I watch as the servant totters towards me, a stack of books obscuring his face. He wobbles and teeters, but successfully makes it to my side and sets the books down. He wipes some sweat off his forehead and grimaces.

"Y- young master..." He says.

I look at him expectantly. It was rare that he would speak without being spoken to.

"Can... *huff* can we take a break?"

Hmm... he had a good point. It had been a good ten or so hours since that weird conversation with my dad, and I'd picked up another spell in that time. My Mage Job Level had increased due to knowing five tier one spells, so my stats were up a little more.

Learning tier two spells took more time than tier one spells. I could theoretically get my Mage Job to max level just by learning spells, but it would take a really long time, and would be too much effort. Better to switch to other methods of gaining experience.

The servant was right.

"You're right." I tell him, standing up from my seat.

His face brightens like the sunrise.

"We should take a break and go to the forest outside of town to kill monsters."

For some reason, his expression plummets like a boulder in the ocean. I'm too happy to care though, since that was the longest sentence I've managed to speak since arriving in Mavus's body.

"Take me there." I command.

Though deflated and miserable, the servant trudges away, myself in tow.

What a devoted man.

In fact, he's been nothing but helpful ever since he took me on that tour of the mansion. I've decided that I like him.

I dub thee Cell-Phone, since you're so useful.

I dressed in clothes appropriate for the forest and made sure that Cell-Phone did the same. He was worried about monsters, so I gave him a sword, a shield, and most importantly, a helmet. His face only paled further when I handed them to him though.

Throughout our horseback ride to the forest, he's rather fidgety and finicky, muttering to himself about crazy noble children and how he regrets his life choices. I think he's being a bit ridiculous, to be honest.

We arrive at the edge of the forest. The trees blot out the sun and roots creep across the dirt. Fog slowly crawls around, concealing large swaths of the darkened greenery from our view.

I walk right in.

"Sir..." Whimpers Cell-Phone. "I... I- I think this is a bad idea."

The bushes shiver ominously as some creature rustles around within. Cell-Phone squeaks and turns to face it.

"..." I watch my fearful servant, judging him.

I have no problem with cowards. It's normal to be afraid of danger, and to want to avoid it. I just think that whimpering and shrieking is a bad - if natural - way to deal with fear.

Plus his fears are unfounded. This forest was a location in the game that 'spawned' low level monsters like lesser slimes, starving goblins, wolves, and the occasional brown bear. All of them were fairly weak, as their levels ranged from one to eight.

Proving my point, five quadrupedal figures burst out of the bushes and start growling at the me and Cell-Phone. They're gaunt, their ribcages poking out of their torsos and spines creating visible bumps through their coarse fur.

Wolves. Starving ones.

Weak ones.

I smile at the easy XP.

"[Lesser Magic Projectile]."

A bolt of mana flies into the head of a wolf, lodging itself deep in there before dissapating, leaving behind a hole. The wolf keels over dead.

The other wolves start backing away from me in fear, hungrily eyeing the corpse. One wrong move, and they'll bolt.

I narrowed my eyes. I wasn't about to let my XP sources get away like this.

I loosed another projectile, hitting one wolf in the hindquarters, downing it and causing the three remaining ones to turn tail and run.

They're fast. I don't like my chances of hitting them while they're in motion, so I don't waste the MP trying.

Two out of five wasn't the best outcome. Damn.

A cold, ominous wind flows through the forest.

Annoyed, I turn on my heel and look for something else to kill. Cell-Phone follows close behind.

Cue montage.

[Mavus finds a colony of slimes in a pond.]

[Scene cuts to a smiling Mavus walking away from the pond, which is now barren.]

[Cell-Phone is ambushed by some goblins. His helmet saves him from dying to the first strike, but he's still briefly stunned by the blow and becomes vulnerable. Mavus helps him out with a few well-placed Projectiles and he manages to make some use of his sword.]

[A humming Mavus and frazzled Cell-Phone walk away from a bunch of green humanoid corpses.]

[Mavus points out a cave nearby. Cell-Phone protests, but the Mage doesn't care.]

[A few minutes later, Mavus and Cell-Phone can be seen running out of the cave while being chased by a giant angry bear. They bearly survive the encounter by climbing a tree and pelting the bear with rocks and Projectiles until it decides to leave.]

[Once the bear is gone, they climb back down. Unfortunately, a fog had flowed into their location while they were hiding from the bear, so they lost a lot of visibility.]

[The fog is extremely thick, and the two are now lost. They wander around for an hour or two before catching sight of the goblin corpses from earlier.]

[They are no longer lost.]

[More and more monsters are killed as the hours go by. Cell-Phone is a little beat up, but Mavus is fine. Eventually, the sun goes down and Mavus becomes sleepy. The two bravers (and wanton slaughterers) of the forest finally go home.]

I arrive home from my forest excursion. I'm covered in dirt and leaves, but I couldn't be happier. I'm humming and whistling, ignoring the Cell-Phone beside me, who looks like he's just gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson.

And then my good mood is ruined. Predictably, by one of my parental figures.

"Where have you been!" Shouts father as we walk into the estate, tracking dirt onto the gleaming tiled floor.

"Forest." I say.

"The forest?" His face jerks to intensely watch Cell-Phone. "Servant, is this true?"

"It's true sir."

Father turns back to me, fury on his face.

"AND WHY WERE YOU IN THE FOREST?! DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS IT IS IN THERE?"

"Yes." I say.

I know very well how dangerous it is. I spent at least an hour running from a pissed-off bear in there, and that was the most dangerous thing me and Cell-Phone encountered.

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"YOU COULD HAVE GOTTEN LOST AND DIED!"

We did, actually. Got lost, I mean - not died. Luckily, we managed to find a landmark though (the goblin corpses), so it was okay.

Father stares at me, fuming. I wish he'd chill out a little, but I know he won't.

In the game, Duke Margrave was a pretty intense person. He was known for his constant hardassery whenever the Scarab Kingdom needed the five dukes to make a decision. The guy has a constant frown and probably isn't capable of emotion beyond the range of pure fury to vague disapproval.

"Son... young man, I'm afraid that while your behavior for the past two days has been disturbing, it was not until now that I felt the need to intervene. You are hereby forbidden from going to the forest and you-" He rounds on Cell-Phone. "-WILL make sure that Mavus adheres to my rules!"

The servant looks like a deer in the headlights. Poor Cell-Phone. He's caught between me and my father.

"Am I understood?" He growls, his low voice carrying the weight of unyielding steel.

"Yes, my lord." Says Cell-Phone.

"...Yes." I say.

The imposingly muscular vampire-like man walks away. The moment he's gone, Cell-Phone falls to his knees.

I pat him on the back to comfort him and give it a little rub, taking the opportunity to clean my hand of dirt.

"Don't worry." I say. "We won't go to the forest."

That isn't a lie. I don't intend on going back there.

There are other places where I can fight monsters and kill things for XP.

I wake up blearily the next day, like I always do. I'm spick and span from yesterday's forest excursion thanks to repeated uses of the Clean spell. Not having to take showers is pretty convenient.

I exit my room and go over to the estate's training grounds, where the knights were out for their morning training. Half of them are running laps around the grounds while the other half are doing push-ups. My older brother is there with them, huffing and puffing along. He sees me watching from the terrace and calls out to me.

"Mavus! Nice to see you here, for once! Care to join us?" He boisteriously shouts.

I shake my head. Sorry bro, but I'm a Mage, not a Warrior. Physical exertion isn't really my thing.

He just laughs and goes back to his workout.

In the game, Morrigan Margrave, my brother, was a really minor character. As a result, I don't know much about him besides the fact that he's an exercise nut and aspiring politician. I think game-Mavus had been trying to kill him in order to become the Margrave heir.

I'm not really interested in succession though, so I probably won't end up killing Morrigan. I'd rather do my own thing, than run a whole Ducal territory.

I walk to the mage section of the training grounds, where various targets and orbs are. One of the family mages are out there, practicing their magic. He gives me a wary look, but doesn't stop me from walking up to the target range.

"[Lesser Magic Projectile]." I cast, aiming for the target furthest from me (about a semi-truck's length).

I miss, naturally. The small, shimmering bolt flies from my fingers but hits the wall behind the target and shatters into a thousand pieces.

Damn.

I try again and again, getting a handle on how the aiming mechanism actually works. It's surprisingly intuitive, and on my seventh try I hit the target's outer ring.

Nice.

I keep practicing until I'm out of magic.

For all mages, unless an MP replenishing item or skill is used, it takes six hours to regenerate all MP. My total MP is twenty, so I regenerate one point every eighteen or so minutes. A spell's MP cost is proportionate to its tier, so that means I can cast a single tier one spell every eighteen minutes.

I spend that time watching the other Mage practice his spellcasting. He's using some weird spell to create a glob of yellowish-green goop, which is now just floating in the air. The glob shoots out at one of the targets with the speed of a bullet. It splatters all over the target and begins hissing and steaming.

The Mage isn't done though. With much more ease than before, he creates a ball of flame and sends it at the acid-splattered target. The fireball hits and the whole thing explodes in a massive conflagration, enveloping a few nearby targets as well.

I recognize the spell now. That's the Acid Napalm spell, a fourth-tier spell which causes corrosion damage and maximizes, extends, and widens the effects of fire damage.

A fourth tier spell... and given the ease with which he was casting, he's probably a fifth tier. Mages in general aren't very common due to how hard it is to train them, and our family has a fifth-tier one as a simple employee. Once again I am amazed at the Margrave's sheer wealth.

I kind of want to ask him for lessons, but that would require approaching him and initiating conversation. Normally I'd get Cell-Phone to do it, since he's so useful, but he's not around right now.

Damn.

I wait out the next few minutes, watching as the Mage goes through a few different spells. A piercing ice-lance spell, a chain electric attack, and a basic shockwave spell, maximized to destroy an armored target.

At that point, I realized that ever since I'd gotten my Job, I'd kind of been taking magic for granted. I'd learned how to create shields and projectiles and clean stuff and create light, and somehow not been in awe.

If this was my old world, this fourth tier Mage would probably make a good fictional superhero.

Mmm.

"Hey."

I spin around, pulled out of my thoughts and musings by someone's voice behind me. I turn around.

It's Morrigan, my older brother. He stinks of sweat.

I raise an eyebrow, wondering what he wants.

"Not going to say hi back? I'm hurt, little brother."

He sure doesn't sound very hurt.

"...Hi."

Now tell me what you want.

"I saw you casting some spells, and just wanted to congratulate you for becoming a mage! Really, I mean, those were, what, Magic Arrows?"

He looks at me, waiting for me to say something, but I don't. After a second of awkward silence, he resumes talking.

"Anyways, yeah. Good job. Though I doubt Father will be happy that you're focusing on magic instead of manners or politics. But hey, it's your choice. I guess the succession isn't *that* important to you, being the second son and all."

I don't understand what point he's trying to make, so I just listen and wait for him to leave.

"Really, I'm happy you've found your calling in life. Though I never would have expected it from you, brother. You've never really been interested in anything, besides harassing the servants."

Really? I'm pretty sure that Mavus from the game was interested in business-related stuff. Vaguely. Maybe I'm wrong. Or maybe Mavus just never told Morrigan about it before I took over.

"I mean, I wasn't sure you even knew how to read, much less learn magic!"

...That's actually kind of insulting. Plus, he's been talking for a long while now, and hasn't said anything of importance.

I tune him out and turn back to the targets. If he's not going to say anything useful, then I won't bother listening to him.

I line up a shot at one of the farther targets, but before I can cast, I feel a force on my arm. It's my brother, shoving me a little.

"Hey, quit ignoring me when I'm talking." He says, an annoyed look on his face.

I just raise an eyebrow. If you didn't want me to ignore you, you should've been more interesting.

His annoyance deepens.

"You know what? I've got an idea. Why don't we have a little brotherly competition."

What?

"You and me, on the field. Let's duel. The knight-captain can referee."

I lean my head back and think about it for a moment. My first instinct is to say no, since I dislike fighting people who might be able to beat me. At the same time though, dueling is a pretty good way to gain XP, even if it isn't the most efficient.

"...Sure." I say, deciding to try my luck.

Morrigan's face splits in a grin, and he claps me on the back.

"Good man! C'mon, let's go!"

"No cutting off limbs, no killing, no outside help, and no using unapproved equipment. Outside of that, do whatever you can to win. The match ends when I call it or when I let someone surrender. Are we clear on the rules of this engagement?" Asks the referee, a stern man who seems to glare at me more than at Morrigan.

We're out on the field. It's like a baseball field, but without the bases, lines, or... anything baseball-related. It's a dusty dirt field, essentially.

"I understand." Says Morrigan.

I just nod.

"Then begin!" Shouts KC.

Morrigan bursts forward towards me, intent on closing the distance since he's a swordsman and I'm a magic caster.

Shit. He's fast.

I back up a bit, but it doesn't do much. Gritting my teeth, I cast a spell.

"[Lesser Magic Shield]."

A small table-sized barrier appears between me and Morrigan, who barrels into it with the force of a bull.

Naturally, it shatters. But not before robbing Morrigan of a significant portion of his momentum.

Enough for me to properly target him with my most potent spell.

"[Light]." I cast, point blank in his face.

Even if he had enough time to close his eyes, it wouldn't have been enough to keep me from blinding him.

The spell had roughly the strength of a lightbulb. A particularly bright one, if I put in enough concentration. And as everyone knew, looking directly at a lightbulb was bad for your eyes. If you were a distance away, you'd be left with a lightbulb-shaped spot in your vision. Point blank, and I might as well have hit Morrigan with a flashbang.

He stumbles, clutching his eyes and screaming. I take the opportunity to put some Projectiles into his legs.

Unfortunately, they don't pierce. Not completely unexpected, since he's an exercise nut who's been training for at least a decade, but still disappointing. It means that my only method of dealing damage isn't strong enough to overcome his PHY.DEF stat (not that he knows he has it).

Well, shit.

He slowly gets back up, rubbing his eyes in pain. Through his fingers, I could see his glassy eyes staring sightlessly with seething severity.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" He screams.

Welp.

He makes to charge me again, even more bullish this time (since he's blind), so I cast a Projectile at his feet, tripping him up mid-sprint and sending him sprawling.

He gets back up again, angrier than ever.

If I can't win this duel by damaging him outright, I can still try to tire him out. I have sixteen MP left, I can cast sixteen more times. Seventeen, if this lasts eighteen minutes, long enough for me to regenerate another MP point.

The battle continues in much the same way as it has thus far. He gets up, charges towards where he thinks I am, and I trip him up with Magic Shields and Projectiles, and then blinding him again. Sometimes he'll be smart, and back off in an attempt to let his blindness wear off, but when he stops moving I hit him in the head with a projectile. It doesn't pierce him, but it does do a decent job of bludgeoning him and its hard to block when he's blind and it's moving at the speed of an arrow.

In the end though, I run out of spells before he runs out of energy. And I'm still a minute or so off from regenerating any MP.

Dammit.

Out of options, I turn to the referee.

"Can I surrender?" I ask.

The ref just grins maliciously and says nothing.

Shit.

...Though Morrigan's vision returns, I still feel happy for getting this far. It's been only four days now, and I'm already able to somewhat fight Morrigan, who's been training for years.

If I continue this way while being smart about it, I'll be able to survive the events that are sure to occur, assuming this world follows the same plotline as Kingdom Come.

Anyways, it looks like Morrigan's gotten his vision mostly back. Impressive, considering that a normal person would have been permanently blinded.

His face was contorted in fury and covered in dirt from all the spills he took. He looks like a dust monster.

He reaches me in two quick strides and raises his blessedly wooden sword.

A few minutes later, my back is on the dirty ground and I'm staring at the cloudless blue sky. My nose is bleeding, my body is covered in bruises, and I have a black eye. Still, I manage to smile.

In the corner of my vision, I note a notification from my system.

I grin.