Haruto was at peace, drifting in the void.
The surrounding darkness was soothing, comforting, even.
So what was that annoying light trying to slice his eyeballs open? Haruto tried to remain in that peaceful oblivion, yet the light kept growing stronger, and finally, Haruto had no choice but to open his eyes.
"Geez, you're finally awake onii-chan, I was thinking you were going to laze around and be a sleepyhead all day! You do realize this evening is our inauguration ball into the Lunaris Arcane Academy, right?"
"Hah?"
That sound was the only thing Haruto could muster up as he took in his new surroundings.
First of all, why was there a cute girl sitting on top of his leg, and second, why did his room look like that stereotypical anime room where the walls were made out of bricks, the fireplace in a corner, and there was a magnificent view out to what Haruto could only guess was a bustling medieval town?
"W-where am I?"
Haruto cleared the morning scratchiness from his voice as he addressed his supposed 'little sister'
"Haha! You're so silly. Your brain must still be fuddled after last night's 8 rounds of Vanya ale! It's strong stuff, so I'll indulge you..."
Well, that certainly explained the rancid rotten fruit taste in his mouth.
"You're Haruto Ichika, second heir to the seat of the Vancrus dukedom, which is a minor part of the Alarian kingdom in our glorious world of Alaria! Well, every kingdom has their own name for this land, but to us it's Alaria. Isn't that funny?"
Haruto could see the girl was enjoying this, yet he also wondered at how this was possible. Could this be a dream?
No, he could feel the warmth underneath his blankets, the faint birdsong outside the window, yet he could barely accept his current reality.
This sort of stuff was only supposed to happen to people in animes and trashy isekais! Not to your random middle management salaryman! Yet this was all real.
"I don't know why father won't expand the dukedom, there's unclaimed marshland in the north and if we could put men to make it into a farm, it would solve both our unemployment and food crises!"
Suddenly, as if there was a time lag, information flowed through his brain. Haruto suddenly had an understanding of the world, regional conflicts, contexts of things, and most importantly, the power system in this world.
As his 'little sister' continued to yap about things he couldn't care less about right now, he sifted through his virtual library, grasping the concepts of this world.
This world was similar to earth, yet it had magic. It came in the form of certain specialised cells in the blood, called mana blood, in the body that produced absurd amounts of a different type of energy than the body used.
This energy was mana. Yet, many humans had little to none of these cells, and only through sheer luck or selective breeding was this powerful trait passed down through generations. Thus the noble and royal houses were born.
But humans themselves were poor vessels of mana, even the most powerful practitioners unable to harness more than a tiny fraction of their power before their organs melted under the sheer energy overflow.
So, after centuries of experimentation, humans had discovered that by infusing a blade with the blood of a person with moderate-high amounts of mana blood, the blade would act as a conduit of energy, drawing out the users mana to it's fullest potential.
However, each sword would only work for it's owner, the one who infused their blood in the first place, and was equivalent to a regular sword in the hands of any other than the owner, no matter how powerful.
There were also different types and ways to harness mana, such as a user coating their sword in fire mana to deal increased harm or a user sending gusts of mana-infused wind at enemies by slashing their sword.
To better categorise the power level of these mana users, there was the invention of a device that could measure your mana blood concentration, with the highest concentration being S-Tier and the lowest being D-Tier.
Every mana user had a mana affinity, which determined the properties of their mana, such as fire, wind, ice, lightning, poison and much more. There were rare cases of some talented users having up to 2 affinities, though they were a rarity and tended to die at young ages.
Of course, the higher your tier, the better you would be able to wield your respective mana and the more potent your attacks would become.
But there were also affinity ranks, which allowed you to learn more skills and be more proficient in your affinity, but required intense training to level up. This enabled even D-Tiers to become strong through sheer hardwork.
Haruto processed all this information in a split second, and analysed his own mana.
He was astonished to discover that he had 2 affinities, which was categorised as [S-Tier Affinity: Heavenly],
And another, more deeply hidden, categorised as [̴̑͜H̷̙̅i̷̠̗̍d̷̯̀d̸͈̐͝e̵̬̓̎ͅn̶̢̻͋ ̴̲͎̏͊Ä̷̺́f̴̩̮̀f̶͓̓ͅi̵͖͓̇n̶̹̜̔̆ȋ̷͎̤̒t̶̡͔͆y̵̧̍̂:̴̰͗͝ ̶̧̓̂͜A̸̘̓͋͜b̴̻̿͑y̸͓̆ș̵̭͂s̴̜̜̒a̴̜͝l̷̩̱̊]̸͉̽ͅ Haruto was confused. Was this some sort of latent ability? Why did he see it now? And why did it seem like it was bugged?
But Haruto didn't dwell on it much longer. Damn, he was supposedly really powerful.
His mana blood concentration was solidly in S-Tier, and instinctively, without him knowing how to do it, he concentrated on his sister, analyzing the amount of mana blood flowing through her veins.
Unlike him, she was at the peak of A-Tier, just brushing the border between A and S-Tiers. Her attribute was ice.
"Hey, are you even paying attention to me? I know you too well, and I know when you're zoning out. That's rude!"
Her comments interrupted his reverie as he looked back up at her.
"You should be bowing down to the magnanimous and kind Miyuki Ichika! C'mon now, let me see you grovel at my feet!"
"...No way I'm doing that..." Haruto muttered
"Anyways, don't we need to prepare for the ball tonight? I'm sure I can find a nice suit somewhere."
"Wow, now suddenly you're so co-operative, huh? Well hurry along then, you can't keep your beloved li'l sis waiting, can you?"
As she left the room, Haruto finally had some time to think. Checking out his body, he was pleasantly surprised to see the young, energetic and virile body of an athletic 18 year old.
Glancing towards the bedroom mirror, he was surprised to see a handsome, yet unremarkable youth with a sharp jawline, spiky black hair and surprisingly normal hazel eyes.
I really look the part of an anime character huh...except that I'm probably the protagonist right? Shouldn't my eyes be glowing or something? That'll be cool...
Analyzing his abilities in detail, he found out that the Abyssal affinity was still locked, and he was unable to access it's details.
This convinced Haruto there must be some sort of activation method, possibly near death experiences or going through enough training.
But for now, he concentrated on what he had available, [Heavenly]. Taking one look at the affinity was enough for all the information to flood into his brain, courtesy of whatever powers were at work.
[S-Tier Affinity: Heavenly]
[Affinity Rank: C-]
[Your mana channels the purity of the celestial realm, granting you its power in your blade. Your mana is effective against undead type beasts or chaos type affinities such as poison or shadow.]
[Current skills]
--Passive skill: Heavenly Judgement: Depending on the relative 'evil' of the opponent, all stats will be boosted by up to 500%, but depending on the relative 'goodness' of the opponent, stats could be reduced by up to 50%.
--Active skill: Dazzling Blade: This skill summons 3 ethereal blades made of pure heavenly mana to pierce the opponent.
--Passive skill: Blessed Aura: Dispel any curse, poison, or negative status ailment that have a lesser affinity rank than your own.
Amazing...Haruto thought. It was a very well balanced power, and while it looked like it lacked any real power moves, he was sure that would change once he ranked up his affinity.
But upon closer inspection, his eyes widened in horror. Depending on the relative 'goodness' of the opponent, his stats might be cut in half? How was that fair? He couldn't even switch it off since it was a passive!
It was disastrous. What happened if he was paired with some perfect kid at this new academy? He would be at a huge disadvantage. What even quantified 'goodness' anyways?
These would all be questions in his mind as Haruto drifted through the day, until finally, the night of the inauguration ball was upon him (and his 'sister').