The trio walked through the mists. This was Kai’s first time outside of the village with his older brother. By the time Kai had been able to train his older brother had already left the village, only returning once for his older sister’s 16th birthday.

Peering at Garren, Kai noticed that he had the appearance of a proper adult now. Gone was the once smooth face of a child, he now sported a short, trimmed beard. Unbothered by what existed in the mists, he walked full of confidence without a care in the world. He didn’t look eight years older than Kai, instead, he appeared more like three or four years older. Advancing in magic realms and levels had slowed down his body’s aging.

His father would occasionally send out metallic objects into the distance beyond what Kai could see through the mists. After a minute they would return to him before sending them out once again.

“Dad, what are you doing?” Kai asked after watching him repeat the process once again for the third time.

“I’m sending out probes of sorts. These metal objects resonate in a way that detects moving objects. I’m trying to find you some low-level monsters to fight, but apparently, the guards hunted the area of the mists close to our home to near extinction, so I’m having difficulty finding something suitable,” Octavian said.

“Ahh. Found something,” Octavian finally said after the fifth iteration of using his metal probes.

His father changed direction. Although Kai was used to the mists, he was thoroughly lost now that he had traveled further than ever.

When his father and brother stopped, Kai gazed around but was unable to see anything besides the usual trees, grass, and mists.

“Umm... Dad where is it?” Kai asked feeling awkward as his family stared at one tree in particular.

Squinting his eyes, Kai stared at the tree until he finally saw a slight movement. Like a chameleon, it appeared as a part of the tree, camouflaged to his eyes. A snake had wrapped itself around the trunk of the tree twice, its body the same medium brown as the tree. It remained unmoving as they watched it, only its muscles contracting ever so slightly giving hint that it was even there.

[Veiled Forest Snake – Foundation Level 37]

Kai surmised from its name that it was a predator that ambushed its victims using its camouflage. With the element of surprise gone, he should have a better advantage fighting it.

Its camouflaged form made it difficult to estimate, but it was no doubt longer than him. Looking hard, its body was about the size of his thigh, hopefully, it wasn’t large enough to swallow him if he screwed up. Not that he was worried. With his father here, he could be as reckless as he wanted, not that he would.

Before having his first fight with magic, he had to allocate his stats points. He had been so busy with celebrations and his family over the past few hours; he had forgotten to do so. Not that there had been a need to until now.

His biggest issue at the moment was not knowing how to allocate his stats to benefit his abilities and class the best. Without using his magic, he would have to take an educated guess on how to allocate them. Either way, all stats were useful in some semblance unless he was going to “min-max,” a term his first life’s mother coined. Making his choice, he hoped it wouldn’t backfire for now. He knew he could always fix his stats when he leveled up and gained more of them.

Vitality: 30 (31)

Strength: 40

Dexterity: 15

Endurance: 20

Intelligence: 20

Wisdom: 20

He noticed that his vitality was one higher than he had allocated. Must be the 5% increase from my class. Meaning once he leveled it up to 100 vitality, his true vitality would actually be at 105, giving him an extra 50 health. Happy with his choices, for now, he refocused on his opponent who now had vanished from the tree. Facepalming, he had been too absorbed in his build and had forgotten about the sneaky snake. It was probably more accurate that his father had purposefully distracted him, putting him on the back foot in the fight.

Looking around, he pulled his knife out, which was the only weapon he had on him.

“Wait, wait, wait,” his father called out stopping him.

Kai turned his head, wondering why his father would interrupt his very first battle with magic.

“I was going to give this to you tonight for your birthday present and take you hunting tomorrow, but alas you couldn’t wait to come out here and try your magic,” Octavian sighed as a sword in a scabbard appear in front of him floating in the air. His arm moved faster than Kai could see as he grabbed it before gravity could bring it down.

“Happy birthday once again.” Octavian smiled wide, presenting the sheathed sword to him with both hands.

Kai stared in wonder. The scabbard was a dark blue metal about the same length as a short sword. Accepting the scabbard, Kai strapped it onto his belt. With the scabbard attached, Kai pulled the sword out. It was a double-edged short sword of a majestic blue, etched with silver glyphs and runes that lined both sides of the blade. The wrap on the handle was done in dark red leather, that felt very comfortable to grip as if the handle was sized to his very hands. The weight was heavy, but nothing compared to what he had been using during his training.

[Short Sword – Cold Iron (Enchanted)]

“The identify spell will tell you the basics of the sword, like its composition and if its enchanted which you can easily see that it is. Now, the short sword is made of cold iron, one of the best metals for dealing with the cold. The sword will never get brittle and break. Your older sister did the enchantments, it was her present to you. Each of the three enchantments has different functions.” Pointing to the first rune, Octavian continued. “This rune will keep the blade sharp always, so you won’t have to take it somewhere to be treated or resharpened after a battle. The second means that the blade will not rust over the passage of time assuming the rune remains intact. The third is for durability, it will increase the blade’s fortitude, so it won’t break even under the toughest of enemies. Now cold iron isn’t the best, so don’t be fighting dragons with it, but it’s good enough for someone just starting out on their rise to power.”

Kai allowed his father to finish. He didn’t dare interrupt despite knowing all this already. He knew this would be one of those moments his father would cherish as he taught his son.

*Enchantments (Sharpness +1 / Anti-rust +1 / Durability + 1)

Focusing on the enchantments themselves, he could see the exact ones applied on the blade. Though it didn’t give a description of each enchantment, their names were self-explanatory even without an explanation from his father.

Taking another moment to examine the blade, Kai returned it to its scabbard. Stepping up to his father he strained his arms out wide and gave him a big hug. “Thank you, dad, this means a lot. It’s the best present I’ve ever received.”

A snort came from the side, his brother had been watching impassively this entire time.

“Your welcome son. Oh! Before I forget...” Octavian summoned another item from his spatial storage ring. A hard leather chest piece appeared suddenly. “I’m glad I didn’t get iron or steel armor for you as I had intended. The weight of that armor combined with your gravity magic would be too much for you right now.”

Taking the chest piece, he slipped the hard leather armor on over his head. It remained a little loose but not enough to bother him. Its weight was noticeable, but not so much that it would slow him down.

“Ok. Sword and armor are ready. Did you allocate your stats yet?” His father asked.

“Yep,” Kai nodded.

Crap... where is it? Kai looked all around him but was unable to find it. During his stat distribution and being given a sword, the snake moved off the tree. He looked at his father trying to search his eyes for the answer, but as if one step ahead, his father had his eyes closed with a mischievous smirk not giving anything away. Turning to his brother, he looked at his face, who was staring back at his own with an expression that read, “hurry this up. You Suck.” Typical brother stuff.

Sighing Kai continued looking. He occasionally turned back to his father, who remained smiling with his eyes closed. Maybe that’s a clue. If I can’t see it, perhaps I can hear it. Emulating his father, Kai closed his eyes and strained his ears. The mist forest was silent. He heard his heartbeat in his chest, thumping away at a fast pace. It was only after a minute of silence that he finally heard a rustle on the grass to his left. Opening his eyes, Kai turned to gaze at the location from where the noise came from. He saw nothing at first, but then the tell-tale sign of movement through its muscle contractions, near where he heard the sound.

The snake had been trying to sneak up on Kai. It was possible the creature had some intelligence. Aware that it had been seen on the tree, the snake had moved when Kai’s back had turned, changing locations to ambush him from a different spot. What a cunning beast... Thankfully it’s not in range yet.

Kai’s blood boiled with excitement. This would be his first official fight with a magic class in a long time. Jumping and stretching he loosened his body, a grin on his face. Dragging his new sword out, he held it forward with two hands. [Gravity Pillar] activated on the snake. He saw the grass flatten slightly under his spell. Giving up all pretenses of hiding, the snake moved towards him, still camouflaged.

Kai watched the snake move out of the gravity pillar partially. Only its back half was still stuck in it. Although the gravity increase wasn’t visible to him, he knew in his mind where the spell was located and its dimensions. Letting out an angry hiss, the snake reared up, springing forwards to attack. Not even hesitating, Kai brought his sword up between them. Smashing into the blade, the snake recoiled as Kai took a step back. A small amount of blood dripped down from the top of the snake’s head.

Hissing, its mouth opened wide, obviously upset it hadn’t been able to bite its prey. Kai spied finger-length fangs. Gulping, he imagined the pain of being pierced by the fangs, not even considering that the snake might be venomous. Seeing the snake had almost moved out of his gravity pillar, he canceled it and activated another one in the middle of the snake’s body effectively slowing it.

Taking the initiative, Kai charged forwards using [Heavy Blow], an unseen pressure and weight descended onto his blade. Under its newfound weight, it swung down from overhead at lightning speeds. The sudden weight and momentum caused the blade to slip out of Kai’s hands, plunging straight through the snake’s head. The snake’s body writhed as its head remained pinned to the ground with the short sword straight through the middle of its eyes. Within seconds, the snake ceased its movements.

You have slain [Veil Forest Snake – Foundation Level 37]

‘Vanguard has reached Foundation Level 20’

Kai stared at his hands, flexing them gently as if injured. Dang, that was too much. The sword was ripped from my hands. That could have been bad if it hadn’t landed on the snake. Putting his hand on the handle, he struggled to pull the sword out. It remained firmly in the snake and the ground, refusing to budge. At least half of the blade had sunk into the ground. Putting his foot on the snake’s head, he grabbed the handle with both hands and tugged hard, the blade finally becoming loose after a few seconds.

“I guess that’s one way to win. I was afraid of something like this happening. The problem is that the sword’s weight and momentum of your spell are too much for you right now. Until you grow stronger that may continue to happen if you use that skill. It’s like suddenly putting a heavy ball of metal into someone’s outstretched hands. If they aren’t prepared physically or mentally, they’re probably going to drop it,” Octavian said, while Garren gave a slow sarcastic clap to the side.

“Sweetie, mommies going to miss you so much! Please come visit as often as you can.” Kai’s mother said while embracing him in a hug of death. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

Kai had been afraid of this. He really wished she wouldn’t cry, but that’s just who she was.

“You have to let him go, honey, we were supposed to leave half an hour ago,” Octavian called out from the front of their yard.

“Mom. Please.” Kai pleaded. “I’ll come back when I can. I promise, OK?”

“Not good enough! You must send me a letter every week! No, every day!”

Despite feeling embarrassed about his mother coddling him, he felt warm inside. It had been conflicting to accept himself being treated as a child by his mother, seeing as how he had the mind of an adult, but it didn’t take long for her to break down his walls. He accepted the situation and tried his best to be a good son growing up since then.

Sniffing, she reluctantly let go of Kai. Although he towered over her, Kai still felt like a child when she did things like this. She had been spoiling him rotten for the last few weeks since he unlocked his magic. Knowing this day was coming, Kai had chosen not to train excessively or hunt monsters. like he had originally planned. Instead, he spent much of it with his family, relaxing and enjoying their company.

“Brother don’t trash our family’s name when you’re at the academy. I don’t want to feel embarrassed when I attend school there,” Jacob said, shuffling towards him. A sad smile could be seen under the false bravado of a smirk.

“Haha,” Kai dryly laughed. “I’ll let you have that honor little bro,” Kai joked stepping up and giving him a hug and pat on the back.

Lyddia walked up to Kai next, they stared at each other for a second, before she reeled back her arm and punched him, her fist hitting his arm softly. Tears dripped down as she lowered her head. “Don’t die, please,” she spoke softly, barely audible to Kai’s ears.

Kai suddenly embraced her in a hug. She embraced him back, putting her face into his shoulder, she rubbed her face back and forth. She is probably wiping off her tears, Kai thought as his shirt began feeling wet. After a minute she let go. Kai noticed her eyes were red, her face reflecting the pain he felt inside.

Kai turned to his last remaining family member who would not be traveling with him. Arielle stood still, only her shoulders shaking as she sobbed silently. He walked up to her, taking a knee. At 11 years old, she was still the baby of the family, with room to grow still, she stood taller than Kai’s kneeling form.

“Are you sure you have to go?” Arielle asked with large tears streaming down her face to the soil below.

Eyes watering, he sniffed trying to hold back the raw emotions. “Yes,” was all Kai could say as he tried to keep his voice from cracking. He held his arms open wide, waiting for her to move in. Without pause she launched herself into Kai’s arms, hugging him so tightly that even with his new enhanced strength, it still hurt a little.

“Keep training and studying. I’ll be back before you know it.”