Altevia’s POV

Now that I realized, it was impossible for me to die as a virgin in this world.

Why was that the first thing that came to my mind after I woke up?

I actually knew why. I dreamt about the man I killed again. I was trying to clear my head with jokes.

Cold.

I didn't want to get up.

It was cold outside.

After that day, mother told me about some of our racial abilities. I could stop aging, heal all kinds of wounds, and see in the dark. I had actually noticed the seeing in the dark thing, but I thought it was related to me being half-elf. And, I didn’t know why, but my mother said I should avoid getting sick even if I could regenerate a severed limb in seconds.

My race is called pureblood. It's not a vampire type; in fact, when I asked my mother if I was a vampire, she told me not to compare myself to those lowly creatures. I think she didn’t like them.

But I wished I could see myself. Everyone said I was incredibly cute. My mother had shown me my face with a small illusion before; I had gray hair and red eyes just like her, but it would have been nice if I could check how I looked once in a while.

Should I leave the bed?

…

No.

Apart from myself, I have learned so much about this world and mana. I thought there were 11 levels of mana based on what I heard. And also I thought the mana we have is set from the moment we're born. I was both right and wrong.

What is set at birth was not our mana, but our potential. There are 2 types of mana in this world. One is mana spirits, the other is mana guardians. But before explaining these types, I need to explain how someone can increase their mana.

We didn't have many books at home to study these subjects, which surprised me a bit, but I still managed to find some information after a bit of walking around my father's office, and took some notes.

1 - Using mana : In this world, even the smallest actions, like moving your fingers, consumes mana but as the mana you have now decreases, your maximum mana increases little by little. So, to increase your maximum mana you can do push-ups, swing a sword or just run. And you can also cast spells. As you cast spells or interact with elements, you naturally spend mana and some of that mana you spent increases your limit.

2 - Absorbing the mana of a creature you killed : I did this when I killed that drake. Basically, when a creature dies, its mana is released and you can absorb it. Part of the mana of that creature becomes yours.

3 - Meditating : You meditate… I don’t know the details. But it’s probably related to ki.

Now, coming to the types of mana, let me start with the simplest: the spirits. People with spirits couldn’t absorb the mana of the monsters. But the amount of mana they gained by moving and casting spells was far, far more than what people with guardians gained.

For people with guardians, they could absorb the mana of the monsters and other people’s spells, which is why they were called guardians. But in order to absorb someone’s spell, you needed to have more mana than that person. Or you needed more than one guardian. Moving and casting spells made them gain mana, but the percentage was extremely low, so if they wanted to get stronger, they had to hunt monsters.

When I said that our potential is set when we are born, I was talking about the number of spirits or guardians we have. When someone is born, they have anywhere from one to five spirits or guardians. The number of spirits or guardians you have increases the rate of mana you gain. You can think of it like an XP boost in any RPG game. When someone born with 5 spirits casts a spell, they gain 50 times more mana than someone born with 1 spirit. Yes, the numbers are that ridiculous, but the chances of someone being born with 5 spirits or guardians are incredibly low.

The book I read last night said that most people had 1 or 2 spirits or guardians. While most adventurers had 3 spirits or 2 guardians, people known to be really powerful had 4 spirits or 3 or 4 guardians. If you had 5 spirits or 5 guardians, you became one of the few people mentioned in the history books.

There was also a situation where the gods came into play. This world had gods like Odin, Jupiter, and I thought they were real. In incredibly rare cases, a god could give a person his or her own power. You could use the powers of that god, and the amount of mana you had became incredibly high.

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I had 3 guardians, and these things looked like… I had no idea how they looked like, they were like some kind of light, I could not describe.

If I wanted to be stronger, I had to hunt monsters… Even if I was immortal, in my current state I was no different than a training dummy.

Tons of grinding this world needs.

A ‘ding!’ sound would be nice.

There was no point in complaining… I had an eternity. Unless I fell into magma, or got eaten by a giant monster, or someone put a weight on my foot and threw me to the bottom of the ocean…

I was overthinking again…

I put the book on my face on the nightstand.

In times like these, I thought about what I could do in this world… I had been planning to make a to-do list, but I just… didn’t know… I was slowly beginning to feel that emptiness in my chest again…

Being immortal definitely gave me an advantage, and I actually had some fantasies I wanted to live. Even if they were a bit embarrassing and cringe to think about…

Like becoming part of a shield wall, building a house in the forest, or fighting a giant monster.

Simple, not much relevant, but fun.

And, I still didn’t know if they’d been reincarnated, but I could find my friends. But to do all of these, I needed to become stronger…

I couldn’t get 3 am motivation, so I went back to sleep.

After I closed my eyes and rolled around on my bed, I stopped and stared at the ceiling. My bed was too big for a kid my age. Actually, most of the things in this room were too big for me. I looked at the window to my right; the sun would have hit my face if the white curtains hadn’t blocked it. Then I rolled and examined the desk to my left. It was a simple, white, wooden desk with many drawers and a small runestone lamp. Almost all the furniture in my room was white. Like an asylum…

I wanted to play games. How many years had it been, 4? I had lived at least 4 years without looking at a phone or touching a PC. I also couldn’t watch porn. Maybe that's why I found most of the women around me beautiful?

No.

I found most of the women around me beautiful because most of them were elves, half-elves, or demons. Two long pointy ears or horns were enough to multiply a woman’s beauty by at least 10.

I chuckled and got out of bed, wrapped the blanket around me, and turned myself into a burrito. Burrito… I was hungry… This world had some good foods. I had eaten really good steaks, something similar to butter chicken, Rosarians used sauces made with tomato a lot, mama liked peas, papa adored a good pasta with meatballs and marinara, both of them loved wine a lot, and this world even had pizza. But wraps? I hadn’t seen any. Maybe they were street foods? I never had the chance to see the streets. And also burgers… I had seen sandwiches, but not any burgers…

I was hungry and I had nothing else to do.

I put on my fluffy dragon slippers and headed to the door.

When I opened it I saw Nazir waiting outside the room. He bowed his head respectfully as usual. “Good morning, my lord.”

“Good morning.” I lifted my head to look at his face and yawned.

“My lord, your blanket…”

“What about it?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to wear a coat?”

“I don’t want to.”

Nazir followed me as I went to the kitchen and the 4 maids inside bowed their heads as soon as they saw me. Helene took a step forward, her blonde hair tied in a ponytail. They were probably going to start preparing breakfast. It was still early and my parents probably wouldn't be awake.

“Good morning, my lord.

We were going to serve the strawberry jam you asked for today.”

“What else?”

“Scrambled eggs with cheese, tomatoes, cucumber, black olives, kafe for Lord Eliar, tea for Lady Aurelia and milk for you.

Oh and also, Nysemell yogurt.”

“What yogurt?”

“Nysemell.”

Motherfuckers stole yogurt again.

“Is something wrong, my lord?”

“Nothing…”

Helene took eggs out of the fridge and looked at me, “My lord, if you're hungry, I can make a small sandwich for you,” and I shook my head.

“No need. I'll come when breakfast is ready.”

I left the kitchen after the maids nodded at me.

**

“Nazir…” Lying in the garden among the flowers, I looked at Nazir standing next to me.

“Yes, my lord.”

“There is something I wanted to ask you.”

He tilted his head to the side in curiosity.

“Why are you black?” His eyes widened in surprise, “I can't say I understand your question, my lord.”

“I mean, you're the only black elf I've seen, do you belong to a special race or is someone in your family black.”

“Oh…” He smiled, “My mother is an elf from here and my father is just an immigrant human from the south of Laxendria.

There aren't many black people on the Marhea continent, you're right.”

“So how did they…?”

“My mother is a noble and I think she liked the different look of my father and just ‘took him’ as his consort.”

Suddenly I raised my head, “Took him? Are you a noble?” and he chuckled.

“No, my father was one of my mother's 4 husbands, except for the first one, the other children can only stay and grow up in the mansion. Then we either leave the house or become one of the servants.”

“I think you chose the first option.”

He nodded.

I sat and wrapped my blanket tightly around me. I looked at Nazir for a while then stood up.

I've killed enough time, my parents must be awake.

I started to walk home and Nazir followed me, “Where are we going this time, my lord?”

“I'll ask my mom for permission to go hunting again.”

“Ask if you can go to the city.” He said, looking at me out of the corner of his eye.

“You mean she won't let me?”

He did not answer.

As we kept walking, I looked at him and sighed. We made our way to my parents' room, and I was about to knock on the door when I realized that they were already awake and started the day with a lot of vigor.

“Seems like they are awake my lord but I think we shouldn’t disturb them now.”

I glanced at Nazir and realized I was in one of the few moments when I could use my childish innocence.

“What are they doing?”

“Lots of things, my lord,” he responded instantly, and held my shoulder “Come, we can ask later.”

Lots of things? Where is that moment of panic when you try to explain? I rolled my eyes and headed for my room. Without saying anything, I went to my desk and checked the ingredients I had. I could spend some time making a few potions.

When we entered my room, I looked at the glasses and bottles on my desk, as I was checking my jars for ingredients Nazir spoke again.

“I just thought about it again and realised the reason for your question.

When I visited my father's hometown, there was a race of elves called sun elves who looked like me in appearance, but I think, I've only seen maybe like 1 of them in Marhea.

Maybe they don't like the climate here, I don't know.”

I looked back at Nazir, “We could travel there one day,” and he nodded with a smile.

I glanced at my desk again, and saw the dark purple flasks standing side by side on the corner. They were tranquillising, numbing or, if I needed something a little stronger, paralysing poisons. After that ‘incident’ I started to pay extra attention to the potions and poisons I was making. Aurelia didn't seem to care too much about such things, maybe it's because she was born and raised in this world, but I don't want to face a similar situation again.

This world was tough, I realised that one day I might have to defend myself, and fortunately, even though I know I'm stupid, I'm not stupid enough to believe that I can solve things by just talking. I felt that piercing the flesh with a steel in my hand was going to be a lot more difficult than I had imagined, so I figured that if I could do it once, I might as well finish the job at that once.

“Are you all right, my lord?”

One of the flasks was in my hand, and I was staring at it. I shook my head slightly when I heard Nazir's voice, and looked at him, “Yes, I'm fine.”

“They should be done,” he said, and I put the flask back in its place and we left my room.