Jack pushed the kitchen door, a thick, worn leather book in his hand. He weaved his way around the servants and the ingredient shelves to reach the breakfast-ready food table. Putting down his book, Jack grabbed two pieces of sandwich and two slices of ham, using the small knife to cut out two other small slices of cheese for extra flavor.

“Another two pieces of fresh lettuce, please, Stefan?” Jack turned around, asking the chef, who was busy with all the newly arrived vegetable crates.

“I had to wash the vegetables before I could check them because I knew you’ll be in the kitchen now,” Stefan grumbled, though he still delivered everything asked.

“So,” Jack mischievously questioned him, “don’t you want me to continue to show you how to make flan?”

“Now, one thing at a time,” Stefan hummed and hawed. “Don’t bully me!”

Many dishes from Earth did not exist here, which made Jack wonder if the cuisine he had known could be found elsewhere on this world.

Jack finished putting everything in between the bread slices. He happily took a big bite before grabbing the book and walked to the kitchen door. Seeing Edward stand, opening the door for him, he frowned.

“Ed, shouldn’t you be sleeping around this time!”

“My apology, young master! I have been trained to let myself be awakened, fully aware, by the slightest of the sound you make.”

“You won't hear me leave my room soon,” Jack mischievously said. “All the nonsense rules about the servants going down before the master of the Corvus, just ignore them.”

Leaving the suspecting eyes of Edward, Jack continued his way to the library.

It had been a week since he woke up from the coma. Apart from the time for eating, resting, and exercising, he always locked himself between the bookshelves of the Harper. The Harper is not traditionally rich enough to acquire an enormous collection of books. Therefore, Jack couldn’t get his hand on some much-needed information, especially those around the sphere and soul deficiency.

However, he still managed to grasp some vital information about this so-called “true world.” The town Jack was living in, Oxdale, belonged to the Omivell Kingdom, a vassal state of the Dessotor Empire. The Empire divided its vassals into three tiers based on their ability to provide as well as their military might. Omivell was a third-tier kingdom, the lowest in the hierarchy structure.

The house of Corvus served directly under the central system of the Empire. Jack’s grandfather, Flavius Corvus, had been the Grand Duke, the “he who only bowed to one” of Dessotor. It hadn’t been because Flavius Corvus had come from a noble house, but rather simply because he had managed to climb to the top of the world, a Grand Divine of magic.

To compare individuals' capability throughout history, this world had created ranks, including Herald, Crusader, Archon, Legend, and finally, Divine. The last one was further divided into Arch Divine and Grand Divine in order to adapt to the growing power of the rank. Having possessed one of the mightiest individuals in this world, the Corvus had always brought suppression to every social class below them, including the Harper.

Beyond that, there was the rank of Immortal, an eternal existence comparable to god. Yet, there had never been any record about such individuals, at least not in the continent of Beilend. A Divine could live more than five hundred years, maybe even thousands, if they managed to find the necessary ingredients to ascend themself. Eventually, though, their time would come. Therefore, many Divines had spent their whole life trying to reach Immortal.

Jack looked for further information, access to which was limited under Dessotor and its vassals. It seemed like Emperor Anton Ovidus did not want his subjects to figure out too much about this world. This gave Jack trouble trying to learn about the existence of the sphere. Maybe, if he could become a high ranker, Jack would gain access to more.

Jack understood that he needed to comprehensively improve himself if he wanted to have any chance of finding Emily or Elle. Even though his early implication said that he could only learn the common magics due to his low magical affinity index, Jack knew his body had changed. The sphere, after allowing him to live five hundred years of simulation, had strengthened his spirit aspect and made his sense and manipulation of surrounding mana more effortless.

Realizing this, Jack had planned his three-stage training based on his previous life experience. The first was what he had been doing lately, improving his body and stamina with running, push-ups, and sit-ups. The second stage targeted flexibility. Jack intended to ask the household carpenter to make some stakes with different heights for him to practice the balance of his running and stance. Meditation was the last stage after all the practices. Not only did it help with revision and summarization of the training, but also with the ability to process mana from the air to his lungs and blood veins, creating a cycle of mana manipulation development that would be helpful during spell casting in the future. These were the basic training that Jack had done in his previous life, and so he hoped they would prove helpful again. Jack’s knowledge was vast, but he reckoned most of them were now useless. Still, he felt that the mana in the previous world was a simplified version of this one. Their fundamentals shouldn’t be too different.

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“Practice makes perfect can’t be wrong, right?”

The empty field was some distance away from the garden to the forest by the side of the mansion. Its primary purpose was to dry herbs, fruits, vegetables, and seeds from the forest itself or through trading. For now, these products had already been packed and placed in the corner, waiting for transportation. A small wooden warehouse stood by the entrance to the field from the main road, where the workers could stay to keep track of people coming in and out of the area.

A middle-aged man wearing carpenter tools on his shoulder and waist was waiting for Jack in front of the warehouse.

“Robert,” Jack called out from the main road.

“Master Jack,” Robert called back. “You should have used a cart!”

When Jack finally reached Robert, he immediately started gasping for air with sweats all over his face.

“Just practicing!”

Robert gave him a handkerchief. Jack took it and had a look at the field, imagining the arrangement of the wooden stakes. He had come here a few days ago, but the cumbersome goods prevented him from making any renovation.

“It’s going to be tough,” Robert said, “I understand what you are asking, but the field also needs to be ready for the next harvest.”

Jack nodded.

“It will be alright,” Jack said, “I only need it for a few months before bringing my training up a notch. Until then, I will still need your assistance!”

Jack looked up at the forest surrounding the field, its trees tall and its branches sturdy. That would be the next phase after the basic exercises.

“No problem. Then can we start?”

“Right away if the woods are ready.”

“The preparation is done. All you need to do now is bring them out and place them where you want. After that, I’ll simply hammer them into the ground.”

Jack followed Robert into the warehouse. The wooden stakes had been made by Robert and his workers following Jack’s design. They were quite simple, with different lengths and thicknesses. Some of the heads could fit a whole foot, others barely the size of a small cup. The tails were uniform, sharpened to serve as anchors. Usually, holes were dug before the pounding, but Robert thought the woods were strong enough for a single mighty blow. Besides, the man was quite lazy for such a tedious task.

Jack marked the location on the field with chalk. The arrangement he was aiming for had been perfected by Xerath, a frenzy fighting maniac and the grumpiest one among Jack’s friends. They had taken different paths in their pursuit of power, and at the end of the day, Xerath’s brawn had come short of Jack’s brain. That hadn't meant Jack was more powerful than Xerath. Jack was simply more cunning, for if Xerath had been adept at calculating, Jack would have never been the leader. Therefore, even though he had his own developed training method, he would still go with Xerath’s practices. In this enormous world, much more so than his last, there would only be more challenges to come. Before absolute power, all conspiracies were meaningless. The path he had taken before may not work this time.

After Jack had finished the layout, Robert went out to the field and did his job. Despite a heavy log on his shoulder, his actions were still natural and swift.

He pointed the sharpened side of the stake downward, then called Jack.

“Can you hold it?”

“No problem!”

Jack used both of his hands, holding on to the stake, steadying it. Robert backed away, his hand reaching for the hammer hanging on his waist, his nose puffing a rhythm. Jack could feel the mana flow transforming around Robert. Then, Robert leaped up and, from a two-meter height, stroked his hammer on the head of the stake. The sound of a mini-explosion spread in the air as the stake pierced the ground, releasing a wave of dust.

Jack closed his eyes, waiting for the dust to settle. The stake had been hammered to the ground in one swift stroke, right at the mark.

“Impressive!” Jack gave Robert a thumbs up.

He laughed and continued with the next stakes.

It took them the whole afternoon to finish the training field. The final result was a maze of stakes with seemingly random size and height. Only Jack knew that every single stake had been precisely placed where it should be for his practice.

The two had to run back to the mansion since Robert had thought Jack would have arrived using a cart, so he had ordered his warehouse workers and horses to go home. Robert’s stamina was far superior. By the time they reached the mansion, he had barely broken a sweat, while Jack was lying on the grass in the garden, catching his breath after a busy day.

Sophie brought Jack some water with a smile on her face.

“You will return to school tomorrow, Jack,” Sophie said. “I have just met the principal to talk about your situation.”

“Go to school?” Jack frowned.

“Aren’t you the one who said he wanted to study?” Sophie asked.

Jack laughed at his mother’s misinterpretation, but seeing her ever-full-of-expectation eyes, he nodded quietly. He understood that she was worried that his solitary approach to everything would hinder him in the long run.

“Excellent!” Sophie laughed happily. “And you really should take a shower. You smell, you know!”

“Indeed, young master, I bet the ones in the kitchen could smell you from here,” Robert mocked.

Jack raised his hands, giving up, and went for the shower.