Groaning Merlin slowly sat upright as he held his head. He felt like his head was pulsing, as every beat of his heart sent new waves of pain.

“Your lucky boy. Most are out for a day or two. You managed to get up in a few hours. Though considering your willpower not surprising.”

Opening his eyes Merlin glanced next to the bed and saw Austin sitting there with a helpless expression stuck on his face.

Seeing Merlin recognize him Austin nodded before continuing to speak.

“What you are experiencing is a debuff called Fractured Will. This happens when a mage uses to much of their willpower to cast a spell or to many at once. Depending on how much you used and how long makes the recovery time vary. Though considering you are awake now it shouldn’t be too much longer.”

Instinctively Merlin pulled up his status to see what else was there. However what he got was far from making him feel better.

NOTICE

Status unavailable.

Debuff detected.

Fractured Will.

Time Remaing: 1 Hour and 38 Minutes

Seeing a frown work across Merlin’s face Austin chuckled.

“Let me guess, you just tried to pull up your status window, huh. Yeah for that one reason alone Fractured Will is ranked as one of the nastiest debuffs you can get. Unlike some debuffs it scales. Bigger spell equals bigger debuff. However, be warned. The real reason it is ranked so high is that it will kill you for going over. This is not a joke alright?”

Seeing the seriousness cross Austin’s face Merlin nodded eagerly before stopping wincing in pain.

Noticing the pain that crossed Merlin’s face Austin spoke out once more, “You will probably have to take a few days rest for pain to disappear. Your status might say you are fully healed but that is only for long term. Short term there will be pain, especially since it is your first time to do magic and somehow got one the nastiest debuffs one can get.”

“Though I am curious how did you manage to do that? It has happened before, but under unique circumstances. Of which I know for certain most are impossible in this situation. Was there any notification before you passed out? If not I will come back tomorrow when your status will be unlocked and you should feel better.”

Pausing for a moment Merlin recalls what he saw right as he passed out.

“I think I got two new skills. One was Mana Manipulation, and I think the other was something called Mana Sight. It just mentioned them alongside Water Magic and I did not have a chance to read them.”

Going into thought about what Merlin said Austin slowly spoke, “Obtaining Water Magic I am really not surprised. I would be shocked if you didn’t get it. As for the other two, hmm. Mana Manipulation I have heard a little of. I will need to double check with a few fellow mages. As for Mana Sight, hm, I have not even heard of such a skill. I will likely need to head to the Mage’s Guild personally and access their records to be sure.”

Nodding his head in understanding Merlin wondered if this had anything to do with what happened when he unlocked his status.

“Now Merlin, one thing I must warn you about is to never take magic lightly. Magic, even at the very beginning, is deadly to most non-combat classes and those with few to no levels. So I must insist watching you whenever you practice magic. While I am not the best, I have still managed to reach Novice rank with my spells so I can help avoid the large mistakes that could be devastating.”

Merlin listened attentively, as he heard Austin speak with voice one would not normally take with children. Hearing the explanation and remembering the demonstration he saw earlier that day Merlin readily agreed.

After getting the acceptance from Merlin, Austin smiled fondly, similar to that a grandparent would show their grandkids, before continuing to speak more.

“Now I believe that is enough learning for today. Rest until tomorrow. I would recommend that no running around or whatever you are doing until the day after. I come back in a few days. I wanna talk with other mages about your skills to see if how we can include training them. Now goodnight Merlin, I must go speak with Miss Arwen for some arrangements regarding your condition and the future.”

Waving to Merlin as he left the room Austin quickly disappeared from Merlin’s sight. Laying back down Merlin quietly fell asleep once more, his young body exhausted from the magic.

Waking up the next day Merlin noticed two things immediately. The first was that the pain he had yesterday had decreased drastically. Similar to going from a full blown migraine to a dull headache. The other was that he woke up late. Really late, as the noise from the other room indicated that everyone started eating already.

Getting out of bed while stretching a little, Merlin dressed quickly and walked out to the main area.

As he was walking in, he was quickly noticed by Arwen, who strangely enough was actually doing the cooking for once.

“Ha, and they call me a sleepy head. Look who woke up after me.” With a smile on her face Arwen exclaimed happy to not be the last up for once. Until some the younger kids muttered about them waking her up this morning still.

Her celebration quickly brought to an end, Arwen wordlessly went back to cooking and serving egg omelets to those who wanted one.

All of the older children laughed quietly while the younger burst out in a fite of giggles that infected everyone at the table with Arwen eventually laughing alongside them.

Approaching Arwen before she had to get ready for class, Merlin said he was sorry for not doing his chores this morning.

Rubbing his head she responded, “It’s alright. Mr Austin said that would likely be the case. So I had others do it for you. You don’t have to worry. So you just have to not get a nasty debuff again, go it? Otherwise I am going to have re-educate you about them with the schoolkids.”

Responding in a mock fright Merlin went, “Oh no anything but that! I am sorry Arwen it will never happen again.” As he finished Merlin ran away back towards his room.

In his room Merlin sat down on his bed for a little while before realizing he could see his status once more.

Status Window Name: Merlin Title:

-None-

Class: -None- Level: 1 Race: Elf Age: 10 Health: 99/99 Health Regen: 1 / minute Mana Pool: 454/454 Mana Regen: 9 / second Physical Mental Strength 5 Intelligence 14 Vitality 10 Wisdom 16 Endurance 2 Willpower 22 Neutral Miscellaneous Agility 8 Gems 0 Coordination 13 Stamina 60 Luck 42 Movement Speed 9

Merlin sighed once more as he had no gains to endurance as he hoped, but the relatively large increase in his mana pool made him excited.

Following that he opened his skill screen to see the new skills he got. After reading the descriptions Merlin frowned trying to think of ways he could potentially use them.

To start off with he tried using Mana Manipulation which got him nothing. However not discouraged he sat there trying to feel what the skill was doing. As he repeated it over and over soon it was lunch time. Getting up to go eat lunch with everyone else, he stopped. It felt like an itch you don’t have to scratch or a sneeze that never comes. Like something should happen but it is not.

Sitting back down, Merlin quickly started to try using the skill once more only to be interrupted an hour later.

Opening the door in walked Arwen with a relieved expression on her face as she looked towards Merlin.

“There you are! I was wondering why you weren’t at the lunch with us. What were you doing in here to miss it?”

Shocked on how he had missed lunch Merlin quickly responded, “I..., I didn’t mean to. I just was trying a new skill and lost track of time. Sorry.”

With a smile Arwen reassured him, “It's alright. Just none of the other kids had seen you since this morning so I was worried. But what skill are you using? I mean there is nothing here to practice a skill with. Or are you trying to fool me? Hmph, is that?”

Going from her initial expression Arwen slowly becoming one of mock fury. The only thing giving it away was the slight smile she had at the edge of her lips, that did not manage to escape Merlin’s eyes. With a slight smile he went along with it.

“Oh you got me Miss Arwen I just wanted to sleep in all day. You have foiled my plan, oh woe is me.”

Collapsing back on the bed with an arm across his eyes, Merlin peeked out from under his arm to see her face. This time however was outside his expectations. She was closing in on him with her hands outstretched reaching to tickle him.

So like any child he quickly got up and ran away only to be stopped by the younger children who heard the commotion and soon he ended up spending the rest of the afternoon playing with Arwen and the younger children.