"That being said," Jin continued with a sigh, "I'm sure it's not all bad. Thanks, Nez. What kinda monster did you get it off again?"

"The dungeon master, he was a demon with some weird magic," Nezu said, seemingly looking back on the fight happily.

God, I can't wait to find out what this ring does. A magic ring from a demon wizard?

Literally the coolest sentence I've ever heard.

Turning towards the still silent Rolia, Jin smiled and said in the same calm tone, "Thank you as well, I'm sure he'd love to train. He is my little genius after all."

"Speaking of which, you keep saying he's a genius, but what proof ya got? No offense Aero, I'm very proud of you for speaking so well, but your old man talks a lot with nothing to sh-" Oh man this is gonna be good.

Before he was able to finish his sentence, I stuck out my hand and cast the square barrier my father taught me. Mere moments after it appeared, I sent more mana into the barrier, rounding its edges into a circle. As a final move, I snapped my fingers, causing the barrier to become concave, and with a flick of my ring finger, sent it crashing against the wall.

Needless to say, Jin was pleasantly surprised, and Nezu was downright star-struck.

"Wha- Ho- Whe- At that age!? Do you know his affinities?" Nezu said, picking me up and hugging me tightly. "We've got a little prodigy here! What are his affinities? Have you taught him the basics of everything or just the barrier?" He asked gleefully as he set me back down.

"I've taught him the basics of most outside of two, he knows Wind, Water, Earth, Fire, Lightning, Barrier, and Illusion. You know the other two. As for his affinities, we won't know till we take him to the temple two months from now." Jin said, beaming with pride. "He's committed, whenever he's not napping, he pesters me to show him more tricks. I didn't even know he could make the stuff move yet, but he picked most of it up from watching me."

That rat bastard! I do way more practice than when I pester you! We stand here amidst my achievements, not yours.

Although it does feel nice to be praised.

"Why did you wait the year?" He asked in a confused yell. "He knows magic now so why not? Also, why not teach him the other two? Sure, maybe not one, but light magic is a pretty harmless thing." He says, letting slip one of the two branches of magic Jin had been hiding from me.

Light magic? Why? Is it dangerous? What does it do? Damn now I'm even more curious.

"Don't say it out loud you idiot! You saw how smart he is, now he's gonna try and find out how to do it! Yes, light magic would be fine and good, if my maniac of a parent wouldn't steal him if he had a talent for it! Besides, the only future for a light mage is healing rich idiots. That's not a fate he needs to be bound to unless he wants to do it himself." Jin said, raising his voice to match Nezu's intensity.

Yeah, he's pretty much got me pegged. One thousand percent gonna try and figure that one out.

"Healing rich idiots is a safe way to get rich! And not to mention, Vincent is gonna find out his affinities anyway! Why not get the jump on what could be his favorite branch of magic?" Nezu replied, making what would normally be good points.

But, it's healing.

From the high school education I was forced to get, I already know full well my hatred for the medical field. I'm almost glad he hasn't told me about it. I've stitched up enough of Sarguet's wounds, and a fair amount of my own, to know full well the only light magic I wanna learn is the shit that can heal me.

"It's not like he's gonna try it! Besides, if he chooses to be a healer, he can be a healer! Do you want to be a healer Aero?" Nezu asks, looking down at me expectantly.

"Nope," I replied a little too quickly.

"See? It's his choi- wait not even a maybe?" Nezu asked with slight confusion. "You know healers make a boatload of gold right? Like a ridiculous amount? Just because your old man is an adventurer doesn't mean you have to be one." He said, continuing to prod me with questions.

"Stop trying to brainwash my kid will ya?" My father said with a deep sigh before continuing, "Besides, 'healer' isn't even a word he knows. He's probably just saying whatever I want to hear."

After a bit more banter, my Origin Celebration came to an end. My mother tried to have me hold the daggers I got in any type of real way, but the pudgy hands of a two-year-old are not suited for knife combat.

A shame really.

As the night came to an end, I returned to my bed and got some sleep. A peaceful end to a fun night.

The next morning, I was greeted by a strange new sight in my room that I quickly remember Jin mentioning yesterday at my Origin, a magic training dummy.

The MTDMK24, or the Magic Dummy for short, is a special training tool. It's a dummy enchanted with light magic, giving it some good durability and a few other interesting functions. Its main ability is very simple, after being damaged, it repairs itself after a three-second pause, allowing you to view whatever damage you caused.

Honestly, the reason I went to bed so early last night was to wake up to this thing. Genuinely the best thing I could have ever been given, as it allows me to have something to practice my magic on. Man, I have a cool dad.

Thankfully, I'm going to have plenty of time to practice with it, since both Jin and Mary have just been called on an emergency quest, leaving only Nezu to house sit and make sure I'm well behaved. It's a shame we won't be taking the journey they were talking about, but this lets me accomplish a few things that I've been desperately wanting to do.

As soon as Nezu goes to sleep, I can finally get into my chest.

I've been holding off on cracking it open for months since I could never guarantee when either Jin or Mary would return and ruin any chance I had at a normal life. I mean, imagine for a moment, you just get back from a business trip, and your two-year-old son has lockpicked a chest and is rummaging through it.

A child, alone, messing with whatever he had found in there, all whilst your significant other is sleeping. Not only would I be in massive trouble, but so would whoever was meant to watch me.

But with Nezu, it's different.

He doesn't know the chest is meant to be locked, and it's much easier to keep tabs on a person when I can say with certainty that my parents won't be coming back any time soon. Good lord, it's been too long since I felt this thrill. The thrill of a good heist.

All that's left to do now, is watch and make a plan. If Nezu's a heavy sleeper, then it'll be as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

If he's a light sleeper, candy from a slightly petulant toddler.

I mean, if I couldn't open the lock right under someone's nose, would I really be the best?