The next day was as hard as ever. Old people yelling at me but not bothering to say how to do it right, bumping into people left and right and always being the one to blame and always feeling I lack knowledge. I'm sure I must be learning something, right? It's what I'm here for. And during all that tumult, still keeping my eye on a mirror. I didn't see one yesterday, so I didn't have much hope, but I still needed that mirror.

  I was exhausted at the end of the day, but at least tomorrow would be my day off. Recharge before going into the forest again. I was a bit worried, Carch mentioned monster activity was high, and one of his friends even got bitten while fighting them. They were in a group of three, we just had one protecting us. That is assuming Nicchy and Thomias don't know how to fight. I don't think its included in herbalist training, but maybe if you want to gather plants in the forest you need to follow a self defense training. I wouldn't know. Better stay close to Terron.

  But for now there were still a few hours of daylight left. What to do, roam around the city looking for a mirror, or go home and fiddle with the lamps? I already knew the answer. If even money required magic, there was a very high chance mirrors would require magic too. Even if I couldn't magic myself a mirror, it would be good to be a functioning member of this society. But I could only do this if Carch wasn't home, to avoid suspicion. He should be gone for at least an hour, but he had been getting off unpredictably. Probably not today, though. If he needed to deal with a monster infestation, he would probably get overtime before getting free time. I felt sorry for him, but all the better for me. If only I could make some progress.

  Tiny bit of fleece. Knowing it was there I could feel it almost immediately, without needing to concentrate as deeply as before. I moved my finger a bit, expecting to feel the soft fleece, but as soon as I moved I felt the coarse surface of the button. When I stopped I felt the fleece again. This wasn't getting anywhere. I needed to find that magic power in me and push it through the button. I imagined drawing power from my body. From my heartbeat. From my breath. From some core like center that I could barely visualize. Nothing.

  Maybe the answer was still in feeling it better. After all, you can't expect to do magic without mana perception. And I was able to feel more from the money. It was like I was blind, comparing sizes, but I still managed to do it, even though they all looked the same from the outside. I thought about going through Carch's stuff to find more money, you know, for practice, but I felt like that was going too far. Better take a bit longer with the light button than steal money.

  I could actually feel more. It wasn't clear and required a bit of imagination, but I could sense some tubes extending, with the same material as the button. They felt small, but I didn't know exactly how small. Or where they were going. I was pretty sure they didn't go straight, as there was another room on the other side of the wall with nothing visible, but I couldn't sense where they went. I also couldn't sense where they ended. I imagined there was a lamp at the end of the tubes, but my sense faded when I tried to feel further into the tubes.

  It didn't make sense that I had to reach the actual lamps in order to turn them on, because there was a button. Wasn't the whole purpose of a button to not reach the actual thing you want to control? Maybe its just my old world mindset and the people here can reach through those tubes with ease. I was just starting out, so it makes sense that others are way more adept at this than me. That didn't make it less frustrating. Like I was walking through a swamp while everyone else was following a paved road. All kinds of difficulties others couldn't even percieve, and I couldn't talk about them without explaining why it was that I couldn't do magic.

  I took a break from the lights and sat down in a chair. Not for long, because not even a minute later my restlessness caused me to get up and look for those tv movie thingies that I watched with Carch. They weren't hidden, so it didn't take long until I got them. But when touching them I noticed something strange. I got a feeling from those movies, like I had a summary projected into my head. But instead of being clear and full of spoilers, it was more like a feeling of what it was about and what emotions I would get from watching it. But no projecting happened. I tried a few poses, but eventually I got lost digging through the movies, thinking about how they were and which one I'd like best. Even though it wasn't advancing my magic training, I got curious about them and Carch had quite a few.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  Eventually I went back to the lights. Instead of trying to get far into the tubes, I focused on the button itself. On the outside it looked like just a slab of magic material, but inside it was a different story. Small details were engraved into the button, leading to the tubes with a complex mechanism.

  I truly chose the wrong apprenticeship. Why didn't I choose to do magic in a magic world? If I could make mechanisms like this I could die happy. I studied the mechanism. Even though I couldn't understand large parts of it, I believed the last part was meant to throw the magic all the way through the tubes, so I only needed to trigger the mechanism instead of manipulating magic to take the shape of the tubes. Back to step one I guess. Pressing the button had been my goal all along, and now, after hours of study and research, I discovered I just needed to press the button. Yay me.

  I don't think I actually tried it yet, but I this time I tried pushing the button with all my might. Threw my weight against the wall. Of course it didn't work. Except it did. The button remained a slab and wasn't pressed, but the lights turned on. I let myself fall on the ground to catch my breath and admire the lamps. Its not like I hadn't seen them before, but I hadn't seen lamps turned on by me yet.

  But I should try to turn it off again. First, to prove it wasn't a fluke, second to not raise suspicion if Carch suddenly came home and found the lights on before sundown. It turned out it didn't have much to do with how hard it was pressed, but how much effort was put into it. I could turn it off by tensing every muscle in my body. That sure would be embarrassing to do in public. I guessed other people had an easier way, but I was already happy being able to do magic. It meant that I wasn't some cripple meant to have a disability for the rest of my life. It eased up a lot of my worries. Made me think that despite how hard things were, it would be alright in the end.

  Carch came home late, around 30 minutes before sundown. I was playing with a wooden cube I found. It had smaller quares and rectangles in different colors wood. Already a pretty piece of art to just display, but this art was a toy.

  "Stange object, isn't it?" Carch started the conversation. "It twists and turns, but no magic involved."

  I smiled. The lack of magic is why I picked it up to begin with. It was a sort of puzzle cube. By fiddling with it you were supposed to loosen up the sides and open it, but for me the real puzzle was figuring out how everything worked. To be really sure I had to split it in two, but I got a pretty good idea from just observing it.

  "It's really well made. How was your day?"

  Carch sighed. "Same as yesterday. Except they pointed out you aren't registered yet."

  "Registered?"

  The words sounded like every other fantasy story where you had to go by the adventurers guild to get a license, but I knew such things didn't exist here. Maybe its more like a passport, but I felt like a passport wasn't something you could get just because you wanted it.

  "Yeah. Your parents probably did it when you were a baby, so you might not remember. But since you're staying here for a while, we should get you registered here too. Just in case, you know?"

  I knew what the 'just in case' implied. I also knew that that would absolutely be the case. I didn't have parents here that could come and get me, and even if I somehow regained my memory of my hometown, it wouldn't be any place you could walk to. After seeing me nod, Carch continued.

  "Its too late today, but tomorrow I can be home early. It actually should have been my day off, but things are crazy busy. I did get a promise nothing would get in the way tomorrow afternoon."

  He went straight to bed after dinner, so I did too. As I stared into the darkness I kept thinking about what actually happened with the light switch. Did it measure my muscle tension? Or did I unknowingly make some kind of hand signal? Maybe magic here was something like an aura and trying so hard got it to take a certain shape. Was I supposed to see aura?

  I would love to test out all my theories, but Carch was in the room right next to mine, there was no way he wouldn't notice. Tomorrow I was free. Tomorrow morning, at least. After that I had to go register, whatever that entailed. I probably would just have to tell them my information and wait until they got it all registered.

  Shit. My age. I hadn't found a proper mirror yet, I couldn't even guess my age. Maybe saying I don't remember would work? It was worth a try, though I had to be prepared and not flinch no matter what answer was given. I sighed as I turned to my side. This sucked. I better be able to make my own magic mirror in the morning hours I had to myself. But I didn't have hope. Even though I made great progress today, I couldn't even imagine how I would go from turning on the light to creating a mirror.