I had thought about this for weeks now. I needed a way to kill vampires, or even injure them. The only spells I knew that could be used to attack were Heat, Create Fire, Light, Heal, Create Wall, Shield and maybe Gust. Earth Mould can be used to create weapons, but Create Earth was too slow for combat. And out of those 6 spells, I have only practised Gust to a suitable degree, and have used Heat, Light, Mould Earth, Heal and Create Wall before. Create Fire just made fire, and took quite a bit of mana to do. Out of all of those, Shield seemed to be the only reliable defensive measure, along with Earth Wall, but I personally knew how long it takes to have an effect. I actually haven't practised Shield much. Technically its full name was Wind Shield, but that was too long for a simple spell. And how many of these spells would work against vampires? Maybe two: Heat and Set Fire. Create Wall might be able to stop their healing factor as it blocks a wound, but they could get out of it. I don't have an accurate assessment of a vampire's abilities.

That was the reason I stood before the church. I did know a vampire's weakness. The giant gate was open, and people seemed to enter. I followed them in and saw the benches that last time stood bare were filled with people, some praying, out loud or not, others reading, and others listening to a priest give a sermon. I wasn't here for any of them. I needed a way to attack vampires, and the magic the priest used on me was effective for curing blood disease, so perhaps it could help against vampirism. I, unfortunately, couldn't remember the spells themselves, and therefore couldn't replicate them. I had to get my hands on them one way or another. I would have bought a spellbook from the magic shop, but they didn't sell any spellbooks apart from utility type spells. Not to mention they were worth a house.

Therefore, I came up with the idea of the priest teaching me some spells and immediately thought of all the downsides. What if I had to become their apprentice to learn them, and then had to work at the church? Or what if they thought it was weird why a 5-year-old would want to learn magic? No, I couldn't ask them to teach me the spells. Therefore I either had to find a book, or a scroll, or a tome, or any way to store magics, that shows the spells, or see the spells myself.

I walked down to the first bench and sat down, waiting. I had to wait until the priest finished her sermon so that less attention would be on me if I were to walk to the altar or talk to a priest. I spent my time looking around. There were windows, long and colourful, that striped the wall, however, there were no artistic depictions of anything on them, unlike on Earth. The priest giving the sermon seemed to be one of 2 priests in the church. The other was by the familiar rooms and had familiar blue hair. I swore under my breath. This might become a problem. Then a lightbulb went off. I smiled, no I grinned from ear to ear; this wasn't a problem. Far from it, it was an opportunity. I shuffled off the bench and quickly walked forwards past the rest, before walking towards him.

Holding a broom, and lazily sweeping at probably non-existent dust, he seemed to be about to fall asleep. I approached him. My plan, if you could even call it that, was to take advantage of the fact we have met before. I would then use the blood disease as an excuse as to why I wanted to learn the spells. This sidestepped the problem of me having to explain to someone else what happened if they asked for a reason.

"Hello, sir." I greeted him.

He yawned and gave a half-hearted wave as he leaned on the broom, half asleep.

"Goodmorning…" He stretched and looked at me again.

"Hey, you're that kid, with blood disease."

I was surprised he remembered; I thought if have to remind him. Works for me.

"Yeah." I nodded.

…

An awkward silence quickly descended. OK… what do I say now? Do I ask outright for the spells, do I ask about the weather, how do I-

"What is it?" The priest asked as I began to panic.

"Uhm, spells- I wanted to know the, uh spells you used." I said, barely thinking of what to say after each word.

"The spells?" His eyebrows rose before he put his hand on his chin and looked up. "Hmm, let me think…"

Alright, now I would know the spell names, so then they should be easier to find if this plan doesn't play out fully. If it does… I might try and ask for a demonstration? Yeah, I'll ask for a demonstration. I looked back at the priest giving a sermon and saw people place copper coins down on the ground before them in a cloth. It was a mountain of coins, probably worth in total around 2 whole silvers! That would have been enough to… uh… buy a lot of bread. Like, a hundred loaves. I surprisingly knew very little about currency in this world, all I knew was that copper, even a single piece, would be enough to feed myself for a day or two. A single copper.

"I forgot."

"Huh?" I snapped my head back to face the blue-haired priest.

"I forgot 'em." He shrugged.

My mind went blank.

…

Ah! This must be a way to deter people from learning such spells! This complicated things, a lot. If they wouldn't even say the names of the spells, and say they forgot, even, the church probably didn't publish any books on the spells available for public use, meaning the only way to learn them was to become a priest, which could probably take a few years and by that time, the VAMPIRES COULD'VE ALREADY TAKEN OVER THE CITY AND-

"Kid, you okay?"

I blinked out of my thousand-mile stare and focused back onto the priest. I think I might have thought a little too hard about it; I had to calm down. But I couldn't help the butterflies in my stomach. I scrutinised the priest before me. If the church made priests deny even remembering their spells, they must be good liars. The priest had a raised eyebrow, looking at me, and leaning on his broomstick. A very good liar.

"You… don't remember?"

"Nope, sorry."

"You don't remember your spells?"

"Oh, no no no, I just don't remember which ones I had used." He said lifting his hands up as if to say he's innocent.

"Why you asking?"

"Oh uhm, I just… wanted to know them, so I could use them if I ever got it again!" I used the "Child voice", it always seemed to work. The reputation was not tainted today. The priest chuckled at that, time to strike while the iron was hot.

"Can I learn them?"

"Sorry kid, priest only. Maybe become one when you grow up."

"Oh… can I see them then?"

"No, sorry."

"Oh, please~?"

"Sorry kid, but still a no."

"Pleeeease?"

"No." He began sweeping again, seemingly more awake than before.

"Sorry, but they're only used when necessary."

Really, pulling the 'with great power, comes great responsibility excuse? That socks! But I couldn't argue with that. I looked down at my feet, sighing. Maybe I could build up to it?

"Alright… have a nice day." I walked away from him and quickly walked to the aisle trying to not disturb the other attendants. I took one last look at the growing pile of copper before the altar, thought briefly if I could pocket some, and left at my shameful thoughts.

Well, I'll have to work on that. But until then, I will have to train other magics. I made my way through the crowded streets of West Ursa City to the park. I had been practising spellgraving a lot and decided I had reached a suitable level. At school, I kept developing my mana manipulation, as well as practising increasing my mana generation. I could now use most of my muscles as a way to generate mana. Recently, I had thought about converting heat into mana, allowing me to gain more mana and keep going for longer. Well, if I didn't freeze to death. The first time I had thought of it in science class, which took place above my old one and taught the same stuff, I had taken all the heat out of my left hand, making it go numb and scared the crap out of myself. Luckily, it heated back up. I had also restarted my breathing exercises and have been steadily advancing plan B for Beefy. I was confident in my physical strength, and I could say I was as strong as someone twice my age. Not super strong, but getting there. I had realised something, however, and that was that the speed at which my muscles improved was decreasing. And they were also getting smaller. Or should I say, more compact? Even though I could surround my arm with my fingers, and see my bones if naked in front of a mirror, I was able to run extremely quick. Perhaps due to my low weight compared to my strength, I was able to run as I was a plastic bag caught in a wind current. I looked around myself and saw no one was near, a small hill blocking the view from behind and bushes surrounding most of my hiding spot. I leaned down and proceeded to jump straight up. I must have jumped as high as I was tall. I fell back to the ground and a dull pain radiated out from my feet. Right, my bones.

Perhaps due to my more compact muscles and their strength, or their smaller size, my bones were under a lot of stress. They provided most of my protection, my muscles too thin to help much. My muscles, however, were resistant, considering my bones hurt more than they did even if they were hit. Must be the effect magic had on them. I remember Olivia and how she was strong while looking like a little above average 10 year old. But, her muscles weren't smaller, while mine were. The difference was that she trained her body without using mana, like how I did it. It didn't build any muscle, instead, it helped infuse it with mana, so it got stronger, but also made it compact. Therefore, I had to actually train. I placed myself on the floor and began doing push-ups. I could easily lift my weight, but couldn't do more than 15 push-ups. Right, my muscle endurance was still low. While working, I decided to also work on the bone problem. Considering that bones weren't flexible like muscles, they shouldn't get smaller. Hopefully. I manipulated mana strands under the muscle and had to force them through the bone. Not by breaking them, just pushing mana into my bones. It felt weird having mana in my bone marrow, and even weirder as I moved it around to cover the skeletal system. By enhancing my bones, they should absorb the mana and get stronger, while enhancing my bone marrow would probably increase blood generation. As I stopped exercising. I had an idea. I smiled.

Then I felt pain in my chest. I placed my hand above my heart and crumpled into a ball. What the hell? I sent mana out of my mana core to probe around my heart. My stomach dropped. It… was smaller. Shit! I was also improving my heart muscles, and it seems they shrunk the heart. I quickly checked my diaphragm, but that was normal size. I breathed a sigh of relief. Must be because I use it a lot more? Of course I breathe, but sometimes I breathe harder to gain more mana when at home. Last time I actually trained my body was just before I discovered the ability to improve muscles with mana, or at the time what I thought was training them with mana. I need to exercise more.

…

Fun fact, Heal does not help against muscle soreness. It actually increases the pain for a short while. What I'm guessing it's doing is speeding up the natural regeneration of the body using magic. But I guess that doesn't stop the effects of muscles soreness or inflammation. Also, taking away heat from the inflamed area immediately intensifies the pain. Never gonna try that again. Currently, I was resting in the park, watching the sky. I had been hone for about 2 or 3 hours and I had school tomorrow, so I didn't risk pushing myself too hard. I knew from experience that Heal did make muscle soreness last significantly less, so I had enough time until tomorrow to be fully healed. The sun was close to setting, though the sky was still blue. I didn't know how long I had really. How long until the vampires attack the city? How long until a wave hits us again? How long until I have to fight? I wasn't aware of how expansive the vampire problem was; were other noble houses also infected? What even were the noble houses? Where were they stationed?

I stood up, feeling much better than before. I had been focusing on getting stronger, better at magic, better at defending myself. But I didn't have any information. I didn't know the noble houses, I didn't know anything about politics in the city, and the greater country. I didn't even know my country's name! Was it even just a country? Was it an empire, a kingdom, queendom? Every second, this vampire situation seems to get more and more complicated. The worst part was that I didn't even know if vampires actually were in the city. I needed information. Somewhere where preferably no one remembered me, and I didn't have to confront anyone. Somewhere where I could answer all of my questions. Excitement bubbled up inside me. I didn't know it until now but, I had been waiting for this. A long time.

I walked away from the park and into the busy streets. It seemed the city was going into full night mode. Unlike the outskirts or most of the outer circle of the city, the high streets were teeming with life at late hours, a sharp contrast between them and the almost abandoned roads and streets near my house. But I didn't mind the number of people, I was sure this was nowhere near the peak amount. It wasn't even sunset yet after all. But it was enough people for me to easily blend in among them. I followed masses through the city like a boat set free down a river, changing direction to get closer to my goal. I eventually made it to a familiar street. I had spotted the magic shop out of the corner of my eye and stared at the long rows waiting outside. I decided to go to the cartographers. Entering through the almost perpetually open door, I was greeted by a horde of people viewing the inside. I quickly made my way to the counter, barely winning against a couple, and proceeded to question the clerk about my destination.

"Sorry, which way is the library?"