Date: December 8th, 2033
The rain was pouring on the dark and gloomy streets of New York City. It was the norm for a city covered in sin and blood. As the rain poured down on the city, a lone man walked his way to a bench. It was a safe haven from the rain, but the man looked like he was in no rush. He took a seat on the bench, right next to a young girl who looked to be around the age of 10.
“Hello Mister,” The little girl said.
The man slowly looked over towards the girl before he gave a smile back and said “Hello” back.
“What are you doing in the rain by yourself?” The girl asked.
“I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn’t notice the rain was falling.”
The little girl giggled. “That’s so silly. How could you not tell it was raining?”
“I guess I was that far into my head.”
The little girl looked back at the empty street and swung her legs back and forth.
“What are you doing here by yourself?” The man asked.
“I’m waiting for the bus to come to pick me up. My mommy works a lot. My older brother is usually with me, he had to go to a dentist appointment.”
The man sighed. “Do you wanna hear a story to pass the time?”
The little girl’s eyes lit up as she smiled at the man. “Yeah, I love stories!”
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(AN: Not everything in this section of the story is told to the little girl. Don’t be stupid, he’s talking to a child)
Ok, the story starts in the year 1960. It was a year of bliss for a lot of people. It was all about sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll. That was until, The Eruption. The Eruption was a big explosion of volcanoes in the Ring of Fire. When people found out about the explosion, they went crazy. People built shelters in order to hide from the explosion, but contrary to their beliefs, nothing bad happened. Instead, a new power source straight out of the fairy tales was released, Mana. Now, in the first couple of years after the eruption, people used this new resource in different ways; this was called Magic. Magic, if you don’t know, is the exterior acclimation of mana into a certain point to produce a projectile, a shield, an aura, or etc.
People began to gain unique abilities, all different from each other. There were few people who could use magic, making people who could more valuable. After some people began to use magic, a war broke out. This war broke out because the current USSR thought it would be a good idea to attack the US with this new power of magic. This war started another battle with the world that lasted for 20 years. It was called World War III, for the lack of a better term. This war was pretty brutal due to the barbaric nature that Humans were reduced to. Of course, The US and its allies won the war. Everyone knew who was gonna win so it wasn’t surprising. Anyways, after the US won the war, the entire country was changed. It became the New States of North America. This was due to the fact that they took control of Canada and Mexico, splitting them up into different states. Mexico became North Mexico and South Mexico while Canada was split up into the provinces and territories that were already there. It was probably due to the fact that the president was lazy.
Now the year was 1987 at this point. Life was good for the most part when a scientist, named Richard Blank, decided to prove his theory of where mana came from, the hollow earth theory. He believed that the earth had a hollow core and that is where the mana came from. So, Richard drilled his way to the center of the earth and discovered the hollow earth theory was true and revealed the existence of Homo-Novus, or the new humans. The Homo-Novus consisted of your basic fairytale creatures like Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Goblins, Beastmen, and etc.
After Richard discovered the Homo-Novus, The people of the NSNA were divided on how to treat these new beings. Some people wanted them to be erased from existence while another group wanted to give them the same rights they had. The president at the time, Ronald Reagan, made the decision to give them rights with a new amendment stating that any being that has reason is to be given basic human rights.
Now two years later, in the year 1990, due to elongated exposure of mana, animals were now able to use it, creating Magical Beasts. They were simple creatures of the planet Earth that had gained access to Mana, giving them magical abilities. The Elven people warned the world of this, so the NSNA had already taken precautions. They thought if they just left them alone that it wouldn’t be a problem, but they were wrong. Soon, the magical creatures became too rowdy and rambunctious leading to the attack on cities. This sparked an organization called the Magical Beast Subjugation Association or MBSA for short.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
The MBSA was created to regulate the population of said creatures by using “hunters” to cull them if necessary.
This led to the ranking system of any and all people that use magic and/or fight beasts. The ranking system went lowest to highest as follows: E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, X, EX. Along with the ranking system came specializations. Specializations were paths a warrior or magician can go down in order to be strong in one category. These specializations are as follows: Swordsman, Magic Swordsman, Ranger, Mage, Gunslinger, Enchanter, Blacksmith, and etc. You may think one is stronger than the other but that is not true, every specialization has its own strengths and weaknesses. A gunslinger can kill a mage in a fight. It's actually pretty easy, for me at least.
Anyway, with the classes and ranks came groups forming outside of the MBSA. After a while, these groups started to hunt with each other, forming the party. Now get this, then, those parties started to group up with other parties forming what is now known as “guilds”. Guilds are like private businesses in a sense. They have their own rules and can do anything within the MBSA’s rules
Some guilds are focused on fighting magical beasts or enchanting/blacksmithing. The MBSA changed its name to The Bureau of Monsters and Magic or the BMM due to the fact that they became an organization making laws on hunters and monitoring the skills of certain people.
Now, some of the biggest guilds I know of right now are the RoseWood Clan, The Enchanters, and the Wolf Pack Mafia. Yes, I did say mafia. This is because some gangs decided to establish themselves as guilds, just for the fun of it.
Boy, it is fun!
Let’s jump ahead a decade, shall we? We are now in the year 2004, May 11th. That day is the birth of the protagonist of this story, Jacob Drill. Now, I say protagonist because he is not the hero nor the villain. Jacob Drill is the first son of Johnathan Drill, a businessman, and Martha Drill, a housewife. The Drill family is neither rich nor poor, but Jacob was born with an extraordinary gift, smarts. Now, around the time Jacob was born the same scientist, Richard Blank, made a new discovery. This discovery was proof that Mana is actually alive. It seems that mana is a form of life that is so microscopic, they are smaller than an electron. The reason beings are able to control mana easily is because of the specific code that is inside mana. Basically, a being absorbs mana into its body, allowing the mana to attach itself to the bloodstream. The mana will then only follow the commands of the being that they are attached to due to some underlying telepathic reading.
The reason it turns into the different magical spells is because of it being told to basically form that spell. For example, the way that they do it is by attaching themselves to the oxygen in the air and combusting it into flame by superheating themselves. It’s a lot to take in.
Now let’s go back to Jacob Drill. I say he’s smart because he has a special gift. The average human is able to use around 10% of their brain, but Jacob is able to use around 60% of his brain. The reason he is able to do this is because of the fact that the mana doesn't attach itself to his circulatory system, it instead attaches to the nervous system. The cause of this is unknown because he is the only human to have this.
Jacob might be smart, but that is all he is. Being smart doesn’t mean he uses big words or knows everything, it just means that he is able to process things a lot faster, solve problems with impeccable speed, and be able to understand a complex method in seconds. Being smart and being knowledgeable are two very different things; people get them confused too much.
Jacob being able to use 60% of his brain is very special, yes, but it doesn’t mean he can’t feel empathetic towards someone else; he is not nihilistic.
Jacob applied his gift when he figured out how to walk at only 7 months old. He did not have any knowledge of how to walk at all. He just simply observed his parents walking and figured it out on his own. Although he wasn't full-on walking, he took around two steps before he landed on his face.
Jump ahead a couple of days and we reach the birth of another character, Natylee McArthur. She is born from a beast woman, from the Felis Catus branch, named Natasha McArthur, and an elf named Lucas McArthur. The McArthur couple and the Drill couple were very good friends. They have known each other since their days at the academy, allowing Natylee and Jacob to become well acquainted.
At age 4, Jacob started school for the first time. Of course, he was top of his class. He was still friends with Natylee, but they started to drift apart around the days of the academy when they were 16. Natylee seemed to start to lean towards the “cool kids”, whereas Jacob, just kept to himself. He would make attempts to communicate with Natylee only to end in her ignoring his existence in order to “stay popular”. This led to Jacob finding out that he had feelings for Natylee. (AN: No, he’s not a simp) Eventually, Natylee started to date someone, making Jacob feel rejected in a sense. He didn’t want to believe it but it was true. At this point, something clicked inside of Jacob, magic.
Everyone had mana in their bodies, but only some of them were able to actually use it. This is why enchanting became a thing. It was to allow those who cannot use their mana to fight on equal grounds. With magic, Jacob would become a very wanted asset, but he couldn’t even form his own spell. He knew what his magic was but he couldn’t use it. There are types of magic that are very common like fire magic or water magic.
The magic Jacob had revolved around the manipulation of dimensional space. Now, you may call Jacob whatever you want, but he really just wants his friends back. He wants to be recognized.
In the midst of working on his spell, Jacob became friends with a lot more people. People that won't be important until later in the story. This story will truly begin in the year 2021, the beginning of the second year of the academy for Jacob. Now, this story is not one of a hero rising up to defeat some stupid demon lord, but it is a story of a man who wanted a simple thing, being led down a dark and gratuitous path. This is about a gangster, a soldier, and a father.