Solitude, grief and every heartache are the only things that existed for Alex. He doesn’t know why he is remembering it right now. Nevertheless, it was that cursed day when everything went hell. It was August 12th and it was an afternoon with the skies crying. Alex was walking alone under his trusty umbrella as he was tasked to buy his grandfather some medicine at the pharmacy. As he was walking, he then looked in front of him to see a dozen people who is the same age as him blocking his way. He was then dragged into a tight alley and the people suddenly forced Alex to give them money. Alex, who didn’t give away the money that was supposed to go to his grandfather’s medicine, got beat up by the kids. Alex was beaten into a pulp until he couldn’t even see a single image anymore. The surrounding was blurry, as he lays on the ground with thick red liquid getting mixed up with the rain puddles. The kids were laughing as they then stripped Alex naked and then they stole the money from Alex’s hand which he tightly held onto, so it can’t be stolen. But his strength was just not enough. One of kids stomped on his already swollen face and they left with the money, leaving Alex in that alley, naked, bleeding and wet. A concerned citizen brought Alex to the hospital. The next day, he woke up to see his entire family in his hospital room. They all looked gloomy, and their eyes were puffy. Alex smiled a little as he was glad that his family was actually worried about him. But then, his mother stood up from the chair and suddenly slapped her son and then grabbed his throat and started to choke him,

“How dare you smile?! It’s all your fault! If it wasn’t for your weakness, my father could’ve lived! You damn murderer!” the mother wailed as the others tried to stop her.

Yes, Alex’s grandfather died because he was too weak to defend himself. It was all his fault. And since that day, his family distanced themselves from Alex, even though they live under the same roof. They couldn’t care less about him anymore. Whether he’s sick, in need of signatures for his school or even when he is being extremely bullied by everyone in his school. They just don’t care about him anymore that they don’t even consider him as part of the family. Everyone hated Alex. The teachers insulted him and gave him failing grades when he does not attend classes because of the heavy body of his after getting beaten up. Not to mention the amount of bullying he received over the years. Tragedies changed him completely. He tried to surrender with life multiple times, but some people always stop him when he is about to either jump from a bridge, hang himself or even impale himself. It was if taking his own life isn’t the way he will exit this world.

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Abraham woke up early to the sound of crowing roosters and the beautiful chirping of birds. He opened his eyes that is the same color as the sky as he realized that he slept while sitting near the window. Abraham stood up and because of the shock that he literally passed out instead of training on his first day. He stormed out of his room and then as he went down the stairs in a rush, what expected to happen happened. He made one misstep and he came rolling down the stairs like a ball. When he reached the ground, he hit the wall and dust fell onto his face that made him sneeze. He groaned in pain as he clutched his middle back. Marge, who came out from the kitchen giggled as she saw Abraham, pathetically laying there and was like a person who is stuck inside the bathroom and was regretting on eating anything.

“Get up, sleepy head. It’s time for breakfast, and after breakfast, it’s time for the daily morning chores.” Marge ordered as she then limped back into the kitchen.

Abraham stood up and slowly stretched his lower body to ooze the pain. He then went to the kitchen, still scratching his middle back as he then smells the oily aroma of fried egg and meat. Abraham entered the also dirty kitchen and saw Marge already eating on a table. Abraham sat across the table facing her, as plates then magically placed themselves in front of Abraham and then, eggs came flying and landed on the plate, along with the flying glass and a bottle of milk. The two then ate breakfast. Marge was a messy eater. Her food is going everywhere, as she is also reading the today’s issue of newspapers. At the cover page, Abraham saw a headline that says,

“Continuous skyrocketing of monsters at the Monster’s Plain. Normal or abnormal?”

The monster’s plain as the word says, it’s a plain that is crawling with a mixture of high class and low-class monsters. To cut it short, it’s a hunting grounds for adventurers. However, even though it’s under control, it sometimes goes out of hand when some anomaly happens. But luckily, the small town of Ozo is far, far away from that area. About 7 towns from here, quite far indeed. As Abraham indulged in his runny eggs, a casserole lid suddenly flew towards him and hit his face. Abraham then bowed down as he rubbed the place where he was hit, which is the left temple. And then, as he looked around, kitchen utensils are also flying around. He looked at Marge, and she was still enjoying her eggs and a cup of coffee while reading newspapers as she dodged the flying stuff casually. This is when Abraham realized that this house is messed up, and this kind of thing is normal for Marge. But even though she said that she isn’t good in combat, she does have great reflexes to evaded those flying pots and dishes. Is it because she’s used to it and knows its pattern? Or is it because she is actually skilled in combat also? Abraham didn’t bother to continue that thinking since it won’t be answered anyway. Nevertheless, he grabbed his plate of runny eggs from the table as he then went under the table, and that’s where he would eat. But when he was about to eat a spoonful of eggs, the floor that he was sitting on suddenly pushed him up so hard that Abraham’s head went through the table. It only has been a day since he stayed in this house, and he is literally fed up with it already. Abraham removed his head from the table as he then decided to go out the room and just go out to the porch to get some fresh air. But then, Marge called him,

“For your first chore this morning. Can you please get the grimoires I bought from the magical equipment and grimoires shop? It’s just right besides the weapons shop. Now, off you go.” Marge instructed.

As Abraham stepped out of the kitchen, he was suddenly launched up into the air as he slammed through the floors of the house until he was completely out and was flying above the roof. He saw his life flashed right before his eyes as he landed on the roof and then rolled down into the ground. Abraham landed on the ground, and the impact knocked the wind out of him. He slowly stood up and just jumped up and down to relieve himself. He then proceeded to the shop Marge was telling him about.

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He arrived at the shop and was not surprised anymore. The grimoires that Marge bought was like a mountain. The shopkeeper told Abraham that everything is now paid, but if Abraham wishes to rent a cart, then it would cost 5 copper. But he doesn’t have that kind of money, yet, so he just carried the piles of grimoires all by himself. The sheer weight of the books were 7 times his own weight. And the fact that his body is still an undeveloped 8-year-old body, it just adds upon to the difficulty. However, he made it as his motivation that if can’t conquer this kind of task, then how can he become an adventurer? He doesn’t want to be pathetic any more than he is back then, so he tried his best to bring all these grimoires back to the house of Marge. And after a few minutes of sufferings, he finally reached the house. He entered the house and the door creaked as usual. Marge then came in from the back porch,

“Oh, bring those grimoires up to my room’s front door. And then, hurry down and go to the back, it’s time for your first lesson.” Marge bossed around as Abraham let out a deep exhale.

As he climbed the stairs, one step after the other, since he is taking it slowly because he is feeling like his arms are about to get torn off his body. He placed the grimoires just at the left of the front door of Marge’s room as he went downstairs to go to the back. Abraham went to the back and his lesson started with himself not getting rest at all. Marge reminded him that the trainings will be gruesome and she will not go easy on him just because he’s a kid. Just as everything is now set, Marge began the first lesson. Mana. What is mana? Mana is like the blood of an individual. Just like how blood is important in the circulation of the body, mana is also as important as blood, as without mana, magic won’t work. Mana flows like a raging river. It’s unstoppable, unless it’s forced to be stopped. To conjure magic spells, mana manipulation is essential. Because once a person conjures up a spell, mana is being consumed alongside the stamina. The magic prowess of a person depends on the capacity of their mana. Since magic is used in everyday life, it can be at any size. However, mana is not just inside the body. It’s everywhere, that’s why, those who have high knowledge about mana tend to consume the mana in the surroundings and use it as their strength. Another thing is that, there’s this rare moment when the goddess of mana herself bestows a massive capacity of mana in one person. And since Abraham’s attribute strings are still unidentified, his mana capacity cannot be read at the moment. But if Marge is to estimate it, then it would be large, if not large, then massive.

“But please take note that manipulating mana and using magic spells are two completely different things, but is connected. You manipulate mana to conjure spells, that’s how it is. Now, off to the next part, the actual manipulation training.” Says Marge as she then instructed Abraham on what to do.

She told him to close his eyes, concentrate and don’t let anything distract him. And once he is in total silence, he needs to form an image of a raging river in front of him. That river is the mana flowing in him. What he needs to do is to manipulate the river and bend it to his will.

It can’t be done quickly, so Abraham is welcome to take some time to do this thing. Even making the river appear takes a few days and a lot of tries to make it. In any case, Abraham went into deep concentration and started his first day of training. After a few minutes of concentration, he finally entered this dark space where there is nothing but silence. He then tried to imagine the raging river to appear, however, forcing it just gave him insane headaches. Marge sighed, as it hasn’t even been an hour, and Abraham is already coming out of the silence space.

“Don’t force it! Let it come naturally!” yelled Marge as she sat down on a chair in her back porch as she watched Abraham stand and try again.

She then used her magic to make herself some tea and the newspaper she was reading earlier came flying into her hands also. She spread the newspaper as she let Abraham to focus on his training. It won’t be easy, but if he doesn’t pass this training of hers, then he has no right to be an adventurer like his parents. Not to mention that he is the only hope of the branch family. Abraham continues his training until he is utterly exhausted.

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After hours of training, Abraham lays on the grass, all covered in dirt and was utterly exhausted. He was catching his breath as every inch of his stamina got drained. He wasn’t able to form the river, instead, he kept on forcing it unconsciously, which is why he caused up some small explosions. Marge scolded him as he is just really forcing it and not letting it happen naturally. She reminded him that if something is rushed, you can’t expect that it will come out perfect. What Abraham needs to do is to just focus on what he can do for now and slowly move up to the next stage. Marge then told him that forming the river is the easiest part of the training. But when Abraham reaches the point where he is to control the river, then it will be the hardest training he could ever have. That’s why parents hire professional trainers to teach their children how to manipulate mana. Because manipulating mana is the first thing a mage should learn before learning how to conjure spells. Without the manipulation of mana, spells would be nothing but a simple brow flick. Marge sighed as she then patched up the holes Abraham created in her backyard as she then used her magic to also carry Abraham back inside the house. She put Abraham in his room, and told him to take a bath right after he regains his energy. Marge then went back downstairs to cook some dinner. It took a while, but Abraham finally regained at least some of his energy. He grabbed a towel from his sacks of clothes as he went downstairs to take a bath. The bathroom was at the left end of the backyard and he used a water pump to gather some water. He then took a bath and after that, he changed his clothes and went down the kitchen to eat with Marge who is reading the newspaper again.

“Is the news that interesting that you are glued to that paper?” Abraham asked as he ate a spoonful of meat.

“Well, you need information in a world full of monsters and mage criminals. And besides, this is the only thing that makes things interesting about my already long life, so let me be!” Marge replied as she drank her cup of tea, “About your training earlier, it would take you a while to get to the river point, but don’t stop trying. Just let everything go according to the process and everything you worked hard for will eventually bloom.” She added.

Abraham nodded as he agrees with her. He was rushing things earlier. He was too excited to be a mage, that he didn’t even think that in the world of magic, he is just like a child who is just barely learning how to walk. He has a long way to go to become a mage and an adventurer. Abraham wants to make his folks proud, and being strong is one of the ways to do it. He’ll pursue this mage dream, it might take some time, but at least he’s sure to make it there once he trusts the process. So, he happily ate the grilled meat as he evaded the flying utensils simultaneously. Abraham Warlock’s journey to becoming a great mage starts now.