Realization 2: Solely for My Growth, This Peerless Genius Mage Self-Tunes 4D Acceleration Magic☆
Solely for my own growth, this unparalleled genius mage had personally fine-tuned a fourth-dimensional acceleration spell☆. This delicate magic accelerated only the timeline, but its side effects were severe, so until now, I'd only pulled forward about a day's worth of time.
But I just couldn't stand the sight of that puny kid staring back at me from the mirror. "Pathetic☆" It was like the me in the mirror was talking right at me. I knew I was a bit arrogant, but damn, not this much. The academy skirt was on the short side too, but staring at that reflection, I couldn't hold back—I cast time acceleration on my body once again today.
With my underwear and academy uniform neatly folded beside me for the sake of the spell. Now I could cast it with my eyes closed. Tracing just the time axis through the intricate flows of the magic circle etched into my wand was something even most archmages in this world struggled with.
Today, I planned to crank the speed up a notch. The archmages in this world are all brain-dead anyway—they can't handle time magic—but I'm genius enough to pull it off, no problem.
But then... "...Ack."
I was just about to double the acceleration on the timeline when it happened. The moment my fingertips brushed the time thread in the mana field, something slammed down hard into my chest like a jolt. It was near my dantian too, so I thought maybe mana depletion, but pain surged from elsewhere as well.
Mana shortage? My fingers trembled at the same time, and the subtly disrupted flow of acceleration wrapped around my body. Before it could go really wrong, I tried to yank back the mana I'd been pouring out.
"Wait, nooo...☆ Ugh...!"
The pounding pain in my chest only grew fiercer. The acceleration sped up more and more until in an instant, it doubled, tripled, quadrupled. And... luckily, my mana hit rock bottom, weakening the field's hold. I collapsed to the floor, dodging the worst side effect—death itself.
If not for the mana drain from sparring that feeble thing this afternoon leaving me low, I might've been swept away by the time surge and reduced to a handful of ash. That pitiful one's name was... Naru, was it? A snort escapes me at how utterly lame that is... but I'll remember it☆.
Thank goodness the golden flows of time were still rippling nearby. Without even that trace, I'd have no clue how many years had passed. Back-calculating from the remnants, it looked like roughly a year had flown by. In my past life's terms, that's nearly three years.
But when I looked up at the mirror, I hadn't changed a bit. For a split second, I thought my spell had failed like those weak-ass archmages. But when I checked the body next to me, it seemed about a centimeter taller. Yeah, that ain't noticeable at all.
And... the spot in my chest that hurt earlier, especially the tips, throbbed like they were budding. It wasn't obvious on the surface, but looking down, the edges seemed slightly puffed up. A side effect? Felt like something egg-like was swelling inside the muscle, and rubbing the hardened little bud with my fingertips—☆
"Ah... Ngh—?" A sharp, pinching sting hit harder than usual. The stiff tips ached even without touching them. At the same time, my legs went mysteriously weak, and "Kyaah...♡!" For some reason, my reflection's face flushed red.
No, is this place this sensitive...? Haa... this is driving me insane, what the hell! Where did I screw up? Time acceleration... right, idiot. Speed up time and... ah, that's when it hit me what this budding sensation meant.
A girl's secondary sexual characteristics kick in around age ten, right? A memory from my past life I'd learned but forgotten resurfaced. In past-life years, I'm pushing seventeen now, but with my growth stunted and these elf-like pointy ears, development's always been slow. Outwardly, I'm still basically a seven-year-old brat.
But I've been consistently layering time acceleration spells, so... this must be proof I'm turning into a woman. I wanted to forget it, hated it so much. Proof that this little girl body was maturing into an adult woman. I never knew breast buds could get this hard and painful, like hot, watery stuff churning and wriggling inside, enough to bring tears to my eyes.
"Ahh...♡"
Hold on... my reflection in the mirror hasn't grown much at all. Skipping time stunted my height, but puberty hit first. So, am I not gonna grow taller? Already getting called a kid, and now this body hits puberty this early? A genius mage like me stuck in this puny form forever...? Gonna live my whole life in this tiny body from now on?
If I hadn't checked, I could've stayed ignorant, but despair crashed in. By this world's standards, this body with an extra year is basically adult-equivalent in past-life terms. Sure, child marriages happen around ten here, academy students get treated like adults anyway. Puberty lags behind mental growth, so mages messing up from it are rare.
No real books on growth in this world—everyone's... these lame mages worship magic above all, devoting their lives to it. They just think "body grows, whatever." Or maybe no one's bothered researching it. Mom only cares about academic tomes anyway. Wonder if the academy library has something?
I'll think about that later. To stop this prickling, guess I gotta wear that? The chest underwear... thing.
"Hoo..."
But why's my whole body so itchy? From the hormones piling up over that accelerated year? Or did something go wrong mid-growth with the time magic? In my past life, I skipped wild puberty for disciplined study spots. In college, like all top students, I went full otaku for a bit, then as a strapping adult male, dove into sites like Hitomi for relief. Hell, I even thought if I kept growing, it'd be better without sex drive altogether.
"Ugh..."
But what is this? Another puberty, the second one, hit the complete opposite of my past life. And as a girl's one-year puberty blast all at once... I... did it myself.
After cleaning up, I sat in front of my diary. Embarrassing to admit, but... a ridiculously pretty face flashed through my mind. My past-life memories are so faded now, faces are blurry. So it must be someone from this life—who the hell is this lame-ass♡ cutie?
"Ugh..."
Tears well up for no reason. I don't even wanna think who it was. Obviously some total loser from this world. With my past-life memories, my kid-brain hits memory limits fast, always short on capacity. Weak body means low mana, that big fever left me stunted so brain didn't grow, calculations suck too. What a penalty-riddled life... but at least my bloodline's top-tier.
Still, I sat at the diary because... even embarrassing memories gotta be written down or my past-life ones fade away. Today's was so intense, I jotted the diary entry, then added more. Learned puberty can crash all at once. From now on... no more time acceleration spells.
But... who was that face I just thought of? Before the memory slipped, I sketched it quick. Magic's honed my fingertip muscles, so I draw pretty well now—and maybe a hint of affection snuck into that portrait.
"Haa..."
Staring at the sketch in the diary, why's it so damn pretty? Definitely not a guy—I'm a guy inside, so liking girls is natural. But keep looking and it's not just "pretty..."—other thoughts creep in.
"Argh~ whatever!☆"
I dove onto the bed like a crash landing and shut my eyes. Drained my mana to the dregs, so I'm all drowsy, sleep tugging at me hard.