Inside a mansion that very much resembles those of the Victorian Era, a young butler with a dangling monocle from his front pocket can be seen panic-stricken as he dashed through the halls.
"Master Marvel! Please not this again! I cannot bear yet another 'session' with Madame Charlotte!"
Giggle!
The maids who were cleaning the same corridors were giggling at what seems to be a recurring instance in the house.
'This is the fourth time young Master has escaped poor Charles' scrutinizing supervision right?'
As the maid gossiped to the other,
'Right? young Master keeps surprising the house with his weird escaping antics time and time again!'
***
While that charade was happening, a cool breeze was passing by the forest right behind the estate and brushed through an individual's short blonde hair, bringing with it a stray dead leaf to disturb his peaceful nap under the shade,
'Mphm...pweh!'
He spits out the leaf that entered his mouth and squinted his eyes at the sight of sunlight shining through the trees.
'I wonder if Charles found the note I left him...hehehe'
Rustle Rustle!
As the culprit behind the unrest of the house was chuckling at his own doing, the nearby bush started to rustle and the nearby wildlife started fleeing the scene around Marvel.
Hmm?
He squinted his eyes to what seems to have been approaching his location but in the end, he gave a long sigh, knowing fully who it was who came here for him.
Neigh!
A group of three men wearing leather armor on horseback was trotting towards the young master with the one in front not wearing headgear - fully showing a similar paint of blonde hair and dark blue eyes. Eyes that were already reprimanding the young master in front of him.
"Marvel, I thought we have already discussed this behavior of yours with father the other day, why have you skipped your afternoon studies once again?"
As Marvel sat up, seemingly annoyed that his afternoon nap was disturbed by both nature and man, he defiantly looked back at the scolding eyes of his oldest brother, and crossed his arms as he gave his come-back,
"Discussed? Ha! A discussion entails input and consideration from both sides! All I did there was listen and take it as both of you verbally abused me!
The man furrowed his brows and was about to hurl another mouthful when Marvel raised both arms in surrender.
"Okay okay, don't give me all that family expectation speech again eldest brother, I'm up. I'm up."
Dusting off his clothes made of light brown linen, he turned tail and ran towards the direction of the mansion, leaving the trio in the dust.
"Marvel! Argh, I swear this boy grows to be more unruly by the day!"
His eldest brother, Jason Keihn, sighed in frustration, as he tried reaching out to the escaping rascal with a trembling fist.
"M'lord, I believe this is what we call the rebellious phase of the child. Just like how M'lord had his back in the day"
While Jason was contemplating how to give Marvel the mouthful of a lifetime when he got back home, one of his aides who came along spoke his thoughts.
"I was 14 at the time, Adrian. At least then, Both father and I knew that my 'rebellious' phase was a trial by far that every heir has to go through.
But Marvel! He's just six years old! While our family cannot hide his immense talent from the world much longer, I would like it that he at least be taught on how this world is not as beautiful as this forest under the azure sky. Alas, he refuses to listen to reason"
Jason said as he shakes his head in resignation, reminiscing early times of his baby brother.
The other aide besides Adrian pats the back of his Lord and friend as he sympathizes with the whole situation and gazes into the azure sky thinking about the fate of their family as well.
***
'I'm in for another earful once Bernard finds me again'
Marvel groaned as he was running back towards the mansion.
Just below his room which was three stories high from the ground, there lied a well-trimmed rectangular hedge. Marvel arrived right in front of said hedge, panting hard.
'Being a six-year old is hard work'
There, he took a moment to catch his breath, closed his eyes and started whispering something that couldn't be recognized as vocal in sound.
"γ πΌππΌβπΎπΌ γ"
With the words spoken, a translucent rope materialized into existence and could be seen stretching down from an open window of Marvel's room all the way down to the ground.
He tied the excess rope around his hands and once more chanted something else,
"γ βπΌπβπΈβπ γ"
Zwiiiippp!
Like a zipline, Marvel was pulled upwards at a moderate pace towards his room.
Stepping on the window frame, he jumped into the room and turned the rope back into a completely transparent state by breaking off his mental connection with it.
'Ahh, that was a good nap though, I'm still not recovered fully right after trying to form my mana core last night'
Marvel contemplated as he stretched and sat on his desk chair, thinking about the recent events of his life. Or to be more specific, the previous six years ever since he got reincarnated into the world of Myrrah as the fourth and youngest child of Ystra McDowell Keihn, a noble of the Kingdom of Ryles, holding the rank of Marquis.
"Status"
γ
Name: Marvel Keihn Title: Fourth Son of Marquis Ystra
Race: Human [***] Class: <>
Core: F-Incomplete [28%]
Level: 3 Age: 6
HP: 30/30 MP: 15/15
Stats:
Strength - 6 Willpower - 11
Agility - 7 Dexterity - 8
Intelligence - 11 Vitality - 6
Passive Skills: [F - Calm Mind], [F - Story-teller], [F - Keen Senses], [F - Mana Sense], [F - Sponge]
Active Skills: [F - Swordsmanship], [F - Air Magic], [F - Light Magic] γ
An illusory translucent cyan board materialized in front of Marvel. A status board that only he can see and is not categorized as magic but as one of the rights given to him by the Goddess at the time of reincarnation. The different races of Myrrah has designed their own metrics to measure power levels and statistics of the body. What Marvel sees is truly his own unique view, inspired by what he saw in the Role-Playing Video Games from his home country in his previous life.
Marvel's stats when compared to a human adult can be said to be above average already as the general stats would range around 10 for three or four of the stats with the rest being below 10.
Of course we have to remember that Marvel is still only 6 years old, which makes his stat board overwhelmingly talented in comparison to others of his age.
For every level, one of the stats is increased by 1 point, not by choice but by lifestyle. Have you been training strength when you levelled up? That's a +1 to strength whether you like it or not. Stats can also be raised without levelling up through various means.
For Marvel's case, he has the freedom to allocate his level up point to any stat he wishes or save it for future usage.
In relation to reality, a strength stat of 20 can allow a man to lift up the average car. Agility stat of 20 will make you three times faster than Usain Bolt. Intelligence stat of 20 sets you on par if not beyond the giants of the scientific revolution. And many more.
'Can't get past 28% huh?'
Marvel sighs as he looked at the percentage beside his F-ranked core.
Every creature, may it be sentient or not in nature, would one day develop a core within their body that would act as a conduit to channel mana easier and in greater quantities. The power of your magic as well as its fluidity and stamina is heavily reliant on the strength of your core. This is developed by mainly training your body, the vessel, to be able to contain the power that the core holds.
This means that every living creature of any type of profession or lifestyle that has a high rank mana core will, in turn, have a resilient physique. May they be an ice mage or a goblin tinkerer.
Marvel has been attempting to forcefully develop his core ahead of time where most children would develop theirs much later around the age of 10 to 12.
This was because of certain key events that he recalls from the story [ Heroes in the Abyss ]. The story never specified exactly what date it started on the Pyran calendar, but through backtracking the time spent by the main characters, it's safe to say that the main events started at around 12 to 15 years before [ Heaven's Fall ].
Marvel was sent to the year 1382, Pyran calendar. Thirty years before the end of everything.
The year is now 1389.
By the time the main characters of the story begin their journeys, Marvel would be an adolescent.
Some would say that he should train hard on his fundamentals first then join the main heroes in their journey whilst trying to alter their destiny right? A common thought.
But Marvel is in a state of urgency due to the fact that the events that led to the downfall of most important characters throughout the story could only be somewhat prevented or mitigated when acted upon much earlier than the designated plotline.
Let's imagine the events leading to world war 2. People who fantasize about time traveling say that if they could, they would stop Hitler before he did anything harmful to the world. What they usually forget to take into account is that the people of Germany at the time of Hitler was already being carried by the same currents of economic distress and revanchist anger that the supposedly "undefeated" Imperial Germany had been "stabbed-in-the-back" by surrendering in World War I.
Long story short - Germany would still have risen up and fought back its oppressors either way which would still have resulted in war, albeit in a different form.
The genocide of the Jews might not have happened and the blow to the world softened, but war would still have happened at the end of the day.
Same case with the world of Myrrah, countless figures of legends in the making snuffed out or crippled before they could even glimmer, much less shine at every possible turn of the story.
Back to today.
While Marvel was thinking about how to grow up faster - his door knocked.
Knock knock!
"Master Marvel, welcome back."
A light feminine voice was heard from the other side, breaking Marvel's train of thought.
"Door's not locked, you may come in."
Creaaaak
"So you're finally back"
"Hey Jasmine, good afternoon to you too."
Standing in front of him is a young girl not much older than him with blue ponytails whose body is covered by a brown oversized cloak wearing a deadpan expression.
Sniff Sniff!
As soon as Jasmine came into close proximity of Marvel, she started sniffing the air around him.
"You tried breaking through again last night?"
She asked as she smelled the instability of mana within Marvel's incomplete core.
Nn.
Marvel nods in affirmation and was about to say something when suddenly,
"Just shut up and eat this"
Fwooosh!
Marvel moved his body slightly to the right to avoid the punch Jasmine just threw straight at him.
"Stay still!"
"Wait Jasmine! Can we talk this out?"
Bang! Crash! Slam!
As Jasmine ignored Marvel's words as she kept attempting to land a good one on that pretty face of his and wrecking Marvel's room, Marvel was suddenly pulled up by his collar and Jasmine was hit square on the face by a big loaf of bread.
Guk!
"The time for fighting is over children! The time for bread and lunch has come! Quickly now, let us move into the dining hall lest the Madame comes over here herself."
A big burly bald man with the brightest smile wearing brown overalls over a white cotton shirt came into the room and broke the two's scuffle up as he picked up the stunned Jasmine as well by her collar and dragged the two away.
'A normal day. This is a normal day. You got this Marvel.'
As he was getting dragged, Marvel was self-hypnotizing himself over the chain of events that occurred one after another as if all this was just one of those days.