“What's wrong? What do you mean he’s not lying?” Mira asked as Dr. Elasha stared at my sternum, and presumably my core, in awe.

  “I mean, he wasn't lying about his ability,” she replied, not taking her gaze off me. Her staring, along with the fact that everyone else was surrounding me, only made me more uncomfortable.

  “Well, obviously, he wasn't lying. Why would he? I don't appreciate you accusing my son.”

  “Mrs. Pinekeep, I do apologize for that. But can you blame me for being a bit skeptical? I mean, no normal child of his age should have this great a mana capacity. It’s amazing.”

  While I appreciated the fact that she understood how amazing I was, I felt the same as Mira. I didn’t appreciate the woman wildly accusing me of lying about my great skill. Though I wondered exactly what she saw that was enough to take back her accusations. While I knew that I was probably one of the best mages, or magicians, or whatever in the world, I was still curious to know just how strong I actually was.

  “And what exactly are you looking at, Doctor?” Caelen asked.

  Dr. Elasha hastily turned to her desk without a word and opened up the drawer. Inside was a mess, with a bunch of items thrown inside with no order. She rummaged through the mess, looking for something in particular.

  “Aha, found it!” she proclaimed as she pulled out a pen and a journal and hurried back to me.

  I wondered what she could be doing now. Looking at Caelen, Mira, and Liora, who was still holding me in her arms, they all seemed to be wondering the same thing.

  “Doctor?” Caelen asked, wondering if she was going to answer his question.

  “Yes, yes, I was getting to that,” Dr. Elasha said. She stared into my core for a moment before looking down at the journal in her hands, scribbling words into it as she began to speak.

  “The first layer of the subject’s core is already fully solidified at the age of…?” Dr. Elasha said as she scribbled the same words down into her notes without looking up from the journal.

  “He’s three,” Mira answered.

  “Three. The amount of mana stored in the subject’s core is immense. The subject’s core, on only the first layer, appears to be around the same level as the average ten-year-old elf, despite the subject being only human.”

  Only human? Rude…

  I did appreciate her stroking my ego, though, even if I already knew how great I was. Her referring to me as “subject” was a bit off-putting, though. It was like I was some sort of lab rat for her to study. She also had a crazy, obsessive look in her vibrant purple eyes. It was really freaking me out.

  Something that stuck out to me was what she said about elves. She mentioned that my core was on par with a ten-year-old elf’s, and that was apparently impressive for a human. That probably meant that elves had stronger cores or something like that.

  “We will have to wait until the subject matures in order to see how far his strength can really go.”

  Dr. Elasha then closed her notes and looked to Caelen and Mira. Her eyes then changed from purple back to their original light blue. Caelen and Mira both looked shocked after hearing all of Dr. Elasha’s observations. Looking up at Liora, she just looked confused. It probably made sense, though, considering her age. A girl as young as her probably couldn’t comprehend the greatness of someone like me.

  “Do you two understand how much of an anomaly your son is? I’ve never seen anything like it. To have this great a mana capacity at such a young age, and at only the first layer at that.”

  “T-that’s… amazing,” Caelen answered. “I mean, I was proud of him when he said he taught himself to utilize mana, but I never thought his core would be that developed. Reylus has always been a talented kid, but to think he’d be so gifted in magic.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Caelen put his hand to his chin as if he were thinking. The amount of compliments I was getting today really was something. I was finally getting what I deserved—respect.

  “It certainly is something. If this is true, imagine the swordsman he could be when he’s older.”

  Caelen turned to Mira with a confused look on his face. “Swordsman?”

  “Yes, swordsman. Did I stutter? Imagine how great of a swordsman he will be with a mana capacity that rivals elves.”

  “But honey, I thought we were going to raise him to be a mage…”

  Mira scoffed and crossed her arms. “And where did you get that ridiculous idea from?”

  “From you. A little after he was born. You specifically said that we could raise our son as a mage. And don't try to go back on your word either, because I wrote it down too, specifically for this moment, because I knew you’d do this.” Caelen reached into his back trouser pocket with a grin on his face and pulled out a small folded-up piece of paper.

  Mira rolled her eyes but waited for him to unfold it and begin reading. Liora and I looked at each other before Liora shrugged. We would just have to wait and see what would happen.

  Caelen unfolded the paper and began reading, “Exactly one week after the day of Reylus’ birth, Mira officially agreed that when he was older, we would raise him to be a mage, just like me. After asking her if we could raise him to follow in my footsteps, her exact words were, ‘Fine, whatever, now come to bed, I need you badly.’ In the event that Mira is her usual self and tries to go back on her word, refer back to this note.”

  Wow…

  I had to hand it to the man; he was prepared. Though I didn’t need to hear the part about Mira’s horniness.

  Mira blushed and her brows furrowed. “I-I was… in a mood. I wasn’t in my right mind, so that note is null and void!”

  “That’s not fair,” Caelen complained.

  Mira snatched the note from Caelen’s hands and immediately tore it up into a thousand little pieces. The woman was crazy. Caelen looked mortified as he watched her do it with a satisfied grin on her face. He slumped to his knees as the tiny pieces of paper fell to the ground. He looked so defeated that I almost felt bad.

  “My… my note…”

  Mira looked down at him, arms crossed, before rolling her eyes. “Oh, get up.”

  Caelen slowly stood back up to his feet, a look of defeat was plastered all over his face.

  “You’ll get over it, darling. Besides, being a swordsman is much more practical than being a mage. Spells require focus and consume a lot of mana. Being a swordsman is much more efficient in this day and age,” Mira stated, having already made up her mind about the path she would want me to go down.

  I wouldn’t mind being a swordsman if I had to. I didn’t care what path I went down as long as I got strong enough to crush my enemies. This world seemed to require strength to get to the top, and the top was where I wanted to be. That had ultimately been my goal since I found out I was in another world. I wanted to get back to where I was in my previous life.

  What I didn’t like was the fact that both Caelen and Mira thought that they had a say in what I would do with my life. They weren’t my parents, and they had no right in deciding anything for me. While it was true that I wanted to get stronger, I wanted to do it on my own accord. Even if, in the end, what I wanted aligned with what they wanted for me, I still didn’t want to do what they said out of spite.

  “Uh, don’t I get a say in this?” I spoke up. Thankfully, I wasn’t stuttering like before, probably because I was speaking to Caelen and Mira.

  “Oh, sweetheart, you’re too young to make a decision as big as this. Let mommy and daddy handle this,” Mira spoke in that overly motherly tone that I hated. My brows furrowed out of frustration as she treated me like a child.

  If only this woman knew how much older than her I really was.

  “But if this decision is going to be as big as you say, shouldn’t I have a choice?” I said, trying to reason with her. Though after saying those words, something hit me. What was I arguing for?

  Even if she didn’t let me choose, as long as I got stronger, it wouldn’t matter what route I went with. Maybe it’d be better to just let this one go. Was it even worth arguing if I didn’t care in the first place? Sure, I didn’t like the idea of being raised in Mira’s image, I loathed it, in fact—but arguing with her would have been more trouble than it’d have been worth.

  Besides, being taught by her could give me the knowledge i needed to finally defeat her. Having info on all of her secret techniques and whatnot would certainly make it easier. And maybe being taught by someone instead of being self-taught could speed up the process. The quicker i got stronger, the quicker I would reach my goal of getting to the top.

  Alright, Mira. You can have this one.

  Mira reached for me and took me out of Liora’s arms. She then placed me on her shoulder. “Now, Reyly, I know you want to make the decision yourself, but it’s too important for a child to make. Trust me, I just want what’s best for you. Understand?”

  I hesitated for a moment, as I was a bit off-put by the whole situation. Not only did I not like relenting to Mira, but I also didn’t like the fact that she acted like she was my mother. Normally, I probably would’ve argued some more out of spite, but I had already made up my mind.

  “I understand.”