I beamed with pride as the villagers all gushed about my magic. I showed them a few more tricks with water, and shot a jet directly upwards, creating a bit of rain for us. Father had raised me on his shoulders and was parading me around. Even though nobody really understood what I had done and how, they knew I was powerful and they respected and rejoiced in that.

I looked at Marek. He gave me the ugliest look an adult had ever given to a toddler. I stared him down. Eventually he grimaced and turned towards Elder Piraka to talk to him. I wondered what that sourpuss was plotting now.

Mother had brought out the Silverback pelt and everyone cheered. Father threw me multiple times in the air. When I said mother helped, she protested and told me not to lie, but soon she was being thrown up in the air with me. We laughed and screamed, but father’s strong hands always caught us. 

“A mere child defeating the Silverback,” one of the Fishers said. “Can it truly be so?”

“Look at the pelt,” one of mother’s friends, Sarika, said. “How do you think they got it if the beast was not dead?”

“Peh,” one of Marek’s friends said. “The beast must have died and they got lucky.”

“Died from what, Lopok?” Sarika said. “Silverback was the king of the jungle in its prime. What could kill it, you fool?”

“How could the boy kill it? That is ridiculous.”

I created a little water jet spell. Nothing major. Just enough to make a point. I shot it at Lopok’s face. “Like this.”

Everyone laughed, and Lopok stomped away.

“We must gather the Junglers,” mother said. “The pelt, the meat, the bones, they’re still there. We should gather what we can, before other beasts find the corpse.”

Mother picked the slabs of meat she had cut from Silverback and the fragrant smell was overwhelming. With my Mana Sight I could see that the meat was potent.

“Such smell!” one of mother's friends said. She was a stocky woman with a luxurious brown braid. “This can be from no other beast than the Silverback.”

“It is,” Mother said happily. “Ginama, gather your fastest and strongest Junglers and go collect the remains. They are in the swamp before the ancestors' ruins.”

“Right away!” the stocky woman said and flipped her hair. “If there is enough meat left, we will feast tonight! The Silverback… I can’t believe it…”

“Once the kill is confirmed,” Konako said over the clamoring crowd. “I propose we give Luka a hundred quotas to trade as he pleases!”

“Hear hear!” the crowd called.

“A hundred quotas?” father repeated. “Are you serious?”

“The Silverback has killed our Junglers for generations,” Konako said. “A hundred quotas is a small price for being rid of it.”

“And the neighboring villages?” mother asked.

Konako smiled. “They'll want to show their gratitude too.”

The villagers cheered.

“He deserves it!”

“The Silverback is dead!”

“Come swing by later, Luka,” a woman said. “I will weave you a beautiful poncho!”

A hundred quotas was a lot. I could use them to get a lot of supplies for the trip to the capital. I didn’t need that much, though. Maybe I would give my parents the leftovers when I left… That thought made me sad.

Eventually the clamor died down and people started dispersing. They had a party to plan, and my family went home.

I was delighted by how happy everyone was. I knew defeating the Silverback was a big deal. Me wielding magic must have been even bigger. But apart from some of Marek’s Fisher buddies, everyone just accepted that a toddler had defeated a massive monster-gorilla. Especially, since we had proof, and they knew my mother wouldn’t lie.

That evening we cleaned our home. Well mostly I cleaned our home. That felt like fitting penance to inflict on myself. Of course mother and father wouldn’t initially listen. But I felt really bad for my father. He had clearly gone to the deep end of some dark place. I couldn’t blame him. I would have thought we were dead too. It was a little thoughtless of me to not think about this earlier, but I had no way of knowing dealing with the ruins would take weeks. And we had no way of escaping there before I had power enough to deal with the Silverback. 

So after I persuaded mother and father to let me clean, they just cuddled up on the bed, professing their love in cheesier and cheesier ways. I wish I had some kind of magic to blot out my ears. 

I have to admit, I did a bad job at cleaning. In my defense, I couldn’t help it! My thoughts wandered. I had taken a gander at the spellbook earlier this afternoon, and I was distracted by spell formulas. It was kind of greedy of me to take it and break tradition of generations of shamans, but I killed the Silverback so I had earned some slack. 

I had decided the next stage in my magical education was to master kinetic magic. It would fit really well with my water magic. I was already getting adept at using kinetic components, but I wanted to learn Basic Kinetic and all of its variations. It was basically like telekinesis, which meant it was even more versatile than water as an element. Combining these magics would generate endless variations that made my tongue water…

The most interesting application of Basic Kinetic would be to make it a continuous spell. After some theorizing, I figured I could use this spell to generate a field that could fully envelop me into a sphere, providing protection from attacks from any direction. I would simply need to modify the spell formula in three— no four different sections which would—

“Little hero, weren’t you supposed to clean?” my mother chided me. “I can help if you want, but you insisted—”

I groaned “Fine mom!”

Hmph. I loved my mother, but sometimes she interrupted me at the most blasted times. I was starting to understand why wizards preferred their towers in stories. 

After I cleaned the house from father’s depression spiral, I started practicing Basic Kinetic by levitating father’s empty coconut wine flasks into a barrel. It was great training, and I picked up casting and using the spell rather fast. This resulted in a delightful level up of Spellcrafting. The skill had been lagging behind because of my cultivation efforts.

[Spellcrafting level 13!]

[+1 Mana Flow]

[+2 Magic Power]

However, I faced a new problem. There was not enough mana inside our home. In the past weeks I had gotten so used to the mana-rich environment inside and near the temple, that I felt like a pauper asking for scraps back at the beach. I took it as a challenge to become more efficient at casting my spell circles, but damn if it wasn’t tough training. 

Later my mother cooked us a great meal with the Silverback’s meat. I got a larger portion any toddler had business needing. But mother and father only beamed at me.

“To the hunter, go the best spoils,” father said.

The meat was excellent, and I could feel the mana surging into me. I ate extremely slowly, because I wanted to extract each particle of mana and transmute it to augment my Arcane Body Art. Fortunately there was enough meat to even make some improvements. Now a slightly larger area of my index finger would glow with the strange blue if I used my Mana Sight.

[Arcane Body Art — First Layer: 1.1%]

I felt the tiniest smidge of purified mana transform my fingertip on some metaphysical level. I grinned to myself and mother gave me a wry look.

“No training magic while eating with your family!

“Fineeeeee!”

“My son,” Jonaka muttered. “Feller of the great Silverback. Did you get an Achievement?”

“I did! Beastslayer. It lets me scare weaker beasts just by projecting my presence.”

Father blinked.

“That’s a really good one…” he muttered.

I beamed at him. “But that is not all.”

“To put it mildly…” Ramona muttered.

“I got a lot of things. That’s why I’m so strong, father.”

Mother and I told everything that had happened in the past weeks. Father’s face was animated by confusion, joy, excitement and disbelief.

“Do you see it now, dear?” mother asked and caressed father’s cheek. “This island is truly too small for him.”

“I suppose,” Jonaka said slowly. “Is this all true? I know you two wouldn’t lie to me but…”

“It’s true, dad,” I said.

“Dad?” father said and smiled at me. “I like that.”

Me and mother told details about our adventure, but I could see that my father was still doubtful. It was a hard story to believe. Maybe I just needed to prove it to him at the festival. He was still tired and half-dead from all the grieving and coconut wine, so I cut him some slack.

Father reached for a flask of wine, but mother slapped his hand and poured water for him. He smiled sheepishly. “I wouldn’t have believed half of what you told me, if you hadn’t thrown Marek off me like that. But are you really stronger than even him? Are you the strongest being on this island?”

“That is what I wanted to talk about dear,” mother said and put her fork down.

There was a silence between my parents, but they seemed to be having a conversation with their eyes. Then something dawned on my father’s face.

“The fables,” father said.

“The fables, dear,” mother said.

There was a pregnant pause.

“You ask much, love,” father said. He reached for a drink again, but this time held his hand, which resulted in my mother kissing him on the cheek. 

“You knew that when you married me,” mother said and laughed. “But this is not for me. It is for Luka.”

“I know,” father said and tousled my hair. Then he sighed. “What will we do with you son?”

“What do you mean, dad?”

My father gave me a sober stare. “Today has been one of the most important days of my life. I was in the deepest pit of despair, but I was pulled up. And my son emerges as a hero and a sorcerer, and I realize things are not the same anymore.”

He sighed to himself.

“I now fully understand that you will not become a Fisher. That… hurts. I wanted to teach you everything I know.”

I nodded. “I’m sorry dad. I don’t think that was ever in the cards.”

Father sighed. “I know that now. But it’s hard for me and my silly pride. I’m just confused. If we would leave this island, would I be a Fisher? By the spirits, I’m not even sure I can be much of a father to you at this point.”

“Don’t I know it…” mother muttered.

“You went through the same?”

“You have no idea…” mother muttered. “I think I’m going to need a Skill scroll on Mothering…”

I was… pretty sure that wasn’t a thing.

I groaned. “You’re both idiots. Why does it matter if I’m strong? I still want you to be my parents.”

They weren’t even listening to me. I grumbled to myself. I needed them to listen. Especially because… because I would have to talk about something important. And it was scary.

“I will have to rethink this whole father thing. I have much to learn.”

“Indeed,” mother said with a sly smile and took father’s hand and pressed it against her stomach. Both me and father looked at mother with wide eyes.

“Are you certain?” father whispered. “You’re— you’re…”

“Yes, love. I’m pregnant,” mother said, and father immediately grabbed her into his arms and started kissing her face all over as she yelped and asked me to help. Naturally, I didn’t. I just grinned happily. I was getting a baby sibling. That was good. I was such a weird child. It would improve my parents’ confidence for them to get the normal baby package instead of a magic-obsessed reincarnator.

We toasted the pregnancy and ate in a pleasant harmony.

However, there was a shadow over my thoughts. The revelation that my mother was pregnant moved something inside my emotions. They would now have a chance to have a real family. I didn’t want to get in their way. And as much as I loved my parents, I had to follow my pursuit of magic and the wanderlust. So, I had to tell my parents my plans. I couldn’t stay on this beautiful island. I would have to leave for the tier 1 continent. My plan was to win the competition in my age bracket in the Moon Festival. This would allow me to participate in the gauntlet with young Classers. Promising prospects from the melee would be selected to join the Silver Sea Tournament in the archipelago capital.

There I would find a ship and leave my home.

“Mom, dad,” I started carefully. “I have to leave.”

My parents shared a look and turned serious. I had dropped a bomb. I felt a massive weight fall into my stomach and I could barely breathe. Way to kill the happy pregnancy vibe from earlier.

“I have to go and find the next temple of the ancestors,” I said. “I will go to Aligapa and find a ship to sail to the next continent.”

A heavy silence landed on us. Mother sighed and put her spoon down.

Father just stared at me blankly. “What are you saying?”

“What I’ve been saying all along,” mother said. “This is that moment.”

Father was silent for a while. “It’s… too soon. It’s scary.”

“It is, isn’t it?” mother said and pressed my father’s hand to her tummy. “But it would be better for our second child too.”

“Better?” father said. “Are we not happy here?”
“We are,” mother said. “Maybe not better. But more.”

“More…” father tasted the word. “Do you want more?”

“Luka must have more,” mother said gently.

“I don’t understand what you two are saying,” I said anxiously. 

Father shook his head and turned to look at me. “You must do this?”

I nodded. “Yes. Sorry. But I think I must. But maybe I could visit sometimes or—”

“Stop,” father said and raised a hand. I felt my throat constrict. Didn’t they want me to return?

“Of course you must go,” mother said. “And we would be fools to stop you.”

My parents looked at each other. There was some silent conversation going on between their eyes, that only lovers for years could have. Finally mother smiled, and something shifted in father’s eyes. Then he turned to look at me.

“But you’re not going to sail away into the world by yourself!” father said. “You’re not even three years old yet!”

I had to steel myself, even though I felt like crying. “You cannot change my mind, dad. I’m sorry, but I’m going.”

Father only looked at me. He was tired. He was tired from his turmoils and the long day. But he gave me an easy, confident smile. “Of course you are.”

“And we are coming with you,” mother said. “Wherever you may venture.”

That broke me. It was just so heart-wrenching. I cried openly and my parents rushed to hug me. I clutched onto my father’s shirt and they chuckled as they embraced me into a family hug.

When I was born into this new world, I figured I would always be alone in a sense. A strange soul in a strange world. I had feared I could never really connect with anyone, not even my parents. The fact that my soul’s age was decades older than it should be had always made me a little uneasy. Like I was somehow betraying my parents, or taking away their chance of having a normal child. Even after I had told mother what I was, and she had accepted me. Even after Mez told me my mother’s love was true. Those experiences still hadn’t made me whole. It still bothered me. I was a strange child, even by this world’s standards. 

But now I understood that it was okay. I could still be loved and feel deep connections, and I resolved to cherish them. I understood that even if I wanted to chase magic to the ends of this strange, wonderful world, I wouldn’t have to be alone. 

I laughed openly between my parents as tears of happiness streaked down my cheeks. My parents were crying too, and the warmth with which they pressed against me filled me with joy.

Now all I had to do was win the Moon Festival, qualify for the Silver Sea Tournament, and find us a ship. Then I would journey forth to discover the mysteries of magic with my parents behind me, always supporting me.

I smiled to myself. Plans were easy to make. But first I needed to take care of some things.

Namely, I had a certain bully to defeat.