Bab 3: Second Mother
Two years later. Early night.
The moon's light was rather bright on this night as if it was a special occasion. Solen stared out the window, lost in his thoughts. He would sometimes do this when he was contemplating something or remembering his past life.
As for what he was thinking right now, it was about earlier in the day. His father and mother were extremely excited about something and when Solen attempted to ask, they would say he would learn of it later. It slightly annoyed him, but he eventually just shrugged his curiosity off. Later, they left wearing celebratory clothes in the family carriage. Their expressions showed utmost excitement when they left.
Finally, he could hear the sound of horse neighs and carriage creaks. Solen felt a bit of excitement hearing these noises. During these two and a half years Solen grew incredibly close with his family. He already saw those two that conceived him as his parents, especially since they showered him and Aloysius with affection nearly every day.
Finally, the sound of doors opening and closing, as well as horses neighing, could be heard across the Fireblood Family property. Outside the large house the family lived in was a cart filled with various items while there was a single carriage that accompanied it.
Servants could be seen entering and exiting the house while hauling various items from the horse cart away. There were many boxes to be carried to the inside of the house, but the servants never showed a hint of tiredness during the whole process.
As the servants were bringing things outside of the horse cart, one man and two women exited the carriage. All three of them were fancily dressed and had an expression of joy plastered on each face. They slowly walked inside the large house while the servants continued with their hustle and bustle.
As soon as they entered the house, they were instantly beset upon by a small child. He was sitting on a low chair and watching the doorway for who knows how long.
"Papa, who is that lady?" Solen asked with curiosity. His father who was extremely excited earlier today came home in the arms of two women. One was his mother while the other was some unknown woman. He didn't hear of this woman once from neither the servants nor his parents.
This unknown woman had long flowing black hair and beautiful purple eyes. She had a slim body and a joyful feeling about her. Solen immediately had a good impression of her after feeling her 'aura'.
"This is Essa, she is my second wife and your second mother." Garth replied naturally while he held both of them in his arms. An intimate atmosphere was quickly diffusing in the room and Garth had a certain 'expression' on his face.
"Ah! So this is the little Sol I have heard so much about! He's even more adorable than what you've described previously!" Essa yelled obnoxiously as she ruthlessly released Garth's hand and rushed forwards. She promptly started to pinch Solen's cheeks without remorse, not minding how quickly time was moving. This torture probably would have lasted longer than five minutes if not for a sudden interruption.
"Ahem! Solen, shouldn't you be in bed right now? Why are you up?" His mother suddenly asked as she quietly sent a signal to a nearby maid. Although she asked Alice didn't actually want to hear Solen's explanation.
In response, the maid that she signaled flashed a knowing smile and quickly ushered him out of the room. She knew what was going to happen after Solen gets put to bed after sensing the atmosphere of the room.
"Hey Mrs. Deya, what is are they going to do? Daddy had a weird expression on his face." Solen innocently asked as mischievousness glinted in his eyes. He would occasionally ask these kinds of questions to fulfill his duty as a child. Kids were supposed to ask these questions, no, they were obligated to do so!
The smile on the Maid's face suddenly froze when she heard Solen's question. Many thoughts flashed through the maid's mind until she found a convincing statement that her mother had once told her.
"Ah? Um. Right! Little Sol, they are going to be praying to Idgara, the Goddess of Love and Fertility. The prayer will take all night so you won't be able to talk to your father and mothers' for the rest of the night." Mrs. Deya spoke seriously as she awaited Solen to ask another question.
Remarkably, the next question never came and Solen went silent after her answer. Usually, he would ask many questions in order to frustrate and annoy the servants and maids. Shortly after being dropped off to his room, which was separated from Aloysius's room, he fell asleep without any struggle.
During the first two years, Solen didn't only 'learn' how to walk and talk, he was also learning about religion and culture. Thus, he learned many things about this world through these subjects.
First off, the inhabitants had a polytheistic system of beliefs. They believed that there were many Gods' and Goddesses'. There were those who believed in many, few and even none. Currently, Solen had no clues as to what his parents believed in. They would never worship publicly nor would they scoff at the worship of a higher power. Therefore he learned about the many Gods' and Goddesses' without discrimination.
As for culture, there were many differences from Earth. Children under the age of 4 weren't allowed to leave the house, even with accompaniment. Solen had only seen the family property and outside world through the windows' of the house. He once tried to leave the house only to be told that he wasn't old enough to set foot outside the house.
From birth, Solen decided to assimilate with the life he was given, even if he thought some rules might be ridiculous. Therefore, after this surprise, he never made any more attempts and remained inside the house while passively learning.
As for the reason why children under four years old weren't allowed to leave the house, maybe it had to do with the age children start to cultivate. Firstly, parents would have their children's affinity divined by an affinity stone. Affinity stones' were not a rare resource and could be found or bought anywhere. They also had long term usage, so they didn't need to be replaced until they are dry of energy.
People can have multiple affinities in this world, but could only cultivate one type. If someone attempted to cultivate a second element, their energy pool would be extremely damaged. The interaction between elements in the outside world and the human body were far different. While the elements of the outside world can coexist, when they are placed into the human body, they will fight until the other side is annihilated, causing major damage inside the human's body.
In this world, there were techniques people used to empower themselves and was termed 'cultivation'. There were three established paths of cultivation in the city. The first was coined as Elemental Body Refining. The technique would use an element to refine the body and make it stronger. This would also allow the person in question to use the specified element in a limited way.
The second path was called Feral Transformation. This had no specific requirement for elements, instead, it used beasts. Each manual would use a specific beast type such as snake, wolf, or bear. The user would be able to temporarily transform their body either partially or completely. There were also two tributary paths and the user could only choose one of these paths. One could use beast companions or gather the blood of various beasts in the category. Strangely, it didn't matter if your beast companion had a different element. Although you would be stronger if you used one with the same affinity, there were those who didn't care much about it.
Finally, the last path was named Mind Manifestation. It was the manifestation of the power of the mind. The user would accumulate elemental energy and launch elemental attacks. The user's body doesn't get many changes in the physical body and is extremely weak physically. As long as someone who treads the mind manifestation path doesn't enter close quarters combat they would remain a valuable asset in battle.
Last of all, although there were three paths, they all had the same power category names. Steps from least to greatest are: Stone, Copper, Bronze, Iron, Steel, Silver, Gold, Platinum and the fabled Mythril. There were three levels per step which were labeled as: Low, Middle, and High.
After every three steps, one would pass a minor stage. Each minor stage had a bottleneck, as long as one surpassed the bottleneck, they would have a large expansion of power. All the stages known by the city were listed as a single Major Stage. The few powerhouses within the city were actually stuck at the platinum step with no way to advance the Mythril step. None of the techniques in the city surpassed Platinum step, all of them were missing this last step.
PERTIMBANGAN PENCIPTA 
Rif
Rif Hello, newbie writer again!
Please comment in the future to tell me whether this is any good or if I left in any mistakes. Anyways, constructive criticism is good!
Also, gimme those yummy Power Stones if it is any good. :D
Anyways, thanks for reading!
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone