Mana gathering

It's been a few days since his birth, and all Michael did was lay in his crib all day long.

Usually, novels and anime skip this part of the reincarnation or have a time skip to when they could move around a bit more, but Michael was experiencing every boring second of his new mundane life.

The only form of entertainment to keep him occupied was the spinning birds installed on top of his crib.

That wasn't enough.

"How's my dear baby boy?"

What the? Why can I suddenly understand my mother's words?

[I have gathered enough data to form a rudimentary understanding of their language. For your convenience, I have automatically translated their words into something you can understand directly to your brain.]

Having the ChatJK1 by his side turned out to be a literal godsend. If it could be this intelligent and help him figure out the world faster, then it could make up for the fact that God put him into a medieval world.

The best part was that he didn't even ask the AI to do that for him. It must have heard all the maids and butlers talking outside his room and decided to decipher the language all on its own.

"Isn't my Michael so cute? Tell me he's cute," said his mother.

"Yes, madam. The young master is the cutest boy I've seen in history," replied the maid next to her.

Surprisingly, his name in this world also turned out to be Michael. He didn't dislike the coincidence.

She reached down to his crib and pinched his cheeks.

Ow! cried Michael.

"Madame, you may have hurt the boy."

"Oh silly me. It's just that my baby is so cute, I couldn't help myself."

Michael didn't mind his mother's overbearingness. She did birth him, after all. In the first few days of his birth, she watched over him without missing a beat. She could have passed him off to her multiple maids, but she took it upon herself to do it personally.

"Why don't you come meditate with me? Who knows, maybe he'll be a genius with the Earth element like me…"

His mother took him out of his cradle and sat down on the floor with her legs crossed.

She put him on her legs and tickled his sides.

"My dear Michael. I'll teach you everything there is to know about magic when you're old enough. Hmph. Your father says he wants to hire a tutor, but that's unnecessary. I can teach you all by myself."

Once she was ready, she closed her eyes.

Her previous smiles were gone and replaced by a solemn expression.

Suddenly, he saw strange mossy green particles each the same size as a grain of sand appear around the room.

These blobs of floating particles slowly revolved around her body before eventually sinking into her skin.

What's she doing? What are those things?

[Those are individual Earth element mana. She is gathering them around her body and storing them deep in her abdomen.]

Michael recognized this technique in fantasy anime. If he wasn't wrong, then this was a form of exercise or technique to gather mana to be used later.

He was mesmerized by this sight. It was the best thing he had ever seen since he reincarnated in this world.

His mother spent a good hour meditating by herself and gathering all the Earth elements into her body. Once she was done, she looked a bit exhausted.

She bid him goodbye and left him in his crib.

Once she was gone, Michael was still reeling from seeing mana in action.

Can I learn how to do that?

[Analyzation complete. Magic gathering theory obtained.]

[Would you like to start gathering mana?]

Of course, Michael said yes. If he could see those enchanting particles again, then it would completely solve his boredom during this baby phase.

He would be accomplishing two things at the same time. He would be increasing his strength, while also keeping himself entertained while staying in his crib all day.

[Downloading theory…complete!]

Suddenly, Michael felt a surge of information appear in his brain.

Without even thinking about it, he closed his eyes and started to meditate just like how his mother gathered mana.

He didn't know how to explain it; It was like instinct. It was as if he gained another arm that only had the express function of gathering mana. 

Slowly the whole room started to fill with different colors of particles.

There was green, blue, red, and silver glowing dust floating around the room. 

If green is Earth, does that mean blue is water, red is fire, and silver is air? That's the basic element in most fantasies.

[That is right. The elements available in this room are made up of the four main elements.]

Michael closed his eyes and concentrated on his body, creating a sort of hurricane or tornado in his abdomen that sucked up all the particles in the room.

Slowly, every single elemental mana sunk deep into his skin and gathered deep into his abdomen.

He felt four minuscule pebbles form in his body, each having the same color as the four elemental mana. They automatically sorted themselves into their respective stones and continued to grow them to a larger size.

If I can absorb all four, does that mean I'm able to use all the natural elements?

[Yes, that is right. However, that may not be the extent of your powers. There is reason to believe that there are other elements in this world that are not currently present in the room. You may be compatible with them as well.]

It looked like the God didn't cheap out on his powers. He became like the other main characters in anime that could master all the elements.

This is good, but it's exhausting.

He was gasping for breath even though only a few seconds had passed.

I'm tired…

[Commencing automatic Mana gathering while asleep.]

Michael closed his eyes and took a nap, with the mana particles continuing to sink into his skin.

Later, his mother came into the room, noticing that there were fewer Earth elements in the scene. 

She chalked it up as nothing more than a coincidence, not knowing that it was her son who emptied it out.