Under the glorious rays of the sun, the land of House Karling stood mightily, despite being barons, they are one of the few blessed with a castle, a known symbol of might, a gift given to their ancestor for his services.
Despite being low-class nobles, the land they are standing on is abundant, often being dubbed as the land of gifts, for their fertile soil and abundant yield every year. Countless nobles coveted their lands for its abundance, yet House Karling proved its worth to the crown by producing countless loyal knights and mages from both their bloodline and their people. Despite their low status, they boast a wide degree of autonomy given to them by the crown and in turn, they give their unwavering loyalty and support to the royal family, their direct liege lords.
The blistering heat of the sun shone upon the land, a perfect time for both harvest and training.
A young boy, with a buzz cut and jet-black eyes swung a sword continuously and fervently as if his life depends on it. Yet despite his seriousness and fervor, one can't help but find if comical, given that the sword that the boy is swinging is almost the same size as his own, a comical sight for the ignorant, but a grim reminder to those in the know.
With the intensity of a tiger looking after his lair, the boy swung endlessly, almost to the point of obsession, yet despite his intense training, if one observes properly, one can see that his breathing is stable, and his muscles work in unison, like a well-oiled machine.
The boy, with firm muscles despite his age, looked focused, yet the sounds of footsteps immediately caught his attention and he turned towards its source.
As he looked, he immediately sidestepped and dodged a massive sword that came at him, the boy immediately found his footing and looked at the person who swung a sword at him.
The man, wearing bulky armor and the same black eyes looked amused at the boy and immediately followed up his moves, which resulted in the boy being outbalanced and immediately falling down.
Seeing the boy on the ground, the man swung in a downward motion and pointed at the boys chin with his massive sword and said;
"You've improved yet you're still outmatched by me my cute little brother!" the man grinned as he planted his sword in the ground and stretched his hands towards the boy.
"You can't expect a 10 year old boy like me to fight and win against someone who is rumored to have been able to fight a wyvern bare-handed after all!" The boy smacked his brother's hand playfully yet, immediately grasped it after and stood up.
"Fair enough, but enough with that, I brought you something from my travels, come with me!" the man yanked his brother's arm and bolted inside the castle.
Kaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarl!!!!!!!!!!! The boy shouted as he was dragged against his will, unable to fight against the sheer strength of a man twice his size, though he eventually relented and just let his brother drag him.
...
Inside Karl's room, the two brothers stood beside a small chest, with the older one being smug about his gift while the younger obviously curious yet trying to be subtle about it.
"Here we are Franz, open it up! I'm sure you'll like it" Karl said, still sporting the smug look while at the same time looking forward to his brother's reaction.
Franz opened the chest and his eyes bulged at the sight, he looked toward his brother and said;
"How did you manage to get this?!" Franz said as he held up the contents of the chest, 3 books and 3 crystals.
Satisfied at his brother's reaction, Karl puffed his chest and said;
"Well, when I was at the borders, our men and I encountered a wild mage that reeks of necromancy, he tried to raise some skeletons to attack us, but fortunately, I was able to cleave him in half before he successfully finish his spells, these were his possessions, there were some others but our oh so protective uncle/court mage, Uncle Gilbert said that they reek of necromancy, so he followed the usual protocols and burnt the ones that have a hint of necromancy because you know, we still have an ongoing war against the Undead Kingdom.
Hearing his brother's story, Franz knows that his brother is probably omitting details to prevent him from worrying, but he understood so he didn't make much of a fuss and just thanked his brother.
Seeing his brother being happy, Karl nodded towards Franz and said;
"I know that you're dying to check them out so go to your room now, I don't need to remind you what they are right? Uncle Gilbert probably taught you about the basics of magic but just in case you forgot, those books are tomes, they are necessary for you to be able to learn magic while those mana crystals, you can use them to help familiarize yourself with mana, ask Uncle Gilbert for more information if you still don't know how to use them, now go, I need some rest too after such a long journey" Karl pushed Franz outside the door, and slammed it shut.
Still reeling from the experience, but immediately realizing what happened, Franz turned towards the door and shouted; "THANK YOU BRO! I OWE YOU ONE!"
....
Franz immediately went to his room and put his sword beside the door, he then sat at his table checked out the three books he got from his brother.The first book he got is called "Introduction To Mana: The Lifeblood Of The Universe", while the second and third books are called "Channeling: Your First Steps Toward Being An Early Novice Mage" and "Summoning: How To Conjure Your First Familiar" consecutively.
"I finally got books related to magic! After 10 years of waiting, I can finally have my first venture towards the magic of this world! Although the physical fighters of this world are also strong, they can even pass as superheroes from Earth, and can basically fight on par with mages but learning magic can help me live longer, just look at this kingdom's Royal Mage, he is considered one of the most powerful mages in the world and he has been serving the crown since its founding. Meanwhile, the strongest warrior of this Kingdom is traditionally the King yet there's already been 7 Kings that ruled throughout this Kingdom's history" murmured Franz.
Yep, you read that right, Our little boy Franz here is not originally from this world, he came from Earth, the original Franz is supposed to die in his mother's womb, but our Franz's soul accidentally came here and bound himself on the dying fetus, unintentionally strengthening it and successfully became who he is now.
For 10 years, Franz tried to behave as a child, but cannot maintain it as often as he could, so he distracted himself with training, masquerading himself as a training maniac in order to limit his interactions towards his parents, and he found solace in it, he grew to love the pain and satisfaction of being stronger through hard work.
In Earth, Franz is originally a librarian, and as one, he had a lot of time around books, cultivating a passion towards reading, and as such became extremely familiar towards the concept of transmigration and reincarnation, this became his edge although Franz didn't try to become a once in a lifetime genius because of his family's peculiar situation in this world.
As you can see, House Karling is the envy of many other Noble Houses due to their abundant lands and close ties to the crown, this led to many assassinations and political machinations that caused the deaths of countless members of this House, and as one of the earl's sons, Franz isn't an exception.
As a toddler, Franz heard about the murder of his supposed older brother and the heir of the barony, a supposed genius who became the youngest adept knight in the history of the kingdom, and a proficient Greatsword user but was ambushed by unknown forces during his first duty in the border.
This was just a precedent and various suspicious deaths and circumstances became a normal occurrence to both the main family and branch family members of House Karling. This culling of the descendants of House Karling made them vigilant, and was investigated by both the baron himself and the crown, there isn't any evidence but the only other House to benefit from this is from House Gerbil, a Ducal House that has marriage ties to the Karlings, making them have weak claims towards their lands should there be no male heir available.
Unfortunately, due to the lack of evidence, there hasn't been any repercussions towards the Gerbils, but the killings stopped once the crown imposed heavier tariffs towards the Ducal House, a veiled threat that made them stop.
Although many lives were lost, it became apparent that the members of House Karling became closer towards each other, especially Franz and Karl, with Karl being the heir apparent and Franz the younger, there should be friction, but Franz himself doesn't have any designs towards their father's inheritance, while Karl doesn't care much about authority, being a battle maniac himself.
This made the brothers closer, they became training buddies and often competed in battles of strength against each other, culminating a bond that made them closer.
...
Franz immediately started reading the first book, which taught him quite a bit about how everything in this world is supplemented by mana, with how the biology of countless creatures including humans are born innately magical. This gave Franz a weird speculation that he can practice both physical and magical aspects at the same time.