After getting past the initial shock and a bit of rage, I took a long look at the reward instead.

“Cosmic Level Wish? What does that mean? Dominion over the World Core, too.”

So if I wanted to become a God or something, it'd make me? If I want to go back to my world, it'll allow it? Hmm, if I wanted to become, let's say, a particular alien being with cosmos for skin, would that happen? I had no idea if I was on the right track here.

“Any words of advice, System?”

In this world existed a game-like System that everyone had access to, even the NPCs. For them though, it's a little limited compared to the players, for the record.

From the looks of it, I still had access to the player system since it was giving me a main quest on my face, despite being in the body of an NPC. In this world, the only quests NPCs could take were [Ascension Quests] to overcome particular level blocks; for that, they had to visit one of the twelve Gods’ temples, and the God would grant them a quest. However, I just got a quest while sitting on my luxurious floor.

Unfortunately, the system didn't reply. Even in the game, it couldn't reply, so I didn't have much hope. About time I get off this floor. I dusted off my clothes and walked over to the bed. I needed a shower, I'd been passed out for a while, sweaty and all. So I smelled somewhat.

“Jus-” I tried to recall the name of the butler under me. “Justin! Come here.”

When I sat down on the bed, Justin entered the room swiftly. He put a hand on his chest and bowed slightly. “You called me, young master…?” He asked slowly, and he sounded slightly scared.

What? What kind of piece of work was the original Iskandaar that he's so scared? Hmm… Memories flashed in my head the moment I wondered that, and I got my answer. I blinked.

It seemed since the batch of my memory was so large, I only recalled some incidents after questioning it. My memories told me that Iskandaar wasn’t honestly that bad, he's just an unusually useless piece of shit, but being the son of a Count, that was a big thing.

“Prepare a bath,” I decided to ignore that for now and said. I’ve come to accept this was the real world, and this was my life from now on, so I had to get moving. Some emotional crowd might be surprised at how easily I accepted this, and if I didn't miss my friends and family from my past life, but that's exactly the thing.

If the person who sent me here thought they were giving me a punishment, they were not. I had nothing in that life of mine, why would I hate a restart? If Iskandaar was a piece of shit, I had to accept myself as that and move on. Since I was him now, his qualities were mine, and I’d have to work on them to fix them.

“Yes, young master,” Justin nodded and left the room. A minute later, two maids entered the room, who pinched their skirts and bowed to me, before entering the bathroom attached to my room.

Damn. This world's not bad at all. If I had an attached bathroom, it wasn't really a medieval world then, was it? There was even a clock on the wall. Weren’t clocks invented in the 17th century?

Once they were done preparing the bath, the maids invited me inside and stood in the corner. I waved them off, unwilling to let these women suffer in discomfort. The original owner of this body never really noticed or cared that these maids hated helping him bathe, but the memories allowed me to recall clear details.

“Curses, what's up with him?” One of the maids whispered, although it still reached my ear. “Did he hit his head that hard?”

“Shh, are you crazy?!” Her friend slapped her on the head, making her wince.

Hmmm, isn't the first maid the same one who was whispering earlier too? Damn, what did I do to her for her to keep talking about me? I wondered as I walked toward the tub.

That's right, this place has a tub. I was saved. “Ak-!” Taking a step, I almost slipped because my leg gave in. I barely caught myself by holding on to the nearby cloth hanger.

Holy fuck. That almost killed me. My body didn't have much strength. My bones gave in easily. I was chronically sick. Rather than dying from the world getting destroyed… I would probably die slipping and hitting my head again.

Goddamnit, how do I fix this?

****

Cult-making wasn’t a small deal. If I had to make one, it’d take time. I was nowhere near ready enough to offend Gods. I might need years or decades before I’m able to. So I should focus on smaller stuff for now. Like my bones.

After resting in the water for five minutes to calm myself, I decided to get my mind busy. I called forth my Status Screen again.

Firstly, I had something crucial to take care of.

I wasn’t blind, I naturally saw the other thing that my status screen showed, although I was too busy with my memories to give it a thought.

[Status Effect: Weak Bone Syndrome.]

Upon clicking it, a whole detailed page popped in front of me.

[Details: The Weak Bone Syndrome is a chronic illness. Your bones are weak, your skeleton isn't suitable for any heavy work, and your lifespan is cut down to a portion of what it really should be.

*Effect: Weakens you by 70%.]

“I'm Level 2, and it makes me weaker by 70%?” I wondered how Iskandaar was even alive, built like this. I guess a Count Household had enough wealth among other things to keep a chronically ill son alive.

Why was he going around acting like a ruffian when he had a leg in the grave already?

Anyhow, this was my first goal. I needed to take this illness off me. Otherwise, just like the original Iskandaar, I might slip, hit my head, and die.

Thankfully, the disease was merely weak bones and not something like cancer. In the worst-case scenario, I’d have to go through total Body Reconstruction; it was quite rare in Murim. But as the strongest person under the sky, the Heavenly Demon himself had gone through many such procedures. I had memories of such incidents. The only problem with that was that I had to reach a certain level of martial prowess before I could do it, which was contradicting.

This body wasn’t “suitable for any heavy work”, as the description said. I had to find some other way.

That was the best-case scenario, that my illness would be cured by simply practicing some Body-Strengthening techniques. The new memories in my head allowed me knowledge in that regard, truly, my head held more than enough ideas on how to approach this illness. Closing my eyes, I went through them in my head and decided on one of them soon.

“Bone Marrow Cultivation,” I chose, reopening my eyes. I had to absorb the bone marrow of a powerful magical beast and cultivate the energy essence it'd let out.

The effect wouldn't be immediate, and that wasn’t the only thing I had to do. I had to work out like a madman every day to strengthen my bones with the energy I'd absorb across my bones. But it was a solution as good as any other.

I got up from the bath, the sudden motion almost hurdling me over, as I grumbled. This body truly was too weak, but thankfully I had a solution for it.

****

“Justin,” I walked back into my bedroom and called for the servant from earlier. By then, I had changed into new clothes, standing in front of the mirror.

I waited for Justin to come, staring at my reflection in the meantime.

If anything, Iskandaar at least had a good mug going on. Black hair, slightly tanned skin, and contrasting bright golden eyes.

I shared these features with that middle-aged Count from earlier, my father of this world. People of our characteristics were rare in this Ethenia Empire, it ought to be since these traits were passed down from my grandfather, who was from the Erebian Empire. He fell in love and married into the Romani family a few decades ago.

Speaking of ancestry, the Romani family's true origin was from the eastern continent, which my ancestors left a long time ago to come to settle here. My ancestors picked up on the Romani name after we were granted Nobility here.

My other two siblings got the characteristics of the Count’s wife, our mother, the Countess. Red hair and golden eyes. Oddly enough, my father didn't like me despite me looking like him, while my mother spoiled me more than the other two siblings despite looking different than her.

Is that how parenthood worked?

I had to look away from the mirror as the door flung open. “Young master,” Justin entered the room, bowing at me.

“Justin, I'm in the mood for magical beast bone stew,” I said after a second. “Prepare some for me.”

The solution I had settled upon was surprisingly easily accessible, as I was the son of a Count. Food made from Magical Beasts was a luxury that nobles often enjoyed in this world, so we likely have some in storage.

Justin blinked, his face growing concerned. “Um, young master, magical beast food is extremely expensive… The Count has grounded you and has confiscated your pocket money. I am unable to prepare such an expensive thing.”

“Haah,” I sighed. What a dilemma, does this mean we don't have that in storage? Also, is this Count trying to kill his son? In that case…

“I'm sorry, young master.”

“What about mother?” I asked. “Ask her for some money.”

“...Young master, the Lady isn't allowed to meet you.” He replied.

“I'm not saying I'll meet her. You go to her and tell her that I want to eat magical beast bone stew, my throat is itching. I might end up dying from a lack of magical beast bone stew if she doesn't give me money to buy it.” I said, and Justin's face grew uncomfortable.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Um, young master… I don't know if I should say this, but it's not as if we don't have magical beasts in our inventory. But it's being stored for the young lady or the 2nd young master when they come to visit.” He said and I scowled.

“So the youngest isn't allowed food?”

“T-that…” Justin gulped. “That’s not the case, of course. It's just that, you're not a [Knight] like the young lady, nor are you a [Mage] like the 2nd young master. So feeding you that will be a waste.”

My face sank, “Tell my mother that her youngest is heartbroken hearing about the disparity between her children's treatment.”

“....”

“Tell her that I'm crying and that I might die from a broken heart, like a dove, after hearing this,” I said and watched Justine stare at me. “Do you understand, Justin?”

“...Um, young master…”

“Do you understand, Justin?”

“Yes, young master,” Justin sighed with closed eyes and nodded.

Soon, he left the room. Two hours later, a magical beast stew rested on my table.

****

Count Royden Romani sipped tea and looked at Justin. “Has the stew been delivered to him?”

Justin shakily nodded, “Y-yes, sir…”

Justin wasn't expecting the Lord to be with the Lady when he came to meet her earlier. Of course, it was too late to back off once he knocked at her door. So he had to say the things the young master told him to say.

He had expected the Count to scoff and send him back immediately, but instead, he had scratched his chin for a long minute before nodding. The Lady was delighted to see her husband allow it, so Justin ordered the cooks to prepare magical beast bone stew for him.

“You did well,” the Lady smiled at him, which made all of this process worth it. Such a sweet woman, even the royal capital didn't have kind smiles like her. Justin nodded.

Justin cleared his throat and looked up at his Lord. He felt hesitant to ask, but his curiosity was killing him. “My lord, may I be so bold to ask why you're allowing him this luxury? I honestly thought you'd reject him since he's grounded.”

“Hmm,” the lord wondered for a moment and decided to answer. “Do you know the use of magical beast food?”

“Uh, isn't it to strengthen the body and mana of a knight or mage? For a [Knight]’s case, it makes his body a lot stronger and increases his aura just a bit. In a [Mage]’s case, it's the opposite, his body would grow a little stronger, but his mana would grow a lot. But, uh, my lord, one needs to have a Mana Core to gain either of these benefits. The young master…”

“He doesn't have a Mana Core, I know,” the Lord said. “As big of a ruffian as my son is, he can't be that unintelligent. He surely knows that he has to have a Mana Core to receive the food's benefit. And yet he chose to waste expensive food? I'm curious what he's up to,” he said, “and I hope disappointment isn't what is waiting for me.”

“Honey, you're being too harsh,” the Lady scowled at him, and the Lord ignored her.

“Justin,” the lord said, “observe him. Tell me anything peculiar he might be up to, understood?”

“Yes, of course, my lord,” Justin lowered his head again and said.

“Good. You may take your leave,” the lord said.

****

The Heavenly Demon God Arts naturally started with Qi Circulation, Core creation.

Usually, the martial artist would form their Qi Core, their dantian, at a young age. The best age to start on that path, according to many, was early childhood. Many children from some powerful families were even born with a dantian. The protagonist of the [Chronicles of the Heavenly Demon God] was not such a lucky guy.

Born an orphan, he didn't know shit about martial arts till his late twenties. And yet, he managed to create a perfect Core.

If I hadn’t had the memories of the Heavenly Demon, it'd have been difficult despite having played the game. After all, like fighting, I only clicked my mouse to cultivate, while these few memories allowed me to remember how to cultivate from a personal view.

I sat crossed-legged in my bed, while the empty bowls of stew rested on the table ahead. My eyes were closed, and my breathing became uniform.

Energy filled my lungs each time I took a breath, traveling around my body, mixing with every cell of my blood, moving through blood channels and mana channels.

From what I know, people in this world don't have a way to create an energy core unless they're already born with one. Sometimes there were rare instances of awakening mana through enlightenments during life-or-death situations. But they were rare. I was doing something unseen in this world, indeed.

Energy revitalized my entire body, and I controlled the flow of the energy towards my navel; a bit below it. The [Mage] Class and all of their relative classes had Mana Hearts, on the left side of their chest, while [Knight] Class and other martial type classes had a Mana Core at the very center of their chest, but those on Murim had their energy cores located in their lower abdomen.

I was going with the last one, as that was what I was familiar with in my head. Energy from the food I had eaten earlier swirled around my lower abdomen, twirling like a vortex. More and more energy began to gather from all around my body and joined the swirling, near-circular gathering that tried to grow more and more circular. It spun to attain perfection.

My breathing pattern was important here, it'd be impossible for a normal person to just control their Qi like this. Willpower was also a factor. More than what meets the eye was going on here. Which finger to which finger to move the Qi from was also important. It was quite an attentive process.

Half an hour later, my body exploded with a burst of energy. My eyes snapped open, and I let out a gasp. I was floating a few inches off the bed and fell back down. I had ascended.

[You've created an Energy Core!]

[Your ‘Mana’ stat has changed to ‘Qi’ stat.]

[You've leveled up.]

[You've leveled up.]

[You've leveled up.]

[You've reached Level 5!]

I had just risen from a mortal to an overmortal, on the way to become an Immortal.

I slowly got off the bed, standing on the tile floor, clenching and unclenching my fists. It felt tight. Not only that, but my bones felt better too.

Magical beasts in general had energy in them. However, by making bone stew out of it, the energy also had bone essence with it.

I absorbed the initial energy to create my core, and by doing so, the remaining bone essence traveled through my newly activated energy channels and spread through my body. Ultimately, all of that entered my bones.

It was a success.

“Although not enough,” I pulled up my status screen to see that I still had the chronic illness. However, there was a slight change.

[Details: The Weak Bone Syndrome is a chronic illness. Your bones are weak, your skeleton isn't suitable for any heavy work, and your lifespan is cut down to a portion of it really should be.

*Effect: Weakens you by 50%.]

Just by creating a core, the effect had lessened from 70% to 50%. Great, there was progress.

Small steps at a time. I had to keep up this diet, and also work out and get stronger manually.

****

For the next few days, I ate stew three times a day and worked out all the other times. Justin seemed quite stunned at my sudden change, but my stew supply didn't stop.

I still wasn't allowed to leave my room, sadly, so I had to be limited to calisthenics. This place didn't have a gym, but it did have a training group, there were swords and also some weights available there. I wish I could go there, but for three days I had to spend my time locked away in my room.

After three days, my punishment came to an end.

“You're allowed to leave your room now, young master,” Justin looked at me and said. “And, uhm… the Lord wishes to meet you.”

“Oh,” my happy mood dulled. What did he want from me now? “Sure, I'll go see him.”

I was about to walk out of the door right away, unwilling to spend a second more locked in this room, but Justin stopped me. “Young master, not in that clothing. You need to dress suitably, the Lord has invited some, erm, guests over…”

“Hmm,” I wonder what that was about. Were the guests waiting for me? I didn’t recall having any friends who could be sitting in the same room as the Count and wait for me. Was it the Count’s friend, instead? Was he going to introduce me to someone?

After adorning myself with the clothes Justin brought, a white royal top, and white pants that contrasted my skin well, I left the room. He led me to the Lord's chamber and backed off when I knocked on the door.

“Come in,” the Count’s voice said, and I gently pushed the door open.

I entered and bowed. “Greetings, father,” I said, and the Count nodded.

“This is my friend,” he pointed at the silver-haired middle-aged man sitting opposite him, beside a silver-haired young girl. “You might have heard of him, Baron Carlstein.”

Carlstein…?

“Greetings,” I suppressed my surprise and bowed.

The man laughed, “Raise your head, boy. Come and take a seat.”

I raised my head and approached my father. He gestured with his chin, and I sat down beside him. It felt awkward sitting beside him, however my surprise was more than the awkwardness I felt.

My eyes were locked on the girl sitting beside the Baron, who kept her head low. She hadn't looked at me when I was greeting her father earlier.

Am I remembering things wrong? I was indeed quite sleepy when I played the game. What was she doing here?

Nebula Carlstein.

A Heroine candidate, one with the highest chance of being chosen as the wife at the end of the game.

“Ah, this is my Nebula,” the Baron introduced her, and she had no other choice but to raise her head and look at me. Our eyes met. She did not appear shy. She wasn't keeping her head low because she was shy. No, she looked enraged. “Don't mind her, she's a little shy. You two are both of the same age, 19 years old. Both of you will enroll in the Waybound Academy together next year.”

“Oh, hello,” I greeted the girl and she scowled. When her father looked at her, her scowl melted and she nodded. She did not greet me back.

My father ignored it, he didn't seem surprised that a noble lady was treating me like this. Not that I blamed either of them, my reputation was trash.

“He’s not enrolling in the Academy, Carlstein,” my father the Count sipped tea and said.

The baron blinked, “Why not? You told me he awakened his Mana Core.”

…Huh?

I looked at my old man. How the fuck did he know?

“He did,” my father said. “You can check for yourself.”

“Ah, in that case, Iskandaar, please show me your wrist,” he asked, and I reached out a hand. He gently held my wrist, and I felt his mana enter my system. He smiled. “Indeed, it's unbelievable. To think he would awaken his Mana by reaching enlightenment after nearly dying by falling on a street. Quite the feat,” he chuckled, which embarrassed me slightly.

So that was what Father and everyone assumed when I started eating magical beast food and put it to good use? My new core gave them the idea that I gained it from life-or-death enlightenment after hitting my head on the street.

At the same time, my eyes flashed with a prompt.

[You have come into contact with another person's Mana.]

[Basic Skill “Insight” has been attained.]

Oh.

Light blurred above the faces of the three people around me, and numbers popped up.

[Level 22]

[Level 61]

[Level 58]

The lowest was the girl, and the highest was her father. My father, despite being a Count, was weaker than the Baron. Ah, now that I think about it, the Carlstein Barony was located near the border, the Baron ought to be strong since he had to fight off monsters on a daily basis.

Still, damn.

That girl’s Level 22?

Despite being the same age, I was just Level 5… How embarrassing. I hope none of them had something like the Insight skill. Especially her.

“But indeed,” the Baron pulled back his hand and hummed. “He's not nearly good enough to roll into the Academy. Even if I were to train him, it'll be hard to reach that threshold in less than a year.”

“Sadly yes,” my father sighed.

“Come on, Romani, don't give me that look. The Academy isn't everything. Plus, we're not here to talk about the Academy anyway. It's about the engagement.” He suddenly said, making me blink.

“Father?” I looked at the man, stunned. This old bastard was not joking when he said he'd get me engaged?! Are you serious, I'm 19! “Father, I-”

He shot me a look that said there was no room for argument. I shut my lips.

Speaking here, now, would ruin his reputation in front of a fellow noble. Plus he had a good reason for it, while I lacked any reason why I couldn't accept it. I had no choice but to be quiet.

Unsurprisingly, I was suffering from Iskandaar's issues. I guess that was a given in these types of scenarios. Such a luxurious life came with luxurious problems to boot.

“Well then,” my father smiled at the Baron. “We should talk about the details. How about we let the kids take a walk to get themselves familiar with each other, in the meantime?”

My soon-to-be fiancé held back a sigh while her father nodded. Soon, both of us walked out of the room.