Minor Preparations

Two years ago, Zed was able to successfully manage to conjure mana after a few attempts. Being a child of both commoners, he had the free time that he can wish for. While inside the crib when his parents are both working, Zed practiced how to stabilize his mana which took him at least a few months.

And those few months, his parents wondered why the things around him are in disarray, because of the precaution that he took to avoid suspicion, he mainly practiced magic that used the wind as the main element. Though Zed manage to master it, in such a short time, using other basic spells with different elements will only alert his parents, it was then that he thought of creating some spells exclusive only to him.

"I don't know how to create spells, but I manage to understand what drives the magic to do what the user wants. And that is imagination, if you imagine what your spell is going to do before you cast it, your spell will follow what you initially thought. That means, mana is used as a medium to behave the way you want."

Zed spent a rigorous amount of time creating some spells, as a gamer in his previous life, he learned that he should prepare some important things that will be a great help to him in the future regardless of how useless it is.

"This is like the tutorial phase in a game, but the one different thing is this is real life. This is why I need to be prepared."

Zed manages to create minor spells to help his survivability in this world, and 'Heal' is a minor healing spell to be used in special situations. 'Aegis' is a pure defensive spell to be used in dangerous situations. 'Flameshot' is an offensive spell that can be used for attack. He also accidentally created various spells for some special instances, but these three are the things that he usually trains with.

While training his magic whenever he has free time, he always exhausts his mana which causes him to fall asleep, mana deprivation is a disease exclusive only to mages since they are the only ones that can possess mana inside their bodies. And to prevent this, potions that can refresh their mana are specifically made for such individuals. A mage will show symptoms of high fever and painful chest pain, the sole reasons why mages try not to get mana deprived. Zed on the other hand managed to understand the nature of mana depravity as he accidentally stumbled upon it on his first mana depravity incident.

The symptoms showed and Zed had to endure the intense headache brought by the fever and the intense chest pain for a few hours while his parents are away, but fortunately enough, his body managed to endure the pain that knocked him out. When he woke up, he felt so refreshed and saw some strange fluid on his skin, it is as if he shreds his skin while he was asleep like a snake. He checked his mana core and is surprised that it somehow become a lot larger than how it used to be. This is when he realized that mana depravity is essential for mages and casually deprives himself of mana.

Not much is known about mages since there are only fifty of them in the entire world, before they are recognized as mages, people from 500 years ago referred to them as demons, which ended up in a bloody massacre of those who can manipulate mana to their liking. This is instigated by the Dark Lord to eliminate the people that might be able to hinder him from taking over the world. He knows that if he doesn't eliminate all the mages in the world, it will be difficult for him to claim the world for himself.

"It hurts like hell."

It has been a few days since the prince and the princess have left the tow and Zed is still under the treatment of the physician who is doing his best to take care of him. The noble, the one responsible for Zed getting beaten up sends someone to check up on him for the entire duration of his treatment. The town knows that the noble is not the one that saved the prince and princess but because of the mercenaries who will answer his call, they are afraid to voice out.

"This spell is still in its trial phase since I don't have the chance to use it myself, but I guess it can't be helped. I need to slowly recover to train myself again, the pain is hindering me from concentrating my thoughts on the magic training." Zed placed his hand on his chest, and slowly enough, his injuries heals.

He purposely heals himself only by a small amount to avoid suspicion from the physician whom he thinks knows the work of magic once he sees his condition.

"This should be enough, it is less painful now." He said to himself and then tries to focus his mind on his training and surely enough, he can concentrate much better now that his injuries are somewhat healed. "I just hope that the physician would buy this." He hoped.

A few hours later and Zed pretended to be asleep while the physician inspects his body after seeing how some of his injuries almost healed and concluding that he needs at least weeks of treatment.

"This is not possible. I was sure he has a bruise here yesterday." He looks at Zed suspiciously but since he is asleep, he turned to ask Zed's parents instead.

"Did anyone come here?"

They just shake their heads and ask about Zed's condition instead because of his wrong way of asking the question.

"Did his condition worsen?"

"No- his condition became a lot better, to be honest. I was surprised that I am not able to ask a proper question. That's why I asked if anyone came here to treat him beside me."

"You are the only one that comes in and out of our house for the last few days aside from his friends that comes to check on him every day."

Zed's mother's words only made the physician even more confused and disregard it for healing Zed comes first.

"I just have to ask him later when he wakes up." He said to himself as he excuses himself. Zed's mother offers him a pie that she baked in case the physician gets hungry treating her son. Zed smelled the aroma of the pie and wants to ask for a piece but because of the situation, he needs to endure not eating his favorite food.

"Damn it! I should have endured the pain a bit longer!" Zed cries internally as he hears the physician enjoy the pie while inspecting his condition yet again.

"He is going it on purpose. He is torturing me! Hold it in Zed. You can do this!" just as he is telling this to himself, the physician happens to pass by his head while holding the pie and the aroma nearly made Zed grab the pie from the physician's plate.

"Please kill me." He then started to cry internally.

The physician felt a depressing aura around him, unbeknownst to him, it was Zed that was releasing it.

"Strange."

"Are you certain about it?"

"Yes, your highness. I found a few traces that belong to that group within the river. They might have mostly taken care of it, but I am certain that they are the ones behind the incident."

"Great work, you may now go and rest. I'm sure traveling for a long time had taken a toll on you. This is enough for now, you can tell me the rest of the details tomorrow."

The mage reports his findings to the one sitting on the throne, the king of the country, Zibal Hapton. He then excuses himself as his king ordered and leaves.

"Those bastards. They want to cause me trouble." King Zibal then turns to his side where a few artists are standing.

"Take care of them. Show them the punishment for trying to lay a hand on the royal blood of Hapton. Show them pain." He said with a cold tone and the artists bow their heads and left to do their assignment.

"Yes, your highness. By your order."