mother couldn't get him to stay awake for more than five seconds the next morning she let him sleep in. He was still a baby after all. When he finally woke up, feeling slightly light headed, he felt like he had been moving through a fog before. His thoughts were significantly faster and clearer. Subsequent skill leveling didn't result in a noticeable result. If it wasn't for the movement of the triangle and its red color change, Danny would never know it happened. Without the mana episode he probably would have thought the attribute gain was a joke those old sorcerers came up with. Some massive experiment into the placebo effect.

Since the morning of the "great sleep", Danny had gained two new skills under "Language". He gained four levels in "Diadem (spoken)" and three in "Diadem (written)". As far as he knew the humans had only one language, Diadem. Next he gained level three in Deception. He didn't know how to feel about that, but he had to hide what he could do until he can figure out why no one else is using magic! Shortly after he started to walk he gained an "Athletics" bookshelf. Since then he gained three in "Run," two in "Jump," and two in "Climb." There were a lot of books he wanted to read and if they were all kept up really high, they were no problem for him now. He gained level one in a new skill called "Sneak." He had gained some strength and agility from these skill gains, but, like the intelligence, it felt natural when it was at a steady progression.

Heading to the back of the bookshelves, Danny was surprised to find his sanctuary now included a hallway where the entrance to the mana room used to be. The hallway didn't travel far before splitting into two different directions in a "Y." One direction led to the mana room but the other room was new. Walking into the room he found next to the door a single upholstered armchair with an end table next to it, a lantern sitting on top. Then in the middle of the room was a small bookshelf with three books. They were the children's books he read to learn the human language. Danny's inner bookworm loved the new room, but it only had a three books, all of which were for children. What about all the books he read in his previous life? He had the knowledge for them in his skill books, why didn't they show up here? Maybe he didn't have them memorized enough to be included here.

Heading to the mana room, Danny found he had gained the 5th level in Mana Manipulation. This must have come from his knowledge and understanding from moving mana outside his body.

Now looking up at the attributes triangle. His intelligence moved to about the 80% mark. His strength barely moved and his agility moved slightly above that. He wanted to be more rounded but he didn't want to stop training his magic skills even though they would all boost his intelligence.

Leaving the sanctuary he focused on mana manipulation. How was he supposed to cast spells? He tried focusing on the element, imagining what he wanted the element to do, and saying every fantasy magic name possible. One time he thought he had actually made the air move, but he was pretty sure he hadn't been directing mana out his rear end at the time.

Picturing the mana room in his mind, he recalled the symbols on the walls. Well there was actually something he hadn't tried. He then pictured the air symbol, which was the element he always started with as it was the safest choice. He imagined the symbol in front of his palm and pushing the mana into it. He could have sworn he felt the mana twist and change shape like the symbol. He did this till his mana was almost empty and stopped. Opening his eyes, he lowered his hand and sighed. He decided casting spells was a fruitless endeavor and maybe he should focus on some sort of craft or weapon skill.

About that time his mother came around the corner with wide eyes, "Are you alright Danny!" His mother always kept her long hair tied up when she was working and it not only had come undone, but it had turned into a scraggly mess.

Danny looked up at his mother in confusion, "Mama, what's wrong?"

"Danny, just now there was big gust of wind that swept through the door of the workshop and nocked about some of my tools on the wall! Did you not feel it?"

Looking around, Danny decided it was best to level his deception. "Umm, yes mama. It went by with a big... whoosh, and I... and I did some flips," Danny exaggerated being blown into summersaults.

His mother's eyes started to roll when he mentioned the flips. She immediately had him stand up and gave him a once over, looking for imaginary injuries. "Danny, I have never seen anything like that before, back here with the walls so high… Oh no, it ruined part of Sarah's garden. She is going to be so upset." The nearest plants to where Danny had been sitting were just bent over and damaged.

Danny was glad his mother bought his silliness, but he wasn't feeling so good about Sarah's garden. He walked over with her to look at the garden.

With wide eyes of his own, he thought, *Air magic is the safest?* His mother didn't let him look long before she made the go inside.

From day one, Danny practice with air in secret. He didn't dare try any of the other elements in fear of what could happen. The others might leave behind worse evidence than just a few broken carrot plants. His next attempt with air was with his eyes open and he made sure to control the flow. He always thought he would feel the air move past when he called it, but he was casting it away from himself. Using the rune, he discovered that the mana seemed to change texture once it shaped itself like the rune. Maybe he could learn to create that type of mana on his own. He couldn't help but notice what he was doing wasn't really casting a spell, but more like producing raw wind magic. He wondered if he could manipulate the wind after it left his area of influence.

He decided to learn some fighting skills. Based on Barb's profession and how much business they did, he knew this world wasn't a safe place. He considered his options. He had taken karate for all of six months in elementary school. His mother, from his previous life, was worried for his safety and wanted him to be able to defend himself. She eventually had to start looking after her ailing father and didn't have time to take Danny to practices anymore.

Danny began punching and kicking the air. He really hoped this counted toward some skill as he felt silly just attacking the air. He tried to remember how he was trained. Turning his body with his punches, not sticking his thumb into his fist, and making a loud noise tooo... He wasn't sure what the noise was for but he got in trouble with his sensei if he didn't. He guessed it had to do with showing commitment to the action or maybe throwing off your opponent. Maybe he should have paid more attention in class.

A few months later Danny got to go to the market with his mother, Sarah, and his sisters. It was a holiday so the academy was closed. The family decided to close the store and enjoy the day, as well. On the way to the market, Danny listened to his sisters excitedly talk about the girls academy. At one point he overheard his sister mention a word he hadn't heard before.

"I didn't think many of the classes were that hard except the first one," Jane said.

"Uhhhh, it took me forever to learn [unknown], and I was almost the only one left in my group," April complained.

Sarah must have been listening to her daughters conversation too because she turned to them and made a sharp noise. April and Jane looked up to their mother who shifted her eyes my way. Both girls’ eyes grew big and quickly switched topics. Danny didn't hear the strange word used again, but he had an idea about what they had been discussing.

The market was near the river and wall that separated the inner and outer sections of the city. The marketplace was bustling with activity and vendors were hawking their wares. Besides the regular goods, there were food stalls, entertainers, and musicians. Danny's mother held tight to his hand and pointed out the things she thought he would find interesting. Danny started to notice that the majority of vendors were women, and they were all very attractive.

In his past life that would have been cause for celebration but this level of attractiveness was unnaturally so. Looking over at Sarah, Danny realized she handled the majority of trade negotiations for their family. The vendors on the street and Sarah would all have high levels of the mercantile skills. So that would mean that they all had high intelligence. Barbs skills had given her bonuses to strength and she looked like a body builder. Barb was cute, but not beautiful like Sarah. Danny could only guess his mother must have a mix of everything. She was pretty, but had some muscle definition and could move quickly when needed. He remembered how Sarah seemed to move gracefully wherever she went. Maybe, Sarah had acquired skills for both intelligence and agility. So intelligence increased attractiveness, strength increased muscle mass, and agility increased... gracefulness or maybe height?

Danny’s mother looked down at him, “Now Danny, don’t wander far from us, alright?”

Danny smiled while internally rolling his eyes, “Yes, mom.”

Danny’s mother stopped and squatted down next to him, “Danny, I am serious. Bad people will love to snatch up a kid as cute as you.”

Danny was touched by his mother’s overprotectiveness and decided the best solution was to give her a hug, “Yes, mommy. I will stay next to you or mommy Sarah.”

“Danny, you are such a good boy! Is there anything you would like to get from the market?”

Danny thought about this for a moment and did his best to turn up the cuteness factor, “I wanna a new book!”

His mother frowned down at him, “Danny, wouldn’t you like some candy or a small toy. Mommy didn’t bring much money.”

Danny smiled, “Candy please!”

His mother seemed happy with this response and turned back to speak with Sarah some more.

Danny waited a few more moments and tugged on April’s shirt, “April?”

April turned back to him, “What is it Danny?”

“I wanna go to a place wit a whole lotta books to read to me?”

April shook her head, “Not out here, but at the girls’ academy we have a huge library where we can read all the books we want.”

Danny’s eyes lit up, “Take me! Take me!”

April shook her head, “No, but when you are old enough to go to an academy they should have a library for you to use.”

Danny was dejected by this, but smiled and thanked his older sister, *What is wrong with this society that they would not have a library?* He figured they would have reached that level of sophistication by now.

At every stall they stopped at the vendors would comment on how cute Danny was. If they had some food, they would offer Danny a free sample. He noted that they didn't offer the same to his sisters, who seemed to expect this. After a while he was full and started sneaking the free samples to his sisters. His mothers didn't notice and the girls would giggle while eating.

It was getting late and they were heading through the far side of the market nearest the river. His mother had made him stop accepting free samples because she was afraid he would explode. They had just turned from a stall when they came face to face with an older woman in expensive looking clothing. There was another woman standing next to her, who was also finely dressed, and a man in an impressive looking long grey duster. His mother and Sarah seemed to recognize them and paused. The woman seemed to regard them with disdain.

Sarah spoke up while inclining her head, "Ladies and Lord Blossom, it is good to see you."

The woman looked around subtly, as if for a way to escape, before replying coolly, "Oh, hello, we decided to enjoy the festivities over here in the outer wall. The selection here is… interesting. How is your family?"

Sarah's smile seemed forced and said, "We are well. Stan… is doing great. Jane, April, say hello to your grandmothers and grandfather Blossom."

Both girls bowed and greeted their grandparents politely, "Good evening, grandmothers and grandfather."

Danny didn't need to be a detective to read between these lines. This was his father's parents. They appeared to not be pleased with who he ended up with.

Danny's mother interrupted his thoughts and said, "You haven't met your grandson, Danny. Go say high to your grandparents."

Danny walked forward and bowed as he had seen men do before, "Good evening grandmothers and grandfather."

The three bowed to the children as they were greeted, but made no attempt at small talk.

Sarah spoke up again, "Barb is pregnant again, her son Gary..."

The first Lady Blossom interrupted her, "Yes, well we need to be going. Not safe to stay out here on this side past dark."

They watched as Danny's grandparents walked swiftly across the river to the inner walls of the city. Sarah turned around and said, "Come on, let's get back home." They went home in silence.