The months trickled by in a haze of infant duties, which for David, consisted primarily of sleeping.
His only solace, the one thing keeping his adult mind from shattering in this infantile prison, was gathering mana. Each day, he drew what ambient elements he could from his surroundings, using them to reinforce the elemental ‘stones’ coalescing within him.
The more he practiced, the finer his sensitivity to the elements became. He could now feel the mana in the air and even distinguish its composition, discerning the individual elements that wove through the atmosphere.
This practice had an unexpected physical benefit as well. The mana coursing through him seemed to strengthen his underdeveloped muscles, bringing him to the very brink of standing on his own.
Of course, he only attempted this when he was completely alone—a state he enjoyed far less often than he would have liked.
When he wasn't being cradled in his mother's arms, he was usually being doted on by one of the maids. They had taken a liking to him, it seemed, parading him through the mansion on impromptu tours and pinching his cheeks at every opportunity.
It appeared the Administrator had blessed him with a face that was both cute and handsome.
Suffering from success, as the saying went.
Strangely enough, it took him a full two months to learn the names of his own parents.
His mother insisted he simply call her ‘mommy’, and his father was almost never home.
From the snippets of their arguments he overheard, his father was preoccupied with a business that kept him out most nights. His mother disliked this arrangement immensely, often complaining to David about it. The complaints usually involved a place called the Parched Lands.
By listening intently to the maids' gossip, he finally pieced it together. His mother was Lillian, and his father was Arthur.
As for himself, his full name was David Vanderbilt.
According to the Administrator, the Vanderbilts were the richest and most influential family in the world. Confined to the mansion, David had no way to verify this, no frame of reference for the world outside his gilded cage.
For all their supposed wealth, though, they apparently couldn't afford a single air-conditioning unit.
He was banking on a hefty inheritance to fund a life of ease and comfort. With enough money, he could invent whatever he needed to make his new life more pleasant.
But all of that would have to wait until he was older.
For now, he resigned himself to the daily life of a baby.
David soon turned one, an occasion that proved to be a monumental event for the Vanderbilt family.
His mother immediately ordered a small venue to be constructed near the house for the celebration.
This was perhaps David’s first true glimpse into the staggering scale of his family’s wealth.
That ‘small’ venue his mother had commissioned was, to his modern eyes, the size of a football stadium. It was so vast they needed a carriage just to get from one end to the other.
And that wasn't the most shocking part. She was genuinely disappointed with its modest size.
Her exact words were:
"I'm so sorry, my sweet baby. I promise I'll build you a much bigger one next year. It's simply absurd how little we're spending on your very first birthday, but we were so pressed for time. Don't you worry, I've already commissioned the next one to get an early start!"
The sheer manpower required to construct this venue was beyond what David could count.
In a world without bulldozers or excavators, everything was done by hand.
He watched as mages cast spells, felling massive trees with blasts of force and shattering boulders into dust.
There must have been more than ten thousand people working day and night to complete the venue for his first birthday.
[Magic Theory Acquired.]
[Magic Theory Acquired.]
[Magic Theory Acquired.]
[Magic Theory Acquired.]
[Magic Theory Acquired.]
The true prize, however, was witnessing mages cast their spells up close.
With his heightened sensitivity to elemental mana, he could perceive how they absorbed and manipulated the energy, pushing it from their bodies to shape their spells.
To create a gust of wind powerful enough to knock down a tree, air mana had to be channeled from the abdomen to the hands, where it was transformed into magic the moment it was released into the world.
And thanks to HelperBot-9000, he could access the underlying theory for each spell he saw, giving him the knowledge he needed to cast them himself.
Of course, that was assuming he could gather enough mana.
Once he was back in his cradle, David wasted no time in trying out what he had learned.
— This magic allows the user to summon a huge whirling tornado that sucks everything in its path.
David attempted to cast the spell but quickly found his own mana reserves were woefully insufficient.
Most of the spells he had observed the workers using were two-star and above, far beyond his current capabilities.
Thankfully, four of the acquired spells had a one-star rating.
— This magic allows the user to create a water sphere.
— This magic allows the user to create a small fire from the tip of a finger.
— This magic allows the user to manipulate small rocks and heave them outwards.
— This magic allows the user to create a gust of wind in the target direction.
David closed his eyes and concentrated, willing the elemental particles to flow from his core to his fingertips.
First, a sphere of water coalesced above his left hand.
It was only the size of his tiny fist, but it was undeniable proof. He could cast magic, even as a baby.
He didn't stop there.
He cast another spell, and a small, smooth stone materialized beside the orb of water.
Next, he raised a finger, and a flicker of fire, no larger than a candle flame, bloomed at its tip.
The three elements now hung suspended in the air before him.
With the fourth and final spell, David summoned a gust of wind, sending his three creations hurtling toward the nursery wall.