In his daily life, Mark Dirus had managed to allocate his daily routine in four periods.

The first period is physical training where he would spend his morning exercising and training trying his best in becoming physically strong, he spends his time watching Joshua training the other recruits and for the most part, he would try and do physical exercises to help develop his body so by the time he had reached his teens he should be physically fit and strong.

The second period is studying where he would continuously read and learn more about the world around him, while the books provided are limited as most of these are just journal entries made by his parents narrating the history of the land around them and second-hand books with questionable sources, it was enough for Mark to be able to get the lay of the land and what he needs to learn to survive. And that alone allowed him to learn the truth about the world around him.

The third period is socializing where he would swallow his pride and proceed to interact with not only the children but also the adults of the Settlement. While this pleased not only his parents but also Gray, this yielded positive results as now many of the children who once viewed Mark with weariness and disdain have now started to warm up to him with some of them considering Mark to be their friend.

The fourth Period, and arguably the most challenging, is an exploration where he would sneak off into the night trying to learn more about the world around him. This like the three others has yielded great results as this allowed Mark to learn that the settlement they lived on is a somewhat fertile plain filled with farmlands all the while massive metallic windmills dot the landscape according to the books he has read these windmills have been a source of electricity that fueled not just the settlement but also the countryside.

"Whatcha reading over there?" Gray asked as Mark was immediately spotted walking out of his home. Due to the occupation of their parents, both of them are also neighbours as their homes are very much adjacent while overlooking the entire settlement.

"Just this Atlas I found in my parent's book collection," Mark smiled showing him the massive atlas which has the name 'The Wider World' written above it. Gray's eyes widened as he took the book earning a chuckle from him. When they aren't playing with the children Mark would often lend books to Gray essentially educating him and giving him ideas on what to do should one day he become the Master of this settlement.

"I'm not done reading that though," Mark pointed out trying his best to not laugh at his growing curiosity.

"Then let's read it together!" Gray said excitedly as he took him by the wrist and proceeded to drag him towards the Ash tree that served as the centre of the lakeside where everyone would be spending their time.

"Mark! Gray!" The two of them waved their hands to find the other children waving at them. "Want to join our play?"

"Sorry but we're studying today!" Gray said arrogantly as he waved the Atlas over them causing them to be amazed at the sight.

Children are so simple. Mark thought to himself as they lay down on the grass and proceeded to read about the Atlas. The Neogea continent is once a prosperous Continent known for its Technology, a term that from what Mark learned is a blanket term used for a product created by science, which itself is the use of logic and studying.

The Concept of science oddly reminds me of how Alchemy is applied in my old world. Mark thought to himself as he was reading a page on an organization known as Hashira Enterprises, one of the oldest organizations within the Continent and thus has become a major figure in Science and technology. This piqued Mark's curiosity about the organization considering how old and influential they are, especially since they are a major pillar of the continent as a whole and thus leaves Mark wondering how strong their influence on the continent is.

"Hang on I think I found something interesting too," Gray said standing up and dusting himself off. "I'll be right back."

Mark wasn't able to respond as he immediately sprinted off, Gray would later come back ten minutes later carrying a journal which he proceeded to lay it down on the ground next to the Atlas Mark carried earlier.

"This is my mother's Journal, she told me that this tells the history of my family and I think you should see this also." He said as he handed him the journal while Gray turned his attention back to the Atlas. Don't mind if I do. Mark thought with a shrug as he cracked open the journal. Unlike the Atlas which appeared to have far more cohesive handwriting, this one was messier as though it had been written many years ago. And it was here Mark learned more about the Archimans and the Settlement they are on.

The Dahlia Settlement, as mentioned before, is owned by the Archimans. A Family of landowners that owned this land years before either he or his parents for that matter were born, needless to say, that family is considered Old Money so to speak. And Aina Archiman is the youngest daughter of the Archiman family as a result she is designated to handling the smallest settlement to train her in not only leading but also managing future settlements as it was clear that the Archimans hold control over a lot of settlements within their region, while they're not on the same level as Hashira Enterprise in terms of Old Money, it was clear that they have become an influential part of the continent.

This leads Mark to conclude that the Continent of Neogea is filled with Old Money, with their origins dating back to at least a hundred years or so before he was even born. If he were to take over this world then he would either have to win their support or find some way to bring them down as the old elite of this world is going to be the biggest obstacle in any form of unification.

"So your family has been around for a long time huh," Mark commented aloud.

"I know right isn't that cool?" Gray said turning to him with an excited look in his eyes, Mark just smiled and nodded as they went back to their reading.

"What's so cool about reading these books?" The two of them turned to find Daryl Weissman, he was the biggest and oldest child in the Settlement. He was the son of the Second-in-Command of the Militia that protected the settlement thus answering to both Joshua and Aina.

But in contrast to his Father, Darren Weissman, who was very much loyal to the two of them, Daryl was less than enthusiastic about being friends with him and Gray and is the one who would constantly label them as weirdos and would encourage other children to bully them. Admittedly Mark understood why Daryl would want to bully him since in his eyes, Mark was a strange boy who was the polar opposite of his father in terms of temperament he wasn't so sure why Gray is considered a weirdo in his eyes.

The only reason Daryl can get away from his attempts to bully the two is the fact that he can hide it from his father. Knowing Darren's loyalty to both Joshua and Aina, he would no doubt be horrified to find his son encouraging other children to bully the sons of the two most influential figures within the settlement.

Guess extroverts are considered strange to him, but what does that make him? Mark thought as he looked up to Daryl who was surrounded by his cronies. These three were the prime instigators of any problem they have at present.

"Many things—" Gray said but he was quickly interrupted by Daryl slapping the atlas away to the ground.

"Hey!" Mark said partly enraged at the fact he had thrown aside a Book due to the fact it's a hand-me-down book thus having a far lower quality. He stood up and was about to go up against Daryl but everything went black.

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"M...ark?...Ma...rk?"

Mark groaned as he felt his head throb in pain as he woke up in the Settlement Clinic with a notable bruise on his left eye. Sitting next to him was both Miriam and Gray who each had a worried look on their faces, with the latter having a few bruises on his face as well implying that she fought against Daryl and his cronies.

"What happened?" Mark asked sitting up on his bed but pain immediately shot up across his body causing him to visibly wince from the pain. Gray immediately went to his side while Miriam hopped down from her chair and proceeded to call for his mother.

"You tried standing up against Daryl Weissman," Gray explained to him and handed him the Atlas he was reading earlier. The condition of the book was in a far worse state now thanks to how Daryl had handled it. Looks like I'm getting an earful later. Mark thought as he set aside and looked at Gray once more, he had a bruised lip and a small cut above his left eye.

"You lost, badly." Gray continued looking down. "He took you down in one punch while his friends started kicking you."

"Guess I'm that weak." Mark scoffed as he slumped back to his bed with a defeated sigh. This should be fine, he is just seven years old after all, and he still has time to grow and become stronger. He can use this too—

"I'm sorry," Gray said causing him to bow down in front of him. "I'm the older one and I should have protected you and stood up against Daryl and—"

"It's fine," Mark sighed with a wave. "Daryl and his friends are around ten and are bigger than us. So of course we'd be no match against—"

"—Mark!"

The two of them turned to find both their parents entering the tent with worried looks on their faces.

"Are you alright?" Mary asked worriedly.

"Did you win?" Joshua and Aina asked at the same time as Mary had asked, this proceeded for Mary to glare at the two adults who both did a shrug as Mary knelt towards the two children.

"What happened?" Mary asked, this caused the two to explain the entire situation and how Daryl and his friends provoked them causing Mark to stand up against them but only to be beaten up by his friends. Gray tried to intervene and managed to push them off, causing Gray to hurriedly carry Mark on his back towards the tent leading to the present events.

"I knew something was off with his son," Aina said in a low voice. "His wife never liked me in the first place anyways."

"Regardless I'll try my best to inform Darren and—"

"You don't have to." All of them turned to see the Weissman entering the tent alongside the Parents of the two other children that were usually accompanying Daryl, Daryl and the two boys had a handful of bruises on their faces but it was hard to tell whether or not this was from Gray's doing or their parent's attempt of disciplining them meanwhile the wives of each man had a notable slap on their faces hinting that they were slapped by the husbands implying that they too had a hand on what happened earlier.

"Explain yourselves," Joshua said straightening himself up and crossing his arms in front of him.

As it turns out Daryl and his cronies had been fed this idea that the three of them because all three are from high standing within the Settlement, are destined to become the true leaders of the Settlement once they are old enough by the wives of the three men. This was because, from the wives' point of view, Mark is too introverted to be a leader while Gray is 'strange' they didn't elaborate on that part much to Mark's confusion. As a result, the trio had been constantly harassing Mark and Gray as they viewed them as inferior and the wives are turning a blind eye.

That's just petty. Mark thought to himself as soon as Darren finished explaining everything, but the thing that Mark found interesting is the fact that neither Daryl nor his wife appeared to be showing any form of remorse.

"I'm sorry for what my wife and Son had been doing, I am completely unaware of this and I shall take full responsibility for it," Darren said bowing his head and forcing his wife and child to do the same thing albeit reluctantly. Mark watched Joshua turn to Aina with a look wondering what will she do next, Aina then crossed her arms and faced the Wiessmans with a somewhat stern look on her face. Which was a far cry from what Mark had usually seen since she is often seen with a relaxed look on her face even seen joking around with the rest of the Militia.

"We'll discuss that matter later," Aina said her tone was different as well, which took Mary and Gray by surprise but Joshua seemed unaffected by this and instead looked as though he had witnessed something nostalgic instead. "In the meantime, I think your son and his friends owe them an apology for what they have done to them."

"They did nothing wrong." Darren's wife spoke up glaring at Aina. "Our husbands worked hard to reach their current state when you two had the position handed to you."

"That's enough!" Darren said as he was about to lecture his wife but Aina raised her hand as she calmly took off a pin on her clothes, which had the logo of Clan Archiman which took on the form of an amaryllis, and casually tossed it to Mary who caught it without a beat as she walked towards the wife with this strange sense of calmness within her that was somewhat unnerving. She walked towards the wife of Darren Weissman who was visibly unnerved by her calmness as well but she refused to show any hints of it.

"Here's something for you from one mother to another." She said as she proceeded to sucker punch Darren's wife so hard that she immediately got knocked out in the process scaring the two other wives while the husbands were unaffected as though they expected her to do such a thing. Meanwhile, Mary had a look of 'that's what you get' all the while Joshua had an impressed look on his face.

"Now then," She said taking the pin from Mary and started putting it on again and turned to the two wives. "You people need to do something right?"

And so the terrified wives and children proceeded to apologize.

[The Second Advent]

Word had already spread on what the three wives were doing throughout the settlement and without a doubt, many began to ostracize them for raising their sons into such, though their sons were somewhat isolated as well by the children since they were constantly pressured into siding them as well.

But from what Mark had learned in the past few days, the other wives and sometimes young adults shared similar feelings to how the three wives viewed Joshua and Aina. This meant that they only used the three wives and their sons as a scapegoat, that and fear of what will happen to them after what Aina and Joshua had done to them. And after that, the disapproval they had of the two of them was lessened.

"Mother is kind of scary, to be honest," Gray said as he was hanging out with Mark in their home that afternoon they watched the three wives talk to one another with their heads lowered while everyone around them seemed to ignore them.

She wanted to make an example. Mark thought to himself. She knew people disapproved of her so she wanted to make an example against them.

"Why do you still have your mother's journal?" Mark asked in a low voice. After the bullying done by Daryl and his friends, Mark and Gray decided to spend their afternoon studying and reading the books that his family-owned.

"I wanted to learn more about her, to be honest," Gray said as he handed Mark the journal. "I also wanted to share this with you cause you're my friend."

"That's nice to hear," Mark said smiling, satisfied that he had just earned his trust from the whole affair. This ordeal made him learn a few more things about their families. Namely how Aina and Joshua earned their titles via nepotism but unlike most people that Marchosias had met in the past, the two worked their hardest to prove that they have earned the title despite their connections.

Joshua can be seen constantly drilling the Militia making sure that they are fit for protecting the settlement all the while working on various projects that aimed to help improve the security of the Settlement. Aina on the other hand is seen sending messages across other settlements under the Archimans updating them with their current situation while at the same time allowing inter-settlement trade to flow freely. Their hard work impressed Mark despite his reservations about Joshua and Aina as leaders, which is why he is somewhat baffled at the idea that the people under them don't seem to favour them just because of how they acquired their rank.

It seems this world discriminates against Old Money, well I can't blame them a system run by nepotism often causes stagnation. Mark thought as he and Gray continued to talk about random things, in his past life Marchosias despised nepotism and sycophants as growing up he would find people that were inferior in skills and knowledge would end up ascending through the ranks with ease while he had to fight tooth and nail to reach his apex. He despised it so much that his first act into becoming an Emperor was to implement a Meritocratic system and added a rule that if anyone were to promote someone because of their connections then they and their entire family line would be imprisoned until Marchosias says so.

"When I grow up," Gray said as he was reading into an Atlas while Mark was still reading Aina's journal. "I want to be strong like mother, and if I become a Master like her I'll do it by earning it not because I'm an Archiman."

"I'm sure you will," Mark replied glancing at Gray with a somewhat proud look on his face. "Because I know you'll become a leader just as if not better than your mother."