After a week, I can already walk but running or jumping is still dangerous for me since it's more strenuous and required my legs muscle to exert more force. After a week of thinking, I can already confirm that this is the world of the novel that I have been reading and researching before.
I was a game designer thus as the name suggests, I design games' characters and layouts, and the novel called 'The Journey of A Hero' is also one of the novels that I have participated in designing into a game.
Every detail and specifications or backstory of each character in this novel, I have memorized it all in my head, and using this, I confirmed that I was the most unfortunate villainous character name Ares Zanuki.
"Fuhh am I lucky or am I unlucky?" I said to myself while looking outside the window. From my bedroom, I could see an artificial lake and a few ducklings swimming in it. There were also a few gardeners working around that area.
'Sigh'
Ares is the only character that none of the 1 million players can change his fate no matter what routes they took. It's either he will be betrayed, killed, or misunderstood that caused him to fall into deep despair.
He is not the final villain or a mid-tier villain but it will become easier to clear the game if he is not a villain and sided with the heroes or becomes one of the heroes since he is strong but no one knows how strong he is since he always operates in the shadow. They can only estimate his strength based on his partner's strength and a few ambiguous testimonies from untrustworthy witnesses.
Zanuki is one of the influential noble families in the Empire and can be considered quite close to the royal family. They are called with the name of Hargan's Gate or Hargan's Fortress along with the Heizt since you have to defeat both of them first before you can think of conquering the empire.
However, the Zanuki also has another nickname which is the 'Half-Demon Race' or the 'Demon Blooded Human' since red hair is the trait of all of its descendants and their ability to not be affected by demonic energy in any way.
"This kid Ares has such a good-looking face but why the hell he's always wearing a mask in the novel?" this is one of my biggest questions.
This brat has chromatic eyes with dark red eye colour on his right eye and dark purple on his left eye. He has pale smooth skin, a sharp nose, and a sword-like eyebrow with soft red hair.
"He looks like a lazy angel rather than a mid-tier villain lurking in the dark" I lamented while stroking my face.
Yesterday, I managed to take a look at my face and further confirm my guesses however while looking at my face, I suddenly felt a shiver all over my body as if something bad will happened if I kept looking at the mirror, and last night, I dreamed I was surrounded by reddish fire that looked like hellfire.
"That might be the subconscious reaction from this body" I concluded since I know traumatic experiences will sometimes be engraved into the body thus they will be a certain reaction when triggered even though that person's soul has changed or he doesn't remember anything.
"Do you want to take a stroll in the garden, young master?" suddenly a voice trickled into my ear and make me startled.
This has already become a daily occurrence where Ron will suddenly show up beside me and I never sense him walking around at all. All his steps have no sound and leave no traces.
"Can I?" I asked since only yesterday they told me that I'm not allowed to go outside just yet.
"Yes you can young master since your great grandmother and your grandfather will be visiting you today. It is more relaxing if you can have a conversation with them in the garden while enjoying tea" he said smiling cheerfully at me.
Ares supposedly has two personal servants which are a butler name Ron and a maid name Ran but until now I have never seen Ran at all. Maybe she still doesn't work with the Zanuki just yet.
"Ok you lead the way," I said before following Ron and walking towards the garden.
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"Isn't this nice mother? Having tea while enjoying the scenery here" said a red-haired bulky man that has some strands of grey hair over his hair.
The only thing that can confirm that this guy is older than he looks is those grey hair strands.
"Hmm I kind of agree if it's only me and Ares," said the middle-aged-looking woman wearing a kaftan long dress with a flowery motives design on it.
"It's rare for us to meet like this isn't it mom?" the man said before drinking his tea.
"So how are you this day, brat?" the woman ignored the man's question and instead focused on me who remained silent from the beginning.
"I think I'm getting better " I answered perfunctorily.
"Then it's good" she replied.
"Your butler said that your appetite is improving each day and you even asked for an extra portion yesterday" the man commented.
"I just felt hungrier and the steak taste good," I said flatly.
"So why not you eat this pastry that I bring," the woman asked while staring at me. Her stare is as if she can see straight to my soul.
"I already eat one each," I said hinting that's already enough pastry for me.
I'm not really into sweets and I don't really like chocolates thus I don't enjoy eating these cute-looking appetizing homemade pastries.
"It seems your food preference still doesn't change despite your memory loss" she commented.
"Grandpa will bring you to the Dragon Steak House after you are discharged," the man said while munching all the remaining pastries.
"Dragon steak?" I asked shocked.
'Did they eat dragons in this world?'
"Zen, stop leading this kid astray. That's only the restaurant name. No one is crazy enough to catch and eat a dragon" the woman said after sighing looking at my naiveness.
"Ohh so it's a normal steak then"
"Not quite normal actually. Most of the steaks are monsters' meat that contains mana thus regular people only eat them maybe one serving a month" she explained.
"Oh" I sounded disappointed since I thought I can finally be able to enjoy meat to my heart contain.
"Why? One serving isn't enough for you isn't it?" she said grinning slightly at me. She looked like the exact copy of Amma but more mature and stern while Amma seems more laidback and easy-going.
"Ron said there's a popular steak house in town" I try to change the location since what is the point if I can only eat one serving.
"You cannot go there. Not until you are fully recovered or after you're stronger" she said as if she knew which restaurant I'm talking about. Well, it's not surprising if she knew since she looks knowledgeable and her servants might also know about it just like Ron.
"Don't worry Ares, we the Zanuki can eat as much as we want if we order the low tier monsters' steak" grandpa said reassuring me.
"The reason why regular people can only consume one serving of the steak is due to the mana concentrations in the meat. People that don't practice their mana can only eat at most one serving of mid-tier meat while mages or those who can control their mana can eat around three servings of mid-tier meat or more based on how much mana they can hold but if they consumed a high-tier or highest tier, it's advisable to only eat one serving. Only the Soraz and the Zanuki can eat as much as they can especially the low tier one since our mana pool is the biggest in the empire" she explained to me clearly.
"But I can't control my mana," I said hesitantly.
"Don't worry. You've learned how to control it before thus even though you don't remember, your body will instinctively do it for you just like now" grandpa said to me.
"Don't you feel that you're recovering quite fast compared to normal people and the potion affects you faster?" she asked.
"Isn't it because they gave me the best potion?"
"It's because your body instinctively absorbs mana from the potion and your surrounding since you've woken up," she said directly.
Listening to her, a sudden thought comes to my mind and I remember where I will always instantly feels a warm feeling enveloping my body after consuming the potions and it will spread all over my body in an instant so that must be the reason why.
This world's technological advancement is as advanced as my previous world but there are a few advantages since they can use mana. Medicines and potions are more effective in using mana. The prosthetic limbs in this world are also more advanced and look more realistic which can rival original limbs both in terms of appearance and functionality. I can conclude that the medical sector is more advance than in my previous world.
I also saw a few AI interfaces used by the nurses and doctors when I was walking around the hospital.
"So that's why" I muttered.
"However, you still have to re-learn how to control your mana since your body just absorbing them and circulating them to help your recovery. You can't use spells if you don't know how to control your mana" she said reminding me that the Zanuki is mainly a warrior mage family where they mainly fight like a warrior and are capable of using magic as well as a magician.
Warrior mages usually use magic spells along with their weapons and martial arts. Magic spells were like their assistance in combat. Meanwhile, there was another kind of mage called combat mage where most of their spells were destructive spells. They were different from warrior mages since most of them didn't use weapons or specific martial arts and focused more on creating destructive combat spells.
Only mages from the Soraz can barely fight them toe to toe with the Zanuki but they might as well lose since Zanuki can also use aura with their weapon.
The most overpowered family in the empire thus not many players will choose to change the Zanuki member's character since they are already so strong. That is also the reason why every reader knows Ares is strong despite not much about him being mentioned in the novel.
"Ok," I answered.
After that my grandpa and great grandmother continue asking me about my rehabilitation plan and learning plan since currently, I'm learning about this world history and geography from Ron. I also asked Ron to show me the maths syllabus of this world and from what I can conclude is that the level is slightly higher than what I have learned in my previous world but it still bearable since I'm not a stupid student, to begin with.
"I will prepare your class schedule myself since there's a lot of things that you have to learn before your enrolment early next year" Grand said while jotting something down on her pocket-size digital notebook.
"Ron said that my maths, history, and geography are fine"
"Yes I know you're not stupid but you still have to learn horse riding, archery, swordsmanship, and martial arts. Thus after your discharge, I will bring you back to my mansion in the Kazegare Valley and you will be trained there" she said seriously.
"Can't I enrol late?" I asked since, in the story, Ares registered late due to an accident in Zanuki's main mansion at Soga Mountain. Kazigare Valley is where they lived a few hundred years ago before they move to Soga Mountain to manage the winery and marble production there.
"We have to see your progress before deciding on that" Grand said calmly.
"Do your best and I will bring presents for you to improve your morale later" grandpa said after listening to our conversation.
"Can you buy me a mask? No need for a full face mask, just a half-face mask is fine" I asked since Ron have told me that my grandpa liked to buy anything for me and always gave weird gifts if I didn't tell him what I wanted.
"Why?" he asked.
"Err I just feel like it," I said hesitantly. The reason why I need a mask is that I instinctively feel that this face will bring me trouble. This kind of androgynous face that looks like an angel attracted gazes wherever I go. Even if I stand beside the protagonist, his handsome face will slightly fall short of this face.
"Ok, I will reserve a specialize magic mask where only you can take off the mask, and maybe I will ask the creator to add more specifications to it" grandpa easily accepts my answer without any hint of doubt.
"Thank you grandpa and thank you Grand for bringing all the encyclopedia for me"
"No need to thank me. I just toss every book that I think you might need into the spatial bag so read them well during your time here. I will come again next week" she said flatly.
"I will give you the mask as your discharge gift. Tell me if you need anything else next time"
"Ron said Amma will invite a tailor to measure me since I have no clothes," I told them.
"Tell them to make combat clothes along with formal and informal clothing" Grand ordered Ron who is standing a few meters away from our table. I can see Ron jotted down Grand's order in his thick notebook.
"You can postpone formal clothing and finish daily wear and combat clothing first since Ares will not be participating in any formal event this year"
Ron silently jotted down every instruction while nodding his head slightly. The chats continue until tea time is almost over and the sunset could be seen slightly on the horizon. Grand and grandpa excuse themselves after giving me a spatial bag full of books and weird gadgets.
'These gadgets are not actually weird but it's more like they are half finish' I commented while looking at them one by one where there are five of them altogether. I decided to check on their details later since I'm more interested in the books from Grand.
The book consists of a more detailed history of this world where this world is separated into five epochs or eras.
The first epoch is called the primordial era where it was the era of the Gods and demigods fighting each other and the remnants of their power were what caused the mana to form in the atmosphere.
Later the Gods realized that mortal creatures such as the dragons and mythical beasts started to be born thus they ascended to heaven in order to not disrupt the world order and the mortal creatures.
The era of dragons and mythical beasts is called the first era. Later in the second era, more diverse creatures were created by the Gods to rival the dragons and mythical beasts such as giants and elves. Some evil gods also started creating low-level demons during this era.
The third era is where humans started to exist. No one knew where humans came from as if they came out of thin air. However, human mainly worships three gods which is the Light God, the Moon Goddess, and Mother Earth. There are also a few not-so-popular Gods being worshipped by humans.
However, those that practised black magic usually worship a different god which is the God of Eternal Rest or simply called God Of Death. Black magic is not considered evil since it is still using mana and not using demonic energy.
Demons and monsters m are the main enemies in this world.
The demonic realm is connected to this world through dungeon gates. This world is also divided into one big continent surrounded by a collective of islands and it is said to have another lost continent which is a desolate place where no living being ever recorded living there.
There are five human nations in this world where there are four big empires and one alliance of small countries.
Before I managed to read more, Ron suddenly comes and urged me to drink the potion which make me fall asleep half an hour later with books scattered on my bed.