Two kids, a bunch of tugs and the smell of bread.

He ran.

Despite being trapped in his body again, his mind still remembered what it was like being in the Spirit Zone.

Being free.

'How much time has passed?'

He isn't paying attention to his surroundings, so he doesn't know where he is going.

– Urgh! –

When he fell on his back, the slight sense of colliding with something, he looked around and saw he was in an alley on the bad part of the city.

'How did I get here?'

– What the hell?! So annoying. –

A group of tramps is staring at him, eyeing him like a predator would eye prey.

The guy he pushed by accident grabs him by the collar.

– Hey, you! Are you crazy? –

– S-Sorry –

– 'Sorry' doesn't cut it! Be honest, you were sent by the Black Tongues to humiliate me, weren't you?! –

– No! I wasn't! –

He didn't have the courage to hit someone on purpose… yet.

They were inspecting him, his eyes are probably red for everything that has and is happening, and the clothes aren't anything particular.

Mom and dad always make sure he is wearing the appropriate clothes for the mountain.

While engrossed in their thoughts, a woman's voice is heard outside the alley.

– What are you guys doing? Did something funny happen? –

The men all turned at the same time.

– Miss Ardere! –

He looked at Miss Ardere.

'So young!'

A redhead with hair covering one eye. She seemed to be a girl close to his age.

– Hehe, what brought you here? Are you bored again? –

One of the guys talked in a light tone, but the hands approaching Ardere were modestly clamped together. It is a natural behavior for those who knew her identity, and he is included in the list of persons that know about her.

Ardere Vallee.

She was part of the Vallee family, a family labeled to be just below the royal family in terms of hierarchy and one of the oldest families. They were the 1st-ranked nobility.

It is out of the ordinary for the youngest daughter of such a family to hang out with tramps.

– This kid came running and attacked one of us, just trying to teach him some lessons –

– N-No! I bumped into him without realizing it –

– Ha! As if! You want me to believe that? –

When the burly man raises his foot to kick his stomach, he curls up in panic.

– Ugh –

– You got to compensate boy! Where's your mom? –

Don't they have parents as well? How could they curse the parents of other people like that?

– The look in your eyes has changed. Are you upset? –

The tramps who noticed his confusion rushed in and started beating him down.

– Stop it. You'll hurt him too much. – As soon as the tramps back away, she jumps down from the wooden box and approaches him – You okay? –

– I-I didn't do anything –

– Nobody said anything. I'm asking if you're okay – She looks at him for a while, to just turn her head to the tramps – What are you going to do now? Do you have anything more interesting in mind? –

He thought she would offer him help or let him go.

On the other hand, the tramps spoke calmly.

– We were planning on just checking for money, then selling him away to a brothel after – Ardere smirked.

– Hmm – Ardere, who is carefully examining his appearance, came up with a sadistic smile – There shouldn't be any defects in a male prostitute. Why don't you take off your clothes so we can check for any? –

– Take it off. Who knows? If you do as I say, I might let you go –

He can't believe this is happening. These so-called humans in front of him looked like demons in his eyes.

– How could you? That's a really bad thing to do –

– Don't you know? This is how the world runs. After all, you're just labeled as a victim because you're being harassed. Whether it's this or that, it's all the same for weaklings. Everyone only cares about themselves –

The leader of the tramps snorted.

– Hey! She told you to take off your clothes! You wanna get beat up again? –

At some point, Ardere began to look a little uneasy at the unresponsiveness.

He didn't go mad.

He is focusing on the changes in his brain more than ever before. Entering the Spirit Zone as his strained mentality became extremely sensitive to the violence he experienced for the first time. Human violence.

'This is…?'

It is definitely different from the first time he experienced it. This second time he experiences it, he is level headed enough to understand the information flooding his mind.

He could almost smell a pair of eyes blinking.

As strange as that is.

With the boundary between himself and the outside world torn down, he sent his consciousness along the instinctive path.

The place his consciousness ended up in was the memory of the headmaster teaching magic.

– Ah… –

His insight began to collect superficial information about the mage emotions, senses, mind, actions, demeanor, and attitude.

The information was combined in a limitless pattern that went on forever. And eventually, the essential information is brought into his consciousness.

– Hey! Quickly get out of your clothes! The miss says she wants to see! –

As the tramp grabs him by the collar and shakes him, he is almost thrown out of the zone.

The Spirit Zone, which requires high concentration to enter and maintain, is vulnerable to outside influence. The danger comparable to someone shaking the tightrope you were walking on.

He can make out that Ardere started shouting after looking in his eyes.

– Wait! Wait a minute! –

Too late.

BOOOM!

As the ferocity of the winds rose, all the physical things in the alley came to mind.

The wooden crates, the pebbles on the street, the thugs, and Ardere, were no exception.

– AHHHHH! – The scream brought him back to his senses.

A desolate empty alleyway appeared before him as things began to drop from the sky.

Thud! Thud! Thud Thud! Thud!

The heavy sound that gives him goosebumps. And at the sound of broken bones, he needed to cover his mouth, or else they would come for him.

Gravity is a familiar thing, yet it's often overlooked. But the force called gravity is a much more powerful force than most people of this place could imagine.

The tramps who fell on their limbs, hoping to use them to survive the fall, experienced first-hand the pain of fractured limbs.

– Auughhhh… –

– M-My arm… My leg… –

Their legs were grotesquely bent and the bones of their forearms pierced through their skin.

He didn't expect to produce such a disastrous result, he needed to get out of there. Until the only person who had the body intact and in good health was Ardere.

Nobles have their bodies honed from birth, it goes without saying that 1st-class nobles were the best skill-wise.

Ardere came directly to him while holding her fluttering skirt, with a dumbfounded expression – You… Who in the world are you? –

He backed a little, hands in his mouth. She doesn't need more information about him.

– Answer me! Where did you learn that magic?! How could a commoner…! – Ardere stopped talking, the guards were coming – Tsk –

She stepped on the building, leaping and zig-zagging up the walls.

He can only stare at those impressive, inhumane movements, quickly snapping back to reality with more shouts of the guards.

'I'm in trouble'

If the guards saw him, they would interrogate him about what exactly had happened.

'No one is going to believe me!'

He turns away and frantically runs towards the only person he can trust.

His dad.

***

He preferred to keep quiet about the incident. If it is brought up, he would have to tell about what happened in the academy too, about how far he went and broke many rules.

The noble district, how he jumped a wall from there and everything from the alley.

'They always tell me to keep my distance from the nobles

To never leave the main streets, less to go in an alley

I would be in too much trouble and maybe I'll be punished for life!

Aaaaaahhhh'

That was the mental train he would experience every moment he thinks back to the events that day brought, whether it was a blessing or a misfortune.

And noticed he is a bit different since he started talking to the other kids of mountaineers.

Every time he concentrates, there's always something blue when he stops to look around. Similar to the blue thing in the tree the other time, similar to the blue thing in the academy, but not the same, he calls the first one insight.

These ones… these ones are different, they have life.

Sometimes he feels there's another being in the house, but only when he was left alone in the house or going for wood.

It is clear he crossed a line. There is no going back to his normal life.

He doesn't know if this difference is good or bad.

But he couldn't reveal it.

His parents were the most precious things in the world to him, and he didn't want to burden them with such things, despite the fact they were "poor", he was never forced to go through a hopeless path.

So the only thing he could do is to never reveal it.

And due to that, daily life didn't change that much.

He helped his mom with housework and the cutting of trees. They told him that soon, she is going to teach him the carving process for simple things.

Now, most of the time he passes meditating after he cut off the trees.

Trying to train his Spirit Zone every moment he can.

Thanks to this, the time a month had passed, he managed to cut down the time it took him to enter the Spirit Zone.

He didn't try to reproduce the events of the alley after the tenth time, it was managed to do it due to his instincts kicking in. So even if a similar situation were to occur, and the same emotions were to surge forth again, he knew it'd be difficult to do it while being aware of it.

And even though he wants to learn all the steps there's no available form to get the information.

Instead, he focused on digging into the Spirit Zone which is the only thing he could do.

When he finished meditating, he practiced the Thunder Strike. Unlike the first time, the success rate dropped as he began to be conscious of the skill.

'The power of insight is incredible!'

Sometimes, beginners succeeded not because of knowledge, but because of insight.

However, cutting wood was different from magic, as you were able to practice doing it.

With each swing, he corrected his mistakes one by one.

Crack!

The tree fell satisfyingly.

But he continued to swing his axe. He was just correcting a mistake he found.

'Tomorrow, as well as the day after that…'

That was how he repeated the basics.

'For the chance to practice magic may will come one day'

While dragging the logs home, he is the most motivated as he has ever been.

– I'm back! –

The house is warm and the smell of bread and fish is in the air, the sound of paws coming his direction can be heard, a familiar pair of boots in the entrance tells him that his father is back home too.