After reaching the peak of the mana condensing stage at the age of one, I reached a bottleneck in my training that I couldn't seem to pass no matter what I did. This has been the only problem I've run into so far during my short time of cultivating, and honestly, it has troubled me quite a bit over these past few years. I have now been reborn into this village for close to six years and I've noticed many differences between the general nature and culture of this world compare to my previous one. The only similarity is that there seemed was that society had accepted a hierarchy that places humans above everything except what they believe to be God.

Everything was different in the weirdest aspects. It was as if all species in this world had chosen the most extremist route they could take with regards to how they view other species as well as themselves in most cases. I could only get vague descriptions from my family of the other sapient species of the world, but they were clearly dogmatic. They describe the dragnians as a purely flesh-eating race with appearances that seemed to faintly resemble the 'lizard people' from the conspiracies theories from my previous planet, but with more of a dragon feel to them. I wouldn't be surprised to hear them say 'they eat babies' or 'they drank the blood of virgins'. They went on to describe the elven folk as more 'normal-looking' than the draganians, but still possessing features of beasts. Of course, they immediately said the common trope of the elongated ears with fairy-like appearances, but what surprised me the most was that was described as being amazing with magic... Unfortunately, that was all I could get from them, and of course, the system was of no help whatsoever as usual but I haven't given up hope yet.

I haven't heard that voice since the last time it appeared which was kind of a downer for me given that every time it appeared I would gain something interesting at the very least. I've tried various methods to get it to appear from the obvious of training even harder to the borderline insane of killing random creatures. Needless to say, neither method showed any results besides a sideways glance from my family here and there. I thought they would question me about my actions, but after the surprise of me cultivating and talking from such a young age, I'm sure they are used to me going around creating miracles.

My next plan of action was to get my family to take me exploring on and around the island but this was quickly shut down by my grandad who got angry at the mere mention of leaving the village not to mention the island. I begged and pleaded for permission to step out of the village for just even a mere second, but my grandad did budge an inch. I ask him why was he so against me leaving, and he insisted that it was because I was too young, but anyone with a brain could tell that was a mere excuse. I continued to pry until I got the answer that honestly rocked my world. It was short and very concise, but it still filled me with an utter sense of confusion. The answer my grandad gave was that we were not allowed to leave the village and especially the island because our family was labeled as 'demons' by all the religions of the mainland. This was a surprise to me because we seemed so disconnected from the mainland. Obviously, we knew of them but I didn't know they knew of us. I wanted to know more about what happened so I ask my grandad for more information. It was his turned to be shocked it seems, as he looked at me with an extremely surprised expression on his face. Even my parents and grandma, who seemed to be nervous at the mention of the mainland, looked at me with a shocked expression as well, if not slightly suspicious.

"You are an odd one son, I always thought you were maybe just a little more aloof than other kids, but who the hell inquire about this type of stuff at this age? You sounded like one of those old monsters who used to visit us just before your birth."

"I was only asking because it seemed interesting, my bad.."

"Uh, it's fine dear. But you just proved our point, I've never heard this saying 'My bad'. It's as if you come with this stuff on the spot."

"He really does remind you of those old bastards who come and go as quickly as the wind. It can't be can it?" "It's certainly possible" "I'm not sure."

'It would be great if they didn't talk about me right to my face. jeez..'

"Alright alright, we all know that is impossible in this day and age so let's just drop it. More importantly, although he is young I think he capable enough to know the truth of our background, no?"

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"I believe so." "I agree." x2

I, who had delegated to an observer, had just been approved by the family to learn some sort of secret. This was slightly shocking but not completely given that we were already labeled as 'demons' by the mainland. I had reason to believe whatever this secret was had to do with why we were labeled as such, but I wasn't sure. I became quiet as a mouse while I listened to my grandad explain our situation.

He began with the troubles he and our ancestors faced. He stated he was born in the garrison-town of Pontar, which also happened to be in the gigantic providence of Deadford. The town itself had more population than the town of Deadford, but since most of those people were military personnel it didn't do much for its popularity. The town was also only five miles from the border of the High Kindom of Elvar and forty miles from the border of the Dragan Theocracy. Our family was a basic noble family who had ties in almost all processes of the town, including the military. The military didn't like this influence of course,  but they tolerated it because our family never used any of its influences to do harm. In fact, our family was actually seen as a paragon of virtue in the town as well as the providence. It was around these golden times within our family that my grandad was born. According to him, he was considered a monster amongst geniuses with him reaching the mana condensing rank at the young age of eight and the peak of the same rank at nine. This was considered a godly talent that no one in this providence or the ones surrounding it would ever dare to approach recklessly or with malicious intent.  His talent single-handedly uplifted the status of our family from just a very prestigious noble family of the providence to a possible superpower in the area. This is where their troubles supposedly began. Although his power grew steadily as no one has rank was powerful enough to make trouble and those more powerful than he was more than two hundred miles away in the capital or the more developed providences of the north. He had no trouble reaching the peak of the duke rank at the age of eighteen. By this time my grandad had already joined the imperial army of Deadford Providence and had been in service for at least four years.

He had begun making a name for himself within the military, becoming one of the youngest sergeants to ever lead troops in the imperial military's history. According to him, he was the reason the empire had such complete control over their southern four hundred eighty mile border with their enemies, namely the Dragan Theocracy and the High Kingdom of Elvar, despite having only three towns in total in the entirety of the Deadford Providence. This was insane considering the immensity of the providence. He stated another reason was that the empire's military was several times more advanced than their counterparts. He specifically stated that the 'land cannons of the empire destroy the heretics with only mana markers and trained canonists from upwards of three miles. He continued his land campaigns until he broke through to the saint rank at the age of 24 because it was at this that he was recalled from the battlefield to the capital to not only officially receive the title of a saint but to also be assigned to a garrison commander position in the capital. Anyone in their within mind on achieving status in the empire would have taken this in a heartbeat, but my granddad being the man he is declined the offer with the reason of wanting to stay with his men in the Deadford providence. Many messengers from the various forces in the empire's capital sent messages to my granddad telling him he was a fool for denying the offer and some going so far as to threaten his position back in Deadford military itself. This was strange given only a few people could influence such a military-heavy providence so close to the enemies, or should I say so far away from the capital. One was the emperor himself but was highly unlikely given all he has done for the empire. The others were completely in the dark about their actions so it was hard for him to find anything.

This is were disaster struck our family heavily. As my granddad was out campaigning, some mysterious peak saint ranked individual attacked the town of Pontar killing all of our family member from the old elders who ran the day to day processes of the family, to the youth who had their entire future ahead of them. The expert then disappeared before anyone could even guess his age. This was really a devastating hit for my grandad as he couldn't do anything to stop it nor was he able to find the slightest clue of the perpetrator. His family was killed and nothing was done about it even by his own military that he faithfully served for years. This was the final straw.

My grandad seeing everyone betray him one of another, decided he would leave his town and would head north to that mysterious place that had killed so many before him and had even sent the once king Denos back home with his tail tucked. He didn't have anyone to bring with him nor anyone to tell him to stay so he set off as soon as he got to the port-town of Dawview for the island of Tahlat.