06 - One Week

A week has passed since I came into this world.

In the last seven days I've been able to notice and learn a lot of interesting things.

Unlike me and my father, who had serious problems with Mana because of our eyes, my mother didn't have this problem, so she used quality of life spells constantly at home.

Whether it was magic to wash the dishes, dust the house, or even magic to summon water and water the plants in the yard.

Sure, she avoided using these spells as much as possible, since we didn't have much money and spending Mana meant spending more on food.

But seeing her use [Everyday Spells], as they were called, made me even more excited about the magical possibilities of this world.

The [Everyday Spells] were widely known and disseminated among the commoners, (which I thought only magicians had access to on my first day here.) No one knows where the knowledge of these spells came from, since even people's grandparents already knew these spells, and no one cared to really find out the origin of it, as long as it was useful, people used it with pleasure.

Seeing so many people using [Everyday Spells] all the time throughout the week, I unconsciously learned several of these spells too, but it wasn't economical for me to use spells like that, as my mana was better used practicing spells that could be really useful to me.

Another thing that discouraged me from focusing on learning these [Daily Spells] was that from what my father told me, even if you used the [Daily Spells] several times a day for decades, it would never be enough to make you an Awakened Mage, so my interest in it waned even more.

The only thing that interested me was the doubt as to why spells like this didn't serve to evolve a mage's magical core...

In my 7 days in this world, the only thing I did was eat, sleep, work and study magic.

Ever since I asked my father to teach me spells, every night after work we go to the backyard of our house and he teaches me all the spells he's learned from wizards in his life, just like he did with Hal, Kael's older brother.

The first spell he taught me was [Levare Vitae], a very weak healing spell that I asked him for.

According to him, this spell only served to heal minor injuries that bothered the target, injuries like grazed knees, small knife cuts and the like, nothing of a grandiose nature.

And from the tests I did with this spell over the next few days, even though I had to put up with the hunger that constantly reminded me that I needed food, I discovered that the limit of this spell was really low, but not as low as my father had said.

The more I practiced and refined this spell, the less Mana it consumed and the more effective this spell became, showing me that even this spell had underdeveloped potential.

Each time I repeated the spell, I watched the Mana build up carefully, looking for places in the spell that could be optimized.

In the days that I dedicated to practicing this spell, not only did I test what each of the spell's branches did, but I also tried changing the position of these branches slightly and the results were incredible.

The more I changed the position of a branch, the more the effect of that branch changed, some positively and some negatively.

Finding the ideal position for each of the 5 branches was very tiring and painful, but I felt I was getting there.

When I was on my 10th attempt to improve the spell, I remembered something that could help me a lot.

[Spiritus Vitae] was an even more powerful healing spell than [Levare Vitae], which unlike the spell I learned from my father, someone with little practice and interest in healing spells, was something I learned directly from a healer with decades of experience and practice.

If anyone had optimized this spell, even unconsciously, it was Greta, so instead of blindly testing changes to [Levare Vitae] 's branches, I decided to use [Spiritus Vitae] as a base and modify [Levare Vitae] based on what I understood of the other spell.

Having a more advanced example of a spell that did practically the same thing but in a more efficient way, it was much easier to make modifications to [Levare Vitae].

With just 30 more attempts at [Levare Vitae] I was able to arrive at what I called an optimized form of this spell.

Using the same amount of Mana as before, the spell was 40 to 50% more powerful, being able not only to heal small wounds such as small knife cuts as before, but now it could also heal larger knife cuts, animal bite wounds or small sword cuts.

How did I find out about all this? Because yesterday morning I finished optimizing the spell and showed it to my father...

-

After we woke up, the five of us were sitting around the dining table in an atmosphere as depressing as the first day I came into this world.

Seeing the two children as thin as skeletons, unwilling to play, as if they had no souls, made even my heart ache a little.

Coming from an orphanage where everyone had some kind of problem, even if things were difficult we still found something to cheer us up, be it a fight, argument, joke, prank, anything to pass the time.

But Finn and Milla had none of that.

Finn spent the whole day sitting or lying on a chair, just watching the time go by, not complaining about anything, but not showing any interest in anything either.

Milla was a little better, still walking around the house following my mother wherever she went, but still staying shy and quiet without talking to anyone.

Hell, even though I've been in this house for so many days, I've only heard her voice once, and that was when she ran up to my father to ask him to help Finn who was choking.

Seeing such a depressing situation was getting to me, so even though I didn't feel the affection that the original Kael felt for them, I felt bad about just letting these people suffer while only thinking about my personal gain.

“Dad, I managed to improve the spell you taught me.” I said quietly, still keeping Kael's attitude, as I grabbed a hard roll to eat.

After so many days I didn't even bother with the taste of this bread anymore, my hunger was hurting my stomach so much that I had no choice but to enjoy any kind of food that came my way.

“Improve the spell? Which one?” He asked me shocked, turning his pair of purple eyes on me as he widened them in amazement.

My father's astonishment was mirrored by the other members of the family.

My mother also looked at me in surprise, and even Milla and Finn stared at me in confusion at what I had said.

"[Levare Vitae].” I said before biting into the bread and indulging in a taste I hadn't even felt on the first day.

Standing in a serious pose, my father stared at me for a few seconds, looking for any sign of playfulness on my face, while my expression remained one of boredom at the family's situation and the pleasure of being able to eat something and satisfy the hunger in my belly.

“Kael, are you sure you really improved the spell I taught you? How did you do it?” He finally asked me.

Turning my purple eyes to him, I explained as I stretched my right hand forward. “Just as I can see the path Mana takes when I see a spell, I also have control of my Mana when I'm casting a spell. So instead of just repeating the spell the way you taught me, I tried to take the spell apart to understand how it works and look for points where it could be improved. The result is that this spell is now a little more effective.”

“A bit how much?” He asked shocked.

To that question I just shrugged at him, not knowing how to quantify it exactly. “I don't know, although I've tested it on myself with small cuts, I didn't want to try to make too big a cut to the point where the spell wouldn't be enough.”

Hearing my explanation, my mother sighed in relief.

“Very well, Kael. Your safety is the most important thing.” She said with a small reassuring smile.

“When you asked me about Lady Greta and then asked me to teach you a healing spell, did you want to become a healer to earn more money?” My father quickly remembered our first conversation when I arrived in this world and connected the dots.

I nodded at him. “Yes, although we can still manage three meals a day, when winter comes I don't know how we'll cope, so I thought I'd learn healing magic and try to earn some money by healing villagers to help at least with our food, or maybe even Finn and Milla's health.”

Listening to my reasons, I swore I could see my father's purple eyes glowing more brightly than usual, before he looked away.

My mother, who had previously only had a small smile on her face, was now looking at me with eyes glistening from small tears.

Milla also stared at me sweetly, probably understanding only the last part, where I said I wanted to help buy more food and help with her and Finn's treatment.

While Finn, for the first time since I came to this world, began to stare at me intensely, but without saying anything.

“That's a great idea Kael, depending on the efficiency of your spell we can charge around 1 to 2 copper coins per patient. Even if only one person was treated a day, that would be a great help so that we could stock up on food for the winter!” My father said excitedly as he thought about how much a few copper coins would help the family situation.

“Wouldn't Lady Greta be offended by that?” I asked worriedly, not wanting to make an Awakened Wizard my enemy in my first week in this world.

My father still didn't know she was an Awakened Mage, so he just shook his head as if it were a trivial matter. “Don't worry. She set the price of each treatment at 15 copper coins, regardless of how injured the patient was, just to avoid people with minor injuries coming to her all day long. If you treat these patients she hates, you'll be doing her a favor.”

Thinking that 15 copper coins was the equivalent of half a month's food for one person, it was obvious that the poorest people with minor injuries wouldn't go to see her, but if the price of the consultation was just 2 copper coins it might increase the chances of us getting clients.

So as not to risk offending her, I still decided to go and ask permission, preferring short-term hunger to an enemy more powerful than me while I couldn't even do two spells in a row.

But in order not to frighten them by saying that she was an Awakened Mage, I made another excuse.

“To make sure she doesn't get angry and stop treating Finn and Milla, we'd better play it safe and go and ask her permission.” I said in a firm voice, surprising everyone around the table again.

Nodding his head, my father quickly finished eating and hurried me to eat faster so we could get to her house before she left to attend to someone.

As we walked to her house, my father put his hand on my shoulder and spoke to me with a smile on his face. “I'm very proud of you, Kael. Since we started studying magic together, I feel that you are maturing much faster. They say that magicians are always the wisest, and I see a Great Magician emerging in you.”

Hearing those words made me feel ashamed.

I had never been praised like that.

The most praise I got was about my genius for making a game that big companies couldn't make, from people who didn't care about me at all and just wanted clicks on their stories.

Hearing something like that from someone who really cared about me, or who cared about the former owner of this body, left me with mixed feelings.

I didn't know whether to feel proud of myself, or ashamed for taking the place of his real son...

Seeing my shame, he continued. “You know Kael, the family only needs a few extra copper coins a month to deal with our problems, no one will feel bad if you keep most of the coins for yourself too. We'll buy you better food to help you develop, maybe there's some way to make you become a wizard even with those eyes...”

“The way you're using those eyes is something I've never heard of any of our ancestors doing. And to let that potential go to waste because you can't eat enough to practice is unforgivable...”

Hearing what he said, I felt my heart warm even more, making me just nod in response as we made our way to Lady Greta's house.

Unlike our simple wooden house with three bedrooms, Lady Greta's house was large and made of stone walls, with a beautiful garden in her backyard.

But what struck me most was that not only was the house physically beautiful, but the concentration of Mana here was also much higher than in the surrounding houses, probably Mana attracted by her “Awakened Magician” aura over the years.

Knocking on the door politely and lightly, my father waited patiently for her to open the door.

After 30 seconds, the door finally opened and the short old woman looked at us suspiciously with a frown on her face.

“The date for the next treatment for the little devils in your house is set for next week, what do you want?” She asked in her husky voice as she stared into our purple eyes.

“Lady Greta, I recently taught my son a healing spell that my grandfather taught me when I was younger and he has learned it very well, so we would like to know if he attended to people with minor injuries in town, would that bother you?” My father asked very politely as he bowed his head slightly.

To my father's politeness, she just looked me up and down with a disdainful expression before replying. “Is that all you've come for? If that skinny kid can do any spell with that crap on his face, what's it got to do with me?”

Without giving my father a chance to say anything, she simply slammed the door in our faces and ignored us.

Seeing how rude this old woman was, any hint of guilt I had for copying her spells disappeared.

Looking at me and probably noticing my scowl, my father just ruffled my hair with a smile on his face and guided me back home.

“Don't mind how she spoke to us, ever since she moved here she's had the same attitude towards everyone, regardless of their identity. Even if she said those things in a rude way, what matters is what she really meant, which is that you now have her consent to start seeing other people in the city and getting paid for it.”

Listening to his explanation calmed some of my anger, but I still hadn't swallowed the way she had treated us.

Having grown up in an orphanage full of troublesome older boys, the first thing a child had to learn there was how to stand up for themselves.

Sure, I wouldn't be an idiot to try to do something to her now that she was an “Awakened Magician” and I was just a malnourished kid who had never tried offensive magic, but I also wouldn't stoop to groveling to ask her for something with such a bad attitude as the one she maintained unless it was the last alternative.

So after this matter was settled, when we went to my father's store he put up a sign on the store door announcing:

[Cure for minor injuries for 2 Copper Coins!]

Throughout the morning that day, no patients came for treatment, which prevented me from practicing magic as I had done the previous days.

This left us a little disappointed, but while we were having lunch the first patient arrived.

Holding an arm bandaged with old cloth, a man about my father's age with short black hair, an unshaven beard, dark circles under his eyes and a sword at his waist entered the store with a doubtful expression.

“Do you really have someone healing people for 2 copper coins?” He asked uncertainly, but as soon as he looked at us and found our two pairs of purple eyes, glowing in the slightly dark atmosphere of the store, staring at him with interest, the man froze.