Chapter 3: Chapter 2 Unrelenting Practice

Art didn't have any ambitious dreams such as becoming the strongest or conquering the world. He had already died once and he didn't want to live a short life nor waste his time pursuing impossible dreams. 

The only goal he had in mind was to travel the world and live a life as he pleases. To do this, he knew he could not be lazy. He needed the knowledge and abilities to protect himself and those he cared about.

In the following weeks, his days consisted of a strict routine.

During the day, when he was all alone, he would focus on learning about his family and their language. 

At night, he would practice magic until exhaustion made him fall asleep. Then as soon as he woke up, he would start again until his mother woke up. 

Everything was fine, but living as a baby was not easy. Art could not speak even the words he had already understood to avoid scaring his parents. He could not move. He could do nothing but watch, sleep, eat and relieve his bowels.

So, Art would practice and try to adjust to his new environment without overthinking how absurd his situation was.

Another month passed quickly since Art first managed to levitate his toy, and his magic was progressing steadily and he was learning a lot about what he could do. Just yesterday, he managed to levitate a ball to the ceiling and keep it there for over 10 minutes!

That was a massive leap from his first try!

It excited Art that his control and the amount of magic he could access were improving by the day. And the more he improved, the more he got a better idea of how magic exactly worked in this world. 

Rather than a generator, Art discovered that being a mage was like being a vessel for magic. He was accessing what was naturally present, interacting with the ambient magic in the environment. The more he interacted with magic, the more he could store, channel, shape and emit magic. 

It was like the air he breathed as the more he exercised, the more his lung could efficiently use the air it absorbed from the surrounding.

Art did not know what stage he was at, nor how good or talented he was compared to other mages at his age. He was self-taught, and all he knew was that he was improving by the day just by using his magic.

However, even with this much improvement, he was still dissatisfied and wanted more than the ability to levitate things... he wanted to wield other forms of magic. 

'How cool would it be if I could blow up a mountain with an explosion,' Art thought while thinking of an explosion loving archmage.

However, no matter how much Art tried for the past few months, his attempts, such as willing fire to appear and saying anime magical incantations, had failed.

Some of the chants Art tried were: "Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark, I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson... Avada kedavra... I am the bone of my sword….”

In the end, he was only left disappointed. Of course, this did not mean he would give up, and he was convinced it was because he was inexperienced. After all, it had only been a few months since he started learning magic. There was nothing he could do other than keep training and try again at a later date.

Another month passed. 

"If I can't use conjure fire out of thin air and all that cool shit... What if I channel mana into my body?"

As Art was lying in his crib, training as he was levitating multiple blocks into shapes of animals ranging from tigers to dolphins, the idea of channelling magic into his body suddenly came to him. 

In most fantasy novels or anime, there was always magic that could enhance one's body to a superhuman level. A few examples Art could think of was hollowfication from Bleach or Kaio-ken from DBZ.

Excited at the thought of having the ability to punch through walls with his bare fist and jump higher than an Olympic athlete, Art started to channel magic through his body straightaway. Of course, he could not go into this blindly, lest he wants to injure himself or blow himself up in the worst-case scenario.

Thus, Art had already formed, well, remembered a few theories to go about this.

One of these theories was how they used chakra in Naruto via chakra pathways. Although he did not have a chakra pathway, he did have something similar, his cardiovascular system that permits blood to circulate throughout the body. 

If this theory worked, it was possible to circulate mana throughout his body, gain strength similar to Tsunade or Sakura, and maybe even activate his own eye technique. But it turns out that it was much more challenging than he initially expected. Certainly more challenging than just levitating a toy by sheer will and magic. 

What Art needed to do was to guide the magic stored in his body into the vessels of the cardiovascular system. He had an idea of what he was doing, but doing it was more difficult than he thought. The mana consumption was high, and it was like threading a needle blindly while being under the influence of alcohol. 

He spent a few weeks learning what he called [Body Enhancement Magic], and even now, he was still making mistakes. These mistakes weren't that severe as he would only be bedridden for a day or two or have sore muscles.

But the results were worth it.

[Body Enhancement Magic] allowed him to become 10x stronger than his current physical capabilities. If he could lift 100kg, he could lift 10x that weight with body enhancement magic active. If he could jump 100 cm off the ground, he could jump 10x that height with body enhancement magic active and so on...

Of course, it goes without saying, Art's parents were frightened by his action. They did not know their son was learning magic and were terrified of seeing their baby lay limp on the ground like a corpse. 

Because of this, the two had his health checked at the hospital nearly every day.

Art was troubled by this as he had his training time shortened, but at the same time brought him closer to his parents, seeing how much they cared for him. It made him feel less sad about leaving his parents and friends back in his old world. 

Was it worth it going through all this trouble?

Well, for Art, the answer couldn't have been any more obvious. It was a resounding fat fucking yes.

As someone who has lived in a world without magic, like most people in his world, one of his dreams was to have powers. Given the opportunity and talent to wield magic, it was no wonder he was willing to go through all this trouble, even if it meant getting severely injured.

Because of this, Art did not want to show his parents he could use magic as he was afraid they might stop him from using it. In fact, he thought it was safer to keep his abilities hidden in general. He did not know what was out there in the world, nor did he want others to take advantage of his abilities.

Moreover, due to learning [Body Enhancement Magic], Art's mana pool and control over magic had increased to the next level.

All of this did not seem much, but Art was satisfied. He did not want to rush things and wanted to continue to train at a steady pace, lest something goes wrong and he ends up getting himself killed...

***

- 6 Years Later -

It was refreshing, like a good night’s sleep. Art liked the feel of the blanket, giving him a sense of comfort and security. He turned over to the side, wanting to lie in bed all day. Breathing in, a sweet and subtle fragrance permeated the air and turned his mood to sweet delight.

But was soon interrupted when his mom opened his door and woke up. What greeted him was sunlight shining through the frame of the windows that lit up his bedroom. "So bright…" he muttered lazily, grabbing the blanket on his body as he brought it over his head. "… one more minute, mom."

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He wanted to sleep a little longer, yet he was unable to. “Art, it's time for school!" she said, opening the door leading to his room.

Art reluctantly pulled the blanket off his body and it was there he saw his mom standing by the door with an apron on. “Okay, mom,” he said as he yawned and got up from the bed.

“Aren't you excited for the first day of your class?" Lilah asked.

"Not really.” 

"Well, too bad you're still going. Now, hurry up and get ready."

"Okay, mom."

Art reluctantly got up from his bed and walked to the bathroom. He turned on the tap and washed his face by the sink. Lifting his head, he grabbed a towel off the shelf and chanced a glimpse at the mirror. He lowered his head and then raised it back up.

There was a pretty boy in the mirror with thin rosy lips, pretty white teeth, a sharp jawline, and a small, delicate nose. He grinned, and the boy in the mirror smiled as well, revealing his bright pearly white teeth. 

However, these weren't the most eye-catching feature that the boy possessed. It was his unique eyes. His right eye pupil was a + sign while his left was a - sign and both of his pupils were also different from the norm, both were coloured in different shades of the rainbow. 

"Waga nawa Art! Ākuwizādo wo... no, that sounds strange, Anyway I still can’t get over how fucking cute I am. It's almost a crime.”

Six years had passed, and this was now what Art looked like, a cute little boy with pink hair and strange eyes. He did not know why his eyes were like this and could only guess it was because of magic, more specifically using [Body Enhancement Magic],

There was no other reason he could think as to why his eyes had mutated... unless this was a hidden cheat skill given to him by the god that sent him into this world. He should have been worried about this, but he did not particularly mind as his eyes only enhanced his cuteness. It also wasn't harmful as even the doctor said it was of no harm. 

“You little narcissist! Stop checking yourself out and come down to have breakfast!” 

As Art was admiring himself, his mom's voice rang throughout the house. "I wasn't!" He shouted back, embarrassed. "I was brushing my teeth."

Having been called out, he hastily brushed his teeth just like he said before putting on his school uniform. His suit: from top to bottom, everything was black. The buttons and the lapels of the suit were bright gold in colour as well as the pockets. His gloves were black, fitting perfectly on his small delicate hand. It was sharp looking and well-fitted.

After Art was satisfied with what he saw in the big sparkly mirror, he walked down the stairs and sat down at the simple yet fancy dining table. Beside him, at the head of the table, there sat his dad as he ate his breakfast cooked by his mother.

Of course, being upper-class citizens, they should have had a servant or two to cook on their behalf, but his parents didn’t want to live a lavish lifestyle.

Art grew up in the care of his mother and father and over these past few years, besides training with magic, he was now fluent in the language his parents spoke and some of his mother's native languages: Ioniish.

He learned more about his surroundings, such as his father’s occupation. He learned that his father was a tailor who ran a store called Zalie's Expeditionary Outfitters & Haberdashery, a famous store in the north of Piltover. It supplied and designed clothing for wealthy people of Piltover, even people from noble clans were clients.

More importantly, it seems that people of this world had yet to harness the power of Brakern crystals, meaning hex technology was yet to be invented... or at least publicly. 

Hextech in the lore was a newly emergent fusion of elemental and spirit magic and technology used to create exquisite artifacts that can be wielded by anyone, not just those few with a natural aptitude for the arcane. It harnesses the magical power contained within extremely rare Braken crystals.

Art guessed that one of the clans, well, clan Ferros had yet to publicize its discovery of what it could do. Either that or no one has yet to discover an effective way to harness the crystals' powers and make it popular across Piltover.

However, none of this mattered for Art, at least for now. He could use magic and would rather spend his time practising it than dabble with technology.

“Thanks, mom.”

Art was done eating a few minutes later, satisfied as he put the dishes in the sink. He said goodbye to his dad before walking to the entrance of his house to get dropped off at school a few blocks away. On his way to school with his mom, his gaze wandered around his surroundings, and he still could not believe he had reincarnated. He could see men and women wearing clothes of different colours, which was somewhat futuristic.

The architecture of the city had a distinct Art Deco style to them, while the exterior architecture is a mix between Art Deco and Steampunk. This mix of artistic styles can clearly be seen on the Enforces' crest or the police of this world.

Art enjoyed the scenery before him, and just like this, he arrived at the primary school entrance after a while.

Parents were dropping off their children at the entrance for the first time. Some children were crying, some were excited, and some were unwilling to go.

Naturally due to his cute looks... it came as no surprise he drew the attention of the surrounding crowd. Girls at his age couldn't help themselves and were staring at him, while some boys were jealous of him.

But Art didn’t care and simply ignored them as they were kids. As long as no one bothered him, they could stare all they liked for all he cared. 

Giving his mom a goodbye kiss on the cheek, he entered the building and quickly found a seat. It was the one by the window, in the second row from the back, or some cultured men and women may know it as the protagonist seat. 

However, not wanting to be the quiet kid or the loner of the class, Art knew he needed to make some friends. He turned to the person next to him. He saw a kid with blonde hair and blue eyes who was almost as attractive as him in his opinion.

"Hi, I'm Art Truefall," Art asked. "What's your name?"

"It's Ezreal Lymere," said the blonde-haired boy.

“Did you just say your name was Ezreal?!” He nodded.

“By any chance, are your parents archaeologists?” Art asked a little surprised.

Ezreal was shocked. “Wait! How do you know that?!”

“Ummm..."

Ezreal clicked his finder and pointed at Art. "You must be a fan!"

Not sure how to answer, Art scratched the back of his head and said. "Yeah, guess you could say that…”