Chapter 3: Growing and Learning
After he had spoken his first words, his new parents would speak to and around him often to encourage his learning. Through this action of theirs, Aryn learned their names, among other things.
His father was named Maros Mayer, and his mother was named Emilia Mayer. They were a married couple that seemed to be rather well off by the state of his new home.
When he was first carried into said new home by his father, Aryn could only admire the architecture.
It was a cozy yet elegant three-story manor with an exterior made of some kind of large-cut pale-grey stone. The roof was formed of dark slate tiles that had been integrated together masterfully to be both stylish and functional.
The windows seemed poised to provide ample natural lighting to the inside of the manor's walls.
It sat on a sizable chunk of land with a well cared for garden in the front and a training area, large pond, and a small wooded section in the back that seemed to be a nice place to relax and enjoy the day.
The inside contrasted nicely with the implied formality of the exterior. All of the interior, bar the kitchen's stone floor, consisted of a wooden floor with a warm colored and shiny finish and sturdy walls painted a dark-blue. Various tasteful paintings littered the walls of most rooms and hallways.
On the first floor was the entrance, the dining room, the kitchen, a small meeting room, a bathroom, a door to the backyard under the stairs, and an entrance to the library which spanned all three floors on the eastern side of the building.
The second floor held six bedrooms, two more bathrooms, a family room, and a small dorm for staff. A crib was set for Aryn in his parents' room against a wall, in view from the bed.
The room next to his parents' master bedroom was to be his when he was older and the other four were for guests should they need to stay the night. The dorm was where the cook and the two maids slept.
The third and final floor held another entrance to the library, his father's fancy-looking office, a room for storage, and an art room where his mother liked to paint in her spare time.
Aryn was making great progress in learning the language. He now knew the names of many household objects, he also knew simple words his parents said often, like mom, dad, son, and baby.
While his parents were interacting with him, Aryn also learned something that he thought to be of great importance to his future in this world when his father casually used telekinesis to open a door while carrying him.
'My new dad's a Mage! Score!' He clenched his baby hand in victory and looked excitedly as the door swung open on its own.
Maros, noticing his son reacting to the door, smiled down at his son and said. "Isn't your old man cool? When you get bigger, I'll try to teach you how to be as cool as me."
He sneakily looked around and saw he was alone in the hallway. "Can't let your mother have her way or you'll just grow up to be a brute!" He whispered to Aryn as if speaking of a grand conspiracy not for the ears of ordinary men.
*bonk*
A sandal flew out of the room he just opened in a curve and smacked him right in the middle of his forehead, light enough to not hurt but just hard enough to make a fool of him.
He should've checked in the room he just opened instead of behind him. Unfortunately his wife had been setting Aryn's crib at the side of the room, out of sight.
"Rude." Emilia chastised blandly from inside the master bedroom and placed a clean blanket in the crib.
Maros just smiled, entered the room, and set Aryn down in the crib.
When that was done, he turned back to his wife and said, "So you don't deny it?", before stopping the second sandal with telekinesis a foot away from his face.
"Yep!" Emilia grinned.
***
Watching Maros use magic around the house in every day life helped Aryn realize something.
There was a way to increase the range at which he could sense and manipulate mana.
Previously, he had assumed that it would naturally increase with his proficiency and maybe the growth of his body. Aryn started to doubt this when his ability to compress mana improved but his range stayed exactly the same.
He could now compress mana about 15% more, but his range stayed at a distance of three meters.
Aryn suspected that increasing his range most is most likely affected by his mana core.
'Is mana core really the right word?' He began to doubt his previous assumption.
'I don't have access to any of the mana inside, so can it really be compared to the mana cores I've read about in my past life?'
His lack of access to said mana was the reason he hadn't tried to do this yet.
While pondering the validity of his naming sense, Aryn started mobilizing the mana around him to gather around his mana core.
'I'll just use whatever terminology people use here once I learn the word. They know better than me, after all.' He quickly decided and pushed the mana into the core.
He had guessed this is what his father was doing when all the ambient mana rushed over to him while he was meditating the other day.
Without any resistance whatsoever, the tiny, dust sized crystal sucked in all the mana he fed it as if there was a limitless, hungry void inside of it.
Not letting the surprise at the ease of which his task was completed get the better of him, he gathered more mana and repeated the action. Again, and again, and again.
After repeating this action for a few dozen minutes, Aryn realized to his utter delight that he could now sense and control mana from about two more centimeters away from himself.
'Okay, that solves that mystery. Not only does doing this increase my range, it is also a decent way of increasing my proficiency in control. There are better ways to practice my control though.'
With a thought, the mana in his radius gathered and compressed into the vague shape of a triangle about three centimeters wide with sides about 20 centimeters long.
Satisfied with this, the mana started forming a square, then a circle, then a hexagon, a star, and then back to a triangle before Aryn let go of his control.
'I've got a headache, I should relax and pick up where I left off tomorrow.' He looked over at his sleeping parents from his crib.
His parents were asleep already, otherwise he wouldn't have risked practicing his mana manipulation near his dad for fear of him noticing. Being a genius was one thing, and being less than two months old practicing magic was another entirely.
With nothing else to do but rest, Aryn closed his eyes and relaxed his mind, allowing himself to sleep.
***
Maros Mayer POV
When Maros heard his son speak his first words only two weeks after he was born, he had been speechless not only because of the unfortunateness of the chosen words, but also because of the absurdity of a two week old infant speaking at all.
Thoughts flew through his mind.
Maybe he was older than Miss Cathe had told them? Though his body didn't match that theory, he was definitely a newborn.
Maybe some magic was at play? Magic that could be used to speak through another's mouth wasn't unheard of, though it was rare. It was a delicate craft.
'Would someone proficient in such a niche form of magic use it just to call me a water boy through the mouth of a newborn?' The chances were needless to say, abysmally low.
Rather than continue to toss around random thoughts in his mind, Maros opted to just focus his senses on his son as his wife laughed away at his expense. What he found brought a thrill through his mind.
'He was born with a Crystalized Mana Conduit! That's almost unheard of!' Immediately, his mind wandered to how powerful he could make this child if he raised him with that thought in mind.
'His Mana Conduit must've sucked enough ambient mana into his head while it was crystalizing to speed up the development of his brain. That's why he can speak his first words so early' This child could bring the Mayer clan to the top if given proper and strict enough instruction.
He looked over to his wife, who had finally calmed down her laughter and smiled brightly at the boy.
'What am I thinking?' Maros sighed internally, then trailed his eyes down to Emilia's belly, still covered by her shirt. 'I can break a promise if I need to, but not one I made to her. I'll raise him as I would my own blood, not as a weapon for the betterment of Clan Mayer.'
With a weight off his chest, Maros continued his walk home as if he had not discovered a thing, his wife's smile as she skipped along next to him removing any doubts from his mind and bringing one of his own to his face.
'It's not like I won't get to teach him at all, anyway. I'm sure he'll be drawn to magic on his own with talent like his.' He composed himself and continued on his way.
***
Emilia Mayer POV
The weeks after they had adopted their new son were a leaning experience for the two.
Emilia had never cared for a child before, but she was more than willing to learn. It didn't hurt their situation that one of the maids, Erica, had prior experience and could give her and Maros a guiding hand. Something they were certainly appreciative of.
As Emilia finished brushing her hair and walked over to her son's crib, she poked his puffy little cheek and swooned saying, "Such a handsome little guy, I'm sure you'll grow big and strong like your mommy." while flexing her arm to emphasize the point. "You need some of these to beat back the monsters."
She could've sworn she saw her son judging her but she must've been seeing things.
Done teasing him, she turned around and walked out of the room, up the stairs, and into her art room on the third floor.
With a blank canvas and a variety of colors at her disposal, Emilia dabbed her brush and started to swipe the brush along the canvas.
Without any particular image in mind, she started randomly spreading colors along the previously pristine white canvas.
There was black, grey, yellow, and red now staining the canvas.
As the colors stained the canvas, an image finally formed in her mind. One that she then impressed upon the canvas with more than just a brush, and soon the painting was complete.
It was a beast, a hideous, vile, shadowy beast that seemed to be the very source of all evil and hatred in the world.
With four misshapen digitigrade legs, mangey fur as black as the depths of Mount Hewn's Caverns, and savage yellow eyes lay above its much-too-large maw.
The sickening beast seemed to carry a mocking sneer with its teeth entirely exposed, the skin of its lips pulled back unnaturally. On its dull grey claws rest a spattering of sparkling crimson.
Emilia gazed at the finished painting for a time, pondering who knows what, before covering it in a cloth and setting it in a corner. Some things were better left forgotten.
'I'll go pick up Aryn's milk myself today.' She informed Erica that there was no need for her to go to town this morning and left the house to find Miss Cathe.