Chapter 4: Chapter 04- Life of a 4 year old: A mixture of tension and anxiety

I remember the time when I confessed to my first crush; got rejected!

I remember the first day of school in my previous life; almost pissed in my pants because I was too embarrassed to use the school toilet!

I remember giving the university entrance exam; didn’t get selected (for the first time, got selected the second time)!

But never have I ever felt so nervous before!

Tomorrow is the day of my elementary school entrance exam!!!

It’s been 4 years since I was reincarnated in this world and ever since then, my life has been a bumpy ride if nothing else.

Don’t misunderstand me, my parents Kristen and Patrick have taken the best care of me according to their capabilities, but there was one big problem with their loving personalities.

They are so overprotective that they started training me in combat and sword ever since I was just 1.5 years old!!! It all started the day when I once picked up a wood twig and started swinging it around like I was a swordsman or something. I only did this because my dumb self wanted to play a swordsman but never had I ever imagined that this little charade would lead me to my doom!

Because by some bad luck my mother and father who were talking with each other just a moment ago noticed me swing the twig and I don’t know how or by what cursed method, they determined that I have the blood of a fighter in my veins!

Well, considering that the two of them were adventurers in the past it wasn’t wrong to say that I had the blood of a fighter in me but little do they realize that there is the soul of a scumbag inside this body, how the hell am I supposed to cope up with all this training!?

Who do they think I am? Musashi Miyamoto!? Don’t they know Vagabond’s been on a hiatus for so long? Agh… now I feel bad thinking about that manga, I really wanted to see Musashi and Kojiro’s duel!!! (Vagabond is a famous manga that’s been on a hiatus for a long time)

So that’s how my hellish training started and my pleasant days of leisure came to an end in this new world.

Training in the morning then sparring with mother in the afternoon before lunch and then training till evening and eventually ending the day by sparring with father in the evening. Getting used to this hellish schedule almost took the life out of me but somehow after those painful months of struggle I was able to get through this hellish training schedule!

But it’s not like the training was unproductive or anything, the thing is, I started noticing various changes in my body after I started training, the most prevalent change was the feeling of something entering my muscles! It was as if some kind of liquid was slowly and finely entering inside my flesh and bones.

It was a weird feeling, it was as if I could feel each and every cell inside my body slowly intaking the weird liquid that I talked about just now.

I know that when we stop after doing a heavy workout then for a short while we could even feel the blood that’s flowing in our veins, but this feeling I had after working out with my parents was entirely different, I felt as if something was slowly seeping inside my muscles and by the consequence of that my body was becoming stronger and durable as well. It was a weird phenomenon so I asked my parents about it,

“Mum, I can feel something going inside my hand and arm after the spar. Is something wrong with me?” I asked mustering the most childish and innocent tone I could. I felt sorry for decieving them like this but I didn't have any choice but to do so.

My parents smiled at me when I said that and said,

“Hmm… that’s because you are becoming stronger!” My father said in an exaggerated manner

What a vague answer… looks like he doesn't want to tell me.

“Okay…” I said and went out of the room with a disappointed expression on my face or at least that’s what my parents must have thought as after a moment they started talking in an excited voice,

“Patrick!!! His ‘assimilation’ has already started! Peter is a genius”

My mother said in a happy voice and hugged my father, and what did she mean by assimilation?

I hid behind the wall and started eavesdropping on their conversation.

“Huhuhu, well, he’s our son alright. That’s the least we could expect from him”

My father tried to downplay it as something trivial but the wide grin on his face betrayed his inner thoughts

“Yes, but for a child his age to have the 'Mystick energy inside his body getting assimilated with his flesh and bones'… I have never heard of anyone like him if I am being honest” said my mother voicing her genuine surprise

And I guess the thing she said just now must be the explanation of the so-called assimilation process.

“Same, but either way it’s a great thing, isn’t it, Kristen?”

“Yes, but… it’s a pity that he doesn’t have enough aptitude to become a mage” My mother said in a somewhat sad voice.

And did she just say I don’t have enough aptitude to be a mage?

Hahaha… she must be joking...

“It’s fine Kristen, even the two of us don’t have an aptitude for it so it only makes sense for Peter to not have any aptitude for it as well, after all becoming a mage almost completely depends on one’s family’s background, and throughout the last 9 generations of the Griffith noble house no one has ever had any aptitude to become a mage, it’s the same for your maternal noble house of Kaine, right?”

“Yes, in the last 10 generations not a single mage has been born in my side. I guess I was just expecting something impossible from Peter, it’s not his fault after all”

I don't have any aptitude for magic? Me? Of all people!? Just you wait... I'll show you guys that you are wrong!

I walked towards the study room and found the spell book.

"With this, I'll prove that I have the potential to be the greatest mage of all time!!!"

I said pumping myself up and tried to do the spell.

…

That night I realized something, I truly had no aptitude to be a mage...

***

And now that brings me here, two years later to my present situation, and just as the two of them stated, I truly did lack any aptitude for magic or mystick arts!!!

Dammit! The most I can do is set a pile of twigs on fire or fill a glass with water or maybe sometimes summon 2-3 ice cubes to cool down the milk, apart from that I can’t do anything when it comes to magic!!!!

But… but, I didn’t lose hope because of it, no, I couldn’t lose hope no matter what happened. This was my second chance in life after all! The least I could do is to at least try to live it with pride!

I knew that this was a world governed by strength so I made sure to train myself like a bull in combat. My father and mother used to be adventurers in the past so because of that, I didn’t have any shortage of good teachers.

My father wields a spear and my mother a sword so I got training in both of these weapons but I prefer to use a sword over a spear because my size doesn’t permit me to use a spear efficiently, as for the sword I use, even though I call it a sword it’s not much different from a wooden stick.

But enough about all this now, tomorrow is my elementary school exam. I don’t know why but I feel scared of something. I hope everything goes well tomorrow.

***

A week later,

Outside the big cold steel gates of an old school building there stood many people, some of them were children, some were adults, and some were even elderly people who were coughing and panting as if they would drop dead right here and now.

Coming back to the topic,

Everyone who was standing outside was different but there was one big similarity between all of them, all of them looked terrified and anxious.

Why, you may ask?

Well, that’s because today is the result day of the entrance exam that happened just a few days ago!!!

I don’t get why the school officials took so much time, I mean they just had to declare the results about a bunch of brats, right? Then why the hell are they trying to maintain such suspense? Are they trying to make themselves appear superior to us or something like that?

I just want them to announce the result already! I can't wait to go to the school and make some new friends.

Oh by the way, if anyone is wondering why I am in such an easy mood then that’s because I already knew the result!

'I am going to be at the top of the class!' I already knew this. Why? Well, that's because the exam was soooo easy!

First of all, there was a written test with mathematics as the prime subject, then there was an oral test (a viva voce) in which I had to recite two poems and identify a few animals and monsters by looking at their small figurines made up of clay, and then at last there was a survival test in which the kids had to run three laps around the school ground while passing the hurdles.

All of these tests were easy, I mean for the first test which was mathematics, the toughest question in that test was 17x8=?, which was no doubt tough for a 4-year old but in my case, it wasn’t anything.

As for poems, my mother taught me a lot of them so I didn’t have any difficulty reciting two of them out of the blue, identifying the animals or monsters was easy too.

But none of these compared to the last one which was the survival test, although I call it that, it wasn’t much different from a regular hurdle race, the only difference was that instead of jumping over hurdles I had to jump over or dodge 2 ft. tall monster figurines without breaking my concentration and/or getting scared.

Most of the brats who ran in the race ended up soiling their pants after they saw a monster on the field, which in actuality was just a monster made up of clay or something similar.

Well, all in all, the test was easy. When my parents saw me coming back to them with a big smile on my face they got so happy that they even allowed me to take a break from the training for one day.

There’s also one more thing about this school, it provides scholarships to the child who scores the best marks in the exam, so I guess I’ll be saving my parents’ money as well, ah such a prodigy I am, I wonder if I will be getting an award or maybe a gold medal too.

It was then that I felt someone tugging my sleeve, I looked back to find that it was my mom. She was pointing with her finger in a specific direction where there stood a boy with a swollen face, it was our neighbor Angela’s son, what was his name again? Brutus or something if I am not wrong.

As anyone could see, Brutus didn’t have a surname, meaning that he was a commoner so because of that yesterday he tried to bully me, at first I didn’t pay much attention to him but then a thought crossed my mind, ‘Am I really going to allow myself get bullied from a child who’s probably 20 years or so younger than me?’ and well, after that I got pissed and bullied him instead.

Brutus and his mother Angela were looking in my direction with eyes full of hatred, I wonder how she would feel if she comes to know that I got the scholarship and her son barely managed to pass. Kek!

Not paying any more attention to them I turned towards my mom and dad and said,

“I am sorry”

My mother just patted my head and said,

“It’s fine, I know you only did that because he tried to bully you first”

Thank you, mama

My father on the other hand didn’t seem too pleased with what mom said,

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“I know that you did the right thing but please Peter next time try to be considerate of others when you are about to beat them up”

What does he mean by that? Is he not going to scold me for beating someone up?

“Considerate?”I asked voicing my genuine confusion to which my father replied with a happy smile on his face.

“Yes, don’t hit them on their face, only hit at spots that are not visible to others, like his stomach, back or butt. That way you can beat them up and also make sure that no one would find out about it. The way you beat him up yesterday, it’s clearly obvious that he was beaten by someone but if instead of face you were to hit him in his butt then no one would have found out about this, not even his parents, probably. That’s why make sure to do it as I told you, okay Peter?”

He said as if he was giving me the most important lesson of my life, I looked at my mom and found that she was smiling and nodding to what just father said… what a bunch of weirdos, don’t they realize that they are practically teaching their son how to bully someone without getting caught?

I was about to say something when a loud voice prevented me to,

“Dear parents and students, thank you for coming here on the result day”

I looked at the source of the voice, it was the old headmaster of this school

“As you all know, our school is the biggest educational institution within a 100-mile radius from here, countless students every year apply to get admission but only a small number of them finally get the admission. That’s why please don’t lose hope if you are not able to get admission here, remember that this is not the end of the world. Hohoho”

The atmosphere got even heavier, I could practically hear the sound of someone’s heart thumping, when I closed my eyes I realized that it was the sound of my own heart.

Am I scared? But why? What is this palpitating feeling?

I placed my hand over my chest and tried to calm myself down.

The headmaster looked around the crowd of parents and students standing in front of the gates, a thin smile formed on his lips and then he said,

“Here is the list of the students who have been selected by us”

He took our a list and pasted it on the gate.

I walked alongside my parents to the school gates and looked at the list,

There were 40 names on the list, it went like this-

01) Volts

02) Watts

03) Ohms

04) Candela Joules

.

.

.

38) Newton

39) Amperes

40) Brutus

What the hell!? Why did they name their children after the S.I. units of voltage, power, resistance, luminescence, work, and such? What is this? A physics class? And how the hell did that guy Brutus got selected?

Well whatever, I guess I should wait for these people to announce the ‘toppers list’ you know, the special batch they make out of all the genius students.

I waited for the headmaster to make the announcement but even after waiting for more than 10 minutes, he didn’t say anything.

I turned back to look at my parents only to see that they had downcast eyes and their faces were red for some reason. I don’t know but I have a bad feeling about this,

It was then that someone came to talk to us,

It was Angela, our neighbor whose son got beaten up by me just yesterday, I could see a smirk on Brutus' face and I really felt like beating the hell out of him again but I somehow restrained myself.

In the meantime Angela came forward and said to my mother,

“Oh dear, I don’t see poor Peter’s name on the list, I pity you, Kristen”

Even though she said that she pitied my mother, I could sense the amount of ridicule in her voice when she said that

And why is she talking as if I didn’t get selected for the school or somethi…

“This ends today’s state of affairs, those who had their names on the list, you are to report at the school tomorrow and for those who didn’t have their names on it… uh… well, good luck for the next time”

The headmaster said in a business-like voice,

At first, I thought that I heard wrong but when I saw my parents’ facial expressions I realized that what I heard wasn’t wrong,

But how? I don’t think I made any mistakes during the exam

I looked back at my parents and said,

“Mom, dad the result’s wrong, you saw my performance too, right?”

Although I only said this to my parents, I made sure to speak in a loud voice so that everyone in the crowd of parents could hear me.

When my parents heard me their expressions changed, they too must have realized that something was amiss, not only them it was the same for almost all of the parents that were sitting there. They were all looking at me with complicated gazes,

In order to show that the school was unbiased all the tests were conducted in the presence of the respective parents or guardians of the children, so it made sense for them to know that my performance was nothing short of extraordinary.

It was then,

My father raised his hand and said, “Headmaster sir, why did my son get rejected? Everyone here saw his performance, he was excellent in every aspect, whether it be in maths, or general knowledge, or combat. Then why? What sort of biased behavior is this!?”

The headmaster looked at my father with a complicated gaze, my father was the chief guard at the Mayor’s mansion so even the headmaster was required to pay due respect to him.

Not only that, if my father somehow proves that the headmaster or the school was biased then the entire result of this exam might get declared null and void.

There were also many other parents whose children didn't get selected so there was also a chance that they might band together with my father and complain against the headmaster.

So the headmaster probably decided to treat my father with respect and gave him a bow,

He looked at my father, this time with a serious expression on his face and said,

“Yes indeed, Peter is a very brilliant child and he did pass, no, got first in every other test except one”

What?

“What test are you talking about, sir?” My father said in a slightly agitated voice

Never in my life had he ever appeared so angry to me,

The headmaster gulped and with a sweaty face said,

“A-ah, d-don’t misunderstand me, it was just that Peter failed at the most important test that’s why…”

He was about to complete his sentence but he got interrupted by a voice

“Don’t play around the bush, tell me why did you fail my son!”

It was my mother, she looked even angrier than my father,

The headmaster realizing the change in her mood hurriedly said,

“That’s because he failed in the test of equality!!”

***

AUTHOR'S NOTES

Assimilation Process- The process by which the Mystickal energy present inside an individual's body assimilates with the blood, bones, and muscles of the individual, thereby making his body stronger and more durable is called assimilation process.

People who have gone throught the assimilation process gain immunity from various diseases.

The age for the assimilation process to commence varies between different races, for example-

Humans- 7 years

Elves- 5 years

Beasthumans- 8 years

Dwarves- 10 years

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