The only one that really cared for Rio was the maidservant, her name was Alicia, she was raised here from a very young age and now she should be in her early 20s. She was quite beautiful with black glossy hair, a straight nose, blue eyes, and some visible freckles that kind of compliments her pale skin.
She has been taking care of Rio quite diligently over the year as nobody else really cared for him. She came to do all the necessities before leaving and continuing her work.
4 YEARS LATER
"Morning stepmother" Rio greeted. The person he was calling stepmother was Evelyn Casmir, Sylvester's Mother. Father's Second wife. She had brown long hair with green eyes, a voluptuous figure, and a face that could honey-trap any man. She looked at Rio with a kind smile but he know it was nothing but lies, he could see the mask and the actual face behind it.
Rio stayed there for around 10mins waiting for her to get to the point of why she called Rio. She finally got to the point.
"Rio, I actually called you here to discuss what may happen in the future, as you should know at the age of 7, the Dantian is formed and one needs to know how to stabilize it or you could end up with a damaged core." Although Rio was aware of this he listened to her patiently
She tossed him a book that had a brownish cover on it and said 'Mana Controlling Technique'. Rio bowed and thanked her, she then told him that he could leave, he bowed and went on his way, once he entered his room he shut the door and thought 'status'
[Ding!]
Name: Rio Casmir
Strength: 1.3
Agility: 1.4
Endurance: 1.3
???:??!
'Well these stats don't look too bad I estimate Sylvester's average at around 2, However, it's not due to him being 4 years older, but because he's been specially groomed with martial arts books and resources' Rio sighed before proceeding to open the cultivation book.
[Ding!, Cultivation Technique Book found, Absorb?]
'Could've activated when he was trying to learn this foreign language' Glad the absorbing function was working, he proceeded to think 'Confirm'
[Ding! Defect found in Cultivation Technique Book, could hinder the host, continue to Absorb?]
'Defects found, did she try to hinder my growth, maybe even halt it completely, it seems this hatred of his is really big.' Rio wondered before confirming. Knowledge is all that is received when absorbing, so he guess he could use this book as a reference.
This family really is corrupt and evil, to the point of trying to hinder a child's growth. Well, humans usually look out for their own, so it's understandable why his so-called stepmother tried to hinder him.
But Rio never really understood his father's disdain towards him, however, he had done multiple hypotheses and the most logical one was the fact that his deceased mother died while having him, it seems to have made Rio's father looks at him disdainfully. Rio never knew a man can have such a shallow mind.
'It's known that my deceased mother was the first wife and father loved her very much, but since she died I guess he needs to blame someone for her death, I guess the best way for him to do it is to take all the anger out on me. What a shallow and narrow-minded way of thinking as I scrutinized him in my heart, I discarded the cultivation book and continue cultivating using the Qigong from my previous life'
A couple of months later while Rio was cultivating when he realized a strange phenomenon happening just under his navel, Rio closed his eyes and focused on the feeling and then realized he was forming his Dantian.
'Wait, aren't I 2 years early, the usual time to form a Dantian is when your 7 years old, however, I am still 5 years old Rio pushed all his thoughts aside and decided to focus on creating his Dantian
Rio used Qigong to suck in as much mana as possible and directed it to just below his navel. In his naval was gathered a lot of mana, he read that the more mana that is gathered when the Dantian is being formed the better the foundation would be and the further he could go in the path of a magus. So, Rio decided to take in as much mana as he could possibly take and put in that one spot, he kept going even though it started to get a little uncomfortable and when he decided that he couldn't take in any more, Rio started to compress his Dantian as much as possible.
Slowly and gradually, Rio's Dantian has been compressed as little as possible so that it looked no bigger than a fingernail. Once the whole compressing process finished he let out a deep turbid breath, with his skin releasing sticky sweat.
[Ding! Dantian has been formed. The class subsection has been unlocked. Obtained the class 0th Ranked Mage]
Name: Rio Casmir
Class: 0th Rank mage
Strength: 1.3
Agility: 1.4
Endurance: 1.3
???:??!
After throwing away his clothes and soaking in a nice warm bath, Rio decided to venture more into the system.
"System, find the best way for me to get stronger quickly" Rio stated
[Ding! Instructions received….]
[Ding! Search Completed, 50 possible Methods found]
Rio pondered as he thought 'remove any with side effects and any with a 50% or higher of failure'
[Ding! Instructions received…]
[Ding! Filter completed…3 Methods found]
'Show them to me he thought
[Option one: Joining the Military] [Option two: Magus] [Option three: Martial Arts Training]
'Military is not possible for me at the moment since I'm too young, however, I can get busy with Martial Arts Training' Rio thought
'Okay, it's settled, I should try to get a martial art book, that could make me stronger, the soon I get stronger the sooner I can leave this place.' As Rio was thinking about how to get his hands on a martial arts book, since comprehending it wouldn't be a problem in his case.
Rio decided it was best to try using his older brother's Martial Arts, all he really needs to do is flip through it and let the system do its magic, so Rio started to formulate a plan.
Rio saw his brother in the training ground sweating while practicing his martial arts, standing in a horse riding stance, gradually throwing out punches that ejected short bursts of shockwaves.
Rio simply couldn't steal the martial book as it was kept inside a storage ring, 'who gives kids storage rings anyway, guess that's the privilege of being privileged' He sighed as he walked to the training ground.
Sylvester seemed to have noticed him coming and said "Little Rio, is this a place you can tread as you please," he said while maintaining his horse-riding stance.
Rio replied, "Syl, I am merely bored and wanted to do a little bit with you, but if I truly am not welcomed I leave." It's an open training ground, where anybody can train however Rio tends to train in his room so nobody can know his interest in getting stronger which led to some decreased pressure he would face from his stepmother.
As Rio's back was faced toward Sylvester and he was about to walk off the huge square ring, Rio heard "Little Rio, say the bet, if I'm not entertained then I make sure you'll leave with at least one fractured bone". Rio smiled deviously at his reply. However, he could not see it since Rio's back was towards him.
Rio calmed himself down and turned around. "I was just bored and saw you use your martial art, which peaked a bit of my interest. How about this, we do a little sparring session, first, one to get hit loses" Sylvester raised a brow at his proposal.
"Well I was just about to finish up, I can finish up with crushing you. So tell me little Rio, what are the bets?"
"If I win, I get to borrow your martial arts book for a week and if you win, you get to use me as a punching dummy for your sparring sessions" Rio replied
Sylvester was always a discerning person so he was asked a question that I expected him to ask.
"You haven't touched anything about martial arts, why the sudden interest, don't tell me you're trying to compete with me for succession?" he asked with a scoff
I replied with no fluctuation in my mood "I'm not interested in the succession and I'm not interested in martial arts, I was just slightly curious about your martial art"
Sylvester was thinking as he practically scanned to see if Rio was lying, but before he could let him think any further, Rio interrupted his thinking
"Okay what about this, I just casually flip through the pages, I'm sure that's enough to satisfy my curiosity about your martial art unless the actual reason is that you're scared that you'll lose that does have any martial arts"
After hearing my proposal of just flipping through the book, he relaxed, since he remembered his mother telling him not to share his martial arts with Rio, he was always cautious in regards to his martial arts, 'however, how could this weakling in front of me possibly win' he thought 'and even if he miraculously won, there's no way he could learn my martial art my flipping through the pages.'
With that thought, he readily accepted the proposal, with the intention of having a human dummy to practice his martial arts on.
"I'll let you have the first move, so you won't say I'm bullying you since you have no martial arts" he exclaimed while standing in his horse-riding stance