Chapter 9

"Big brother!" I opened my eyes and saw Lucille standing above me. I forgot I couldn't talk, so when I went to say good morning, a gravelly groan came out, causing me to have a coughing fit. "You're awake! Mama wants you in the living room!"

She jumped off of the bed and ran out. I held my throat, which began hurting after the incident. Damn, that's the fifth time that's happened!

I got up and got dressed. After getting fully dressed, I walked into the living room. "Good morning, Balere. Come have a seat." I sat down next to her on the couch. "We're going to have to enroll you in school. We decided to let you choose which one to enter. Here are your options." She said before putting down three pamphlets on the table.

I looked at one, and it just looked like a gross public school. That leaves two more options. The next one looked much better but was still a public school. The last one was a nice-looking private school, but after reading it, the tuition cost a lot.

'This one is off the table,' I said, throwing the first pamphlet off of the table. 'Are you able to afford this one?' She looked at it. "I don't think so..." I picked up the last one on the table and handed it to her.

"Alrighty, then. We should go to the school and fully enroll you," She said before standing up. 'Are we going to take the twins?' My cloud asked. "We sort of have to. Could you go get them?"

I stood up and went over to the twins' room. I opened it and saw Lucille sitting on her bed and Adrian at a small desk. 'We're taking a trip, come one.' They didn't see it immediately, so I cleared my throat, which hurt afterwards. "Oh, OK. Let me get my shoes!"

I stayed in the room as they got ready and looked at it. They both have a bed, one pink and one maroon. The desk Adrian was sitting at was wooden and had a book sitting on it.

"OK, we're ready!" We left the room and joined our mother, who was waiting outside. 'So, where is this school?' She looked around before pointing straight. "Come on, my little chickadees!"

I hummed a little tune while we walked. After a few minutes of walking, we arrived at a large gate. "Are you here to enroll a student?" The guard asked. "I am," Mother said with a wide grin. The guard opened the gate and let us through.

In front of the school, an old man was sitting at a clothed table. His white hair went down the side of his face in the form of mutton-chops and turned into a mustache and a fully developed beard. His golden eyes seemingly pierced my soul. "You are here to enroll a student?" He asked. His voice was rough and sounded noble. "We are. Are you the headmaster?" He nodded and stood tall. "My name is Acuzio. It is very nice to meet you."

Sharp, I suppose he must be rich. "Which one of your children is trying to enroll?" I raised my hand. "What is your name, young one?" I formed a cloud to say my name. "He can't speak, so speaks through a cloud." Headmaster Acuzio looked down at me, gauging my mana. "Your mana color is odd. Have you awakened?" I nodded.

"What type of magic can you use?" I shrugged as the cloud changed text. 'I haven't discovered that.' He nodded and came in front of the table. "Is that all you can do?"

I shook my head, and the black water sphere appeared in my hands where the cloud was. Then, it dissipated into steam, which turned into a black blade of wind. "I'm guessing you have a spell for all four elements?" He asked. I nodded and rubbed the back of my head. "How old are you?"

"He turned six yesterday," My mother answered for me. 'Do you know Ancala?' I signed. "I do. How did you learn it?" Once again, my mother answered for me. "Since he was two and a half, he was training with a beastman tribe." The headmaster looked back down at me. 'What do you wish to learn here?' He signed to me. 'I wish to learn everything about this world, and hopefully become stronger along the way.'

He smiled at me and turned back to my mother. "I think he will make an excellent addition here. I will also waive the tuition fee." I raised an eyebrow. I formed a cloud to ask, 'I thought this was the school I chose, and not the uber-fancy one.' She awkwardly giggled. "I just knew that you would impress him."

I looked back to the headmaster. 'Are you sure you do not want us to pay?' He shook his head. "You have such a promising future, so I think it's an obligation." My throat choked up. Me? A promising future? That sounds almost exactly like what I was told when I was a child. I probably should have listened to them then.

"Bring his measurements here, and we'll get him a school uniform. School will begin on August 22nd." Huh, they use August here, too? I looked down at the twins, who looked confused. "Have a good day!"

"Mama, is Balere strong?" Adrian asked. I think that's the first time he's talked. "Not yet, but he very well could be." I smiled proudly. "Could... could Balere teach us magic and sword stuff?" I raised an eyebrow. 'We aren't sure if you two can even use magic.' He nodded. "Then, can we do that thing he was asking about yesterday?"

"You're too young. Maybe when you're older," Mother answered quickly. We continued walking down the street until we reached the house.

I went to my room and sat down with my legs crossed. I saw my mana flow around my body and I smirked. I can still see some of Laurence's mana, but it seems most of the mana in me is my own. How can I make it so my stamina increases?

I groaned and fell back onto my bed. I guess I just have to use mana more. Maybe I have to overexert myself. God, I wish I had a system of some kind. One that told me all of my stats. I jumped up as I realized something. In some fantasy stories like mine, they have status plates.

I exited my room and saw Mother by herself. I cleared my throat to make my presence known, and then I had a cloud say, 'Mother, I have a random question. Are there things called status plates?'

We stood there in silence for a few seconds before she laughed quietly. "I'm not sure how you heard about those, but they do exist. They cost a pretty penny, though." I sighed in relief. 'How do they work?' She shrugged, saying, "If I knew, we wouldn't be living here!" I nodded and walked back to my room.

I might be able to influence Kasan into getting me one, but that's only hypothetical. I will eventually need to find a way to make some money. Maybe I should start writing down my thoughts, for the future.

I stood up and walked over to the bookcase. I looked through every book, and just as I had expected, they were already written. I got the final shelf and went to the last book. When I opened it, I saw that it was empty. This is either empty, or it's written in invisible ink. I decided to put it back in case it actually was written in invisible ink.

I exited the room again and found Mother still on the couch. I cleared my throat, and the cloud appeared saying, 'Is there an empty journal around here?' She nodded and entered her room. I decided to not follow her, seeing as I didn't want to enter her room. She came back out and handed me a journal. I flipped through it quickly before smiling. 'Thank you!'

I ran back into my room and sat in front of the table. I opened it and grabbed a pencil that was already on the table. Before I could begin writing, I felt some mana emanating from the book. Sigh, it seems this was written in invisible ink. I began imbuing mana into the book and words appeared on it.

I guess I can read this just to waste some time.

"Honey, I'm home!" I perked up from the book, which I seemed to be enthralled in. I put a slip of paper on the page I was at and exited my room. I saw Father hugging my mother and my siblings. Am I needed in this family? It doesn't seem like it. It looks like they are perfect without me. Like my old one...

"Balere!" My father got me out of my trance by hugging me. "Are you OK?" He whispered in my ear. I nodded to appease the man. "I know it's a little weird, but you'll start to get used to it soon enough." His words seemed weird, but they managed to get the message through.

Mother rushed to the kitchen and began cooking with Father. "So, you stopped by a school today?" He asked while cutting vegetables. "Yep. Your son just entered Tugrose Academy, and the headmaster won't make us pay a tuition fee." He stopped and looked at her. "Really? How did he manage that?" I scoffed, offended. "He's a very adaptable mage."

He shook his head and continued preparing dinner. "It's true, papa! He made a ball of water earlier!" Lucille added to my mother's argument. "Yes, but I bet any mage could do what he did today," Adrian fought with my father.

I sighed and cleared my throat. 'I'm sure a very good mage could do what I did. But only with that one element.' Adrian sat back in his chair, along with Lucille. " One element? What else can you do?" I shrugged. 'So far, only the four main elements. That was only after exhausting my mana after each test.' I demonstrated this by turning the cloud I was talking with into a sphere of water.

"And you can do that with the four main ones?" Father asked. 'Correct. Fire and water were the hardest by far. I'm soon going to move on to testing with other things like ice and lightning. Ice should be water, but solid, and I'm still not sure how to make lightning.' I was going to go on about how I could try and manipulate the plasma ions, but I caught myself. Don't want to give away too many of my tricks.

We all ate dinner, and afterward, I returned to my bed. I sensed the flow of mana in my body and sighed. I made the sphere of water in my hand. I visualized the atoms of the water and felt my mana slowly disappear as I forced them closer, making them solid.

I had only a bit left when I opened my eyes. I saw an almost completely frozen sphere of ice. I don't think I could have even done half when I started. This is good.

It dispersed into steam and I laid down. I randomly checked my pulse and felt my heart beating fast. Maybe my mana channels are a part of my circulatory system. I shrugged and snuggled under the covers. I haven't tried forming the water into different shapes. I've only made a simple shape, so I could start experimenting tomorrow. I should also try experimenting with the other types.

I jumped up. I CAN MAKE A GUN! Wait, that would be bad... I went back down and drifted off to sleep.