Log 1
In a past life I remember reading an article on When does life begin, I remember thinking it was polemical garbage about the latest trending topic abortion. Although not a topic of my interest I believe I have the answer in this life. My soul did not wake up immediately, it was quite a few years in the dark with fragments of images without any sense in which the most lucid I could appreciate were the bright colors, when this body turned 5 years old I woke up dazed gathering the pieces in what looked like a horrendous collage to a very bad experimental film. I investigated the hypothesis of perhaps possessing a body but after a couple of months I did not experience anything out of the ordinary in this body. So I decided to investigate the culture and language of this world, specifically the records that indicated evidence of reincarnation or transfers through science and magic.
You would be surprised how frequent they are in this world, perhaps that is why the local culture is so advanced but not based on the same standards, the concept of energy, physics, engineering and democracy are known but discarded as pseudo science, due to the potential of magic that can replace these concepts.
Politics, science and even public transportation are handled as minor jobs for magicians or people with magical abilities due to the simplicity thanks to magic.
At first instance I thought it would be a great world to re-incarnate but due to a physical malformation at birth I was screwed by Fantasy.
To top it off I was born as the fourth son of the gauss family being the youngest of the boys and the only one who has a physical malformation both exterior and interior, I have terrible scarifications that furrow both my throat and face. My vocal cords are fucked up and I can barely speak without spitting blood, which makes me terrible at conversing although I want to believe I haven't lost my spark, magic is also way out of my reach although I have a great well of mana thanks to my noble descent but because I need to use words of power and a condition known as magical divergence thanks to my malformation makes me in practical terms useless when trying to use magic.
In practical terms I am a useless handicap to my family so it would not be uncommon for them to discard me. Even if they don't see me crudely their treatment becomes indifferent and they take me for a ride unlike my parents in the previous world, they are not explicit, although the message it gives clear this world is cruel and you can't accomplish anything if you don't have talent or magic.
It would be foolish to continue with my vices in this world when I can get rid of them, which does not prevent me from continuing to research on chemicals, culture, methods of magic among other things.
I didn't want to get my hopes up but I still read every text and document in search of something that would help me in my "situation".
My family wanted to make a last attempt after a few months and took me to a doctor but the idiot exclaimed that the goddess was benevolent in her blessing according to him because I was learning twice as fast but at his convenience he ignored my face and my inability to intone magic, from the arcane arts to the more modern black magic required a clear intonation of magic verses and although I tried to improve my diction and extend the number of words I could pronounce the blood always choked me in the process as the vocal cords were resonant and divergent opening wounds all over my windpipe. I tried alternatives such as bounders, physical arts and even defense technology, but even these required magical verses and were not as effective.
Weapons, stigmas and magic tattoos on the other hand could only contain a maximum of 13 verses and were difficult to obtain at my age, perhaps I should explain in this world magic depends on the intonation and total compression being more powerful the more short verses you have, you can rely on objects, totems engraved stigmas or magic letters But this only serve as enhancers in compression or increase the power of the verse, 13 verses are a totally childish joke with which you can barely set fire to a branch or fill a small jar of water but if we are talking about defensive objects or attack magic you can increase the power by intoning verses potentiators to the object, the scenario looked bleak although I never considered suicide the last time I angered the hated (goddess) left me crippled I do not want to imagine what would be his next punishment if I returned so soon and without a method to defend myself.
This year turned out to be extremely unproductive and despite having failed in my attempts and discovering that technology will never surpass magic in this world I managed to create an engraving that could increase and compress at the same time the weight of the verbs multiplying exponentially the amount possible in the engravings.
The problem is that it is dimensional and no ink in this world can support the weight, so apparently I will have to carve it in my body or embed it somehow. Although I refuse the latter as it is very risky, I have been hesitating the last few weeks about this and although the Count does not care if I die alive he reluctantly refused to allow me more experiments since I created a small magical fissure that ended up exploding from the side yard of the Castle.
I considered continuing to experiment in hiding but after that he always kept me under surveillance by my siblings or the servants, even little Karol, only 3 years old, accused me the last time I sneaked out.
I've considered starting to try to win friends inside the castle, although it is difficult. Everyone looks at me with accusing eyes for not being able to invoke magic and my spark seems to be not so effective when I lack the words, it has also been in my head to negotiate with my father for the materials although with the current conditions I don't have much to work with I have managed to make progress in good sense but in other aspects it earns an unintentional fame by accidentally blowing things up.
Vision of Hartas gauss
Our family lineage has always been dedicated to warfare even for as long as I can remember I have grown up among mercenaries and scientists so I never thought I would find anything to be afraid of in this life.
I have been in seven sieges and two conflicts of terrorism being the one to lead, but even in retrospect it was not as difficult as dealing with my fourth son Niles.
I have never had a problem relating to my children, Orlando my first born is a Rebel and even so, I never had a hard time getting along with him. Amelia my second daughter is rude and overbearing but I don't think it's a problem as long as it can be channeled into our Mercenary forces, then came together the third and fourth, Nico and rico a couple of high caliber geniuses who love to study to such a level that they are on scholarship in the capital since they learned to read.
Then came Abby, the sweetest girl I have ever met, she is the apple of my eye, she always loved to cook so she never caused any problems and spent her time in the kitchen, I thought about sending her to study cooking but she decided to stay a little longer knowing that she would have a little brother.
We were all excited about the arrival of my sixth child, we waited for him with excitement, thinking that perhaps he would be the most courageous or resourceful but no one was prepared for the monster that was Niles, he was born so small with his silvery straight hair and a large stigma on his face and neck of a similar color.
My wife Elizabeth and I lost several nights of sleep, it worried us so much that we decided to call in specialists in the arcane arts. It turned out that the child not only had a large tank of magical power but also a monstrous blessing "the touch of the goddess" is how they call that stigma that partly covered his face and throat, his small body could not compensate for the use of the stigma so it was decided after a couple of tests and messages with his majesty, send him to the research academy when he was of age. This would help him find a way to control his power and bring out his greatest potential.
Perhaps because of the pain caused by the stigma he grew up being a very lonely little boy with fear which was hard to find as ashes in the wind, he would scurry around the castle prying into everyone's activities and perhaps although we tried to hide it he noticed the fear we had of making a mistake with the kind that would cause a disaster.
So when he was 5 years old he was banished to the library perhaps in search of a solution that he could never find so small, I wanted to give him as much freedom as possible in his research (we only hid the problematic content to avoid possible injuries and problems that we would not know how to solve).
But the little boy was tireless to the point of moving the library to his room, although I ended up desisting the moment I discovered him trying to assault the armory, I wished it was an isolated incident but the servants had to stop him in several of his assaults on the armory or his attempts to tattoo himself with magic ink.
Apparently Roland kept it for his studies and this little guy didn't know the limits. Even in his older brother's room, more than once I found myself in the painful necessity of removing both the material and his instruments but I never thought the day would come when I would have to cloister him.
But the day came when he detonated the outer wall at the age of 7 while apparently painting something that we suspected refracted the chant of one of the guards who was practicing nearby.
We feared he might hurt himself so with the help of everyone in the castle I decided to contain him, but for the next few months he escaped like ashes into the air even when I reluctantly locked him in the tower, he found a way to escape from the guards and avoided triggering the defenses only to be found by his younger sister, little 5 year old Karol who saw him as he scurried off in search of Rolan's magic ink again.
I felt bad but I considered sending him early to the academy because of that incident, so while writing a letter to Her Majesty explaining the situation I found Niles again in Fugue standing in front of me with sumptuous eyes.
"What's wrong Niles, do you need anything?"
I asked without taking my eyes off the letter for fear that he would discover what I was doing.
"..."
Niles who was carrying a small magic tablet that I gave him years ago tapped on it with his pen and wrote:
-Could I have a conversation with you through this medium?
I had no choice but to turn around and smiling to myself as I discovered that perhaps this was his way of avoiding the stigma getting out of control, I replied:
"Of course what could be so important for you to show up at my studio this hour?"
-I desire a few things AND I thought I would bargain with you in exchange for them-
As I smiled inwardly thinking it was an adorable situation since he would probably try to advance his allowances in search of an object of his interest I nodded.
"Sure a Mercenary house always has the doors open to a good deal what do you have in mind?"
I swear it was the first time I saw him smile as he hurriedly wrote on his slate, I figured if it wasn't much I could agree to a when I lost out on the bargain.
I would like a secluded lab to experiment in and some hard-to-get materials," he said.
My inner smile immediately broke as I got a headache, it would be hard to explain to him why my hands were tied about leaving him in an isolated place unsupervised. But he quickly erased the contents of his whiteboard and wrote back on his whiteboard while rubbing my temples
-I know it's a lot to ask, even Rolando doesn't have one and the materials I want won't be cheap either but I assure you I can make it up to you even in my condition-" I smiled internally again.
I had had a misunderstanding about our economic level since Rolan not only had laboratories but he even had his own fortress and companies just like each one of my sons but I wouldn't be the idiot to clarify it to him since it would be very complicated to explain to his age why he couldn't use some of his laboratories and the treatment so distinctive to the rest. So I played along like a good con man.
"I don't think it would be possible Niles especially due to the large amount of resources you would need to invest to grant your requests."
The little guy with great annoyance wrote with his reddish face furiously on his tablet.
-I can improve the armor and weapons that the family manufactures believe me it will be a great benefit to the family in exchange for the minimal input of giving me a place to work and materials... at least they won't be the disappointment they currently are-
The boy perhaps heard that this was how Nico and rico managed to swindle me beast magicans and thought he'd try his luck while faking the same ruse as that pair
"Hahahahahaha... No, I don't think so, our weapons and armor are the best on the market no one would dare claim to sell armor or weapons."
-But father I know how to increase their performance and they could even be used in battle.
I was amused by my son's confusion. Perhaps he thought they were only ornamental, but just to clarify, I must say that there was no battle in the kingdom that the Gauss family was not involved in.
"We are the vanguard on the issue niles, stop insisting try something else."
-Give me at least the opportunity to give you a project presentation, I assure you it is a great investment.
I weighed it for a while and thought that maybe the letters would take a while to reach the king and the authorization would take another while to arrive so although it made me smile inside again to see how he was trying to make me fall into the trap I thought I would show him how to do it and thus gain time while the authorization to send him to the Academy arrived.
"You should know that in business you don't get anything until you demonstrate the effectiveness of what you expect to sell, so we want a deal".
I said making him think I fell for his ruse while I would only give him little dangerous things that were safe to play with
"I'll give you a defensive kit, a transcriber set and a small company revolver with safety catch. So that you can't shoot I know but for the person I'll assign as your assistant."
I saw him duck his head in mock dejection But I knew he would be happy with this tanto until I saw him write
-I refuse, counter offer. Allow me the intermediate grade transcription equipment and the defensive suit I will work in the library while it is isolated...I will not allow anyone in the library besides me...you know trade secrets-
Smiling inside again while rolling his eyes wryly he probably had nothing and just wanted to play with things.
"Fine, but it will come out of your allowance and you will have Guard all the time at the door on standby in case of any explosion."
I never thought that even without counting the stigma I was resourceful and courageous enough to face if even and When I made it seem like the above offer was me ultimatum, Who would have thought that Niles was such a good negotiator.
-We'll go with that, but if anyone transcribes even a little of my research, anyone but me. Before I deliver the product I'll sue the king for industrial espionage.-
"Hahahahahahahaha!"
I couldn't help but laugh as I shook his hand, no doubt he would be the most outstanding of my children.
Talk to the head servant He will prepare everything and seal the door with the corresponding glyph, only the guard and you apart from him will know the coding.