He woke up earlier than usual today to go with his mother. His body was requiring less and less rest by the day. Today, he might even be able to stay awake to see the night in this world. Once he woke up, he looked up to his mother’s face to see if she was still sleeping. He found her also staring at him.

“Have you woken up, child?”

“Yes, I’m ready”

His mother chuckled softly “Not until you fly, you’re not”

“Oh…” Because he just woke up, it took him a moment to remember that he wasn’t going to walk out of the nest like a human being. “Will I be able to learn to fly quickly?” he thought to himself.

“I’ll try” With a determined look, he headed to the edge of the nest to set off. His bird instinct told him to lookup while his human self told him to look down… He looked down.

He sucked in a deep breath of air. The way down looked very high from where he stood. In reality, it was only 3 to 4 meters off the ground. It might have been because he was smaller so the whole world suddenly got bigger in his eyes.

“If you fall, I’ll catch you” His mother reassuringly told him from behind.

“This has always been my dream. I’m not going to let a little height stop me” he thought to himself as he spread his wings and jumped off the edge. Once he was in the air he flapped his wings vigorously. But without proper coordination, the flapping was useless.

He felt the wind brush past his stomach feathers as he was falling down. He kept readjusting his wings with every flap to see how it works. Some flaps managed to slow his fall while others actually propelled him downwards a little. By the time he was half way to the ground, it somehow suddenly clicked in his head. His flaps became more coordinated and he managed to fly upwards.

The whole process only took him a few seconds from beginning to end.

“Woah. This feels amazing” He was flooded with excitement as he flew back up to his nest and circled around it.

“I did it, mother!” He looked to his mother and said with happiness.

“Well done” she said proudly “Now, let’s go get some food”

“Yes”

They both flew to a few neighboring trees together, from which they gathered a few seeds, insects and small fruits. He directly ate the food that he managed to find albeit with his mother’s help.

The insects that he found looked rather different from the ones he was used to seeing in his world which reminded him of the strangeness of the world he was currently in. After a few days of eating the insects, he got used to them. He even found them a bit delicious now.

When he first saw an insect, he wondered what it was. Then suddenly, like yesterday, an immediate thought came in his mind describing the name of the insect, where they usually live, when they mate and all other sorts of miscellaneous information.

Only now did he remember the strangeness of what happened yesterday. This world was completely different from his original world. He wondered if this was truly the afterlife. After all, this was a place where his dream came true and so far there was nothing that made him feel sad or in pain. In fact, he only felt happy here.

“Maybe my mother is an angel who is ensuring a happy eternity for me” thoughts like that flashed in his mind. But before he could revel in his glee, he also remembered what his mother taught him about mana. If this was the afterlife then why would his mother teach him something like that? It felt inconsistent with his image of paradise.

They were still flying around from tree to tree gathering food. He put those thoughts in the back of his head for the time being.

Time passed by and they returned to the nest. He ate his fill and helped his mother gather extra food just in case. When they reached the nest a surprising scene occurred in front of his eyes. He saw one of his siblings flying in the sky around the nest while the rest of his siblings were merrily palying with each other.

“Mother, you are back” cheerful voices sounded out in his mind. It belonged to his siblings. They were chirping like normal birds but their voices could be heard in his head. The same way he and his mother were communicating.

Surprisingly, all of his siblings were now talking as if they were able to speak for years. The only way to recognize that they were kids was from their childish personalities. For a moment he thought they were like him, people who died and came to the afterlife, but the way they acted was exactly like a child.

They weren’t like him. They were really born here for the first time.

“Bro! Take me with you and mom next time” The one flying enthusiastically told him. He was full of energy and spirit .

“Ah… Sure, why not?” he weirdly spoke to his ‘sibling’ “By the way, Mother, don’t we have names?” all the kids had very different personalities but he didn’t know what to call them when he needed to speak to a specific one.

“That’s right! What would you like to be called, children?” As if she suddenly remembered, she asked the kids.

“Won’t you name us?” The man asked her.

She softly chuckled and smiled “Why would I name you when you are perfectly capable of doing so yourselves”

The man realized the absurdity of the situation. They were all born only a couple of weeks ago and yet they could all speak now and probably think for themselves to a degree. In such a situation, the mother wouldn’t need to name her children because they can think of a fitting name for themselves. Or maybe that was just how she was raised.

A thought suddenly sprang in his mind. Who raised this bird that is now their mother?

“I wanna be called Maethas” The sibling that could fly suddenly said, interrupting the man’s train of thought.

All of his siblings were suddenly in a state of intense concentration trying to think of a name for themselves. The flying one was the fastest in deciding, it seemed like he thought of that name long ago. It seemed strange to the man that his siblings who were just able to speak today were suddenly also able to name themselves.

The man also decided to think of a name for himself. He decided he wouldn’t pick his previous name because he wanted to start a completely new life here no matter what this place turned out to be.

“What should I name myself?” Suddenly, one thought after another rang in his mind consisting of various sorts of possible names.

Putting his thoughts together he realized that those children were like him to a degree “So that’s it! That Maethas didn’t really think of his name it just came to him like me. The rest of the kids are probably like me and are able to know things when they wonder what they are”

For a moment, he thought that the kids were indeed reincarnated like him and their personalities were just childish because he couldn’t explain why they didn’t ask all sorts of questions like a normal kid. For a human child, once they reach a certain age they never stop asking their parents questions over the most insignificant detail. Even if the children could speak this sense of curiosity shouldn’t just disappear.

Now, he realized why. They were also spoon-fed their information. “This might be why they can speak so early”

The man hit the nail on the head.

“I want to be called Iola”

After a few more seconds of thinking, another one of the children spoke up. This was a female bird who gave the man the vibes of an ice queen in the making. She spoke confidently and carried herself with grace. When the man concentrated on her, he thought she was the most likely person to be reincarnated like him. She just didn’t act like a child.

“That’s a good name, Iola” Their mother spoke in appreciation.

“What about me, mom” Maethas flew in front of his mother and shouted. He looked exactly like a puppy that desired attention.

“Haha… You picked a strong name, Maethas”

Maethas’ eyes shone with happiness as he heard his mother. At this time only the man was focusing his attention on the female bird called Iola, his sibling.

“Well, she is definitely not reincarnated” he thought.

She was acting shy by hiding her face with her wings while the sound of her happy little squeals rang in their heads.

“Ahem… Thank you, mother” In but a moment, she straightened herself and spoke to her mother in a dignified demeanor.

“C-Can I be called Seva?” another one of his siblings, who were still picking a name, spoke up at this moment. From her demeanor she seemed like the low self-esteem type of person.

“Of course, child! Seva is a beautiful name” Her mother reassured her.

“Thank you, mother” Seva said happily.

“My name will be Adrian” Finally, the last of the siblings chose his name. His eyes radiated mischief and playfulness.

“Good name, Adrian!” Their mother told him “What about you, child? What will you call yourself?” She looked at the man, noticing he was the only one who hasn’t picked a name for himself yet.

“My name will be Vogel” He thought about it for a while and decided on naming himself the same word for ‘bird’ in German. Becoming a bird, that can fly through the air unbridled, was one of the best things that could happen to him. Therefore, naming himself ‘bird’ was appropriate.

“Vogel, huh. I don’t know that name” his brother Adrian thought out loud.

“Neither do I” Iola echoed.

When the man heard them, he realized that his name wasn’t in the list of names that came up in his or his siblings’ minds. “It’s just a name I came up with… uh, it sounds nice, I like it” the man, now called Vogel, told everyone awkwardly.

“It’s definitely new” their mother was also surprised by Vogel’s choice of name “but it does sound nice” she complimented.

“Mother, when are we going to learn about magic?” Out of nowhere, Maethas enthusiastically spoke.

“Soon, Maethas! But first you must learn to control your mana” A strange conversation started to unfold in front of Vogel. He almost couldn’t keep up with what they were saying. Thankfully, every time he wondered about something, a thought would pop up in his mind immediately explaining everything.

The game his mother taught him to play yesterday was actually a form of mana control training that could help in raising his proficiency in it. She taught his siblings how to play it, too, and told them to keep playing until they gained the skill.

Apparently, when you practiced something for long enough in this world, the world would acknowledge your effort and reward you with a “skill” appropriate to your form of practice. As for the magic that Maethas mentioned, it was an umbrella term that described a creature’s ability to control the world through mana.

Magic branched out into countless different types that had their own functions and uses. Some creatures had affinities to particular types of magic. Flying Birds, for example, had an affinity for wind magic.

Today, all the children were full of energy unlike the previous days where they slept for most of the day and only woke up for one to two hours everyday. They kept playing the mana control game for a few hours until…

[Mana Control lv1] Skill Gained

Such a screen appeared in front of all the siblings one by one. Vogel got it first since he practiced it the most, then Seva, Adrian, Iola and Maethas respectively. The children felt their control of the mana within their body become much smoother once they got the skill.

It was like comparing a five year old’s handwriting to a twelve year old’s. One had a rough writing style while the other had a much smoother handwriting that flowed easily.

“Mother, how does mana control help us in practicing magic?” Vogel wondered. The other children also seemed to be curious about this.

“In order to practice magic, you must first imbue your mana into the particular element that you want to be able to control. This imbuing process differs depending on the element you want to control. For example, if you had no affinity for wind magic, you would have had to learn about the properties of the wind. From there you would make your mana imitate those properties, so that you can successfully imbue your mana into the wind” She took her time in explaining all of this information in detail to the children “With the affinity, your mana innately has those properties in it. That makes the imbuing process almost effortless”

Vogel wondered why this information didn’t just appear in his mind like all the other times.

“How come we don’t already know this information?” He voiced out his thoughts.

“Because you haven’t learned it, child” His mother answered frankly.

“Yes, but there is a lot of other information I don’t know that my mind seems to know”

“Oh… so you’ve realized that this information isn’t actually your own” His mother seemed surprised that Vogel could tell the difference between the information that he knew and the information that was being presented to him.

“What do you mean, mother?” Adrian asked.

“You don’t have to worry about this right now children” Their mother answered mysteriously “And to answer your question, Vogel, this information in your mind and all of your siblings only consists of undisputable facts. The processes of learning magic don’t all consist of facts. Magic is much more subjective than you realize, you see. The way I’m teaching it to you, children, is only one of many”

“Wait, I’m lost” Maethas said dumbly.

“That is natural, child” Their mother chuckled softly ”When you’re born with something, it’s very hard to realize it’s there. However, your brother discovered it somehow” She was rather impressed by the fact that Vogel knew there was external information in his own mind. She could only attribute it to him being smarter than the rest of the children.

“Woah, brother… You’re so cool!” Seva suddenly said, her eyes were shining brightly as she looked at Vogel in awe.

“Uh… Ahem. Y-yeah?” Vogel was taken by surprise that he didn’t know how to react. This has never happened to him before in both his lives.

“Then, mother, are you saying that there is information being inserted into our mind whenever we are curious about something we don’t know?” Adrian inferred from Vogel and their mother’s conversation.

“That is correct, child” she answered.

“But ho-“ He was just about to ask when a new thought appeared in his mind.

“A stend’s array?” Iola was the first to know.

All the other children who heard Iola wondered what she was talking about and they all got the same information in their minds.

“So that’s how it is” Vogel thought. This explained everything to him. The children speaking, his mother not finding it weird that they were so smart and all the information that would pop into his mind from time to time.

But the information they got seemed a little incomplete. It only explained some functions of the array, it didn’t explain what an array was or how this particular one functioned. All it said was that a stend’s array would take information from a person and give this same information to another person. It didn’t go deep into any specifics.

“Do you understand now, children?” Their mother said softly.

“Actually, I’m even more confused” Maethas said. The other children also seemed to agree with him.

As if she knew what they were thinking their mother said “A stend’s array’s most basic function is what you children currently know. An array is a construct made using magic and it is something very advanced for you right now”

“You don’t have to worry about all of this right now, children. Everything will happen in its due time. For now, you must practice and gain the second level of the mana control skill in order to start practicing wind magic. At level two you will be able to control your mana outside of your body. That is when you will be able to imbue your mana into the wind” she continued.

“We still have to practice…” Maethas begrudgingly said.

“It’s okay, Maethas. I will take you all tomorrow to a place that will help you improve your skill faster” Their mother encouraged them.

After the training session and lecture, the children had some leisure time to play around with each other. By the end of the day, they were all able to fly around with each other. One by one, they got exhausted and slept in the nest. All of them were nestled beside their mother as usual.

Vogel was the last to sleep. He looked up at the setting sun of this world. It was the first time he stayed awake this long in this world. He was still digesting all of the information he got from his mother. All his thoughts about where he was and why he was here were jumbled up in a mess. “Everything will happen in its own time” his mother’s thoughts rang in his head. Thinking about why he was here seemed to be meaningless at this point in time.

All he needed to know was that he had a loving mother and four beautiful siblings. It didn’t matter that they were birds, the way they acted was more human than most of the humans he’d known.

His thoughts slowly drifted off to what his mother said about magic.

“A world that you can manipulate with your knowledge about it” he chuckled at the thought. If his original world had such a rule, it would have been interesting to see. Suddenly, a thought popped in his head.

“Mother said that you gain magic by letting your mana imitate its properties and imbue it on the thing you want to manipulate. In my previous life I studied a lot about biology, even if I can’t manipulate my mana outside of my body yet that doesn’t mean I can’t acquire magic related to my body”

He started to visualize his bodily functions and spread his mana within his body. Every body part or organ had its own function. He had to give different properties to the mana depending on where the mana was in his own body. This put an unbelievable strain on his mind. It was hard to focus on so many parts of the body consciously and try to copy their functions and properties at the same time.

In the end, after a few seconds, he failed. Focusing on so many different things was almost impossible to him.

“I should focus on only one part of my body and imbue my mana in it” He tried a different approach after that horrible failure. The easiest part he could imbue in his body was his skin. It wasn’t as complex as other body parts. Moving his mana again, he sent it to the surface of his skin slowly.

He noticed that once his mana reached the surface of his skin, it would be like boiling water that vaporized into the air little by little. That was because he couldn’t control the mana outside of his body yet. Therefore, any mana that lost contact with his body would be outside of his control. Ignoring all of that, he hurriedly controlled the mana to imitate his skin’s functions and properties. A few seconds later, he could feel the mana imbuing into his skin successfully.

[Body Magic lv1] Skill Gained