The morning was just another normal day for Judge. Well, as normal as it could be when you're a mastermind stuck in a baby body, plotting to manipulate nobles from the safety of your crib. Today, however, something felt different. He could sense it—the slight drop in his mother's smile, the way her eyes darted around the room.
It was like the air had tension in it, but not the kind of tension you'd get from an important international athletic match. No, this was more like... "Mom's going to ground me" tension.
He had no idea what was wrong, but one thing was for sure—he wasn't solving this mystery without knowing what the actual problem was. Which was a bit like trying to play chess without a board. His baby brain spun, but no solution appeared.
After breakfast—an affair that mostly involved him pretending to be a normal, happy baby while planning the conquest of nations in his head—his mother scooped him up and carried him off to check on her children's lessons. This had become part of her new routine for the last three days, and Judge had just about gotten used to it. But something clicked in his mind as they walked.
"Three days ago... Father was last seen three days ago," he thought. "Coincidence? I think not. Is that why Mom looks gloomy?" He had bad feeling about this, but he was confident in his father and the knights who went with him.
The plot thickened, but alas, Judge had no time to dwell on it, as they arrived at the lesson room. His mother greeted the two knights standing guard outside the room. Their armor was a fancy mix of black metal with intricate silver patterns. At least, Judge thought it was silver. Could've been aluminum for all he knew.
Either way, they greeted her in a way that screamed "professional knight," which was basically just holding their sword hilts and bowing forward like they were some cool kids pretending to be knights in a school costume ball.
The knights opened the doors with a practiced ease, and Judge's mother entered the room. Inside, a lesson was just starting. The elf tutor—an elegant woman named Melina—greeted her with a warm, almost overly bright smile.
"Miss Eleyn! You are here today as well," Melina chirped, beaming. She wore an emerald dress that looked like it was made out of materials used in a light bulb industry, with her usual braided bun perched on her head like the world's most renowned pretzel.
"Oh, don't mind me. Just continue as usual," Judge's mother replied with a graceful nod.
Judge, on the other hand, was about to have a heart attack. Not from the presence of knights or magical tutors, but because he suddenly realized he could understand every word his mother was saying. Perfectly.
"Hold on, wait... WHAT?!" Judge mentally screamed. "Since when do I understand... MOM?!"
He stared, wide-eyed, feeling like he'd just been hit by a magical frying pan. Until now, he could never fully grasp what his mother was saying, as if some mystical force was keeping him in baby ignorance. But now? Now it was like someone flipped a switch.
He could feel the ether humming in his body, and realization struck like a lightning bolt, it was the first time he heard his mother speak to the elf, he was asleep in all the previous sessions.
"It's ether! Ether is the reason I can understand her! But... how?!"
Before he could unravel this latest magical puzzle, the elf tutor, Melina, had already started her lesson. Today's topic? The races of the continent, and boy, was this about to get interesting.
"Now, children," Melina began, her voice like honeyed silk, "on our great continent of Eldris, there are many races. Apart from the Royal family, there are many noble families that lead each race."
Judge mentally groaned, this was going to be a boring and exhausting lecture class. But Melina went on, describing each race and its corresponding noble family. "First of all, let's start with your family." She wrote something on the board.
"While the royal family is composed of dragons, The Drakonis family represents the dragons. Dragons are the most impressive when it comes to transforming into 'human form'. They even have a second form which is similar to the 'Human Form' with just horns and sharp ears. Transforming into a full dragon is now a rare thing to do."
Judge's heart was about to give him another wake-up call, "We? Dragons?"
Then there was the Elorin family, governing the race of elves, most close to ether in its natural state that they are able to manipulate ether a lot better than other races.
She touched on the Taruk family, a family that rules the mighty orcs who could snap a tree in half but somehow became aristocratic in their "human" forms.
"Wait," Amber interrupted, raising a delicate hand. "Why do we always appear in our human forms? I've never seen someone not being in their human form. Except for dad with horns and sharp ears." He could now understand his sister too. What in the world was going on, was he starting to understand the language?
Melina smiled, a little too knowingly. "Ah, excellent question, Miss Amber! Let's say you are walking around in your true form, which means that you cannot enter places made by smaller races, and for all races to fit into society, it is a mandatory decision to be in their human form. Especially when you are to go to a social function with many other races.
And also the most important thing is that Human form is the natural form of all races."
Judge barely managed to hold back a snort. "So, they're like shapeshifting debutantes. Perfect."
She continued like a nerd who had just gotten a subject she was curious about, "While most race have only one Human Form, the dragons have two, and except for the house of Drakonis and the royal family, all are required to have their horns and sharp ears out."
His Borther asked another question, which was translated by his sister. "Teacher Melina, I have another question from my brother." Amber's brow widened slightly, like a kid full of curiosities. "How is it that I can understand you so clearly, even though you're speaking Elvish? I've never learned a word of it."
Melina's eyes sparkled. "Ah, that's due to the ethercraft known as translation! Though, it doesn't actually translate words directly. Instead, it conveys the intent of the speaker to the listener. So, what you're hearing isn't a word-for-word translation of Elvish, but rather the meaning behind my words."
Judge could only sit there, dumbfounded. "So... it's like a magical subtitling service?" He silently marveled at the creative uses of ethercraft. "Ether is the gift that keeps on giving, now I know how to get more people into my Studio."
The day passed in a haze of lessons, nobles, and ether-induced translations, until finally, Judge found himself meeting his grandfather. The old man wore a red, indigo, and white regal attire, he was sharp-eyed, and clearly not one to mince words. But what caught Judge's attention was the man standing beside him—a stranger, who stared at Judge as if he were a rare specimen.
After examining him for a moment, the stranger had a surprised face, he backed away from him and said something to his mother and grandpa. Whatever he said clearly shocked the old man, who looked between Judge and the stranger, a mix of surprise and... was that pride?
Eleyn, beaming with happiness, scooped Judge up and carried him off, leaving Judge to wonder what exactly had just happened. "Okay, what's the big news? Did I win the baby lottery or something?"
As night fell, Judge was back in his Studio, his sanctuary of manipulation. He swapped places with his clone and instantly felt the familiar hum of ether all around him. He grinned. It was time to absorb the ether from the Ether Well and start training his body... or Soul, since his body was inside the studio.
He realized that the ether was getting easier to absorb, when the topic of ether wells was presented yesterday, Melina did say that an ether well would greatly help in increasing one's ether.
The Ether Well's energy surged around him, crackling like invisible lightning. As Judge meditated, he reflected on the natural phenomenon of Ether Wells. They were replenished by underground ether currents, like rivers of pure energy flowing beneath the surface. It was nature's way of keeping the magical balance in check.
But Judge had another trick up his sleeve. Since his clone didn't technically have a brain, he didn't need Psyche to cast magic, at least in theory. His soul handled the heavy lifting, which was fortunate because controlling ethercraft with a brainless clone would've been... complicated, to say the least.
"Ether truly is the swiss army knife of magic," he thought, chuckling to himself.
However, his amusement faded when he noticed something strange on one of the walls of the Ether Well. Every inch of the wall was exuding ether—except for one rectangular spot. A dead zone, where no ether seemed to flow.
Judge frowned. "That's... weird." He reached out, but decided to stay for a little while. "Why isn't this part of the wall doing its job?"
His curiosity piqued, Judge made a mental note to investigate the anomaly. "Because nothing says 'let's solve a mystery' like a magic wall acting up."
With a sigh, he leaned back, still absorbing ether, but his mind raced. What in the world was wrong with that spot on the wall?