March 10, 1586 after the great unification, according to the imperial calendar used by all countries on the western continent of Keishin.
That day marked an important event in Lughys' quest to discover a way to prosper in a world filled with maniacs, talented individuals, and powerful people who could not be trusted.
'One week.'
He thought, his eyes glued to a kind of note board, used by a man not so young and not so old, who explained some uninteresting subject.
'This hellish thing completed a whole week.'
''Bla, blabla…!!''
The words continued to pour out of the man's mouth like incessant torrents of a gun being fired, but Lughys barely paid attention to 'em.
He was so distracted that they now sounded like unintelligible mutterings, uttered by some kind of madman unable to communicate appropriately.
Momentarily concentrated in his job, the man didn't seem to notice his student's disinterest and just continued what he was doing impetuously.
'It's been a week since I found out I'm trapped in a game world.' Lughys stated to himself, analyzing all the things that had happened in those last few days.
After Duke Julius left on a mission to fulfill his duties to the imperial court, Lughys and Jasmine were left at home in the care of servants, as the Duchess had disappeared to who knew where.
Her atrocious plans, however, still left the little boy — that is, the newest member of the household, as the adopted son of the Barastrosa family — relatively distraught.
But it didn't stop him from getting on with his personal affairs.
Two days passed by with Lughys doing his best to understand how things were like in the game, given that he had about a decade left to prepare for the start of WOF's main plot.
Through his efforts and search, he discovered many things in the meantime that would came to be useful to him.
The boy even awakened his unique power, by chance of fate.
In fact, to be more precise, he highly suspected it was due to the influence of some unknown entity, but that was a matter for another time.
The ability known as 'Hope', a holographic system that allowed him to empower himself.
Moreover, also something that directly contrasted with the game's version of Lughys, as his abilities were supposed to be correlated to swordsmanship.
'This program should help me get stronger, more easily than it should be before.'
Or at least that's what that voicemail had said, after all, he hadn't even had a chance to test the effectiveness of the innate ability this past week.
Things had quickly gone on a tricky path for Lughys, but not a hopeless one.
In fact, quite contrary to negativity, it was in some ways beneficial to him.
His routine, once free of any commitment, quickly filled with the necessary nuisances for his education.
With a detailed letter sent by the Duke himself, Lughys found out a little late that he was to be tutored by instructors specializing in algebra, mathematics, languages, and other subjects.
Currently, based on his extremely tight schedule, he was taking etiquette classes and many other varied studies important to the curriculum of an aspiring student to become someone in Keishin.
That was why Lughys found himself busy with so many obligations piling up on top of one another and forming a huge mountain, in that last ordinary week.
'But it does makes sense that the Duke assigned so many studies to me' The boy thought. 'I have to make up for the last year I missed by living in a shelter funded by the imperial family.'
Furthermore, to make matters even more exhausting, Lughys had also begun to attend the regular and difficult classes in business and how to manage a manor and its establishments.
It had only been a busy week, something the lil' boy was already used to due to the various experiences he'd had while still living on Earth, in his past life, but frankly it was extremely boring even for him.
'What would those guys say if they saw me like this?' The boy remembered of his friends on Earth.
It was even mind-boggling to think that Lughys Barastrosa, formerly commonly known as 'A ruthless and incurable geek' who devoured scientific books like they were nothing, was bored with studies.
Nonetheless, even if he was clearly feeling that way, ever since he was reincarnated Lughys was evidently more intelligent than the average child of his age.
'Not that it's anything new or impressive.'
Based on what his memories dictated, his version as a character from the original plot should also have been known as a 'genius' from an early age, accumulating achievements along the way -- though they would be wasted with his excruciating death.
That left a lot of questions in the air.
Lughys wondered if his late awakening was a disadvantage or an advantage, for even though he had no recollection of knowing the language of that world, he surprisingly seemed to know the alphabet from start to finish.
In addition to that, a child's memory proved to be incredibly useful in the hand of someone intellectually capable, as their minds naturally absorbed information with ease.
This was an asset to Lughys, who would have to learn many things if he really wanted to become someone valuable.
'By the way, what I need to focus on is learning the backstory that shaped this world, and other important aspects.' He stated inwardly. 'Math is basically the same thing as on Earth, just counting with some different numbers.'
One plus one would always equal two, regardless of where one reincarnates.
As he was only learning the very basics, Lughys didn't mind being lost in thought.
Besides, math was one of the few subjects he didn't pay attention to.
The others like language and history were things the boy still didn't know for the most part, so he had to listen to the lesson, so that the information would attach itself to his mind.
Having achieved the feat of getting into one of the toughest colleges in his country in his last life, grade school subjects were a simple breeze.
Even if they started introducing him to high school topics, Lughys knew the story would be no different at all.
''Young master Lughys, are you, by any chance, hearing me?'' Lughys was suddenly jolted by his tutor calling his name.
The veins and temples in the man's head were reddened, pulsing like a heart-- it gave the guy the impression of a madman.
Lughys deduced that his teacher must have noticed that the boy hadn't been paying attention to the class for dozens of minutes.
''Of course, professor. Why wouldn't I be?''
The man grunted softly, tapping the writing board beside him with his fingers.
There were some rough notes made on the white object.
''So you wouldn't mind answering this question for me, would you?''
Pointing his finger, the tutor asked Lughys to answer the question written on the board, thinking that the poor student would not be able to answer it.
However, it was just a simple algebra problem that presented no obvious degree of difficulty.
That is, it might be difficult for a normal 6-year-old, but it was easily solvable if a person had already done that same problem a hundred times before in school.
Which, oddly enough, was the case with Lughys.
'This one is really easy. I don't even need to write it down to solve it.'
Opening his moist lips, the brown haired boy walked away from the frame slowly.
''That's a total of 64, as you can see.'' Pudding his chest, Lughys commented aloud in the room.
He had answered the problem perfectly, much to the surprise of Alfred, his tutor.
Impressively, the boy had even gone to the trouble of lecturing on the formula, next to the calculus.
''O-oh, wonderful!'' The twenty-something man said. ''Stupendously magnificent, young master! An example of your magnificence in studies!''
He showed surprise at his initial reaction, but a wide, sincere smile appeared on his tired face as he walked towards his wooden desk.
With a few low noises, the man arranged the books on the subjects he was giving Lughys, as if he had finished for the day.
''Huh... Mr. Weathers, we still have class time today.'' Lughys said, perplexed by the teacher's action. ''May I know where you're going?''
The man lifted his head, tucking the books into a brown leather bag.
Leaning it over the shoulder of his right arm, he approached Lughys, responding with a slight enthusiasm in his tone.
''Don't worry about it, just be prepared for a surprise tomorrow!''
Still stunned by the sudden strange way he acted, the little brown haired boy simply stared as his guardian walked out of the room muttering things to himself.
''They had said that the young master wasn't ready to study Ether, so I didn't have high expectations...'' Alfred commented, clenching his fist. ''Then, I'll prove that they were wrong!''
With that speech, his broad back disappeared among the halls of the mansion.
''Weird...''
For some reason, Lughys had a bad feeling about this bizarre occasion.
For starters, Alfred Weathers was known in the WOF community as one of the smartest people in the Empire, mainly because he liked to learn more than anything in the world.
The term genius did not apply to him. It was more accurate to call him an uncontrolled study maniac.
That introspective thought that came to the boy's mind in that second should have been able to tell him what the 'surprise' was, but he promptly blocked the thought from his mind, focusing on other matters.
'My future self who takes his time dealing with this surprise. Out of my sight and my mind...'
Leaving the room without blinking, Lughys headed towards the huge library of the Barastrosa mansion.
He intended to point out all the important points regarding the WOF lore, so that even if his memory failed, he would have a backup prepared for such a chaotic situation.
''For now, let me make some important notes regarding the game.''