Chapter 5: Leveling Up and Mastery

"Celia, how are you feeling?"

"What do you think, Celia?"

"Celia! Celia!"

Lately, to put it bluntly, I've been sticking close to Celia.

I want to get closer to Celia, even if it's in a somewhat bad way. After all, my crush, the girl I like, is right in front of me, isn't she? There's no turning back!

I've never felt so nervous and excited before. It's incomparable to any previous crush. I've truly met someone I love from the bottom of my heart. Someone I feel I could give everything to. This is the first time for me.

"Celia, good morning! It's a beautiful morning, isn't it?"

"Good morning, Leonhardt-sama. Yes, it is."

"But to me, you shine even brighter, Celia!"

"Huh...?"

She still doesn't smile like usual, but I exchange words with Celia.

I wish she would smile if possible.

Well, there isn't enough time to heal Celia's emotional wounds...

"Let's do our best in class today. Let's talk later."

"Yes."

I'm happy to see Celia's face again today.

Since Celia is well-known as my favorite among everyone in the mansion, I was worried there might be favoritism or bullying, but it seems not. That's a relief.

But there's still something worrying me.

If it becomes widely known that I only have one attribute and I'm removed from being the heir of the marquisate, wouldn't Celia suffer as well?

That's my biggest concern.

I want to increase my attributes somehow before my tenth birthday celebration, but that's also difficult. My body was transformed by the flames of Ifrit, after all.

"And yet, why do I struggle even to use fire attribute magic?"

Right now, all I can use is magic that lights a flame like a candle at my fingertips.

I've already accepted that I can only use fire attribute magic, but why can't I even properly use essential fire attribute magic?!

"Is it because I'm weak?"

In the game 'Kingdom of Spirits,' there were levels and mastery. As your character leveled up, their stats increased. Sometimes, they learned new skills or magic. Skills and magic also had a mastery value, which when increased, boosted their effectiveness or allowed them to learn new ones.

Maybe it's because my level and mastery are too low that I can't properly use the powerful Ifrit magic.

This is a serious issue.

Come to think of it, Leonhardt always lost to the protagonist because he couldn't use magic properly. Maybe this is also a side effect of contracting with Ifrit.

I don't want to lose to the protagonist. I don't want to live a miserable life anymore.

"I must become stronger...!"

Moreover, I'm the one who must ultimately defeat the evil god. This can't go on like this. I absolutely must adapt to Ifrit's power!

But how?

"Of course, I should increase my mastery by using magic every day..."

How does a nine-year-old child defeat monsters and level up? 

There's a dungeon. It's nearby, too.

In the land ruled by the Marquis of Klarvain, there's a dungeon known as a trial from the heavens. There are plenty of monsters there without needing to search.

But all I can use is a bit of fire magic that's no more than the light of a candle, right?

"I at least want to be able to use Blaze Shot..."

For now, I'll focus on leveling up my fire magic mastery.

　◇

From that day on, whenever I had free time, I would light a flame at my fingertips.

And I noticed something: using magic made me incredibly hungry. Since I started using magic, I had been having five snacks in addition to my three daily meals.

I don't know why I get so hungry, but the hunger is unbearable, so I end up eating without thinking twice.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I think to myself,

"But strangely enough, my body shape hasn't changed."

In the mirror is a chubby boy with black hair and black eyes, resembling the childhood depiction of Leonhardt from the game's setting materials. Maybe because of the black hair and black eyes, I don't feel much discomfort seeing myself as him.

Certainly, I'm a bit chubby, but despite my binge eating, I'm not gaining much weight. It's strange.

"I do want to lose weight though... It might be difficult..."

It might seem strange to talk about wanting to lose weight after binge eating, but let's put that aside.

The Clarvain marquisate is probably a family prone to being chubby. My father is quite round, my mother is plump, and even my younger brother is chubby. The portraits of the past heads of the family displayed in my father's study are all uniformly overweight.

"I remember hearing something about obesity being genetic too, right? Can I even lose weight...?"

I don't know the details, but apparently obesity can be genetic. There's a switch in the DNA that remains on, causing fat accumulation.

What's with this switch...? We're not robots, after all.

"Well, more importantly, it's magic now!"

As if escaping from reality, I averted my gaze from the mirror.

　◇

I am Dominic. I serve as the magical tutor in the Clarvain Marquisate.

Well, teaching the basics of magic to noble sons isn't exactly a lucrative business.

But the Leonhardt I teach is clearly strange.

He seems to have taken a strong liking to fire magic, as he lights a flame at his fingertips all day long.

What's so strange about this?

Normally, even with magic that consumes minimal mana, if you do something like that, eventually your mana will run out. For an ordinary commoner, it might last for a minute at most.

Yet Leonhardt lights a flame at his fingertips all day long.

There's no sign of his mana running out.

I once asked Leonhardt if there were any changes in his health, but he gave me a ridiculous answer like feeling hungry easily.

What's become of Leonhardt's body?

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