POV Arthur Leywin
When I was a king, I could summon my country's army with just a snap of my fingers. And to maintain my position and resolve disputes and conflicts, I dueled with fighters from different countries and even with my own people. In the realm of swordsmanship and ki control, I had no rival, as possessing great personal strength was essential to becoming a ruler in my old world, because kings were not born, they were made.
All those achievements are now behind me, and it seems I won't even be able to maintain my pride.
ꟷHa-ha-ha, look who wet the bed,ꟷ my father chuckled.
ꟷReynolds, don't tease little Art, he's still a child, it's normal,ꟷ my mother scolded as she lifted me out of the crib.
ꟷIt seems there are angels in this world, and she should be one of them,ꟷ I thought as she carried me.
But the silence that followed my father's laughter was interrupted by an even louder burst of laughter that mercilessly echoed throughout the room. This laughter came from the crib next to mine, where my dear brother was sitting, his golden eyes squinted, laughing heartily.
A wave of embarrassment washed over me, and I couldn't help but cover my face in shame. "This king wet the bed," I thought.
ꟷLittle Alex, don't laugh at your younger brother,ꟷ my mother said, trying to quiet my brother, but her words were unsuccessful and seemed to make him laugh even harder.
At one point, he pointed at me with his tiny fingers. ꟷArt... wet... bed,ꟷ Alex said, trying to pronounce the phrase.
I could see how my parents froze for a moment upon hearing my brother's words, while I, for my part, was equally surprised by it.
Usually, when babies say their first words, all parents eagerly anticipate those words being about them. This generates a feeling of pride and superiority, with knowing glances exchanged between the couple.
However, in my case, I feel deep shame that my brother's first words are related to me in such an embarrassing situation.
ꟷI'm sure this will be quite difficult to overcome,ꟷ I thought to myself as I sighed, lamenting my situation inwardly.
<< 1 Year and 7 months later >>
Several things have happened since my older brother said his first words. In my case, I've already started gathering mana particles around me in my solar plexus to form my mana core.
This is one of the greatest advantages of being a youth but having the mindset of an adult, as it allows me to start this process much earlier.
Similarly, this bears a lot of resemblance to what I did in my old life during school, where they taught you in childhood how to control ki. Essentially, it's about being able to feel the ki, or mana now, inside your body and trying to gather it.
My daily routine consisted of trying to spend as much energy as possible while gathering my mana, all the while trying to evade Mother and Father's suspicions.
Although the only person who has noticed my strange behavior is my brother because in the first few days, when I tried to sneak into the house library, he followed me without me realizing. When I noticed him behind me, I got a fright, which caused my parents to wake up, and that night I couldn't read.
In the following period of time, my brother with his curious eyes observed me several times meditating, although I always tried to hide it, but he ended up discovering me, so after a while, I stopped paying attention to it. I even saw him trying to imitate me, but after a few minutes, he got bored and went to sleep.
Reflecting on what has happened during this time, I couldn't help but sigh because the only thing that hasn't changed is that mysteriously, I still wet the bed.
I still don't understand why because, although I'm still very small, I shouldn't have this problem. One night I had decided to stay awake all night to see what happened, but tiredness got the better of me, and I fell asleep anyway.
When I woke up, I had still lost the battle, and even my crib was wetter than other days. My mood was not the best, my eyes seemed to have lost all trace of life, and that day I just wanted to stay in bed thinking about infinity.
My worried mother called the doctor several times to see if I had any problem, but every time they checked me, they said I was extremely healthy and that perhaps with time, I would stop doing it, that there were even 10-year-old children who occasionally still wet the bed.
"Let's focus on reading," I thought as I removed all distractions from my head to focus on the book in front of me.
BOOM!
A loud noise shook the entire house, catching everyone's attention.
"What happened? A terrorist attack? Who dared to attack a king's home?! The responsible ones will regret this day! I will hunt them day and night and won't rest until I get revenge," I thought angrily as I, with my little legs, hurried in the direction of that explosion as fast as I could.
ꟷAlex... Alex was in the backyard,ꟷ my mother's anxious voice was heard.
Knowing that my brother was in the direction of the explosion, I quickly tried to speed up my steps, with a great sense of worry in my heart, because, even though I often teased him, he was still my brother.
Noticing how my parents were paralyzed in front of me with shocked faces, a sense of urgency came over me, making me push my way through them to see what was happening.
When I got to the front, I could see Alex had a translucent barrier flickering around him. And, what's more, the force of his awakening had been the cause of the explosion. He was floating in the center of the crater that had obliterated the entire backyard, as well as a large part of the land outside the backyard.
ꟷReynolds, Alex... he awakened his mana core,ꟷ my mother exclaimed, astonished, unable to believe what her eyes were seeing. To which my father could only nod his head, unable to speak.
Upon hearing my parents and seeing my brother, I couldn't help but feel a great surprise in my heart because I didn't understand what was happening at this moment, and several questions arose in my mind.
"How did Alex manage to form his mana core before me? Talent or is there something else?" Many ideas crossed my mind.
"The option of my parents teaching him privately is eliminated by obviousness, as they have never spoken to us about the subject, and it is much less likely that they only tell him."
"Learning it on his own? With this option, several other doubts arise. How did he learn it? Because the only way he could understand it is through the books in the library, but the difficulty of this is that at his age he could understand it. But can a normal 3-year-old understand how mana movement around them works and absorb them without problems, as well as their continuous use in doing this action?"
"The only way to achieve this is for this person to have accelerated development of brain capabilities or for some reason be a more mature person for his age, but why would he be more mature according to his age? Is he... like me?"
As I thought, I couldn't help but glance at my brother, who was still in the center of that explosion, and then shake my head.
"If he were so mature, he would have been able to discover it because, even if he tried to cover it up by trying to be as childish as a child, he couldn't do it 100% of the time, there would always be flaws, but here we go back to the question, How could he create his mana core? How could he understand the content of the books in the library?"
"Wait... There's one last option, yes. This would be his natural talent or the talent of a race," I analyzed, while watching my mother hug my brother, who seemed lost.
I've known for a long time that we're not biological siblings because it's very obvious considering he's the only one with elf ears and silver hair in our entire family. Neither my mother nor my father have the traits of my brother, so he must have been adopted for some reasons shortly before I was born.
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