---- Point of View: Nasim Shamus Cloudkill 'Nezu', Present Moment ---

Did Ricardo somehow edit Jin? Like, force him to sprout weird offspring?

I wouldn't put it past the old bastard, to be honest, the only thing he cares about more than family and power is family power. Editing his nephew's blood to make his kids stronger is also right up his alley... No, I've gone too far deep. Opening one's mind too much causes your brain to fall out and all that.

But needless to say, the kid is a monster. Aero is either living proof of mana evolving the mind, a genius born once in a decade, or a monster hiding beneath a baby's skin. I'd say the ladder is the least likely since no beast could possibly be so entranced at the thought of learning the alphabet.

Not only does he wait to do anything until both Rolli and I are asleep or occupied, but he only engages in dedicated practice when he thinks no one's looking. When I step outside to practice my mana sense, his amount of mana output skyrockets, and I can feel him casting upwards of three spells at once sometimes. I don't know what's more strange, watching a toddler practice magic that some children twice his age can't fathom, or knowing that as much as I'm watching him, he's watching me.

It's as if he's not a toddler, but a teenager, hiding away in his room and not telling his parents about anything. But I was there when he was born, one of four doting uncles, and he cried like any other baby. But still, his level of thought is strange, to say the least.

It's been about a week since Rolli started teaching him to read, and according to her, he's basically stopped paying attention. Yet, whenever she asks what a word says or means, he replies correctly. Normally I'd think he just got bored, but that would be too... normal.

Snapping my ring finger twice, Rolli understands the signal and heads out to 'check on something'.

Stretching, I give Aero a little wave and head out for my routine mana sense training. Yet, the moment I get in place, I summon a clone directly center on myself and cast Stalker's Shroud. Stepping out of my illusion and walking, both silently and invisibly back towards the house, it's about time to see why the kid chooses to hide his magic.

--- Point of View: Aeron Lintra, Present Moment ---

Okay, once from the top. Today's the day.

After a week of mind-numbing learning, I've gotten the language down to a T. Mostly because it's just fucking English with different symbols. I can't believe it took me five whole days to fucking realize! I can speak fucking Swahili and I couldn't recognize English syntax? It took me a good two days to fit all the letters to their new symbols, but it's basically the same.

Meaning finally, I can crack open my magic book!

Once Nezu heads out for his weird training and Rolia leaves with the other kid, I forget his name, it's as if the stars have finally aligned.

Walking my small, kid legs over to my chest, I take off my sabotaged lock and fling open the top of my large chest. I have a small window to read and test, so there's not a chance I'm gonna waste any mana on movement spells or anything fancy. Creating a very simple box, I step up, grab the book titled Intro to Magic: The Basics, and dispel the box beneath my feet.

Taking a seat, I crack open the first page and almost shake in anticipation. I'd love to jump right into the custom spells one, but only a strong foundation can build a mansion.

Opening the book and reading, a few things instantly stood out to me. First of all, it was very theoretical, as well as immediately informative.

Taking directly from the book, "Magic is limited by three things, and an aspiring mage only requires two. Talent, Knowledge, and Creativity. Most people possess at least one, and any mage needs at least two, with every great mage needing all three. - Vincent Lintra"

Haha, this guy's last name sounds like pocket lint! But aside from the esoteric advice about creativity and flexibility, within the ten or so pages I've gotten through I've already hit upon as many things to test.

The book quickly begins to explain the foundations and fundamentals of spell creation and casting, the only section I was able to completely get through was that on hand signs and movements and their "necessity". They say that hand signs aren't strictly required, but are usually the first activation condition a mage uses.

Hand signs have a dedicated use, they give a spell a more defined effect, causing the mana used to be less wasted, with the result being the spell has less flexibility, and the hand signs used could indicate what spell was being cast. For example, if a condition on casting a beam was that it came out of your finger, everyone would know where to dodge.

However, the benefits seem to wildly outweigh the downsides for most people.

A snap is used as an example, with it being used mainly in flame and fire magic. Of course, one could forgo the use of it, but the mental strain required to simultaneously ignite all the mana needed would be far greater than that of using a hand sign since it basically hard wires your brain and mana to ignite once you snap your finger.

Well, concentration has ever been a problem of mine, but I guess in a fight it could be different. Risking my life is different than risking my wallet. I could probably avoid using hand signs for now since my mana pool is low and I'm just beginning to learn magic, but once I start making more than nothing burgers with my magic, I might start to use them.

Eh, I'll come up with hand signs for Catapult and my barriers later today. Might as well get used to using them.

The main point the book was trying to get across was that magic is will-based, as in if I will a spell to be a certain way, it can happen as long as the element and conditions are correct, or alternatively, you throw enough mana at it. Unfortunately, the section I read barely touched on conditions or conditional casting. But if I rush right into it, I'm definitely going to miss something.

Carefully placing the book back in my chest and restoring the fake lock, it's time to practice!

I have so many ideas to try, like what if I use a fire-oriented hand sign on a wind spell? Do they only work with certain elements, or are hand signs universal and we've simply assigned them meaning?

Man, I had no idea stealing knowledge could be this fun!

Taking a seat across from my training dummy, it's time to mess with everything I just learned.