Chapter 13: 7 years

In a darkly lit room, one could see a boy appearing around the age of 13.

His snow white hair cascaded gently down his face as he tossed and turned in his slumber, his features appearing breathtaking, as if his face had been taken extra care of while being crafted a deity.

When all of a sudden...

**BANG**

A loud slam could be heard from within as his bedroom door swung open.

Following after a loud squeal from the individual responsible was heard.

"LYYYNDELLLL~" Her tone was loving yet playful as she called out the name of the boy on the bed.

.

..

...

Awoken abruptly from my peaceful nap, I heard the sound of what appeared to be a squirl squeaking.

I turned to see a tall girl with short blond hair, her dull grey eyes, the same as mine, stared back with a loving gaze, my only response having been.

"What do you want, Laia?" Still a bit angry from losing out on my sleep, I couldn't stop myself from letting out a rather frustrated tone.

"Don't look at me like that. Come give your big sister a hug!" Her coquetish tone left me feeling rather dumbfounded. Nevertheless, i got up from my bed slowly as I marched over and wrapped my arms around her slowly.

"Fine.. How's training been? I know mom can be brutal." As we wrap our arms around each other, I feel her arms tighten just a small bit more as she pulls me in closer.

"It's been great! You'd be surprised how strong I've gotten, I'm probably one of the top applicants for Alis!"

"Oh? that's great. What class are you in right now?" At those words, I could see her smile visibly brighten up as she says with utter confidence.

"Hehe~ I'm already a class 3 mage~" The smugness of her voice was clear as I simply shrugged it off.

"Really? Congratulations." I continued to hug her even tighter than she did me.

"That's amazing. Usually, people only reach Mid class 2 by now, don't they?"

"Yup~" mom even said I might be a genius!"

'A genius, huh.. she sure doesn't act like it.. then again, I ain't no genius to know..'

"Well, that's great for you-" Before I could even finish my sentence, all of a sudden, I felt her face smudge itself against my scalp as I felt her taking deep breaths.

*sniff* *sniff*

'Seriously..what is wrong with her..'

"Laia..what are you doing..?" I felt her body physically recoiled as she regained her clarity.

"W-What?..Nothing!" She quickly stepped away as her face turned a slight pink from embarrassment.

"You're imagining things!" With that, she trotted out as she made sure to get one last word in.

"Just come have breakfast! Mom and mia are waiting!"

"Sure, I'll be out in a bit." And with that, she was out of sight.

"Haaahh... Seriously, their behavior is starting to worry me.. im only 10, and they still do stuff like this.."

It's been officially 10 years since I've reincarnated in this new world.

The first 5 years were fairly average, I was just a toddler, so Ive had to do normal baby stuff at first, like cry when I poop, when hungry, or pretty much whenever I was uncomfortable

It was suffocating.

But thankfully, once I reached the walking age, which is like around 2 months after birth, apparently due to the influence of Mana, all living things actually grow at an accelerated rate.

Making the age of consent and legal adult age, in this world, 15 rather than 18, and 18 hear Olds can now drink as their brains and body have fully developed at that age.

But nonetheless, I'm thankful for these changes, as the very least I won't appear as a monster child when showing my intelligence, which thankfully helped me skip meaningless things like elementary through high school.

Though my body is small, I'm still an adult at heart, and I'd rather not return to that hell hole surrounded by hormonal teenagers now that I'm in the position of a woman.

This lead me to something else interesting. Apparently, here, things like kindergarten and pre-school don't exist, since the average baby can speak the first 2 weeks after they're born it's was basically never instated, rather the whole educational system was different.

Once kids reach the age of 6, they're put through 3 years of elementary school. At 9, they go through another 3 years of middle, and by the time they're 12, they're all ready for high school, which lasts for 3 years, making the average graduation age here 15.

However, that's only for "normal" people.

Apparently for those who want to pursue a life as a Mage or very rarely, a Duelist, they would "awaken" first at 12, which was deemed the optimal age for people to form their Mana core, then they would be admitted into a special program called "Orgin" where they would enroll in a pre-course program lasting 3 years to prepare them for the academy, or by its actual name, "Alis".

For Duelist, however, it was tricky, since they do not need to form a Mana core but rather transform their Mana in a way that it merges with their body, the earliest they could begin to even attempt this was 10 years old, in other words..

"I can start training soon.."

Yes, 7 years ago i declared to my mom the desire of me wanting to be a Duelist, of course she didn't take me seriously at the time since the chances of that happening were extremely low, and I was only 3.

"Today.. I'm going to tell her loud and clear."

Although there's no real specific reason why I really want to become one, in the end, it just boiled down to plain curiosity.

"Alright, I'm ready.." I finished my morning routine and made my way out to have breakfast.

"I just hope they aren't too clingy this time.."