"The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."

Christopher McCandless

A week passed since his conversation with his father. It was now a certainty that his parents were avoiding him.

Both of them became so busy they practically ran when they saw him. To relieve the stress, he reached out and rubbed Oran’s head. The aggrieved look he gave Nathair each time soothed his irritation.

If he tried to rub or pinch Aneira, she would turn into a cat, and he wasn’t allowed to stop until she was satisfied.

Tired of his actions, Oran extracted himself and ran off.

They were by the edge of the forest. He’d talked with the other boys and eavesdropped on conversations. He found out that this area rarely saw animal activity. The animals here, while posing a small threat to children, were less savage.

The savage ones avoided this area. He had a feeling that was due to whatever the energy source was.

SENA did not notice any quantifiable changes since he started coming here a week ago.

He hadn’t ventured any further in because he was watching the other children. The group around him was age eight and below. The ones who were nine thought there were ten. The ten-year-olds thought it was beneath them to play with the younger ones.

Boys in the twelve to fourteen range were hunting or trying to become knights. By the time you were eighteen, your path in life was set.

Cur had 6 commoners Manifest last year alone. All of those people had been on the hunter team. The number of people to manifest in Cur was almost 100% higher than anywhere else.

The difference, he noticed, was that Manifestation took longer. His father mentioned that the process would take a year to happen. For the people of Cur, they Manifested in their late teens.

This had two effects. The first was that commoners were believed to be below nobles since they took so long to Manifest. The second was that the nobles always managed to have the advantage. The earlier you started at something, the better you were likely to be.

This created the absolute skill difference between the two groups.

The citizens of the villages in the area called it a miracle and blessing. Women wanted to marry the men from Cur in hopes of giving birth to children that would Manifest.

This worked out because the duke kept an eye on the area and gave special privileges. That way, any children that did manifest thought to go and serve the duke first.

The citizens might attribute it to a blessing. He had other thoughts. Nathair believed that it was due to the energy source in the forest.

Even the knights that developed in Cur stood a higher chance of developing as magic knights.

His eyes drifted along the edge. Looking back at the children playing, he couldn’t help smile.

There wasn’t much he could do for these people. He wasn’t the type to be big-hearted. He just managed to open enough to accommodate his family. Still, these kids accepted him and made him toys when he was ill.

Debts had to be remembered and repaid.

He made sure the children came along with him to play for at least one hour a day. The energy did not have any side effects and would be beneficial,

He did not know how many of them would Manifest, but there were benefits even if they did not.

This area wasn’t frequented by anyone other than children, women, and the elderly. The animals here weren’t worth hunting for the hunting teams. Before, the children would only visit here a few times a month when they were doing a punishment game or dare.

The reason they took so long to manifest wasn’t that they were slower than nobles. It was because of the time spent being exposed and the concentration of the energy.

Nathair would venture deeper after Argus gave him a few infusions. He needed to know the standards and understand the effects of the energy. As well as the duration that they should be exposed to.

At first, he was cautious when coming here. He worried that the adults would stop it, but they acted as if they didn’t see. The adults kept a cautious eye out but otherwise didn’t stop it.

He stopped hesitating after noticing their attitude. Children in this world weren’t sheltered from danger. The strong ones would survive. The cautious one would excel. The strong and cautious would thrive.

The best teacher for these children was experience. They were exposed to danger and challenges from early.

Even Argus had nodded in approval when he saw him cautiously leading the group to explore the edge of the forest.

The timer went off in his head. He rounded up the children and herded them back into town. He would try approaching his mother today.

His parents knew what he was doing. After dinner, they took his younger brother and sister to the living room. Things carried on long after the younger ones were usually asleep.

He wasn’t going to give up.

“Alright.” Argus caved in first. He rounded up Oran and Aneira, carrying them to their rooms.

“Are you sure?” Despite the worried look on her face, Sophia’s voice was hopeful.

It was hard to tell if they did or didn’t want him learning magic. They were pleased with his persistence but didn’t want to facilitate him.

“I’m sure.” There were few things that Nathair wanted more.

Sophia loosened the collar of her dress. Two amethyst were embedded in the sides of her neck.

Nathair leaned forward. His eyes wide and his mouth open. His mother’s M-gems were in a more obvious place. He felt pressure coming from her that was lacking from his father. How strong was his mother?

She took his hand in hers.

Electricity sparked in his hand. He felt a warm current pass up his hand. The hair on his body stood on end.

Warning. High levels of energy entering the body. Warning high levels of energy entering the body. Advice, move away from the energy source.

SENA, mute the warning for the energy from this source.

Yes, Nathair.

He would be getting energy from his mother for a long time.

SENA, prepare a comparison of the energy supplied by Sophia and the energy by the woods. I will review it later.

Yes, Nathair. The comparison being generated.

It wasn’t five minutes before they were finished. His mother breathed heavily, and the lines by her eyes deepened.

“Is it hard?” He asked. He planned to go to his room to investigate what just happened. The look of his mother made him stop.

“It isn’t hard.” She answered, rubbing her thumb against his cheek.

He didn’t believe her. “Mom,” The word still hurt him to say, but it also felt good.

“Expelling mana is not difficult. It is getting it into your body that poses a problem.” Sophia gave him the answer because she did not have the energy to dodge him. “Mana flows in channels around the body. Even as you are now, you have your own mana that is moving around. I am forcing a foreign substance in, and your body naturally rejects it.”

He added another item to his to-do list. He didn’t know how accurate the references he got from stories would be, but trying ideas out wouldn’t hurt. If he could control the flow of mana in his body, that would relieve the pressure from his mother.

There were more questions he wanted to ask, but he did not want to burden Sophia anymore.

“Do you have any books I can read?” He stuttered out. This was a question he wanted to ask for the last month. At this point, he would be satisfied with anything. It didn’t even have to be a book about magic.

“Do you have any books I can read?” He stuttered out. This was a question he wanted to ask for the last month. At this point, he would be satisfied with anything. It didn’t even have to be a book about magic.

His mother seemed to think about that deeply. Was that a harder request?

“Books on magic are prized.” Sophia stroked the ring on her finger. “Your father and I stole a lot of things. We stole from the royal family and cleaned out every noble house we could.” There was laughter in her voice.

Nathair kept being shocked by his parents. His mother looked badass right now.

“Those people can’t cause us problems, but we didn’t organize the things we stole. There will be a lot of bad mixed in with the good.” With the flick of her wrist, a book appeared in her palm. “You can’t show there to anyone.”

Nathair nodded. He was good at keeping a secret. He couldn’t look away from the book she held. The book disappeared, and he felt like crying. His mother was teasing him.

Sophia was amused by the expressions that crossed his face. “Here.” She presented him with a ring. “Put a drop of blood on it, and you will have access to what is inside.”

Nathair took the storage ring with both hands, unable to stop himself from trembling.