Renna moved quickly, blocking each of my attacks with ease. I ducked her strike and blasted her with wind. This sent her a good ten or so feet away from me Rocks flew toward her, but she deflected each one. She’d gotten strong these past two years.

  I placed my hand on the ground and pushed up earth-looking spikes, which forced Renna to dodge them. As I created a dozen small rocks, she did something I hadn’t seen yet. Renna crouched and jumped forward. She became a blur. She reminded me of Damon, a much slower version, but the similarity was there.

  The rocks launched forward right as Renna closed the distance and raised her sword. Her wooden sword slammed into the left side of my chest, and pain shot through me. A moment later, I was staring up at the cloudless sky, groaning.

  “Wow, that was a great fight!” Talia, my little sister, yelled. She loved watching us spar and lately, she’d been following me around, trying to watch me use magic and copy what I did. It was cute how she tried to be sneaky about it.

  “I thought I had you,” Renna said.

  Only then did I realize she was on the ground too. My side was throbbing, so I cast a healing spell to remove the pain. “Looks like this ends in a tie,” I said and walked over to her. She was rubbing the spot where the rock had hit her, it was bleeding. I healed her wound. “Sorry about that, I wasn’t trying to hit your head.”

  “I know,” Renna said, rubbing the spot where her wound had been and looked at her hand to confirm there was no more blood. “That move was supposed to catch you by surprise. You reacted better than I expected.”

  “You can thank my father for that, he does that to me sometimes.”

  “Right,” Renna stood up.

  Talia came running up, her eyes sparkling. “Thorian, can you teach me how you did that? That was so many rocks you created at once!”

  “You need to focus on the basics still,” I said and gave my sister a smile when her face turned sour. “It takes time and practice. Don’t forget, I’ve been training since you were a baby.”

  “I’m six! You were doing amazing things at this age and all I can do is… beginner stuff,” Talia pouted.

  “Don’t say that, Talia,” Renna said gently. “We all learn at our own pace. Besides, I have a feeling once you get older that you’ll be a strong mage.”

  “Whatever, I’m going to go train now! I will get as strong as you both!” Talia said and ran off.

  That caused me to laugh, with Renna joining me. It was amazing how much stronger I’d gotten these past two years. I think training with Renna was helping me a lot. My fights with Damon went better if I used magic, though he kicked my ass when we sparred with swords. At this point, I was positive I had no future as a swordsman. For whatever reason, I couldn’t get it down and was still beginner level, whereas Renna was an intermediate.

  I tried sparring with wooden swords against Renna. She crushed me. None of our matches were even close. Her sword technique outclassed mine completely. Oh well, I can’t be good at everything.

  When I started learning magic and got praised, I told myself not to get an ego. While I think I’ve done a good job, there was a part of me that thought I would be way ahead of everyone. The fact Renna was as skilled as she was had to mean there were a lot of powerful people in this world. Elias told me about how few Mystic, Divine and Master mages there were, but there was more to this world than magic. How many powerful sword fighters were out there? What about other kinds of warriors?

  Since meeting Renna, my mindset had changed to focusing on getting stronger and thinking, no, knowing there were more people my age that would be strong to rival or surpass me. That was the biggest lesson Renna taught me and now we were best friends.

  “How did you enjoy the party last week?” Renna asked.

  “Huh? Oh, your birthday party?”

  “Yeah.”

  “It was a lot of fun,” I said. That was something I learned last week. In this world, birthdays were only celebrated once and that was at ten years old. I guess there was a pretty good chance of dying before that age. Even with magic in this world, there were a lot of families that didn’t have access to a healer. Add in monsters and that only upped the deathrate. When Renna invited me to her birthday party, it had caught me off guard and I scrambled to find her a gift. “Did you like my gift?”

  “Yes, those weights you made have proven useful when it comes to training!”

  “I’m glad to hear it,” and that was the truth. I had to scramble to come up with an idea. Thankfully, Elias suggested weights when I told him Renna loved to train. I owed him for that and what he’d taught me since becoming my teacher. Which reminded me, I needed to get going. “Sorry, but I’ve got to go. Elias has a test for me to officially call myself an intermediate mage.”

  “Why are you apologizing? Go and get recognized already!”

  “Thanks, I’ll talk to you later!”

  I began running. Hopefully Elias wouldn’t be mad that I was going to be a little late. If my calculations were right, I was supposed to meet with him fifteen minutes ago. A lot had happened in these last two years.

  To start, Elias had convinced my parents to let me go into the forest, with the condition being that I go in with someone. That someone was almost always Elias. Damon started taking me with him on monster exterminations in the forest, though he often got carried away or overprotective and slayed most of the monsters.

  Elias believed I was ready, and I aimed to prove him right. He’d taught me a lot about managing my mana, along with being more effective with spells. I looked forward to becoming an intermediate mage today. I ran to the front of my house and saw Elias standing there.

  “Ah, I was wondering if you’d forgotten about your test,” Elias said in a teasing tone.

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  “Never, I got preoccupied sparring with Renna.”

  “I figured. You ready then?”

  “Yes!”

  “Let’s go to our favorite field,” Elias said.

  We walked side by side in silence, much like we usually did. I wondered what this final test was going to be. Elias refused to tell me, though he said I should be able to pass, which made me a little anxious. I would hate to disappoint him with failure.

  Before I knew it, we were at the field we always went to. Elias turned to me. “The spell I’m going to have you do will be my most powerful one. If you can cast it, you’ll be an intermediate mage and I’ll have nothing left to teach you.”

  “I’m ready.”

  Elias raised his hand and created a gigantic rock that was well over twenty feet tall. “Follow me, you won’t want to be caught in this attack,” he said and walked far away, at least half a football field away. “This should be far enough.”

  “By this command, I summon the Portal of Fire,” Elias chanted. A portal opened above him and out came a large ball of fire. To say it was large was an understatement; the ball of fire was bigger than both me and Elias combined.

  The heat was intense. I could feel myself sweating. Then the ball of fire shot forward. I watched this giant flame hit the rock Elias created earlier, which resulted in a large explosion. Even at this distance, a gust of wind caused my hair to whip around. I raised my arms to cover my eyes. Elias remained still and then it was gone.

  The explosion resembled a missile strike. A dust cloud formed, and the rock Elias had created was gone. This was the strongest spell I’d seen. No other spell came close to the raw power this Portal of Fire was. Elias taught me a few intermediate spells, like casting lightning and creating large objects with earth, things like that. This was the first large-scale attack he’d shown me.

  “Now it’s your turn,” Elias said.

  “Should I make a giant rock like you did?”

  “Nah, I only created that for you to see how strong this attack was.”

  “Okay,” I said and took a deep breath. All I needed to do was say the words and I should be able to replicate the spell. If I failed, then that meant my mana wasn’t large enough. “By this command, I summon the Portal of Fire.”

  An intense heat swelled within me, far more than a typical fireball. It came from the bottom of my feet and rose up to my head. It felt like the heat was coming out of my head. The sensation was so intense it was nearly overwhelming. Then, the heat inside me vanished as a portal appeared above. A fireball came out. It was slightly smaller than Elias’s, likely because he could pour more mana into it than I could. Then the fireball launched forward, causing a large explosion, like Elias’s.

  Once the attack was done, I found myself wanting to sit as exhaustion overtook me. That attack took a lot more mana than I expected, and my body began to shake. My breathing was rapid, and sweat dripped down my face as if I’d run several miles.

  “That’s a normal reaction,” Elias said with a laugh and patted my back. “You may now call yourself an intermediate mage.”

  “T-thanks,” I said, unable to hide the shakiness I was feeling. Slowly, the shaking started to fade, though I wouldn’t be able to cast another spell for a bit. That’s how much mana the spell consumed.

  “If you cast that spell every day, you’ll find yourself getting stronger much quicker than going into the forest and killing the monsters in there,” Elias said. “I can’t believe an eight-year-old child has learned all this in what took me my whole life to learn.”

  “Hey, if it wasn’t for you, I would still be stuck using beginner level magic,” I said, and it was true. Elias was able to teach me a ton, expanding my views on magic. There really was unlimited potential, or at least that’s how it felt.

  My statement made Elias laugh. “You think I didn’t have a teacher?” Elias asked once his laughter subsided. “My boy, it took me many years until I could cast this spell. I think I was in my twenties when I successfully casted the portal of fire.”

  Wow, that old? Not that I thought someone in their twenties was old. If Elias had asked me to guess his age when he cast this spell, I’d have guessed fifteen years old at the latest. Still, I wouldn’t let that statement go to my head.

  Elias looked at me with a serious expression, one I had never seen on his face before. “Listen to me closely, Thorian. What I’m about to say is not something I say lightly. You mustn’t let this go to your head. If you keep training like you’ve done with me, I believe you have the potential to become one of the greatest mages of this era.”

  “You really think so?” I said doubtfully.

  “Without a doubt. I recommend looking into the Arcaneum University. It’s one of the greatest universities in the world. You would be able to learn a lot more there than anywhere else.”

  “Is this like a mage school?”

  “Yes and no. Lots of researchers go to this university, as well as magic users and sword fighters. The Arcaneum University is a special place.”

  “Did you go there?”

  “Yes, that is where I achieved intermediate magic and found a party to travel the world,” Elias said wistfully.

  I recognized that look. Elias reminded me of myself during moments of nostalgia. I remember getting out of Vietnam and falling into a depression. It was a rough couple of years, until an old buddy of mine got me out, where I met my future wife. Ah, good times.

  “Anyway, let’s get back to your place. It’s time to let your parents know what you’ve achieved.”

  My parents would be thrilled about this development. Well, maybe not Damon. He might be a little grumpy about how far I’ve come with magic and how much I lack in swordsmanship. It wasn’t my fault I didn’t have a knack for the sword. Frankly, I would have loved to become a strong swordsman so that I could protect myself in close-quarter combat.

  We walked back to my house. I was thrilled with my progress, until I realized something. Now that I learned everything Elias could teach, I no longer had a teacher. Sure, I could try and experiment with magic, see what I can create, but what was my next step to become a mystic mage? I wouldn’t be able to attend the Arcaneum University for at least another five years, probably longer.

  I didn’t get much of a chance to think of that issue as we arrived and walked into my house. Zena, Damon and Talia were all in the living room. Zena was showing Talia some magic. It wasn’t anything fancy, from what I could tell it was a spell to make light.

  Zena and Talia stopped as we walked in. “You guys are back early,” Zena said.

  “Yes, well I’ve officially taught your son everything I know. I’m proud to announce that Thorian is now an intermediate mage,” Elias said.

  Wow, he cut straight to the chase. My sister started clapping, while Zena looked shocked. “Already?” Zena asked. The only one whose expression didn’t change was Damon’s. I couldn’t tell if that was a good or bad thing, I’m sure I’d find out soon enough.

  “Yes, your son is something else,” Elias said and patted my head. I know I’m a child and all, but it felt weird to have someone pat my head. “You should be proud.”

  Damon got up and walked over. “Thank you for everything you’ve taught my son. I’m proud of you, Thorian. I knew you were special, but not even I could have predicted you’d become an intermediate level mage so young. I think that’s a cause for celebration, what does everything else think?”

  I didn’t hear anyone else’s response, for my mind was blown. Did Damon compliment me? Was I hearing that right? I was so used to our sparring sessions going sour that I couldn’t remember if he’d ever said anything nice about my magic.

  That night was one of the best days of my life in this new world. My parents gave me permission to invite Renna over, which her parents were more than happy to allow, and we ate a lot of food. We even got a little tipsy as we were given a bit of wine. I’m not sure if it was good to give kids in this world, but what the hell.

  In my old life, I was very tolerant of alcohol. I could drink a lot before getting drunk. I’d forgotten that I was in a new body because I gulped my small cup of wine down, much to the shock of everyone else, and then it hit me all at once. Thankfully, I wasn’t given enough to get super drunk.

  Me and Renna talked about being intermediate level and how long it would take us to reach that next level. This was going to be interesting, for Elias couldn’t reach it with his decades of experience. Hopefully I could make it to the next level. Time would tell on that one.