Up to now, I have lived in this world for about 2 years and I have also learned a few things about my family as well as myself.
First of all, my name in this world is Lucian Griefhardt. I have blond hair inherited from my father and sharp red eyes from my mother. It is not an exaggeration to say that I look very cute, much more adorable than the kids of the same age in my old world. Since both my father and mother have faces like the actors in the movies, I do not have to worry too much about my appearance in the future.
"Shatter!"
Next is my father, Aether Greifhardt. The person who just dropped the plate while washing the dishes. Needless to say, my father is quite a clumsy person. He has messy blond hair and cool cyan eyes. Every time I look at him, I feel light and relaxed. He is also equipped with a muscular body. Because he was so perfect, God must have balanced everything by giving him a clumsy nature.
"Clean up quickly!"
Finally, there is my mother Seraphine Greifhardt, who is watching my father clean up the mess he made. She seems to be a strict and determined mother, but she always cares about her family and SOMETIMES there are days when she is very easygoing and gentle. I have to emphasize the word sometimes because the possibility of those days appearing is less than winning the lottery.
I spent 2 years in this world enjoying the family life that I always wanted. It felt marvelous and warm. I love my family. I love my perfect but clumsy father and my strict but caring mother. I love the food they cook for me. I love the way they care for me. I love the time I have with them.
After all these years, the dream that seemed so far away is now in front of my eyes.
'So this is the feeling of warmth that family brings?' I smiled slightly.
***
One day, I was shopping with my parents in town. My father was carrying me in his muscular arms while I looked around the town with exhilaration. This was the first time I went in town after seeing it through the window 2 years ago.
Everything here was so new to me. The one and two-story houses made of woods and granite, quartzite stones were densely built on both sides of the road. Smoke from the chimneys seemed to draw soft lines into the sky. The males usually wore linen shirts and coarse cloth pants while the females wore long skirts, aprons, or some just simple cloaks, with a strong medieval feel.
While my mother was buying clothes, my father and I waited for her outside. With his natural beauty, it wouldn't be long before 2 girls would approach us and try to talk to him. My father seemed to be confused, not knowing what was happening, so I tried to kick my feet and flail around (That was the only thing I could do in this childish body) to show them that I was feeling uncomfortable and chase them away.
The day continued peacefully, it should have ended like that but didn't. As my family approached the city gate, I saw many familiar faces. Not because I had seen them before, but because they were having the same expressions as me in my previous life. Melancholy, depression, sadness, disappointment with themselves for not being able to protect anyone.
'What's going on?'
Instantly, whispers arose from the surroundings as if answering my question.
"It seems to be the black dragon!"
"I heard it came to a town and completely destroyed it at night and a lot of people were dead!"
"How scary!"
"Black Dragon" was the name of one of the four terrifying monsters that my mother often told me about in her spare time. Legend has it that the demon that symbolizes destruction created four great monsters and released them into the human world. The four monsters included "Black Dragon", "Basilisk", "Titan" and "Levy". All four of them had special abilities and horrifying powers that could destroy an entire town.
That was when I realized that this world was not all rosy, but that was obvious, no matter what world, they were always brutal. Because I was so used to the peaceful feeling of family, I had mistakenly thought that this world was always tranquil. While I was enjoying my precious time, somewhere the demons were still preparing, ready to destroy humanity.
'I have to be stronger! Stronger to protect important people from demons!' That was when I realized that my biggest threat was the demons, entities that had existed in this world for thousands of years.
I didn't want to become like those refugees, didn't want to repeat the mistakes of the past, and I didn't want anyone to become like them or like me in my previous life.
Seeing the scene of the refugees, my father quickly covered my eyes so that I wouldn't have to witness that petrifying scene and quickly left the town and returned home.
***
That night, after making sure that I was asleep, my mother left the room. As soon as the door closed, I woke up and thought about what I have to do.
'So it's clear, to achieve my goal, defeating the demons is crucial, and to do so, I have to become stronger.'
I recalled what I had learned through the book "How to Use Mana" while reading with my father the other day.
To put it simply, Mana was similar to Aura but it was more useful. Mana usually has 2 uses, one was to use it as energy to be able to use elemental power like when my dad created fire in the palm of his hand and shot it towards the tree. Next was to use it to enhance your body and weapons during battle.
According to it, kids when their soul age reaches 5 years old, they could now start to study to awaken their mana. Since I used to be 21 years old in my first life, I might be able to awaken my mana. I wanted to have mana as soon as possible since I would have more time to get used to it and maybe I could level up my mana. On the other hand, people would awaken their elemental power when they reach 7 years old. Meaning that I would have needed to be 7 years old in this body in order to obtain elemental power. Moreover, everyone would be able to use mana while the chance of awakening is 1%, meaning that only 1 in 100 people would be able to obtain elemental power when they are 7.
The power of mana was also divided into different levels. The higher the level, the faster the mana recovery speed, the more mana would be stockpiled, the stronger the elemental power would become, and the stronger the weapon and your body would be strengthened. Each level has its own color and there are a total of 14 levels. The color of each level looks exactly like the pH scale. The lowest was dark red (level 0 for beginners) and the highest was dark purple(level 14).
'Does that mean my dad's mana level is 9?'
Putting that aside, the important thing now was how to awaken mana. It wasn't mentioned in the book, probably because it only taught how to use it. I remembered my dad's actions during each of his training sessions. Although he always changed the activities during each session, he always meditated for a while before starting.
"It's to feel the mana in nature." He had told me so.
Imitating him, I sat cross-legged, closed my eyes, and concentrated. Since it was nighttime and there was no noise, concentrating was much easier. 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes, … 10 minutes passed without me feeling any difference.
'Nothing happened.' Disappointed, I sighed and opened my eyes. However, the space around me was now filled with darkness. I was taken aback because this phenomenon was similar to what happened after I died in the first world.
I woke up and gasped, realizing that I was still in the familiar room.
'What just happened?!'
Then I felt a rush of exhaustion and fell asleep instantly.