I remembered everything. Everything that led up to this twisted situation that I am in.

—

| 1 year ago | The Felmourne's Manor

A lean man dressed in fine silk stood tall in front of me with an angered expression on his face. I eyed the 30cm ruler made of metal in his hand with intense fear in my heart.

"Master Richard, have you not revised our materials since last week? A whole weekend for you to study ten pages and yet you didn't even touch the book. Your older brother finished this book in just a day. There has to be a punishment for your lack of diligence."

The man reached out for my hand in the hope of "delivering my punishment." The daylight sun shone in from the study room's window reflected in his narrow eyes.

"Tutor Strayer...My older brother is amazing. You can't compare me to him. I just want to live a quiet life. Besides, is there still any need for learning about the gods? They died thousands of years ago, did they not? Why do we need to learn about such a thing anymore?"

I hesitantly questioned the long-haired man, wishing to distract him from my severe beating.

sigh

"It is essential for one to comprehend their history, so they can avoid their ancestors' mistakes. The gods gave us life so we can prosper and died to protect our world."

Tutor Strayer gave a heavy sigh before answering my questions.

"But it was them that brought the monsters into this world in the first place. If they didn't do so, we wouldn't have lost half our continent to the monsters."

My noisy reply echoed through the rows of books and into the second-floor hallway. Strayer's thin eyebrows raised upon hearing my words.

"So, it seems you have somewhat read the materials, but your understanding of the content is too fractured. It's true that the betrayer opened a rift to another realm that brought countless beasts into our world. However, the ancient gods fought along the five races and perished to seal the portal into our Alva continent. Thus, they redeemed themselves with their actions and sacrifices. Without them, none of us would still be alive to avert the conversations so they won't get discipline."

Strayer ended his sentence with an intense glare towards me. Terror crept its way along my spine.

"Tssk...It's not like all of them are dead."

I responded as another act of distraction.

"The four remaining gods and goddesses merged themselves into our world tree and went into slumber as the final act to heal themselves and protect the remnants of their kind. They cannot reproduce through normal means, so this was their only way."

My brain lit up into a million questions but only one was prominent enough to ask.

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"Tutor Strayer...what does it mean to 'reproduce'?"

Strayer panicked for a split second but calmed himself down into a serene expression and closed eyes. However, when he opened them again, an ominous feeling shook my entire being. His long navy-blue hair floated from his shoulder. Strayer looked more like a demon than a human.

"Enough with these meaningless questioning. Your sentence awaits!"

Horrible screams can be heard beyond the hallway. A brown-haired woman in elegant clothing hid behind the open door into the study room.

"Hang in there, my son."

She whispered lightly with a smile on her face.

—

| 3 months ago | The Felmourne's Training Ground

thud

My body collapsed onto the grass as sweat drenched my attire. I gasped loudly to fill the air into my tired lungs. What the hell is this?

"That is not enough, master Richard. Hahaha. Not enough at all to beat me."

In front of me, a towering barrel-chested "gorilla" offered his hand to pull me back up on my feet.

"I didn't want...to beat you...from the start. I didn't even want to do all this practicing."

The bearded man laughed off my reply without care.

"Haha, nonsense. Nonsense. You'll make a fine soldier and knight captain just like your brother someday, haha."

My eyes sparkled with the brightness of a million stars and stared back at the man. Sir Roland, knight champion of the Felmourne's household, is in charge of the army and security around my father's region of influence, but for some reason, he took it upon himself to personally train me. I don’t need such bothersome attention.

"Really? Sir Roland? Will I able to be just like my brother in combat?"

I cheered in glee.

"Of course! With proper training and hard work, you will be able to HAHAHA!"

Roland responded with that. It's probably just a ruse to get me to work harder.

"Oh...is that so..."

I was reduced to a small clump squatting on the ground, playing with the grass beneath my feet. Hard work? I just want to live a normal, carefree life.

"Of course, I will teach you how to absorb world essence from the air and channel it to your body. Should I demonstrate? Heh."

Sensing my dying spirit, the Knight Champion decided to give me a show instead. Thanks to Strayer's lessons, I can understand what Roland meant in his words.

World essence is the energy that resides in the earth, water, and air itself. By channeling the essence from the air through our lungs, mortals can enhance themselves a little bit closer to the realm of the gods.

Magic and sorcery can also be utilized with this method. However, they require a much higher amount of energy than one can absorb and can only be done through sacrificial means. While they were commonly used during the Rift War, now magic is banned across the five races.

"You’d better not, Roland. My mother would no doubt freak out if she hears about you teaching my brother body enhancement before his age."

A voice came out from a young man in his early 20s, walking towards Roland and me.

“Young Master Norman, I was just going to show young Master Richard how it works. There is no need to alert lady Aliya haha…I wasn’t going to teach him anyway.”

Roland seemed nervous at the mention of my mother. I kept a reminder to bring it up next time he decided to give me hard training again. He dared to lie to me right in front of my face.

"Brother! You've come back from the Great Wall! Did you get to fight more of those devious monsters?"

I excitedly interrogated my brother and ran up to him.

"Fighting monsters is not a joke, Richard. They are a danger to us all if they're not kept in check..."

My brother gave me a stern scolding before continuing his sentence.

"...but yes, we did defeat a few monsters here and there on our patrol beyond the wall."

Once again, my eyes sparkled towards my brother.

"How is the situation over there, Master Norman?"

Roland shifted the conversation towards the Eastern Wall, but my brother showed a concerning look at the knight then eyed at me.

"Richard, mother called for you back in the manor. Something about a new caretaker for you. Stop scaring all of them away with your pranks!"

My brother carefully sent me away before he started talking to Roland again, but before I left, I heard a few of his words.

"It's getting bad out there. The beasts are getting more aggressive, but we aren't sure why…"