In the bright morning of the Divine Kingdom a boy about the age of 5 was sleeping on a bed in an orphanage with many other children with their beds aligned in a line.
The boy was obviously Welnir. He had gray hair, a scrawny body, and wore ragged clothes.
"I-It's bright..."
Waking up, Welnir was confused as he surveyed his surroundings. It was very unfamiliar though as he pieced things together he somewhat remembered this place. It was the orphanage he was housed in when he was 5 years old. In the Divine Kingdom many children without parents are usually processed in the system of orphanages, though it was not that they pitied the children it was to isolate potential mages that rose in them.
Every mage that the Divine Kingdom finds the better it is for them as the tensions within kingdoms are always unstable, leading to fights between other kingdoms.
Though it was early in the morning, Welnir was excited and unsteady. The chance given to him was a blessing as he could finally do what he had always wanted to do.
"It's 40 years before my death and it looks like I'm back to being a scrawny brat."
Looking at a nearby mirror Welnir looked at himself as he saw his gray hair, scrawny body, and blue eyes. Observing further he found something odd on his left palm. It was a weird black symbol with fierce eyes and fangs holding a sword between its teeth. As Welnir looked at the symbol it emitted a white light and suddenly an image appeared in front of him. It was his status panel. Everyone born usually had these panels that showed their stats.
As Welnir looked through his panel it looked odd as it did not look normal at all. Remembering from memory it wasn't like this when he was a kid.
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[STATUS PANEL]
Name: Welnir Baudelaire
Race: Human/Demon Seedling [PURE]
Rank: None
HEALTH: 10/10
STAMINA: 100/100
MANA: 10/10
[STATS]
Strength - 1 [Increases Physical Power]
Defense - 1 [Increases Health & Nullifies Damage]
Endurance - 1 [Increases Stamina]
Agility - 1 [Increases Speed]
Intelligence - 1 [Increases Mana & Ability Power]
[TRAITS/SPECIAL ATTRIBUTES]
Demon Circulation [Mage Talent] -> Intelligence Stat Increases 10x Faster
Demon Affinity [Mana Talent] -> Special Affinity Only Demons Possess (100% PURE)
Demon Resilience [Physical Talent] -> Defense Stat Increases 10x Faster
Demon Transformation/Inheritance [Special Talent] -> LOCKED CONDITIONS MUST BE MET
Demon Speed [Physical Talent] -> Agility Stat Increases 5x Faster
Scrawny [Physical Trait] -> Weak and Boney (x10 on any damage hit towards host)
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Going through his status panel the first thing that caught his eye was how his mana was no longer null and appeared as a number. For all Welnir's life he could finally have mana the indication of a mage, the center of all power. Happy about this Welnir immediately looked at the other things that caught his eyes which were his traits and attributes.
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As he saw Demon Circulation he smiled as he not only had mana now, but actual talent that made progression faster. One could earn talents by testing certain things that unlock genetic potential, and in his previous life he had earned the talent of Physical Monarch which gave him 100x strength and faster progression. Though that talent was useless as he could not progress above his human body, now that he has the ability to go beyond human capabilities he could fully use that talent once he gets it back.
Even though Welnir had lost a lot of his other traits and talents because of traveling back to his scrawny 5 year old body he was now able to become a mage.
Further exploring through his traits and attributes he found Demon Resilience, Demon Transformation/Inheritance, Demon Affinity, and Demon Speed quite interesting.
"10x faster increase in Defense? That talent alone could rival defense ability!"
Welnir was surprised since from his military lectures it was said many mages had to rely on defense abilities because they focused a lot on ability power rather than raw strength and durability. The essentials of a mage consisted of defense abilities and augments that strengthened their bodies and most importantly destructive power. They were taught this to deter them from fighting mages and not to be arrogant against them.
"Just having this alone would lessen my limit on mana!"
Obviously defense and augments took a lot of mana and for a mage it was never a good idea to not have it in a battle. But since Welnir has Demon Resilience this would make him be able to handle fights longer and would less likely to run out of mana. Even though Welnir has no experience as a mage he knew that these benefits were like a knight and mage combined.
"Wait, knight and mage?"
When it came to mages there were 4 categories that a mage could fall into. One could either be a Supportive Mage which had very little combative abilities, but had the ability to excel in healing and defense abilities. The second is a Research Mage which were geniuses who excelled in studying the very peak of mana theory and studying architectural creation. The third is an Archmage, these were pure damage dealers that basically unleashed hell, but with that came the weakness of having a weak physical body. Archmages usually needed to use plenty of defense abilities to fight against battles and sneak attacks. Lastly, there came a category which was the rarest and not many could pursue, the Knight Mages. These were brute force mages that basically had extreme talent for weapons/physical capabilities and mana abilities.
Knight Mages did not need that much defense abilities as they were blessed with natural talent to increase their defense stat to a high degree. They were physically strong without the need of magic, and they trained to excel in weapons such as swords, spears, hammers, and other weapons. With that even their mana abilities were bizarre as they could unleash destructive power alone with their abilities. The category was nicknamed "The Perfect Mage" and was treasured and sought out for in every kingdom.
Shocked about this Welnir continued on to the next talent he saw on the status panel which was Demon Transformation/Inheritance. As Welnir looked at this talent he never heard of anything about transformation at all. From further observation he also had never heard of a [Special Talent] before.
"Special Talent? What exactly is the requirement for this? It seems I need a requirement to activate it."
Not having an idea about the special talent Welnir looked lastly onto Demon Speed.
"Demon Speed? I even got a talent that can make me faster!"
After Welnir looked at Demon Speed which was another plus, Welnir looked determined as he finally got the perfect start that he had always wanted. Clenching his fists he looked at the mirror with a smirk on face.
"Since I have all this, could I not become stronger than before? I could exact my hatred and destroy this kingdom!"
Welnir was no hero, he had always been at the bottom of the pit getting commanded and ordered around like a dog. But today he could potentially destroy those arrogant fools, those who have kicked him, insulted him and degraded him. Welnir did not fight for justice, he fought for his survival and strength. Those who respected him were to be respected, but those who did not respect him would be cut down.
"But before I can do that I'll have to start working on this scrawny body of mine."
Welnir looked at his body as he sighed that all his work for 4 decades were gone. Surveying his surroundings Welnir looked at the beds as he saw the other children sleeping. It was very early in the morning as the sun was barely just up and shining upon the orphanage. Welnir wasn't really an extrovert and was an introvert from the start so he never really had any friends growing up and that included the orphanage.
"For now I have no choice but to live in this kingdom until I'm strong enough. The king of this kingdom is a powerful mage so all I can do is grow my strength."
Welnir walked towards the exit of the orphanage; it was a run down building and near the outside of the kingdom. Exiting outside the orphanage Welnir ran towards an area far away from the orphanage, specifically a rocky terrain in the kingdom. It was the inhabited area where there only existed rocks the further one goes. It was called the Rocky Plains where an old abandoned mine was set up decades before. Welnir ran towards the area as this was the perfect area to train his body.
"The only thing I can do for now is train my body. The Mage Selection comes in 3 years and that's when I can use the kingdom to learn to train as a mage."
Welnir knew he had no teacher let alone the ability to know how to use his mana. The only thing he can do is exploit his talents to train his stats as high as possible as in 3 years he would enter the Mage Selection. The Mage Selection was held once a year in one day in which ages between 8-15 year olds would test their capability if they had the talent to become a mage. If they were talented enough they would be transferred into a mage academy where they would learn how to use their mana and use abilities.
"Off to training I guess..."
Welnir started with carrying rocks on the ground using them as weights to train his strength.
"Agh, this might take some time before I get my prime body back."
And so Welnir's 3 year training regime started...