Five years later

A young boy stood before a mirror, gazing at his reflection. He tugged at his golden hair, which had grown long enough to reach his ears.

Instead of the skinny boy from before, Michael had grown into the makings of a man. Now that he was ten years old, his body had started to develop with a little more muscles on his bones. Training nothing but his body for the last five years had allowed him to reach good physical fitness, even better than what he had in his previous life.

He put on his clothes and strolled out of his room with a pep in his step.

Beretta, the veteran maid, passed by, balancing plates full of food on both her hands.

"Young master, please take an umbrella with you when you go outside. It's raining," she warned.

But Michael continued to walk out the door without a care in the world.

Just as Beretta had warned, there was quite a bit of downpour outside, even though the skies looked so clear.

It didn't matter, though. He stepped foot outside, with the raindrops falling just an inch short of Michael's entire body.

A strange, almost invisible layer of prismatic coating surrounded his body, preventing the water from wetting his hair and clothes.

Michael had practiced his [Absolute Unity Defense] skill to the four-star level, making him invulnerable to any and all kinds of magic that were below the fourth level. And since rain was a naturally occurring source of water mana, it was no different than a 1-star Water Ball spell. If he didn't want to get wet, Michael would never get wet.

As for his mana cores, they had also advanced, reaching the equivalent of a 4-star mage. He could have advanced much further, but the presence of unique elements such as the Lightning and Poison mana were hard to acquire.

For that, he had to ask Seberus's help for some mana stones that contained those specific elemental manas.

The Tower Master frequented the Vanderbilt estate with the pretense of overlooking Michael's magic, but in truth, the old man simply wanted to play Reborn chess with him.

Of course, Michael would always win. 

And the funny thing was that the Tower Master wasn't even the second-best player in the Vanderbilt estate. That honor was retained by Sebastian, who came very close to beating Michael a couple of times throughout the years.

Magic wasn't the only thing that Michael had been working on for the last five years.

His Reborn company had steadily expanded, its name spreading across other cities and villages. 

Business had been booming—so much so that his wealth had become immeasurable.

Michael didn't bother himself with all of those because most of the money they earned was reinvested into the company. Under the Reborn banner, Castelle continued to employ craftsmen, blacksmiths, and even mages, expanding their range of products.

Of course, he continued to 'invent' new things to keep their brand and products fresh in people's minds.

For example, Michael created the very first 'matchstick.' Initially, he wasn't going to sell and only intended it to help the maids light fires during the winter, but that was until Castelle saw how easy it was to create fire without magic, she practically begged him to let her sell it as a Reborn product.

Just like the first boom of soap and shampoo, matchsticks became a 'hot' product in their business. 

But even though the number of matchboxes they sold far outnumbered the number of soap and shampoo they sold, it didn't bring in much money. After all, he only sold the matchboxes at about 20 copper coins.

Despite that, it was still worth it. The impact was undeniable. This ended up becoming the catalyst that helped Reborn become widely known in even the small villages and cities beyond Kingsbridge. 

After all, the citizens of those places didn't have money to hire their own fire mages like the wealthy citizens of Kingsbridge. So, having easy access to fire became a literal life-saver for most people, which was what Michael wanted in the first place.

He continued developing more products that greatly improved people's quality of life. He created the compass, which became a must-have for people traveling all the time. Another was eyeglasses, which allowed most people to regain their ability to read. All of those inventions contributed to the profits and reputation of the Reborn company.

One big project he worked on during the years was a revolutionary form of transportation: the bicycle.

He still wouldn't forget the day when everyone in the Vanderbilt estate gathered in the backyard to try out the bicycles on their own. Many fell to the ground, getting cuts and bruises on their elbows. But still, the smiles on their faces were priceless.

His parents tried it as well, with Bart quickly getting captivated with the desire to use it for his daily trips to Kingsbridge. Of course, that idea was quickly shut down once Lylia and the maids expressed their concerns about his safety.

The bicycle was much faster than walking, and required far less effort as well, making it especially useful for the maids and butlers, who had to traverse the large and expansive Vanderbilt estate every day, keeping the area well-tended.

With the help of ChatJK2 and the myriad of 2 to 3-star magic spells in his repertoire, Michael was able to construct these inventions without much trouble at all. As long as his inventions didn't require a dedicated source of energy, he could create anything with ease.

That was, until now.

After five years of constant failure, trial and error, and spending blood, sweat, and tears, Michael had finally done it—he had created a working prototype of an engine!

Unlike his previous inventions, this particular type of machine needed a lot of precise pieces. Even the slightest of an imperfection could turn the entire thing useless.

The biggest challenge he faced while creating the engine was that the materials needed to be strong enough to handle the pressure while still working as he wished them to. However, that meant that it would be a lot harder for Michael to bend the materials to his desired specifications.

But after five years of working on it constantly, it was finally complete.

Michael walked into his Project Room and carefully assembled the parts into one machine. With a satisfying CLINK, the final piece clicked into place.

Now, he just needed fuel. And then, he could finally harness electricity!