“Alright kids it’s time for a break.” The love and joy of all children has finally been rewarded. After sitting still in these seats for gods know how long, they could finally run around and play more games. It’s not like the class was totally boring, but the kids short attention span and desire to move left them bored.

They all cheered and bounded for the door so they could commence some of their favorite activities. It was a funny sight seeing three kids at a time trying to squeeze through one small door. Matthew was one of the few who waited for the herd to get through first, before he got through with no problems.

This scene only lasted a couple of minutes before Matthew could finally exit the school in peace. All of the children played their little games in the back of the school building. It featured a grassy plain that wasn’t that big, and some trees planted close together to give the impression of a forest. This may have fooled the other children, but not Matthew. If anything this just made him wonder why someone, would randomly plant trees in the middle of a city.

Although he questioned it, these trees were Matthew’s hidden utopia. It’s been one month since he joined the school, and to make sure his cover wasn’t blown he stuck near a couple of kids. They were all commoners but that was less important than what they did every break. By playing hide and seek they gave Matthew the perfect opportunity to train his Aura.

The difference between Mana and Aura is that everyone can train and develop their Aura. You must be born with mana veins to train your Mana. It could be counted as either luck or fate that Matthew was born with Mana veins in this life.

Matthew walked up to the group of 4 kids and got ready to join in on their fun.

“Get ready to lose Matt!” shouted one of them. Matthew just replied with a smirk. He didn’t pay attention when Miss Williams made everyone give their names, so he settled on giving everyone nicknames.

The outspoken kid was chosen as the seeker while the other four split up in different directions. Matthew as usual headed straight into the group of trees. When he made sure no one was watching him, he climbed up the tree until he was out of sight. This is where he trained his Aura, and Matthew was about to enter 1st stage [Fighter].

Although Matthew already trained his Aura before and knew of its existence, he couldn’t skip past the meditation required for the first stage. A month to get there was record breaking speed, and there were no records of any geniuses in his time who accomplished this.

Matthew sat cross legged with his hands placed on his knees on a tree branch. He closed his eyes and tried to feel everything around him. The trees, the kids, the various insects all were being felt by Matthew. After some moments he suddenly shuddered and opened his eyes.

“I finally did it.” Matthew thought to himself. The first stage's only advantage was the development of the sixth sense. It was minor at first but as he kept advancing throughout the stages it would become much stronger and grander.

Right now Matthew could only sense a couple feet around him. Still it was better than nothing. He stood up and stretched as he observed the ground below him. “I guess I could actually play hide and seek for once.” It would be good training anyways for him to run around looking for the children. Matthew jumped down and performed a roll to lessen the landing.

As soon as Matthew arrived back in the clearing one of the kids spotted him and shouted “I found you Matt!” It just happened to be the same outspoken one from earlier and he sprinted towards him like his life was on the line. As soon as he arrived he tapped Matthew and had a shit eating grin on his face.

“Took you long enough. Where are the others?” Matthew replied.

“They were looking for you but will be back soon.” The outspoken kid decided to sit on the grass and pick some of them off the ground. A few moments later the rest of the kids came back.

“This time I’ll be finding you all. I’ll show you how it’s supposed to be done!” Matthew exclaimed. He was giggling to himself knowing how easy it’ll be to find these brats. Matthew closed his eyes and counted to twenty before he started the search. He already knew which direction they headed since he felt them move.

It only took five minutes before Matthew rounded up all four kids and they weren’t happy. A collective of groans sounded out when Matthew brought the last one.

“How are you so good!? This is unfair…” complained the outspoken one.

“It’s a secret.” Matthew flashed them another smirk.

“I swear I’ll make it my life goal to beat you in hide and seek Matthew!” Little did Matthew know how determined this boy was. He didn’t put it to heart because they were just kids, but Matthew just created a potential rival.

Of course that was for the future. Right now Matthew was figuring out what to do next.

“I am only five years old. I should probably learn about how much has changed before I keep training.” There was no need to rush after all. Matthew was sure he’ll do fine with this new life, since he has knowledge on his side.

“Alright kids it’s time to come back inside!” Miss Williams yelled from a window. The herd scrambled to get back inside, incase another decides to steal one of their seats. Matt however was the only one who kept a calm pace.

Matthew was the last one to arrive and decided to sit next to the hide and seek kids. This’ll be the day he finally learns their names, and make his first (?) friend.