Now 5 years old, Ryzan has remembered quite a bit of the early years in his past life. Unfortunately what little wasn't hunting/crafting, came from the awkward teen years. So basically the only things Ryzan has learned are his craft, his love of fantasy creatures..... and an appreciation of the female form. This, coupled with some excursions around town with his father, learning the art of "conversation", has brought along some..... interesting... personality developments. The primary causes of this, is that the strongest memories bleed through first, and Skadi sealing the memories of her and his death. This resulted in his primary memories being his craft, from years of obsession, sweat, and blood, and then the strong fantasies he kept to himself in the comfort of his room around the age of 14.... never underestimate hormones. Unfortunately, at this time, memories of Sam hadn't come through yet. Since he was linked into Ryan's sealed death scene, his very presence was partially sealed from Ryzan. Some of his memories, especially one involving a magazine, an unlocked bathroom door, and a LOT of shame, included the presence of a faceless man in place of Sam. Ryzan had always felt a desire to know who this was, but every try to remember more detail just resulted in a headache.

By now Ryzan had pretty much decided to just let the strange memories come through at their own pace, and was now trying find out what he could about his life in his current body. Of the things he had learned, first and foremost, was his appearance. As seen through a polished silver mirror, he had light tan skin, dark black hair, and green eyes. Additionally it seems that his ears were lightly tapered at the tips, a fact that excited Ryzan quite a bit. In the end he concluded it was probably just a birth defect, his father had round ears, and his mother certainly wasn't one of the “fair folk”, but it was still nice to have something in common . In fact he had picked up almost all his features, including hair and eye color, from Kayla. The only feature his father seemed to have caused was that his skin was significantly lighter than his mothers.

Another thing Ryzan had learned, was that when it came to his father Rak, unlike Kayla, there was very little for him to take pride in. His father's physique was tall, weak, and pale. Though he did have long flowing blond hair, almost glowing blue eyes, and a stunning singing voice. Outside of these few areas, which admittedly helped him as a bard, Ryzan could only conclude the man was almost useless. Despite his voice, his talent as a bard wasn't very high, mainly due to his singing only things he thought women would like. If that wasn't bad enough, what little he did make was spent, almost immediately, on flirting with women, and then buying desperate make-up gifts when Kayla eventually found out.

In fact, the only part of him that Ryzan admired, was his stunning ability to maintain his marriage. Through smooth talking, serenading, and “thoughtful” gifts, this man had managed to not only marry far above his class, but he even managed to keep a rather happy marriage in spite of COUNTLESS transgressions. While this didn't quite make Ryzan respect his father, it did make him take some serious notes on his speaking habits and mannerisms. He didn't actually feel like he wanted to learn these things, but something deep down inside of him seemed desperate to find the best possible conversing methods, and any time Ryzan tried to disregard these urges he broke into a cold sweat...

Thankfully, as Ryzan was happy to find out, his mother more than made up for his father's... limitations. She had a strong and lithe body, toned and forged through years of practice. She was the one who was responsible for the family's wealth and status in the village. Not only was she the village's primary healer, she was also one of the most respected hunters in the village. Ryzan had not seen her skill in person, but, according to Liza, so long as his mother had blades in her hands, no one in town would claim themselves stronger. She apparently used a dual-blade combat style that had been passed down in her family for generations, and completely outclassed her opponents in speed. Ryzan decided, immediately after hearing this, that he would ask her to train in this method. Unfortunately he was immediately turned down, and told he wasn't allowed to train in anything until he had his “coming of age” ceremony.

That brings us back to today. Ryzan, thanks to Liza, had finally learned to read the books in the library with enough accuracy to actually start doing some research. After he recovered a bit of his memory, Ryzan had headed directly to the library. Since he comprehended the spoken word, he had assumed it would be the same for the written. Unfortunately his expectations were not met, the characters in the books were something similar to Japanese Kanji, and definitely not something he had read before.

(ryzan) *Browses the books on the lower shelves* It's disappointing that Liza isn't with me today, but it's rather hard to find out any information when all I can read is children books. Not to mention having to pretend to make mistakes to avoid them finding out how fast I mastered the language... yeah... It had nothing to do with Liza's habit to lean over my shoulder to read while pointing out the erroneous portion... just staying low key

Just as Ryzan had finished desperately deluding himself, he managed to find a promising book, A brief overview on the races of Azentia

(ryzan) “Here we go.” *Opens the book with rapt interest and sees a map of a single contient* Hmm. I wonder if there is only one mass of land on this planet, or we just haven't managed to find the others yet. Well regardless this is the only one that affects me atm” *Turns the page and begins reading*

“Yes!” I had my hopes up, but they really are here. Elves exist here! *ravenously reads the passages inside the book*

Elves have the lowest population in Azentia, but they are also the most long lived. There are 3 species of elves throughout Azentia, though they are mostly found in small communities. The reason for their low numbers, is that they have very few children in their long lives.In spite of this low population they are one of the strongest military powers. In general, this is due to their proficiency in mana control.

(ryzan)*Silence fills the room as Ryzan just stares with a shocked expression* ...... mana control..... as in.... magic!?!?! there's magic in this world as well?! *Quickly begins reading again*

Another factor is rapid development from a young age. An elf newborn will take only 8 years to be considered an adult, and at only 15 they are fully developed, once they finish development an elf will show almost no signs of aging for their average of 250 years of life. These factors are shared throughout all species of elves including half-elves. Many scholars think that the aging process is halted through a subconscious use of mana. This is because an elf's mana partially unlocks at age 8, when aging starts to slow, and fully unlocks at the age of 15, the same time their aging process all but halts.

(ryzan) Wow... they're a bit different from the stories, but elves here are pretty incredible... Though speaking of rapid aging, I myself feel like I'm way too large to be a five year old. If I go based on those flashes of memory I feel more like the size of a 10 year old, and then there is the ears. I wonder... did mom cheat on Rak? Well, what goes around comes around I suppose... though I am sad about the 3 year wait on magic.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Other aspects of the elves differ based on the particular type. First are the Half-Elves. While they are classified as their own race, their traits depend entirely on their elven parent. It should be noted that only elf and human pairings have been confirmed to have given birth to an half-elf, and even then the chance is low. Most pairings will result in either a full human, or a full elf. While there are still some “purists” who object to considering them full blooded, persecution is largely impossible since one would not be able to find the difference. Even half-elves are indistinguishable from the full elves until their eighth birthday. When the mana begins to unlock, a full elf will just gain access to their mana, while a half elf will have their eye or hair color change to another color, and occasionally inherit an additional elemental affinity. One additional distinguisher, is that half-elves will usually have a slightly larger mana pool. The reason for this is still unknown.

(ryzan) Hmm... I don't know whether to be hopeful or worried. Being able to do even a little more magic would be nice, but I'm not sure if the discrimination would be worth it... wait a second... If I have the ears, it means all of my features would match the elven parent.... All my features align with Mom. Could it be?..

The least common Elf, aside from half-elves, are the High Elves. High elves are usually the tallest of the elves, and the common traits of high elves is silver hair and eyes, milky-white skin, and an even higher natural ability to control mana. Their natural affinities are water and light. This makes the High Elves the most suited to healing abilities. The high elves are, by and large, the weakest in close combat. While there are some exceptions, most high elves completely give up on melee fighting because of their generally weak physique. Instead they spend their time training in magic, and over the years have developed many large scale and complex spells. Overall, if there is such thing as the most powerful caster in the world, it is almost certainly a high elf.

(ryzan) That's a pretty generic elf.... tho it's weird there was no mention of a bow so far. Elves and bows should go hand in hand shouldn't they?

The most populous of the elves is the Dark Elves. Dark Elves are usually the shortest of the elves, and are usually very petite. They have dark grey hair, purple eyes, onyx skin, and all dark elves have a high affinity to darkness, and their unique skill summoning. These features make dark elves excel at stealth, and with the addition of having summons to do combat for them, a dark elf will almost never face someone in head to head combat. Usually their fighting style involves hiding in the shadows as their familiar engages the enemy, and casting spells, hexes, and curses whenever an opening presents itself. Another interesting aspect of the dark elf culture, is that they are one of the only matriarchal societies in Azentia. This has resulted in many rough and rowdy adventurers getting blasted out of tavern door as a result of culture shock.

(ryzan) *Starts getting a little confused*Ok.... now that's definitely weird. Their fighting style is completely suited to projectile weaponry, and yet there was no mention of any kind

Last are the Wood Elves. Wood elves have black hair, green eyes, tanned skin, and a high affiliation to nature, and their unique skill mana body enhancement. Through body enhancement wood elves have a healing ability, but it is much less effective than light attribute healing. The main benefit of the ability, is in close combat. Despite their sleek bodies, a wood elf can momentarily strike with an intense strength through enhancement. Using this technique to provide bursts of speed they will usually perform hit and run tactics, and binding with nature magic to disrupt the enemy. In addition to this many wood elf families have their own refined combat styles. The most notable example is the Drifting Wind dual wield style.

(ryzan) *Thought process slowly freezing* Tan skin, green eyes, black hair.... healing... *gulp* dual... wield “.........MOOOOOOOOMMM!!!!] *Yelling while dashing into the living room*

(kayla) *Turns around abruptly hearing Ryzan, and sees him dashing strait towards her* “Wha! What is it?! AH!?” *Catches Ryzan after he made a flying leap at her*

(ryzan) *Catches his breath while he stares at his mother* “Mo...mother...... is... is it possible that. You... you are an elf?!”

(kayla) *Raises an eyebrow* “Yes... did you not know that?” *chuckles while pulling back her hair and pulling Ryzan closer* “defintely 100% elf, suppose I just assumed Liza or Rak would have brought it up by now”

(ryzan) *Stares at the ears revealed from behind her hair.* she... she really is. Look at them, so long, so pointy... It's... it's a real... elf *Zones in on her ear before moving on pure instinct*

*nom*

(kayla) “KYAHHHHH!!!” *pulls ryzan away with a flustered expression on her face* Wha?!... this... this has Rak written all over this.. that.... that!...

(rak) *Half falls through the door in a cheerful mood, having just finished flirting at the bar* “Sweety, I'm hoooome”

(kayla) *puts down Ryzan gently* “Stay here baby, me and daddy have some things to discuss”

(ryzan) *Completely freezes as he sees the ice cold smile on her face*

(kayla) *flashes out of the room like a gust of wind heading towards rak* “RAK!!!”

*SLAP* *CRASH*

(rak) *Sitting in the broken remains of a table with a scared expression* h-how'd she already find out!

(kayla) “What kind of crap have you been teaching my son!”

(rak) *genuinely confused* “wha... what?"

(kayla) “It's bad enough with you being a useless, despicable, womaniser overflowing with lust, I won't have you training my son for that path”

(rak) “but... I didn't... do... wait” *tilts his head* “what exactly did he do.”

(kayla) “As if you didnt teach him that hoping to pass on that ear obsession of yours!”

(rak) “hmmm.. 5 years old and already developing fine tastes. Elves really do grow up fast, the boy may even get his first catch faster than my record hahaha... ha...... *Starts sweating huge drops*... I uh..... didn't say that aloud, did I?”

*CRASH* *CRASH* *incoherent screaming* *CRUNCH* *SLAP* *SLAP* *SLAP!*

(ryzan) *Still standing there completely frozen, eyes fading from fright*

(kayla) *Calmly walks into the room with a relaxed smile on her face* “Hey little Ryry. Daddy felt tired so he's taking a rest, and mommy has to go finish taking care of him. You should go play with Liza for awhile

(ryzan) *timidly nods and leaves. Unconsciously shutting out all sound of the care taking process, and giving a silent prayer for rak* Sorry father, take this appointment as scapegoat as karma for your past transgressions. Your sacrifice won't be ignored. From now on I will take the utmost care not to mindlessly follow my instincts

*SMACK**GYAHHHHHH!!!*

(ryzan) *shudders*