Chapter 12: It's For Entertainment

With how cloudy the sky was that morning, most people expected it to pour down quite heavily, however, none of that ended up happening as the sky slowly cleared out as time passed until it was clear and bright.

With how much she was always looking up every time she was outside, it was obvious that Miriam loved watching the sky or the clouds to be precise and at the moment, she was sitting on the lawn outside with her gaze up there.

"Here you go."

She quickly turned to her right at that moment to see Neo standing there with a glass of water in his hand.

"Thank you." She said before taking the glass of water from him.

"For someone your age, it's really weird that you don't like sweet things." He said as he watched her slowly take down the glass of water.

"It's not weird." She responded just after bringing the glass down from her mouth. "They just make my mouth and stomach feel weird."

"I see," Neo said before taking the glass from her. "I guess it's not exactly you who doesn't like them but your body."

"Mhm." She nodded before shifting her gaze to his left hand. "What are the books for?"

He was holding three identical brown books in his left hand and after she asked that question, he proceeded to drop the books beside her before sitting down.

"Here, you can hold onto this one." He uttered, handing her the one at the top.

"Um….okay."

She took the book from him without much hesitation and turned it around to read what was written on the cover page.

'Advanced water spells and spell creation techniques and tricks.'

"Oh."

She quickly turned to the one that was still left on the floor to see its title clearly displayed on the cover.

'Advanced fire spells and spell creation techniques and tricks.'

"Yeah, they're all the same thing but for different elements," Neo said, quite aware of the question she had in mind before opening the one he was holding. "This one's for lightning in case you were wondering."

"You're reading them?"

"Obviously." He shrugged.

"But you haven't awakened your ability, yet." She said.

'Yet? She believes I can still awaken it.'

"I know but that doesn't really matter, I already completed the beginner versions of both books so I'm going to read these ones. Let's just say it's for entertainment sake."

"Entertainment sake?"

"Mhm." He nodded. "I find these spell books interesting and I think studying them now might prove to be useful if I end up awakening my ability later."

"Maybe."

"Huh?" He muttered before turning to her.

"It's just that there's more to spells than just knowing the right words to say." She remarked, raising both of her hands. "You have to imagine and release the right amount of mana to get the spell right and that's still not all."

She expected him to be shocked or at least a bit surprised after revealing that to him but the expression on Neo's face didn't change.

"I know, but it doesn't matter to me either way because I'm still going to read them anyway." He responded.

Getting that response, Miriam just stared at him, he could tell she was struggling to understand his reasoning and after a while, she slowly turned away from him.

"I guess there's nothing wrong with that." She muttered.

Neo didn't say anything in response to that and in the absence of speech, silence set in.

Neo was busy going through the first page of the book while she just sat there staring at the rubbles of earth a little distance away from them, the aftermath of his training which ended just a few minutes ago.

"Hey." She suddenly called before turning to him.

"What is it?" He responded, his gaze still fixated on the book.

"Can you teach me?"

"Teach you what?"

"How to fight, with a sword." She remarked.

He suddenly froze at that moment and after a few seconds, he closed the book before turning to her.

"You want to learn how to fight with a sword?"

"Mhm."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She nodded.

"Alright, then, I guess there's no harm in teaching you the little I know. Knowing a bit of swordplay can prove to be useful in a situation where you can't use your ability."

He turned to the sheathed sword sitting beside him at that moment before turning back to her.

"I guess it's time to pass on the wooden sword."

"Huh?"

"Hold on for a second."

He quickly got up on his feet after saying that and zoomed off heading for the house.

About a minute later, he returned holding the wooden sword.

"Here you go." He said before handing it to her.

"Okay." She said as she received it.

"You'll be starting off with that and once you get to a certain stage you might get a real one." He articulated with a smug look on his face. "I promise to train you to the best of my ability."

'While trying not to neglect my own training.'

A smile slowly found its way to her face at that moment as she uttered, "Thank you, I'll do my best."

________ ________

Just like he promised, Neo did his best to teach Miriam the little he knew about swordplay but their training would only last for barely two years because just a week after he turned ten, Miriam stopped visiting.

According to his parents, they seem to have moved away to the capital city of Flemero, Megano.

He was a bit sad that she moved away without saying anything, however, he was mostly glad that she was no longer around and there was a very good reason for that.

The tenth year of his life which he was very wary about reaching despite the fact that getting older was inevitable.

In his last life, something terrible happened just after he turned ten, and with all the similarities this new world shared with his old one, the most blatant ones being his last name not changing and his mother, he was afraid that it was going to happen again.

His mother had already assured him a few years back that her health wasn't in decline and he believed her then until the red bracelet suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

He didn't want to believe that anything would happen to his mother but something deep down his gut was always telling him that it was only a matter of time, the time being before he turned eleven.