Show Off

At one evening, as the family gathered around the dinner table...

"Father..."

Lucas looked up from his plate while casually taking another bite of his boiled potatoes.

"Yes, Arzad?"

"Can I go play with Emilia tomorrow?"

Lucas raised an eyebrow.

"Don't we still have sword training tomorrow?"

I offered him the brightest smile I could manage.

"I haven't played with her in a long time."

"She's been angry with me lately."

Outwardly...

I looked like an innocent five-year-old asking permission to visit his childhood friend.

Internally...

Sword training?

Training, my foot.

Ever since the day I managed to land one hit on you, you've completely abandoned the concept of mercy!

You aren't training me anymore.

You're taking revenge!

I deserve at least one day off!

Lucas suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahaha!"

"She's mad at you?"

"Then by all means, go."

He smirked mischievously.

"Never leave a lady waiting."

"..."

Mother nearly choked on her drink.

"What are you teaching our son, Lucas...?"

She whispered, pinching his arm.

Lucas only laughed louder.

I sighed.

"...You really didn't have to say it like that."

"But... thank you, Father."

---

After dinner...

I headed straight toward my bedroom.

Or at least...

That's what everyone believed.

...

Sleep?

Who said anything about sleeping?

A young body is an incredible advantage.

Sleeping through the night would be a complete waste.

The moment the bedroom door closed...

I walked straight toward my desk.

Resting neatly upon it...

Was a thick, weathered book.

Its faded leather cover bore no recognizable title.

I gently picked it up.

This book...

Had once belonged to an elderly merchant from one of the largest trading families.

Shortly before his death...

He had entrusted it to me.

According to him...

It contained an ancient method of cultivation.

Something similar to the martial arts manuals from old Wuxia novels.

Naturally...

The first thing I had done after receiving it...

Was open it.

Only to discover...

That it was written in an entirely unknown language.

Not merely a different dialect.

An entirely different writing system.

Even Father couldn't read it.

Mother couldn't either.

Neither could Isabella.

Nor anyone else within the settlement.

Back then...

I had been disappointed.

For approximately...

Five minutes.

Then I remembered something.

...

I was Albert Dyson.

The greatest scientist humanity had ever produced.

A language...

Was merely another system waiting to be decoded.

A slow smile spread across my face.

"Heh..."

"Time for some research."

---

For the past two years...

That single book had become my greatest obsession.

Every single night...

I painstakingly copied its strange characters onto fresh sheets of paper.

I counted them.

Grouped them.

Compared their frequencies.

Studied repeated sentence structures.

Recurring symbols.

Patterns.

Anything.

Little by little...

The writing system slowly revealed itself.

Forty-two distinct alphabetic characters.

Six vowels.

Thirty-six consonants.

Alongside three primary punctuation marks.

...

Definitely an alphabetic language.

Not a pictographic one.

Not syllabic either.

That alone dramatically simplified the problem.

Once I'd identified the alphabet...

I moved on to grammar.

Sentence structure.

Verb placement.

Pronouns.

Prepositions.

Conjunctions.

Every repeated phrase became another clue.

Every illustration...

Another piece of evidence.

Many pages contained detailed diagrams.

Meditating figures.

Sword movements.

Arrows pointing toward specific paragraphs.

Illustrations paired with explanatory text.

Like a textbook.

Using those images as contextual references...

I slowly reconstructed the language one sentence at a time.

It was painstaking work.

Mind-numbingly slow.

Most people would've given up long ago.

I didn't.

Because genuine research...

Had never been about intelligence alone.

It required patience.

Persistence.

The willingness to spend years solving a single problem.

Fortunately...

Those happened to be my specialties.

After two relentless years...

Everything finally clicked.

The grammar.

The syntax.

The vocabulary.

I closed my notebook.

A satisfied smile crept across my face.

"Hehe..."

"My brain hasn't rusted after all."

At long last...

I could read the book from beginning to end.

---

"Now then..."

I flipped through its worn pages.

"Where did I leave off?"

The paper rustled softly beneath my fingertips.

Eventually...

I found the bookmarked section.

Without hesitation...

I crossed my legs.

Straightened my posture.

Closed my eyes.

And began meditating exactly as the manual instructed.

Slow breaths.

Steady heartbeat.

Empty thoughts.

Gradually...

The world changed.

Darkness gave way to countless tiny lights.

Tiny particles floated all around me.

Red.

Blue.

Green.

Golden.

White.

Countless colors drifted through the air like glowing dust.

Each radiated a different intensity.

Some barely shimmered.

Others glowed brilliantly.

...

The Mana Realm...

So this...

Was mana.

Each color represented a different elemental affinity.

And unsurprisingly...

The concentration here was astonishingly dense.

Our settlement was surrounded by untouched forests, fertile rivers, and dormant volcanoes.

Nature itself nourished this land.

Naturally...

Mana flourished here as well.

---

The next step seemed simple enough.

Guide the mana into the Lower Dantian.

At least...

That's what the manual repeatedly instructed.

The problem was...

"...How?"

I reopened my eyes before reading the passage again.

The instructions were surprisingly straightforward.

Meditate.

Open the Lower Dantian.

Allow the surrounding mana to flow naturally into the body.

That was it.

No complicated techniques.

No secret breathing patterns.

Nothing.

"..."

I frowned.

"I've already done exactly that."

"I even opened my Dantian."

"So why isn't anything happening?"

I flipped the page upside down.

Then sideways.

"...Did I misunderstand the translation?"

Unlikely.

I'd spent two years deciphering this language.

Making such a fundamental mistake now would be embarrassing.

Still...

There had to be something I was missing.

---

I closed the book once more.

This time...

I focused even harder.

Breathing slowed.

Heartbeat steadied.

The Mana Realm unfolded before me again.

The Lower Dantian gradually opened.

Waiting.

Expecting.

Ready to receive.

Yet...

Nothing happened.

The countless mana particles continued drifting peacefully around me.

Not a single one approached.

Even those floating mere inches away...

Ignored me completely.

...

"...Seriously?"

I sighed.

Perhaps...

I'm simply too young.

Maybe my body wasn't mature enough.

Maybe awakening occurred naturally at a later age.

It was disappointing...

But not impossible.

Just as I was about to stop meditating-

Something changed.

A sudden chill spread across my spine.

Every instinct screamed at me.

Danger.

My eyes snapped open within the Mana Realm.

There...

Hovering silently among the countless colored particles...

Was something completely different.

A single crimson sphere.

It was enormous.

Roughly the size of a baseball.

Unlike ordinary mana...

It wasn't translucent.

Its crimson glow resembled fresh blood.

Dark.

Dense.

Oppressive.

It felt...

Alive.

"...What?"

Before I could react-

The crimson sphere shot toward me.

Like a meteor.

Far too fast to dodge.

"Wai-!"

It slammed directly into my Lower Dantian.

BOOM!!

An overwhelming impact exploded throughout my body.

"Guh!!"

The force hurled me backward.

My small body crashed violently against the bedroom wall.

Pain erupted through my back.

The meditation ended instantly.

A sharp pain shot through my back as I slid down the wall.

"...Ugh..."

I clenched my teeth, struggling to catch my breath.

What... was that...?

The impact hadn't merely knocked me away.

It had felt as though something had forcefully invaded my body.

Before I could inspect myself-

The bedroom door burst open.

"Arzad!"

Mother rushed inside, panic written all over her face.

She immediately knelt beside me, gently grabbing my shoulders.

"What happened?"

"Are you hurt?"

She anxiously checked my arms, my legs, and even the back of my head for injuries.

"My precious... are you alright?"

I quickly forced a smile.

"I'm fine, Mother."

"I just tripped over my book."

It wasn't technically true...

Nor was it entirely a lie.

"...Really?"

Her emerald eyes carefully examined my face.

After several long seconds...

She finally let out a relieved sigh.

"Thank goodness..."

"I thought something terrible had happened."

She gently brushed the dust from my clothes before caressing my cheek.

"Be more careful next time, alright?"

"And don't stay up too late."

"Children need proper sleep."

I smiled innocently.

"I understand."

"Good night, Mother."

She kissed my forehead before leaving the room.

The wooden door slowly closed behind her.

Click.

Silence returned.

...

The very first thing I did-

Was look inward.

Toward my Lower Dantian.

"..."

The crimson sphere was still there.

Floating quietly.

Completely motionless.

It neither attacked me...

Nor attempted to move.

It simply...

Stayed.

As though my Dantian had become its new home.

"..."

I narrowed my eyes.

"What exactly are you?"

"No..."

I corrected myself.

"Are you even Mana?"

Ordinary mana particles were tiny.

Almost microscopic.

This thing...

Was larger than a fist.

Its color was unnatural.

Its density was terrifying.

Everything about it defied common sense.

Naturally...

It didn't answer.

I sighed.

"...Figures."

Talking to an unidentified energy construct was probably the first sign of insanity.

Or perhaps loneliness.

Either way...

It remained completely silent.

I rubbed my forehead.

"I don't have time for this."

"I've waited two whole years."

"I'm finally this close to awakening."

"I just hope..."

"...you don't interfere."

With that, I sat down once again.

Crossed my legs.

Steadied my breathing.

And re-entered meditation.

---

The Mana Realm unfolded before me once more.

The countless colorful particles drifted peacefully through the air.

Everything looked exactly as before.

Except...

For one thing.

The crimson sphere suddenly began glowing.

Its deep blood-red surface emitted an intense scarlet radiance.

"...?"

The next moment-

The surrounding mana exploded into motion.

"...What?!"

Every single mana particle within sight-

Regardless of color-

Rushed violently toward the crimson sphere.

Not one.

Not dozens.

Thousands.

Tens of thousands.

An endless torrent.

Like rivers flowing toward the sea.

The crimson sphere swallowed everything.

Then...

Without warning...

It redirected the accumulated mana straight into my Lower Dantian.

An overwhelming surge of energy erupted inside me.

Mana poured into my body at an impossible speed.

"So much...!"

The Lower Dantian filled within seconds.

Yet the flow didn't stop.

Instead-

The excess mana burst upward.

Toward the Middle Dantian.

Then higher still.

The Upper Dantian.

Before finally surging through every meridian in my body.

Each pathway ignited one after another.

My entire body felt unbearably warm.

No...

Not warm.

Radiant.

I slowly opened my eyes.

"..."

Blue.

Golden.

Green.

White.

Red.

Soft streams of light leaked from beneath my skin.

"...W-What is this?!"

I instinctively looked down.

My body...

Was glowing.

Not metaphorically.

Literally.

Brilliant mana poured from every pore like liquid starlight.

"...This can't be normal."

---

The bedroom door slammed open once again.

"Arzad!"

Father rushed inside with Mother close behind.

The moment they saw me-

Both of them froze.

"..."

"..."

Father's pupils contracted.

His voice trembled.

"T-This..."

"...Impossible."

He stared at me in complete disbelief.

"...You've awakened?"

Mother covered her mouth.

Tears instantly welled in her eyes.

"Our son..."

"...He's awakened..."

"So young..."

Her voice cracked.

"I've never heard of anyone awakening at his age..."

The light surrounding my body gradually faded.

The mana slowly settled back into my Dantians.

Everything became quiet again.

For several seconds...

No one spoke.

Then-

Father suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahaha!!"

Without warning, he scooped me into the air.

"My son!"

"My incredible son!"

"You awakened before turning six!"

He proudly lifted me above his shoulders as though I weighed nothing.

"I knew it!"

"I knew there was something special about you!"

Mother immediately hugged both of us.

"No!"

"He's obviously talented because he takes after me!"

Father laughed.

"Oh?"

"You mean my son?"

"Our son."

"My son."

"Our son!"

The two of them continued bickering while smiling brighter than I'd ever seen.

Eventually...

Father wrapped one arm around Mother.

The other around me.

Then he laughed again.

"Hahaha!"

"Fine."

"He's our son."

"And tonight..."

"We celebrate!"

---

I quietly looked between them.

"..."

They're... genuinely happy.

Not because I had become famous.

Not because I had gained power.

Not because they expected anything from me.

Simply...

Because I was their child.

...

A strange warmth spread through my chest.

In my previous life...

The day I unveiled the first successful Dyson Swarm prototype...

The world applauded.

Governments celebrated.

Scientists praised me.

Investors competed for my attention.

The media called me humanity's greatest genius.

Yet...

None of those congratulations had felt...

Like this.

Perhaps...

Because those people had celebrated my achievement.

These two...

Were celebrating me.

...

"...Thank you."

The words escaped before I even realized it.

Mother smiled gently before kissing my forehead again.

"There is nothing to thank us for."

"We're your parents."

"And we'll always be proud of you."

...

For a brief moment...

I almost forgot.

That once upon a time...

I had also been a father.

...

Arian...

A faint ache pierced my heart.

If only...

Things had turned out differently.

I quietly lowered my gaze.

The celebration continued.

Yet somewhere deep inside me...

A scar that had never truly healed...

Throbbed once again.

---

News spread throughout the settlement before sunrise.

Someone told a neighbor.

The neighbor told another family.

Within hours...

Everyone knew.

"..."

I sighed as I stared out the window.

"The speed of information in this village..."

"...is somehow faster than social media."

I honestly had no idea how that was even possible.

The following morning...

I immediately regretted awakening.

Deeply.

Profoundly.

With every fiber of my being.

Because at this very moment-

I was standing in the middle of a wide open field while what appeared to be the entire settlement stared at me.

"...Father."

"Yes?"

"This is embarrassing."

Lucas crossed his arms proudly.

"Embarrassing?"

"You should be proud."

"Everyone here is looking at you with admiration."

That wasn't helping.

Not even a little.

Mother nodded enthusiastically beside him.

"Your father is right."

"Our son achieved something extraordinary."

"Why shouldn't everyone celebrate?"

I rubbed my forehead.

Because I'm five years old.

And because this feels like being forced onto a stage during a school assembly.

Unfortunately...

No one seemed interested in my opinion.

---

The crowd continued growing.

Men.

Women.

Children.

Even several elders had arrived early just to witness the settlement's newest prodigy.

I was beginning to suspect the entire village had taken the day off.

I envy of you guys...

Then suddenly-

"Arzad!!"

A familiar voice cut through the crowd.

A small figure came sprinting toward me at full speed.

Brown hair danced behind her as she ran.

Bright eyes sparkled with excitement.

Emilia.

She nearly crashed into me before stopping at the last second.

"Congratulations!"

Her smile was dazzling.

"You became strong!"

I couldn't help smiling back.

"Thank you, Emilia."

The excitement radiating from her was impossible to resist.

Nearby, Romelo and Isabella watched with amused expressions.

Alongside them stood Hubert.

Now several years older.

Though judging by his expression...

Not necessarily wiser.

---

"Congratulations, Arzad."

Romelo placed a hand on my shoulder.

"I always knew Lucas's son wouldn't be ordinary."

He laughed.

"You'll accomplish incredible things one day."

Well...

He's technically correct.

I am not ordinary.

I was Albert Dyson.

Humanity's greatest genius.

Creator of the Dyson Swarm.

Architect of the Golden Age.

Conqueror of energy scarcity.

Victim of my own son.

The last one hurt a little.

---

"Auntie is proud of you too."

Isabella smiled warmly.

"Ever since I watched you train..."

"My elven instincts told me you were talented."

Elven instincts?

That sounded suspiciously vague.

Yet considering she was an elf...

I decided not to question it.

Some mysteries were best left alone.

---

Hubert suddenly folded his arms dramatically.

"Haa..."

"I admit I'm jealous."

The crowd turned toward him.

"I wasn't blessed with magical talent."

"But my little brother turned out to be a genius."

He wiped away imaginary tears.

"When you become famous someday..."

"Don't forget your poor older brother."

Then he leaned closer.

"At the very least..."

"Bring back a beautiful girl for me."

BONK!

A wooden stick struck his head.

Hard.

"Owww!"

Hubert clutched his skull and spun around.

Behind him stood Emilia.

Pouting.

Her cheeks were puffed like an angry squirrel.

"He isn't going anywhere!"

She glared at him.

"And stop filling his head with weird ideas!"

The crowd immediately burst into laughter.

Even Isabella struggled to hide her smile.

Romelo openly laughed.

Hubert looked utterly betrayed.

I simply shook my head.

Some things never changed.

---

Eventually...

The laughter faded.

The conversations quieted.

All eyes gradually shifted toward me.

The atmosphere became noticeably more serious.

It was time.

I stepped into the center of the field.

The crowd instinctively moved back.

Leaving a wide open space around me.

Father approached.

Then planted his sword firmly into the ground.

Thud.

He looked down at me.

"Before you begin..."

"There are a few things you should understand."

I nodded.

---

"Sorcery is generally divided into two major stages."

"The first is called the Elemental Stage."

His voice carried clearly across the field.

"This is the foundation of all magic."

"After awakening, a mage gains the ability to perceive and manipulate the natural elements through mana."

"Fire."

"Water."

"Earth."

"Wind."

"Lightning."

He raised a finger.

"Most people spend their entire lives mastering just one."

A murmur spread through the crowd.

Everyone understood why.

Nature itself was vast.

Trying to comprehend even a single element was difficult.

Mastering several?

Nearly impossible.

---

"The second stage..."

Father continued.

"...is called Enlightenment."

The crowd grew quieter.

His expression became more serious.

"When a mage reaches an exceptionally deep understanding of an element..."

"They may awaken a higher form of magic."

"A unique evolution of their elemental power."

"Such individuals become vastly stronger than ordinary mages."

"However..."

His gaze swept across the audience.

"Only a small fraction of humanity ever reaches Enlightenment."

The murmuring intensified.

Many people would never even meet someone who had reached that level.

Much less become one themselves.

---

Father continued.

"There are also rare inherited magics."

"Enhancement."

"Healing."

"Holy Arts."

"These abilities are usually passed down through bloodlines."

"Like elemental magic, they possess their own paths toward Enlightenment."

He folded his arms.

"But they are even more difficult to master."

"Some spend their entire lives chasing that understanding."

"And never reach it."

"I knew it because I and your mother possessed enhancement magic and healing magic.So probably you might have either one or both of our inherited magic."

Ohh? nice!

The crowd silently nodded.

That much was common knowledge.

---

Finally...

Father looked directly at me.

"Do you understand, Arzad?"

"I understand completely."

I answered without hesitation.

He smiled.

"Good."

Then he stepped back.

The field became silent.

"T-Then..."

A villager swallowed nervously.

"Show us."

The anticipation was almost tangible.

Everyone held their breath.

Waiting.

Watching.

Expecting.

---

I slowly closed my eyes.

The Mana Realm unfolded before me.

Countless particles drifted through the air.

Peaceful.

Beautiful.

Infinite.

This time...

I did not absorb them.

Instead...

I recalled everything I had learned from the ancient manual.

Mana flowed outward from the Dantian.

Through the meridians.

Then interacted with the world according to the user's understanding of nature.

Understanding.

Comprehension.

Knowledge.

That was the true key.

The deeper one's understanding...

The greater the magic.

---

A small smile appeared on my face.

Understanding nature?

That's all?

Then this system is absurdly unfair.

Because the five elemental schools taught in this world...

Were not truly fundamental.

Not from my perspective.

Not from the perspective of modern science.

Fire.

Water.

Earth.

Wind.

Lightning.

These weren't the building blocks of reality.

They were merely manifestations.

Expressions of something deeper.

Something far more fundamental.

---

Atoms.

The foundation of matter itself.

The invisible architecture of existence.

Fire?

A rapid exothermic reaction involving atomic interactions.

Water?

Molecules composed of hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

Earth?

A complex mixture of countless atomic elements and organic compounds.

Wind?

Moving gases.

Collections of atoms and molecules responding to pressure and temperature.

Lightning?

Ionized pathways created by electrical imbalances between atoms.

Everything...

Ultimately returned to atoms.

And I understood atoms better than anyone who had ever lived.

---

My smile widened.

Creating the Dyson Swarm required mastery over fields of science that most civilizations couldn't even imagine.

Compared to that...

This is elementary school.

Mana surged from my Dantian.

Flowing outward into the world.

And for the first time...

I reached beyond the visible elements.

Toward the invisible structure beneath them.

Toward the atoms themselves.

The moment my mana connected-

The world changed.

I released the mana stored within my lower dantian.

Instead of shaping it into a specific element...

I let my consciousness descend to something far more fundamental.

Atoms.

To the people of this world, fire, water, earth, wind, and lightning were the origins of nature.

To me...

They were merely different expressions of the same building blocks.

Fire was nothing more than a rapid exothermic reaction.

Water was a molecule formed from hydrogen and oxygen.

Earth was an intricate collection of countless elements.

Wind was simply moving gases responding to pressure and temperature.

Lightning was electrical discharge, born from charged particles colliding until the surrounding air became plasma.

Every phenomenon.

Every element.

Every transformation...

Began with atoms.

With Mana serving as the catalyst... I don't need to manipulate the Five Elements separately.

I only need to manipulate what lies beneath them.

My mana spread outward like an invisible tide.

It flowed through the surrounding air, the soil beneath my feet, the moisture suspended in the atmosphere, even the stones scattered across the field.

Everything became part of my perception.

Everything...

Was within reach.

I slowly raised my hand.

Above my palm, the surrounding gases violently ionized.

An orb of brilliant blue plasma ignited into existence, radiating intense heat that distorted the air around it.

A chorus of gasps erupted from the crowd.

Before anyone could even process what they had witnessed, countless droplets of water condensed from the atmosphere.

They floated gracefully before freezing into crystalline ice, suspended like glittering stars around me.

Without stopping-

I created a piece of charcoal on my hand.

Its structure shifted.

Layer by layer.

Atom by atom.

Within seconds, the brittle black carbon transformed into a flawless crystal that reflected the afternoon sunlight in dazzling colors.

A diamond.

The crowd fell completely silent.

Then came the wind.

The air around my right hand compressed violently.

The pressure continued increasing until-

BOOM!!

A deafening sonic boom exploded across the field.

Powerful gusts swept through the crowd, causing clothes, hair, and banners to whip wildly.

Several spectators instinctively stumbled backward.

Finally...

Tiny sparks began dancing around my fingertips.

The sparks multiplied.

Merged.

Expanded.

Golden arcs of lightning erupted around my body like living serpents, crackling through the air with terrifying intensity.

Five different phenomena.

One after another.

Without pause.

Without hesitation.

Silence.

Not a single person spoke.

Not because they didn't know what to say...

But because they simply couldn't.

Every pair of eyes stared at me as though they were witnessing something that shouldn't exist.

Then-

"...He used all five elemental attributes..."

The trembling whisper broke the silence.

"N-No..."

Another villager shook his head.

"Those weren't ordinary spells..."

"I recognized them..."

His voice quivered.

"Four of those techniques have already reached the Enlightenment Stage..."

"...Impossible."

Someone swallowed nervously.

"An Enlightenment Mage mastering even one element is already considered extraordinary..."

"But all five...?"

A chilling realization spread through the crowd.

"...An Archmage."

The word escaped someone's lips almost unconsciously.

An Archmage.

A legendary existence spoken of only in ancient records.

A being capable of standing above countless mages.

At that exact moment-

Sophia's face turned pale.

Her body swayed.

Then-

Thud.

"Sophia!"

Lucas caught her before she hit the ground.

"Oh dear...!"

The surrounding women hurried over to help.

Meanwhile...

Only one person among the crowd wasn't looking at me with admiration.

Isabella.

Her beautiful silver eyes trembled ever so slightly.

Impossible...

Even among the elves... I've never heard of a child awakening with talent like this...

What... exactly is Arzad?

Before the silence could return-

Romelo suddenly burst into laughter.

"Hahaha!"

He raised both fists into the air.

"What are all of you standing around for?!"

His booming voice echoed across the field.

"Our village has just witnessed a miracle!"

He pointed directly at me.

"We've given birth to an Archmage!"

For a split second...

Everyone remained frozen.

Then-

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!"

Thunderous cheers erupted from every direction.

The entire field exploded into celebration.

People laughed.

Some cried.

Others shouted my name repeatedly.

Before I could react, several villagers rushed toward me.

"Lift him!"

"Careful!"

"Our little Archmage!"

The next thing I knew, I was hoisted high into the air.

They carried me on their shoulders as they marched triumphantly back toward the village.

Laughter filled the streets.

Children ran alongside us.

Even the elderly wore proud smiles.

The day that was supposed to be nothing more than a simple outing with Emilia...

Had somehow become one of the most important days of my new life.

...This is troublesome.

I sighed inwardly.

I only wanted to test my magic...

Instead, I accidentally climbed far higher than I intended.

And from that day onward...

My peaceful life changed completely.

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