I was trapped in a fragile body. The first thing I did was seek knowledge beyond what I already had in this current body. I went to the house's library. Judging by the dust, I could tell that place wasn't visited often.
I was calm. Everything had been unexpected. I hadn't expected to reincarnate into another body. The information I had was that Cal had created some bodies to serve as vessels for us, and they would be identical to our former bodies. That was a major mistake, maybe what people call divine punishment, or something like that.
Although my family was considered poor, I wasn't starving, and there was some level of comfort in the house. Not a great deal, not like the comfort I'd had in my past life, but strangely, I had grown accustomed to that house and this family's way of life. My memories were overlapping, and that confused me a lot.
The books helped me greatly. I was able to gather some important information. In this world, there was a system called magic, which was different from the system in my world, where we used spiritual energy to create supernatural phenomena. Here, people used energy found in all living beings and in the atmosphere itself, this energy was called mana.
Mana flows through the body like blood through veins. The more you train, the more mana your body can hold, which in turn allows for bigger and stronger spells. It's different from my world, where we trained and strengthened an energy core. That core was like an organ we nurtured and improved, a specialized muscle.
From what I understood, some humans begin to manifest control over mana around the age of ten. Some take longer, and in rare cases, it happens earlier. But those people are the minority, not everyone can use mana. That's another difference in the system, because in my world, anyone could use spiritual energy as long as they trained. I didn't even know if I could use spiritual energy here, much less magic. Not knowing irritated me, but it wasn't like I couldn't find the answers myself.
That's when I was sure I was in another world. Which was strange, since as a human I could've destroyed humanity from within, yet apparently, this world didn't have that same problem as mine did.
My calmness, followed by irritation, was bothering me. I should've felt nervous or afraid, but I didn't know how to react. At the same time, I felt a kind of familiarity, maybe because of the memories I'd received, or acquired, from this world.
I continued living out the routine I was supposed to have here, but I always sneaked off to the library to read. I started with the basics, historical books to understand the political divisions, and I also studied the geography of this world. Then I decided to learn a bit about magic and military tactics.
The military tactics were practically the same as in my world, with a few differences. The weapons were also the same, though their names were different, likely because I was reading in another language. But magic was very different. Some concepts I just couldn't grasp, no matter how hard I tried the exercises. The most I could manage was a small flame, which didn't last more than two seconds. I kept studying, but I didn't feel like I was making progress. It made some sense, I had failed because the books said people only start manipulating mana after the age of ten.
That's when I remembered, I hadn't tried using my spiritual energy at any point. Which was odd, since it had bothered me at first, but for some reason, I'd just ignored it. I had focused on learning something new and forgotten that I was already a master of spiritual practices, with my energy core at the most advanced level.
I also failed when I tried creating a fireball. Only a small spark came out, but it was enough to ignite some dry leaves. I reacted quickly and managed to stop a potential fire. From what I could tell, I was better at using magic than at something I had once mastered. This body really was a prison.
Maybe the books were wrong about the age at which people can begin to manipulate mana, or maybe my knowledge of spiritual energy had made my progress easier. Still, I couldn't control mana the way I used to control spiritual energy. Maybe it was just a matter of time, or maybe this body had a manufacturing defect, not that surprising, considering I was human now.
I kept training for a few more weeks. I did it secretly, hiding it from my parents and siblings, since having a mage in the family could alter the line of succession. Even in a poor family of ruined nobles, that could cause problems. My siblings weren't dangerous, but Caldor, my oldest brother, might feel offended about losing his position to the youngest. So I had to be careful. Maybe I was being too cautious, but I didn't want to take any risks.
I was already able to produce small fireballs with both magic and spiritual energy, but they were stronger with magic, which piqued my curiosity.
My routine was disciplined, I woke up, had breakfast with my family, then went out to a clearing to train until lunch. In the afternoon, I read books and meditated, which helped me gain more control over mana and also strengthened my spiritual power.
Part of my routine was also ignoring the people who came to collect my father's debts. I couldn't understand how he was still considered a noble, given how many people he owed.
At some point, it all started to feel redundant. I was training two different things to achieve the same result, so I stopped studying magic and focused solely on developing my spiritual power. Progress was slower compared to magic, but I felt more affinity with it.
Two months passed. I grew frustrated and went back to studying magic, abandoning my spiritual practices. My lack of progress left me discouraged. That's when I decided, I would become a mage of magic.
In my world, we also used the term mage, but here, it felt like it had a different meaning.
I was training in secret to grow stronger and, one day, explore this world and maybe find a way to return to my own. Staying in this house wouldn't do me any good, there would be nothing left for me. That's why I had to grow stronger and take what I wanted for myself.
Besides, I needed to learn more about this world. Knowledge is a powerful weapon.
During my breaks, I'd spend time with a few children my age, but I didn't make any friends, not because of me. My father was poorly regarded, and that made things awkward. It's not easy being the son of a fallen noble.
My sixth birthday came. There was no party or anything of the sort, not that I wanted one. I'd already had many birthdays in my previous world, so I was fine with that.
Caldor was acting strangely. He seemed to be watching me, and he was terrible at hiding it. I knew he was watching me. I didn't know why, unless he'd seen me doing something he didn't like and just wanted to scold me.
I waited a few days, but he kept watching me around the house. When I wasn't there, he asked my siblings about me. I found out when Luna asked me what I was doing while hiding. Eventually, his obsession with watching me faded. He just gave up, which made me feel more at ease. Bit by bit, I stopped wondering why he had been following me around.
Days passed, and I became used to having my whole family around. My father was a bit strict. He wasn't the type to talk to his kids, he only paid attention to the first two. But my mother was kind. I'd say she was almost like an angel, gentle and always calm. I wonder what made her marry my father.
My oldest brother was a carbon copy of our father, always training with a sword. My father had once been a royal knight and earned his noble title by protecting a duke from an attack, but he stayed poor. He was burdened with more bureaucracy and less fighting, so his promotion was actually a loss.
My second brother was also hard to deal with. He always kept to himself and only talked to Caldor, who helped him with sword training. Then came my sister and my other younger brother. The age gap was three and two years, which made living together easier, even though I was a terrible brother, always sneaking off somewhere to train.
My training was starting to pay off, but I was still weak, which was expected of a six-year-old. Still, I could at least try to defend myself from an attack or someone trying to hurt me. At least, I thought I was strong enough to protect myself or someone else, though Caldor could already take on anyone who tried to harm us.
"Liam, want to train swords with me tomorrow?"
That was unexpected. He rarely spoke to me, and there were still other brothers ahead of me.
But I accepted. In my other life, I was an excellent swordsman, maybe even better than the great hero, though I'd never felt the urge to test our strength. Not out of fear, I just didn't care to.
It would be good to train my body to wield swords, since it would be another way to defend myself. During my magic training, I'd sometimes pause to do a few exercises, even if it didn't seem like it.
I woke up early, and my brother was already sitting at the table. We had breakfast and went outside, but he wanted us to train somewhere else. He picked me up and set me on a horse, then mounted behind me. He did it so fast I barely noticed.
It took us a few hours to reach a mountain. At first, I didn't understand why, but when I saw the view, I understood. The mountain was beautiful, and the air felt purer. The vegetation gave me a strange sense of peace, and I liked it, even if that feeling unsettled me.
Then I felt a hand on my back. The jolt made me take two steps forward, and when I turned around, I saw my brother's sadistic smile.
He pushed me off the mountain.