Chương 3: Volume 1, Part 1 - Early Years
3078 words
It has been 6 months since I have been reincarnated into this new world.
Why do I say "new world" you might ask?
The answer was simple. After 6 months of closely scrutinising everything and observing them I came to the conclusion that not only did the seemingly 'impossible' phenomenon of reincarnation happened to me but also, I was reincarnated into another world.
After my birth I was able to understand the language of my parents on the first day but after that I couldn't understand it. At first, I tried to discern the language thinking it might be some ancient cryptic language but it wasn't. It could've been possible but as far as my knowledge allowed me, I couldn't recognise it at all.
First things first.
My parents were a loving couple who lived in this old, shady house by earth's standards. My father's name was Paul while my mother's name was Zenith. Zenith was a caring mother who used to take care of each and every need of mine. While Paul was an energetic individual who seemed to have his hormones raging all the time, evident from the continuous persuasion from him to get my mom to bed. They seemed fairly young---probably in their early twenties.
There was a maid in the house who was called "Lilia." She has reddish color hair and a hairband having lays on both sides. She used to wear glasses because of her impaired vision. Rivalling my mother, she had an equally curvaceous, hourglass body that seemed to arouse even my twin brother.
Speaking of which, I have a twin brother who is named Rudeus. If I had to describe him, I can only express it in one way---an exact copy of Paul. He shared the same features as Paul having dusty brown hair and green eyes. They even shared the mole on their face. But as much Paul had a lecherous and lustful attitude, he might be innocent as a kid.
Rudeus on the other hand was an odd creature that piqued my interest. After 5 months we were able to crawl, but it was mostly delayed because of me trying to let Rudeus catch up. Rudeus was quite energetic as every time my mom or Lilia looked away, he would disappear and then emerge from the oddest places like storeroom or the place where all the coal to burn was stashed away.
The other odd habit was as soon as Lilia would pick him up to clean him, he would bury his face in her bosoms, sniffing it like a mad dog. Whether it was because of his natural inclination towards women's bosoms that he used to bury his face in Lilia's or suck Zenith's with an unmatched vigour, it always seemed weird how he acted.
The possibility of him being a reincarnate is there as I am a reincarnate as well. However, having a pervert older brother was quite an ominous thought that seemed to disorient my thoughts. At times, Lilia seemed fed-up with his behaviour as he would sniff unwashed panties and often put them over his head, licking its insides. She almost seemed like she would throw him on the ground.
Well, I don't blame her. Rudeus does give off the vibes of a 38-year-old pervert. However, this is how it is now. This is my family. A normal family. Something I never knew I would achieve. I have a mixed, dislodged feeling about it. Yet, somewhere in me, I want to be a part of it. As I looked up at Lilia she put Rudeus down and picked me up, smiling brightly at me, "Its like heaven and earth difference between you two. You seem so calm." She said with a smile as she arranged my hair, tucking them to the right side. "Do you want to go out?"
I didn't have a way to reply but I wanted to look outside, see what the outside world has to offer and that the hypothesis of me being in another world was accurate or not. Balling my hands into fists, I raised them above my head, letting out a loud chirp, "WAAAAAA!"
That was embarrassing. But it was necessary for me to achieve my first goal. Lilia laughed and looked back at Rudeus who was looking at me, his green eyes focused on me with a look of utmost... envy and tears bubbled up in his eyes. His face inflated as he pouted and looked the other way, making his way to the laundry.
Looks like he is going to sniff the panties to relieve his sadness.
Lilia patted my back and started to take me outside. Reaching for the handle of the door she pulled it, revealing the world outside. Outside the door was our lawn that was of decent size. In a corner, Paul was swinging his sword, his form sloppy around the edges but his strength seemed to compliment his techniques well. His form seemed to have gotten to this point through continuous hard work and mild talent.
The verdant lawn was punctuated with meticulously groomed small patches of grass, each blade standing tall and lush, demanding a barefoot stroll through its green expanse. A symmetrical row of juvenile trees flanked the perimeter of the house, their slender trunks adorned with an abundance of fruits and vibrant blossoms.
The radiant sun, positioned directly overhead was at its zenith, casting a resplendent aureate hue upon the entire setting. The warm breeze blew, and I could feel my hair flutter in it. I was still unaware of my own appearance but something about this all was refreshing. So freeing. I felt like a free bird flying above rolling hills.
This is what freedom feels like, huh?
(Time Skip)
It has been two years and 3 months starting today since I have been reincarnated. Over the course of past 2 years I achieved three major things.
First, I was able to read and understand the language here perfectly. I could speak in an eloquent manner. Surprisingly, my twin brother, Rudeus had achieved the same too which was commendable. His lecherous attitude was still there but since I started to take interest in books, he used to sit with me and laugh before snatching the book away from me and trying to read it himself. I guess this is how babies function.
Second was that I was able to fully utilise my limbs now. I can run, jump and kick easily. The limitations due to being little are still there but its better than soiling my pants because I couldn't stand.
Third, was the fact that I learned that not only was this another world, but it was also a magical world. Magic fueled this world and people could do things that defied all science and logic. I witnessed it first when I saw Rudeus fall off from the chair and my mother casting a healing incantation on him, healing the minor bruise on him. Then I learnt about its existence from the small library in our house.
These were the five books in our house:
(i) Wandering the World, a reference guide to the various countries of the world and their unique characteristics.
(ii) The Ecology and Weaknesses of Fittoan Monsters, which detailed the various monstrous creatures of the Fittoa Region, where they lived, and how to deal with them.
(iii) A Textbook of Magic, a wizard's manual of attack spells, ranging from the Beginner to Advanced levels.
(iv) The Legend of Perugius, a fairytale about a summoner named Perugius and his companions, who battle a demon and save the world in a classic good-versus-evil epic.(v) The Three Swordsmen and the Labyrinth, a tale of action and adventure where three master swordsmen of different styles meet and head into the depths of the titular labyrinth.
Those last two were essentially fantasy novels, but the other three made for good study. It was 4 Textbook of Magic that particularly drew my attention. As someone who came from a world without magic, the chance to read actual documentation on it was very relevant to my interests. Reading the book taught me some of the fundamentals.
First, magic came in three types: Attack magic, to do battle against others; Healing magic, to treat the wounds of others; and Summoning magic, to call things forth. And that was it. There seemed to be lots of other things you could do with magic, but according to the textbook, magic was something birthed and developed in battle, and therefore not used much outside of combat or hunting.
Second, you needed magical power in order to use magic—meaning anyone could use magic so long as they had magical power. There were chiefly two ways of doing this: using one's innate magical power or drawing on the magical power imbued in an object. Either would suffice. There weren't specific examples, but I got the impression that people who did the former were like their own power generators, whereas the second type had to use batteries. In days of yore, the book said, people had largely used the power within their own bodies for magic. But as research on magic progressed, things got more and more complex. Accordingly, expendable sources of magical energy were developed at an explosive rate. People with strong 'magical reserves had been able to make do, but those who had little power couldn't cast even basic spells, and so the old magical masters developed ways to draw power from things other than themselves and channel that into 'magic'.
Sometimes, i was able to see the mana particles. The process was out of control as they would suddenly appear, and some unknown visages would cross my mind before disappearing completely. I tried to control it but so far, I was only able to grasp 2% of it. The progress was slow mainly because of how less I knew about magic. The fundamentals helped a lot, but the phenomenon seemed far too advanced for me as of now.
Third, there were two ways of performing magic: incantation and magic circles. This didn't need too much explanation: It simply referred to reciting words or inscribing mystic patterns to cast a spell, respectively. In the old days, magic circles were the chief source of magical power, but in modern times, incantations were far more commonplace. In older times, even the shortest magical incantations took one or two minutes—not exactly something you could use in the heat of battle. But once you'd inscribed a magic circle, you could use it over and over again.
Incantations started becoming the norm when one magician succeeded at greatly shortening them. The simplest such incantations were reduced to around five seconds, and consequently became the only way people utilized Attack magic. For the more complex rituals involved in Summoning magic, where greater efficiency wasn't attainable, magic circles remained the primary means.
Four, the amount of magical power someone had was pretty much determined at birth. The possibility of gaining more power as you grow up was not there. Almost everyone was stuck where they were.
Almost everyone, which implied that some people changed over time. I wonder which group I'd fall into. I just wanted enough to protect this peaceful life of mine. I wasn't aiming for extravagant medals or glory. I had gotten a valuable chance at life. And I didn't want to waste it on petty matters.
The book also said that one's level of magical power was inherited. I knew my mother was able to use Healing magic, so maybe it was all right to have some expectations for myself. Still, I was uneasy. Even if my parents excelled at this sort of thing, I wasn't sure my own genes would be up to the task.
While Rudeus opted to learn more about magic, I was interested in both magic and sword fight. There was an obvious drawback to both. Magic was more potent and destructive having extremely explosive properties, meanwhile swordfight was more practical and less time consuming. Even if the spell took one second, a quick-draw technique could put an end to it. So, magic and swordsmanship combined could make a good duo, but I couldn't find a good book on it. Hence, I decided to learn swordsmanship on my own and observe Rudeus' progress and learn from him.
The swordsmanship had three major routes.
(1) Sword-God Style.
(2) Water-God Style.
(3) North-God Style.
For those of the Sword God Style, their motto is [Victory goes to he who moves first]. It is a style of swordsmanship that emphasizes speed and aggression, where the main focus is to strike down the opponent first. As a result, many of the practitioners develop to be short-tempered and belligerent. In order to be able to react swiftly, there is discouragement for practitioners to wear heavy armor and instead opt for light clothing for maximum mobility.
Given the philosophy of defeating the enemy with a single blow, this style usually renders its users inept at defense and leaving with no counter attacks. Due to this, Sword God Style practitioners find it difficult to fight a [Water-God Style] practitioner as they are, conversely, adept at defense and countering. Contrarily, this style can overwhelm [North-God Style] as they mostly rely on the environment to fight.
The [Water God Style] is a style of swordsmanship that specializes in defensive techniques emphasizing parrying and counter-attacking oncoming attacks. Since there are only a few ways to attack, there is also the art of provocation to make the opponent take the initiative. A skilled practitioner would be able to read the flow of and use their senses to block and counter any attack, including magic and projectiles. The obvious down-side of this was that users can not initiate the attack and are much weak to North-God style.
This main focus of this style is not on techniques or developing specialties, but rather a method on how to stay alive and approach a battle with the highest chance of winning. It relies heavily on the practitioner's adaptability and usage of one's surroundings. As a result, this style involves using a lot of tricks instead of refined techniques.
It is a utilitarian style of swordsmanship that includes non-sword fighting techniques such as first-aid and tracking, as well as the ability to fight while physically deficient. Owing to this, different learning institutions have different approach to battle and practitioners have very disparate fighting styles. The practitioners could be dual-wielding swords, or using non-sword weapons like battleaxes and staves.
"It seems like I have to learn all of them in order to stand somewhat of a chance." I mumbled to myself.
"What are you doing here, Julian?" Rudeus asked as he entered the room that I was in. It was a simple, completely empty room that I used to sometimes visit. Rudeus' hair was cropped while mine was long enough to reach my ears. While he looked exactly like dad, I looked like an exact copy of my mother with blonde hair and blue eyes.
"Just reading." I replied as I looked back at the book.
"Oh, come on, go play outside. Leave the reading to your older brother." He said as he roughly ruffled my hair and tried to snatch the book away from me. Keeping my hold firm on the book, I didn't let go of it as Rudeus looked down at me. His green eyes widened before trying again and then suddenly he gave up on it.
"Whatever, can you leave me alone? I want to practice something."
"Can I stay?" I asked, looking at him while I sat on the ground.
"Promise you won't tell anyone." He said as he lowered to my eye-level.
"Promise." I replied.
"Your blank face says otherwise." Rudeus replied, narrowing his eyes at me as I shrugged my shoulders, "It is what it is." He kept looking at me for a while before sighing and going back to the door, locking it.
I got out of his way and he placed a bucket in the corner of the room.
"Let the vast and blessed waters converge where thou wilt and issue forth a single pure stream thereof — Waterball!"
Rudeus chanted and after a moment of closed eye concentration a sphere of water about the size of my fist manifested itself.
"Gah!" He yelped at the strange phenomenon, and a moment later, the ball of water fell and splattered onto the floor.
It looked like concentration was required in order to maintain a spell.
I could feel the blood welling in my own hand. Maybe this was the sensation Rudeus was feeling.
Once again, he placed his hand forward, closing his eyes and tried to do the same spell as before. I placed my own hand forward and felt the same blood bubbling sensation in my hand. However, it wasn't blood. Rather it was the water mana coming together and using our imagination as fuel to materialise. To form an accurate water ball, I needed to take into consideration its mass and volume and to actually weaponise it, the numbers have to be extremely precise. After doing a quick maths in my brain, I put my hand forward and imagined a ball of water. The individual water molecules came together and formed a normal sized ball, a contrast to Rudeus' humungous one.
As expected his water ball exploded but he still looked excited, thinking he was close to achieving his goal.
"Hey, hey, Julian did you see th-"
*splash*
The water ball that I had formed hit Rudeus on the face, drenching him in water from head to toe. For a while, he remained motionless and I thought he lost consciousness but soon he looked up, his eyes carrying an unmatched fury, "JULLLLIAAANNNN, I WILL KILL YOU BRAT!" He screamed as he started to stagger and run after me.
'Oh, he seems actually mad.'
Seeing my older brother run towards me, I took the most logical path---run towards Lilia or mother. Despite being an uncanny bunch, it was my new family. So, it was now my next task to adapt to this new family that I have gotten.
But I have a feeling.
Nothing is going to be as easy as it seems right now.
(*****)
Author's Note
Any suggestions on which sword style shoud he learn or should I stick to OG plan and do all styles? With Rudeus being adept at magic, why not make them a good sibling duo? Makes sense, eh?
Will make Julian (kiyo) art soon!
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