Three hours. That’s how much of my time was wasted reading this useless information. All I got for it was

Wisdom:+3

A single digit number! I had been allotted a mere single digit number as my worth! I must find this system and lodge a formal complaint. By punching it in the face! I learnt that from one of the books. What was the title again? ‘Solmrwite’s Hysterical quirks of Algrea’?

Either way I was now to read some more...maybe they’ll all be as interesting as Solmwrite?

Another three hours later…

I am now officially disillusioned of the notion that I, by any definition, implication and correlation of the word, am a bookworm.

Like that sentence? I learnt from a book called ‘Salhiyour’s guide to basic grammar’. Thankfully now that I had finished with these boring irritants, I could move on to more interesting books. Like ‘Loyen’s A Summer Sojourn’ or maybe ‘Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice’

Another hour later. Shakespeare was useless, I don’t get why it’s so famous. Maybe because it was brought by a World Changer? Someone named Donald. Huh. Loyen on the other hand was a much better writer, she was writing what was called ‘Dramatical Romance’, apparently because the leads were male and female? And they interacted a lot?

Moving on...over the next several days I devoured one book after another, eventually my Wisdom came up to be

Wisdom

15

Six more than before, apparently negatives were more persistent than positives.

Time to sleep now. I went to sleep never having noticed that my father had been discretely adding books since...after the first hour when I ran out of books.

----------------------------------------

Maurise Arlford, Heir Candidate to the Earl of Cristanfor

Hilarious. It was absolutely hilarious.Maurise thought as he saw his son try to figure out romance,It was like watching a baby...try to adult things? It was funny anyway!

Well, fun time was now over.Time to deal with the aftermath of his decision a few days ago.Deciding that haste was in order, he [Rush]ed to the hall, where no doubt the five meddlesome ‘Elders’ were plotting their next move.

A few minutes later, Roseway hall.

As expected, the Elders were conspiring, they’d had the family property screen wide open to his family’s page when Maurise stepped in.

“So, using blackmail now, are we?” Maurise asked

“Not at all, Maurise! We’re just doing our duties as Elders”.Matilda said

Oops, I think I offended her with the speaker stuff. It was a lower ranked title against that vaunted Elder title she lusted after. Too bad she’d been stuck at Honorary Elder for the last five centuries.

“Oh and what duty would that be?”Maurise asked not at all convinced

“Dealing with the family’s holdings of course. We just realised that the off-world holdings are in flux. They have no lords assigned to them.” Matilda continued “ And since your son is the last noble in our family, we think that it is a good idea to give them to him. It will raise his ranking to count, but if his affinities are any indication, he will be more than able to match up.”

“You will pay for this Matilda” Maurise said, losing his temper “For years I have endured you and the rest of the family go on and on about the family’s honour and reputation and whatnot. What you don’t realise is that the world has moved on.”

“It is, unlike you, no longer stuck in the past.A non-violent, peaceful world has been formed around you and you are still preparing for war. Treating our many talented children as weapons. I say, no more! No longer shall my child or any other have to stay under your thumb and be groomed”- he practically spit the last word out-“I shall have no more of it-”

Maurise was suddenly interrupted by Elder Santurn, the only male Elder to attend his son’s stat reveal. “And what exactly shall you do? Take the Trial of Separation?” Santurn said, scoffing.

“Yes, yes I will” Maurise, to the surprise of the five Elders replied

“You have gone mad,Cousin, the Trial of Separation is a trial which has never, in the glorious history of our family, been crossed.” Anulise, the only blonde Arlford ever said.“It is social suicide to do such a thing.Think of your poor wife-”

Sadly for Anulise, Maurise had had enough “Don’t speak of that woman, I shall not hear of her. Prepare the Trial Elders, I shall attempt it in half an hour” he said and quickly rushed off.

Half an hour later, Roseway Hall

The hall,usually abandoned simply because it was too centrally located for anything other than family gatherings, was now packed to the brim with Arlfords, most of whom were just here to watch the show.

“Are you ready, Maurise?” Santurn said, his voice curt.

“Yes, Elder, I am.”Maurise answered, observing the basic formalities.

“Then it is time we begin, prepare the altar, light the path” Anulise said

“Prepare the altar, light the path” The entirety of the family that was present in the hall echoed.

As they watched an altar emerged from under the hall, passing through the floor and setting itself about 1metre in the air. Then the floor began glowing, drawing a path from Maurise to the altar.

Slowly, but steadily Maurise walked to the altar, then jumped to its surface, landing gracefully.

“You have initiated the Trail of Separation.” A voice echoed, completely surrounding Maurise. “To pass you must air your grievances in such a manner that I, who has been equipped with the minutes and records of all Elder meetings and have the additional support of some very helpful notes taken by Countess Matilda here, am rendered speechless. Do you agree to this stipulation?”

Taking a deep breath Maurise answered,“Yes, i a-”

“Please note”, the voice continued, “that the use of any silencing spell is prohibited.”

“The use of any language-forgetting spell is also prohibited”

“The use of any speech enhancing spell is also prohibited”...It just went on and on in this manner, speaking of spellforms, most of which Maurise had never heard of.

All around the altar, the mood seemed to change. Tables were set, space magic cast, and a veritable feast was conjured.

“You should join us Maurise, that list is very long” Anulise said

Shrugging, Maurise took her advice.

----------------------------------------

Eventually the party ended and it was time for the Trial to begin.

The voice though seemed to have other plans as it had just gone on and on spouting what spells not to use.

“I think I heard it said that one before,” A voice nervously said.

“Yes, I suppose it did. Good job Arvil, now only if you get a little courage you’d finally become a person.” Santurn said “Which bloody idiot was it that thought putting the AI in autorepeat was a good idea?”

Suddenly a large presence was felt and a voice emerged from right behind Santurn.

“That would be me” The voice said “Have a problem Honorary Elder Santurn.”

“Of course not Elder Quane, I was just disciplining some petulant brats.” Santurn said “May I know what brought you here?”

“Heard that a Trial of Separation was ongoing and decided it was best that it was preceded over by a real Elder”Quane said, not hiding his derision for Santurn.

“Begin Trial” Maurise said, halting what he knew would become a power play very soon.

A blindingly bright light shone from the altar as it began spinning at speeds that broke the sound barrier. It transformed the room, making it seem like the world was spinning and at the same time was expanding and retracting as light reflected off surfaces at angles it would never normally reach.

Eventually the altar slowed down and rose up higher in the air, its bottom portion opening into a transparent cylinder that descended all the way to the floor.

It created a circular cubicle that likely served no purpose other than showcasing the importance of the Trial.

A part of the cylinder opened and Maurise stepped in.

“The Trial of Separation has begun. You have accused the council of not moving forward with the times. The Council has answered this by quoting the thirty fifth recommendation of his Prestigious Self, Earl Donald. ``The Arlfords must forever be prepared to protect all that they hold dear against threads both big and small’.How do you answer?” The AI said

“The recommendation was made 17 millenia ago, in a time much different, I deem its use in the current era to be minimal. Besides, the Council has been going overboard with its preparation.” Maurise answered

“How does the Council answer?” the AI asked

“It was decided years ago that only the Praetor or the High Council may deem a recommendation of our prestigious founder irrelevant. Neither of them have shown any indication of doing that in relation to the thirty fifth recommendation. As for going overboard, we have in fact cut funding to several sectors of the military in recent years.”Matilda answered

And right there and then Maurise started getting what he wanted from the Trial, for he was never going to pass a trial that was built to only be invoked on a corrupt council. This Council wasn’t corrupt, they were conspiring.What Maurise did not yet know but the fact that Matilda had named a recommendation suggested that at least one of the recommendations was under scrutiny, and funding was being shifted, after all Matilda only said that they had cut funding to the military, not where that money went.

----------------------------------------

Unnamed Baby, also known as the brick

I was happy! So so happy, I do not know why but I keep getting happy. Is reading supposed to make you happy? Then I should be happy! Why am I happy? Or am I just going mad? Uh who is that? Why is she picking me up? No No! I wanna read! I screamed as loudly as I could, hoping someone would save me. All I got was an irritated voice saying

“Shut up! Stupid parents! Leaving their babies alone in a magic library full of magic books and with a magic spring. Don’t they know that these can lead to insanity? Poor baby must have gone absolutely mad over all that dopamine.”

It’s owner then carried me outside the Library. Taking me to a place that I did not recognise. Wait, didn't the Library door go to the estate? How’d I end up here?

----------------------------------------

Roseway hall, Trial Of Separation Ongoing

After several hours of proceedings Maurise was reasonably sure of a few things.

The Council had lost most of their power

The High Council was back and was controlling things from behind the scenes.

The Praetor had apparently been away.

The offworld holdings had something the Council wanted and the High Council claimed possession off.

There was some kind of threat coming.

And, this was the most doubtful of them all, contact with the Earl had been re-established.

Overall it meant that someone or something had alarmed everyone in the upper levels of the Arlford family and the Council was enacting prevention mechanisms throughout the family.

Nearly half of the family’s assets had been liquidised and the army was being completely reformed and no one knew why. Hopefully Maurise could change that

Interrupting the Trial proceedings, Maurise began “So, Honorary Elders, It seems that you have been hiding…”

“What exactly are you doing Maurise!” a voice suddenly bellowed, interrupting Maurise “Your baby nearly went mad in that stupid library your stupid Great-Great-Grandfather built, and you are here playing politics! I did not expect this from you.”

“Meemauy! I can explain!” Maurise said suddenly turning into a little kid.

“Yes, yes those bunch of overgrown brats on the High Council are playing games again. That’s no reason for you to leave your baby unattended. And I do NOT COUNT!” Meemauy bellowed once more, appearing in front of Maurise this time, swatting the altar away. “You kids have become too dependent on me, always leaving your kids in the Library expecting me to take care of them. Why just yesterday little Matilda dropped off her 7 children and 26 grandchildren at the library. You need to understand that I am not a babysitter. As punishment I’ll be taking a few things in my hand now.”

Suddenly, as if receiving some distressing news, Matilda cried out,“No! You cannot do this, we are a democratic institution!”

“We’re nobles honey, democracy ends at the door. And the new owner of the land, yes that poor baby all of you forgot about, just gave me permission. So I guess I'll be seeing you later.”

----------------------------------------

I woke up once again to the flying windows accosting me. I must find a way to rid myself of their influence.

Your titled land has been changed to the offplanet colony of Launeior

You have given entity ‘Ariana Arlford’ permission to alter your holdings. As a designated guardian she does not require additional permissions despite you being a minor.

Entity Ariana Arlford has added a Titled Mana Stone to your territory. Launeior is now an independent territory. As a minor you have no right of governance. All rights are transferred to Entity Ariana Arlford.

Entity Ariana Arlford has shifted tectonic plates...Error! Tectonic shifting spells were banned by the system in year 135 of the Algrean Calendar. Error resolved, Entity Ariana Arlford used force magic. Entity is now responsible for exploiting 970 system loopholes. Launeior is now a bountiful land. It receives +10 to all agricultural efforts

Entity Ariana Arlford has claimed governance of Launeior. As a land governed by an Entity on all Algrean Top 10 leaderboards, Launeior receives bonuses. +100 to fertility points. +500 to education points.+10 to military holding points.+150 to Spacial affinity points.+900 to Diplomacy points. +300 to familial interface points. +30 to trade points.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Entity Ariana Arlford has implemented a merit system. A governing body has now been formed on the planet Solaris 1D. Governance Interface is now unlocked on the planet. You receive +30 Change points.

Entity Ariana Arlford has set Citizenship conditions. Launeior now has 1,050,735 citizens. Launeior is now a County.

Congratulations!

You are now a Count!

As a minor you gain no bonuses.

The King of Mistrane has refused to acknowledge the independence of Launeior.

You receive -300 reputation in Mistrane. Launeior is now hostile with Mistrane.

The Arlford family is now mistrusted by the Kingdom of Mistrane. All bonuses are voided by the King...Error! The King, under the constitution of Mistrane has no right to void any bonuses. Bonuses restored.

I have graduated. I just let the flying sheets pass by. Wait...I should have read them too right?Oops. Good thing I can bring them back. I learnt how to yesterday.

Go to Notifications. Then go to Log. Click on specific Notifications. Hmm lets see...wait what? When did I give some Entity my land? No no no that is exactly how three successive dynasties fell. Stupid people hiring administrators. Wait, no right of governance? Doesn’t that mean I would have had to hire one anyway? Hmm...this Entity has made some good decisions. According to Schalinger’s System for Dummies, more points are always good. But aren’t I a Noble of Mistrane? No, wait I'm a Noble of the Kingdom of Mistrane. What does that mean? I need someone to tell me! Should I ask Father? Where is he anyway? He disappeared after dropping me in the Library. Apparently I went mad? Why doesn’t the system show that? So many questions. I must have answers to them all!

Huh there’s someone before me. Who? Wait, I have a mouth now...I can just ask.

“Who are you?” I ask

“Me? Oh you dear boy I am your Meemauy!” the figure said

“What’s a Meemauy?” I asked, puzzled

“A Meemauy is family! Your closest family!” The figure...apparently a Meemauy answered.

“So...can you tell me where I can find Entity Adriana Arlford?” I asked, “ Apparently she’s administering my territory.”

“Well that would be me!” Meemauy said “ Like my changes?”

“ Yes...but is making an enemy of the Kingdom we are nobles of a good idea?” I asked...a bit too hesitantly.

“Well aren’t we a smart baby! Those intelligence points are clearly not wasted.” Meemauy answered '' But you see, there’s a little problem in your assumption. Mistrane is but a minor power you Great-Great-Grandad joined on a whim. They can’t do anything other than whine a bit.”

Huh that’s a unique administrative nightmare right there. Given the woman’s 900+ system loopholes, I expect she’s been a nuisance for the King for a long time. Imagine you add a new law after much effort and suddenly an old bat says, “Nah, too much effort.” and your law is useless.

Time for more questions!

“So, where exactly is my Father.” as soon as I asked the question, Meemauy’s face scrunched up in irritation.Oops, Father was in trouble...

“Your Father is a well meaning man...that is sadly too influenced by that wife of his.Politics,Politics, I swear that is all this family thinks about. There are about three hundred children of various ages that have been deposited in this Library just so their parents can go play politics! Let's see them politic now, Life is not measured by the amount of success you know! You kid better not follow your dad into politics!” Meemauy said

“ Become an author or something...Oh wait, I made you a Head of State didn’t I? Don’t worry, I’ll administer your county for the rest of your life for you. Isn’t much work anyway with that administrative system in place.” Meemauy...ranted? Was that a rant? It didn’t seem long enough to be a rant...Should I ask...No No No, definitely not asking the super irritated Meemauy here if she’s ranting.But what should I ask? Let’s see...Magic! Should stop her from ranting, and getting me into even more trouble.

“So...I got a lot of numbers...what’s an affinity exactly?” I asked

“They didn’t tell you that either huh. Created this entire mess, but bloody irresponsible fools couldn’t tell you what magic was.” Meemauy said “Magic young one is one of the driving forces of Algrean civilization. Without it we would be completely powerless against the forces of nature. Every person, of whatever birth is born with a specialty. They can be good at magic, or have a high intelligence,Or even have a very attractive body. The trick to life on Algrea is finding that specialty. For me the specialty is care. I care about people, especially my family, that’s why I get so angry when they do something so foolish.”

“Magic, especially its affinities, are one of the great sources of specialties. You little one have a high Fire and Earth affinity and a frankly absurd Space affinity. It’s why Laureia is such a good fit for you, it is after all the greatest repository of space-centric sites ever found.I wonder why you have that affinity, but affinities are something we have never been able to explain.” Meemauy continued

“Now if you want some information on affinities, the system has a page for you, you can open it in by clicking on any affinity.” Meemauy finished for the moment

I then opened my status

Click on the proper slides and you have

Name

unnamed

Gender

Male

Species

Banmeru

Age

3 days

Titles

Heir candidate to the Earl of Cristanfor, Noble of the Kingdom of Mistrane, Baron of Losphintaius,Transmigrator

Class

None

Skills

Otherworldly mana manipulation; Force of Will...

Stats

Strength[The amount of brute force one can use]

23

Endurance[The amount of time one can work continuously]

23

Flexibility[The range of movement of the body]

23

Precision[The accuracy of one’s movements]

27

Perception[The ability to notice nuances and advanced concepts]

30

Intelligence[The ability to comprehend the advanced concepts]

67

Wisdom[The ability to effectively use the concepts]

9

Aura Force[The ability to force your will on your surroundings]

37

Combat[The speed of one’s reactions, ability to process situations and other general combat abilities]

31

Magic Affinities

Fire[One of the greatest sources of Light and Heat in the universe, you have Greater Affinity for Fire]

97.14%

Earth[Essential for life, earth is what renders things solid, you have a Greater affinity for Earth]

99.87%

Mind[The consciousness and its relation to reality, you have Lesser affinity for Mind]

17.35%

Chaos[Everything shall be anything but what it should be, no thing shall remain as it should, you have a Lesser affinity for Chaos]

19.76%

Grandmist[The base substance that all subatomic particles are made off, you have Lesser affinity for Grandmist]

27.39%

Space [The building block of dimensions, you have an Outrageous affinity for Space

199.998%

Time[A mysterious force, you have a Minor affinity for Time]

01.15%

Will [The force that propels you through life, you have Minor affinity for Will]

9.81%

Force[The building block of Kinetic interactions, you have Minor affinity for Force

9.81%

Cryptic much System...would being a bit more clear kill you?

“Khreee, khreee” the sound of stifled laughter emerged from Meemauy, causing me to look at her with narrowed, irritated eyes.

“Oh please! Let an old lady have a joke! I bet you didn’t expect ranting me to pull a prank!” Meemauy guffawed.

I continued squinting at her.

“Little little baby is upset...Woohoo...I should just take away this book...woohoo” Meemauy singsonged while summoning a book with the title “Mana Affinities and what you should know about them”

“Sure, take away the book. I bet you know more than anything in that book” I said, suddenly feeling smart

“And waste my time giving you, a bratty baby, an unfair advantage? No thanks, but sure I’ll take away the book” Meemauy said as she made the book disappear.

I’m not a smart baby...wait I’m a brick?Or I was a brick...I’m a baby now. Suddenly I fell apart as the realisation struck me. I wasn’t the oldest spirit brick in the palace anymore, I was just a baby, a little inconsequential baby...who didn’t even have a name.

----------------------------------------

Ariana Arlford

And that didn’t work. Even after millenia,Ariana hadn’t figured babies out, guess she got it wrong this time too.

Looking at the little crying baby Arianna felt great pity at the tiny being, only three months old and it had already experienced the disregard of its parents.

Maurise wasn’t a bad person, he just didn’t comprehend how much attention babies needed. Having Juliana babysit didn’t help either. Arianna had always maintained that parents should have to take care of their own babies. That was the only way any of them would learn to take care of the children. Having Juliana do it just gave them an excuse. her opinion had, sadly, been ignored.

At least she could help this one. First though, she must figure out what was wrong. Time for some well intentioned mind magic!Suddenly she felt a seal on the baby come to life, it was bright orange with an eye-tearing green sword on it. The colour scheme was chosen by one fool 15,000 years ago. Narvin, Predator of the Arlford family and sworn brother to her husband. She knew that he’d checked the baby, but she hadn’t known that he’d cared enough to protect it this heavily. Being the third highest ranked on the Level and second highest on the Mana mass list his seal was not something she could break easily, and definitely not without first informing him. Which would be messy, Narvin had opinions about mind magic, opinions he would not keep to himself. Time for some old fashioned talking.

Suddenly, as she was beginning to try and talk, the baby just stopped crying, one second it was balling its eyes out, the next it just stopped.

“Can you tell me about the elements?” the baby said, clearly avoiding something.

“Sure” Arianna said, complying to the baby’s unspoken request. “Magic has a great number of elements, all suited to their own selves and and only themselves. Remember this little one, there is no person completely forsaken by any element, at most the affinity is negligible and thus doesn’t show up on your stat screen.”

“There are many elements of Magic, new being discovered every day...well year actually but we’ll just go with the day for the theatrical effect?”Arianna had found that these little anecdotes made these explanations much more interesting, for her and the listener. “I’ll just explain those important to you.” Arianna caused a table to appear, so that she could explain things better. After all, tables were best at everything, weren't they?

The five primal elements are Fire, Water, Earth, Air and Gravity. They are the oldest elements, used in civilizations long dead. Pretty useless now.

Then comes the more useful, when compared to the primals, grade 1 elements. Namely, Force, Will, Power, Electromagnetism, Thermodynamics. Useful for skills and their like, impractical for any kind of dynamic magic though.

Now the grade 2s, finally something that's useful in real life! Primality, Emotion, Substance. As you can see these are elements that delve into real stuff like Crafting, Emotional healing, and of course war. Because war is very much a criterion.

Grade 3s! The life of fun! Mind, Galacsia, Law. While the second is among the less used of the grade, the fact that I used it to alter Launeior a few minutes ago should give you some perspective on the power of it! And let me tell you kid, power gets you everywhere.

Grade 4s!Where the fun ends and the destruction begins, known for their destructive properties, Grade 4 element users were once considered weapons of war. Energy, Order, Chaos are examples of elements that lie under this massive hat. Their use is strictly controlled, they are however some of the best at other things too. Chaos+Order magic is for example one of the requirements of Alchemy.

Finally the Grade 5s, Space, Time and other things you won’t know about for a while. Grade 4s were a weapon. Grade 5s are a weapon of mass destruction. The first five grades can be gained through potions and their like. Grade 5s cannot, they are elements that have been used to destroy entire civilisations. As someone with an Outrageous affinity for Space, you will need to learn to control your power, for one day you may be required to wield it.

Arianna finished her presentation expecting some kind of reaction, all she got was a blank stare.

“You were going to tell me what the elements do, Not tell me these useless grades!” the arrogant, self righteous baby said.

“Humph! You know nothing little guy! How will you know the difference between Galacsia and Gravity if I didn’t explain Grades to you! Grades are the first building block in the monument of magic.

“Explanations aren’t important anyways because they are just useless.Here’s what your elements can do. Fire and Earth, absolutely nothing that you can’t use other things to do. Mind is good, but too heavily regulated for the current you. Chaos is very useful for crafting, we may be able to get you an Order affinity potion so that you can do Alchemy...not before you’re ten though. Grandmist...missed that one, it's a Grade 4, basic creation, you can use it to make things scaling up with control and mana.”

“Space, too few limits, but at your level you can just get places. Will and Force are just for your skill. Ignore time, the thing is bloody useless most of the time anyway.” Arianna said, feigning irritation while actually trying to gloss over a single fact. Hopefully the bored baby won’t figure out that Space basically negated all of her wards that were holding him here.

About a minute later the baby was nowhere to be found.

----------------------------------------

As soon as I understood what Meemauy meant, I started casting. Space was familiar to me, having seen thousands of spells using it be cast in my tenure as a brick in the palace. It still took me about five minutes to wrangle together a teleportation spell, apparently, seeing things done and actually doing them were different. Who knew?

In the end I found myself randomly teleported to a random place due to me missing something, what that something was was a mystery though.

Anyways, here I was in a grassland of some sort. It was obviously magical , for the grass was too big, about the same size as me, and there were far too many of those wingy things the princesses loved (butterflies maybe?) flying around as if they owned the place.

It took me quite a while to actually get through the tufts of grass, for some strange reason, they were too hard to move, didn’t I have decent strength? Why can’t I move some grass?

Oh, I know why. Angles, the worst of the worst, these super sized grasses are so large that crawling me can’t get at them anywhere but near the roots, which aren’t likely to move.

Finally, I was out of that problem. I had left the endless green stalks for a...what was this?

It seemed to be a circular formation with pink ground. In the centre stood a leafy green tree, which was weirder than it sounds, trees were not supposed to be leafy green. Only some plants are leafy green. Overall the colour scheme was quite unique.

And as I watched, the uniqueness of the clearing increased as out of nowhere, flowers, glaringly bright, clothed in a plethora of fluorescent colours, appeared before me, I noticed that they appeared to be spread out symmetrically and were emitting a sickeningly sweet scent. Frankly, the combination made me want to run back into the grass. The roots would sadly dissuade any attempt at escape, for it would unwaveringly be futile.

The situation was made worse when the flowers bloomed to reveal tiny, winged beings that I recognised as the Flower Fae, a species of insects known for the deadliness of their attacks. They were known to bait travelers and then end them through sneak attacks. The book sadly, did not tell me what said bait was.

The situation though was not as the book described, perhaps ‘Colmanner’s Compendium of Magical Threats’ was an inaccurate text? “Whether the Compendium was accurate or not holds no relevance, you must escape now” I said to myself as I began casting the teleportation spell.

As I did so, the Flower Fae rose into the air and launched their tiny bodies at me in what was likely an aerial assault. Thankfully for me, I was able to cast the spell before the assault succeeded.

----------------------------------------

After that disastrous teleportation, I decided that it was better to teleport to the Library first, acquire a map and then head out. What I did not anticipate was a shield trapping me as I attempted to enter the Library.

“Decided to return I see” Meemauy’s voice said to me, I would have turned my head if I had not been rendered immobile already. The joys of being a weak baby, even a barrier can render you immobile.

Time to improvise! I turned to Meemauy and said to her, “Meemauy! Thank goodness you are here! I got pulled into this awful clearing! There were these twinkling lights that tried to kill me”-I started sobbing-”I barely got out of there alive” I sobbed some more. Meemauy’s face however remained the same.

“It’d be more convincing if Flower Fae clearings didn’t increase Intelligence. With your Intelligence stat you were probably using words way to advanced for a baby.”-she held me by my ear(don’t ask how it was possible! I do not know!)-” Now it's time for your punishment” Meemauy said as she walked off into the estate.

----------------------------------------

Since its creation just a few centuries ago, Launeior had never been more quiet. The streets that everyone presumed would never quiet now held themselves deserted. Not a soul dared show themselves for fear that they would be drawn into the chaotic vortex of the war that was brewing. Raina was one such soul.

Born and raised in Launeior, she had adored the streets of its capital, Arnilien, as a child. Reality sadly, had disillusioned her of the idealistic image it held in her mind. Arnilien was not the idealistic city she had imagined it to be. Instead it was a city rife with corruption and strife as people of all classes and skills struggled to make a life in a predominantly hostile environment.

She had inherited a large tract of land from her parents after their murder three years ago. If she had not been as foolish back then her task may not seem so monstrously large in difficulty today. But regret brought her nothing today, for no matter what she would have to run now.

There was one joy in her life however, the sleeping baby girl held in a cocoon of soft vines that were attached to her wrist, a remnant of her more prosperous days. The girl was also the cause of her problems. If not for her, Raina would not have to worry that her father would come to claim her land now that it was worth something.

But then again, was the child to blame when Raina was the one who had been foolish enough to actually believe that Ornileaus Parvalor, son of the City Lord of Arnilien and heir to one of the most powerful factions in Launeior would fall in love with her.

“This is not the time to reminisce, you need to run,” Raina said to herself, forcefully pulling her out of her strange mood. Sadly, such methods rarely worked on her for more than a few seconds. The mind has a way of thinking about things even if you don’t want it to.

Now it was flashbacking to the notifications about the changes brought about by some lord or lady off in Algrea. After nearly a century of silence their offplanet overlords had finally done something, and though the action was quite positive in nature, Raina feared that it may do more harm than good.

Well, time to flee the only home she had known