Having a 'Perfect Memory' Was something that wasn't necessarily rare in the world of Arcane but was something difficult to accomplish. It could only be accomplished by either having the innate talent of a perfect memory or a trained mind. It was an aspect of mind magic called ingenuity. Those who practiced it to a master's level degree could be said to have a perfect memory. People who were naturals at this aspect of the mind were known as C.O.T.E.N's. Nicknamed as 'Cottens' these Creatures of The Endless Night are named as such for their strange nocturnal manner of thought.

Cottens didn't need to sleep from birth. Not only that but they also had perfect memory from that moment as well along with a few other strange unique abilities. And though Max didn't portray these skills it seemed as if he was a natural in the aspect of the mind's ingenuity.

---

"Maxwell, please pay attention and get your head out of that book for once." Sir Leon said after returning from his journey of unknown matters. Sir Leon stood in front of a chalkboard gently writing out the matter of the day's lesson, seemingly being a matter of the history of humans and their position in the history of Lockthar.

Max sat in his strict learning garb that consisted of formalwear and a backpack filled to the brim with studying materials. He looked up, his six-year-old self still being incredibly small, at The Knight and nodded gently as he put up the thick tome he had been reading before into his pack and returned to an attentive sitting position. Back straight, hands gently placed in front of him with his elbows off of the desk he sat at and his head turned straight looking directly at his teacher.

'There seems to be a change... A mere year ago and young Max was throwing tantrums at the thought of learning and here he is getting chided about reading too much? Time does change people I suppose' Sir Leon thought to himself as he stared at the attentive child in front of him.

"Now, Maxwell, what can you tell me about the position of humans in the early stages of civilizations here in Lockthar?" He asked as he tapped the name of today's lesson on the board with his pointer finger. In bright elegant white chalk, it read 'Humans and their relations with the world throughout the ages.'

Max's eyes seemed to brighten as thoughts seemed to spark inside his mind as connections were made.

"If I am correct, and I do believe I am, then Humans were in a survival of the fittest against the rest of the continent at the time. They were looked down upon by the elves, giants, and goblins and were simply outclassed in culture and technology by the other groups. Though not treated like slaves they were more treated like animals in the civilizations that first began because of their weak nature." Max said almost as if reciting it from a textbook.

Sir Leon nodded before looking at Max once more, this time with a deeper look into Max's starstruck eyes. 'He's truly enjoying this. Such a strange oddity.'

"Now how was their magic? How did it compare to the other civilizations and how did it impact their... situation." Leon asked once more before waiting patiently for the pondering child to collect his answer.

Max's eyes twinkled once more as the answer came magically to his mind and when I say magically I mean magically. Max was delving into his mind space and looking through the insane strange structures he had built there. Peering through photos and scrapbooks he finally came upon one that was that of him reading a book on the nature of magic within humans and how it affected their civilization. He spent just a drop of magical energy to retrieve this knowledge and felt his understanding of the information he was retrieving deepen in understanding as he immersed himself in it once more.

"..."

"What period exactly? Do you mean at the beginning of humans' introduction into the civilizations of the older races or when they were established as a fully fledge race among the groups of creatures in the land of Lockthar?" Max questioned inquisitively.

Leon nodded at the question and pondered himself.

"For now let's say when they first were introduced and acknowledged as an actual race among the people of Lockthar."

Max nodded before proceeding to answer "Well then they simply didn't have the magical potential that the other races had but what they did have was ingenuity. They had so much creativity than the other races'. They died quickly, therefore, putting time constraints on the race making it to where they learned much quickly and put much more effort into their learning efforts."

Leon nodded at Max's statements before starting to interject before being stopped by Max with a single raised finger.

"But... after nearly a generation after they were considered as a race of their right they began to have increased life spans due to magic and began diversifying and growing at a horrifying rate. This led to what is known as the current age also known as the golden age of magic and technology." Max finished before slowly sitting his hand back on the dark desk in which he sat at.

Leon looked at Max with surprise before beginning to speak, somewhat astonished.

"That was not in our learning curriculum Max. Have you been doing some extra reading on the topic?"

"You could say that..." Max said mysteriously before thinking back to all the months he spent putting books into his mind space and memorizing them.

'Hard work but it was worth it.'

---

Max's studies went smoothly both in magic and in his normal classes. Because of his newfound perfect memory, he breezed through most topics besides Math, Composure Training, and Dance Classes. It wasn't that he was bad at the topics it was just that his perfect memory wasn't on all the time and wasn't giving him the answer to every scenario. He did great in the classes because of the effort he put in but he had to put the effort in and that's what matters.

The lessons with his Grandfather stopped a few months after they started because his Grandfather had gotten busy. Onyx Blacklock was a very important person after all.

And with the dropped lesson his Grandfather didn't even think to give him any books on the subject because of his age sadly. He thought the concepts would be too difficult for him to understand on his own and that severely limited Max in his learning curve of magic.

But at this point in his magic studies, he had learned that he was slowly figuring out Mind magic piece by piece. It was hard at first but the category of ingenuity was making some sense to him. It was making his mind better in any way possible. Whether that be his memory or his ability to function at night it all made sense. Because of this he had begun to enrich his mind with his magic and started to boost his thinking speeds by considerable margins. Not only that but he also managed to improve productivity by reducing the amount he needed to sleep in a night.

Other than magic on the mind he had made considerable processes in the magic of the body as well. He had managed to increase his control over objects of smaller sizes as well as increase the size and weight of the items he could move. Before he couldn't do anything too weighty but now he could easily lift a few pounds off the ground without breaking a sweat but it seemed like it was getting harder and harder to progress because of the small size of his magical reservoir.

---

Max's days went by like flashes as he learned new knowledge every day and made progress in magic as well. He slowly became a studious and careful gentleman. Charisma was something that came naturally with his vococular training. He was developing well but sadly he was developing without a real family. He seldom saw his Grandfather due to business and his Father had gone on a long-distance business trip and had been gone for quite a while. On top of that, his siblings had been at some mysterious magic academy learning magic without him.

'I wonder when they will return.' Max thought as he stared up from the book he was reading and looked out of his bedroom window to the cold and harsh rain that was pelting the manor outside.

Max didn't necessarily resent his siblings but he was slowly growing to have a distaste for them because they were living the life learning magic while he was at home learning political structures of the nation he lived in as well as business matters.

'I bet they are having fun right about now.' Max thought before drifting into deep thought remembering the good times he had with his siblings.

A knock abruptly awoke him from his daydreams and Madam Stone slowly opened the door to his room.

Max noticed the quill that was dancing across his table through his magic and he abruptly cut off his magic energy from it and let it drop before Madam Stone could see anything. He jolted in his spot and looked at the youthful old woman in front of him.

"Oh, deary I must have given you quite a thought. Lost in thought are we?" She said in a sing-song voice that echoed out through the room, bringing life to every inch of the room.

"What is it Madam Stone?" Max asked curtly. His words were usually not terse but at the moment he was a little ticked off and his ability at controlling his emotions wasn't great at the moment.

The old lady frowned before slowly bringing a large brown envelope out of her satchel she always carries around with her.

"A letter, young Sir." She said in response to his cold disposition.

"From your siblings, it would appear." She added before leaving the room quickly.

'What is wrong with him? I haven't seen him like this in... well ever. ' Madam Stone thought as she left the sulking child alone.

Max stared at the envelope with interest.

'A letter?' Max thought. 'They have never sent a letter before...'

Max slowly lifted the envelope up into the air with magic and opened it gently. What was revealed intrigued him.

It was not a simple envelope. What appeared inside was a space that was much larger than one would first think. A space of about 5 feet in all diameters appeared before Max and he could see a few notebooks and letters within.

Max raised an inquisitive eyebrow and picked up one of the envelopes that looked as if the most recent.

---

Dear, Max.

It would seem as if our second year has finally arrived and through this, it means that we can finally send mail. We have been doing our best at keeping letters for our stay here but because of that stupid Headmaster of ours, we were not allowed to send any of them until we reached the age of 11 and reached our second year in the school. So enclosed in this magic envelope resides our letters and notes to you over the years and all the thoughts we have sent your way. We should be able to visit when you turn 8! By then we should be in our third year which means we have a lot more freedom.

Lovingly from your big sis and bro.

---

After the message, he took a deeper look at what was in the envelope. The other envelopes seemed to be the updates in their lives and how they were doing while the two notebooks had a few words on their covers while being filled tightly with knitted handwriting.

The names of each notebook were as follows:

Year One

Year Two

'Holy shit! These are their notes! I've hit the jackpot.' Max thought before grabbing them and rifling through them.

---

Max delved through the notebooks throughout the next few weeks and made sure to send constant updates to his siblings and for the first time in forever, Max realized something. He could send letters too. It wasn't just a one-way road. So he began sending letters every few days to different family members trying to update them on his studies and get to spend time with them over ink and quill.

Max's progress in his magic was strangely fast as he began to learn basic spells. The notes had the learning process that they went through when they learned specific spells and as such Max could try and replicate them at albeit a slower pace.

By the end of the next year, he had learned almost all the spells that were listed in the first two books they had sent him, and through that, he had advanced far surpass what a normal student would be able to accomplish. Though only body magic it still satiated all his cravings for knowledge at the moment.

'Progress, progress, progress!' Max thought as he raised his hand lightly and as he did so a light burst of wind filled his bedroom as the room quickly tidied itself up. It went from a morning mess to an organized room that had not a speck of dust in any nooks or crannies.

He then slightly twisted his wrist and another burst of wind echoed through the wind as the window gently swung open and the smell of the forest around the manor filled the room.

He snapped gently and a swirling blue mist covered his body as he felt himself being cleaned and groomed meticulously.

'That is far better than what I was able to do two months ago Max thought as he got ready to go to breakfast in the hall.

---

Max at in the large dining room eating a small meal alone while furiously scribbling on a piece of paper trying to write whatever it was as fast and concisely as possible. He would turn 8 in a few months and he was making preparations to try and have a full family meet together when the twins finally came to visit and from what he had received letters wise it looked like his plan was coming to fruition.

Madam Stone sat a few seats over from Max and watched him carefully.

'There is just something off about him... A year ago he was alone and sad but after a single letter from his brother and sister he cheered up and almost became another person.' She thought as she rose a finger to her chin, tapping it gently in thought.

'And there is just this energy around him... It's like everyone around him is dead and he is the only one truly alive. Almost as if we aren't seeing the true purpose of life.'

Max finally finished eating, never once not following table eloquence, and finished writing moments later. After doing so he quickly packed up, smiled and waved to Madam Stone, and left to find Sir Leon.

'Where is that Knighty Knight?' Max thought as he scoured the giant manor for any signs of the house's butler.

After scouring the entirety of the house two times around he finally stopped as he stood huffing and puffing once more where he started. He stared at Madam Stone curiously as she seemed to be holding in laughter at his gasping form.

"What are you so chipper about Madam Stone? Don't you have some kids to torture?" He asked in a jesting manner.

Madam Stone's mood seemed to dim slightly at the mention of her special talent before she shook her head and began to speak.

"No, darling. Not a single child but you are going to receive my magical tinctures to... test them." She said before laughing lightly.

"In addition you already seem to be doing the job for me, seeing as you have scoured the house for nearly an hour and still haven't found Sir Leon. It seems you are out for quite the journey if you plan on searching the manor all day."

Max stopped dead in his laborious breathing and looked Madam Stone dead in the eyes.

"You know where he is don't you?" He asked with a feeling of stupidity overcoming him.

"Yes, I do Young Master. He is just tending to the garden. I'm sure he should be finishing up by now." She said before gently looking over her shoulder to the kitchen door which, almost in response to, opened.

Sir Leon stepped outside in gardener attire all with green overalls and a large brown hat that would keep the sun away from his pristine white skin.

He looked at the sweaty Max in confusion before opening his mouth as if to speak before noticing Madam Stone. It seemed as if he had decided it was better if he didn't speak.

Max looked at the silent elf in front of him and a light flare of anger filled him.

"Have you seriously been at the garden this entire time?" Max asked in a sharp tone.

Sir Leon seemed to be rather confused as he answered.

"Yes, Young Master, I was indeed in the garden for the past few hours. Upkeeping the garden is no short task. It takes ages to tend to the precious produce that comes from the garden we possess." He said with pride.

Max exhaled deeply before handing the elf his letter and slowly trudging upstairs.