Chapter 10
Anton was woken up by his father and when he briefly checked the time on his browser, it said that it was five in the morning. Anders told him that since it was March already, they would begin planting wheat in a week. In the meantime, the first chore that he was supposed to do was fill the water barrels in the outhouse and the kitchen from the well located somewhere at the back of the house.
When Anton went outside the room, he saw Anna already busy in the kitchen. He followed Anders to the well and there he saw the buckets that he would use to fill the water barrels in the outhouse. His father told him to fill up the barrel in the kitchen first since Anna would need water there, so he acquiesced and used the buckets and fill it up with water from the well.
When Anders saw that he was busy carrying the buckets and that he was not having a hard time doing it, his father left to do something else. Anton observed his surroundings and when he saw that no one was looking, he put the buckets filled with water on his inventory. He made sure that the game was open and the inventory prominent while it was minimized. He knew that he would be utilizing the inventory extensively, so he always kept the game running on mute, just minimized.
Anton took the buckets out from his inventory when he was near the door and then placed the water in the water barrel. Based on what it looked like, it would probably take ten buckets of water before it was filled. He saw that Anna was not there, probably getting food from some animals on the farm so he immediately cast Ice Bolt and controlled the mana until a ball of water was hovering above his hands. He added more mana slowly to increase the water and when he reckoned that the water was big enough he lowered it to the barrel. After two castings, the kitchen barrel was filled with water.
Anton went to the outhouse to fill it up with water using his Ice Bolt spell. More than likely Frost Blast would be better, but he hadn’t practiced with the spell yet.
The water barrels in the outhouse took about four castings of Ice Bolt to be filled each. After that, he went back inside the house. When he arrived inside, he saw his father and Anna looking at a mug of water on the table.
“The barrels in the outhouse are filled,” Anton informed Anders.
“Already?! I just asked you to do it a few minutes ago,” Anders exclaimed.
“It’s done. Don’t you trust me?” Anton said smiling.
Anton knew that sooner or later he would have to admit to his father and sister about his magic. He didn’t want to keep doing it secretly and based on their behavior when they were talking about mages or wizards, the profession was respected instead of burnt at the stake. He would give it a day or two more before telling it to them to get a feel for their real attitude about magic.
“I’m sorry Anton, I have to check,” Anders and even Anna went outside to check the barrels in the outhouse.
Anders and Anna returned after a couple of minutes and looked at him guiltily. Anton laughed and told them it was okay.
“Why are you looking at the mug of water anyway? Did you trap a spider inside?” He joked.
“No. When Anna drank water from the kitchen barrel, it tasted different. It wasn’t bad or anything like that. I tested it myself and it was delicious, and we can’t understand how the water turned into something like that. It refreshes the body especially if you're tired. We wondered if a magical herb or insect suddenly got into the barrel. We were thinking of throwing out the water and checking the bottom of the barrel, but we were hesitating since the water was really good,” Anders told him.
Anton decided then and there to tell his father and sister about his magic. He didn’t want to keep lying to them especially if the magic was really beneficial to their body and he wanted to use magic doing his farm chores.
Anders and Anna were the only people who cared about him on this land and if he couldn’t trust them, it would really be a difficult life. He would deal with any consequences that may arise and besides, it wouldn’t take long before he had all the spells that he would need to survive. He now had Telekinesis, Frost Nova, and Ice Blast. He couldn’t wait to get Teleport and Energy Shield for protection.
“I have something important to tell you. Can you follow me outside?”
Anton didn’t wait for his family’s reply and just walked out to the back of the house until he reached a tree. When he turned around, he saw that Anders and Anna were following him.
“What do want to tell us?” Anders asked.
Instead of telling them, Anton cast Ice Bolt slowly and let the magic gather in his hand then he cast the spell to the nearest tree until a bolt of ice struck it.
“Anton, you’re a mage?!” Anna gasped.
“Father, remember I was asking you about wizards and magic because of a dream I had? Well, in the dream I had magic and when I tested it out, it seemed I have magic in real life as well. The water from the kitchen barrel and barrels in the outhouse was from a spell that I cast.”
Anton showed them by summoning Ice Bolt slowly and changing it to a ball of water hovering above his hands. He then flung the ball of water to the ground.
“We’re going to be rich! You kill monsters and claim the bounty from the city lord,” Anna said.
“Hold on, we don’t know your brother’s full capabilities and we don’t want him to be in danger so don’t tell anyone, understand!” Anders admonished Anna. His father turned to him asking him more questions.
“Does it have benefits for people to drink your magic water?”
“I actually don’t know. What I know so far is that it tastes good, and it refreshes the body. I drank it yesterday and nothing bad happened to me so far.”
“Is that the only spell you know?”
“No. I know four more spells.”
Anton cast Fire Bolt into the tree which started a fire, so he immediately cast Ice Blast into it, but the spell actually tore the small tree down. He could hear Anders and Anna gasping when he saw the huge ball of ice shot from his hands to the tree freezing and snapping it in half.
“Please move far away,” Anton instructed his father and sister and when they were far enough, he released a full Frost Nova which froze the surrounding area.
His father and sister ran back to him.
“You’re very powerful Anton. Can you teach me?” Anna asked.
“I’m sorry Anna but I can’t. As you can see, I’m not muttering any incantation or something like that. It’s instinctive to me and from what I can feel, more spells would be coming in soon.”