Chapter 23: Forever Ten-Year-OldLuna Pov

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  "Happy birthday, Luna!"

  Yay, I turned ten!

  Currently, I'm at home with my parents. After all, my mother forces me to come home at least once a year. I'm avoiding coming home too frequently because it would destroy the spirit of adventuring. After all, part of adventuring is living in tents and travelling from city to city. If I were to teleport home every day, I would be destroying that experience.

  Well, I can still go home on my birthday, and writing letters is part of adventuring, so the two conditions aren't hard for me to fulfil. Especially because I also want to see my parents from time to time. This wish became especially strong ever since I learned about my eyes.

  Ever since I can remember, my parents never showed me fear. No matter how monstrous my intellect, Mom would always excim that her child is the greatest genius to ever exist, and Dad would run around like a headless chicken, anxiously asking whether Mom fed me drugs to increase my intellect, only to get punched on the head by Mom. After five years, they mellowed out, tho. Mom understood that, even if she screamed praises at her child, nothing would change, and that she needed to teach me certain things about the world. Meanwhile, Dad understood, after some thorough convincing by Mom, that I was not under the effects of any drug. Nevertheless, even when he looked me in the eye after our duel, there was not an ounce of fear.

  "Thank you, Daddy and Mommy!" I say in the most baby-like voice I can muster. Then we ugh.

  "Good one, Luna!" Dad excims.

  "Is this your tenth or second birthday?" Mom asks rhetorically.

  "I don't know. I never counted," I respond cheekily.

  Time passes quickly, and I have the time of my life. Truly, Dad and Mom are the best, unlike Father and Mother from my previous life. As I think of my previous life, I immediately shake off the distracting thoughts. I want to enjoy this party, not remember the scars of the past.

  We party te into the night until 3 AM. Soon, Mom and Dad, tired, go to sleep. I am not sleepy, however, because my Mental Power is so strong. Theoretically, I could stay awake forever if I really wanted to. But I have long decided to try something today.

  Many have pursued longevity for all their lives. Many, both in this world and my st, have made no small sacrifices just to live a bit longer. And yet, at least in my previous life, I found that pursuit stupid. So what if you live ten years longer when you lose fifty years while caring for your health, leading a stifling life where you are constantly restraining yourself? Are you truly living or just sustaining yourself? And if you are sustaining yourself, what sense does your life have? The worst part of it all is that even if you follow every single health rule by the book, you could still die earlier than somebody who drowned their life in booze and cigarettes.

  With Magic coming into py, my opinion changes. Just the act of developing a spell that keeps your longevity is already worth it. Now, developing a spell may seem simple. After all, it is just imagination, right? Well, yes and no. At some point in time, compound spells come into py. When the spell is too complex to simply imagine it with a simple thought, there is another way to make the spell.

  Instead of imagining one scene where the spell is used, one instead imagines the various attributes the spell should have, one by one, before connecting them together in the end. For instance, a simple fireball spell could have the attributes form, heat, colour, speed and size. Although one could simply imagine a fireball appearing and hitting the enemy before making the tter burn away, and therefore automatically set all the attributes, one could not fine-tune the various attributes. Also, for more complex spells that react according to different situations, it would be nearly impossible to imagine them all in a single go.

  Yet these compound spells beg another question. If they are so complex, how would anybody ever be able to use them in a real fight? The answer lies behind another magic technique: temptes. One could specify the attributes and then name the spell. After that, they just need to wish to activate the spell against their enemy. The only drawback is that it requires a much bigger Magic Power cost, as it not only takes the different parts of the spell from memory, but also assembles them.

  But I'm digressing. I was talking about the development of a spell that prolongs life. And yeah. I did it. For this, you need to know that the reason we can't live forever is that, somewhere in our DNA, there is an inbuilt restriction about how often a cell can split. Also, every time a cell splits, tiny errors occur in the DNA. Several other systems also wear down over time. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure about which parts myself. The fact is, however, that I can save my DNA and periodically repce every part of my body using that DNA as the blueprint.

  However, this leads to another problem. My physical strength would not improve at all. And so, after much deliberation, I created a spell that would only repce the aged and destroyed cells, while keeping the other spells intact. But since that would only allow me to live forever, and I would still age, I also created a spell that would forever keep my current appearance.

  Why do I want to stay in my ten-year-old self, you ask? Well, for one, I don't want to have my boobs grow too much. Then, I want the wow-effect. Imagine a seemingly ten-year-old enrolling in Ifrit Academy and defeating all the teenagers. Additionally, I want my appearance to reflect my outlook on the world. I am, but a child having fun. My outer appearance should reflect that. Also, I want to avoid those teenage hormones. Those hormones truly suck. Finally, I wish to look the part of a Lunar Rabbit. After all, if you think of a rabbit, you think of small.

  There are many more reasons, but I think the most important is that I truly can't see one good merit of becoming an adult. My physical and mental advancement is not hindered by my child's body, and people will believe a child more, even if she only looks the part. And honestly, who cares about being looked down upon a bit? I rather fear that too few people are provoking me.

  Anyway, I've already created the tempte for the spell. Now I just need to activate it, and so I do, and immediately, I am surprised by the Magic Power cost. My enormous amount of Mana is barely enough to sustain the spell. The most I can do with the rest is open the subdimension ten times. In other words, I turned weak again. But that is fine as well. After all, I want to have fun.

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