Chapter 5

Raul stood outside the cottage with his mother, the breeze rustling through the trees surrounding their home. The wooden house, cozy and medieval, sat in the middle of their spacious compound. Sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting patterns on the ground.

Faith turned to Raul, her brown eyes warm but a little serious. "Watch carefully," she said.

Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Raul saw her lips move slightly, though no sound came out.

Inside her mind, she chanted the spell: Chimming Winds.

The air around her stirred.

A soft breeze swirled, growing stronger until it danced around her, lifting her hair gently and shimmering like magic itself. Raul was mesmerized.

Then, something else caught his attention.

The Console’s screen, invisible to everyone else, appeared before him. Words and symbols began forming on it, line by line. It looked like a type of programming code—except Raul had never seen this kind of language before.

Yet somehow, as if by instinct, he understood it. Every block of code made sense, from its purpose to its function. Though he had been a coding prodigy who became a senior developer by age 20 , he attributed understanding this code to the fact that he was also watching a demonstration of its output.

Faith finished her spell and opened her eyes. The wind stopped instantly, her hair settling back into place.

"This spell pulls from the environment," she explained. "It takes a lot of mana, so you can't use it often."

Raul nodded, but his focus was partly on the Console screen still floating in front of him.

Something in the spell's code caught his eye. A parameter for mana consumption. It could be adjusted and at first he couldn't believe it. Could spells actually be fine-tuned like this?

Faith gestured toward him. "Your turn. Remember what I taught you. Be careful with your thoughts. The intonations, the rhythm, even your emotions—everything must be in sync."

Raul took a deep breath.

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Though he could run the spell in its original form that it had been downloaded in from the Spell Store , he couldn’t resist the urge to change the parameters that consumed manna a lot. Most of them were variables that took in the mage’s emotional state in real time while the rest looked out for atmospheric factors like temperature and air pressure.

Of course these were things that Faith couldn’t probably have known , given that most mages just crammed the spells as they were taught to them . Understanding the inner workings of a spell was limited to the most advanced of mages who actively took part in spell research and invention.

After removing the extra variables from the spell's code , he run the spell, stretching out his hand and waiting for its output.

[

Spell Crashed

Error was caused by missing dependencies. Please ensure all necessary variables are present before running the spell.

]

This error came to him after he failed to perform the spell. It seemed that modifying a spell was not a one shot trick but rather a trial and error system . It annoyed him , reminding him of how much time was always wasted trying to fix errors in a code in his past life.

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The warm glow of candlelight filled the dining room as Raul and Faith sat at the table, eating roast lamb. The scent of the seasoned meat mixed with the earthy aroma of freshly baked bread.

Marcus’s chair sat empty.

Faith glanced at it, her fingers lightly drumming on the wooden table. Raul noticed her distracted look.

"Mother ,where’s father?" he asked, slicing into his lamb.

Faith hesitated, then gave him a soft smile. "He’s just running some errands dear," she said, though her voice carried a faint edge of worry.

Raul frowned. "He’s been gone a while."

Faith’s gaze drifted to the window. "Your father knows how to take care of himself," she said, more to reassure herself than Raul. "But yes... it’s unusual for him to be out this long without sending a letter." She paused, her fork still in her hand. "I just hope he didn’t run into anything dangerous out there. The wilds aren’t as safe as they used to be."

Raul nodded, not pushing further. His mother clearly didn’t want to dwell on the subject. She shifted in her chair, brightening her tone.

"Let’s talk about something else," she said. "What do you think about getting a professional trainer for magic?"

Raul blinked, caught off guard. "A trainer? But you’ve been helping me so far."

Faith chuckled lightly, though there was a hint of frustration in her expression. "My dear little mage, I’m more of a fighter than a teacher. Coaching a beginner isn’t my strength."

Raul raised an eyebrow. "But I’ve been doing fine."

"Really?" Faith teased, tilting her head. "What happened to casting Chimming Winds earlier?"

Raul flushed slightly. He had technically succeeded—just not in the way Faith expected. Still, he wasn’t about to explain that to her.

"I was just... tired," he muttered, focusing on his plate.

Faith laughed softly. "You’re smart, Raul. Smarter than most kids your age. But magic takes more than that. A good teacher could help you bring it all together."

Raul stabbed a piece of lamb with his fork, mulling it over. A professional trainer? It sounded like more eyes watching him—a risk to his secret.

"I’ll think about it," he said.

Faith smiled, though her eyes still flickered to Marcus’s empty chair.