Jack Potter... Or Maybe Not?

|A few minutes later, Jack's POV:|

...

"Very well, I will begin with the examination. Make sure to stay still for a moment..."

"..."

"Listen to her Jack"

"Alright, alright..."

Rolling my eyes as I nodded my head slightly, I glanced at the old woman in front of me with suspicion, before I proceeded to relax my body so that she could begin with her "examination" as she called it.

Though, I still kept the frying pan in my hand... Just in case.

Mom tried to take it away from me after she had punched me. However, I remained adamant and didn't let it go no matter how much she pulled.

Of course, I would have stood no chance if she had gone all out. However, fortunately for me, the old mage interrupted our quarrel before she could use more of her beastly strength and said that it was okay, which allowed me to keep the frying pan in the end.

So, right now I wasn't completely defenseless against this old woman. Which reassured me to some extent and made me bold enough to follow her instructions, devilish as they may be behind their seemingly normal appearance...

"Give me your hand"

"Aight

After that, she told me to give her my hand, and I complied while keeping my guard high.

"Hmm..."

However, to my bewilderment, once she grabbed my stretched-out hand she closed her eyes and began doing who knows what.

"Ohmmm..."

"..."

"Ohmmm..."

"..."

"Ohmmm..."

It looked like some sort of meditation... Though, I wasn't sure.

Of course, like the respectful person that I was, I didn't say anything about her strange behavior and simply waited patiently for whatever result this "act" would bring.

However, at some point, I might or not have involuntarily muttered my thoughts out loud.

"Should I hit her?"

Which soon got me a scold from my mom, who looked at me with a reproachful gaze.

"Jack, don't"

-Sigh...-

In the end, I had to wait for her to finish doing whatever she was doing. No matter how weird it was.

"...!"

However, just when I saw her stop doing weird things and thought that she had finished, I tried to move my hand away from her but was surprised by the fact that she was holding really tightly my hand while frowning deeply with her eyes still closed.

"...?" 

Weirded out by the sudden change, I tried to pull my hand back with all my strength thinking that she was planning something. However, no matter how much I tried, it was hopeless. She had the strength of a gorilla just like my mother.

In the end, I prepared for the worst.

However, fortunately for her, just as I was preparing to tell my system to put every status point in vitality and open her head like a watermelon with my frying pan, she opened her eyes and turned to look at my mother with a complicated expression. Making me stop briefly to listen to what she had to say.

"I've finished with the examination... But, to be honest, I'm quite baffled about your child..." Scratching her cheek while wearing a confused expression, the mage spoke to my mother with a hesitant tone.

Then, before my mother could ask her what she meant by that, the mage continued: "I have good and bad news for you, Mrs. Kaya. Which one do you want to hear first?"

In response to her question, my mother glanced briefly at me for a moment with a worried look, before she then turned to look back at the mage and answered her.

"Please let me know the good one first"

Hearing that, the mage nodded and proceeded to explain.

"Very well... Ahem, the good news is that, as far as I managed to see during the examination of your child's magical system, he looks completely capable of wielding magic. There are no problems with the organs that allow Magic Power to move through the body, and his internal system seems completely capable of manifesting magic through the use of Ethernano..."

Nodding her head with a relieved expression but still not smiling, my mother muttered: "I see..." before she gained a more serious expression and asked the mage "... And the bad news is...?"

At that, the mage gained a complex expression. However, she quickly recovered and let out a sigh before explaining.

"The bad news... Well, how do I put it...? Do you know what the Ethernano container is, Mrs. Kaya?"

"No" Mom shook her head.

At that, the woman cleared her throat before she pointed at her stomach and began explaining.

"The Ethernano container is an organ inside the body of every living being that determines the amount of Magic Power that can be exerted by the body. Everybody has one, even if they don't have the talent to wield magic, they will still have a container"

"So?" My mother inquired, furrowing her eyebrows as she began having a bad feeling all of a sudden.

"The thing is, Mrs. Kaya... I can't find Jack's container inside his body... It's like it doesn't exist!"

Upon hearing that, my mom widened her eyes enormously as an expression of shock spread across her face.

However, before she was able to ask anything, the mage stopped her with a gesture before continuing.

"... However, that doesn't necessarily mean that Jack won't be able to wield magic. As I said before, I can't find it, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it isn't there"

Shaking her head, the mage shrugged her shoulders as she explained further with a helpless tone.

"The fact that I can't find it can actually mean two things. One, your son doesn't have an Ethernano container, and as such, he can't wield magic because he has no Magic Power to begin with... Or two, his Ethernano container is so small that I can't perceive it"

Saying so, the woman pointed directly at the center of my chest, before she smiled faintly as if to reassure my mother, who looked baffled at the sudden information that she was receiving.

"However, I believe that the second possibility is the most likely to be true since although faint, I was able to perceive a small amount of Magic moving through Jack's body. This proves that, at the very least, somewhere within his body there is a container. Otherwise, if he didn't have one, I shouldn't be able to feel any magic power in the first place"

"Is that so?" Hearing her, my mother smiled as she let out a sigh of relief. However, her smile wavered faintly with the next words of the mage.

"However, if his container is so small, then I don't think he has much aptitude for being a talented mage. Judging by the small amount of Magic Power that I felt through his body, I would say he has around a dozen times less Magic Power than a normal person. With such small reserves, at most, he would be able to wield magic for a few seconds before suffering from Magic Power Depletion, which can be quite dangerous depending on the situation... So, personally, I don't recommend your son to practice magic"

"... I understand" Nodding her head, my mother smiled sadly as she looked at me with a pitying gaze.

The mage also shot me a similar gaze. However, I didn't really pay attention to it.

After that, the woman stood up, before she patted up her clothes to unwrinkle them and walked along my mother towards the door.

On the way, they talked about the price for the examination, and soon after that, my mother took out the Jewels and paid the mage.

I, however, was too busy contemplating about what I had just been told to care about their conversation.

'Small container, huh?'

Normally, one would think that I would feel sad about such news.

However, I wasn't. 

After all, I could easily imagine the reason for that.

﹀

Vitality: 46

Magic power: 10

[Status points: 1059]

︿

My magic power was still as small as it had been since I was born. So, it was probable that the reason she thought it was small was because, in fact, it was indeed small!

However, that was a matter that could be rapidly solved once I began investing status points in it.

Which also led me to the second thing that I had been told.

'She couldn't find the container inside my body'

Those words left me pondering for quite a while.

However, eventually, I arrived at a conclusion.

If my magic power could grow indefinitely depending on the number of status points invested, then it wouldn't make sense for me to have a "normal" container.

After all, if I at some point added too many status points, my container would probably become bigger than my body, or at least, too big for my body to bear.

After all, considering that my Magic power was bound to change, having a fixated size for my container couldn't make sense.

As such, I arrived at the conclusion that my container may actually not be inside my body, but instead, in some other dimension, or something like that.

Maybe it worked like those inventories that actual systems are supposed to give, but that only stored my Magic Power in this case.

That way, it wouldn't be a problem even if my magic power continued growing since there wouldn't be a limited space in the first place.

Of course, this was just my crazy theory. Whether I was right or not, I didn't have a way to know.

At least not now.

So, for the time being, I could only accept my current circumstances, and simply continue storing status points until I delved further into the magic of this world...

... To an extent that my brain could bear, of course.

After all, I wasn't exactly what you could call a genius.

Handsome? Very yes. Genius? Not so much.

And besides, it wasn't like the revelations of today had brought only bad news.

For my mother, it may have seemed like that. However, for me, it was a completely different matter.

The matter of my container aside, that woman had said that my body actually seemed capable of wielding magic!

So now, that uncertainty had been cleared.

I had the potential to become a mage, even if neither of them believed that to be possible.

The only thing that I lacked right now was Magic Power, but that could be easily solved if I wanted.

Thus, my future seemed bright for once!

HAHAHA.

'So, please stop looking at me like that, mom...' I thought with a wry smile on my face as I noticed my mother looking at me with extreme sadness from the corner of my eyes. 

-Sigh...-

Well, maybe I can surprise her later on.

Who knows, maybe when I'm older I can learn a few magics and then show them to her. Surely, that will make her happy.

Huh? What if she questions me about it, you ask?

Well, if that were to happen, I would just go with the most founded and convincing answer that can exist.

'Dunno'

See? I've got everything covered!

HAHAHA.

...

°

°

°

|Kaya POV:|

...

After leaving behind Jack in the living room, Miss Sussan and I talked about how to treat Jack's special case in regard to magic from now on.

She told me various things. From how Magic Power Depletion would affect the organism so that we would treat it later, to certain materials and objects that can affect Jack's body due to his lack of Magic Power.

Now knowing that Jack had quite a peculiar condition, they were really precious advice that I was grateful to be told before any problem arose later on.

Especially because I was sure that brat would surely try to learn at least a bit of magic on his own, despite what Miss Sussan told him.

Therefore, I listened attentively to everything she said while we walked. It was better to be prepared to confront whatever trouble that brat brought himself in the future.

Better to prevent than cure.

In the end, we continued at it for a few minutes, and after a while, we were at the door and I was opening it so that Miss Sussan would pass through it.

I was about to bid her farewell. However, out of nowhere, just as she was walking through the door, she glanced behind my shoulder, in the direction of where Jack was, before she then gestured at me to follow her as if she had something to tell me that she didn't want Jack to hear.

So, confused and curious about what she had to say, I followed after her and pulled the door together behind me so that I wouldn't be left outside.

-Click-

After crossing the door I looked at her with inquiry and asked her the reason for so much secrecy.

"What is it, Miss Sussan?"

And to my unease, upon hearing my question her expression turned sour out of nowhere before she began explaining.

"Mrs. Darnell, there's one thing that I didn't mention about little Jack's condition because I wasn't sure if it was a good idea to do so in front of him... You see, Magic Power is directly tied to the life force of living beings. As such, when the body is exposed constantly to a lack of Magic Power, severe health conditions that require urgent treatment tend to arise... Which leads me to ask you, does Jack have any health problems since birth?"

However, all her speech caused me was confusion.

'Huh?'

"Health problems?" Upon hearing that last question, I couldn't help but mutter that incredulously. To which Miss Susan nodded her head with a "So I was right" expression.

"Indeed, things like a constant but light fever, a lack of energy for moving around, really small stamina, and a weak body... Jack suffers from them, right?"

"Huh?" That was all I was able to muster after hearing her.

After all, how couldn't I?

Lack of energy? Small stamina? Weak body?

Jack may have a lazy attitude, but he certainly didn't lack in any of those characteristics...

No, in fact... He was too proactive for being just a kid.

And, from Nevan's comments about the few times that Jack has helped him, he apparently was a little bit stronger than your average kid.

So, strangely, nothing was going according to Miss Sussan's assumptions.

However, before I was able to clarify her misunderstanding, Miss Sussan continued talking.

"I see... I see... Listen well, Mrs. Darnell. I'd personally recommend you to prevent your child from performing any kind of exhausting activity, as it may worsen, or re-activate any potential illness within his body product to his lack of Magic Power... Moving a little like a normal person is fine, since it may help to prevent his body from weakening too much. However, as I said, any really exhausting activity may present a real threat to his life if not careful"

'But Jack exhausts himself to the bone each day?'

As I was getting more and more confused with each word that escaped from her mouth, Miss Sussan let out a small sigh before she bowed her head and began bidding her goodbyes.

"Anyway, it was a pleasure, Mrs. Darnell. Please keep in mind what I told you... Now, farewell"

"Ah..."

I tried to say something to her. However, before I was able to, she walked away.

"..."

Seeing her departing back, I couldn't help but fall deep in thought.

'Did she make a mistake with her examination?'

She had said that Jack had a really small Magic Power... However, the problems that she thought were present in Jack due to that condition have never been there to begin with.

Then, was she wrong about Jack having a small Magic Power?

I wasn't really proficient in the topic of magic. So, I wasn't the indicate to tell if her judgment had been right or wrong.

However, upon seeing that she had made a mistake, I couldn't help but harbor a bit of hope that Jack's condition may not be what it seems at first glance.

Maybe, it was a talent.

-Click-

As I was thinking like that, I entered the house again and was able to see Jack sitting on the sofa looking absentmindedly at the air.

I wondered if my son really had an illness that he wasn't showing us, and the numerous images of his future being ruined due to such health problems soon arose in my mind.

-Pfft-

However, upon seeing his carefree face and recalling his bratty behavior from earlier, I ended up chuckling a little bit, before soon my confusion went away completely. Leaving only one thought inside my mind.

'Well, only time will tell what happens to Jack'

In the end, it didn't change the fact that Nevan and I would do our best to give him a bright future, whether he had an illness or not.

We were his parents, after all.

...

〖To be continued...〗

°

(A/N: Damn, I take a small break, and suddenly when I'm back I notice that Webnovel finally added the options of Bold and Italic for editing the text. 

Maybe I should take breaks more often. The next thing they add might be adding images to the text.

That would be wonderful. But it is more likely that Jack will get his system updated than Webnovel to add that option.

But hey, an Author can dream.

Also.

°

°

°

|Extra:|

... 

"Damn it, I forgot to ask her about how to do magic!" (Jack)

...

|Now the chapter ended for real|