Kai's life had never been so easy. All he did was sleep, eat, and let his parents clean his mess after he was unable to control his pee and feces. It was strange to be a baby with that much consciousness, but he got used to it after a few days, and tried to learn the language as fast as possible.
The day he said his first word was one of joy, and Seneca made a special lunch that day to celebrate such a beautiful moment in their lives.
"M-Mom," Kai said with much difficulty.
Seneca instantly smiled as she grabbed Kai, "Did you hear that, Zerin? My baby boy said his first word."
"Of course I did, darling. I think it is time for him to start learning how to fight now that he knows how to talk."
Kai would laugh if he knew what his father had said.
"Stop it, Zerin, he is just a baby. You have Hugh to teach, and Lily too," Senece said. She knew her husband was just joking.
When everyone else from the village heard that Kai had said his first word, they were quite surprised by it, saying how young he was, and how smart he would be.
Kai believed his quick learning came from the fact he had the mind of someone older, coupled with the fact he was a baby in the learning process, making everything come naturally to him. More and more words came after the first one, and one year before most babies, Kai was already speaking!
"It is so strange to talk to you, my son," Zerin said while cleaning some dishes, "You look so tiny yet you understand and speak very well. What is your secret?"
"Secret? What 's that?" Kai said, trying to act more like a normal kid.
Zerin was proud of his son, "You are going to be quite the Arcanist in the future, I presume. With this high intelligence at such a young age."
Kai could understand almost all the words around him at that point, but that one was new to him. It was the first time he had heard it since he came to that world.
"Arcanist?" Kai said.
His father realized it was the first time he talked to his son about that, "Oh, right."
Zerin stopped cleaning the dishes as he searched around the house for a wand, and then, like magic, he created a ball of light above his wand, "This, my son, is magic. The core of this world. I am an Arcanist, and your mother too, so the chance of you being one is 100%."
After watching the incredible scene unfold before his eyes, Kai knew very well what his father meant when he said that word, and he could not contain his excitement.
'Mages! This world has magic!'
Kai always had the dream of living in a world like that. He knew it was bound to be a dangerous world, but one with the possibility of doing things he always saw as impossible.
Seneca entered the room with a basket of fruits, overhearing some of the conversation, "So you are telling our son about magic? Isn't he too young for it?"
Magic was not something to take in lightly, and Seneca was just trying to protect her son, trying to make him live how he was supposed to be living at that moment: like a child.
Zerin, on the other hand, thought differently from her, "We are just talking. It's not like we can practice magic or anything. It's best for him to know the right things from us rather than the wrong things from others. Also, he is quite smart for his age."
Seneca did not find a reason to argue against her husband, "You are right about something. That's rare, I think it might rain today"
"Oh come on!"
After saying that, Seneca returned to do her chores. She was always busy with the house, Kai's siblings, and she also helped Jane sometimes. Well, she helped Jane almost everyday. Apparently, Seneca enjoyed alchemy, and now that she was basically retired as a mage, she loved doing something related to magic, so alchemy it was.
When Kai and Zerin were alone again, Kai had to ask, "So I will be a mage too?"
"Uh, yes, correct. You will be a mage, there's no doubt about that, but he can't determine how good your aptitude will be. But don't worry about that, everyone is good at something."
The idea of a magic world made Kai really interested in it, and he wanted to know everything he could with his father.
"So everyone has a talent in something? Like all mages are decent in something?" Kai asked.
"Yes, that's correct. How are you so smart?" Zerin said, frowning his eyebrows, "Well, some mages are good at certain elements, like fire, ice, lightning, water, etc. Other mages are not that great in combat, but they excel in support like healing, or other fields like alchemy, enchanting, magic artificer, mathematics, etc."
Kai had to constantly ask his father about the words he did not know about in their language, but he quickly got a grasp of the world he was in.
"So magic artificers are the mages who focus on creating magical weapons? What about mathematics?"
He knew about math back on Earth, obviously, and apparently it was something that was present in all worlds. But why were mages studying it? Wasn't that something scholars would do?
"The study of math among mages is related to the system, how it works, and how the world was before the system came. That is their focus."
'What? A system? I read enough books to know what this is! So this world is ruled by a system, and apparently, it has not always been like this!'
Things were getting more complicated than Kai expected them to be. He was glad that the world he was in had magic, which was something he always wanted, but a world with a system? He had no idea how to feel about that.
"But enough talking about this. When you reach six years of age, the system will start working for you, and we can discuss this. Alright?" Zerin said as he went to the kitchen to grab a fruit Seneca had brought earlier, and cut it to give to Kai.
Zerin knew his son was much smarter than the kids his age, but he was still a kid, and there were things Kai would only learn in the future. As for Kai, despite feeling a little upset because his father was not willing to share the information with him yet, knew very well he was just trying to protect him.
'He has no idea I am not actually a kid, so it is not his fault. Well, these upcoming years will be boring as hell!'