An important part of being a baby is working out what your job is going to be for the rest of your life. I had zero years’ work experience in magic and inscribing, my connections didn’t exist, and I probably couldn’t afford a high-class education.

Classic baby problems.

On the plus side I didn’t need to pay for dental operations. I was due to get new teeth in six years. Or maybe I wasn’t. I still wasn’t sure how old I am. I wonder if my parents knew. That would be a question to ask them once I could talk. I really missed my ability to communicate.

There was an easy way to pass the time, practice magic. I still had six days until I was going to visit Indra. The other Zodiac members hadn’t returned. That surprised me. I thought battles were quick. Then again, the closest I ever got into a real fight was playing video games.

I hope I never meet what they’re fighting.

I fired dirt into the air as I thought about the Zodiac members. I think I could be a magician and an inscriber at the same time. I had time, and dedication. A memory made me hesitate.

That was a real big monster they were fighting. It was like nothing I’ve ever seen in my time on earth. A dark shape that towered towards the sky.

It was confirmation of something that I’d suspected ever since I accepted that I was in a new world. Monsters existed here.

Would I have to fight something like that if I joined Zodiac?

That was a lot of pressure. What if I don’t have what it takes?

Then again, all the nature magicians had stayed behind to look after the wall. Marv said that the city had been peaceful for over fifty years. Maybe it would be peaceful for fifty more.

For now I would focus on both jobs at the same time. I had earth creation and earth manipulation, and Indra had told me not to learn any new skills. I could learn the symbols by looking at them and talking with my father. There were things for me to do at every opportunity.

I fired a final dirt ball into the air and felt my mana running low. I definitely had to ask Indra about mana drain. I laid down and closed my eyes, preparing for meditation. My stamina was already running out.

Earth manipulation: level 1. Experience 5.8%

Meditation: level 1. Experience 70%

Mark of the Crijik: level 1. Experience 3.4%

[Earth Creation has reached level 2] [Earth Creation description: You can create earth. Limited to: Dirt, pebbles.]

Earth creation: level 2. Experience 0.1%.

Six days had passed since my first scriber lesson with my father. I’d spent the week practicing, with varying results.

I stared in anticipation at the status message. I’d been putting in overtime for the past couple of days, ready to pass the level barrier so that I could show Indra. We were going to meet up with him today.

The extra message that came with the level up was a surprise.

I’d finally gotten a description and that’s it? I suppose it was better than nothing. If it unlocked at level two then it might improve at higher levels.

Meditation had increased the most aside from earth creation because most of my time I was recharging my mana. The rest was spent shooting dirt into the room. My father had to shovel out the material by the bucketful.

On the fifth day they had given up and placed me outside. It was okay, the puffer was with me, and they kept me in eyesight at all times. My father stayed out there with me teaching me symbols. My mother had me the rest of the time, perfectly content with just being there.

I don’t know what her skills were, or her job. Despite spending so much time with her she still hadn’t picked up on my obvious signals of intelligence. Even my father teaching me didn’t faze her. She stayed and watched me learn for a full hour without putting together the fact that I understood what he was saying.

The freedom to do what I wanted worked out well for me. Whenever I was with her, she let me spray dirt wherever. My father wanted me to focus on symbols when I was with him, and I wanted to learn them as well whenever he was available to teach me.

I closed the system message with a grin.

How many babies had a level two skill?

I’m sure it couldn’t be that many.

I raised my hand into the air, and my father looked at me curiously from the side. This was one of his relaxed days, and he was fiddling with the inscriber.

I looked at him and then in my hand.

“Earth creation.” A pile of dirt flew out of my hand.

It landed on the ground in front of me, and I dropped down onto my knees to rummage through it. I was already used to being dirty.

I felt something tough in my fingers, and I brushed off the dirt triumphantly. It was a pebble. A genuine rock. It was as small as a pea, but it still existed. This proved that I could create things other than dirt.

I waddled over to my father to show him, and he picked up the pebble with a confused expression.

“I thought you had dirt creation?” His response was not what I expected.

I poked his leg. Then I poked it again, hard.

“Great job, champ.” My father gave me a pat on the head. “Indra is going to have his hands full with you today.”

He got that right. I might not be able to ask questions, but I still had a lot to discuss. I would make sure that Indra understood me, even if it meant playing charades for hours.

“You know, you’ve done so well with your spells, it makes me want to test your symbols.”

I groaned. Father always wanted to test me. He twisted everything that happened into a reason to test me. He reached into his jacket and pulled out two papers.

“These are the symbols for what elements?” I took the papers in my tiny hands.

They were twin symbols. My father had told me that no two symbols were the same, but sometimes the concepts behind the symbols stemmed from the same source. These symbols would be similar to each other.

Scribers called these twin symbols.

These two in particular had their individual parts looking like inverted, and upside down, L’s. One had two L’s inverted and upside down, and the other one had a normal L that was upside down, and an inverted L that was upside down. The second symbol also had the top line continue further than its twin.

“Ice and water.” The words came out gurgled.

“Good.” My father nodded and took back the symbols.

I wasn’t sure if he understood me or not. The word ‘ice’ was simple enough to say, but water still sounded a bit different. He looked proud of me though, so I chose to believe that he understood me.

He’d taken special care to teach me the symbols related to the elements of magic. It was apparently a traditional teaching method. Students would already be familiar with magic and the appeal of being able to infuse an item with it made them pay attention.

Our calm idling was interrupted by a bright flash of purple. The familiar mist of the teleportation crystal filled the sky above the city, and then died down just as quickly.

“Looks like our boys are home.” My dad was calm.

I wasn’t.

They have been gone for over a week. I wanted to know how their fight went. I was also a bit afraid to know the answer.

What if it had been a devastating loss?

I tugged at my father’s pants.

“We can still go to see Indra.” He turned away from the inscriber and faced me. “The company is used to doing this, don’t worry. They’ve gone out a hundred times and come back. This time Athena joined them. You haven’t met them, but they’re basically an equal to Zodiac. Don’t tell them I said that though.”

I wasn’t sure I believed his words, but his relaxed attitude calmed me down. It was hard to concentrate after that, and I failed the two surprise tests my dad threw my way.

There was one other change.

Mark of the Crijik: level 1. Experience 3.5%

The Mark of Crijik was strange. Even when I wasn’t using the skill the experience percentage would increase on its own. I was under the impression that skills couldn’t gain experience unless they were being used.

Maybe that was still the case.

I only started to feel peaceful when we were standing at the gate to the compound. The living wall stood high above me, and from a baby’s perspective it looked endless.

There were people milling in and out of the Zodiac compound. Knights in full plate armour laughed and sang on their way to the city pubs, and I couldn’t see the nature magicians on the wall. There were also a few individuals with heavier atmospheres keeping to themselves.

A shout resounded from the gate, and we turned to see a man in a robe standing at the compound entrance. Marv greeted us with open arms. His face was flushed red, and he rushed down to meet with my father.

“Look at the civilian staring in awe. Have you come to greet the heroes of Zodiac? We are accepting donations.”

“Look at the big magic man bragging.” My father slapped him on the back. “Was it a good one?”

“We got the head.” Marv’s grin widened. “Your symbols saved our bacon today. Expect a thank you note from Jackson.”

“That thank you had better be written on a bank note.” My father raised me up towards Marv. “My son’s got a lot to show you.”

“Hey there little guy. Did you miss me?” Marv didn’t wait for my response. “Of course you did. I bet you pissed your diaper when you saw I was back.”

I rolled my eyes. He wasn’t entirely wrong. I’d been worrying about the Zodiac members all week. They were the first people that I’d gotten to know who weren’t my parents. I was glad to see he was okay.

I sent a spray of earth towards his feet and giggled.

“Oh?” He bent down to pick up some of the dirt. He found a pebble. “Looks like you guys have been busy as well.”

He rolled the pebble between his fingers and looked at me with a smile.

“Jacksons gonna have one heck of a day when he finds out about this, little guy. Get prepared for a lot of questions.”

I had a few questions too. Mostly about where you guys were. I didn’t need to know about the monster, it was the place I was interested in.

The magic that I’d seen coming from all eight towers had been on my mind all week. I wanted to know if it was the work of spells or regents, or a combination of both.

There were so many questions to ask.

“Looks like you guys still decided to come. Good.” A voice called out from behind Marv, and a hand pushed him aside. “I’ve been sitting on a wall the entire week. Finally, something interesting.”

It was Indra.

“Hey kick-man, check this out. It came straight out of the baby.” Marv threw the pebble at Indra, who caught it with one hand. “Looks like his brown chunks got harder.”

He shot me a mischievous grin.

I narrowed my eyes at Marv. Technically, he wasn’t wrong, but I’d get him back for this dishonour to my name. Indra raised his hand and the pebble stopped in mid-air. It floated towards his eyes, and he examined it.

“Seriously?” Indra exclaimed. “How is this even possible? It should take years to- Your mana pool alone…”

He saw us staring and coughed, straightening his back. He turned towards me.

“I think it’s time I showed you what being a magician in Zodiac is all about.”