Programmer in Another World

EPISODE 5 - The Deconstruction of Magic

Phize wakes up to see a room that doesn't resemble his house.

He is lying on a bed.

"Huh?"

He notices his mother sleeping on his knees.

He tries to move but he notices that his arm is in a cast.

"Ow... Ow. Ow..."

He taps his mom to wake her up.

"Mom, what happened?"

"Don't wake her up yet. Let her have some rest. She got a pretty bad injury," Vhint responds near a door.

Vhint wrapped cloth in his left knee and is now sitting on a chair nearby the bed.

"Daddy, what happened to you?"

He releases some tears.

"Phize... I'm so glad..." he cries, "that you're safe. I'm a bad father, I wasn't able to save you immediately. If only, I was stronger... Son, can you forgive me for being too weak?

Phize is utter shock, "E-EH? NO NEED FATHER! I'M PRETTY SURE YOU DID YOUR BEST!"

"WAAAAAAH! MY SON IS AN ANGEL! LET ME HUG YOU!"

He tries to stand up but struggles due to his injury.

"FATHER, YOU DON'T NEED TO STAND UP! JUST REST!"

Besides, I'm technically 25 years old, so I should be able to take care of myself pretty fine.

"Who... was that man?"

"That man?" he sighs, "That man was one of our former party members when we were still adventuring. We were a party of four. I loved your mother, while he loved, the 4th member, her name was Thiscia. But one day, while we were adventuring. We... encountered... the witches. We were inexperienced, and we barely got out of there alive. She... was the reason the three of us survived that day. She died, and we all blamed ourselves for being too weak. But the one who was most devastated was him. We tried to stop him countless times, but in the end, he visited the witches...

He lets out a tear.

"He turned his back on us. He said that if he brought our dead bodies to the witches, they would give her back. So... I had to kill him. *He lets out more tears* He... was like a brother to me. I don't even think I can blame him for what happened. But... I have no choice. So, Phize, when you make friends, make sure to protect them, okay? Oh, I'm sorry, you're too young to understand all of this, I just got carried away by the mome-"

"Father, I promise. Don't worry, I'll make sure to protect my friends," he earnestly answered.

"His words, made me remember Ansgar. Sure, I have visited him every day. But I don't think I used my power to protect him. This time, I'll make sure I do," he thought.

"Father, I want to go to school. I want to make friends. And I'll make sure to be strong enough to not only protect them but both of you too."

Vhint wipes off his tears and releases a smile.

"Thanks, son."

"By the way, where are we?"

Son, this is a hotel. We will be living here for a while, because people like Callas, might come and try to hunt us. So, make sure to study up for school okay?"

"Yes, I will, Father."

"Oh, about your injuries, your mom stayed awake for 5 hours straight just to heal you up. You got lucky that you have a good mother, no?"

"Yeah," he says as he smiles.

A week goes by.

"My arm has almost healed up already," he thought.

"Mommy, I'll be going out for a while," he says to his mother.

"Ok, but don't go too far, okay?"

"Sure thing, mommy."

"HEY WAIT! YOU FORGOT SOMETHING!"

Phize stops and goes back to his mom.

"What is it, mommy?"

Lexia grabs Phize's face and kisses him on the cheek. With a smile, she lets him go.

"Have fun, out there."

"Sure thing, mommy!"

He goes outside the room, goes down the stairs, and exits the hotel. He passes through some buildings and goes to a dark corner.

"Alright!"

"Mom, taught me a shorter way of chanting water because she was worried about the time I got bitten," he thought.

"Water!"

A magic circle forms around his right hand and it shoots water. He touches the magic circle and the water's output became bigger.

"WOAH!" he says to himself in astonishment.

"WATER!"

He looks as to where the water shoots.

"Wait, there's something. Something resembling like a line," he thought as he analyzes the trajectory of the water.

He notices there is a magic line that is barely seen by the eye which connects the magic circle and the output it produced.

"Wait, I can't read much but it's structure, it strongly resembles a code, or more accurately..."

"A PROGRAM!," he thought.

He notices a number between the lines of text.

He touches it and the number which resembles 80 turned into 100.

"Did that change anything?" he asked himself.

"WATER!"

The water output increases in speed.

"WOAH!"

"So, magic isn't really all that random, it still has certain arguments which determine its output. But I didn't know I could control its output and I haven't really seen anyone in the area do it. Maybe I should keep it a secret," he thought.

Note: Arguments(in codes), are values assigned to parameters. Whereas parameters are those that allow a function to perform tasks without knowing the specific input values ahead of time.

"I should go to school first then I'll come back to studying these."

I'll learn more about magic.

"WATER!"

Nothing comes out.

"I guess I used up all of my mana"

"Time to go back home," he thought.

He goes back to the hotel room they stay in.

"I'm home!" he announces.

He sees his mother throwing up in the bathroom.

"MOM! ARE YOU OKAY?"

"Huh? I'm okay... I'm was just experiencing something a bit of dizziness these past few days. But other than that, I'm fine. You don't need to worry, Phize."

"Mom, you don't look fine," he says worriedly.

Vhint enters the door to their room.

"PHIZE, YOUR INTERVIEW IS TOMORROW! ARE YOU READY?"

"Daddy, mom isn't feeling too well."

"What do you mean?"

He approaches Lexia.

They whisper with each other and Vhint suddenly gets motivated.

He faces Phize with a great smirk.

"Don't worry about your mother, Phize. But let me ask you this... Would you like a brother or sister?"

"Wait a minute... why do I feel like I know what he means? Is it because of my 5 year-old body who cannot comprehend what my 20 year-old self is supposed to know? I forgot," he thought.

"Eh?"

END OF EPISODE 5