Birthday

"Happy birthday!" The twin horns and Leywins exclaimed.

"Thank you." Artha smiled sheepishly.

Adam walked to Artha and ruffled her hair. "Someone's growing fast."

"Hehe. You're just growing old." Artha giggled before running away, earning a laugh from everyone except Adam.

"You little…" A vein popped in Adam's head as he fought to keep himself from cursing. "Come back!"

Adam ran after Artha, who augmented herself with mana after seeing Adam chase after her. The Leywins and the twin horns watched the two run around with a smile. Today was Artha's third birthday, so the twin horns celebrated it alongside the Leywins.

Usually, a child barely three years old wouldn't be able to run around so casually, but then again, Artha awakened her mana core when she was a little over two years old, so her running around with mana augmentation wasn't surprising.

Adam augmented his legs and chased after the girl, fully intending to catch the brat. Seeing Adam catching up to her like that, Artha tested a theory she had for a while. Condensing the mana inside her body as much as possible, she let it burst out.

Adam reached out a hand, trying to grab the girl, but right at that moment, a red light erupted from Artha's back. Adam quickly reacted and jumped away. The minor explosion caused Artha to be launched a few feet away, but she stumbled after landing and almost fell down.

"Art!" Alice yelled, running towards her daughter.

"Art" was the nickname given to Artha by the Leywins and twin horns. Initially, Artha thought it felt too boyish, but eventually grew fond of it. She just thought it was less boyish than her actual name, so she didn't complain.

Kneeling next to her daughter, Alice quickly checked her condition with the speed of an experienced emitter. Holding her daughter's forehead, a green light appeared from Alice's hands. After a few moments, Alice's eyes widened.

"Fire attribute mana…" She gasped.

"What?!" Adam's eyes widened and shoulders slumped down in defeat as Reynolds picked up Artha. "Barely three years old and already an elemental…"

Adam crumbled to the ground with a disbelieving expression while the twin horns congratulated Artha on unlocking her fire element. Adam didn't move, losing all confidence in himself. Jasmine seemed to recall a terrible memory as she clenched her fists.

Elemental magic was magic that, as the name suggests, allows someone to manipulate one of the four elements. Artha realized that elemental magic was similar to sects from her old world.

During her previous life, Artha learned to use all four sects, but she mastered two in particular. Those two were the complete opposite of each other, fire and water. Mastering those two sects made her feared by all her opponents.

Wind offered greater cutting power and agile movements while requiring control, water offered great versatility and must make their defense into offense, earth offered great defense and required restraint, and finally, fire offered great attack power and required discipline.

Usually, wind and fire were the hardest to learn while water and earth were the easiest.

Wind required control that couldn't no one could gain in a few years. Condensing wind to cover your blade is the most simple form, and it still required a long time to master. Fire required discipline to control it without harming others yourself. It was the element of chaos, so you have to show your dominance over it by controlling its power.

Earth required you to be brave in the face of anything. If you wavered for even a moment, you will lose control and might die. Water was simple and common. Water was simple if you were calm and patient. It allowed for a perfect mixture of simplicity, defense, and offense.

Artha remembered that even her master was skilled in the water sect. Artha herself had a very good affinity for fire back then, because of her hatred and rage. It made fire harder to control, but stronger.

Artha knew that there were no quadruple elementals in Dicathen, so she wanted to try and see if she could become the first one. She had already unlocked one of her mastered skills, so she was confident about unlocking water.

"Wow…" Artha gasped, looking at her hands.

She closed her eyes and clenched her fists, and a few moments later, a dark red flame covered both her fists. Artha moved her hands around, seeing the fire flutter in the wind while remaining in the shape she wanted.

Knowing the nature of fire, it surprised Artha to see it required little to no control to manipulate the flame. Fire was chaos, so seeing fire being so obedient surprised Artha.

The Leywins and twin horns watched Artha stare at her hands with a twinkling gaze. Her growth speed surprised them, but they could only hide their amazement and envy. Everyone aside from Adam tried to hide their envy.

Adam was lying on the ground while continuously muttering about how unfair this was. Everyone here was human, so awakening at the age of ten was already more than they could even hope for.

Elves awakened at a speed much faster than what any human could ever hope to achieve. Awakening at the age of ten was considered prodigal for humans, but for elves, awakening at the age of ten meant they weren't all that talented.

Elves generally awakened when they're over seven years old, so Artha awakening so quickly was a surprise to everyone that heard about it. Of course, mana beasts are born with mana cores, so counting them isn't very fair.

Suddenly, everyone stiffened as they felt a bunch of mana signatures approaching. Those mana signatures were unmasked, and even Alice as an emitter could sense them, which meant there was trouble.

Everyone looked up at a cliff and saw a hideous, lanky man looking down at them. "Well, well, well. Would you look at that? That kid mage might be worth more than the she elf."