According to the book, the magus world started like the myths of ancient civilizations on earth. In early history, the magus world's people worshiped powerful beings born from nature. These beings could control the power of faith. They called themselves gods. The people of the world relied on the gods to bring rain during droughts and aid during disasters. Those with the greatest faith were given power beyond their imagination. Meanwhile, lesser believers were given the promise of good health, fortune, and the promise of an afterlife.
It was no wonder that these churches essentially controlled the direction of society. However, these beings were not truly gods. To them, people were like ants, and they treated them like such. As a result, millions of lives were sacrificed in wars for more believers. Although gods rose and fell, they only lost to one another.
In a world without hope, the magi appeared. Once scorned as devils, the first tier-6 magus and his army slaughtered the gods and used their cores to refine magic tools. Then, the world shifted from faith and fear to the pursuit of knowledge. Soon it became the magus' world. The gods were hunted into hiding. Only the strongest gods were able to remain active. However, if there is one thing that will always be true, it's the fact that power corrupts. To the people, the magi were more powerful than gods. It was precisely this reason that caused the magi to become something worse than the gods.
The magi pursued truth above all, yet some of them were too old and too powerful. These magi no longer considered the masses as humans. A large number of humans were kidnapped and used in experimentation. Rather than the flawed method of slavery, magi created corpse puppets. Their souls were captured and used for research. Even the magi's own bodies were not spared. Soon, grotesque monstrosities were born. No longer men, these magi spiraled into madness. However, their sacrifices paved a new path: body modification. Although the path was largely untrodden, multiple magi became extremely powerful: capable of taking on rank three spells with their bare bodies.
This unhinged behavior caused mass hysteria and chaos throughout the world until a large group of magi stood forward. This group believed that although normal humans were weak, each and every one of them had the chance of giving birth to a child who could be a magus. This group was dubbed the Light Magi. Meanwhile, the group of insane magi was dubbed Dark Magi. The battle was long and brutal; however, the victor, in the end, was the light magi. The light magi claimed the majority of the arable land, pushing the dark magi to the continent's edge. This separation formed the dark and light continents.
Closing the book, Kane sighed with anticipation. The feats of the magi described in the book were astounding. With his system, Kane would be able to surpass all of them! It was only a matter of time! However, Kane had to focus on one problem at a time. Kane spent the rest of the night browsing through the books and sorting through information. Many of them were like the first book: valuable and filled with information unavailable to the general public. There was even a book on alchemy! After reading through it, Kane realized his alchemy knowledge was quite comprehensive! Although the book was made for normal alchemists, Kane found that there were very few areas where he was lacking.
Contrary to the description, the fact that his alchemy knowledge was rated as incompetent by the system was very encouraging. This showed that Kane had a lot of potential growth!
[Speaking of the system, now that I've learned all this new knowledge, maybe I've gained a few new skills! System Status!]
[Host: Kane Enderson(Nigel) Titles: Loyalty: effect unknown, Wisdom: effect unknown]
[Race: Human(lesser titans bloodline: unawakened)]
[Level: 0]
[EXP: 0/100]
[HP: 20.5/21 (Status: imperfect)]
[SP: 227/227 (Comment: Level 1 Acolyte at 1000)]
[STR: 20 ]
[STA: 20.5]
[AGI: 20]
[INT: 80]
[Skills: Incompetent meditation, Incompetent mana manipulation, Incompetent Alchemy, Incompetent Language, Incompetent Housework, Useless Knights Cultivation (Comment: Why ask when you know the answer?)]
Seeing the very familiar panel, Kane sighed in disappointment. Nothing had changed.
[Host. Look at the comments.]
Glancing at the comments, a dark shadow loomed over Kane's face. It seems the system's sarcastic comments didn't change as well. Deciding to ignore the system, Kane focused on his original intention.
[It seems general knowledge isn't enough to create a new skill.]
Although he hadn't gained a new skill, the information he had gained was extremely valuable. Kane felt much more comfortable now with maneuvering throughout this world.
[The only thing that's left is to learn the information Darius doesn't want me to know.]
Kane rubbed his chin in thought.
[I can probably use the books in the Academy's library regarding that.]
Putting aside his thoughts, Kane decided to try his new cultivation technique. He didn't even bother sleeping. He'd discovered last night that meditation was a good substitute for sleep. Kane felt that as long as he had mana, he would never have to sleep again! Standing up, Kane began practicing knight cultivation. Although Kane had successfully performed the technique earlier, he never actually got to truly analyze it.
Knight cultivation was similar to meditation in that it also dealt with the circulation of energy. In this case, Kane was trying to temper his body using the internal energy that naturally resides in his abdomen. As his body grows stronger, he'd become more capable of storing energy, and his body produces more internal energy as a result. For grand knights, this energy was intricately connected to a person's life force. Hence, Knight techniques can be described as a type of lifeforce cultivation. For this reason, a Grand Knight could even live to be 200 years old.
When someone breaks through to a knight, they must first activate their life seed. The catalyst for this was a truly life-threatening situation. The reason behind this is simple. The life seed is simply, the culmination of the previous lifeforce. When the body gets into extreme danger, it will instinctively take control of the life energy, which is normally impossible. This instinctive takeover leaves an opening for the cultivation technique to create a life seed. This life seed allows a knight to consciously control his life force.
However, a life-threatening situation is not the only criterion for awakening the life seed. To successfully break through, an apprentice knight needs to have an appropriate amount of life force. If you fail a breakthrough, your life force will be permanently damaged, effectively crippling you. However, almost all people below grand knight don't know this. As such, the whole process was done by feeling. This leads to inconsistent, and dangerous cultivation. Kane, however, had the advantage of the system.
The system essentially downloaded everything he needed to know about the technique into his brain. This gave Kane an idea. What if he tried to fix the technique himself? This way he could save on the number of techniques he'd have to gather to fix the technique! Unfortunately, doing so required more time than he currently has. For now, it was best to simply grow faster.
Kane spent the rest of the night cultivating until finally; he heard a knock on his door. The person standing at the door was a maid Kane couldn't recognize. Seeing Kane, she immediately bowed her head, lifting her skirt slightly with her left hand. It was the perfect etiquette for a maid.
"Good morning, sir Nigel; I am here to inform you of your appointment for magus classes in an hour. I'm also here to help you wash and dress."
Kane nodded in an embarrassed manner. Although he was used to being treated with respect, it was best to keep up appearances. This maid was, most definitely, working for Darius. As such, it was best to act like how "Nigel" would act.
"In that case, do you know where I can clean myself?"
Smiling, the maid brought Kane to a room where he again marveled at the difference in technology. Even with the very medieval technology, Darius had a fully functional bathroom. However, there wasn't anything like running water. The bath was hot, and there were a variety of soaps. Seeing this, Kane feigned surprise.
"It's so luxurious!"
Walking up to the side of the bath, Kane put his hand in the water before looking up at the maid.
"How many people would it take to heat such a large bath?"
Before the maid could answer, he had already run up to a different part of the room,
"Why are there so many types of soap? Do they have different functions?"
Kane put a look of wonder on his face that even the best actor wouldn't be able to tell was fake. Seeing Kane's enthusiasm, the maid was stunned. Smiling wryly, she followed Kane around the room until all of his questions were answered. Once Kane felt he had done enough, he looked toward the maid.
"Alright! I think I understand how to use the bath properly; you can go now."
Hearing what he said, the maid looked flustered.
"Sir, did I do something wrong?"
Kane looked at her strangely.
"What do you mean? I just want to wash myself."
"But that's my job!"
"Eh?"
The maid wanted to wash him? This hadn't even been something he'd considered a possibility. Even though Kane was a smart man, getting a maid to wash him even though he was perfectly capable of doing so himself was far too archaic. Kane didn't even entertain the idea for a moment. Thankfully, the identity Darius had given him was that of a former slave, or else Kane would have been left at a complete loss. Decidedly, he lifted his hand, placing it on the maid's shoulder.
"It's alright. I've been taking care of myself since I was a child. Besides, you can't expect me to get naked in front of a girl, do you?"
Hearing Kane's words, the maid finally left disappointed. Seeing her leave, Kane quickly got undressed. Sighing in relief, he sank into the bathtub. He'd wanted to take a bath for a long time now. Kane might not act like it, but he was a rich man. Not taking a bath or shower at least twice daily made him feel dirty, especially after working out. He spent the next fifteen minutes scrubbing all of the dirt and grime from the previous day's training until he finally felt human again. When Kane finally exited the bathroom, he realized that the maid had been standing outside of the door the entire time.
Seeing Kane exit, the maid rushed to his side.
"Sir Kane, you've finished! Allow me to take you to the dressing room."
Kane looked down at the loose bathrobe he was wearing before nodding and following behind the maid. After arriving, Kane once again convinced the maid to allow him to dress by himself before finally heading to his magus classes. As he walked, he couldn't help but think to himself.
[How the hell am I going to refuse in the future?]
Doing so would be foolish, although he could get away with it for now; if he took it too far, it would only be suspicious. Even though the memories of Nigel were those of a slave, they were still the memories of someone who truly belonged in this world. Based on Kane's understanding, if Nigel had truly existed, he would quickly get used to the maid's treatment. He could only stall for two more weeks at most before he would be forced to comply with the maid's advances. Ugh! What a headache!
[Even though, I still have the three fail-safes hidden in my body Darius still watches me quite closely. Judging by the fact that my purpose is to guard Violet, he holds me in high regard. The problem is: how closely does he watch me?]
Because Kane didn't know the answer to this question, almost every second since he'd gotten another body had been spent finding the answer. It was only now that Kane came to this conclusion: if he continued as he was, he would mess up. Somewhere, he would make a mistake, know something he shouldn't know, or act in a way that he shouldn't act.
The fundamental differences between Kane's fake identity: Nigel, and Kane himself were too significant. The proof was in how he treated the maid. The only solution was to become Nigel. He would temporarily allow the memories of Nigel to take control as his central identity. Naturally, the average person would never be able to do this; however, Kane had perfect control over his mind.
This, however, comes at a huge risk. By letting Nigel's memories carry the burden of Kane's soul, he essentially allowed them to form their own consciousness. The only way to slightly combat this was to switch back to his Kane personality each night and cleanse his consciousness of the previous day's effects. Taking a deep breath, Kane made the decision right that moment.
[Right now is as good a time as any!]