Ms Jasmine as it turns out was a gentle lady who was quite knowledgeable. What followed after our meeting was her drilling every bit of the continent's history and the basic formal etiquette for nobles. I dreaded the etiquette training but I enjoyed the history classes, she also taught me other subjects which I had to act like I had no idea. She was still very surprised at how quick I learned everything on the first day.
Jasmine "Not bad Asta, you're doing really well, now if you had the same enthusiasm for etiquette, the classes would be perfect~"
Asta "Teacher, please anything but that, I don't like it, not one bit. How about this, I will learn more history"
These were our usual conversations where I forced to learn etiquette, and let me tell you, it's difficult. Eat a certain way, walk a certain way, talk and act a certain way. I mean what else if left? If I do everything a certain way, what's left of my own? This is child abuse I tell you!!
After these classes were basics of mana from my mother. She's way more strict than my teacher and I take what she gives me period. But this feels way more refreshing since she sorta knows my pace and probably makes me learn based on that. I'm really grateful for my mother since she's pregnant but still giving her rest time to teach me. I told maybe she should get me another instructor, her answer was a bump on my head and I never took that topic out again. Next is swordsmanship training, I'm excited for this one as well. Do I have a talent for it? or do I not? Alas I realized there's no one at our house who can go against mom. My dad had a bump on his head as well and said he'll only be teaching me basic exercise for increasing stamina.
Women can be scary. *shiver*
And so began my first steps towards the wonders of this world. I learnt the continent I was in was called Emythra. It has a history of over 400 years, but anything before that has been lost. At present though, there are 10 kingdoms, 2 empires, 1 neutral Academy/island which is twice as big as our kingdom and an another island called the land of the dead, sounds ominous. These were the major divisions between land and people after the chaotic warring period ended 250 years ago.
'Huh, so apart from a few small wars here and there between two countries there has been no major wars. This has to be noted because I feel like it'll all explode in one go someday. Peace is just a preparation for the next conflict'
Our kingdom, the Novath kingdom is towards the Northwestern part of the continent. To our west, at the edge of the continent is the Vali kingdom. It is not too rich in resources, humans or otherwise since it's cold most of the time. But they do trade with us and they have great fur and meat.
To the east of us, there's the Boreas Kingdom and Montu kingdom next to it. These were the kingdoms that we were in war against. We apparently won that war and my father was one of the people who had great achievements. That bought a smile on my face. These two countries have desert dividing them which covers atleast half of their land. They follow a strict doctrine for war and conquest.
'I mean they probably have to go to war since their resources are limited. But what I'm worried about is, they suddenly allied with each other instead of fighting for resources. Either they have come to an agreement or there's a ruler who's about to unite them. The former isn't too much of a problem but the latter will be a headache for our kingdom'
To our direct South are the Nerma kingdom and the Blaze kingdom. They are completely landlocked and are a part of Empire Apophis. They are relatively peaceful towards their neighbours and towards our kingdom as well. During the previous war, they sent us a lot of resources and help. They have a rich culture and both the countries are known for their auction houses, merchants. Apparently you can find any type rare materials in these two kingdoms.
'The last war all the 'help' was just monetary and nothing that'd directly help us in war. Either they don't like war or they were told not to interfere, they're a part of the empire after all'
Next were the kingdoms to the West most part of the continent. The Blue moon and the Red moon kingdoms. They were fierce rivals and fight all the time. Apparently the kingdoms were part of one country but were separated because of internal issues and both the countries hate each other. They're part of the empire as well, but mostly like subordinate countries and not actually assimilated. They're both known as the land of boulders.
There's two more kingdoms, Aurelius and Varuna and an empire, The Phoenix empire. Not many things are known about these places, well not to my teacher at least, because we were never ik conflict or contact with them, though I'd like to know more. It was pretty fascinating history about wars and peace, and how one man just strong-handed entire kingdoms and empires into peace. A man named Loki Odinson, now that was a surprise since, the name sounded made up because that name is commonly known as God of mischief in my previous world.
'So there's someone else from my world? Or is it just a coincidence? I'm betting on the former. If he's also reincarnated, when did we come here? are there others? who's responsible to bring us here? So many questions, so many mysteries, I will get to the bottom of it some day'
So this man, Loki basically just destroyed cities and armies with his magic. He's said to have reached the pinnacle of magic, though what it is I'll learn later. Even my mother was pensive about Loki, she said when I'm strong enough, I can learn about him. After the Loki basically made humbled everyone, he found an island away from the continent where he founded the Heka Magic academy, which now trains adventures - mages and swordsmen alike. The people who graduate from here are the cream at the top and usually hired by different countries and people. I finally learnt what the adventures do, their hunt magical beasts which harm people or other wise. The materials from some of them are used for many items and magical equipment.
My mother taught the way to feel mana, by either going to magically dense regions or exhausting the body and let the body suck in mana from the surroundings. Though this might seem spartan, my mother told me that since my body is not old enough, I won't feel mana so quickly so this is a way to feel and increase my mana in one go.
And so began my 'training', though it was more theoretical and basics I still took it seriously. This went on for about six months. My physical training for six was really repetitive and boring while my theoretical opened up a new world for me. The intricacies of mana, the passages which it passes through, the body anatomy and lot more things. I had learn everything about my own body. Although I had felt like all the shackles holding me down were taken off after the system integrated with me, I still had get my body prepared for me to go beyond my limits.
'This begs the question, who or why was I given this system?'
Although I'm not entirely sure, it doesn't feel like someone with ill intentions, yet. These questions, I'll have to find answers for them on my later on.
My time in this 6 months was fruitful for sure even though it was mostly theory, I did have improvements in my MIND.
Status -
Name - Astarot levathian
Race - human
Age - 4 years
Title - Young master of the levathian house
Stats :-
STR - 3
VIT - 4
DEX - 2
MIND - 7
PER - 1
Traits :-
Zephyr Eyes (locked) - unlocked when MIND crosses 15
?????? (locked) - conditions unknown
Affinity :-
Unlocks at age 8
My strength increased due to the constant exercises and my vitality increased because of constant mana conditioning. My mind saw biggest improvement since I consumed a lot of knowledge and most of the time I had meditated even when I was exhausted, suffice to say I'm learning how to keep my mind calm.
Though I was pretty happy with all the improvements, right now I'm sweating bullets. Even in my previous life when I was trained to be an agent and faced a lot of dangers, this was one was by far the most nerve-wracking one. My mother was 9 months pregnant and now she's due. I was quite nervous about this and so was dad, he was shaking.
"Arghhh bloody hell, fucking piec-"
We heard my mother shouting at the top of her voice. Though I don't understand her pain, it's said to be the worst pain one can face. I just hope she's alright. This went on for half an hour before I heard cries, that's right, two of them.
"waaaaaa" waaaaaa"
Me and my father rushed in and saw a tired mother and two babies, one had strands of silver hair and the other one black. They were twins, 5 minutes apart. I was told I now have an younger brother and sister. I knew the moment I held them, that I'd go to the ends of the world to protect them, they were my precious family. I want to protect this, no matter what happens.
I looked at my parents and said with determination
"Mom, Dad, I want to grow stronger and I want to protect them both"
My parents looked at me smiled. We then decided to name the boy as Bejamin and the girl Abigail. We had decided the names after my parents fought a lot about the names, thankfully we could use both. Thought I don't know why name is different from theirs.
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A/N :- phew that's the info dump, though I've cut off a lot of important information because I want to interact with you guys to decide the intricate details. There will be a time-skip now and then the actual plot will play out.