Wizard: Starting with Symbiosis with Algae

"Hey, Lynn, have you seen enough?"

Lynn opened the door and saw a little girl who looked like a porcelain doll.

Red hair, blue eyes, tied in pigtails, with a cocky look, wearing a white dress styled like a children's outfit.

She carried a staff the size of an arm on her back and began to examine Lynn's door crack as if no one else was around.

Lynn blinked.

He did recognize one with red hair and blue eyes. But the girl in front of him—no, calling her a girl was too old.

The chest before me, as flat as an autumn grassland, makes it hard to associate it with the word "person".

Moreover, the tone of his voice was three parts provocative, three parts playful, three parts scrutinizing, and the remaining part strangely inexplicable.

Of all the wizarding school students he knew, not one spoke like that.

"Little girl," he bent down, trying to make his tone gentle, "where are your parents?"

"You know my address... Could you be Professor Aigard's child?"

Lynn wanted to reach out and take the little girl's hand.

Before the little hand even touched her, the little girl slammed her staff on the ground, crossed her arms over her chest, tilted her head back, and gave a triumphant smile.

Then, she chuckled.

"Don't deny it, Lynn. You took my virginity. Don't you recognize me?"

Lynn's fingers froze in mid-air.

"I?"

"Yes, it's you, Lynn!"

"first?"

"Have you forgotten? We're inseparable."

"Intimate...close?"

There are still three of us!

Three people?! Are you kidding me?!

"Yes," she tilted her head, her pigtails swaying, her voice sweet, "you made me feel like I was flying back then."

"Damn it," Lynn took a half step back, her back hitting the door frame, "Don't say things that make people suspicious again."

"But that's the truth. I really, really miss the days we spent together."

"How could that be? You and I..."

Lynn's mind raced.

He considered himself a heartless person, but he didn't want to be electrocuted.

Could it be someone you knew before enrolling? Or someone you met at the college?

Because he was struck by lightning, and then forgot?

But she's so young, completely immature, and you could do this to her? It's too cruel, too naive, Lynn.

I want to cut ties with you!

Lynn swallowed a mouthful of water.

His gaze involuntarily swept over the girl's loosely covered dress, trying to discern even the slightest trace of familiarity from her porcelain doll-like face.

Unfortunately, her face and body were clean and there was nothing familiar about her.

There's no other way.

"Okay... I'll take responsibility."

"Head down, Lynn! Lynn!" The little girl suddenly stomped her foot, her staff making a crisp sound on the floor. "You really didn't recognize me?"

"?"

"You're so weak." She put one hand on her hip, pointed to her nose with the other, and raised her chin high. "I'm Ruby. I'm Ruby!"

Ruby does have some ulterior motives.

Lynn knows.

but

"Ruby?" His voice was slightly unsteady. "Then, who's that guy who went on this adventure with me?"

"Oh dear, I was quite chubby back then," Ruby waved her hand. "But this form is so much fun."

She held the brand-new staff in front of Lynn, the patterns on the staff gleaming with a faint blue light.

"Ta-da! This is my new staff. It can crystallize spells. Want to try it out?"

Crystallization suggests that Ruby and those ladies are from the same family.

But Lynn no longer cared about family matters.

Why did you become like this?

"It's a secret." Ruby tiptoed.

"I mean," Lynn rubbed her temples, "your personality. What's wrong with your personality?"

"Hehe." Ruby tilted her head. "I don't know either. It's just that after reverting to a younger age... everything seems so fun."

Linn was silent.

According to his knowledge, it is impossible for humans to age in reverse.

But the facts are clear: the girl in front of me—no, the loli—has gone from a D cup to an A cup.

Will this developmental trajectory lead to an S-shaped pattern next?

"Alright, alright, Lynn, that's enough." Ruby put away her staff, put her hands behind her back, leaned forward slightly, and looked up at him.

"I will live a very, very long time. When you become an old man with skin wrinkled like a raisin, I will still be a young and beautiful girl. Just tell me, are you envious or not?"

Immortality. Never aging or dying.

Lynn looked at her for a long time.

"...I am indeed quite envious."

But envy aside, the important thing is how to profit from it.

"Could you reveal how you became younger? Was it through a biological transplant?"

If it's a transplant, he'll have to proceed slowly.

"No," Ruby shrugged, her gesture carrying a maturity completely at odds with her appearance. "My race is naturally designed to live for a very, very long time. Every time my magic power increases, my lifespan also increases. As you can see—I am in my most perfect form right now. Having shed unnecessary burdens, my mobility is already extremely strong."

An unnecessary burden?

I don’t think so.

Lynn shook her head.

A sense of security and stability is something that children cannot provide.

What's lost can never be regained, Ruby.

Ruby stopped spinning and blinked at Lynn.

"Alright, let's go to the academy's auditorium."

"Okay," he said, turning and walking into the house. "I'll change my clothes."

Lynn felt that Ruby had not only become simpler, but also more single-minded.

Is this the side effect of rejuvenation?

I'm so envious.

...

The auditorium has a deep red background, with rough-hewn metal pipes in the background.

Aigard was wearing a very formal black suit.

He wore small black glasses, had his hair slicked back, and wore a small purple tie.

He looks like the old man from KFC.

"They're here, Ruby, Lynn?"

"They're here."

"Professor Skinner specifically instructed that you sit together in the first row."

Lynn and Ruby took their seats.

Her calves were trembling restlessly on the soft sleeper berth.

People gradually arrived, and a considerable number of them were not from the Atmospheric Transformation Academy. Discussions were incessant.

"I heard that people from other colleges will be coming."

"Of course! This award ceremony is open to all wizarding colleges. I remember Professor Aigard achieved some great results; do you think he might be the recipient of that award?"

"I don't think so. Each of the three medals is at least second-class, and Professor Aigard has mentored too many people, so it's unlikely that he will receive the most representative award."

"What about the one from the Worm Academy? Although there are more of them, their world level is much higher."

"That's true. Professor Hollister of the Worm Academy, leading 55 students to plant a flag in a place far from the wizarding world, is indeed much better than Professor Egard."

"But I think, still..."

The lights in front of the auditorium slowly dimmed.

The metal pipes on the dome emitted a faint, resonant hum.

On the stage, the medals gleamed on the velvet tray.

Lynn glanced at Ruby beside him out of the corner of his eye.

Her twin ponytails hung down on the back of the chair, her staff rested on her lap, and her emerald eyes stared unblinkingly at the stage, unusually quiet.

"What are you looking at? Haven't you ever seen a cute child before?"

"There isn't one at the wizarding academy."

"Tsk... I say, Lynn, you wouldn't..."

"Stop! Ruby, we're in a formal setting now, let's not do this again, Ruby."

Ruby smiled.

"Well, that's a pity."

"Oh, right, Lynn forgot to mention, the forces behind those two people who tried to harm us have also been dealt with by my family. They were the two who turned to stone."

The noise and the scent of perfume made Lynn feel lightheaded.

Lynn said, "That's good. I have nothing more to say."

At that moment, a person in a wheelchair squeezed through the crowd.

It was Joe, and he was with Klein.

He proudly displayed his new device, an eyepiece capable of measuring magic.

"Lynn, Ruby, it's been a long time."