Added Kuro, Rigel and Carla's information in the user input thread! Also revamped Arc 0 - Chapter 3!

Thanks, everyone, for keeping up with this. This chapter is... somewhat a repeat of Clint's first chapter, with differences, mainly in terms of point of view, and the personality of the character?

I'm not sure if I got it right though. Please help me, if possible, by correcting me.

Or simply telling me which part you don't like. Even that is very good.

Also, in the last side story, I DO NOT OWN THE CHANT THAT KURO USED. I'm sorry, but I'm really bad at making chants, (I'm better at programming, lol) the chant is from the game Yggdra Union, and the credits henceforth. (That game is actually quite good, and the chants in the game are epic.)

That is all the rants I have, please, enjoy this chapter.

Hello everyone! My name is Carla! 2 years ago, we came here to celebrate big bro’s admittance to AAA, and now, I am finally 9 years old! It was finally my turn!

“You look like a 7 year old though, I don’t know if they will accept you.”

“Papa!” I shouted angrily, but he simply laughed while rubbing my hair.

“Dusk! Don’t say such cruel things!” Mama scolded him, and then turned to big bro. “Clint, please get down from the tree……I give up…” Mama sat down, tired, and I sat between her thighs.

Just recently, mama made 2 new ducks, one larger than Ducky no.1, and the other smaller. Unlike real ducks, but like Ducky, they do not have a neck, instead, their head is their entire body, so they simply look like duck heads with tiny wings and legs. Both of them can’t fly (Ducky 1 uses a propeller to fly, not its wings), but mama said that they can do something else, and I am to register them as pets. Clint had told us that each student can have up to 3 pets, so mama insisted that I bring these 2.

At the moment, all 3 ducks were wandering around randomly, while Alferdo was out the dishes for us, as well as the raw food and the roasting pit.

I actually asked Alferdo if he gets tired of listening to mama and papa while they ignore him, but he said that he didn’t mind, and that he was created to be ignored.

I think he meant created to serve… Poor Alferdo…

These 2 years, I had been learning how to use magic cards in real battles, as well as drawing magic circles. Papa, like big bro, had little mana (big bro had even less), and, while he can write magic cards during his free time, he couldn’t draw the circles in the air. I had a lot of mana though, and I can emit mana from my fingers and use it to draw circles.

Big bro told me the normal way to cast spells are incantations or imaginations… but I couldn’t get them to be as strong as my magic circles… but even a firebolt magic circle takes about 25 seconds to make… Although Papa admitted that he didn’t really know incantations and imaginations much.

Papa said that the old magic circles require 2 minutes though. He had improved the circles many times already over the years. He had developed the [Universal circles] for Time and Space, up to 9 circle spells, but he doesn’t even have a single circle for normal elemental spells, so papa told me to learn from Ms. Gwen in AAA.

Also, last year, I started learning magical circuits from mama. It was something very complicated, but she thought me that because I knew magic circles, which will help me learn faster. It is a mix of magical formulas and mechanical engineering, and is really powerful, but really hard to learn and use.

Ducky 2 and 3 were made using magical circuits instead of electrical circuits, and mama took the whole year to complete them. I hadn’t even completed a single set of working magical circuits myself…

Suddenly, papa said that he heard monsters, and he got Clint to go with him to clear them out. Alferdo, who finished preparing, started roasting a whole chunk of meat.

Both of us watched silently as mama hugged me happily. I enjoyed her touch, and her smell. She always smells nice, even when she’s sweaty, although I don’t know why.

Mama is a ‘Human?’ according to her status plate, and even my, as well as big bro’s status plate said that we’re ‘Human?’, and she said that it might be the reason why she smells nice.

There is also a red haired woman that sometimes appears to attack mom. Papa said that it’s fine to not help mama… although she always seemed so uncomfortable…

Papa and big bro soon came back, papa’s jacket was bloody, while big bro took off his bloody cloak, revealing his clean clothes. Unlike me and mama, they had to fight up close, so they tend to end up like that when they go hunting. Papa opened his arms wide, wanting me to jump into him.

There’s so much blood… should I go?

Mama is holding me down though.

“The roast is ready.” Alferdo announced, before papa fell to the ground, barely holding himself up with his arms. Is papa tired from hunting? Big bro was snickering at him though. Alferdo simply ignored both of them, giving us our food. Duckies 2 and 3 had meat too, it seemed that they ‘extract energy directly’ from food.

I didn’t exactly understand, but mama just explained to me that I need to feed them.

Ducky 1 and Alferdo simply had oil. They can’t eat anything, mama told me, because they were created long ago, before mama even met papa.

We continued eating until it was night (only big bro and papa, actually, me and mama were full after the first plate), and we returned home. Papa went out for a mission, while I entered the bedroom with mama. We lied on the bed together, as I enjoyed the scent from mama.

“Carla…” Mama hugged me from behind, as she muttered my name. “Do you think you’ll be fine yourself?”

I smiled happily, “Of course! I’m going to get lots and lots and lots of friends!” Mama laughed, and hugged me tighter.

I didn’t know how wrong I would be.

“Bye bye, mama!” Carla waved towards me as she followed Gwen with her 2 ducks. She was so cute, and reminded me of how I was about 20 years ago… It was so long since then…

Rigel was smiling as well, as he stood beside me. Both Dusk and Mel were not here, as they were out doing a mission.

“So, how should I protect your little princess?”

My face turned dark, “Don’t. Or at least Dusk insisted… I don’t like it though…”

“Hm…” Rigel nodded, seemingly satisfied by the answer, “Well, now that you’re free, want to join us on a few missions after the opening ceremony?”

Alferdo handed me my cannon, the cannon that Elanor made for me 14 years ago, and I raised it over my shoulders, “I’ll be glad to.”

“Basic magic. Elemental magic. Time and space magic. Healing magic. Spellcrafting. You really are going all out magic here. In fact, you’re probably going to be the only student this year for Spellcrafting. Nobody took it for the last 3 years already.”

“Hehe, thanks!” I said happily.

She turned her voice into a whisper, “So, you use magic circles like your father?”

“Yup!” I showed her my [Slow] spell, “But papa only knew little magic… so I need to learn the elemental spells before I can make them.”

“I see. Did your father tell you not to tell anyone that you use magic circles?”

“Un. But… why?”

Gwen smiled a bit, “It’s too rare, you’ll catch too much attention. Not to mention, your papa researched a total of 20 years of magic circles, he didn’t want to just give it out freely.”

20 years… “So… he started learning it by 13 years old?”

Gwen laughed, “Around then. The way he learnt it was interesting indeed. It all started because of some stupid old children stories, and then he almost killed himself so many times before he even made the first spell.” She looked away, as if recalling the memory, “You should ask your father yourself. Come, I’ll bring you to your dorm. We don’t want some seniors kidnapping you and forcing you to fight them.”

“Okay, Professor Gwen!”

“Just Ms. Gwen or Gwen. That’s actually good enough. The students still call me Professor. Gwen though.” She said, chuckling. “I can’t wait to see your magic in action.”

She brought me to the female’s dorm, nodding to another woman, the master of the dorm, and let me up to a room. “Here, your room. Knock when you’re ready. Your roommate will guide you through things for now. I have work to do, so I’ll be leaving now.”

“Ok! Thanks, Ms. Gwen!” After she left, I turned towards Ducky 3, who was in my hands the whole time, “Are you ready?”

“Quack.”

“Okay!” I knocked the door, “Coming!” I heard, before the door opened, revealing a girl with really really long silver hair.

She looked really like someone big bro described… and suddenly I remembered. “AH! Cute maid!” I instantly said, and she blushed, looking at me. After a moment of silence, she finally asked, “What did Clint even tell you?”

“Erm… He told me about a very cute girl that works as a maid that has very long silver hair and is very very cute.” I instantly told her what I could remember, and she sighed. “Why… Clint… Why are you so cruel…?”

“Well, come on in.” She said tiredly, and I followed her into the room. There were 2 beds inside, and one of them seemed used and messy, and on the other was a briefcase containing all my magical notes and empty cards. Ducky 2 quickly ran past me and hopped on the bed, rolling on it.

“What is that thing? No, you have 2 of them?” She seemed surprised. “Are those your pets?”

“Yep! This is ducky 2, and this is ducky 3! Ducky 1 is with mama!” I said happily as I held ducky 3 high up. She touched ducky 3 once, and then proceeded to rubbing it on the head. She continued for a while, enjoying the feathery feel of Ducky, before suddenly flinching in shock, “Ah! We need to get your uniforms, quick quick!” She quickly put on a blazer and ran out. I left both ducks in the room and quickly chased after her.

We ran all the way from the dorm to the school store, located near the cafeterias. By the time we reached there, though, there was already a line of students, and some seniors. Ashley told me that while most of the first years has other first years as their roommates, some of them which they think require help would have seniors as roommates.

Does that mean that I require help? But I’m already 9 years old! I’m a big girl already! Ashley laughed, though, when she saw me pouting.

It took quite a while, before I received my uniform. It was similar to Ashley’s uniform, but there was a light blue, instead of green stripe on the sleeve. Before we return though, Ashley brought me to the cafeteria, where I saw someone familiar talking to another person with a bored face.

“Look, I don’t mind you using it against enemies, but isn’t this a little bad?”

“What do you even understand about what all boys would worship?” The other person said, as he held a remote. A drone was running across the ground, and it ran towards us.

And then it stopped and ran back.

“Woah woah! I almost crossed the line there! Your sister and Ashley is here now.”

“Clint!” Ashley greeted while waving her hand, but I was faster. “Big bro!” I ran over and jumped into him.

“Carla. It isn’t like you hadn’t seen me yesterday…” He said, slightly embarrassed while Ashley giggled, while letting me down. “Anyways, this is Nobody. The guy you need to stay away from.”

“Hey! How cruel are you!” Nobody shouted, stepping back in shock. He recovered really quickly though, waving towards me, “My name is Nobody! I hope we get along!”

“Big bro… He’s scary…” I told big bro my true thoughts instantly, but (A: On a side note, in Clint’s PoV, it’s a ‘and’ instead of ‘but’) Nobody suddenly fell to the ground, gasping, “Clint, your sister is cruel. As expected for the sister of yours. Ugh….”

“Um… Sorry…” I apologized, but Ashley snorted, “Carla, just ignore this idiot. We’re going!”

Ashley seems to hate him somewhat. What did he do? Big bro simply laughed as he led us into the A grade cafeteria. Last year, he had reached S rank by repeating quests, while both Ashley and Nobody was still C ranked due to their activities. Thanks to him, we were allowed to enter the A ranked cafeteria.

The rules are really lax though… having a friend in higher ranks and you can have eat better food instantly without actually getting the ranks yourself? (A: The food at the F ranked cafeteria is just that bad)

“Hoooo… so that little girl is Carla… so cute…” A dark shadow said, smiling. “I really want to break her.”

“Not yet though. Not yet.”

“My name is Carla, 9 years old, a spell caster! I hope I can be friends to all of you!” I said happily, as I gave my self-introduction. It was homeroom at the moment, and we were still doing our self-introductions.

When we were dismissed from homeroom, the person behind me tapped my shoulder.

“Hello, Maki!” I said happily to the black haired boy behind me. Unlike papa and big bro, I can remember names easily like mama. He smiled, but asked, “Are you really 9 years old? Sorry, Sorry! You seem small though…”

I pouted midway through his question. “I’m 9! I just have… a… small body…”

“Sorry… But… um… What classes did you take?” He said nervously, and I replied, “Magic, elemental, time and space, healing and spellcrafting!”

“Wow. Spellcrafting? Isn’t that really really hard, and everyone dropped out within the first year?” He said, interested.

I nodded, “Ms. Gwen told me that I might be the only student this year… But it really is interesting!”

He pondered a bit on my words, “Ms… Gwen… Oh! The head of magic! You spoke to her already? Awesome…”

I smiled at him, “Hehehe, thanks!”

“But you didn’t take combat?” He asked, recalling my choices, “Combat is an all-purpose combat class, I was told, so you should take it?”

“Erm… It was my sixth choice… but I can only take 5 classes… so…”

He nodded, slightly disappointed, “I see. Well, I’ll see you in the Basic magic class later… Well, most of us have combat, so you might be left alone with the crafters…”

“Not really for today.” A girl cut in from the side. “We have a short session after this, were they will brief us about the general crafting rules. So if you aren’t a crafter or you didn’t take combat, sorry.” She looked at me with an expression of pity. I smiled, despite my disappointment “Never mind, I don’t mind it.”

She smiled, “My name is Rinne! I’m an alchemist. Well, just a beginner for now.” She said scratching her short brown hair, “Nice to meet you two, I suppose.”

“I’m Maki, I use both magic and archery, so the classes I take are Combat, Archery, Magic and Elemental.” He said, with a smile, “Well, we need to get going by now.” The classroom was already empty except for them. “Bye!” He then quickly ran off.

He’s so fast.

“Clara, huh. Well, sorry that we have to leave you alone. Perhaps go to the library before your classes? Sorry!” She said, before running off.

“Muu….” I pouted as I was left alone. Maybe I should go to the library… I took my notes and magic pouch and headed off to the direction.

Basic magic class. From what big bro and Ashley told me, it was a class that practiced incantations and imaginations. I was interested in it too, since all I ever used were magic circles. Ms. Gwen told me that it will be pointless to me in the long run, except for covering the fact that I used magic circles.

She insisted that magic formulas, or magical circles are better than incantations and imaginations, but I want to see for myself at least. The other students started coming in, and a black haired boy smiled before sitting beside me. “Hey!”

“Hello!” I said happily. It had been really boring. The librarian didn’t let me in the library, since I was too small, and he assumed that I wasn’t a student, even with my uniform. Since I couldn’t get anyone to vouch for me, I was forced to wait alone in this empty classroom since then.

I was also hungry… but I don’t have the mood to go and eat…

Ms. Gwen, and another male teacher, finally entered the room with a stern look. She glanced through the students and nodded, “Welcome to the basic magic class. As most of you should know, here, we will help you practice your incantations and imaginations. These are the basic two ways to cast spells. For students not interested in this, you may leave now.”

Nobody left, naturally.

“Good. Now. Can anyone tell me, what is magic.” She pointed at a random student.

“Um… Magic is… um…”

“Don’t worry. I doubt that anyone here knows. It isn’t your fault for that too. Magic is to turn mana into supernatural forces in the form of spells, to say it very very simply. We use magic in the form of spells, by incantations or imagination. There are hundreds, or thousands of forms of spells, and all of them require mana from one source or another. So, what is mana?”

She pointed at another student.

“Erm…. Mana is the energy needed for spells?”

“Close. Mana is energy. That is another simple explanation. Mana is a form of energy that powers the supernatural. It exists everywhere, and we, humans, has adapted to use it. Of course, since most of you won’t learn physics, nor even actually know what it is, I can tell you that mana is a form of potential energy, but nobody would know what potential energy is.”

I frowned. Mama had told me before. Mana is simply potential energy in another form. Due to the principle of conversation of energy, it is possible to convert mana into another form of energy using tools. It’s like how Ducky 2 and 3 can live off mana alone, even without food, although they won’t be able to enter battle mode.

It is also how Alferdo’s handgun works. It absorbs mana and turns it into electrical energy so that it can fire beams of lightning in the form of a ‘railgun’. Big bro’s handgun works differently though, it shoots mana directly.

“Here is a basic spell, Light.” She said, summoning a ball of light on her hand. “It creates a ball of light in your hand, which after that you can control it manually. All of you should be able to cast it now. The full, non-reduced incantation is ‘O spirit of light, grant me thy help, and brighten mine surroundings!’ Of course, if you are good enough you can make it appear somewhere else that isn’t your palm, but for now, please try it out.”

Erm… “Gather in my hands, the power of light!” A dim ball of light appeared in my hands, and the room started flashing as everyone summoned balls of light.

I quickly realized that my light was the dimmest out of everyone. Even Maki, who only said ‘Light’, had a really bright light. He frowned at my light too. “Is your light affinity really bad? Or did you chant it wrongly?”

“…I don’t know…” I said, removing the ball of light. I knew my incantations and imaginations are bad… but this was embarrassing…

He smiled awkwardly, “Sorry. I didn’t mean to… Um…”

“Good, all of you, good. Now, try using imaginations. Now that you know how [Light] is casted using incantations, use imaginations.”

Imagine the ball of light. Ball of light. Ball of light…

The dim light reappeared.

“Uuu…”

“…” Maki wanted to say something, but after looking at my face, he turned away awkwardly.

The lesson ended after us casting a spell of each element, but no matter what element it is, my spells were far weaker than everyone’s. I don’t understand at all. Why are my spells so much weaker…? Ms. Gwen told me to stay back after class, and Maki looked at me with pity.

After everyone, including the other teacher, left, Ms. Gwen approached me, “So, how were incantations and imaginations?”

“Uuu…” I wanted to cry.

“Don’t feel so sad. You are too used to magic circles, so your mana flows in a different way, I think. Or it might be related to how your mom can’t use magic at all, even with her huge mana pool” Gwen said with a smile as she sat down in front of me. “I heard from Dusk that you can draw magic circles in air?”

“Um… yes… but it’s slow…”

“Try it out. Use it with light.”

I nodded, and started drawing. It was the first time I did this spell… but it is basic, so I could finish it in… 5 minutes?

First I drew a large circle, then I add the variables as shapes…. ‘Light’ ‘Energy’ ‘No Damage’

I drew a second circle, and added the variables, which are more shapes. ‘Float’ ‘Spherical’ ‘Small’

With the secondary array done, I started the third one, adding a final finishing variable ‘Return’

And ended the circle by writing the word 光.

That activated the spell.

Before the spell appeared, Gwen suddenly shouted, “Close your eyes!”

I closed my eyes, and the light seeped through my eyelids. Various colors shone through for about a minute, before it disappeared, the excess mana returning to me.

I forgot to set a color variable. Oops.

“That was really strong.” Gwen finally said, blinking her eyes as she shook her head. “I guess it was overkill to use a circle for a weak spell like that.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, curious. Slow and Haste never worked like that, so I didn’t know why it happened.

“When you draw a magic circle, when it is activated, all the mana used in the circle is absorbed into the spell, before being activated. Since you drew 3 whole circles, a lot of mana is used for a simple [Light] spell, and it shone out of control. Actually, which variables did you use?” She asked, and I told her the variables used, before she started nodding.

“That explains a lot. If you didn’t use ‘Small’, the ball would end up either huge with a bright light, or medium sized in a very bright light, but with small, the mana was focused in one point. If any of us didn’t close our eyes, we would be permanently blinded, or unless if an alchemist regrew our eyes.”

“Alchemists can grow eyes?” I asked, a little shocked, and she nodded. “For now, they know how to regrow limbs, although the limbs would be weaker than usual. They could probably do it with any part of our body at one point.”

I feel like puking…

She smiled, “Sorry. Anyways, I assume that you have forgotten, but it is the spellcrafting class now, I suggest that you use this time to convert all the spells I shown you all just now into magic circle form. There isn’t much I can actually teach here, since I don’t use magic circles… I still can advise you, I suppose.”

I totally forgot that I had another class now. It seemed that I was the only student, and Ms. Gwen being the teacher. While nodding, I pulled out empty cards, and started rewriting the [Light] spell.

After hungrily wolfing down dinner with big bro and Ashley (Nobody was busy in the workshops, big bro said), I returned with Ashley to our room. While I had class tomorrow, I still had things I needed to do. Even with the 2 hours with Ms. Gwen advising me, I only perfected [Light] and [Fire Spark], without actually getting any [Universal circles] drawn. I went over to my table and turned on my tablet. Since it Is expected for me to have tons of notes, mama gave me a tablet to use.

It had full access to the Saint Haven’s library as long as I’m in the academy or at home, but not anywhere else. (A: Hurray for internet!) It also has my own notes, as well as a status indicator for my duckies. It also acts as a status plate for myself at all times.

Not that it’s useful. The stats on the plate are just… stats. Yes, it’s just numbers. They don’t mean actual abilities.

That’s when Ashley came over, “What’s that?”

“It’s a tablet… mama said that you guys should have it…?”

Ashley frowned at the words, “We do, but only for nobilities. Each of these can cost up to 4 thousand gold about 14 years ago, when it first appeared. Now it still costs about 9 hundred gold… You guys are so rich…” She said, regretfully.

If I remember correctly, big bro told me once that she was an orphan? “How much is 1 gold worth?”

“The meal we had today was worth 5 silvers.” She replied, as she looked at the tablet jealously. “I want one of this…” 5 silvers. 20 meals is 1 gold, for 10 days. Multiply that by 900…

“Um… I can lend it to you if you aren’t using it…”

Her face suddenly turned red as she realized what she muttered, “Erm… No! I didn’t mean that! Also, I could just lend one from Clint, right?”

“Big bro doesn’t have one.” It was along the words of ‘you don’t need it’ from my mom, if I’m right. “I’m okay with it, so you can just take it when I’m not using it, okay?”

She sighed and gave up, “Okay then.” Then she smiled and returned to her side, “Thanks, Carla.”

Now, back to magic circles. I pulled out a drawing pad and a keyboard, attaching them to my tablet while Ashley watched from afar.

Ms. Gwen told me that she had tried magic circles, but it was beyond her. She didn’t have the time to learn the whole thing, and she had to often stop in the middle of her research. Papa only did time and space, so I had to do all elemental spells myself.

The minimum number of circles, for a universal circle to work are 3, a large one, with a smaller one in the middle, and an even smaller one in the center. Stronger spells need as much to 8 or 9. My father’s strongest spell uses 17 circles, and is on a magic paper instead of a card. It was a spell called [Time reverse: 3600]. He never used it though. I think.

Specialized circles, which are circles drawn from scratch, only require 1 circle, but a lot of different shapes to represent variables. Universal circles makes it simple as you only need to write down the words after drawing the circles.

I spun the pen in my hand, and started drawing.