Today's the day. Jin and Mary have been gone since yesterday, Rolia is gone and Nezu is outside training.

Finally, the moment I've been waiting for is here, creeping into the kitchen, I summon a small barrier box as a stepping stool and got into our silverware.

Then using my basic fire magic, I heated up a fork and bent it on my barrier. With a makeshift tool in hand and my barrier magic as a way to make the second tool, it was finally the day I'd get into my chest.

That little stunt alone cost me a good fifty percent of my mana, mainly on my first ever three-sided barrier, but it'll all be worth it. Probably.

No matter how many times I would ask, and no matter in what way I would ask, it'd always get the same response. "You'll find out when you're older..." Eventually, it got to the point where they said I was gonna be able to open the chest once I turned five years old.

Five? Are you kidding me? There's absolutely no way I'm gonna wait that long!

Hopping down from my small barrier step-stool, I formed a small blunt tension-wrench, and using my fire magic on my now mangled fork, I'd be able to create any tool I needed for the job.

Not that lockpicking an old-fashioned chest would be hard, I just like to be prepared.

Not wanting to waste any time, I flung myself down the hall using my wind magic, I've developed a better version of the old trick I was doing before, this time first shooting wind from my feet, then quickly shooting it at my back, launching me up into the air then forward in one motion.

To catch me I simply made a cup-shaped barrier to land in.

I'll be calling this technique a Catapult from now on, and sure, I may look goofy doing it, but it beats the slow walking I can do as a toddler, besides, moving with Wind magic in this way is completely silent.

Landing outside of my room, my hands shook for the first time in my new life.

I'd always get like this before every job, even the absolute smallest job or break-in would get my hands to shake. Not out of fear mind you, out of both excitement and anticipation.

No matter how many years I've spent in the business, no matter how many safes or chests or doors I crack, I always get unreasonably excited about unlocking the simplest of locks or doing the simplest of jobs.

It's been over a year since my last job, and the last job I did got me killed. Now, I finally got to ride that high again.

Re-creating my tension-wrench and walking up to the chest, it took me less than fifteen seconds to break the lock open, and be ready to open the chest.

Creating a small stepping stool, I took the lock off of the chest, careful to keep it intact, so I could reattach the lock so my parents never knew I got in.

However, I broke off a small section of my lockpicking fork and jammed the locking mechanism, so it would look locked, but be able to be opened by me at any time.

I set the lock on the side of the chest, and stepping back on my small stool, I found myself too weak to raise the lid of the chest.

Oh right, I've used a ton of mana so far today, and it appears the fatigue has started to catch up with me. Thank God I've been actually practicing for so long, otherwise, Nezu may have seen something he shouldn't have.

So, I'm gonna put my unlocked lock back on the chest, and lay down for a small nap. That way, in case I oversleep it looks like I've just been sleeping, and if not, I can get into the chest after a nice 15-minute nap.

///

Waking up, the sun seemed to have moved only slightly and my body felt completely relaxed and refreshed.

Huh, mana does seem to have a real effect on a physical body, almost as much as physical stamina I can assume. Welp, no point in theory crafting now! It's loot time!

Walking my way back to the chest, re-summoning to the barrier stepping stool, and taking off the lock, it was time to get my long-awaited prize.

Throwing the top of the chest open, what I saw made me both sad and unbelievably happy. The first thing I saw, was a pair of real daggers, as well as a small sword and set of leather armor. It looks like at age five, they're gonna train me to be an adventurer for real!

Next to the armor and weapons, were three books, labeled "Intro to Magic: The Basics.", "Creation of Magic: Custom Spells", and "Deeper into Magicks: Playing to Affinities".

This was it! Within these books were an infinite amount of possibilities!

Beneath the books, there were small round gems, each of them tinted with a different color.

In order, there was a light green marble, a cyan marble, a yellow marble, a deep purple marble, a clear marble, a glittering marble, a blue marble, a brown marble, a red marble, and finally a marble filled with a smokey white substance.

Yeah, no idea.

Picking up the marbles one by one, something interesting occurred. Similar to my ring, the marbles seemed to suck in mana, albeit a pitifully small amount.

The green, cyan, yellow, purple, and what I believed to be an empty marble all glowed with intense brightness. Amazingly, the marble that I assumed was clear actually shined in the pattern of a small galaxy after it had absorbed my mana.

Yet, as quickly as they absorbed my mana, their lights dimmed and flickered out.

Interestingly enough, the rest of the small magic marbles didn't seem to react to me at all, even when I tried to inject them with mana, they only faintly glowed.

Man, I wish I could ask Jin or Mary about this stuff, but I guess some things are destined to remain unknown.

After placing each of the orbs back in their respective places, I took out the first book, "Intro to Magic: The Basics". For the rest of the time, before my parents return, it was time to study up!