Julian's POV:
It has been around a year since I came to this world. I don't know my exact age, but it should be more than a year. So far, life has been a mix of enjoyment and guilt. It's enjoyable to relive my infant years, but the thought that I got to live while my family didn't eats me away at times. I know I should cherish the opportunity I got, but I can't completely throw away my past life despite having a new one.
Although it will take time, I am sure I will get over it and completely accept my new life.
That aside, Father takes good care of me, as if he were a veteran. And when he is not around the village, my neighbors take care of me. Understanding the language of this world took a few months, but I can now understand most of what adults say. I can hold a very basic conversation with my broken voice since my vocal cords are not developed properly yet. As for writing, it can come later.
I started crawling as soon as I gained some strength in my arms and legs since I hated not having control over my body. It was funny seeing Father's reaction when I started to walk on my own; he screamed in joy about how much of a genius I was.
People of the Clover Kingdom followed a single religion. Here, people seem to worship a statue of an old man with long hair and a beard, with eyes closed. The statue sits on a throne with his hands in a position as if giving his blessings. From what I understand, God was the progenitor of the human race who shielded humanity from Devils.
Now, let's talk about the system screen that floats in front of my eyes. I can summon it any time just with a thought.
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NAME: JULIAN
RACE: HUMAN
MAGIC: UNKNOWN
Body points: 5
Mana points: 3.2
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I have more or less figured out how it works. The more I gain control of my body, the more body points increase. The more I exhaust my stamina, the more my mana increases. From what I understand, mana and physical power are linked together, so continuously exerting physical strength increases the amount of mana in my body.
Another fascinating thing about the system is that every time I do something major, I receive a notification like an achievement. For example:
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Walking learned
-more control over the body
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This may come in handy in the future. I once visited the village school with Father Orsi where I learned some things about mana. In theory, mana is energy present in nature and within our cells which allows us to control certain forms of nature. The extent of control depends on mana amount and proficiency. The more mana a person has, the more difficult it becomes to control it.
This reminded me of Noelle, who sucked at mana control.
In later lessons, the teacher advised the students to stay away from forbidden magic and called it the devil's magic. I don't know much about forbidden magic, but from my knowledge of my world, it gives strong and unique power in exchange for something. It is something I wish to research in the future since I don't know what lies ahead. My knowledge about this world extends to the battle between the Word Magic Devil and the main cast.
Now let's talk about some strange stuff I figured out about myself. After a few months of trying to feel my mana, I made some progress. The little mana I felt was concentrated around my abdomen taking a spherical shape.
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Formation of Mana core initiated
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This was the message I received from the system that took me by surprise. Mana core was a concept I was familiar with from my previous world. A mana core is a type of spherical storage system in the abdomen from which mana can be used or act as a source of power. Since people here can use mana without it, the latter can be crossed out. The power of the mana core depends on purity. Its power goes like this ("BLACK "<"RED"<"ORANGE"<"YELLOW"<"SILVER"<"WHITE").
White is the strongest stage. Every stage has 3 extra stages (dark, solid, light).
This can solve my mana problem, and I have some knowledge from some of the novels I read on how to use the mana core to its full potential.
As I was thinking about the future, a sharp pain hit my head. My vision turned red as my consciousness faded.