Chapter 2 Familiarity

As the years passed, Dante got more comfortable with both his body and his new world. Being cared for was a new feeling for him since, in his past life, he never got that. The woman taking care of him was essentially his mother; at least she was the vessel's mother. He did get into a weird agreement early on about his name, but his mother finally relented on Dante. His mother was a real softie for him.

Her name was Yuna, and surprisingly, she was an elf. He wasn't sure what type of elf she was yet since she had none of the prominent features of any elves he had read about.

Throughout the first few years of his life, he mostly spent his time reading plenty of books; he could already comprehend the language, weirdly enough. He just chalked it up to Lucifer eliminating an annoying obstacle for him.

When he was around five years old, he finally asked his mother about magic.

At first, Yuna was bewildered when her son spoke so early, but over time she came to terms with how special her child was and decided to take it all in stride.

"My knowledge doesn't extend to this world, so I'd rather not fill your head with useless things. Instead, I'm going to find you a tutor; normally, I'd enroll you in school, but that would be pointless until you reach 16." Yuna said happily.

Dante had no idea how to even begin to approach magic, but hopefully he could get an early start compared to other people since his comprehension would be many times better than other kids his age.

Like that, a few years passed by, and Dante was coming up on his 10th birthday. Every once in a while, they would get visits from elves, dwarves, gnomes, humans, and dragons who looked like humans. The dragons captured Dante's attention for multiple reasons, he was used to hearing about titanic beings who breathed fire. But these dragons were more humanoid-like but still held hints of arrogance due to how superior their anatomy made them. But on this day, Dante's world was thrown upside down. New visitors arrived, and it was a race he had never seen before, but clearly it was going to be his new favorite, Beastkin. Specifically the Foxkin, since two of them showed up today; one was a girl his age, while the other was his tutor.

The Foxkin man bowed before introducing himself and his daughter.

"My name is Ryota, and my daughter's name is Aiko. I thank you for allowing me to bring my daughter for the duration of my job." Ryota seemed incredibly humble and very well mannered, but Dante couldn't pinpoint what kind of person Aiko was. She had long orange hair down to her waist, coupled with a very slim build. She merely stood at her father's side and made a small bow before patiently waiting off to the side while Ryota explained to Yuna what he planned to teach and how.

After a few minutes, Aiko began to make her way towards Dante and whisper to him while their parents kept talking.

"I like your hair." She whispered, attempting to start small talk.

"Thanks, I grew it myself." Dante said it plainly.

At this point, Dante was growing rapidly, so he looked a bit more fit than most kids his age, and his hair had gotten fairly long. It was a deep onyx black, and it dropped all the way to his shoulders. Thanks to his mother's lineage, he was also very above average when it came to his looks.

"You don't act your age, and your eyes are uncanny." Currently, Dante's eyes are both silver-colored instead of what they were as babies. Slowly, as they conversed more and more, Dante could finally piece together what type of person Aiko was. He wasn't sure about her living situation at home, but clearly she was blessed with intelligence, so interacting with children typically didn't suit her. So she stuck with her dad, mostly since she could learn more and have someone who could understand her. Clearly, she was forced to grow up way too fast.

"You're very blunt," Dante said.

"My father says it's off-putting to people." She said this while staring at her father.

"Eh, I can't be everyone's favorite." Both seemed a bit apathetic to how people felt about them, so in a way, both of them were able to get along.

After a few more days, Ryota and Aiko finally settled in and began their tutoring.

"Do you know what mana is?" Ryota asked.

Dante just shrugged at the question.

"Mana is essentially the building block of this world, and you're going to hear that a lot." Ryota opened his hand, and a small ball of fire appeared.

"Mana is everywhere. It's in the water, air, land—you name it. Until it's sucked into our body, it has no attributes. There are multiple ways to invoke magic, like magic circles and incantations; some people need only to think or move to manifest mana. Now sit and cross your legs." Ryota instructed.

While Dante was doing this, Aiko was with Yuna in the kitchen, cooking.

"Did your mother ever teach you how to cook?" Yuna asked, and she was incredibly happy she had a girl in the house for once who she could teach little things to.

"No, she passed when I was younger." Aiko said it with no emotion.

Yuna quickly backpedaled after the lackluster response.

"I'm so sorry; I shouldn't have asked."

"It's okay; my father and I have come to terms with it. It's something that couldn't be helped, and we've learned to accept it." Aiko sounded as if she had rehearsed this in her head.

Yuna only shook her head in reply; clearly, the girl was pushing off her problems and trying to be strong.

"Remember this feeling." Ryota spoke clearly to Dante.

Currently, he is pushing his mana through Dante in order for him to be able to sense mana more easily. Having a heightened sense of mana has many positives, like anticipating what type of spell someone is casting or even detecting traps fueled by magic. Most people get their kids to start sensing mana earlier so they can acclimate faster. Kids are more adaptable since they haven't become creatures of habit yet.

As Ryota began to circulate mana through Dante, he quickly grasped what it felt and looked like.

"I'm good," Dante said.

"What?" Ryota said, confused.

"I feel it," Dante bluntly said.

"You can't." Ryota said sternly:

"Why?"

"It's not that easy."

"Well it is….?" Dante couldn't understand what the issue was.

"It takes a genius hours to memorize the feeling, and regular people days to do it. I don't doubt you could be a genius, but a few minutes is impossible." Ryota refused to believe Dante.

"How can I prove it?"

"Start circulating, then I'll inject my mana into you and feel if it's correct." Ryota knew it was completely impossible, but he decided to indulge the child. Many children thought they were a once-in-a lifetime prodigy, but sadly, the world was much bigger than their narrow minds.

Dante began to recall the feeling of his mana circulating and went ahead and replicated exactly what Ryota showed him.

Seconds passed, and Dante was curious why Ryota had yet to say anything. He looked back and covered his mouth to muffle his laugh. Behind him was Ryota, who still had his hand on his back, and plastered on his face was an incredulous look.

Quickly realizing that his face was betraying him, he composed himself once more.

"Okay, I apologize for not believing you. Since you know how to do this, we can move forward with my teaching." Ryota went back to the wooden table where he was talking with Yuna earlier and began to revise his schedule to better accommodate Dante and his quick comprehension.

While all this was going on, Yuna watched from the kitchen and couldn't help but giggle over the interaction between the two males.