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My head can’t seem to grasp the meaning behind Grandpa Will’s words.
“Ruin?”
He slowly nods his head.
By ruin is he referring to never being able to use magic again?
“There’s no need for you to be that concerned.”
Hearing Grandpa Will’s warm tone, my heart instantly calms. The way he reads my moods so easily makes me question if he truly can’t see my face.
“I knew a child long ago who was able to use magic from such a young age. The people around him always praised him, saying that he had an uncommon ability. And like they said, his skills grew immensely in a very short period of time. Before he had even reached 13 he had already mastered magic up to level 80.”
“Level 80?”
But it should take at least three years to reach level 80…..
And only the upper nobility should be capable of reaching that level, right?
If he got to level 80 before turning 13, then I guess that means that child likely started using magic around my age as well.
“That’s right. And because he was able to reach such a level at such a young age, he quickly became conceited. He grew complacent because he had far outstripped the abilities of everyone around him.”
“But isn’t it natural to become a bit conceited when it’s true that you’re the best?”
On the contrary, I think it would be weirder to find a 13-year-old who had acquired level 80 magic who wasn’t a bit proud and full of himself.
“While that may be true, that conceit is what lead to his downfall,” Grandpa Will tells me, a desolate smile creeping onto his face. “Because he had achieved level 80 even before he should have even been able to use magic, he became convinced that other rules shouldn’t apply to him as well. Instead of continuing to raise his level one-by-one, he figured it would be fine for him to skip to level 100 from there.”
Level 100? Even though there’s only a few people in the whole world who are actually able to use it…?
Though, it’s not like I can’t understand why he would assume that skipping those levels was possible. From the moment he started learning magic, he was already an anomaly.
“So then… what happened to him?”
“After that, he was never able to use magic again.”
To be a member of the upper nobility and yet be unable to use magic would make life unimaginably cruel. And because he was labeled as a genius, that would have made his fall even harder. The people around him must have had extremely high expectations for him, but he would have disappointed them all. He’ll have to suffer under that pressure for the rest of his life. Or, maybe he decided to leave that house rather than undergo that sort torture day after day?
I’m about to ask Grandpa Will for more details about the boy, but at the last second I change my mind. Telling me this much seems to have been quite painful for him already, so I just leave it that.
Even without eyes, I can tell. Grandpa Will is crying. Deeply. On the inside.
I doubt that boy was just an acquaintance…. He must have been a beloved companion of his, once upon a time.
At the thought, my chest constricts painfully.
“Alicia, you have a truly amazing ability. But, please. No matter what, don’t try to skip any levels. Just take it one at a time,” he says as if he’s desperately pleading with me.
“Okay. I won’t.”
“That’s a good girl,” Grandpa Will murmurs, tousling my hair.
Although usually when he strokes my head like this, my heart would be warmed just by his touch. But for some reason, today that bitter ache refuses to leave.
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T/N: I feel like I had an epiphany about Will after this chapter… Anybody else thinking what I’m thinking?
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