Chapter 3:

From now on, I will probably write in POW format as it is easier to describe feelings and stuff that way. It saves me time and also is a more interesting way to write. Hope you guys don’t mind, if there are major complaints, post a comment and I may change back to 3rd person.

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Valiant POV:

Being born again is definitely not an enjoyable experience, especially when you are intelligent enough to understand what is going on. But this life seems interesting, a new world, and being born a noble, maybe I will not get bored here.

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2 Years have passed since my birth. I am currently living in a large estate type mansion, which I have gathered through my various travels through the grounds in the arms of either Mother or one of the many maids of the house. It turns out house Leardnarnd is quite famous, relative to the other nobles of the region. If one was to rate us, we would be upper middle class noble’s.

My father, George Angis Leardnarnd II, along with the rest of my ancestors deal in military and mercantile pursuits. The main source of income for my family is the trading that we do. We have a trading union of our own which operates in the region in which we live. Our other sources of income are taxes and military contributions.

Military contributions are done through providing the king with soldiers when he requires them, and per the grade of the soldiers and their quantity as well as the time loaned, we are provided with compensation as well as pay. The pay is quite hefty as it not only is able to cover the cost of maintaining those soldiers but also able to provide additional profits.

Anyway, here I am a 2 year old child. I have practiced talking in my native language, and am able to do so. Some of the maids caught me but they thought it was nothing but baby talk as after all they did not understand the language I was speaking in. Throughout these two years I have also gained knowledge about the local language, called the human tongue.

There are three major languages in this world, and as long as one is able to speak one of them, they can go anywhere, or so I’ve heard from the unsuspecting maid gossips. They are the human tongue, the beast tongue, and the demon tongue.

I started to crawl when I was a mare 1 month old, but I did not show it. After my last life I had learned my lesson, I would not make the same mistake and call too much attention to myself. World domination could be accomplished through various methods, and calling too much attention to me was not always the best one. I will most probably follow through with my plan.

I acted as though I was a normal baby, but that was just in the light of day. Being the typical rich nobles that we were, I had a room all to myself, although my mother always used to fuss about it at the start, my father put a firm foot down saying that a Leardnarnd child needs no such comfort and must grow up tough.

At the age of two, I was just strong enough to walk and move around properly. With that I was often able to escape my high bed and leave the confines of my bed during the cover of the night.

The estate had a rather large study room, filled with books upon books, and a large desk in the far back, where I assume most paper work is done. Although it is occupied by servants and my father during the day, at night it is empty. And thus I was able to go there.

Usually I just explored the house, but I had decided that if I truly aspired for something as big as world domination, I would have to start early and get strong. Many things would have to change, but before that I needed to gain knowledge.

Tonight was the first night I actually looked at a book forming the study? There were countless there, but through the past 2 years I was able to perfectly learn to read and write the human tongue.

‘Beasts of the great sea’, ‘Tale of the Heroes of Aguar’, ‘Magic theory and manipulation Vol.1’, ‘Laws of Augustina’, ‘tale of the gr---‘. MAGIC? This world truly contains magic!? I knew this world seemed to be in the medieval era but to think this world has magic, what else might it have? Living in the estate for 2 years, I have seen little of the outside world, and no one in the estate uses magic that I know of.

If magic exits then it will surely be a valuable asset in my quest to gain power.  I will have to adapt to this, no longer can I expect the world to be one which is fought only with melee and tool based warfare, there is magic!

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

I quickly took the book from the shelf and carried it to the table. With my 2 year old frame, I had difficulty carrying and climbing atop the table, but it was a necessary obstacle.

I slowly began to read through the book, it seemed to be the first book in the series, so it was just the right one for me.

Through careful reading I was able to understand how magic works in this world. Magic in this world relied on a power source called mana or elemental essence. Elemental essence is mana but in the form of an element, once a magus (that’s what mages are called) starts learning, they learn what elements they are best at, their affinity per say.

The utilization of magic is through the manipulation of this elemental essence inside and around oneself. Usually, mortals (as it says in the book) of this world have a fairly small mana capacity, making it so that they would only be able to cast a couple spells of their level before running out of essence and thus being vulnerable and weak. That is why most mages rely of manipulating the mana around oneself, the mana in nature. This allows them to gain an unlimited source of mana, that wound in theory allow them to use their level of magic endlessly. But the universe is not so giving.

Using the mana in the air indeed lets one cast more spells, but there is a limit that the body is able to handle. For instance, after channelling the outside mana through the body to cast a spell, the body would be affected, making it weaker and making the next spell casted a bit weaker as well. This effect continues for a while after which, if forced the body of the magus will faint from over exhaustion.

By using the mana in one’s body, the person will never get exhausted or suffer a consequence of lack of power until they run out of mana, after which they will faint. This is why although there is a decrease in power form using the mana in the air; most people choose to do so this way. It not only compensates for their small mana capacity, but also makes them weak gradually so they do not fall unconsciously suddenly.

I continued to read the book, and the more I read the more I understood the concept of magic. I had no idea what affinity I had as of yet, but I was eager to learn magic. As the book said, I first began to sense my mana core. This is the part which all living and some non-living beings have, even plants have them.

The morning was coming soon, and it was time for me to almost return to my room, lest I get caught. It would not do to have a 2 year old reading books about magic, although whether they would believe I was really reading is doubtful, I was rather avoid the punishment I would receive from mother if she caught me here in the middle of the night.

I closed my eyes and tried to feel some type of energy in me. After 20 minutes I was able to feel a faint pulse. I had passed it up as being just my heartbeat, but after another 20 minutes I went back to it. The more I concentrated on it, the more I could tell that it was something different.

It pulsed in waves, traveling through my body. I was able to feel it! So this is what magic was. The book had stated that it could take months to years to be able to sense mana, but I was able to do it in 20-40 minutes. I guess they did not call me a genius for nothing…

I continued to concentrate on the pulse that was flowing through my body, and slowly I was able to feel it, or see (with my mind) more clearly. It was a stream of many different colours: red, blue, green, silver, black, and gold. The black and gold were the most prominent. If I was to judge then these colours were my affinities. Strange, this book says that most people will only have one colour, and at most three, but I am able to sense six colours? Indeed strange.

I continue to feel this pulse, forgetting the time, when I am roused by the sudden tiredness in my body. Strange, I was fine just a few moments ago, could this have to do with mana? It would make sense, I am but 2 years old, being able to sense the mana inside of me can already be considered genius.

As drowsiness begins to overtake me, I hasten to put away the book and scamper back to my room. But from this expenditure i have learned a lot, i truly know nothing of this world. If i wish to achieve my goals, then a I have much to learn. After all, they say knowledge is power.

For now, magic has caught my interest, from the fatigue I have felt I find that I will be unable to do much with magic at the moment, perhaps learning and exploring it would do for now.

Damn, it is too late, the sun is almost rising, the servants will wake soon, I must get back quickly or I will be in deep trouble. But first to return this book!

To be continued…