Chapter 7: The Chest

Today's the day. Jin and Mary have been gone for three, Rolia is headed back to their house to grab a few things and Nezu is outside training. Every day around this time he goes outside and trains for about four hours.

The moment I've been waiting for is here. The first of many heists aided by magic.

Creeping into the kitchen, I summon a small barrier box as a stepping stool and got into our silverware. Then using my basic fire magic, I heat up a fork and bend it on my barrier. With a makeshift tool in hand and my barrier magic as a way to make the second tool, my basic set is complete.

That little stunt alone cost me a good fifty percent of my mana, mainly on my first ever three-sided barrier, but it'll all be worth it.

Probably. Hopefully?

Ya know, this whole thing could have been avoided by just listening to me. No matter how many times I would ask, and no matter in what way I would ask, I'd always get the same response. "You'll find out when you're older..."  Eventually, it got to the point where they said I was gonna be able to open the chest once I turned five years old.

Five? Are you kidding me? There's absolutely no way I'm gonna wait that long!

Hopping down from my small barrier step-stool, it takes but a thought at this point to form a small blunt tension-wrench, and by using my fire magic on my now mangled fork, I'll be able to create any tool I needed for the job.

Not that lockpicking an old-fashioned chest would be hard, it's just nice to be prepared ya know? Gotta start off flawless.

Not wanting to waste any time, I flung myself down the hall using my wind magic, I've developed a better version of the old trick I was doing before, this time first shooting wind from my feet, then quickly shooting it at my back, launching me up into the air then forward in one motion.

The landing is even easier. A simple cup-shaped barrier to land in. It only hurts a little bit, since I'm still trying to figure out some way to make my barriers soft, or even elastic. Experiments experiments.

I'll be calling this technique a Catapult from now on, and sure, I may look goofy doing it, but it beats the slow walking I can do as a toddler, besides, moving with Wind magic in this way is completely silent.

Landing outside of my room, it feels like my hands are gonna fall off from shaking so much.

I'm back! The King is finally back! It's time for some sweet sweet loot!

I'd always get like this before every job, even the absolute smallest job or break-in would get my hands to shake. Not out of fear mind you, out of both excitement and anticipation. 

No matter how many years I've spent in the business, no matter how many safes or chests or doors I crack, I always get unreasonably excited about unlocking the simplest of locks or doing the simplest of jobs. The bigger the jobs, the better the rush.

It's been over a year since my last job, and the last job I did got me killed.

Now? This might be the safest job I'd ever been on, I finally got to ride that high again.

Re-creating my tension-wrench and walking up to the chest, the lock on it is easier to break than a Kwikset. Just shove it in, and apply a little pressure...

A little pressure

A little... pressure

There we go, tiny arms make tiny torque, but I fucking got it! The warm feeling of success flows through my veins once more.

Creating a small stepping stool, I grab the lock off of the chest, careful to keep it intact, so I could reattach the lock so my parents never knew I got in.

However, I break off a small section of my lockpicking fork and jam the locking mechanism. A simple yet effective method of breaking a lock to keep it open permanently, whilst making it look completely normal.

Setting the lock on the side of the chest, and stepping back on my small stool, it's time to finally get in my chest!

Just put my hands on the lid, and give it a little shove...

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A little sho-

Oh right, I've used a ton of mana so far today.

It appears the fatigue has started to catch up with me. Thank God I've been actually practicing for so long, otherwise, Nezu may have seen something he shouldn't have.

Okay, damage control time. I'm gonna put my unlocked lock back on the chest, and lay down for a small nap. That way, in case I oversleep it looks like I've just been sleeping, and if not, I can get into the chest after a nice 15-minute nap.

///

Waking up, the sun seemed to have moved a decent amount and my body felt completely relaxed and refreshed. Longer than I expected, but short enough to not really burn much time. Sitting up, my body is practically brimming with energy.

Huh, mana does seem to have a real effect on a physical body, almost as much as physical stamina I can assume.

Ehhh whatever, no point in theory crafting now! It's loot time!

Before making my way back to my sweet sweet loot, I summon a very small stool and take a look outside. Thankfully, Nezu is still drilling his sword skills, as he should be doing for the next about two hours.

Walking over and throwing the top of the chest open, what I saw made me both sad and unbelievably happy.  The first thing I see is a pair of real daggers, as well as a small sword and a set of leather armor. It looks like at age five, they're gonna train me! Holy shit I lucked out with my parents.

Next to the armor and weapons, there are three books, the most beautiful books I've ever laid my eyes on.

"Intro to Magic: The Basics.", "Creation of Magic: Custom Spells", and "Deeper into Magicks: Playing to Affinities".

The jackpot. The winning ticket. This is it!

These books are not only the answer to all my questions but finally the cure to my mundane boredom!

Beneath the books, there are these small round gems, each of them tinted with a different color.

In order, there is a light green marble, a cyan marble, a yellow marble, a deep purple marble, a clear marble, a glittering marble, a blue marble, a brown marble, a red marble, and finally a marble filled with a smokey white substance.

Yeah, no idea. 

Picking up the marbles one by one, something interesting occurred. Similar to my ring, the marbles seemed to suck in mana, albeit a pitifully small amount. Much less than my mighty ring of unknown properties. 

The green, cyan, yellow, purple, and what I believed to be an empty marble all glowed with a moderate amount of color. Amazingly, the marble that I assumed was clear actually shined in the pattern of a small galaxy after it had absorbed my mana.

Yet, as quickly as they absorbed my mana, their lights dimmed and flickered out. Interestingly enough, the rest of the small magic marbles didn't seem to react to me at all, even when I tried to inject them with mana, they only faintly glowed. Weird. The books may hold the answers.

Man, I wish I could ask Jin or Mary about this stuff, but I guess some things are destined to remain unknown.

After placing each of the orbs back in their respective places, I took out the first book, "Intro to Magic: The Basics". For the rest of the time, before my parents return, it was time to study up!

Cracking open the first page, I realize a major flaw in my plan.

I can barely read this world's fucking language. One thing at a time I guess.

I wonder if Nezu could get me some children's stories. Maybe a dictionary or language tool...

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