Looking For Parents
When I woke up, I thought about what happened earlier.
A fire really appeared before my eyes. It wasn’t just a natural phenomenon. In the first place, I couldn’t think of a natural phenomenon like that.
Then was it caused by someone else? Most probably. And that someone was probably me since there was nobody else aside from the dogs, the insects, and me at that time.
But I wonder what I did before that fireball appeared? As I recall, I was beating up the dog in my mind.
Time for another experiment.
I need to know what I can use for my protection. It might be a small fireball, but it’s good enough for chasing away dogs. I have to be able to use this courageous but doomed resistance since I will continue to encounter wild animals.
So let’s start recalling things from the top.
When I was attacked by the dogs, I tried to use my chi and resisted with all my might, but it was pointless. I couldn’t stand it, so I at least imagined the dog dying in my mind.
That fireball won’t manifest with just my imagination alone. If that were the case, then something strange must have happened before that. So it must be my chi.
I checked the slimy substance covering my body. To see the dogs, I had to expand my chi. And I can move this chi around as I please. I made an apple drop, crushed it, and used it to shock the dogs a bit.
Of course, I didn’t know what this stuff was. But this was the only thing I could rely on, so I used it. It’s a strange thing.
But could it be that this chi stated the fire earlier?
I imagined a fireball on the ground a bit far from me, but nothing happened.
And then, I used my chi to cover the same spot and imagined it again. However, nothing happened either.
I guess I was going in the wrong direction. But this is all I could think of. Let’s try it again.
Then for the umpteenth time, when I imagined a fireball on the spot covered with my chi, it happened.
Fire, just like that time.
It flared up for a moment and then disappeared, leaving nothing behind. The chi I had spread disappeared from the space for a moment as well.
It seems that my prediction was right. That fireball was created by me by changing my chi.
It was easy once I got the hang of it. It didn’t take long, and I was able to make a fireball at will.
It’s as if this were magic. It’s the kind of magic that the wizards of old used when they held up their wands and chanted spells.
I wondered if it was possible to create something other than fire so I gave it a try, but I did it carefully, so I don’t fall asleep again.
I decided to call this substance “magic” instead of “chi”
I could use it for more than just fire. I could produce drops of water and even make small pebbles. And then, they would disappear as if nothing happened. This was definitely magic. So I concluded that the source was indeed magic.
My doubts were cleared. And with that, the burning question I had since the time I used the magic I called “chi” was also answered.
This place was not Earth.
On Earth, not one person would be able to use this kind of power. There might have been some, but since I couldn’t recall anyone who used it, I came to the conclusion that there were none. And in this world, I could use magic. So this is an unfamiliar world.
So it doesn’t really matter, but for some reason, I started to laugh. A smile broke out on my face. I didn’t know why, but maybe I was just happy.
Now that my mood was better, I went back to the problem at hand. What should I do about my clothes? I was interrupted when I was attacked by the dogs, but now I have time to get back to it.
Wearing straw skirts was a no go of course. I’ll just have to get some clothes since I can’t make them.
What if I just took them?
After much deliberation, I came up with an idea.
If I didn’t have the clothes that my parents would normally provide, then I can just take them from places where there are clothes— In other words, I’m going to steal them.
My surroundings were already pitch black just like the night my father abandoned me. The next day, I woke up to the sun shining above me, although it wasn’t a few hours until I started moving and found a village nearby. There were clothes there and enough food to survive.
I hesitated. In the values of my past life, stealing was a crime. However, it was necessary for my survival. At least, I felt that I was allowed that much since I was abandoned by my parents right after birth and left in the forest where wild animals lived.
So, I decided to be a little selfish. I don’t know what happened in my previous life, but in order to live in this world, I will have to help myself.
And so, although I don’t know how many weeks or months had passed since I couldn’t count, I spent my days practicing magic.
My goal was to be able to move without being spotted, and to be able to run away when I was spotted.
Up until then, my movement was slow. I used magic to move around like a caterpillar, and I lived off of the fruits of the trees around me. This was no way to enter a human village.
While practicing magic, I first learned how to fly. I still had to cover my body with magic, so it was no better than how I usually moved. My speed had also increased, and for a short period, I was able to run as fast as a child, or to move somewhat high up or, conversely, just hover above the ground.
I also got better at producing things out of nowhere. I could now produce fire and move the fireball freely. Same goes with wind and water. And with this, it became easier for me to chase off the stray dogs.
But there was one more thing I’ve learned recently.
And that was invisibility.
I didn’t have a mirror so I couldn’t be exactly sure, but my reflection in the puddle, or the lack thereof, was indeed see-through.
Invisibility was a useful thing if I wanted to remain unknown from th village. I had thought on it early on, but it was hard to put into practice.
Seeing is only possible when light enters the eyes. In order to recognize the existence of an object, the light reflected or refracted by the object must enter the eyes.
In the beginning, I artificially reproduced the light that bounces off the body, which made my whole body look like a liquid crystal.
But it was difficult. Since I had to keep on producing light, it consumed a lot of power. As a matter of fact, I immediately fainted the first time I succeeded in doing it.
But the trigger for the completion of my magic was when I became successful in producing wind.
Wind is the movement of air. The first time I learned wind magic, I created a ball of wind and moved it around.
Although I was successful in producing wind, it somehow felt strange. I felt like I was doing something meaningless.
One day, I wondered if I could do the same by gathering the existing wind, so I tried it. And just as expected, I was successful in my first try.
Maybe it’s because I started from producing and moving around fireballs, but it never occurred to me to do the same with natural objects until now.
Now that I think about it, telekinesis was something I had been doing ever since I dropped that apple, and the power I consumed back then we lesser compared to deliberately creating a mass of air.
Then I wondered if I could also decrease the amount of magic consumed by invisibility the same way. Bending the light so that it doesn’t hit my body and pass through me instead, I eliminated the necessity of continuously producing light and decreased my magic consumption in the process.
And so, I succeeded in mastering invisibility magic.
I guess it’s time to venture into the village, I thought as I swallowed the mashed-up caterpillar.
I already had the means to hide from people, and I also had the means to escape if needed. I might just be able to live in the village.
But I was also worried. I was a child who could use magic. It’s safe to assume that there are other people who could also use magic, and if they found me, I could be protected. But I don’t know what kind of trouble I might find myself in. After all, this was a society where they could easily abandon a child.
However, considering the future, the sooner the better. I didn’t know anything about this world. I didn’t know the language, the culture, the climate, or anything else about it.
And so, I decided.
I would get some clothes, and I would find a parent.