Ascension Rebirth - Choose a class

CHAPTER I

PART ONE

[Eternum Calender Year 492]

It was a bright sunny day in the midst of August when a certain baby boy was born.

The mother who had just given birth was laying on the bed with sweat dripping from her forehead. She had a pale complexion from the beginning due to her sickly nature.

This woman's name was [Rio Fallon].

Giving birth in that kind of situation would spell certain doom for anyone, however Rio was a strong woman. She gave birth to her husband's child; a healthy baby boy.

However due to this her stamina was expended greatly and pulse was dropping rapidly.

"Rio! Rio!"

Her husband; [Mardoc Fallon] called out towards her in panic.

"I'm okay Mardoc, I just lost consciousness for a few seconds."

Fortunately Rio did not lose her life in this endeavour. This was because in this world [Magic] existed. Particularly [Holy] type magic which existed primarily to heal.

In normal circumstances, Rio would have most likely lost her life but because of the existence of magic she was able to survive to become a mother.

Realizing this Mardoc breathed in relief.

He took a glance at the newborn baby.

When babies are born they are supposed to cry; it was the norm. A sign to signify that they were healthy.

However this baby did not cry, instead it looked around the room in confusion.

The cleric and doctor that were present for the childbirth looked towards each other with a worried gaze.

They had not encountered such a situation before.

They were getting worried that this baby may have some sort of mental defects, but of course they kept their mouths closed in front of the parents as to not cause any unnecessary stress.

Both Mardoc and Rio were novice at parenting so they did not fully understand the implications of a baby that did not cry from birth.

Mardoc lifted his new son and peered into his eyes.

They met eye to eye.

Rio Fallon and Mardoc Fallon couldn't be any happier when they were able to safely deliver the baby. Clear green eyes as though they were jade or emerald just encrusted into where his eyes should be. His hair, well there wasn't much but it was a lovely jet black.

Rio Fallon and Mardoc Fallon, aged 22 and 23 respectively, though they were very young they had always wanted a child. To see that dream through, they could not ask for any more.

"What shall we name our new son?"

Rio asked with a troubled but smiling face. Perhaps it was the fatigue of having given birth to a new life or perhaps it was because she was at a loss.

"Hmm, that's right, a name, I've been so excited to finally have a child that I had completely forgotten about his name."

"Haha, that's very typical of you Mardoc."

Despite his clumsiness, Mardoc Fallon was one of the top knights of the realm. He had retired once he had learnt that his wife was pregnant with his first child.

Everyone had thought it was a pity that such a young and talented knight was retiring so soon. However for Mardoc it was not a sad day, but a day of celebration.

"How about Morgant? The name of my late master."

Morgant Milis, Former Grandmaster Knight, Captain of the highly prized Praetorian Knights, Mardoc's teacher, walking fortress, eternal hero, victory condition, Morgant the defender. He had many names and titles. All of them well earned.

Wherever Morgant Milis walked there were always praise, often time to the point of worship. He was beloved more than the country's gods. A figure of pure fortitude; a true paladin.

To such a person Mardoc was entranced by at a young age. Eventually he was able to gain tutelage of the infamous knight and Mardoc himself also came to be known as a hero.

Mardoc gained the position of Praetorian Knight merely at the age of 13 when the average age of such a knight was over 30. His skills were far better than the average knight due to the teachings of Morgant. For that he was ever so grateful.

Around the time of Mardoc's 20th birthday, was when news of Morgant having fallen in battle during a skirmish started revolving. At first he did not believe such a preposterous lie but as more evidence showed up he could not deny it.

His master who had taught him for over 12 years was gone. He could not forget the honour of having learned under such a master.

He would name his son after his exalted master.

"What a wonderful idea."

Rio had no objects. Though she was no Knight she was also worked in the tetrarch's castle city as a doctor. She had also been acquainted with the grandmaster knight through Mardoc.

Much like Mardoc she was also entranced by his mastery of the sword and shield.

"Then this child's name will be [Morgant Fallon]."

"I'm happy, thank you for being born. Morgant."

PART TWO

The [Fallon] Family was a family of lesser nobles.

Their name was not very well known. In fact the only ones who knew about them were the ones Mardoc directly worked with when he was a knight of the realm.

At best they were only slightly wealthier than the average commoner. They had enough money in their treasure for a few maids and a medium sized mansion with a large garden. However that was it, they held no political or military power.

Even in the village that they lived in they did not have any influence over.

[Mardoc Fallon]; the family's head was once a member of the coveted [Praetorian Knights], a group of highly elite knights of the realm that were the top of the top.

Their jobs included subjugating vicious and highly dangerous monsters, tracking vile criminals, protecting high ranking VIPs and disposing of spies.

Mardoc's main job was focused mainly on protecting the castle of a powerful noble known as the [Tetrarch].

This country was known as the [Ariadyne Tetrarchy] which was ruled by four equally powerful [Tetrarchs] who oversaw the government and its various branches.

In Particular Mardoc held a close relationship with the son of the Northern Tetrarch of Ariadyne, [Rian Mil Avon Ariadyne]. They were more brother than they were employee/employer.

This was because they had known each other since they were small children. At one point both of them even had the same teacher, Morgant Milis as their swords instructor. Though this period did not last long.

Rian was kept busy with work, so he had entrusted the sword to his friend, Mardoc.

Regardless, that was the extent of Mardoc's role as a Praetorian Knight.

Even though the position was highly prized and elite, it held no real political power. Because the country was teeming with high ranking nobles all spread out there was no one place in which a Praetorian knight was the highest ranking authority.

In the end all the Praetorian knights had the title of 'honorary noble'.

[Rio] Fallon also worked in Northern tetrarch's castle city along with Mardoc. She worked as a doctor and a cleric, which were really the same thing. Medical science had not evolved much, in its place was healing magic.

She worked as a doctor in the medical side of the castle. She was also acquainted with Rian, yet only briefly.

Born with a high affinity to clerical magic, she was one of the best clerics in the Country.

Not only that, she was also an extraordinary beauty, so much so that soldiers would deliberately would themselves during practice to go visit her.

However the man that stole her heart was none other than Mardoc. With Rian's blessing they were allowed to leave the Castle and live in peace. He had even bought them a small mansion and hired a pair of maids in an outskirt village known as [Karta Village].

The village had welcomed them.

The first reason was because the village was a fringe village on the boarders of the Ariadyne Tetrarchy but they lacked good soldiers to protect the town. Perhaps that was Rian's true motive, but he had sent Mardoc to reinforce the town's security.

The second reason was Rio Fallon. The town did have a clinic but Rio's clerical skills were far superior.

Even if the town guards were injured they could easily be healed.

In fact, on the first day that the two newly-wed arrived, the village chief's son had fallen ill. It was Rio who healed in very easily.

With that they had gained the town's trust completely.

Not only that during their time there they had made many new friends.

Despite the frequent monster attacks, they were nothing severe. At most they were a few goblins scavenging for leftover food.

It was only after a year or so that their first child was born.

[Morgant] Fallon. Named after their teacher.

PART THREE

-MORGANT'S SIDE-

By the time I had noticed where I was three years had passed.

I died.

I died in that plane crash.

I died leaving Kyouko behind despite telling her that I'd be back. I hated myself.

For the first year all I did was cry. I cried at my own pathetic self. I cried that I couldn't accomplish anything in that life.

I despised myself, I tried to starve myself but the people around me would not let me. Of course they wouldn't. I was a baby.

Reincarnation.

I'd often heard of such a theory many times, most in pop culture.

You die and you are reborn as another person. There are many variants to this.

Sometimes you are born with your memories of your past life intact.

Most of the times you are born without them, starting off with a new plate.

Sometimes you're not even born in the same race or species.

It differed from source to source.

I guess if I had to choose, I was in the category of the first type of reincarnation.

I was reborn with my memories still intact. How I loathed that fact so much so that I wanted to kill myself once more. The thought of not being able to be with Kyouko was painful. I didn't know what to do with myself, I only cried.

Why did my memories remain? It would have been far less painful if it had disappeared.

But when I think about it forgetting about Kyouko was painful in and of itself.

ARGH! Why was I reborn?!

By the time I had calmed down I was two years old. My body anyway.

The people who gave birth to this physical body of mine.

The mother was called [Rio Fallon].

The father was called [Mardoc Fallon].

They weren't Japanese, I wasn't even Japanese. If I had to say I looked more Caucasian. Well, it wasn't like I was particularly patriotic in the first place so, changing races while it felt a little weird, I didn't care.

Speaking of my reincarnation, it doesn't even look like I'm in the same world. This world was just a fantasy novel.

Monsters and magic exist.

Perhaps it was because I was already 32 when I died but I didn't particularly enjoy the thought of a fantasy world. I admit that I read my fair share of light novels and manga, I enjoy them during my off time but I wasn't really into it.

So being thrust into this nonsensical world where the laws of physics are broken constantly I was not happy.

At least physics exist, gravity is there, oxygen is there, everything is there, it's just that in some parts impossible things tend to happen.

I once hurt myself when I fell down in the backyard of this house. Actually, speaking of this house it was huge. A mansion. Though there was only two maids, twins really, and a butler.

Anyway, I had injured myself and scraped my elbows. It bled quite a bit, but my 'mother' came and healed me using some sort of magic. A white light covered my wounds and once it subsided I was healed completely.

'How convenient' was my first thought.

Really, I know I should be thankful but all I can think of was how this was such an affront to medical science. The people in my world studied decades just to get into a position to help others. But this world you only need to do some voodoo ritual and lo and behold, you're healed.

There was absolutely no romance or effort involved.

Well, had I been a doctor in my previous life I would most likely have been much more offended but whatever.

I imagine there are other types of magic besides healing ones. To my knowledge there are three types of magic.

[Fire], [ice] and [Lightning] magic.

Pretty self explanatory right?

Then there's [holy] magic which can heal people.

So I guess there's really four types of magic.

Fire can summon fireballs, ice can shoot ice balls, and lightning can- well you get the point.

Since I was still relatively young I didn't leave the house, but I did notice oddly shaped animals flying about in the distance. They weren't even animals the closest thing I can compare them to is the 'dragon' from my own world.

Yep, the kind that flies in the sky, has scales, sharp claws and teeth and can breathe fire.

That kind.

Really.

My first question was how does it maintain flight with such a large body?

My second question was how does it turn midflight without a proper aerodynamic tail?

By the time I got around to the third question I gave up. I'm too old, mentally, to retort to every single thing that doesn't make sense.

This world also uses a different language to the one I knew which was only Japanese and English.

I managed to learn to read and write the language by my second year.

It was fairly easy, perhaps it was because my brain was that of a newborns? Who knows.

Next I guess I should talk about the people of the house- sorry 'mansion'.

First would be the aforementioned mother, Rio Fallon.

She was- young. Beautiful, truly so. My heart almost skipped a beat after seeing her, she really was one of those artwork like people.

But as I said she's young. From what I can tell she's about 23 or so. She worked in this town's clinic as a 'doctor' and I use the term very loosely. However since this place was rather peaceful she often comes home early and leaves only when called out.

Other than that, she usually helps me I guess. I felt a little guilty when I was being breast fed by her. It felt wrong, but as a baby there really was no choice. I tried to graduate as fast as possible from that.

Sorry Kyouko.

Next the head of this house, Mardoc Fallon. He was only about 24 or 25, really young as well.

He was good with the sword. By that I mean it looks like he has actual combat experience. I practiced Kendo back on earth myself so I could tell that he had some skill.

He worked as the town's guardsman. Apparently our town was situated near a forest that was inhabited by monsters.

Why build a town next to a forest filled with monsters that could rip your face off I don't know. All I can say to that is that it was a little dim.

Then again, back in my world I know of towns that are built on an active volcanos.

So whichever one was actually stupider is up for debate. If I had to choose then maybe the town on a volcano was the dimmer one. They really didn't learn anything from history did they?

Well anyway, like I said, this town was peaceful. Even if there was a monster forest next to the town it was so peaceful that it hardly became a problem. As such Mardoc usually just hangs around with the other men in the town playing cards or something.

Then we have the twin maids.

I had always dreamt of having twin blonde maids to work in my house.

No, that was a lie, I never had such a juvenile dream. By the way, even though my mental age was supposed to be around 35 I've been acting more like a child these days. It could be that my brain isn't developed enough to catch up to my mental state or something.

So the result is that I've become a bit more cynical, or perhaps I've always been such a person. I don't know, really the last few years of my previous life had been so busy I never had time to myself.

Always juggling between work and Kyouko.

When I came to this world I truly had time to think for myself. It might be because of this I've been a little bit more juvenile.

Regardless, we were talking about the maids.

From their appearance along they looked to be around their late teens. 18 ~ 19?

I felt it was a waste for them to work their youth years away as a maid in such a rural town. But then again the common sense of this world greatly differed from my own world.

Their names were Lina and Lena Trioz.

Lina was more of an active person. She did most of the chores while singing.

Lena was a bit more passive but relatively likeable as a person as well.

They did their jobs well, if I was their employer I'd give them a 90% satisfactory rating.

Then the butler.

Care to guess what his name was?

It was really easy.

If you guess [Sebastian] then you are correct. And here I thought that it was myth.

He was the oldest one here. Around his 50s, older than me even if you accumulate both of my ages.

Even though he was aged he didn't really have any sort of grey hair. His hair was a smooth black and his eyes were azure, almost as though he could peer into your innermost thoughts.

He didn't talk too much but accomplished his job extremely well. I would give him a satisfactory rating of 99%.

Actually I think he came to work here as a part of a retirement plan or something. He didn't have any family of his own so he just spent his later years working for us.

Well anyway, those were the only people in the house.

Coming back to the house topic, this place doesn't have electricity.

I don't know what else to add to that. In its entirety I don't think this entire world has electricity. I mean the utilization of electricity in household places and technology.

This world was at best medieval. Its architecture and way of life was akin to mid century Europe. As I say that however, this world by no means was lagging behind that much. In place of technology this world had magic.

So of course some parts of technology would lag behind, but it would be complimented by magic so the level of convenience was only slightly worse than my previous life.

Speaking of culture, I kind of miss the food back then. The staple food here was bread and soup. It wasn't bad but it didn't fit my advanced Japanese tastes.

If I had to say, this world was 'cleaner' literally, the air had less pollution and the grass looked very healthy.

Compared to my previous world which was filled with concrete and pollution it was a nice change of scenery.

... I bet Kyouko would have loved to see this.

Sigh.

This year I'm turning three. Or more specifically this year I'm turning 35.

Speaking about myself specifically I had all of my memories from my previous life.

Knowledge about math, science, language, agriculture, psychology, economics.

Though, even if I knew such things, how much that will help me in this world aided by magical evolution I don't know. It could turn out to be useless.

Anyway, that was the gist of my life and this world so far.

PART FOUR

It was something that I had became aware of only after my third birthday but in this world I had a unique power. I don't mean magic, that was something anyone could use.

I'm not calling myself some chosen hero or anything like that, I don't have such delusions of grandeur. Likely, even if I was chosen as a hero I'd let the demon lord take over the world and negotiate a treaty peace for my family, I guess.

From an objective standpoint I had a unique ability that may or may not give me an edge in life.

Actually I'm not even sure if I should consider this an 'ability'. It was more of a way to perceive this world.

I dubbed my unique ability [User Interface].

Because, that's literally what it was.

I mean, it wasn't like I had a HUD or anything of the sort but I could pull up a UI menu like you would when you play computer games.

If I concentrate on an object a UI pops up. The UI was a transparent text box.

[Sunflower. A yellow flower that always points to the sun. Not very useful].

[Wooden Chair. Made of sturdy wood. Helps recover stamina].

[Clean water. A drinkable substance that recovers stamina. Doesn't taste like anything in particular, useful as a cooking ingredient].

[Bed. A comfortable bed with a mattress to sleep on. Sleeping on the bed for over 4 hours will completely rejuvenate the user].

Things like that. It would clarify the object that I am currently interested in.

It wasn't actually limited to inanimate object. I could also use it on a person if I concentrated hard enough. A title would appear on their heads informing me of their names, level and job.

[Mardoc Fallon. Level 42, Knight]

[Rio Fallon. Level 37, Cleric]

[Sebastian. Level 39, Battle Butler]. Battle butler? Sounds dangerous.

[Lina Trioz. Level 4, Maid]

[Lena Trioz. Level 4, Maid]

I actually can't use that ability on myself.

But I did have something better.

I can pull up things like my [Status Menu], [Inventory] and [Skill Menu].

[Status Menu].

Morgant Fallon. Level 1.

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Intelligence: 5

Insight: 5

[Status Points: 10]

By the way my [Inventory] and [Skill Menu] were empty.

Anyway, next to my status numbers there was a [+] and [-] symbol. Immediately I realized what this was. Well, I'm not bragging but I played my fair share of RPGs when I was younger, or I still did from time to time even as old as I was.

So anyway, this means that I can use the status points to distribute it to any stat I want.

I have 10 free points right now.

Let's talk about the individual stats.

[Strength]: was it useful? In this world it may have a case to argue. A world where monsters run rampant, strength would definitely become useful at some point.

[Dexterity]: this was also fairly useful. I can imagine a ranged weapon being very nicely complimented by this stat. Other than that it could help me with things like handicraft, sewing, cooking and the like.

Just because I was born a male in this life too didn't mean I couldn't do any of those things.

[Intelligence]: it was a stat I would definitely increase if I had this ability in my previous life. But if I knew my RPG mechanics correctly, then this status would no doubt be useful for mages, clerics or alchemists.

[Insight]: I'm not entirely sure on what this stat would actually do. Did it help me perceive things better? Wait, wouldn't that go under [intelligence]?

Argh, so confusing.

Well I wasn't opposed to being smarter, so I tried pressing the [+] next to [intelligence] but as soon as I did a UI box popped up in front of me.

[Status points cannot be distributed until a class has been selected].

What?

'Until a class has been selected'? what does that mean?

Well if you think about it carefully this world is one of swords and sorcery. 'selecting a class' could mean that you have to chose between jobs?

Like a mage or a knight? I guess? But how does my UI know if I chose a class or not, or what happens if I choose multiple classes?

Does this mean I have to wait til I can get some sort of official class from a trainer?

Would I be recognized as a warrior once I receive training from someone?

No wait, that wasn't possible. I've been training with Mardoc for some time now since he was a swordsman. I think he wants me to follow in his footsteps, but I can leave that decision until later.

Anyway so it wasn't that.

"Hmm."

"Is something the matter, young master?"

As I was contemplating one of the maids saw me and came up to ask. I think this one was Lina. She usually is more upfront about it if something caught her attention. I swear these twins are identical down to the mole under their mouth.

"I thought I saw a butterfly!"

I say in my attempt to act more like a child. It really might seem unnatural coming from me. I don't think they know I'm a reincarnated person.

I've kept it a secret, because it was more convenient to me that way.

"Oh, did you now. Huhuhu."

Seriously from my point of view that sounded really sarcastic. I know she wasn't meaning to but that tone of voice used against me who was almost twice their age it really irked me.

I understand that I'm supposed to be a child. But still.

If I acted more like an adult in this body it'd only look pretentious so I didn't do that. I tried my best to imitate a child.

I think it worked.

After she confirmed that nothing else interesting was going on in my general area she buzzed off to continue on with her chores.

I must admit though, the twins were really hard workers. They get up early in the morning and help Rio prepare breakfast, they make lunch, do the chores and once again help with dinner.

During the day they clean up the large mansion, just by themselves. They also do the laundry, gardening amongst other things.

I honestly felt a little defeated. I don't remember working half as much as they did when I was their age.

Seriously all I remember doing at their age was going to mixers and hanging out with my upperclassmen in my high school and university. I mean I did study and get into a good company- relatively, but compared to them I was really just playing around.

Ahh- I think that pondering anymore on this matter will just get me more depressed. Let's stop.

Returning to the issue at hand, just how am I supposed to 'select a class'.

As I say that, as if to taunt me and answer my question at the same time another UI box appeared before me.

It's like a virus. These UI boxes appear whenever they want without warning. It's so random I can't even predict them. Maybe I should try upgrading my software, install a new anti-virus program.

These were definitely some sort of malware in my brain. At least they were helpful.

[Please choose a class]

Oh! Something that can answer my question!

Of course following this UI another UI appeared, this time with a list of available classes.

[Magician]

[Knight]

[Assassin]

[Archer]

[Cleric]

[Necromancer]

[Brawler]

[Alchemist]

Right, right. This was what it meant by 'choose a class'. Though to be honest there's surprisingly only a small amount of classes to consider.

My parents are [Cleric] and [Knight].

So what happens if I can do two or more things. Like what if I was a butler and a mage?

Though I guess the most prominent one would appear.

Anyway, this old man doesn't want to run around like a juvenile.

Instantly that eliminated [Knight], [Assassin] and [Brawler] from the list. My list.

[Magician] didn't sound too bad.

[Alchemist] sounded interesting too but I wasn't into pseudo-science voodoo. It also appeared to overlap with [Magicians] in some aspects but also relatively different.

[Archer] while it looked fun it was something that also existed in my previous life. If I'm to choose a class then it should be something more unique right?

[Cleric]- lest I want to anger all of the hard working doctors and nurses in my previous world then no. I won't be choosing this.

[Necromancer]- um- yeah that sounds interesting. I haven't played many games with such a class. So this is like summoning monsters and undead to fight for me right? I'm all up for that.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

So I guess my choices come down to [magician] and [necromancer]. Truth be told I was already hooked on the idea of [necromancer].

[Magician] sounds cool and all but so many games had those. It wasn't unique enough for me. I'm not a hipster, I'm an old man, but I do prize uniqueness over practicality.

So having decided my class I pressed on the [necromancer] button. As I did the room was engulfed in a blinding green light.

It was then that people started to rush into my room.

"Is everything alright?!"

The first to voice her concern was mother. She looked like she was in a great panic.

"What happened?!"

Next, father came into the room and searched with his eyes what the situation was. Of course there was nothing out of the ordinary after the green light faded, but clearly he was also very frantic.

"Young master?"

Lina, Lena and Sebastian came after.

Sebastian called out to me with a furrowed brow.

"Ah, everyone."

"Morgant, just what happened here?"

I wasn't a father but I did have a younger brother so I could kind of understand how he was feeling right now.

It was probably a better idea to not say anything about my promotion to necromancer.

So I picked up a random rock lying around my room and presented it to my family. It was just an ordinary piece of rock that I used to test out my UI ability, to see if the text on the UI changes according to tampering.

Suffice to say that it did not yield much results, although I think that's mainly due to the fact that it was only a rock.

"This rock suddenly began to glow bright green, I don't know why. In any case I don't believe that I was effected in any way."

Mardoc picked up the rock from my hand and started to examine it. He made quizzical expressions as he twisted and turned the rock. Well it wasn't a surprise that he couldn't find anything rock with it, it was an ordinary rock after all.

"In any case I think our best course of action would be to dispose of the rock in a safe manner."

I lightly suggested. As I did mother came and hugged me. I don't think she was crying but she kept repeating, 'I'm glad' and 'thank god'.

I guess I really did worry them. Sorry.

Eventually everyone except Sebastian had left the room. He looked at me with a worried expression and asked.

"Is there truly nothing wrong?"

He was always very perceptive.

"Yes, sorry for worrying you needlessly."

"It is my duty to see that the young master is safe."

After saying something cool he left.

And so on that day I became a [Necromancer].

PART FIVE

About a month had passed since I've become a necromancer.

I've been experimenting with my newfound powers a lot these days.

Some days I even go without sleep.

For now I've gained 4 levels and so my stats look like this now.

[Status Menu].

Alder Fallon. Level 5.

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Intelligence: 5

Insight: 5

[Status Points: 30]

Apparently my status points increase by 5 each time I gain a level. I'm still unsure on how to distribute my stats so I've kept it at the base.

Initially I became confused when I opened my [skill menu] and saw that I only had a single skill in there. It was a passive ability as well.

The skill I had was.

[Life Force Sensory]

Conveniently there was an [inspect] button next to the skill.

Of course as I pressed the button another god damned UI box appears.

[Enables the user to see and sense 'life force' within a 100 meter radius].

Now obviously that sounds cryptic, well not so much cryptic as it was more confusing, but surprisingly it wasn't as bad as I initially thought.

Like the description told me, whenever I concentrate hard enough I can 'see' and 'feel' some sort of energy nearby. It's really hard to describe but everything posses this 'life energy'.

If it's a living being then the life energy is much stronger, things like plants have rather weak energy and inanimate objects have extremely faint energy, to the point where it would be fine to say it didn't have any, but it did.

I also found out that I could manipulate this energy if I concentrated hard enough. However it wasn't as though I could manipulate all the life force energy around me.

For example people that were stronger than me, which was everyone, was harder to manipulate. If I were to describe it in simple RPG terms, it would take more stamina and mana to manipulate the energy of things that were stronger than me. The stronger they were the harder it was.

Now, most people would be wondering what I mean by 'manipulating'.

When I was testing out my power I found that skills would appear on my [skill menu].

For now I had three skills.

[Life drain]

[Wither]

[Decay]

When I say 'manipulate' I really mean using these skills on targets.

[Life drain] as the name implies allows me to siphon life from organic targets; animals, insects, monsters, humans, other races, etc. As long as they were living organic targets I could use this skill on them.

Of course I haven't tested it out on humans, I've only used it on small insects and animals that were nearby. If I siphon long enough the target will eventually die.

Actually that's how one of the chickens we were raising died, but that's a story for another time.

[Wither] works only on plant-based targets. I can also drain some life force from them to heal myself but it wasn't as strong as [life drain]'s.

I actually casted [wither] on mother's prized garden, which gave her a shock when she found out. Of course I didn't tell her it was me, but I did help her plant new ones as I was feeling a tad guilty.

I've only used this skill on flowers, so all seems to me is that they dry up and die. I could try using it on some trees but that would look a bit suspicious so I refrained from doing such.

[Decay] worked pretty much the same way as the other two except it only works on inanimate objects, even when I use it cannot take any life force.

All that seems to happen is the targeted object ages and disintegrates if I use it long enough. I actually think out of the three skills this was the most useful one.

As a test I used it on a rock and it instantly turned into dust.

If I could use this effectively, I can open any doors and destroy any locks. It's the perfect breaking and entering skill!

No, but seriously, I do think that this skill would become useful in the future when I need it.

So far my skills look like this.

[Skill menu]

(PASSIVE) [Life Force Sensory]: Level 10

(ACTIVE) [Life drain]: Level 4

(ACTIVE) [Wither]: Level 2

(ACTIVE) [Decay]: Level 6

There doesn't seem to be a level cap from what I see so far. Every time I use the skill I gain 'skill exp' and once I fill the exp it increases in level.

Increasing the skill level increases the effects of the skill.

For example, I could drain more life and faster with each level I increase [life drain]

Actually it was pretty much the same for all three since they were very similar skills.

Anyway, from my experiments so far it looks like I can gain more skill through practice, experiments or if someone teaches me. I actually don't know how popular necromancers are in this world, I've been thinking recently that I may have picked the wrong choice.

What if it turns out that there are no necromancers?

I mean, if I had picked [knight] I could at least learn some skills from father.

These days I just spend time in my room experimenting with 'life force' energy. I can actually summon a ball of greenish energy in my hands, move it around and shape it.

That's how I was able to learn those three skills.

I've been using my knowledge from my previous life to come up with new ideas for skills.

However the problem is that there aren't many necromancer type characters in many RPGs. Even in most pop culture necromancers are usually the bad guys and even then aside from summoning undead goons they use normal magic.

Incidentally I can't use normal magic. I've tried to cast fire, ice or lightning magic but none of them work. I also attempted to learn holy magic from mother who worked as a cleric, but of course I couldn't do that either.

Well it wasn't really a surprise since I didn't pick those classes but it was a little depressing.

I have yet to try summoning anything, simply because I don't think it would be a good idea to summon undead monsters within the house. I say that but I haven't even stepped outside of this house yet in the three years I've been here.

Since this town was a relatively peaceful place I don't think my parents would be opposed to me going outside. Well I guess I'd have to ask.

PART SIX

At this point I was still only three years old. At least physically. Mentally I was already reaching the age where it wouldn't be strange for people to start calling me 'old man'.

Ugh~ that's a depressing thought.

I wonder if I'll have my mid-life crisis soon?

Makes you think…

Anyway, since my outwards appearance was that of a three year old it was hard to justify me being allowed to play outside the house unsupervised.

That being said I think I'm rushing a bit too much in regards to how I'm progressing with everything.

To sum up all of my progress these last three or really just last two years.

-I've mastered this world's language.

-I've been experimenting nonstop with necromancy.

-Swords training with father.

-Researched about this world's history and government.

-Researched about this world's magic.

-Established a nice relationship with the people around me.

Well, they're nothing too impressive since I've had two whole years but I do think I should slow down a bit more.

About this world's history and government, I'll leave that aside for now, but in regards to 'swords training with father' I've come along nicely.

I've done some Kendo back in my previous life but I had to give that up after I got a job and started dating Kyouko. They say once you've learnt something it sticks with you, especially physical activity.

While that's true, this body is new. It doesn't have all the muscle memories. So learning the sword again was a bit tedious. It's also quite different to the sword I know, well that shouldn't come as a surprise.

"You've quite the talent with the sword. Just like your old man."

My father says with a big grin on his face. Stop, I have no desire to see the smiling face of an old man. Wait, no, I would be the old man, technically my father is younger than I am.

Ugh, just wrapping my head around that concept is difficult to accept. I get it, but my mind tries to deny it.

Still, Mardoc isn't a bad guy. A little uptight when it comes to doing the right thing but relatively he's laid back and cares deeply about his family.

Perhaps it's because of my previous occupation where I saw the worst of what humanity had to offer that it's such a stark contrast to him, but I think it's a refreshing change of scenery.

Also, I feel quite guilty making him think that I have some innate talent with the sword when in reality it was just that I 'knew' what to do.

And so my [lie counter] goes up another point. I feel like I'll go to hell after this life with certainty for all the times I've lied and deceived.

"It's because father taught me well!"

I say cheerfully. At this point I don't even know if it was fake or real. I feel like some of it was my real feelings, I do think that Mardoc is a good swordsman.

When I speak to my parents, or really anyone for that matter I put on airs. Perhaps they feel that I'm a little distant, but forgive me I don't mean to, it's just that I feel uncomfortable acting like a child.

I haven't been a child for over two decades.

"Oh, trying to butter me up are you?"

"No, nothing of the sort, I really feel father is a good teacher."

"Hehe, come here you."

My father grabs me with one arm and roughs up my hair.

How nostalgic, I used to do this to my younger brother when he was little. Of course he always hated it, I can see why now.

Ah? How strange.

I feel something run down my cheeks.

"Huh?! Morgant why are you crying? Sorry did it hurt?"

"Uh?"

I feel my face and certainly these were tears. How strange indeed, I haven't felt this way in two years.

"Ahh-"

I told myself that I wouldn't cry- but.

"Sorry."

My father apologizes and puts me down.

"N-no- it's not father's fault- it's..."

The tears wouldn't stop.

My father was panicking, and even my mother ran out of the house and hugged me.

'It's okay', 'Don't cry', 'Come here'.

She would say. She was always gentle, my mother in my previous life would often hold me like this when I was younger as well. Maybe it was the nature of all mothers.

Ah.

This was bad, the tears intensified when she did this.

It was about 10 minutes later that I stopped crying. I felt really pathetic crying at my age.

But I can't deny that I really miss the people I've left behind. I've met good people in this world too and I'm truly grateful for everyone around me, but the people I knew, they cannot be replaced.

I hope they were okay.

I wonder if Kyouko recovered from my death.

Was she even eating properly?

Was she going to work?

Was she sleeping well?

I hope she doesn't catch a cold, she usually sleeps in her underwear.

Ah~ I miss her.

"Mother, Father, sorry I worried you."

"Morgant, please tell us if there's any problem. We'll always be here for you."

Mother says gently as she strokes my head. It felt good.

I put on the best smile I could muster up at the point and show it.

"It's okay, perhaps it was something I ate."

"…"

"…"

Of course they didn't believe it. Maybe it was because I was usually seen as responsible and mature for my age but they didn't pry any further into it. I'm glad that I have their trust when it comes to such matters.

Trying to break off this tense atmosphere I tried to change the topic.

"Father, may I accompany you on your work tomorrow?"

"Mmh? Ah, sure I don't think there'll be a problem with that."

I've said it before but this town was relatively peaceful so there wasn't really much to worry about. My father works as the town's guard but all they do was probably patrol around and talk amongst the other guards.

Still it was a good opportunity to go along with my father's patrol and tour the town.

With that in mind I slept early today.

PART SEVEN

As promised my father took me to work.

[Karta Village] that was the name of the town.

It was mostly an agricultural town from what I can see, what with all the fields and all. There were some hunters I guess that's how we get meat from time to time.

The population wasn't that high, only about 400 in total. That being said I think most people were happy with their lives here.

The air was clean and the scenery was beautiful.

I would have loved to retire in a place like this. Well, I guess I still could in this world.

The architecture of this world's house was only about mid-century Europe level.

That being said it would be a large mistake to say that this world was more primitive compared to earth. Sure the technology was lacking but that was remedied with the power of magic.

You say I'm repeating myself? Well, that's because it's true!

What was the point of an electric stove when they could light it up with magic?

Anyway, these sorts of thing happens a lot in fantasy pop culture. People from earth would say that this world was only up to the middle ages in terms of development, but that wasn't true at all.

I mean, conversely I can say that earth hasn't even reached stone age level in terms of magic development compared to this world.

It's how one views the world.

While it was technologically inferior it made up its flaws in other ways.

I hear that this world has something like 'airships'. That's something I want to see but not ride, ever, because it sounds dangerous.

Although I do supposed transportation was a little lacking in this world. At best they had horse driven carriages for land travel, for sea travel they had ships, but compared to earth they weren't all that impressive.

Airships- I don't even know.

I think I've gone off topic a little here.

Back to what I was saying, I followed my father to the front gate of this town. It was a lovely big arch.

There were three soldiers adorned in steel armor waiting there.

Compared to them, it felt like father was under equipped but I think that's because father worked as a guard for a castle. So his skills were much superior.

"Oh, what's this Mardoc, did you recruit another guard?"

They say jokingly while pointing at me.

"Ahaha, maybe in the future."

"Oh, how cute, how old is he?"

"He's three, almost turning four."

"Hey there young man how are you doing?"

One of the soldiers crouch down to get on my eye level.

I gave a smile and bowed.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Morgant Fallon. Son of Mardoc Fallon and Rio Fallon."

"…"

"…"

"…"

There was a brief silence. Strange, I thought this was the proper greetings in this world. I tilted my head and looked at father.

He gave me a wry look and uneasy smile.

Perhaps I did something wrong?

"A-Aha, Mardoc you have some impressive son."

"Y-yeah that was totally unexpected."

"He's pretty mature for his age, I wish my son was half as mature as he was."

Oh, I see. Maybe I was a little pretentious doing that here when I was only three. I guess I would say the same if I saw a three year old acting like an adult.

Also I think Mardoc offhandedly mentioned I would be a town guard. No offense but I'd rather see the world a bit more.

We talked a bit. Their names were Irvin, Darrel and Samson.

[Irvin. Level 13, Swordsman]

[Darrel. Level 14, Swordsman]

[Samson. Level 12, Swordsman]

Apparently only nobles have last names in this world. Which greatly confused me when I found out Lina and Lena had last names. I'm sure there's a reason for it but I'll let that be for now.

They also tried to teach me some of their sword skills but I already knew most of it thanks to father.

"Dad! We brought some food."

Someone called out from behind me.

Turning to see who it was, it was a boy slightly older(physically) than me. Around 4 or 5.

Light brown hair, hazel eyes. Commoner clothing.

[Ian. Level 1, Villager]

Of course.

He was the definition of 'village boy'.

Straddling next to him was a small girl, about my age. She had the same light brown hair and hazel eyes. She was hiding behind the older boy probably because of me.

Cute.

Ah, no. I'm not a lolicon, my strike zone is a lot older than that.

[Ira. Level 1, Villager]

Irvin walked up and received a basket that the older boy was holding, then he set his sights on me.

"Who's this?"

Whoa, how informal. Well he's just a brat anyway. Since I have a large and tolerant heart I will forgive that.

Irvin introduced me.

"He's Mardoc's son, Morgant. Morgant, this is my son, Ian and my daughter, Ira."

Ian and Ira, what simple names.

Well, I won't judge them because of that, even if I'm only a third rate, I'm still a noble in this world. I'll act in a manner befitting.

I gave the same smile and bowed in a similar fashion to the one I gave before.

"Nice to meet y-"

"Too stiff!"

The boy, Ian cut me off.

Stiff?

"I'm sorry?"

"You're too stiff! You're just a brat, act more like it!"

"…"

Now look here you brat, I'm pretty self conscious about not acting like a child so don't judge me.

Of course I didn't say that.

While we were exchanging banter, well more like I was trying to introduce myself but was cut every single time. The adults just sat idly by and laughed.

"Morgant, father and the others are going to patrol a bit you can stay with Ian and Ira."

"Ah, please wait father, I wish to go with you."

Right, it'd be meaningless to stay here, my objective for coming out was to tour the town not babysit some brats! Ah! He's leaving.

"We'll be back soon don't worry."

With that they left.

Ugh.

I think he's misunderstanding something.

Well I turned towards Ian and Ira.

Ira was still hiding behind Ian but she was giggling.

Cute- no! it was cute because she was young, that's all.

"Hey you."

"... yes?"

I was the adult here, there's no need to get dragged into this child's pace. I'll show you the full brunt of what I learnt in the corporate world!

"So your name's Morgant, huh?"

"You're correct, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Like I said you're being too stiff! Why do you keep talking in that formal tone."

Mmm, this isn't going to get anywhere. Maybe I should just update the [lie counter] and make up some stuff.

"I'm sorry, I haven't learnt to talk in an informal manner so this is the only way I can speak."

"Huh? oh. Okay then."

Heh, he's just a kid if he's going to buy that.

"Brother."

Ira tugged on Ian's shirt.

"Hmm?"

"Let's show him that!"

'That'?

"Mmm~. Okay!"

Without even my consent they started to drag me away to some place. At least these kids were friendly.

The place they dragged me to was some sort of secret hide out.

It was an abandoned house near the hill overlooking the town. From up there I felt the cool breeze brush past my face. As it did it gave me a sort of melancholy feeling.

I wondered how much Kyouko would love to see this scenery, she had some artistic talent so she would often paint such scenes.

"Morgant! Come here."

Ian called out to me.

The place was rather small, just a single room and a living room. On the floor were scattered dead leaves.

There were some furniture here, like an old sofa and table.

From the looks of it, it was about 40 ~ 50 years of abandonment. I wondered why no one claimed this house despite having such a fantastic view.

Then again, this place was an agricultural + hunting town so I suppose this house that's on top of a hill without any space for fields would be rather useless.

"This is our secret base! How do you like it?"

Even if you ask me how I like it, my sense of like and dislike is vastly different from you. Besides, 'secret'? this house is visible from every house below it.

"Um, I think it's a wonderful place."

I say while I gave the fakest smile possible.

Of course since they're just kids they wouldn't know much about fake or real smiles.

"So you do get it! This place is amazing right?! This is where we'll meet from now on!"

Why does this fellow feel the need to scream out everything?

"Um, okay, whenever I have free time I'll come here."

"Good!"

Ira didn't say anything but she gave me a cute smile.

God! Cuteness is justice!

Dinner that night was filled with questions from everyone about what I did.

Yes, yes I understand that your son made some 'friends' and I use that term loosely, but that doesn't mean you have to bombard me with questions. That being said it wasn't that bad I guess, having friends.

Although I am a little opposed to the idea. Not because they were bad kids or anything.

It's just a slight trauma on my end really.

Kyouko was what you'd call a 'childhood' friend.

We met while we were in kindergarten. She was rather bossy when she met but recently she'd been rather mellow.

At first we didn't get along that well, but in an odd twist of fate we'd been paired up ever since.

All throughout elementary, junior and high school we'd been in the same class and always next to each other during seating.

Of course it wasn't until later that we started going out.

During that period we were just 'friends'. In fact she started dating someone else before me. I was a little jealous of that. Heh, I can say that with a straight face now since I'm older- technically.

I didn't even think we'd end up together, romantically I mean.

Then I started dating some other girl. Well calling her 'some other girl' would be rude to that person. She was someone named [Nanoka Yuri]. She was a nice girl, always quiet and reserved.

But that relationship didn't last long. The reason was that soon after I started dating Kyouko broke up with her boyfriend and was depressed. During that time she stuck around me a lot sulking and I kind of neglected Yuri.

'So you like that girl more than me, huh?' was what she said before she left me.

I wanted to object to it but Kyouko cut in saying that I was hers. Oh she was manly back then.

Well, since we ended up together I guess I can say it was a self fulfilling prophesy?

After that it wasn't as though we started dating immediately, we dated others as well. In the end none of it seemed right, that's how we naturally fell into place together.

Destiny is an odd thing.

Many people seem to hate the concept of destiny, but for me it wasn't like that.

While it was a little displeasing to think that whatever choice I made didn't matter, I have to thank destiny that it put me together with Kyouko.

Thinking back there were a lot of times where it wouldn't be weird for us to not be together.

But destiny always came through.

Unfortunately the same destiny also tore us apart. Though that doesn't have anything to do with 'love' but more about my 'fate'. I can't blame destiny for that one.

Which brings us back to the present.

Having childhood friends itself isn't a bad thing. It's just that I'm afraid.

I've spent so much time getting depressed over not meeting Kyouko when I first came here. I don't really want to have to go through that again.

Giving my family a wry smile I sated their curiosity, though it seems that Sebastian caught on and tried to change the conversation midway. As expected of him, he's almost scary when it comes to perception.

And so meekly I've spent the next few days touring the town with Ian and Ira.

END REPORT

[Status Menu].

Morgant Fallon. Level 5.

NECROMANCER

Strength: 5

Dexterity: 5

Intelligence: 5

Insight: 5

[Status Points: 30]

[Skill menu]

(PASSIVE) [Life Force Sensory]: Level 10

(ACTIVE) [Life drain]: Level 4

(ACTIVE) [Wither]: Level 2

(ACTIVE) [Decay]: Level 6