It's a bird? It's a plane? No, its an idiot about to die!

[You have rested for 8 hours. You have healed.]

My eyes shot open as I hopped out of bed. I pulled the Mop out and looked it over. In my haste to learn about magic I’d completely left this Mop to rot. Looking it over I could feel its gaze upon me alongside the will of the world.

“Uh . . . clean?” I jumped out of my hands and got to work, and damn did it work fast.

“Don’t break anything and don’t leave my room please!” Another day of school laid before me, and honestly I’m probably not going to college in this life. There’s no point when everything they could teach me pales in importance compared to magic and protecting the world.

All the people I save can go to college for me instead! Maybe . . . maybe I should just drop out of highschool too. I ponder it for a moment before shaking my head. The school year should be ending soon and I at least want my highschool diploma. I’ll show up at the very least.

The walk to school was boring, but I chatted with Gaia on the way. I still couldn’t understand her words, but she was listening to me autistically ramble about magic while we moved. Oddly enough Gaia didn’t really seem to understand magic that well. She was a fountain of power, the nature spirit of nature spirits. She was made of magic, but just like how I wasn’t a biologist, she was a wizard. Just because I’m made of meat doesn’t mean I know that much about it. I’d gotten to school and just my luck I’d walked in on a familiar scene.

The guy whose name I can’t remember is getting into a fight with that Mark guy again- is he white knighting? My expression flattens, but I can’t really say he’s in the wrong for trying to help someone. I’m literally training to be a hero so that’ll be my job in the future. 

Then he gets punched in the face and my eyes widen.

“Fuck off Grayson, I still need to thrash you for yesterday.” I walk up behind the tall blond guy as some other girls start to approach the conflict as well. I grab his arm before he can hit Mark in the stomach and then I throw an unenhanced punch to his throat as I stare at his bandaged face.

He falls to the ground coughing. I’m not that physically strong, but punching someone full force in the throat sucks ass no matter how weak you are. I turn to Mark and give him a smile.

“Hi!” He looks at me like I’m from another planet.

“I- what?” I raise an eyebrow at his question. I get he’s thankful but to be stunned speechless. The girl approaches us after a brief pause and gives me a smile.

“You seem to be feeling better.” Fuck, did she know the shell before I arrived? I scan my memories and find a weird one. She- she tried to give me a budget therapy session about depression!? That’s nice . . . but it also makes me feel really weird.

“I am! Was fighting my inner demons and all that but now I’m good.” She smiles and nods before walking way.

“You guys make a good team.” Huh. Neat.

“T-thanks.” Mark is approached by some other guy and I get ready to lay him out before a sneak attack can tackle my legally acquired friend, but he just helps steady the other boy.

“Mark, stop trying to look cool and thank him. He’s saved your ass twice now.” He gives a sheepish nod and stands up more straight with the help of his buddy.

“Yeah, thanks for the save . . . what was your name again?” I put a hand against my heart in mock injury.

“Emile, and I’m happy to help.” I flash a thumbs up as Gaia cheers me on internally, giving me a radiant smile as I do so. Does she want me to be friends with this guy? She gives a nod at my words. 

I start walking to class after the exchange and ask her why. She tries to explain but her words are still muddled. Well, I guess I’ll find out soon enough.Gaia has also seemed to stop caring very much about ‘hiding’ her connection to me in public.

I get the feeling of agreement from her through our bond and decide to ask an important question as I sit in math class twiddling a pencil.

Are there even other magic users? I haven’t been approached by one and Gaia hasn’t signaled she’s sensed on either. I feel sadness and loss from our connection and I pause at the feeling. 

Is magic or at least are magic users. . . fading? I get a rush of agreement and my eyes widen. Huh. No wonder she contracted me so quickly, if I’m basically the only Wizard around that does make sense. Or am I a Warlock? Whatever, I don’t really care too much about titles.

I have MAGIC! Which is far more important.

I’d left school with a smile on my face and decided that I was just going to continue practicing my magic before tackling my next dungeon. After all, I want to be able to make my first spell! Magic spells are like Wizardry 101! I feel a little bit of nervousness from Gaia but I give a smile.

I think Gaia should know about the Game. Her head tilts in confusion as I give a shrug as she reads my thoughts, with my newest upgrade to Planetary Heartbeat I can pretty much just let her read my mind. I have the ability to challenge these ‘dungeons’ and I get stronger from doing so. I even gained the ability to understand spells and I know you saw the books too.

She let out a nod, I knew she was curious about my strange abilities. Especially since I don’t think being able to speak to the planet is normal for the average wizard. She gives a light laugh in response and agreement.

So Gaia, your main elements are Earth, Wind, and Water right? She gives me a so-so gesture. I raise an eyebrow in confusion, what are they then? She tries to tell me but the words are muddled causing me to frown. Time to guess that element!

Is wood on the list? She nods in agreement. Anything else? She gives a small nod and makes a tiny space between her fingers. I suppose Earth, Air, Water, and Wood are her main elements then which makes sense. A bit of Fire as well? She smiles at my query, confirming it.

Instead of studying math, I get to studying magic. Pulling out Walking With Birds I continue to read and start looking over the different wind spells again before giving a small sigh. This stuff is complicated!

For now I’m just going to focus on improving ‘Atmosphere’ and ‘Wind Walk’. I want to be able to do them like second nature. I step outside in the darkness and throw on my biker helmet.

Gaia floods me with magic as I formulate the circle on the back of my hand and start to move myself upwards. I surround myself with Atmosphere and float about a mile in the air. Then Gaia starts sending me feelings of worry and points me in a direction by ripping some of her mana out of me that way.

Who the hell is that? There’s someone floating upwards really far and they are nearing the outside of the planet!? Did they lose control mid flight!? I rocket after them and grab their leg before pulling us both downwards. He’s nearly unconscious.

Then I get a look at him, shirtless and pajama bottoms on, my eyes rise up and then  I spot his face. Mark? What the fuck.

“You alright?” He doesn’t respond, he’s still very disoriented so instead I just bring us back down the ground. I sit him on a park bench and I eye the familiar glowing green portal close to us. I’ll handle that later, for now I’ve gotta make sure he’s alright.

“W-who?” I put a hand on his shoulder and looked him dead in the eyes through my weight helmet. Do I spoil my secret identity to him? It’ll be a good sign of trust and he seems to be a good guy so I go ahead and pull the helmet off. It’s not fair for only one of us to know the other’s secret anyways.

“Emile!?” I nod and give him a smile.

“Flying accident?” I scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

“Actually it was my first time in the sky.” So he just got his powers then. 

“Do you need any help learning the ropes?” He goes to agree but pauses and gives me an embarrassed look. 

“My- Someone is going to help me tomorrow. I just got ahead of myself . . . so you have powers?” 

“Yep.” I’m not going into specifics, at least not yet. 

“Also try to keep your secret identity, well, a secret. Wear a mask, you wouldn’t want anyone targeting those close to you after all.” He smiles at that, causing me to realize I’m missing some context. I place a hand on his shoulder.

“You need me to take you home?” He shakes his head and smirks.

“I can handle it from here.” Then he flies off at a frankly insane speed. This guy- I let out a sight as I follow after him just in case. Flying next to him I give him a blank look.

“Do you know how to land?” His eyes widen and his face pales as he starts flying straight towards what I can only assume to be his house.

Pushing myself in front of him I catch him and slow us down. Gaia does most of the heavy lifting because his powers are very potent. I end up stopping us and softly setting him on the ground.

“Don’t accidentally hurt yourself or others because you don’t have a good grasp on your powers.” I fly off with that and decide it's too late to tackle a dungeon. Instead I’ll be doing some conditioning.

It sucks but, increasing my stats is important after all. The image of Gaia holding a foam finger that says number one enters my mind and causing me to snort. Well if I’m being cheered on by the planet then I can’t give up!

. . . 

Holy fuck I want to die. It’s midnight at this point and I haven’t stopped. Every time I’ve gotten close to quitting Gaia juiced me up again and then gave me a glare I couldn’t shake. My body lays broken on the ground as I eye my stats.

Name: Emile Shemmer

Class: Wizard 3

STR: 10

DEX: 10

CON: 10

INT: 14

WIS: 12

CHR: 16

Skills:

• Mana Flux II

• Planetary Heartbeat III

• Mana Boost I

• Formulization I

Equipment:

• Pure Jewel of Lead

• Walking With Birds

• Magic and How Not to Accidently Kill Yourself

• Mop of Cleaning

I gained one strength from that? One constitution as well? My face pales at the realization. Goddammit. Gaia looks a bit sorry about my current state but happy that I’ve improved. My tired eyes peel over my status and I throw my helmet back on. 

I’m going home and I’m passing out. I entered the clean apartment thanks to the Mop I’d forgotten about.

“Thanks for cleaning up.” I put it back into my inventory as I make my way to the shower. When I step in the pain really starts to hit and I realize my feet are bleeding. Gaia what the fuck? She blushes and winks at me. 

Is she my loving companion or my sadistic coach? She gives a smile and puffs out her chest, as though to say ‘Why can’t I be both?’ My eyes wash over my status along with the hot water on my body. 

I activate Mana Boost through my whole body just to see what will happen.

Name: Emile Shemmer

Class: Wizard 3

STR: 12 (+2)

DEX: 10 (+2)

CON: 12 (+2)

INT: 14

WIS: 14 (+2)

CHR: 16

Skills:

• Mana Flux II

• Planetary Heartbeat III

• Mana Boost I

• Formulization I

Equipment:

• Pure Jewel of Lead

• Walking With Birds

• Magic and How Not to Accidently Kill Yourself

• Mop of Cleaning

The boost actually feels much larger than normal. Are stats exponential? That’s really good if I can somehow figure out how to get stat points. Otherwise that could end up being kind of bad, that sort of training is really hard to do, and having to somehow increase that level of training could be even harder.

I flop into bed and pass out. I’ll worry about this another day.

[You have rested for 8 hours. You have healed.]

Gaia definitely put in the work last night. Despite the system healing me, she definitely did a lot of heavy lifting as well. I’ve got to get to school though! I’d fly over but that would be stupid for many reasons.

I walk in on the familiar scene. The blond fucker giving my buddy some trouble. I could let him handle it but with a look that screams ‘I’m going to kill this bully’ I think it's best I interfere.

The work of a fledgling hero is never over it would seem.

AN: I’m back! This time Mark almost flings himself into space like an idiot only to be saved by the school's crazy weirdo, then he goes to train with his dad where he gets his ass beat. Omni man isn’t getting father of the year any time soon, and Gaia is about to fucking hate him. 

Soon enough Emile will have to pick a wizard name and go to hero tryouts, but first he’ll be helping his forcibly acquired friend in Heroing 101.

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Anyways thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time!