I was starting to feel a little giddy the more I delved deeper into my knowledge of magic. Already reading through the thousand page tome I mysteriously received twice and planned to reread it as many times as I could. In the span of two weeks my theoretical knowledge expanded well beyond what I had initially hoped from normal training with Grampy. Unfortunately since it was from a book this knowledge didn’t necessarily translate into practical skills so I was straining my patience with expanding them. There was so much I needed to try that I wasn’t sure how I would find the time to get away to practice in secret without someone from the Yukihana keeping tabs on me.

A problem for another time sadly.

With the matter at hand I noted one piece of information that was concurrent with the game. Given that it was part of the book's name it shouldn’t have been all that surprising; Ten types of Magic. Like many cliché systems before it there were type advantages and traits that each held that made them preferable for a more well rounded or min-maxed party.

Null - 67%

Earth - 25%

Fire - 25%

Water - 25%

Wind - 19%

Ice - 7%

Lightning - 7%

Time/space - 5%

Dark - 2%

Light - 1%

Yes, despite being a largely qualitative structure much of the information I got was based on actual numbers.

Some of which made sense.

Others that had none.

For example: The number of people who held an affinity for each type seemed to decrease quite substantially. It’s why everyone was so amazed that I was so attuned with Light magic. Even with Ice Magic being on the lower end of the spectrum in terms of numbers there were still four other types that were as rare or rarer than it.

This math made sense.

Not only was my primary type that was least common amongst the world's population but the rating of it was substantially higher. The rating acted essential like a cost to use deduction. There were no restrictions to using any type of magic in theory. I still hadn’t gotten around to testing it out but the book claimed that the affinity rating was merely a percentage that is taken away by the corresponding grade. With each higher grade lower the amount of magic required to cost a spell of that type to cast.

However there was a kicker to this. Even those with low affinity scores seemed to get a great benefit in reduction to using that type of magic. Even someone with the lowest grade was potentially cutting the amount of magic required by half when casting a spell. If it was the lowest grade than the means to measure that reduction was more difficult given how weak it was. The book gave a general range of each grade and the measure reductions.

Grade F (<50%)

Grade E- (50-52%)

Grade E (53-56%)

Grade E+ (57-59%)

Grade D- (60-62%)

Grade D (63-66%)

Grade D+ (67-69%)

Grade C- (70-73%)

Grade C (73-76%)

Grade C+ (77-79%)

Grade B- (80-82%)

Grade B (83-86%)

Grade B+ (87-89%)

Grade A- (90-92%)

Grade A (93-96%)

Grade A+ (97-100%)

This one was a bit heavier but still straightforward. It made sense that the grade of the affinity had a certain range depending on the individual's aptitude. Since my Light magic was graded at B+, the ease at which I could cast spells related to it was reduced to a fraction of what it should normally have been. Something that was absolutely required if I wanted to use them at all. With even basic spells of non affiliated magic being nearly impossible to cast for many who lacked the amount of magic to use them. In that way they were cut off from certain spells of different magical types.

Apparently these grades had the potential to rise higher depending on how much they are trained. It made sense logically but the amount of effort that is said to do so even by a single grade range could be the difference of a few months to several decades for many the higher the grade they tried to reach.

In that same vein gaining a new affinity for a different element was even harder since you were starting from a point of zero and trying to reach a point where the Magical Plate could even register it. Those that managed such a feat were almost as rare as those who possessed Light Magic. I knew from the game that it was possible but since the Main character was some special entity in the story, that trait of using every type of magic was an outlier.

Sad to say I didn’t fall under that category.

Then we came to the math that I struggled to grasp with the more basic nuances of a real, flesh and blood world. Things that the book didn’t say was fact but had enough context clues that I could piece together the system with basic mathematical principles and late game character stats from the Love Hero Chronicles.

Since I ventured to guess each star was equivalent to ten levels in the game it meant I was hypothetically level 8. Using that similar power of ten principle I was mainly guessing that the stat number I was used to were just simplified to decimal form. In that sense I could make better estimates of my stat values.

For example: I knew the maximum amount of magic a character had in the game was 10,000. It was the same limit for attack damage, health and just about any other character value I could think of. If I attributed that to having ten stars in a specific stat then I could simply multiply my current abilities by 100 and get a result that I could base everything else on. Starting with my highest rated stat, Magical Quantity.

At 3.5 I could say its number in the game would roughly work out to be 3500. This matched up to Hisato’s exorbitant magic bar number at the start of the game and why he was placed as a tank/support party member. In that way I could attribute my current attack power at 0.5 as simply 50. A rather pathetic amount even at the start of the game where the weakest enemies only had 100 health points at most. Similarly this also worked with my Defensive Power and Physical Stamina.

Other than those four though…

Well, sadly my math and understanding of this world's magic stopped at that.

The other six stats weren’t so easy to apply this simple principle too. How did mental ability get quantified if its purpose had no direct impact with combat? Or did it? It could have an importance besides being superfluous with just about everything I did when making critical decisions. I had no way of knowing definitely without more information. My hunch though was that finding an answer to that would likely not be definitive from different sources.

Fingers crossed though.

“Hisato-kun?”

Similarly, Magic Quality, Magic Recovery, Magic Control, and Magic Resistance couldn’t fall under the first principle because they didn’t make sense. They weren’t a finite resource but rather passive traits that happened as a reaction of training or direct action to my person. I speculated they too were percentage based like the magic gradings but the book offered no hard numbers on just what these amounts were.

...Hisato-kun?”

So until I did more research and performed my own experiments my working knowledge of the Star Attributes was roughly a little more than half complete with what I was presented with. That wasn’t including factors I had yet to encounter and the nuances this world had on a system that was different from the game it was based off of. Still, I was making steady progress in my understanding in a short amount of time and had no doubts that I would complete that base of knowledge before the end of the year if I kept pace with my training.

“...Hisato-kun!”

“Hmm? Yes?” I looked up to the front of the class where my homeroom teacher, Miss Kogumi, was looking at me. She had written basic equations on the board. Barely a glance and I strained myself trying not to roll my eyes.

5 ¼ + 6 ¼ - 10 ⅞ = ?

“It’s your turn to come up to the board and answer an equation.” She pointed to the one which I would solve and my urge to roll my eyes grew even more. While I could gripe about how simple and unengaging being back in grade school was I was grateful for the simplicity it gave me to work on solving the specifics of the Star attributes and the reprieve it gave me from the Yukihana’s bullshit.

“The solution is 5/8,” I answered a second later, still sitting comfortably at my seat. I was busy working on important things that I didn’t want to bother to go up to the board and show my work.

“That is… correct,” Kogumi said as she checked the worksheet. “God job Hisato-kun, you really are good at math.”

I shrugged indifferently at her praise, looking back down to the sheet of percentages and hypothetical quatinites I had written alongside other values on my desk. Some that now defined my new life in the crazy world. Simply saying I was ‘good at math’ in this instance could really be said as ‘you're really good at life’. So while there is irony in a teacher saying you needed math in day to day life, I would say to them as I did to Kogumi-sensei…

“...You have no idea.”

[LH]

Yasue was never fond of Horonobe. It was a town too small for his liking ever since he started going to Shinzōhoshi Magical Academy in Tokyo. It was sort of a wake up call that he had truly been living in a tiny little bubble up until that point. Seeing the same people day in and day out. Same conversations and dealing with the same boring people over and over again. Going on and on in an endless loop when it came to school, training and his family.

Maybe the difference between a mere 2,000 people in this sleepy town and 37,274,000 people in the world's most densely populated city had something to do with it.

It was a safe bet that it was the case.

Unfortunately he was limited to spending time in the metropolis outside of his school hours. Not given the opportunity to live in dorms like many of his other friends did simply because it wasn’t a necessity for him to do so. Those that needed the dorms either lived too far away from their homes or simply wanted their independence.

For someone gifted with Space/Time magic he could rightly say that it was a blessing and a curse.

“See ya Yasue.”

“See you tomorrow.”

“Find out if you're free to hang this weekend, okay?”

“Ya… I’ll ask and see…” He stifled an annoyed sigh as he was once more stuck being seen off by his friends while they would likely be going somewhere fun now that classes had let out. This was a scene he had become too used to happening that he was having a harder and harder time leaving to return home. It’s not like an hour of free time would kill him?

Not in the Yukihana family though!

School came first. Training came first. Dealing with clients came first. Meeting with political figures came first.

If it didn’t have to do with any of those he was expected to return to Horonobe immediately to report back to either Uncle Komuro or that tightass, Nobuo. Honestly, he didn’t want to deal with either of them, especially after a long day at school. The amount of magic to use [Area Shift] was bad enough to travel even short distances. Only because he had a higher affinity of Grade B in Time/Space Magic that using it over 1500km distance became feasible within the span of a rough and tiring hour.

Not that his Uncle cared though! It was considered ‘more training’. Something that he was told over and over and over again that he was always lacking in! He always wanted to argue back and call out such a ridiculous statement when he always busted his ass for the family! Every time though it was always on either of his parents to talk him down and to tell him he needed to be patient.

Always the same line and always the same circumstances.

Because of his unique ability he was placed highly amongst the family. While Ice Magic was what they were known for, current circumstances showed that more and more rivals to that type were on the rise. With it came the need to be more adaptable. Something hard to do with a family that required a hammer and chisel to sculpt anything from their icing exterior. It’s not like he even used Ice Magic all that much anymore. It was just the standard training anyone of his meager potential was given with the rest solely placed on developing his Space/Time magic instead.

In actuality he was a glorified courier for his Uncle. Saving the family time and money by delivering items to and from places all across Japan. Many of which were located in towns that were no larger but just as boring as Horonobe. The reasons for what he was delivering were never told to him and everything was simply stated as being ‘important’ and ‘crucial’ to the prosperity of the Yukihana family.

Just like everything his Uncle made him do.

“I’m back!” He called out as he finally made his last jump to the main courtyard. “Don’t all rush out at once to greet me.” It seemed no one was around at this time. This worked out well for him. Likely Uncle had sent everyone out on errands leaving only a few people behind to take care of the estate.

Seizing this moment of reprieve, he wiped the sweat from his brow, opting to shit under the eaves of the main house. A place with a nice cross breeze and ample shade. It was still the tail end of summer and even this far North the temperatures could become rather warm. There was always a lot of flak placed upon him when he griped about his discomfort with hot weather. Some bullshit about being indominable Ice Magic users… blah, blah, blah. “Ah! So much better!”

Kicking his shoes off he laid on his back, legs half hanging off the outer patio. He took in a deep breath, matching the timing of the wind as it passed along his body. It was soothing and calm. A feeling he never felt when his body used magic to warp space between two points. Never a moment where he could take any one moment in before moving to the next.

He really couldn’t wait to move out and live on his own terms. While he found many living in Tokyo lived within their own little rat races he had the experience to value taking time to slow down and unwind. While he would never claim to have a normal childhood he would strive to be more well adjusted than any of the adults that tried raising him.

Lest he too become an intolerable tightass!

“Hiyaa! Hyaaa! Hayaaa!”

“Ugh!” He palmed his eyes. Of course the moment he tried to relax in this place his sense of peace was thrown out the window by someone shouting. “Really? Who the hell could be training now?”

Sitting up he lazily walked around the house towards the back courtyard where the storage shed was located. He actually already knew who the voice belonged to. So even though he would rather continue lounging around his curiosity following a previous conversation got the better of him. It wasn’t everyday someone got to train with the great Komuro Yukihana and tell the tale.

At the edge of the courtyard, almost where the boundary where the treeline of the mountain dipped down, was Hisato. The younger boy stood in front of one of the older wooden posts that was likely dug out of the storage shed. It was firmly planted in the ground about half way into the dirt. He couldn’t have imagined that it was a particular easy thing to do on his own.

Now that he thought about it, the last time he saw his little bro was nearly a month ago. Things had been hectic since then so he hadn’t had a chance to even check in on either Hisato or Toki. He had really liked how free and uninhibited Hisato was. Like a lot of his friends at school who easily spoke their mind. With Toki… well, he just liked riling her up.

“Hey Little Bro! What are–ah!”

“Kiyaaa!”

With a loud cry the younger boy slammed his bare fist against the rough wooden post. He flinched not only because of the noise but also from something hitting him on the tip of his nose as Hisato reared his arm back. Tracing his finger against the foreign sensation thinking it was a bug or something similar, his assumption proved extremely false as the tip of his finger was stained red.

It took him a minute to realize what it was. Looking back at Hisato's fists as they drip red into the brown dirt and the red smattering that was blended into the post by the afternoon sun.

“What the hell are you doing!” He rushed over to keep the stupid kid from destroying his hands even further than he already had. Was this Uncle Komuro’s idea? Was this the sort of training that man had a ten year old boy doing!

“Ah. Hey Yasue. How are you?”

“H-How am I? I think the better question is what is wrong with you!”

“What's wrong with…” The younger boy paused, seemingly perplexed by that understandable question. “...Ah! Oh ya, you’ve been gone for a while. We should catch up. Do you mind handing me that rag over there so that I can clean up.” Hisato gestured to the red stained rag not far off on the ground.

He violently shook his head. “What you need is disinfectant and gauze you little idiot!”

“Relax. I wouldn’t say it’s as impressive as your ability but I’d say my magic has it’s own merits.”

“Your own magic?”

“Just watch.” Hisato raised both mangled hands out in front of him. Without much warning he found himself in a familiar position of shielding his eyes as they began to glow a blinding yellow. Almost as if they were reflecting light off the sun itself but with a greater intensity.

[Healing Light]

Light fading, his vision became clear again just as his little cousin began to wipe the blood off his hands to reveal them without injury – smooth and free of any blemishes.

“...Woah.”

“Thanks. Had a lot of practice since you’ve been gone.”

“I can see that. I’m just surprised that Uncle Komuro was such a great teacher of Light Magic.”

“Pfft! Ha! You’re joking right? The only thing that man gave me was an old journal falling apart at its bindings and leaving my training to develop my magical abilities on my own.”

“You learned it… on your own?” He had no basis to really comment on the legitimacy of that claim. Rather he didn’t doubt it for the same reason that it made more sense that Uncle Komuro would have likely done as Hisato just said. The kid did have a higher stat in his Mental Ability than most untrained adults. It might not be surprising that someone like that learned through reading and trial and error.

Which still begged the question he had to begin with.

“Then what are you doing with Toki during training sessions?”

“Simple. She attacks while I defend.”

“...That’s it? Really?”

Hisato shrugged. “I know it’s not what you were expecting but ya, that’s it. I get a hell of a beating but as you saw I can heal away injuries and pain like they’re nothing. I’ll admit it’s not the best system. That’s why I’ve opted for my own training methods. It’s shown some… fortuitous results.”

“I can see that.” Honestly, it took him several months to figure out how to move several feet away when he was Hisato’s age. With all the vertigo and hitting solid objects that came with it. He'd love to have a power where he could heal his injuries.

“Actually… there is something I need to talk to you about…” With a tug of his sleeve, he was pulled towards the little shack where the boy resided. He appeared a little angsty at the moment. Looking around towards the main and guest houses like someone was watching them. When they were inside the shack, Hisato closed the door behind them, locked it and even covered up the window to prevent anyone from peering in.

Only when they were standing in the dark with only Hisato’s little lamp providing even light to see did this stint of paranoia produce a question he never thought he would get.

“Do you know of a way to fake the results of a Magical Plate?”

“I… I’m not sure… no wait… Yes!”

“Shh! Keep your voice down.”

“Erm, okay. Why do you want to know this though?”

With a deep sigh Hisato pulled out his Magical Plate and handed it to him. He still remembered the score from just over a month ago. The outrageous results showed a level of potential that was greater than his own. Since he hadn’t been around much he wasn’t sure how everyone else was interacting with Hisato as a result. No doubt Uncle Komuro was doing his best to influence his Little Bro to stay under his influence as much as possible.

“It’s Grampy. He hasn’t taken my apparent skill all that well and I’m afraid of what he will do when he sees my Plate again. I have a feeling he’ll demand to see it soon.”

“Whatever it is, I'm sure it isn’t that…”

“...Holy shit!”

“Again… SHHH!”

Slapping his own mouth this time, he really tried to bite down his disbelief at what had to be one of the fastest increases in stats he’d seen outside of the academy! At the rate Hisato was increasing it would only be a matter of days before he reached his first star! If anyone found out about that…

Well, he wasn’t sure what would happen.

If it were anywhere else Hisato would likely be hailed as a prodigy that comes along once every several generations. But this wasn’t a place where revealing such things could translate into a positive result. In fact, he was now understanding his Little Bro’s hesitance and need to hide this dramatic increase. As he knew all too well what the best case scenario for becoming indispensable in this family meant.

Hisato had already lost too much already to simply be some slave to Uncle Komuro’s whims like he currently was. He had to do something now before it was too late.

“You see my dilemma?”

“Ya… Ya I do.”

“So then you know how to falsify my stats somehow?” Hisato asked hopefully.

“Maybe. Most think it’s impossible since the Magical Plate is an absolute measure of one's Star attributes. However I have friends that like to bend rules on occasion. The concept itself is a little tricky. It’s not something you learn until you reach the Magic Academy in Tokyo but… you seem to pick things up rather quickly so it’s worth a shot I guess.” he scratched his head, trying to think hard on how he was even going to explain it when it wasn’t a topic he was well versed in. “It’s only a rumor but I’ve heard those who use Light or Dark magic can create illusions.”

“Illusions?”

“Ya… it has more to do with tricking the person's sight since they’re technically like cameras and… ugh… how did it go again?”

“Aha! So that’s it! I understand perfectly.” Hisato claimed.

“You do? I don’t even understand it. Let alone understand how you figured it out from such a half assed explanation.”

“Trust me, it’s enough. I’m actually an idiot for not thinking of it sooner. Thanks Yasue! You may have just saved my neck from Grampy’s sword! Ha ha ha!”

Yasue stood there awkwardly, cringing as he stared at the boy laughing his ass off. Completely unsure whether that last part was merely a joke or a likely possibility. At this moment he would rather not dwell on that and wait and see what would happen when this insane kid broke the threshold into his first star.

At the very least, things would be less boring around here.