Chapter 18

I am not the owner of the characters; all rights belong to their respective authors. I am writing this story for fun, hehehe.

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*Time skip 3 years*

In a vast plain full of life, several animals roamed, ate, or simply played in that area. This beautiful place gave a sense of warmth and tranquility, perfect for relaxing after a tense or stressful day. But within this plain, a small figure could be seen running as fast as she could.

This small figure was a beautiful young girl, running quite fast. You could see the drops of sweat falling from her forehead to her chin, her breathing heavy and rapid, trying to get enough air to keep running. She moved her legs as quickly as possible, heading toward a small hill in front of her.

Just a few meters away, she took a small handkerchief from her right pocket to wipe off all the sweat. She opened her mouth as wide as she could and took a deep breath to climb the hill.

Step by step, she began to climb the hill. It wasn't very high but quite steep, making it a bit difficult to climb. However, this did not stop her from reaching her destination. Minutes of effort passed, and she soon managed to completely climb the hill. She fell to her knees, placing her hands on the ground to avoid falling completely. She began to breathe quickly and with difficulty.

She closed her eyes, trying to regulate her rhythm. Taking deep breaths, her body began to relax, and her heavy breathing gradually decreased. She started to gain better control, and her body was beginning to relax. Opening her eyes again, she began to get up from the ground, although with some difficulty due to the pain in her knees and legs, but this did not stop her from standing.

Now more relaxed and calm, she walked toward the center of the hill, where there were a few large and small stones along with some small tree sprouts. She fixed her gaze on the person who was calmly in this place.

Sitting on one of the larger stones in a lotus position, this person was looking at a white sphere in the palm of his hand. It seemed as if he had seen something great or amazing.

"Satoruuu!!!" - She shouted at the top of her lungs to pull Satoru out of his thoughts.

Satoru, who was on the stone, continued to look at the small white sphere in the palm of his hand. He was wearing a short white T-shirt, gray pants, and black shoes. He had known about Sofi's arrival for a long time; he could feel her from miles away running towards him but did not know why she was coming at full speed without taking a break.

"Satoru, are you... ready??"

"Ready for what?" - Without taking his eyes off the white sphere in his hand.

"For what else, idiot!!! For the grimoire ceremony, today is the date!!!!"

"...."

"Was it today?" - Stopping looking at the white sphere to focus his gaze on Sofi's face, who gave him an angry look. Satoru could only put on an innocent and embarrassed face for forgetting this date.

"So you better be on time, and stop playing with mana. By the way, my uncles, who are your parents, are excited for their son who is going to receive his grimoire and have another news to tell you."

"That I'm going to be a big brother?" - Returning his gaze to the mana sphere in his hand.

"Yes, that you'll be a brothe... wait, how do you know!!???"

Without answering that question, he simply indicated his eyes, which were covered by dark glasses.

"Right, your special eyes. By the way, how did you see that your mother is pregnant?"

"Well, at first it was nothing, but soon a small speck of mana and cursed energy appeared in her stomach. That made me doubt if my mother was okay, but days passed, those small spots grew a bit, and I started to see the shape of a baby, well, more like a fetus there, although I don't know if it will be a girl or a boy."

"Oh well, I hope it's a girl so I can play with her and not leave her with her crazy, carefree, serious, and childish brother to corrupt that beautiful girl into mischief."

Turning his head to look at Sofi with a proud face, Satoru put on a confused and annoyed face at what she had just said about him.

"Are you sure you didn't bite your tongue when talking about me?"

"Nope."

"Okay, tell them I'll be back soon, so don't interrupt me for now."

"Fine, but can you take me? I don't want to walk all the way back; it's quite far from the town."

Raising his left hand, Satoru pointed in a direction where there were some small stones. Sofi walked towards them and soon saw some symbols beside the stone forming a circle. Sofi immediately recognized this and stood in the center of the symbols. Muttering some words, Satoru clenched his left fist, and Sofi disappeared from the place to appear in her house.

Without turning to see if Sofi had left, Satoru continued to look at the sphere in his hand. With his left hand, he took off his dark glasses and put them aside. Without taking his eyes off his right hand, Satoru concentrated so much that he lost track of time. Seconds passed, then minutes, and finally hours.

He found nothing new and let out a tired sigh. He lowered his head, and with his right hand, he threw the sphere to the side. It fell from his hand, rolled a bit on the ground, and then disappeared into particles.

"6 years of trying to use mana and nothing. I can see it, I can touch it, I can gather it in my fist, but I still can't use it."

"Aaaaahhh!!!" - Scratching his head in frustration, Satoru fell off the rock and began to roll from side to side for a few minutes, then stopped and looked at the sky, where he saw the sun starting to reach its highest point.

"It's almost 12 in the morning or 1 in the afternoon." - Looking at the sky to relax after seeing his great progress with mana, which was actually nothing. He could simply gather the mana from the environment into his hand in the form of a sphere that could grow a few centimeters, up to a maximum of 15cm in diameter, and shrink to 1cm in diameter.

Tired and angry at his progress, he got up from the ground, walked towards the rock he was on before, grabbed his dark glasses, put them on, joined his hands, focusing cursed energy in them, and with a poof, disappeared from the place.

In Satoru's house, there was a beautiful woman along with a man by her side; they were Satoru's parents. Meanwhile, he was on the ground, kneeling with his two arms raised and his head bowed while receiving a scolding from his mother for leaving the house early without telling them.

His father leaned against a wall, watching his wife scold their son without being able to do anything. Part of him wanted to help, but his wife was right, and he didn't want to end up sleeping on the couch and missing out on some exercise nights.

.

.

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After all the scolding and punishment from his parents, they left to secure a spot on the transport that would take them to the grimoire tower, while Satoru began to sweep his entire house with a broom. He had to finish before 5 pm because that was the time of the grimoire ceremony, and if he didn't arrive on time to receive one, Satoru would disappear from the earth.

Unable to say anything, he decided to speed up the cleaning process, sweeping faster and using the blue technique to lift the dust or trash in the house. This made cleaning easier, and once finished, he headed to his room to change clothes.

Once ready, he left his house and ran towards the direction of the other town, which was a bit far. He ran for a while until he felt the mana signature of his parents. Smiling at the great distance he was at, he decided to test the improvement of his teleportation. Joining his hands, Satoru immediately disappeared.

A second later, Satoru appeared outside the grimoire tower, where several people were waiting for the tower doors to open. He also noticed he was a bit elevated. Looking down, he saw himself falling, crossing his arms to protect his face, and reinforcing his body with cursed energy. Satoru hit the ground and attracted everyone's attention.

A cloud of dust rose from the impact of something heavy falling. It began to settle, and Satoru emerged from it with some dirt on his clothes and hair. Shaking it off to remove all the dirt, he walked towards his parents, who were waiting for him.

His father held back laughter at seeing his son make a grand entrance and attract attention, but his mother was worried about the height from which he had fallen. Running towards him, she began to check if he was okay. Satoru, seeing his mother's concern, decided to calm her down, assuring her that he was fine and had not suffered any injuries.

Soon, a sound attracted everyone's attention, and the grimoire tower doors began to move. They opened completely, revealing a hallway somewhat large compared to the exterior of the tower. A figure emerged, walking towards the crowd.

"Welcome, everyone. Today is the grimoire ceremony. All candidates, please walk to the center and wait for the ceremony to begin."

Everyone paid attention to the elder's words about how the grimoire ceremony would be conducted, but Satoru simply observed him, and something came to mind.

(Why does he remind me of Gandalf from the movie The Lord of the Rings?)

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Authors: Time for a break to write my other story, and I plan to create a few chapters to publish them consecutively, hehehe.

Word count: 1702