Chapter 10: The First Kill [1]

After that day, it has been 4 long years of training. Still being stuck within the four walls underneath Aunt Mary's mansion.

Having achieved my goal of the acquisition of Mana Maze, I could no longer really be taught how to use mana and magic until I was able to go to the academy, so I was personally trained in strength and endurance training, barely helping my body reach the physique of a slightly above average child.

Aunt Mary taught me how to study, how to bargain, and how to kill, as well as the odd supposed 'life skills' every now and then.

I was currently 10 years old, and while I did interact with aunt Mary over the 4 years, I was still traumatised from the emotional distraught my 6-year-old self had to bear.

After being exposed to the art of killing and assassination, my mind naturally dulled my emotions, turning me into an apathetic being. I had also fully lost any ambition I previously had.

I was never really incited by intense emotions anymore, and empathy bored me. Aunt Mary had once told me that I was socially awkward, but I just dismissed this as it made no sense how interacting with another human could be hard.

I mean, all you had to do with converse with them, there was no need to empathise or even manipulate a random stranger, and with enough will, I could easily achieve something merely simple like that.

I was currently sitting down on the makeshift dining table inside the room I had lived in since I could remember, as I could still not leave this room until I finished my training. I had a stoic expression, and my soft blue eyes stood out against my messily cut hair.

After 4 years, I had gradually regained my sanity and hunger, however, my body did not feel right sleeping anymore from the magic spell's side effects, resulting in me getting insomnia.

The only way for me to rest, was to blackout from no energy, meaning that I was forced to stay awake for almost 11 days at a time, and randomly just drop unconscious when my body needed to. I had no way of telling when I would blackout, so I would normally just count the days I stayed awake and kept myself occupied around the 11th day, to just knock out and sleep for 6 hours or so.

After constant training and getting the right nutrients, my body had overgone a massive transformation, and I was now just under 4'8 (146cm) as a 10-year-old. However, I still had a pale complexion and tired-looking eyes, which looked like I had been pushed to the limits of my sanity.

My jet-black hair now had whitening roots near my scalp, but I could cover them as they were still relatively thin.

"Ray..." aunt Mary called, as she walked into the room from the large entry door to see me eating.

After living in this room for so long, I had dubbed it the 'White box', as it was literally a white box, with no signs of decoration or cosiness.

"Tomorrow will be the day of your birth, and will also be the day I finally let you finish your training."

Today was the 5th of June, and tomorrow would be my birthday.

"As you know, your 11th birthday will be the day when your body should start being able to withstand learning magic, and will also be the day when we find out what attribute you possess."

In this world, there are many different beings and demihumans who co-exist with each other. Each race is born with its own trait, and humans are the only race to not be able to use their trait, magic, at birth. This is because they are innately weak, so to compromise this, they were created to slowly begin to gain power, otherwise, the burden of intense mana will stress the body, and kill them.

All magic stems from the four worldly elements; 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦, 𝘸𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, 𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘩.

There is also a chance of getting an outlier element, which was completely random. These outliers could be stronger or weaker than the four worldly elements, which depends on the talent of the mage and how they use it.

"To prepare you for the final day of training, I have arranged a mission for you to complete, which will be completely easy compared to the times you have tried to fight me."

This was sudden. I slowly stopped chewing my food and looked up at her, currently thinking of what I should do.

"Does this mean, I can leave this place?"

"Yes. After you finish this, you will report to me, and begin your time at the academy. I might have another favour to ask of you then."

I turned back my head and looked at my food. My face still had a neutral look, but inside I was calculating, trying to predict the next few steps I should take from here.

"Very well, I trust that you will provide me with the necessary things for this mission?" I asked with an inquisitive tone.

"No. You will kill them by yourself, you may make use of whatever you find for yourself unless I explicitly say not to," she said with a cold look on her face.

'Just as I thought.' There was no way this woman would help me and get her hands dirty.

I had only asked just in case of the slim chance she would say yes.

This may be my first real assassination and outside experience after nearly 6 years, but I would once again have to do it alone.

"Now go ahead and do whatever you want, you may train your mana circuit if you want to. Or not, it is up to you." Aunt Mary concluded with an inscrutable smile.

Shortly after, I heard a loud bang as the white door closed shut.

******

I was being taken to my upstairs to my old room, finally seeing something other than the same white box every day. My face still remained silent, and I only shifted my gaze across the mansion to take in my surroundings.

Strengthening my mana circuit, I buffed my hearing and sight, and the light blue glow in my eyes brightened. I could now hear the chatter of the servants as they saw me walk past them.

"God, what in the world happened to him!?"

"In the end, it seems he broke huh."

"I have always felt bad for him."

"The poor guy is still only 11 right now..."

Words of pity flooded my mind, judging my appearance and making assumptions about what happened in the 4 to 5 years I was absent.

I started to slow down the mana circuit and returned my gaze to the front of me, making it seem like I didn't hear them.

Honestly, I felt empty, and I just didn't have the motivation to try anymore. If I wanted to, I could have gotten angry at the servants for gossiping about me as soon as they meet me, but what is the benefit of that?

I gain the disapproval of all of the staff here?

Worthless, everything was worthless. I will only choose things that help me, not destroy me. This mindset will be the only thing to keep me going.

Even as I was lost in my thought, I always kept a part of my mind focused on observation, and noticed that I had reached my old room.

'Time and space are mysterious things, one thing I know is that I'm just leaving the White Box, and now I have already reached my door.'

"Please enter Young Master..." the servant beckoned, slightly bowing beside the entryway.

I expected to be hit by a forgotten wave of nostalgia, but the room just felt like a normal room. Extremely underwhelming.

"Please tell me the clothes that I should bring for your departure, as you will leave as soon as you are ready."

I pondered for a bit, contemplating whether it should be flashy or simple.

I went for the latter.

"Keep this simple, I just want a black, double-breasted overcoat with a built-in mask covering the mouth, preferably able to be buttoned up, as well as some normal grey trousers."

"Oh, and also waterproof."

The servant nodded and swiftly made her way to the private tailor after closing the door.

******

I stood at the outskirts of the mansion gate, with nothing but my clothes. It was around midday, but the clouds had started to cover the sunlight reaching the house.

I had my hands in my coat pockets and was sitting inside the car, which had just departed from the mansion.

I was given no information apart from the fact that I am to kill the chairman of some "Lotus Group", which I presumed to be a current threat to Aunt Mary at the moment.

I looked out of the window and saw the reflection of my blue eyes in front of the passing scenery.

I couldn't care less about the intentions of Aunt Mary, and I just needed to finish this job so that I could start the academy.

Once someone joined Athena Academy, due to it being a prestigious school, you would have heavily limited contact with parents and the outside world. If anyone was caught trying to interfere with the students from the outside, the school would take serious measures to bring them down.

Many students and parents despised this rule, as it made them feel isolated.

For me, this meant I could live a normal life inside there, and it wasn't the first time I would feel isolated anyway. It was perfect.

For the record, I am and was never scared of Aunt Mary, it is just that she is an obstacle to me achieving a peaceful life. I had grown sick of seclusion and training, and this was the best safe haven for me.

"You have arrived." abruptly said the driver in a flat voice.

I got out of the car and was met with an intimidating Manor in front of me.

Huge, black gates blocked my path to the door. It seemed that I needed to get in another way.

As I heard the hum of the car driving away, I looked up at the purple sky and could see the sun starting to move down towards the horizon.

'Perfect.'

Formulating a plan in my head, I slipped on my mask, and pushed downwards with all of my might, effectively leaping over a 6-foot wall.

'𝑴𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝑴𝒂𝒛𝒆.'

My eyes started to glow a bright blue, and my face looked like a shadowy blur with my jet-black hair.

I dashed past a cluster of trees planted around the perimeter of the lawn and climbed up one of the trees, surveilling the premise.

Strangely, I started to feel something that I haven't felt before swelling in my heart. This wasn't an emotion or a feeling. No... it felt more like a desire...

Inwardly, I smiled and thought,

"This seems like it will be fun..."

His Mana Maze had just told him that the towering 3-storeys Manor in front of him was surrounded by guards, all armed with guns, and with a strong aura exuding from their bodies…

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Author here :)

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