Author's Note:
This is where the world-building truly begins, as this is the second of the chapters focused on studying!
These chapters will serve as compilations of information or snippets of training sessions with the teacher's explanations. Why? Because Sirius is studying, and so should you!
It might be a bit expositional, but I want to lay everything out here and now.
That's it—enjoy the chapter!
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Renovas Residence | 15 Days After Cronus' Gaze | 2501
Under the light of a holographic lamp, Sirius Renovas was engrossed in reading every book Merkana had given him.
These weren't just complex books; no, some were ones he had already read back in school, even in his early elementary years.
The problem? There was information in them he genuinely had no idea about.
These were things found in the basic textbooks (as confirmed by his DD), and it made no sense. After all, even without much effort, he had always been the top student in his class!
However, when it came to Science, Geography, and History, there were details he had never even heard of before!
These were subjects he enjoyed the most (except Geography—Math was better in his opinion).
How… had he not studied this before?! The material had been there all along!
It felt as if something had been actively keeping him from learning it, but that wasn't important now. What mattered was this: transcribing all the knowledge he had learned into a notebook.
And that's exactly what he was doing at this very moment.
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First, everything he already knew.
The most obvious fact: the planet's government was unified. Unification Day was a holiday celebrated for over six centuries, dating back to June 5th, 1976, following the "Five-Day War" or the "World Union War."
Political power wasn't concentrated in the hands of a single person or council but instead distributed across numerous non-governmental organizations, decentralizing political authority to prevent tyranny.
The most famous (and powerful) of these was the legendary Black Olive, an organization that had existed since the early days of heroism in the 1940s—the so-called Golden Age (or the Age of Madness).
"Countries" were essentially provinces, each with its own representative. Nations themselves were nothing more than representations of ideals, flags, cultures, or peoples.
All of this was thanks to the legendary hero, politician, soldier, and warrior known as Osvaldo Carmini, the first to bear the title of Modelaider, hailed as the Greatest Hero in History (the one Sirius had to surpass if he ever wanted to achieve his dream).
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Aside from the Five-Day War, Sirius also knew about the Infernal War due to his time in high school—a battle against demonic forces.
This was a war between heroes and demons that lasted a year and a half (from January 15th, 1985, to July 15th, 1986) before the heroes ended it in under five days, thanks to the return of "Nexus" and the rest of the Top 10 heroes. Humanity triumphed in what was its most significant conflict to date—a war that devastated the entire planet but was contained thanks to the organizations and the Unification.
Oh, speaking of which...
The Unification was the government, but it didn't control the heroes. Instead, the heroes were managed by the aforementioned non-governmental agencies.
These agencies didn't "control" or "brand" heroes but rather provided resources, trainers to keep them in shape, investigative support, and more.
They also monitored and managed the planet's most critical prisons for super-powered beings—and did an excellent job, being the best in the solar system.
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Now, what didn't Sirius know?
Basic things, like how this government functioned. For example, they used pacts to prevent corruption (though, for some reason, they called them Agreements).
The pact's terms were public (Sirius had already noticed a pattern where anything extraordinary wasn't something he was supposed to know, despite being aware of the Infernal War). The terms were essentially rules that politicians were obligated to follow.
The Rules:
1. In the Unification, each province must have a representative.
Representatives are chosen by their predecessors and must be qualified for the position.
A representative cannot refuse to pass on the title. If they sense their life is nearing its end, they must urgently select a successor.
In the event of sudden death, the most qualified and popular candidate takes over.
2. Representatives must not directly or indirectly allow corruption of any kind, including ideological corruption.
3. A representative must fulfill their duties in managing and governing their province.
4. A representative must not allow their province to stagnate in sociological, technological, or developmental terms.
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Now Sirius understood why there had only been one corruption scandal in the past century—politicians were practically forced to be decent.
Some might call this slavery, but for some reason… Sirius found it refreshing.
He also discovered something else Merkana had mentioned: gods exist.
Frankly, he had no idea how he hadn't connected the dots earlier—demons had been confirmed to exist for six centuries, after all.
The gods confirmed to exist included:
The Aesir Gods (Norse Mythology)
The Egyptian Pantheon
The Persian and Celtic Pantheons
The Babylonian Gods
Christianity (to a certain extent…)
Why weren't the Greek gods on this list? Well, they had existed but were massacred in 1992.
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Moving on to a less grim topic, how were heroes classified in this world?
Generally, terms from old tokusatsu series were used to categorize heroes, though some American comic book terms were also used (not relevant here).
There was a kind of "Top 7" on the planet:
1. Top 10: The last line of defense, handling cosmic threats and protecting the solar system.
2. Top 20: Dealing with planetary-level threats.
3. Legacy Heroes: Heroes managing continental or lunar-level threats, often carrying legacies.
4. Kyodai Heroes: Handling giant threats, capable of devastating large metropolises or states.
5. Iron and Choujin Heroes: Essentially the military or police force.
6. Sentai Teams: Combating organized villains and monsters capable of massive destruction.
7. Vigilantes and Local Heroes: Focusing on minor threats like rogue kaijin.
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This classification shattered Sirius' worldview.
Even with more important topics to learn, he couldn't shake one repetitive thought: "Why didn't I know any of this?"
After 35 minutes of pondering, it hit him:
"Wait… This started in elementary school. I've known about demons since middle school. This isn't taught in elementary—it's taught in middle school. And I stopped learning extraordinary things… when my mom died?"
He had no idea what his father and mother did for a living. Oh no, he only knew they had loads of money and things others could only dream of having, like that state-of-the-art printer that created objects out of light.
And now, even with a glaring lack of evidence aside from this coincidence… he might have started to realize that his family was more important than he thought. After all, if his paranoia was correct, something was trying to stop him from gaining this knowledge, as if it desperately wanted to keep him away from it.
But there were still things that didn't add up…
Why was he getting this information NOW? Why was he finally able to… know?
!
He finally understood why after some analysis.
*(Before, I… I was susceptible to deception because I was blinded by grief.)* – He thought – *(So much so that I already knew a lot of things before this, like the history knowledge I gained in high school before going back to middle school… this means that, somehow, I couldn't be manipulated back then, and maybe…)* – His eyes widened.
He had never had a single clue about what he was, what the gem on his forehead was, why he felt so inclined to do complex studies despite being so lazy, or why he naturally had silver tips in his hair.
Hell, he had more brainpower than a normal human being.
And on top of all that, there was this whole "Evolution Rate" nonsense that Merkana had mentioned.
In just a few weeks of training, he went from a couch potato to a muscular guy who could punch down trees!
His fists were more powerful than rifles and comparable to the strikes of a giant sledgehammer!
But now, finally… he had a potential lead.
*(This means… I could be a genuine threat to something big.)* – He narrowed his eyes – *(And that big thing knows what I am and doesn't want me to know anything about it—!!)* – He realized something – *(That's why!!! That's why ALL THE INFORMATION was on the second search page of my browser!!!)* – … This proof was both utterly ridiculous and incredibly effective at the same time.
*(But seriously, why did the mood just break like that? URGH… fine, just follow the damn script, narrator, just follow the script.)* – The previous narrator had derailed the tone so much that I had to take over.
Sirius, instead of finding all this insane or breaking into some kind of hysteria… smiled.
Most people would be terrified by this—a colossal, perhaps even cosmic-scale entity considering you a threat, even though you're just… normal.
But even so…
The mad, completely psychotic grin on Sirius's face showed he was anything but normal.
And his true personality?
Hahahahah!
It was finally breaking free! This was confirmed by a piercing scream:
"BRING IT ON!!! I'LL CATIRIPAPAR THE CRAP OUT OF YOU AND FIGURE IT OUT MYSELF, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!!"
Renovas couldn't sleep that night, overwhelmed by adrenaline and endless notes.
Eventually, he paused to write the essay Merkana had asked for, but even then, he couldn't get sleepy.
He only fell asleep when his dad hit him on the head with a hammer.
To be continued…