Ah, looks like I fucked up, I thought as I coughed weakly, blood spurting out of my mouth and spewing out uncontrollably from the wound in my gut. I sat against the cold concrete wall of the arena. The undefeated champion had finally fought his last fight.

A messed up world, a messed up society, and messed up ideals. It was all ridiculous. Killing each other in the underworld for survival, for supplies, was that how humanity always was? No. A few centuries ago, people used to live freely. Under leaders who couldn't overexert their power, without having to learn to fight for entertainment's sake, each match potentially being your last.

If only I had been born in a different world, a different era.

I looked down at the vibroblade still implanted inside my body and sighed. I could feel my eyelids growing heavy. Dying at the age of eighteen... pretty pitiful. Heh. My final moments were spent regretfully condemning the position I found myself in as I escaped this cruel world and joined the endless void.

Well, almost endless.

A tiny white spot glinted in the distance, illuminating the dark space as it seemed to grow, slowly expanding and lighting up the void in a brilliant white light. I squinted, could I even squint? I didn't know what I was, or what form I had taken, but the dazzling light hurt my eyes. Maybe that meant I was alive, a certain lifeform perhaps? My ears started echoing with an eerie sound as I was jerked from the void, color setting slowly on the scene. My eyes struggled to adjust to the intense brightness that contrasted with the black hole I had just been in.

"Congratulations, it's a healthy baby boy!" exclaimed a female voice who was outside my line of sight.

I looked around, dumbfounded. I tried to communicate, but words wouldn't escape my mouth. I decided to analyze my surroundings, as it seemed to be the only thing I could do. Looking right at me while she held me was a stunning woman. She had silky long brown hair and stunning green eyes, sparkling like emeralds. She radiated with a warmth that I was unfamiliar with, something that just drew you in unknowingly. Her naturally colored lips sparkled from the evening sun as luminescent rays spread across the small wooden room, the light making her look like an angel. I could almost see the halo above her head. I reached out to her with my hands, wanting to touch this divine being, and I was met with another hand slowly enveloping mine.

"Hi Jay," she whispered, clearly fatigued from the hardships of giving birth.

I looked to the side of the woman who was supposedly my mother and saw a man standing there, paralyzed in awe as his eyes just stared at me intently.

"Welcome buddy," he finally managed to croak, tears filling up in his royal blue eyes that resembled a roaring ocean.

His short black hair was messy and uncombed, but somehow, you couldn't really notice it. He had bulky features, clearly from intense physical activity, and seemed to be a good match for the woman. His neatly trimmed beard made his hair seem like a stylistic choice, but I doubted whether that was true or not. They had opposite auras surrounding them, one being gentle and sweet, the other seemed mischievous but gallant, but the chemistry between them seemed to slot together like a perfect puzzle.

I see. My wish was granted huh? Being born in a new world. My throat tickled from the urge to break down and thank anyone, everyone, but it seemed like tears wouldn't flow from my eyes. I had escaped the endless torture of earth, fighting twice a day and killing others just to survive. There was no way I would forget, and I would carry that reality with me throughout my life here, but this was a new chance, a new start, a new beginning.

Thank you.

Jay Cadmium was my name in this world. My mother was named Jane Cadmium, a first name that certainly suited her nature, while my father was called Bruce Cadmium. Just from observing this world, I could immediately tell some explicitly obvious differences between this place and earth.

The first thing that stood out to me was the era. Even though I couldn't guess the year due to not even knowing if this world had a calendar, people were still riding in carriages and using some sort of lamps running on... magic?

The factor that surprised me the most... magic existed in this world. I usually wasn't shocked by events, mentally preparing myself for multiple possibilities, but for some reason, I thought magic would be too farfetched.

I guess I miscalculated.

Even though this new body was extremely limiting, I was easily able to learn about the world through overhearing adults, crawling around and reading books scattered around the house and on the towering shelves of the office, and through reflecting on my surroundings.

"Jay! You're back in the office, you should be asleep honey," said Jane softly as she creaked the door open. She approached me and picked me up, leaving the massive encyclopedia of knowledge right there, just out of reach, "I don't think it's normal for kids to be reading encyclopedias at four months old, you know?" she added, tickling me as she laughed at my expressions.

I guess learning about the world might take some time. I had managed to absorb a fair amount of knowledge before Jane and I really began playing an intense game of chase. Magic did indeed exist in this world, as well as so many other things.

Elves, dwarves, dragons, knights, mages, elements, lost magic... the list went on. At least that's what they were in terms I was familiar with.

Each concept seemed to have a unique word over here, but most of them weren't too complicated to understand as I was able to grasp them fairly easily.

In terms of survival, becoming a binder allowed me to earn a decent income and gain some reputation. Considering how hard it was to obtain those in the other world, I was glad it wouldn't be too challenging for me.

Binding was a concept which seemed to resemble controlling mana or energy from fictional stories that I had read. I had never read them for pleasure, but knowing as much as possible about vast scenarios had saved me on multiple occasions, and I was definitely grateful for that prior knowledge right now.

I heard there were even schools for these binders, focusing on practicing spells and improving their binding proficiencies.

"Hey bud, you here reading again?" asked Bruce as he entered the office. I had basically taken over this place, only leaving to eat and sleep, occasionally...

I merely looked at my father and nodded, and he just smiled.

"Six months old and you can already understand me, you're definitely my son alright!" he cried out laughing as he picked me up and spun me around. I could see a burning sense of pride in those eyes like he was witnessing the birth of a different being. Maybe he was though.

"Hon, are you sure we should encourage him? I don't see anything wrong with it, but it seems..." interjected my mother worriedly. I could understand her fear, they were probably expecting a loud, overenergetic child, like Bruce, but instead got a passive one who just read books meant for thirty-year-old men. "Or maybe he just developed that natural intellect from his mother," she added sarcastically, swiping me from Bruce's hands.

"Pff, I don't think there was much to inherit in the first place-"

I looked at my dad in fear, knowing what was about to come. His face suddenly matched his eye color as Jane stared at him, a cold aura emanating from her body.

"Bruce Cadmium, one more word, and you're a dead man."

"Y-Yes ma'am," he said quietly, looking down. I merely laughed, and my two parents just looked at me, puzzled, before joining me.

So this was family? It was warm. I wanted to experience more of it. Maybe things would've gone differently if I had one on earth. Just maybe. I had never known them, being abandoned and sold for money, at least that's what I was told

I noticed from being around these two adults that auras and emotions could easily be felt unless you purposely hid them, maybe it had to do with binding? I knew both of my parents were binders as I saw them perform spells occasionally, but they seemed cautious about using them. Maybe they thought it was dangerous for a 6-month baby?

I started meditating every day for hours, trying to sense and develop this binding, trying to feel the bind in the air around me, but to no avail. I would sometimes feel a glimpse of energy swirl around me, but it would then fade, no matter how hard I tried to look for it.

Was I missing something?

I tried multiple angles, from times of day to location, to even my mood and diets. Nothing worked.

What if I completely redirected my approach? I had read in manuals and books that binders had to draw on exterior power and then convert that into elemental magic, but it clearly wasn't working for me. I just didn't understand enough of this world, and I was definitely too ambitious for my age. But I didn't care.

If I couldn't sense the power around me, I'd just suck it in.

"Good night sweetie, I love you," said my mom as she closed the door to my room. I could hear her walking away and talking softly with my father, so I began my experiment. I sat up and closed my eyes, feeling the tiniest of particles around me.

By inverting the process of releasing your aura, which I found was just letting your emotions run wild, I concentrated on becoming neutral. Hardening myself, becoming a robot momentarily as I suddenly felt the particles beginning to shake excitedly. I sucked in my breath, and with it, the air around me contracted into one place, my core.

There it is! All the energy I kept losing track of was right there, ingrained within me. Was this core something all binders had?

I waited a few days before trying to sense my mom's core as she carried me in her arms, sleeping soundly on the chair. I smiled, she was definitely something else.

I had come to adore my parents, a concept I had never had before, an emotion I had never experienced before. Love. Even with monotonous tasks, they would always work their hardest, never backing down or slacking.

But it was their unconditional love and kindness that made me feel safe. They would joke around and tease me, but my needs were always their top priority. When I could, I would make sure I treated them the same way.

Anyway, back on track.

Her mana core was definitely present from a long history of binding, but I guess absorbing the power was something these people never learned? My core was still not on par with my mother's, who was an extremely powerful binder and adventurer (people who slew monsters and cleared dangerous areas known as domains for rewards), but I had only begun absorbing a few months ago.

What if I continued for years?

I would become a binder who could draw on internal power rather than relying on energy from the exterior, which would definitely give me more possibilities later on.

I wanted to support my family, be there for them. Repay their kindness and love with the only thing I knew how to do: fight. I would become an adventurer, I would become something this world had never seen before.

I would become a new kind of binder.