As Healer Agnes channeled natural energy through Alexander's body, she noticed something peculiar. Having been his personal doctor for his entire life, she knew Alexander's condition better than anyone.
"I think his body is reacting—just slightly—to the natural energy I channeled into him earlier," she said hesitantly, a confused expression on her face.
Everyone in the room was surprised and slightly elated by the unexpected findings.
If this had happened to anyone else, it wouldn't have stirred much surprise or excitement. But this was Alexander. Everyone knew about his unfortunate condition—no matter what they had tried in the past, his body had never responded to natural energy. This limitation would bar him from training to become a warrior, a mage, or even one of the rare sages.
Reading the atmosphere in the room, Alexander realized that something must be wrong with his body. He struggled to recall details from his previous memories.
Recalling his memories, he realized he had previously suffered from a mysterious congenital condition. First, his body didn't react to natural energy, preventing him from training as a warrior, mage, or sage. Second, he experienced sudden bouts of headaches that caused him to collapse. While unconscious, he had strange dreams of being in a different world—a world without natural energy, nobles, or mysterious objects. This made him an outcast, causing children from Maplewood Village and neighboring villages to avoid him, and worse, to bully him.
Realizing the outcome of his body reacting to natural energies, he also felt elated.
"Damn, and here I thought I'd just have to suck it up and be a useless, crippled noble boy everyone in the village mocks. What a nice turn of luck… oops, don't jinx it. I should probably also thank my benefactor, Healer Troy. Never knew he had any skill aside from being a prick. He actually managed to heal this body's congenital condition, which no doctor was able to solve," Alexander thought to himself.
"And just when I thought I'll have to start mastering the art of being useless."
Continuing with her diagnosis, Healer Agnes felt even more elated. Her initial guess has been confirmed that the boy's body could now absorb and process natural energy. Although a bit weak, it sure is a good sign.
"Wow, how could something so peculiar happen? It seems like the gods are helping you, kid. You managed to survive a disaster and turn it into a blessing!" Healer Agnes exclaimed excitedly.
Alexander's family was also elated. Their previous panic and fury had turned into excitement and happiness.
"Thank heavens, the gods are still watching over our dear son," Elena cried with tears of joy as she hugged Leofric.
Leofric was also smiling from ear to ear, clearly very happy.
The entire place was filled with happiness, unlike the previous gloomy atmosphere. Even the servants were celebrating their young master's sudden recovery from his congenital condition.
From what Alexander could remember, he and his family had always treated their servants very well. Each one was considered family. As a result, they were all very loyal and deeply respected the family.
"Alright, everyone, quiet down." Healer Agnes said.
"This should be good news. However, I'm still not sure about the young master's condition. I do hope his congenital issue is finally gone forever. I'll make some potions for him to take; they will alleviate the pain and slowly heal his wounds. I'll come here once a day to check his condition and use healing magic to hasten his recovery and prevent scarring," Healer Agnes said happily.
"Alright, everyone, go back to your jobs. Let Mistress Agnes do her work and let my son Alexander rest," Leofric told everyone.
Everyone started leaving the room. The servants went to do their jobs, while Healer Agnes went to a separate room to prepare the potions Alexander needed.
After a few more words, both his father and mother also hesitantly left the room. They clearly have so much yet to say and ask, but they did understand that Alexander badly needed rest.
After everyone left, Alexander calmed his mind and analyzed his situation.
First, he had likely been reincarnated or had taken control of the body of a young noble named Alexander. Since birth, Alexander had been a sickly child, afflicted by a congenital condition that caused him to faint periodically. Additionally, this body had previously been unable to cultivate due to its lack of reaction to natural energies.
Second, his current world resembled medieval Europe, with hints of Asian and other cultural influences evident in the architecture and design of his room. From his predecessor's memories, he learned that this world was called Anterea—named after an ancient god, Antera, whom the people believed to be the planet's creator.
Third, this was a world where martial arts and magic existed. People practiced these arts to enhance their strength and elevate their status. Along with this, monsters, demons, and other races also existed.
Fourth, his family was in a complicated situation. They descended from the Lightguard family of Lumina City. His father had friction with his grandfather after marrying his mother instead of going through with an arranged marriage. To complicate matters, his father was supposed to marry Lettice, the mother of Troy and Conrad.
Fifth, due to his father's military service and meritorious deeds for the kingdom, he was granted the noble title of Baron and given control of three neighboring village lands: Maplewood Village, Pinewood Village, and Oakwood Village.
Sixth, theirs was a family of five. He had a brother currently in the army and a little sister so talented that his grandfather personally fetched her for training. Although his father and grandfather disagreed on many things, they both wished the best for the little girl.
Lastly, regarding appearance, he was glad not to inherit too many of his father's plain features. Instead, he gained some of his mother's charms, particularly her bright blue eyes. He had black hair and a square-shaped face like his father's. Combining these features actually made him somewhat handsome.
A lot more information came into his mind, but he focused on noting the most important points first.
These were key details he needed to avoid blowing his cover and ending up roasted crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside.
He then tried recalling how to process natural energies from his predecessor's memories.
His predecessor had always wanted to train and become a warrior like his father. Growing up, his father had been his superhero. The servants and people from the surrounding villages always spoke well of his father, indicating that he was truly a good man despite his bland face.
No matter how hard he tried, his predecessor had always failed to process or even detect natural energies.
Focusing his mind and recalling the meditation-like process, he suddenly sensed something floating around him. It felt a bit warm, contrasting with the cold room he was in. As he concentrated further, he sensed even more of these things around him. He tried to attract them, and they began moving toward him.
"I think I succeeded in the first step of detecting the natural energies. Let me try the next step of processing them." Alexander muttered to himself.
The natural energies entered his body, and he could feel his body becoming lighter and his mind relaxing.
"Damn, I also succeeded in the second step! Am I some kind of genius?" Alexander exclaimed excitedly. "I remember it usually took people days to get through the first two steps—this only took me about an hour."
"I could probably proceed with the next step: inner vision. This allows one to check internal organs and the so-called spirit and soul," Alexander said to himself, trying to recall how it was done.
After about half an hour of meditation, he entered a strange state where he seemed to be floating inside his body. He could see all the internal injuries he had. "This body really got battered badly. Luckily, it's still alive."
Realizing his success, he became even more excited. He proceeded to check his spirit, focusing deeply and trying to sense the energies within him. After a couple of hours, he indeed succeeded and saw his spirit.
Based on what he knew, it should resemble a web spread across his body, with a spirit source at the center. However, since he hadn't trained in the spirit path, his spirit was likely to appear dark and empty.
"Hmmm, from what my predecessor recalls, my spirit should be normal," Alexander thought as he observed his spirit.
"That thing in the middle must be the spirit source, and the 12 large passageways connected to it should be the spirit meridians which connect to the spirit pulses, while the smaller ones are my spirit vessels." Alexander said while analyzing his spirit.
After circling around and verifying that there was nothing abnormal based on his predecessor's memories, he proceeded to observe his soul.
He once again entered focused meditation. After a couple more hours, he sensed coldness around him, like he was bathing in some cold water. As he focused even more, he found a white ball of light glowing dimly.
As he recalled, the white ball of light should be his Soul Core, and the coldness he felt must be due to entering his Soul Sea that encased the Core. He examined his soul, and it was indeed as described—except for one small but very important detail.
"My soul seems normal. However, what's that thing inside my Soul Core?" Alexander wondered to himself.
He tried to approach the ball of light, but an invisible force repelled him. It wasn't strong at first, but the closer he got to the ball of light, the stronger the repulsive force became.
He struggled greatly just to reach the ball of light. Upon seeing clearly what was inside his soul, he was utterly shocked.
"What in the world is this? Isn't this my laptop? Why is it here? Is this the reason I got reincarnated into this body?" Alexander had so many questions and no clear answers at the moment.
"Hopefully, there's a Wi-Fi router somewhere too," Alexander humored to himself.
Curiosity got the best of him, and he tried to reach for his laptop. However, he underestimated the repulsive force surrounding the ball of light. He could barely move his hands, bit by bit, and immediately understood that taking the laptop out was next to impossible.
He aimed for the next most logical thing to do upon seeing a laptop. He slowly stretched his finger to press the power button.
"Hell, I paid so much for this gaming laptop. Don't take away my games from me. That's my only life support," Alexander thought while trying to reach for the power button.
"Click—" He finally managed to press it. The familiar booting-up sound echoed through his soul.
He waited and watched as his laptop booted up. He saw the familiar screen, but the apps and games he had previously installed were all gone, replaced with apps he didn't recognize.
Upon booting up, he heard a monotone female voice coming from his laptop: "Welcome, User. I am Sarah, your AI assistant. I'll guide you on how to use the system," the voice said emotionlessly.
Due to overexertion from trying to reach the ball of light and pressing the power button, he suddenly felt extremely tired and sleepy—a drowsiness that seemed to originate from his soul. It was an unwinnable fight against the growing fatigue.
"Would you like to activate the easy access option?" was the last thing he heard, and he managed to reply with a "Yes."