[FIVE YEARS LATER]
It has been exactly five years since Dre was officially reborn into the magical world of Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. Today, his given name is Emmett.
He is currently an orphan boy. He quickly realized that the two strangers he had seen right when he first opened his eyes were not his actual parents but simply local village helpers assisting with the delivery.
Tragically, his birth mother passed away shortly after bringing him into this brand new world, leaving him entirely alone.
During the early stages of his infancy, Emmett distinctly noticed the massive difference between himself and the regular people around him.
The special abilities he received from his extraordinary transmigration had already begun to physically manifest.
Thanks to inheriting the magical talent of Yuno Grinberryall, he developed an incredible aptitude for mana sensory.
He could visually perceive and measure the exact mana capacity of every single person he happened to meet in his daily life.
Throughout the five long years he had been living in their quiet settlement, there was only one person he had met who possessed a genuinely decent amount of magical energy.
That person was an older female villager strictly responsible for maintaining the protective magical barrier surrounding their isolated village.
Her essential work was the only thing preventing them from being brutally attacked by the terrifying monsters that constantly roamed the dangerous northern region.
Emmett eventually learned that he was currently living in the treacherous northern part of the main continent.
This alarming piece of geographical information made him extremely cautious, as he fully realized that his current location was an incredibly deadly place to grow up.
Because of this lingering fear, he began to frequently visit the home of the local barrier mage starting from the tender age of four years old.
He eagerly learned how to read and write directly from the experienced mage, who seemed deeply supportive of his academic pursuits. She generously taught him without any expectations of financial compensation.
She placed a special emphasis on teaching him the ancient elven language, primarily because the vast majority of powerful grimoires and spell books were originally recorded using elven writings.
Alongside his magical studies, he would also perform rigorous physical conditioning. Emmett would sprint around the entire perimeter of their village every single day, training vigorously during the morning, noon, and night.
He constantly pushed his physical boundaries in both stamina and overall strength through these exhausting daily routines.
Emmett absolutely did not want to become entirely reliant on just one source of power, remembering Rob's crucial warning about stamina.
This cautious mindset was exactly why he had not actively tried to unlock his internal mana pool just yet.
Instead, he patiently waited for the perfect moment, hoping that his kind teacher would eventually bring up the topic of practical magic training all on her own.
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"Why have you not tried to unlock your mana yet? Do you not want to become a mage?" one day, his kind teacher suddenly asked aloud. The two of them were quietly sitting together and reading their respective books inside her small home.
"I am patiently waiting for you to formally teach me yourself. I do not want to impose on you yet another time, especially since you have already been so generous in teaching me how to read," Emmett answered his teacher calmly.
He continued to read through his heavy book, focusing intently upon the complex text, primarily because the written language in this new magical world was vastly different from the one he knew in his past life.
"Do you truly like magic?" his teacher then asked. Her sudden question made him immediately look up from his pages and gaze directly at her.
Seeing the completely serious and focused look on his teacher's aging face, Emmett then answered her as honestly as he possibly could.
"Yes," Emmett gave the very brief and direct answer. When his wise teacher heard his confident response, she looked genuinely pleased.
She was the type of person who did not care for unnecessary words if a few simple ones would perfectly suffice.
"Tomorrow morning, I will officially begin to teach you how to become a proper mage," his teacher said warmly. Emmett nodded his head in agreement, with a brief but genuine flash of pure excitement appearing clearly on his young face.
He then turned his attention back toward the thick book he was reading, tackling the difficult elven words with much more enthusiasm and fierce dedication than he ever had before.
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The following day, Emmett had just finished his rigorous daily physical training. He had already completed running one hundred laps around the entire village perimeter.
He constantly pushed his physical body to its absolute limits, but his muscles seemed surprisingly amicable to adapting to the intense physical stress.
This was a highly positive and deeply welcomed passive effect of the Demon's Extract integrating with his physical form, as it significantly increased his overall physical prowess and stamina recovery.
Furthermore, the power granted him a complete and natural immunity to the freezing cold.
He recalled running outside in the dead middle of the harsh winter season without wearing any thick clothing for protection, and he did not shiver even for a single moment.
Standing patiently in the snowy front yard of the familiar cottage was his wise teacher. She was already wide awake and carrying a long wooden staff that resembled a sharp spear in her hand.
She was carefully drawing a large magical circle along the dirt ground, while a sturdy practice target made entirely out of solid stone stood waiting from a fair distance away.
When she noticed Emmett approaching the yard, she seamlessly summoned an unfamiliar item from her magical storage and handed it directly toward him.
Emmett carefully accepted the object and began to inspect the unique weapon that had just been given to him by his teacher.
As if noticing his growing curiosity and silent questions, his mentor offered a very simple explanation.
"That is the primary weapon I used back when I was much younger of age. I do not use it anymore these days, so it is officially yours if you want to keep it," his teacher said warmly.
Emmett gripped the handle tightly without saying a single word of refusal. Looking closer, Emmett suddenly realized exactly why the strange item looked so incredibly familiar to him.
'This is the exact same wand resembling a short baton that the elite members of the Magic Special Forces always carry,' Emmett thought to himself in quiet revelation.
'However, this specific one has a physical appearance that is much more similar to a pointed rapier than those standard wands. It is absolutely no wonder why I did not recognize the design immediately.'
But before he could descend any further into his deep thoughts, his full attention was quickly taken back by his master.
"Being a proper mage consists of three fundamental parts. One, having enough internal mana. Two, having sufficient precise control over that mana.
And three, possessing a deep understanding of how mana truly works.
Once you manage to bring all of these aspects to a sufficient level, you will officially be able to become a true mage.
Now, for your very first lesson today, we will focus entirely on understanding mana," his teacher began to explain.
She methodically detailed the exact fundamentals of how to safely begin unlocking and expanding his inner energy reserves.
At the end of the long instructional hour, his teacher finally began to show Emmett how to practically unlock his dormant mana.
She gently clasped both of her hands together as she visibly demonstrated the proper way to concentrate his mind and feel the ambient energy flowing. She then instructed Emmett to do the exact same thing.
He obediently walked forward and sat down directly in the center of the large circle that his teacher had drawn in the dirt ground earlier.
He perfectly mimicked the precise breathing methods his teacher had taught him. He closed his eyes and began to draw upon the immense power of the mana hidden deep inside of himself.
Then, without any warning, a sudden and incredibly heavy feeling of absolute coldness completely enveloped the entire place.
The whole front yard became covered in a thick layer of solid frost almost immediately. The only exceptions to the freezing ice were Emmett himself and his alert teacher.
She had miraculously sensed that something was terribly wrong during that brief split second, and she barely managed to conjure a magical defensive shield strong enough to tank the violent blast of ice that Emmett's awakened powers had accidentally unleashed at such close proximity.
"What in the world was that?" his teacher gasped breathlessly.
For the first time in the entire year he had spent studying closely with his mentor, it was the very first time he had ever seen her look so genuinely shocked and terrified.
But then again, Emmett slowly looked around their immediate surroundings and could not help but completely agree with her extreme reaction.
He knew that he too would be just as surprised.
The completely frozen state of the yard was entirely devastated, suffering from elemental ice damage that was somehow much worse than the absolute harshest winters their secluded village had ever survived.
The sheer scale of what had just happened left them both in stunned silence.