Beyond?

I slayed 21 flies with my hands, which accounted to earning two points of agility and 21 points of experience. During the nights I used toxic bombs three times within my tent. That resulted in the deaths of countless mosquitoes and some unlucky other insects. For using my brain instead of my hands I got 5 points of intelligence and my experience sky-rocketed. I got 3 damage from the poison though...

After surviving the graveyard for three days I accomplished my quest and returned from the dead with improved skills. Now my agility is higher than my sister's and I can face-slap her without her realizing what happened.

What do we learn? Never kill an author... he will come back stronger than before.

“Casting a magical spell has two requirements. First you need the power to fuel your spell, second it is necessary to guide your spell's effect. Providing the power can be achieved by the following means.

Using your internal mana is the most common solution. It also holds the most risk for your own well being. Using your own mana results in weakening your own physical constitution. This effect is subtle at first, but as you start running low on mana it becomes more severe. In some cases it can even result in death.

The second possibility is to use the wild mana from your surroundings. This is harder to accomplish, since you need to be good at sensing mana and manipulating it.

The third possibility is to use other living beings as suppliers, or adding their power to your own through a dark ritual.

To cast a spell you need a way to control its effect. This can be achieved by casting it by speaking or thinking the chant, using runes or magical circles to describe the desired result, or shamanistic rituals. There are more possibilities to guide a spell, but these are the most common ones. All of them do the same. And that's essentially guiding the mana into the proper pattern to achieve the desired effect, changing the laws of nature.

Casting a spell by voice or thought is the oldest form of this art. It is just a way to assist the caster in imaging the desired effect, thus changing reality to his wishes.

Shamanistic rituals assist a chant by adding symbols and objects, thus increasing the control over the spell. This makes bigger and more complicated spells possible.

Runes and magical circles are the most recent form of directing a spell. By forcing the mana to flow in a certain pattern you can add much more control and power to the spell. The downside is that this method is very literal minded and one small mistake can lead to catastrophic failures.”

-Papyri magicae.

***Free City States of Nict, Capital***

***Valeria***

My brother is a tutor! Finally an opportunity to spend more time with him. And the Vixen can't even interfere. It took me only a moment for the decision to join his course.

So behind this door lies my paradise. I just have to shoo away the other pests who are sticking to him. Without hesitation I open the door and step into the classroom. What I find inside is simply shocking!

Brother is lying on the teacher's table and snoring loudly. Twelve students are sitting in the first row with big books in front of them. Their faces are strained and full of fear when they look up in unison like a well maintained clock.

“What's this supposed to be?” I attempt to slam the door shut, but one of the students throws her notebook with incredible skill between the closing door and the doorframe. The same student stands up and tiptoes over to my position.

“Psst! Don't wake him up!” She whispers while recovering her notebook.

One of the boys points at the door. “You should turn around and leave while you can.”

“Why should I? I want to be in this class to spend time with my brother!” I answer without concern. Why are they trying to keep Azir asleep? Now I notice that the girl who came up to me isn't wearing shoes. She is going to great lengths.

“You? You are his sister?” The girl who came up to me points at Azir. Somehow I get the feeling that she is pitying me.

“Yes.” I nod, not getting what's going on. Is this some kind of perverted play? Is my sleeping brother's face that adorable to watch? My eyes flicker towards him, but it doesn't seem to be the case. He is lying on his back and snoring with an open mouth. Both of his hands are on his chest and there is a little drool running down his cheek. “Shouldn't he be teaching us?”

“Pssst!” The girl with the notebook gestures to be quiet and falls to her knees in front of me. The other students get up too and run in front of me to kneel down. What's freaking me out is that none of them were wearing shoes and everything happened in absolute silence.

Now they are kneeling in two rows of six in front of me. “Please. Don't wake up the sleeping dragon!” Again they whisper in unison. “Only bad things happen to us while he is awake.”

I squint my eyes at this sight. “You guys... what happened to you? You seem to be genuinely frightened of him. My brother isn't such a bad person.”

“Your brother is a god. He gives what he wishes to give and he takes what he wishes to take.” All of them mumble in unison. “And he interchanges what he wishes to interchange.” One of them finishes the formula.

They are like a group of religious fanatics! What did my brother do to deserve people like this? I ignore them and use my finger to poke my brother awake. He is weak against attacks like this. “Brother. Wake up!”

The students gasp and hurry back to their seats.

Azir opens his eyes and sits up. I hurriedly pull out a handkerchief and clean his cheek while he is drowsily staring at the wall in front of him. He yawns. “I had such a nice dream.”

“Brother. What do you think you are doing? This throws a bad light onto our family. You should teach us properly. Instead I find you sleeping while your students are engaged in self study.” I reprimand him.

Finally he looks at me. “Oh, sorry. Yesterday I had a hard night. First those assassins and then the interrogation. Stella took her time too. I was just dead tired and so I decided on self study. Are they done already? I said that they should go through the entire book within the hour.”

“Assassins! Interrogation! What happened?” I call out in shock.

He makes a dismissive gesture. “Don't worry. Everything was taken care of. Quarma and I will inform you this evening when there is time.”

“Oh, good. So Grandma took care of things.” Then it should be fine. I turn and take a look at the weighty tomes which are used for the general studies lesson. “All that? Within the hour? Brother, that's not possible for most normal people! Short of a Siorda or you nobody can do that. I wouldn't be able to either if you hadn't taught me your self hypnosis tricks.”

He blinks. “It is not? Well, they simply have to surpass their limits. Learning magic is a constant process of breaking the laws of physics and challenging your own limits. Maybe they should just drop out of this school if they can't do that.”

“Big Brother, why don't you start by teaching us your learning techniques. It shows that you are bad at teaching if you demand such things from your students. You taught me properly too, why don't you help them the same way. Simply start from the basics and go up in small steps.” I point at the chalkboard. “Like you did with me.”

He snorts. “That was completely different. You were just out of the egg. It was reasonable to teach you from zero. You really expect me to start teaching them from scratch? They should have learned the basics already.”

I walk to the other students and take a seat. “Please be so kind. I think I am in need of brushing up everything you taught me.”

For a moment it looks like he is considering refusing my wish. Then he rolls off the table and takes up a piece of chalk. “Tch! It was so amusing to see them struggle in vain.” Then he gives us a crash course in learning techniques and mental training.

From there he starts his explanation of magic and physics. How the two of them can be used together to cheat the laws of nature. Of course I know all of it already, but since there are... ah... Damn! Didn't I want to drive them off? I completely forgot about it since the other students behaved so oddly.

A while later Brother puts down the chalk. “Well. That concludes it for today. I'll hurry home to get rid of my stuff. We'll see each other at our parents' mansion, Valeria.” He grabs a bag and rushes out of the room before I can stop him.

Feeling left behind I stand up and grab my own bag, but then I realize that all the student's eyes are on me. Somehow I feel a little disturbed by their expressions and so I stand up and walk towards the door.

“Please!”

I take a look back, just to find them kneeling in two rows of six... again! They look at me like I am some kind of messiah. “You have a good relationship with your brother?” The girl with the notebook from earlier looks at me with hopeful eyes.

“Well... of course. We are brother and sister after all.” I answer a little hesitantly. What did my brother do to these people?

“He doesn't place your soul in another body?” “He teaches you properly?” “He doesn't ask the impossible from you?” “He listens to you?” “He doesn't punish you for a mistake in your homework?” “He doesn't break your bones one by one because you played a little trick on him?”

“Of course he does nothing of that sort. I am the future clan head. Don't talk bad about my brother!” Why would those bullies spout such lies!

Then they speak in unison. “We would never talk bad about the master!” All of them touch the ground with their foreheads. “Please protect us from him! If he listens to you, you must be an even higher existence than him. We swear eternal loyalty! Please visit this lesson every day from now on!”

I feel my left eye twitching. What's wrong with me. That's my brother's habit when he is under stress. Is it a problem within the family? “I have to go now.”

While I am turning around one of the girls throws herself forward and grabs my foot. “Please! You can't leave us like that. Promise that you'll protect us! We'll become your minions!”

I try to free my foot, but the girl doesn't let go. Her strength is on another level. Though I don't feel her using magic and she doesn't look like she is doing proper training either. Is this the power of desperation?

“I don't need minions! It's not like I am some kind of street boss!” Without holding back I kick the girl, but she proves to have more endurance than I thought. She doesn't let go of me.

All of them answer as one. “You are a future clan head! You need to learn leadership!”

That day twelve of my most loyal followers forced themselves onto me.

.